OBLIVION
In that moment Ianto understood what it was to look into a black hole. The event horizon yawned before him and he felt himself being compressed, drowned and pulled apart at the same time. Spacetime opened up inside the cells of his brain splitting them apart. He screamed and the sound was sucked out of his lungs until they turned themselves inside out. Blackness and blinding light swallowed him whole and he broke apart, fractured by the intensity of the gravity well that drew him into the end of existence, the final moments of time itself.
Ianto lurched upright with a whimper and strong hands met his shoulders and held him down. Ianto sagged his strength totally failing him. Another sound escaped his lips and water welled in his eyes blurring the shadows that moved about him.
"It's ok Ianto. You're safe."
Owen.
Ianto squeezed the tears away and hauled in a ragged breath which hitched and made him cough. The pain was unbelievable, another pitiful murmer, his brain overloading and his mouth spewing rapid Welsh as panic gripped him. The hands came back against his skin, they were warm and solid.
"Ssshh, Ianto you're gonna be ok. It's ok."
Jack.
Ianto's eyes snapped open and he gaped at the shadow looming over him. "Jack?"
Something touched his face. "Ssshh. It's ok."
Ianto kicked his legs needing to move. The pain, every nerve burning.
"Jack? Oh God Jack, help me."
"Ianto mate, you need to calm down."
Owen was doing something to his arm. A needle.
"No, no Owen no drugs please no."
He was unable to move and the blackness swallowed him again.
Jack stepped back, heaving out a sigh of relief.
"Shit. What the hell happened?"
Owen got busy with the equipment and worked as he talked. "I've no idea, one minute he was making coffee the next thing he screaming and trying to crack his skull open on the floor. The alarms went off at the same. Tosh is looking into that now, but it looks like something came through the Rift and went straight into Ianto."
Jack and Gwen had been out chasing down a weevil at the time.
"Just give me some time Jack. I need to treat the head injury first before I do anything else."
Jack stepped back suddenly realising his hands were covered with Ianto's blood. He stared down at them for a moment before gathering his composure.
"Keep me posted."
Owen nodded and Jack left the autopsy bay and went to the kitchenette to wash his hands. A few moments later he was Tosh's side as she worked at her terminal. She was clearly rattled by what had happened. Jack rested a calming hand on her shoulder and she paused for a moment.
"Is Ianto alright?"
Jack took the empty chair beside hers and glanced at her monitor. "Not sure yet, Owen's.... well doing his tests. Tell me what you've got."
Tosh sighed. "Nothing came through. Whatever happened Jack, whatever made Ianto do that, it's not here now. There was a huge spike, right here in the Hub, centred on Ianto, it was as if the Rift was emanating from him for a brief moment. I've looked at the CCTV Jack, he just froze the moment the alarms went off and then started screaming and pulling at his head. The rift flare lasted less than a second. I don't understand what happened, what it is he saw or experienced, but whatever it was it must have been terrifying."
Jack leant back into the seat and sighed. "We're so vulnerable, the Rift manipulator should be shielding us from incidents like this, run a total diagnostic, right down to component level and send everything through to my terminal. I'll do a physical inspection to check there's nothing mechanical or electrical at fault."
Tosh nodded. "Ok."
Gwen came up from the cells. "The weevil's in cell two, is there anything I can do?"
Jack offered up a smile. "Could you do a round of coffees please?"
"Of course. How's Ianto?" She was taking off her jacket and inspecting the damage to the sleeve.
"Not so good."
Gwen noted the worried look on Jack's face. "Owen'll fix him, Jack. I'll get the drinks and go and help Owen."
"Thanks."
Jack and Tosh worked well into the night. Owen tended to Ianto's head injuries and sat and watched, waiting for the young man to wake and Gwen resumed normal duties dealing with the normal run of phone calls and paperwork that Ianto usually handled. The rest of the day passed without incident until Jack found the fault, a small burnt out buffer. It was replaced and Tosh modified her diagnostics program to notify her if and when such a fault occur again. Jack was so proud of her and grinned hugely when she had completed the task.
"You're brilliant you know."
Tosh just blushed.
Owen got to his feet the moment he saw the fluttering of Ianto's eyelashes. Uneasy breathes were dragged in as Ianto opened his eyes blinking under the harsh lights.
"Owen?"
"At last, you were starting to worry me Tea Boy."
Ianto tried to smile and realised it hurt and winced instead. "Did I hurt anyone?" He wasn't certain that he hadn't, he remembered hurting some one.
"Only yourself mate, can you remember what happened?"
A spiralling gateway.
Ianto swallowed his eyelids shuttering down for a moment, the water was back.
"My head hurts."
Owen got off his stool and reached for a scanner. "You fractured your skull, it's a miracle more damage wasn't done."
The readings looked ok considering. "Do you know why you tried to smash your head in?"
Ianto blinked and the water ran away over his white face and disappeared into his hair line, he could feel it crawling over his scalp.
"It was too much."
Owen put his scanner back down and lifted Ianto's wrist to feel his pulse, it was slow and thready, almost ready to snap away.
"What was too much?"
Ianto's hand twitched in his grip.
"Time."
Owen could only frown, fearing a state of confusion, brain damage.
"So much time, all of it filling my head at once...... too much." Ianto's blues disappeared again and a slow breath was exhaled, drawn out like the last one in had been taken. Owen glared at the monitors waiting for the crash. Ianto flatlined.
"Shit!"
Owen frantically pulled across the crash trolley and yelled for Jack. Ianto could hear the voices of his colleagues as he slipped deeper into the depths of death. He tried to anchor himself to the sound but the lines snapped away from him. Blackness blanketed him in a soft embrace and suddenly white exploded into his vision. Air forced its way into his tired lungs and he had no choice to exhale..... inhale....exhale.... cough... inhale. The voices returned. Relief.
"Come on Ianto, stay with us."
Owen.
Ianto blinked at him again a sense of deja vue washing over him. The overhead lights reflected in his oceanic eyes, he could see the oceans and had to close his eyes again to shoo them away.
"Ianto?"
Jack.
Jack would be the only one to comprehend, but not now, in millennia to come. Too much time. Too many memories to fit in one head. He let the light back in and saw Jack's shadowed face hovering over his.
"I'm so sorry Jack." He could only manage a whisper but saw the confusion on Jack's face.
"Whatever for, you haven't done anything wrong." The soft accented tones were like a tonic on his raw nerves. Lips brushed at his forehead and Ianto felt warmth surge through him from the point of contact.
"I'm sorry Jack." He was stronger now, his gaze now unwavering as he meet Jack's deep pools of light...... so much life. Too much life. Ianto had seen it all. Absorbed eternity in an instant, every fibre in his being ripped open to...... chaos.
"It's ok Ianto, whatever it is we'll fix it."
Ianto tried to smile because he knew it was all he could do, his life was like a microbe sitting beside Jupiter. He understood forever and shrunk away from it.
"Are the others alright?"
Jack was smiling at him now, warm hands soothing his skin, fussing with his shirt, Owen had ripped it open earlier.
"The others are fine."
Ianto savoured the intimacy because it was rare and beautiful. "I wish I could fix you Jack."
His hand was squeezed and warm breath fluttered over his ear. "You have Ianto, more than you know."
Jack kissed Ianto's cheek and stood back to let Owen get back to his work. He would ask Ianto later about what he had seen and Jack knew deep down he wouldn't like what he heard. He watched as Ianto closed his eyes again. The monitors remained steady.
He sat down on a stool.
Relief.
