TITLE: To Separate The Lies From Truth

PART THREE OF SERIES: The Five Elements (AU Verse)

CHAPTER SUMMARY: Ianto catches Suzie in the act and a conflict ensues!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Torchwood or Doctor Who which is unlucky because Jack and Ianto deserve so much more!

WORDS: 3000

NOTES: Here you go! I was going to leave this on much worse of a cliff-hanger when it was previously joined with the last chapter. So, in some ways you're lucky. But not too much…there's still a small one!

Chapter 5: Playing With Fire (2006)

24th October 2006

Ianto's eyes blinked open slowly the next morning. The sun was bright through the blinds he'd forgotten to shut the night before in their haste to make it to the bed. Jack was curled up beside him, his head in the crook of his neck, surprisingly still asleep.

Extracting himself from the other, Ianto tried not to wake him. It was still such a rare occasion to see Jack sleeping for so long that he couldn't bring himself to disturb him. He would have preferred not to move, but it was already late, and nature called. However - when he did sleep- Jack was a notoriously light sleeper.

"Sorry." Ianto whispered as Jack started to stir. "Morning."

"Morning." Jack smiled into his shoulder, still half asleep as he shifted closer and wrapped himself around him once again. "Now shush. Stop moving."

"Jack…" Ianto protested, still trying to escape from his unyielding hold. "We have work."

"It's a good thing I'm the boss then?" Jack murmured into his back. "Can't be late for myself."

"Unfortunately, the rift doesn't take specific days off." Ianto rolled over and pulled Jack into a long kiss, distracting him enough so he loosened his hold, enabling him to scramble out of bed. "Come on, work."

"Spoilsport." Jack pouted at the success of Ianto's deception. "That wasn't fair." He grumbled, sitting up in bed himself.

"Yup." Ianto smiled, collecting a fresh suit from his wardrobe on his way to the bathroom. "You're not the only one who can cheat."

~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~

An hour later, Ianto was making his way down one of the archive corridors when something made him pause. The middle door on the right was slightly ajar. No-one ever came down to the archives since he'd been here, other than when Jack often came searching for him, but he knew damn well it had been shut the night before when he'd left. It was procedure that all doors in the Hub remained shut as a precautionary measure, especially ones to the archives in case of one of the artifacts activating overnight.

It had to be one of the team – an intruder would have tripped a dozen alarms before getting this far - but he couldn't think of a logical reason why anyone would be here. Mostly they just asked him for a file, or checked the digital records.

He pushed the door open slowly, in case he was mistaken, but relaxed slightly at the sight of Suzie digging through an array of containment boxes on the shelves. He watched silently, almost bemused by her frantic search, but his humour slipped into displeasure as from one of the next containment boxes, she pulled out the resurrection glove, almost crowing with delight.

"Did you really believe you were going to get that out of here without alerting one of us?"

Clearly not having noticed his arrival, Suzie spun around to face him, startled, but somehow Ianto reckoned she wasn't overly surprised at being caught. "Didn't think so." She shrugged, still keeping a hold of the glove. "But it was worth a try."

"Care to explain?" Ianto tried to muster all the air of authority he could. "Or would you rather explain to Jack?"

"I need it; you saw what it can do." Suzie argued. "If I can practise, get it to work beyond two minutes it could resurrect permanently."

"Jack gave his order, and he was right. It's not moral. No-one should have the power over who lives and who dies." Ianto returned. "It'll consume people. No-one should have a power like that."

"What, like you do?"

Ianto froze and Suzie took the opportunity to continue. "I found your file. Scavenged it from Canary Wharf. Subject One? I imagine it's been a while since you heard that name."

"It's not my name." Ianto bit out, his hand straying to rub at his forearm where his hated tattoo of the words was almost invisible now due after its removal, but Suzie ignored him. His whole body was rigid, and he could almost hear each beat of his heart in his chest as Suzie's words dragged up past nightmares.

"I always knew there was something different about you. A man like you just stumbling into Torchwood, the extra training sessions with Jack that I never had, the smashed window in the interrogation room when Jack was taken." Suzie sneered. "I take it Jack knows about your little gift then. He complained about the glove having a power that's dangerous and consuming, yet he lets you roam free."

"I have control now." Ianto defended, long buried insecurities once again rearing at the back of his mind. "I know where and when to use it."

"You sure about that?"

Ianto faltered over his reply, mentally shaking away the distracting thoughts before they could be noticed, refocusing on the main task in hand. "Yes, but this isn't about me. You're not getting that glove out of here, Suzie."

"Was that a threat?" Suzie tested, and this time, for a slight second, he couldn't hide his hesitation. "No? Didn't think so. You wouldn't want to prove me right."

In his distraction, Suzie edged sidewards, making a charge for the door. Ianto recovered quickly, reflexes making the decision for him, as a sudden gust of wind sent the door slamming shut in her face, followed by another that swept the glove out of Suzie's grip. It clattered to the ground on the other side of the room.

The act made the situation clear for both parties. There were other means in which he could use his powers without resulting in someone getting hurt.

Suzie's anger reared and she lunged towards him, but Ianto reacted quickly, throwing himself to the side. Suzie came at him again, and but he parried once more in return. They both had had the same training from Jack, even fought together in practise a few times over the years, so he knew a fight would be evenly matched if he didn't use his power. Suzie tackled him backwards, but he managed to take her down with him, but their momentum sent them crashing into the shelves behind them. Ianto panic flared as some artifacts fell from the impact, smashing to the ground.

"Careful!" Ianto argued, trying to hold Suzie away from both the shelves and the glove. One of many procedures when handling unknown technology was to never let two items come in contact.

"You think I care about your stupid shelving system of useless alien junk!"

"That wasn't what I meant! It's…"

The explosion came without warning, cutting off his words. It wasn't like in the multiple films he'd often watched with Jack, such as James Bond where you could always tell the explosion was about to come. Sometimes even ages before.

He must have blacked out for a minute, but it couldn't have been for long as his ears were still ringing loudly from the blast.

"Argh!"

He shifted slightly, causing the pain to make itself known. He could feel a weight pressing on him, but sensing movement near him, he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to remove the dust in them. The light had blown out, but the fires raging around them lit up the room slightly. The air was full of smoke also making it difficult to see, but he could just about make out Suzie, as she pulled herself from the mess, struggling upwards to stand.

"Suzie!" Ianto hissed from the pain raging through him and tried to push at the shelves trapping him, "Come on, help me lift this."

Ianto saw the hesitation on Suzie's face, sparking some hope but it dwindled as her gaze fell on the glove lying a few feet away. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how he looked at it, the glove seemed to have survived the explosion and was not surrounded by any of the flames currently burning closer and closer to him. Ianto tried reading her, but for some reason – possibly pain he decided in that moment – he couldn't get more than a blip of determination. Nevertheless, Ianto saw the conviction that fell over Suzie's face as she raced for the glove, scooping it from the ground and fleeing the room, leaving him trapped.

"No!" He yelled, as the door slammed shut behind her. He coughed loudly, each one straining his lungs further.

The flames seared ever closer as Ianto pushed upwards once again against the shelf pressing down on him, putting all his remaining energy and power behind it. The adrenaline of being burned alive was a great motivator, but his strength was sapped from his encounter with Suzie.

He vaguely remembered the last time he'd overdone his power, many years ago when trying to save himself, Jack, and the nurse – Freya he recalled - from the guards at Torchwood One. His stamina and strength had come a long way from then, but there was still a noticeable limit on how much he could use his gifts. The fire licked the leg of his suit trouser, and he muffled his shout of pain. All his remaining energy was aimed towards trying to quench the fires, but there were too many around.

It was getting harder to breathe, never mind see, through the smoke which only hindered his attempts further. A wave of dizziness swept over him as finally the fire closest to his leg died down to nothing. One obstacle out of many, but it was only delayed rather than conquered.

He could feel the darkness creeping in as his body shook as he felt a wetness drip down his lip and chin.

"Sorry, Jack."

As he mumbled the words, he was only hazily aware of his shields subsiding and his mind reaching out as his eyes slid closed.

"Jack!"

~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~

Jack perched on the edge of the conference table, going over the latest reports with Tosh and Owen. It'd been a while since they'd gone over them together. It was tedious work, and there was still a large portion of it that still needed completing, but at least they were over two thirds through.

"What was that!?"

Jack looked up confused at Owen's unexpected question. He hadn't heard anything, and glancing over at Tosh it was clear she hadn't heard anything either as she shrugged.

"Think you might be hearing things, Owen." Tosh replied. "Might want to get that checked out."

"Thought I heard a bang, but nah you're right, it was probably nothing." Owen grouched. He shrugged the noise off and grabbed the next file, but something no longer sat quite right with Jack. He couldn't quite figure out why, but before he could speculate further, he heard his name being called.

"-ack."

The shout from Ianto sounded so close, that Jack abruptly sat up straighter, glancing down through the glass walls into the Hub as if expecting his lover to have entered the room from the archives, but no-one was around.

"Jack!"

This time Jack gasped and froze in shock as he recognised the weak touch on his mind, prompting a concerned look from Owen and Tosh.

"Jack?" The doctor asked and out the corner of his eye, he saw him stand from his chair and approach him when he didn't answer. Absentmindedly, he waved him off, trying to refocus on his link with Ianto and all of a sudden, his mind connected with his lover's, stronger than ever before, Ianto's terror and pain flooding his mind.

Jack broke out into a sprint for the stairs, ignoring the shouts from Owen and Tosh as they followed. Barely at the top of the steps down to the Archives, Owen's hand snaked around his wrist.

"Jack, where the hell are you going?"

He didn't answer as he pulled himself out of Owen's grip and flew down the stairs. His priority was to find Ianto. His focus was still on their link, trying to sense where he was, but the link was becoming more and more clouded and distorted, like Ianto was no longer conscious and his panic flared further. Something was wrong, but Jack could not tell what.

He raced down the various corridors of the archives, kicking each door open as he went. The bond with Ianto didn't tell him which room he was in, and he became more and more frustrated with each empty room he came upon.

A few doors further down, Jack paused suddenly, feeling the air becoming heavier. The corridor was already rather dark, but Jack could recognise the sight and smell of smoke when he came upon it, and pulling out his key-fob torch – of course enhanced with alien technology making it a lot brighter than appearances would seem – he shone it along the corridor until he spotted the door the smoke was emanating from.

Jack sprinted down the smoke-filled passageway. The door loomed in front of him but met it the same fate as the others, smashed off its hinges by his booted foot. Smoke restricted his vision, making his eyes water but forcing himself to squint, it was clear the room was a mess, shelves collapsed upon one another and small fires burned around the room.

"Ianto!"

His gaze had landed on the motionless form, half buried under a collapse of wooden shelves, surrounded by flames. The heat burned his face, and it was becoming difficult to breathe, but he skidded to Ianto's side in a matter of seconds, stamping out a few of the closest fires.

Even in the dark and orange gloom of the room, he could see the paleness of Ianto's face as he shoved the shelves off his form. A slow trickle of blood flowed from Ianto's nose, and Jack was haunted by déja-vu as he realised that calling for help, combined with probably trying to quench the fires, had meant Ianto had overtaxed on his powers, but somehow, he couldn't help but be somewhat pleased that he had. If it wasn't for hearing Ianto's mental shout, he didn't what to even imagine the sight he'd would have come across had he not come down to the archives until later that day.

Ianto's suit trousers were also blackened by the flames, and he dreaded what he would find underneath. He didn't touch however, for fear of making it worse as he placed his hand on Ianto's chest.

"Ianto, I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels." The tiniest of movements of Ianto's chest against his hand was the only physical sign Ianto was alive, and Jack shook him slightly, trying to rouse him. "Ianto! Come on, wake up."

Ianto didn't stir at all, but Jack couldn't waste any more time trying, they had to get out of the room. He lifted Ianto up into his arms, and started struggling to his own feet when he heard footsteps of the team catching up and their gasps as they took in the situation.

"Owen! Help me." Jack yelled. He almost didn't recognise his own voice his lungs were so strained. He shifted Ianto's weight awkwardly in his arms so to not knock his injured leg as he made for the door. "Tosh, get some water on the last of those fires!"

With Owen supporting some of Ianto's weight and opening doors, Jack made it up to the main floor of the Hub and down the steps into the medical bay, before carefully transferring his motionless frame on the metal table. Silently, he kept a hold of Ianto's hands as he hovered awkwardly beside him, not sure how else to help as Owen hurried around him, immediately fastening an oxygen mask over Ianto's nose and mouth.

"Jack." Tosh, having at some point reappeared from the archives, rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to draw him away. "Come on, let Owen work."

"I'm not leaving." His tone was adamant.

"He can stay, Tosh." Jack glanced up surprised, he'd been readily prepared for a fight. Owen continued in explanation however, all while shining a light into Ianto's eyes. "I don't need slugging again if teaboy here wakes."

Jack flashed a disapproving glare in Owen's direction at his reasoning, but didn't bother protesting. If it allowed him to stay, Jack didn't care. In fact, as he watched the medic insert an IV into the back of Ianto's hand, he guessed Owen probably had a point. When Ianto next awoke, he would certainly be disorientated, and finding himself in the med bay wouldn't do much to help.

Jack adverted is eyes from Ianto's leg as Owen cut away the scorched remains of Ianto's suit trousers. He seen many burn wounds before during the wars, but it felt different being on Ianto, someone he'd always sworn to protect. He kept his gaze firmly on Ianto's pale face as Owen worked, brushing his hand through his hair.

After what felt like hours – but looking at his watch it was only about 45 minutes, Owen stopped his work, finishing tying off the last bandage. Jack looked up, not bothering to hide his worry and expectance on his face.

"He's got a moderate case of smoke inhalation and some 2nd degree burns on his right leg. No head trauma to explain the nosebleed but…"

"Owen." Jack interrupted more sharply than he intended. He sighed. "Sorry. Just, will he be okay."

"Cool your heels, Captain. He'll make a full recovery, but he'll probably be out of the field for a while." Owen explained. "His leg will take a while to heal and even longer to get its full strength back. He'll have to keep his weight off it for a while."

Jack nodded, rather distractedly as he continued to watch Ianto as he slept. He looked a little more peaceful than he had, when Jack had first found him, and he couldn't help but take a sigh of relief as he realised his link with Ianto was less clouded than before. Owen patted him on the shoulder as he left, presumably to talk to Tosh, but Jack barely noticed.

He knew he should have been looking into what had started the fire in the archives, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Ianto's side. He wagered one of the artifacts had either activated or broken but Ianto wasn't one to make mistakes with handling artifacts. Something still was not sitting right.

Notes: Sorry, not sorry. Next chapter would be up Saturday, but I can be persuaded to post tomorrow if everyone asks enough!

Next up: Suzie's 'final?' showdown!