54
They had exhausted all the B&Bs, motels, hotels, camping grounds and eventually they had to call uncle, admitting that Ianto was not keeping to the populated areas as they had thought.
"He has to be somewhere he can recharge as well as care for Heath" Jack pointed out, "Let's start looking at rental properties. Maybe the local real estate agents, he might have somewhere like …"
"I already tried that" Tosh sighed, "I circulated his image saying that he was my brother and our mother was ill. Nothing."
"shit" Jack slumped, "I don't .. I mean. He could have somewhere we don't know about. A family …."
Jack staled out and then swung to face Tosh, "family. What about Rhia? I know she and Ianto are a bit estranged but maybe there is an old family property somewhere. A farm house or something."
"He wouldn't go to the county though, not after what happened at the cabin, right?" Owen asked and they all shook their heads as they went back to staring at the map on the screen.
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Ianto was singing softly to his little boy, rocking him in the arm he was clinging to happily, watching the little mouth pursing into a cupids bow.
The fatigue had passed and now and Ianto had forced down a sandwich and glass of milk, even though he hadn't tasted it going down.
The earlier unfiltered bond had been a wonderful boost and he was now wondering if Jack was actively searching for him or if it had been a coincidence of them both thinking of each other at the same time.
He watched his little one drift off to sleep and slid him into the bed, after a moment's hesitation he slid the arm out, telling himself not to leave himself without it again.
He was humming as he headed upstairs to change into some warmer clothes so he could get some wood in, thinking about the trip into the village soon and how he was going to create a front pack to hide the baby in one of Jack's big jackets.
He pulled on the jersey and started for the stairs again, determined to make it fast and with as little attention as possible, reaching the top stair to hesitate and cant his head as he heard a strange scrabbling sound.
Oh god, were they back?
HEATH
He started to run down the stairs as his heart threatened to leap from his chest, the fear for his little boy spurring him on as he stumbled in his haste at the landing turn that swung around the kitchen area.
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Jack was standing in Starbucks, waiting on the order when there was a sudden burst of fear coursing through his veins, followed by immense pain and the bond seemed to shut down.
He was running for the hub as though the Tardis was waiting for him, his heart slamming around in his ribcage and screaming for Tosh and Owen.
"Are you sure" Owen repeated.
"Of course I'm' sure, it was Ianto. Afraid and in pain. Something bad has happened!" Jack was beside himself as he chastised himself for pushing Ianto away, for not realising the terrible series of events he had set in motion and now for whatever was happening.
"Scan the entire grid again, something, anything" Jack was unable to stay still as he paced, "Look for an accident, or fire, or something. Fuck. Something."
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REBOOT
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.AQUIRING
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DAMAGE DETECTED
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ALERT
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SEEKING CONNECTION
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SEEKING
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The laptop screen surged into life, images and code filling the screen as the Cybernetics sought help for their host, reaching for the only thing that they had successfully bonded to in the past.
Mainframe was alerted and immediately went into emergency mode, shutting the hub down and starting the klaxons as she searched for Ianto, Owen on his knees as he yelled at Tosh to stop the noise and Jack holding the nearest screen like a drowning man clinging to a life preserver as Ianto's schematics flashed past followed by co-ordinates.
"Tosh!" he yelled, still shaking the screen as though it might produce more.
"Oh my god" she gasped, "Jack! He's back at the cabin. He's had some sort of injury. He's out cold and the cybernetics are detecting damage but won't specify."
She turned to face him as she spoke and saw that he was already running for the doors, not even stopping for his coat and she followed Owen, hooking the coat from the rack on the way past.
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Lucy whined softly, nuzzling the prone man as he lay crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. She had stopped the frantic scrabbling on the floor tiles in the kitchen as she had struggled to hook out the morsel of dog food that had skittered across the floor from her bowl.
He was so still and so cold.
She looked over at the little one, still sleeping an unaware that his only means of survival was currently out for the count and she wined again.
Finally she lay with Ianto, snuggling herself as close to him as she could, as if aware that he was cold so far from the fire and in need of her help.
She watched the door expectantly for help to come.
As last time, the man in the coat would come.
Right?
