Torchwood: Divergence
Book One: Dychwelyd
Chapter 22
Jack started toward the younger man as the creature went after him with its jaws wide, but the injured brunette brought up the bright silver weapon he still held, the sword changing to a metre long bar with a barbed blade on either end. Jones plunged the staff into the roof of the creature's mouth, jerked it back toward himself to imbed the second blade behind its shark-like lower teeth. The toad squealed, rearing back and dragging its troublesome dinner to his feet. The Changeling staggered but refused to fall again, a pike materializing in his left hand to pin the monster's nearest forelimb to the ground.
"Now!" Ianto shouted, his voice breaking with the effort of controlling the rampaging toad.
He cried out in pain as the struggle pushed the creature's weight against his injured leg and his right forearm was raked along its jagged teeth.
"Duck!" Harkness called, aiming the primed weapon for the gaping maw looming over his partner.
The small silver ball spun down the toad's throat, making it gurgle and sputter.
"Get clear!" he shouted urgently, moving in to help the younger man as the Agapathian behemoth started to writhe and squall.
Ianto waited until the creature tried to rear again, then dissolved both weapons simultaneously and let the beast's own momentum flip it over on its back. He tried to stumble away, however his right leg wouldn't support him and he started to fall. But then there were coat clad arms around him, his leader hauling him to his feet and getting them both around the side of the crypt's ruins just as the body of the monster nearby began collapsing in on itself with a dreadful shriek and horrific slurping crunch.
Panting for breath, Jones leaned against the dark crumbling stone behind him, shaking with adrenalin and pain, the American bracing him upright watching until the super toad had disappeared in a ripple of displaced air. Then the coat clad brunette suddenly embraced the younger man, holding him close before trying to take stock of his injuries.
"I don't like you taking those kinds of risks," Jack frowned, using his handkerchief and the shreds of the Welshman's right shirt sleeve to bind the ugly horizontal gashes the Changeling bore between his wrist and elbow. "It scared me to death seeing you down with that thing snapping at you."
"Sorry…" Ianto murmured, then let out a choked cry as the Captain crouched down to examine the knee injury and his unsupported weight briefly rested on that leg. "Broken… just below the joint, I can feel the bones shift… fuck…"
"I don't think I've heard you swear like that since I set Myfanwy on Cyber-converted Lisa," Harkness remarked, his worry tempered with honest surprise.
"You've never had to scrub blood stains off the seats of the SUV," his lover hissed, starting to shiver and radiate heat once more. "Do you want to go get the first aid pack, wrap it up before we head home?"
"I'll bandage it at the SUV," the older immortal stated, grimacing at the sight of the twenty-six-year-old's knee beneath the torn chinos. "Come on."
Ianto eased away from the crypt to centre his weight on his good leg, only to have his partner sweep him up into his arms.
"You weigh nothing and this'll be quicker," Jack insisted before the young Welshman could protest.
"Isofoam that left coat sleeve as soon as we hit the Hub," Jones advised through gritted teeth. "Blood should come out without needing dry-cleaning that way."
"Bodily damage first, laundry second," the older immortal half smiled. "I'm more worried about getting you on the mend again than whether or not my coat has to be dry-cleaned. Sometimes I think you took the whole butler deal way too seriously."
"Can't help it," Ianto breathed shakily, tucking his right arm close to his stomach and leaning his forehead against the side of his companion's neck. "It's what I'm used to… it's what I'm good at."
"You're good at a lot of things," Harkness stated firmly. "Some of them can't be mentioned in polite company, but I value them all very highly. Though you've added making me really worry to the long list, and I'm not so thrilled with that one."
"I don't mean to," the injured Guardian in his arms whispered, his voice echoing guilt and growing despair. "I'll try harder to be careful, I promise."
"I just go cold inside when I see you get hurt," Jack pressed, carefully lowering the young brunette to his feet next to the SUV so he could open the back passenger door and reach through to the rear for the medical box. "Let's get you in the front so you've got a little more room."
One door closed, the adjoining door was opened and the former Time Agent helped his partner up into the big black vehicle with both legs still outside, then he enlarged one of the tears in the Changeling's right trouser leg so he could treat the damage beneath.
"I need to practice more," Ianto murmured, shivering even harder than he had been as he tried to gauze wrap the sword cuts on his left hand. "I'll go down to the firing range whenever I can, review what I was taught in Hell. I'll work harder on defence and evasion…"
His quiet words broke off in a breathless whimper as the older man wrapped gauze tight around his lower thigh, knee, and upper calf. Finally, the Captain eased him around to sit properly in the seat, reached across his body to get the safety belt locked in place.
"Let's get you back to the Hub," Jack suggested, the muscles along his jaw bunching in worried agitation as he tried to decide if he should have Martha come back in.
They drove in silence, the older man assuming his partner was resting and the younger silently battling panic as he worried that his lover was upset with him for getting hurt again. Fifteen minutes found them back under the Millennium Centre, another five had the two of them in the Autopsy Lab where Harkness helped the twenty-six-year-old undress and get onto the exam table.
"Arm's not looking too bad," the undying American commented after cleaning the wounds with Povidone-iodine. "But we'll wrap things up for good measure. The leg's gonna be tougher though. I can wash out the cuts, but I'm not sure how to handle the break."
"Third cabinet, second drawer," Ianto whispered, shivering miserably atop the partially inclined slab. "Should be immobilization braces among the other DME according to the system inventory."
"Okay…" Jack nodded, carefully irrigating the gashes on and below the Changeling's right knee. "I'll bandage these so the brace won't rub, then straighten the leg till you think the bones are aligned and strap it in. Once it's set, I'll clean up the cuts on your left hand."
The treatment proceeded exactly as planned, the young Welshman managing to stifle all but a strangled moan as his leg was set and the brace tightened. Soon he was in his partner's arms again, the former Time Agent carrying him to their room and settling him on the bed. Jack could feel the younger man trembling, his skin fever hot and his brow creased in pain. He didn't realise the biggest problem was that his lover thought he was upset with him, and that the tightly bottled distress was about to cause an unexpected reaction.
"You rest," Harkness urged, turning toward the door. "I'll go foam my coat sleeve as directed and be right back to check on you."
As he exited the room and then the office, he didn't hear Ianto begin to gasp for air as the world narrowed to a black edged tunnel and seemed to close in around the twenty-six-year-old. Jones recognised the symptoms... his heart was racing, it hurt to breathe, he couldn't seem to put a coherent thought together, and all his muscles were starting to jerk. This was always how it had felt before a seizure over the past few days. And as if that thought was the trigger, the young brunette felt his spine stiffen and everything went completely black.
The next thing Ianto knew, he was lying partially on his left side atop the bed panting for breath, his vision blurred, heart pounding, mouth dry, stomach churning. He was just trying to figure out how to reach the rubbish bin, when Jack returned and rushed over to the bedside.
"Feel sick..." the Welshman croaked, trying to take slower, deeper breaths as tears welled in his eyes.
Harkness fielded the bin, held it ready, but after a few tense minutes his partner's nausea passed. He sat the container down, moved to help the Changeling into a more comfortable position against the pillows.
"Were you trying to get up and hurt your leg?" he prodded worriedly, assuming the bout of queasiness had been pain induced. "If you needed something you could've shouted, I would've heard."
"I..." the now eternal twenty-six-year-old stammered uncertainly, not sure he should mention the seizure for fear that it would just further upset the older man. "I don't remember... Bottle of water maybe..."
"I'll get it," his lover half smiled, leaning over to kiss his forehead then his lips. "Sit tight and let the new damage heal, yeah?"
Jack rose and hurried out toward the kitchenette, leaving Ianto to shiver among the covers as the threatening tears finally won free to slowly trickle down his overly pale face. His first twenty-four hours as a fully cognisant Scieron Guardian hadn't gone so well. He'd taken a lot of damage, experienced more than one emotional meltdown, and managed to seriously upset the man he'd spent two years in Hell to be with. Silently vowing to do better, he closed his eyes and willed his body to heal faster... for Jack's sake as well as his own.
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AN: So, no cliff-hanger, but still a good dose of angst.
Sandysan2013 – Hopefully you didn't tip over and do yourself damage. I wish I could respond to your reviews on the site, you always give me something to smile and/or think about. Thanks!
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM
