Torchwood: Divergence
Book Two: Adferiad

Chapter 17

The trip to the cemetery was terrifying for the passengers, the immortal behind the wheel driving much faster than was safe in the ice and snow, frantic to reach their destination. They came to a sliding stop at the edge of the graveyard's older, untended end, the huge blood hued pillar of light within the grounds unmistakable in the dimming afternoon sunshine. The Torchwood team gathered their supplies and hurried toward the area of breached ground, the portal's heat melting the snow for several feet around its perimeter. Steam rose, the water on the surface evaporating before it could puddle and refreeze, as the centre of the gateway turned to a vast pool of boiling blood.

"Dychwelyd, Frân Arian…"

The Scieron weren't visibly present, but their hissing voices bid their Changeling to return to the living world. And within seconds, a form rose from the impossible depths of the viscous pool to struggle out of the hot, cloying embrace and lay curled in a shivering ball on the miraculously dry ground as the vital fluid of the portal disappeared. Not winged as before but just as naked and covered in gore, Ianto Jones tried to force himself up onto hands and knees with a ragged gasp, then began coughing up swallowed blood, weak and completely disoriented. This time however, it was Jack who hurried to his side first, wrapping a bath sheet around his body and holding him close.

"I've got you," the Captain murmured, using a damp towel Gwen handed him to wipe some of the blood off his partner's face and rub it from his hair. "You're back, Ianto… I'm right here."

The twenty-six-year-old gagged and spat out more of the dark, sticky liquid from the portal, shakily reached toward the bottle of water Cooper was using to help clean him up with. The former PC shifted closer, steadied her friend so he could take a long drink of the warm water. The young Welshman turned aside as it made a precipitous reappearance, but a lot more of the ingested blood was purged with it and he seemed to be breathing a little easier afterward.

"Jack…" Ianto managed to croak; his voice barely audible. "Take… me… home…"

"Soon," Harkness reassured, trying to scrub as much blood off the younger man's body as possible with the warm, wet towels Gwen was providing, so they could bundle him up and get him into the SUV.

Martha was doing as good of a once-over as she could by working around and past the two wielding the towels.

"Temperature's way up, pulse is a bit fast, so's your breathing," she informed the just returned Changeling. "Try to take slow, deep breaths, yeah? Once we're back at the Hub, I can give you a dose of emetic to try to clear the rest of the blood you've swallowed all at one go. Till then, I've got some airline bags if you need them on the drive."

They worked quickly to clean him up as much as they could, Jack careful to keep the original bath sheet draped over the twenty-six-year-old, and do any wipe down in private areas himself to spare both Gwen and his lover the embarrassment. Finally, he helped the now violently shivering Welshman to his feet, offered him support and semi-privacy so he could shakily get into the old track bottoms and tee-shirt brought for him. Once dressed, Ianto was blanket wrapped and hefted into the Captain's arms for the trip to the SUV, just as the portal's light faded away completely.

The drive back to the Millennium Centre was much less harrowing, though still well over the posted speed limit. The just resurrected Guardian huddled in one corner of the back seat, very glad that Martha had brought a supply of air-sickness bags, and that she was extremely patient as well as not at all squeamish. By the time the group was back in the Hub, the young Archivist was feeling clearer minded but utterly exhausted, in desperate need of a hot shower, and very tired of vomiting portal blood.

"Get him on the exam table," Martha advised as they came down into the Autopsy Lab. "Let me use the Bekaran, see how much fluid is still in his stomach so I'll know if the emetic is needed. Try to be patient just a little longer, Ianto. I'll get this sorted for you, so you can go clean up properly and have a nice lie down."

"Gwen," Jack called from where he stood by the exam table holding his partner's closest hand. "From this moment, until I let you know otherwise, you are in command of Torchwood Three. Don't argue the decision, just do it… please."

Cooper didn't look happy, but she nodded acceptance of the shift nonetheless. There was something in the American's eyes, a near break in his voice that warned he was close to losing control, that he knew he was going to be useless for a while and wanted someone that he trusted standing in as leader.

"Okay," Martha pronounced after a moment. "Not much left down there to expel, which is good. So, let's get you up and into the loo in your room. Then, drink as much water as you can, and any blood left in your stomach should come back up with it. Once you feel less shaky, take a good hot shower to scrub all the portal residue off, then hit the bed and rest till you feel fit."

The young black woman aided her patient in slipping down off the exam table, she and Harkness steadying her fellow Jones for a moment. However, when the Changeling's balance wavered sharply with his first step, his partner simply picked him up once more and strode toward the office.

"I'll let you know if he has any problems," Jack called evenly as he briefly settled his much-missed Archivist into the chair near the bed in their room and ushered the other team members back out.

"Jack…" Gwen began worriedly when the Captain started to close the bookcase door.

"Don't," Harkness warned, that small catch in his voice once more. "I mean it, Gwen… just let us be alone together for a while."

Jack had shut the door and locked it before she could protest, turned to find that his companion had carefully made his way into the ensuite with the bottle of water Cooper had left on the night table, propped open the water closet door and now knelt shaking by the toilet. The Captain left his coat on the back of the recently vacated chair, moved to support and comfort the twenty-six-year-old he'd just watched return from Hell once more, as he used the water to help purge the remaining blood he'd swallowed coming through the Scieron portal.

"Can you help me clean up…" Ianto whispered after he'd sat shivering for several minutes once the dry heaving stopped.

"Thought you'd never ask," the older man smiled, obviously trying to keep things light, but his eyes didn't reflect the good humour.

Harkness helped his lover undress, got the shower running, then stripped as well and went into the tiled cubicle with him. Washing up became an opportunity to get familiar with one another's body again, mutual reassurance that they were both just as remembered. There was nothing sexual behind it, just the need to touch and be touched after a traumatic separation, the simple comfort of leaning against solid flesh and bone.

When they finally emerged to towel off, they did so in a weary silence. Not until they'd crawled naked between the sheets did either say a word.

"Please don't ever make me watch something like that happen to you again," Jack breathed, his voice catching in spite of his efforts to hold it together.

"I ask the same," Ianto countered quietly, snuggling close to his partner in immortality as they tried to relax in each other's arms.

"I've never…" the Captain began, but then had to stop to think about it.

"You have," Ianto murmured. "When Johnson's bomb in your stomach exploded. The lift was open, but not all the way up when it detonated. I was still low enough to see you close your eyes. And when the explosion went off… I watched you being ripped apart before the fire ball hit the lift. That's why I asked if you felt it, because I kept hoping you'd say no.

"I was ten seconds from overriding it, Jack, and you made me leave you to die like that. I always wonder how things would have gone with the 456 if I'd saved you, saved the Hub. I just wasn't fast enough, not good enough to do it. Now I know first-hand what you went through. The pain was overwhelming, words don't exist to describe what being shredded and atomized feels like… and having your body put back together bit by bit is almost worse. What hurts most of all though, is knowing how close I was to sparing you that, and failed."

"Don't do this, Ianto," Harkness hissed, tears welling in his eyes. "I've been waiting four days for the Scieron to send you back. Right now, I just want to hold you tight and hear your heartbeat, because I'm so close…"

"To breaking?" Jones asked softly when the American's voice gave out. "I know. You were here for me when I lost it a couple months back, Jack. I promised myself I'd be here for you when that dam you talked about gave way. You need this, or you're going to end up going mad. You have so many years bottled up… they have to come out or they'll crush your soul. Please… let me help."

"I… I don't know if I can," the older immortal grated, still struggling not to give in to the back log of emotions and horrific memories wearing at the wall he'd so carefully built around them. "I don't know what will happen…"

"Doesn't matter," Ianto stated quietly, shifting up on one elbow to meet his lover's tortured gaze, his own eyes haunted and shadowed with worry. "All you need to know, is that I'm right beside you, and no matter what happens or what you say, regardless of the terrible secrets that come out… I love you."

He leaned close to give the older man a deep, soul bearing kiss, then just held him close. Because he knew that the tears the contact had sparked were only the beginning.

"I'm sorry I hurt you again," the eternal twenty-six-year-old breathed. "I'll make it better, I promise."

For Jack, that was the fatal crack in his mental dam and there was no stopping the terrible torrent it unleashed. He could only hope they'd survive the onslaught and come out sane when it passed.

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AN: Yeah… this is not going to be pretty.

Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM