People talking. Noises. Eyes don't want to open. Don't want to wake yet, but there's something off. The bed doesn't feel the same, and the acoustics in the room are unfamiliar. Something is wrong.

"Ianto, you're free to go." He heard someone say. Ianto is there. What is he doing?

"Thanks, Owen." So Owen was there too. Was something wrong with Tosh? If only he could remember what he'd done before he fell asleep.

" Do you think he's going to wake up soon?" Ianto asked, presumably to Owen. He felt someone grasp his arm, a strong grip.

"You know I can't predict that Ianto, he's going to wake when he's ready. Not sooner and definitely not later. The brain is a tricky thing to work with." His brain? What was wrong with his brain?

''I know. I just can't take this any longer. This wasn't supposed to happen.''

''Ianto, these things are never supposed to happen. That's why they're called accidents.'' Slowly and against his will - he just wanted to go back to sleep - his eyelids started to get lighter. They fluttered and little by little he could see more of the room. He wasn't home, then where was he? A look to his left showed Ianto - sitting on the chair, ducked down and silently crying - who was awkwardly comforted by Owen. The young doctor didn't like this part that well he could see. His face seemed torn between concern and a fleeting emotion. Owen - probably trying to think of a way out - looked up and saw Jack, wide awake, and staring at the both of them with an apologetic smile on his face. Sheepishly he looked at the young doctor who immediately left his friend's side and went towards him, his patient.

"How are you feeling?" He said while he shone a little lamp in his eyes, which was blindingly white. He couldn't see what Ianto was doing, he was too busy trying to get his sight back properly, but he could just feel a change in the atmosphere of the room.

"My head aches, like really bad." His head had been throbbing ever since he came back to the land of the living. The door opened and the moment he saw a copper walk through it, he knew what happened. He knew how terrified he'd felt when he couldn't breathe anymore and most of all when that car hit him and he felt like he was going to die.

"That's understandable, you've taken a huge hit to the head," Owen responded to him before the copper distracted him with his question. He could only look at Ianto while he heard the two talk, or more like argue.

"Can we ask the patient some questions?" He heard the man ask.

"I'm busy, can't you see that? He's only just woken up, I need some time to examine my patient. So if you will just wait in the hall I'll call you in when I'm done." He heard Owen say - pretty pissed off - and shoo out the cop, the door clicked and he could hear the young man's dramatic sigh before he came back towards his side. The heart monitor had started beeping louder when he began to panic about all that had happened.

"Okay, Ianto, could you take a step outside too? You can come back in here soon enough." Owen told Ianto, who looked like he was going to start a riot at being ordered away from his side. He send Ianto an understanding look, he was probably going to need Ianto out of the room anyway when Owen tried to piece together what happened.

"It's okay." He whispered to him. Ianto looked away at first, but then when their eyes met, he could see Ianto's red-rimmed eyes and the pure angst swimming in them, which was paining him to look at.

"I'm just going to get you some clothes, you stay here, and listen to what Owen tells you to do." He awkwardly looked at Jack and the beeping machines next to him before he stood up and left the room.

"Be safe." He breathed, it was barely audible so he imagined Ianto didn't even hear it before the door closed again.

-0O0-

When Ianto found something difficult to process, he first liked to sulk, keep it to himself. But then after that first stage, he would go talk to someone close to him, or in this case call. His fingers had dialled the number before his brain had caught up with it all. But he needed to talk to someone, so why not her?

'' Hi Ianto, how are you?'' Lisa's voice boomed through the speaker.

''Lisa.'' He said not fully in the present yet. Her voice had sounded groggy, but rather cheerful.

''Yes, Ianto, are you alright?''

''Not really no.''

'' Tell me what's wrong. Are you safe? Not driving?''

''No, I'm sitting in the car park, inside the car.''

''Good, stay there. Talk to me, what's going on?''

''I'm in love with Jack.'' It left his mouth before he knew it. This time he was more sure of himself than ever.

''Oh Ianto, be honest with me, I think you've been in love with him for longer than you've realised.'' She said and let out a sigh. Somehow it felt comforting to hear her say these words. At least he knew for sure that someone else had seen it too. That it wasn't just a figment of his imagination.

''What do you mean?''

'' You know around the end of our relationship, sometime before I started cheating on you. I always felt something was off. Something changed in our relationship. In those last few months, you weren't really in love with me. Before you start interrupting, I know that you love me, always have and always will, just like I love you. But you haven't really been IN love with me for quite some time. Neither have I to be honest.

''How…''

''If you just could've seen yourself. Your face would always light up when you mentioned Jack. I've felt quite jealous of him for quite some time now. What did he have that I didn't? That's when I noticed. I think we both were so in love with the idea of us, that we didn't really notice that we weren't IN love anymore. It might've been for the best that you caught me cheating that day. What would our marriage have been like if we were both pining after different people? You might've not known yet at that moment, but believe me you would've realised it rather sooner than later. ''

'' So you're not mad?''

''How could I? I was the one who finalized it in the end. But don't you think we would've ended up miserable if we proceeded the marriage?''

''I don't know. I still love you, but you're right, I haven't been IN love with you for a while. Thinking back I haven't felt those heart fluttering moments we had in the beginning. ''

''Well, let's not mourn on it too much. So what happened?''

''Yesterday I confessed my love for Jack by accident to him. We haven't really talked about it yet, but just a short while ago he was brought into the hospital, hit-and-run accident, and I'm just not sure what to do, or what to think. I can't do this right now, I can't tell him I love him, but at the same time I can't leave him.''

''Give me one reason why you can't?''

''I just… I can't put him under that much pressure. He's hurt and…''

''So? He's going to need you Ianto, and I'm positively sure of it that Jack feels the same about you. '' Her voice, ever the doubt, sounded rather sure of herself. He had no reason to doubt her anymore, why would she? They were friends, who once dated, nothing more. Even though he'd been planning to spend the rest of his life with her once.

''I hope you're right.'' He sighed and stared out of the window. The sun was still shining bright in the late evening.

'' I know it, trust me.''

-0O0-

''Have you…''

'' No suspect has been found yet, but a damaged car has been brought in a car repair shop. We're going to look into that. We'll let you know as soon as something changes. Good day to you sir.'' The copper said before he left the room and he was once again left on his own. His head was still hurting like hell - no matter how many aspirins Owen had tried to feed him - which wasn't much as there was a maximum of how many you were allowed to take at once. The door hadn't even closed before the next person came barging in.

''YOU!'' He screamed when he saw the woman walking in with a smile on her face. Her heels clicked on the hard ground with every step she stood and averted his attention from her cheeky smile.

''Me?'' she asked and sat down on the chair Ianto previously occupied. He'd much rather see Ianto sitting there than the women who almost killed him, out of remorse.

''Yes, you. What did you do that for?''

''As I said, kindness.''

''Well, it's not really kind to get somebody almost killed.''

''Oh come off it, you would've survived anyway. This had to happen in order for your immortality to disappear. I'm much smarter than you think of me, and no, I'm not the woman who cursed you, I'm a good witch.''

" Then why? Why did you do it? Fuck." He asked, rather pissed off about her antics. His screaming had opened up the wound on the corner of his mouth again and it really hurt to feel it rip apart.

"Calm down, if you calm down I'll tell you. The truth of course." She said. His heart monitor had been going skyrocket so he doubted they would stay alone for long. He took a deep breath in and breathed out through his nose. He repeated this process until his heartbeat had calmed and his cheeks had cooled down.

"Okay, now tell me." He said when he'd reasonably calmed down.

"Alright, so you remember how you can't die?" He nodded and kept silent while he stared at her.

" So you're suffering from the infamous love curse, in order for your special person to finally tell you the truth, and yes I've seen him doing so before, something big had to happen. If I hadn't intervened your future could've gone two ways, or this Ianto could've denied it and gone away, out of Cardiff and you wouldn't ever see him again or he would confess his true feelings again and the curse would be reversed eventually. In the end, it's your call if you'll reveal your past, but remember, you have to do that in order to break the curse. Oh and before I forget, I made a sort of loophole, remember how she said you couldn't mention the curse before, I've edited it a little so you can mention it." With that said she stood up and walked out of the room, without even a second glance at him. The silence surrounded him and left him with too much space in his brain to doubt every second of what was going to happen next.

-0O0-

"I'm sorry sir, but visiting hours are over." He dangled the plastic bag containing some decent clothes for Jack - a pyjama for now and some normal clothes for when he was discharged - when the kind nurse held him back.

" I know, sorry, uhm what's your name.. oh Susan, I'm Ianto Jones, I work upstairs at the maternity ward. I'm just on my way to Dr Harper. He's supposed to be here somewhere." She looked like she had no idea what he was talking about and was surely going to call security on him until he called the name Harper. Somehow many nurses - and even doctors - fancied the pants off of his dear friend. Honestly, he had no idea how, but he quite liked to watch it happen. He'd taken off his uniform a while ago before he went home and was walking in his own clothes, which might be why she didn't believe him.

"I can accompany you to Dr Harper. He's in room 12 at the moment taking care of a kid's broken wrist. She took quite the fall when she 'fell off the stairs' while sleepwalking at night. They all claim it was an accident, but the authorities have been informed just to be sure, there was something off about how scared they all seemed of the father." He let her talk while he followed her towards Owen. There was no way he would be able to get in other ways.

"Ah, Dr Harper, I've someone for you here." She said when she entered the room, politely he waited outside to give the family inside some privacy.

"Ianto?" He looked up confused, but something seemed to dawn a few seconds later when he put the finishing touches to the girls cast.

" I'll be with you in a sec. You can go, Susan, I'll take it from here." With a flush on her face, she left the room and went back to where she came from, while he stood awkwardly in the hallway waiting for Owen to finish up. He could easily walk towards Jack's room, he still knew where it was, but he didn't think he could go in there unnoticed. So it was better to just wait and walk with his fellow college and friend towards the room he'd been dreading to enter again. It wasn't even a minute later before the family of three walked out of the room and quickly slipped out of the hospital altogether.

"Follow me." Owen just said and walked along to Jack's room. Obediently he walked behind him and tried to keep up with Owen's pace.

"Ianto? Owen?" Jack said the moment they walked inside. A smile made its way to his face when he saw Jack with a little more colour on his cheeks. Was it just him or did those abrasions clear away in the time he'd been gone? Had they even been there or had they just been a figment of his imagination?

" You guys know I'm breaking several hospital rules here right now, so you better be glad," Owen said when he began to check all the machines Jack was hooked upon.

"Got you some clothes… I'm sorry it took me so long before I came back." It had been two hours, 40 minutes and he didn't know how many seconds ago that he'd left Jack's room. If it hadn't been summertime the sky would've already turned a deep dark kind of blue, but the sun was still shining bright in the sky.

"Doesn't matter, you're here now that's what matters." It felt kind of sappy, and maybe it was, but he couldn't care less about that simple fact. Like Lisa had said, he loved him, even though he'd only recently discovered it. He put the bag next to the chair and sat down.

" How are you feeling? Wait, stupid question, of course, you're not feeling well."

" I'm actually feeling a lot better than before," Jack said and smiled adorably at him.

" And so you should, you seem to be healing fine," Owen said, interrupting their… well whatever they'd been doing.

" So I can go home?" Jack asked, his face looked up to where Owen was standing, he looked so hopeful. Naturally, he could understand that hospitals were no fun place to be, not during the day and especially not during the night.

" I'm sorry Jack, I'm going to have to keep you here for the night." Suddenly Jack's optimistic smile fell and left him sulking.

"It's okay Jack, I'll stay." He said and took Jack's non-broken hand in his.

" Ianto, you know you can't do that!" Owen responded sternly.

" Of course you can. If patients are afraid to stay on their own a bed will be provided for them to sleep in so the patient won't panic and try to escape. You know the drill." Owen let out a sigh and gave up. Ianto just knew too many hospital rules for Owen to win that argument, and on top of that Tosh would kill him if he didn't let them stay together. After her stay at Jack and Ianto's she'd been adamant that they were secretly dating.

"Okay, but if something happens I'm not taking the blame."

" Why not? The nurses won't even say a thing if you let your charm do the work?" Jack yelled after him this time, so Jack had noticed too.

"What? Don't you think I'd notice that every time a nurse joins him he or she leaves with a beet red head?"

A/N: I Hope you like it and please leave a review.

XXXFredAndGeorgeForever