Torchwood: Divergence
Book One: Dychwelyd
Chapter 51
Plan B67 had been implemented... Rhiannon Davies wouldn't remember a thing.
"You... Retconned my sister... yeah?" Ianto breathed shakily, weakly squeezing his Captain's hand again.
"She wasn't going to leave it alone," Jack sighed, rubbing the tears from his face before reaching over to gently touch the younger man's cheek and smooth his sweat damp hair. "I made it sound as reasonable as I could, told her that leaving you alone was for your sanity and health... but she wouldn't let it go."
"Stubborn..." Jones whispered, wincing slightly. "That's Rhi..."
"I'm sorry," the American beside him breathed tremulously, honest grief in his expression and voice. "I robbed you of your family all over again and I never even asked what you wanted."
"This was best..." Ianto reassured softly, a liquid rattle burring his words. "The drug onset suggestion... Kindest way to do it... Safer for her and the kids..."
He coughed then, fresh blood showing on his lips once more, and the older immortal automatically used his thumb to wipe it away for him.
"Sorry about our date..." the ailing twenty-six-year-old squeaked hoarsely, blinking owlishly in the room's subdued lighting, his ashen face damp with sweat and tears. "I hurt, Jack... can we go home...?"
Martha appeared in the room at that moment, sitting down the bottle of level 2 Retcon she'd laced Rhiannon's water with.
"Lois and I will clean up, get your sister on the cot and call Emergency Services for her," the young doctor reassured. "Door to the Hub's open. You two head down, I'll come check on you in a bit."
"Thank you..." the shivering Changeling on the cot breathed shakily. "All of you... for helping me... and for looking after my sister..."
"Glad to help," Habiba smiled, offering Jack a hand up off the floor and reclaiming the army blanket so he could gather his partner into his arms once more coat and all. "I'll tell the 999 operator that she came in as I was closing, said she felt faint so I had her come into the back and she passed out. They'll take her to the nearest A&E for a check over, contact her husband... it should be fine."
"Well planned," Harkness agreed, meeting the young woman's gaze. "You were perfect. Keep up the good work."
Lois smiled again, reached out to give Ianto a comforting pat on the shoulder as he was carried past her. Then she and Martha got busy shifting Rhiannon to the now vacant cot and spreading the blanket over her. The team medic collected anything that didn't belong to the slumbering woman before offering to help spot clean the carpet. But Habiba already had the area coated in Isofoam – one of Owen Harper's last concoctions - and the blood stain was able to be wiped up without a trace in mere minutes. So Martha headed downstairs as well, leaving the other young black woman to call Emergency Services for their "guest".
Down in the Hub, Gwen met Jack and Ianto at the cog-wheel door, her concern obvious.
"Oh, sweetheart," she crooned, helping the Captain get the younger man into the bedroom behind the office bookcase. "When I recognised your sister on the monitors as the person approaching you, I knew there was going to be trouble. That's why I sent Martha up. I figured she'd really go off on one if she remembered me, and then when I saw you go down I was glad I'd sent our doctor out to help. I take it things didn't go so well. We only caught snatches of what happened upstairs, that CCTV unit's cutting out again."
"He had a second, longer seizure up at the kiosk and set back the healing of his injuries from this morning," Jack explained, carefully easing his partner down to sit on the side of the bed and tossing the young Welshman's coat across the nearby chair so he could get him undressed. "We had to Retcon her."
"She's stubborn," Cooper nodded sadly. "Didn't want to believe he was dead when I told her, and likely wasn't buying whatever explanation you gave now either. Not one to accept 'let him be' no matter what, I'll wager. I'm sorry it turned out this way."
"It's okay..." Ianto managed quietly, his eyes closed again as he simply let his friends get him stripped down to his underpants and help him ease over on the mattress to lie down, too miserable to even blush. "Truly... it's fine..."
"How's he doing?" Martha called from the doorway. "I brought a bottle of water and the portable oxygen concentrator just in case."
"He could use both, thanks," Harkness advised, stepping away from the bed to give the young doctor room. "He's radiating heat like a small sun, so the Shadows are doing double time with the healing, but I think the oxygen's a good idea anyhow."
"How did Lois do?" Gwen asked conversationally as Martha moved in to perform a general exam and render treatment to their ailing team mate.
"Spot on," the American beside her smiled, briefly meeting her gaze before looking back at his partner. "She acted like we were just strangers who came into the TIC with a sick friend, showed proper public servant concern, made all the right offers of aid, and delivered the spiked water like a pro. She's come a long way in a pretty short period of time. It was an excellent call to bring her on, Martha."
"Breathe through your nose," the named physician advised her patient as she got the oxygen running, casting a smile over her shoulder at their leader before focusing on the young man beneath the covers once more. "All the worst bruising is back on your chest and stomach, but there's no rigidity and the ribs are okay, so I don't think tubes are in order this round. Your lungs are rattling with fluid again though, so I'm going to go get you a strong dose of expectorant. It's nasty, I know, but better to get the blood coughed up than have it delay the healing process as it tries to reabsorb. So, you relax, let Jack come fuss over you a bit and I'll be right back."
Harkness moved to sit on the edge of the mattress and offered the exhausted Welshman a hand to hold, Gwen dragging the chair over to the bed so she could sit and offer whatever comfort her presence might afford as well. Ianto simply lay curled on his side under the covers, partially upright against the hastily stacked pillows so the blood in his lungs wouldn't choke him. His eyes were closed and his breathing was a bit laboured, but he didn't seem to be in too much pain at the moment.
"Heals faster if 'm up..." he murmured groggily, starting to shiver once more. "But 'm too tired after the seizures..."
"How about I go get a pan of hot water and a flannel with some towels?" Cooper suggested solicitously, starting to smile as she spoke. "Let Jack give you a nice bed bath. That should get your heart rate up, yeah?"
"Among other things..." Ianto breathed, managing a weary smile and too spent to be overly embarrassed.
"I take that as a 'yes'," the former Time Agent holding his hand chuckled, his eyes still somewhat sad when he met Gwen's concerned but hopeful gaze. "You're due for some major pampering, Barista Boy, and I owe you for Retconning your sister without permission."
"No, you don't..." Ianto insisted with a brief congested cough, opening his eyes just enough to see his two friends where they hovered beside him. "Jack... look at me..."
The older man met his gaze, found clarity and confidence in the young Archivist's tired blue-grey eyes.
"Rhi barely understood me since I turned fifteen..." Ianto stated gently, swallowing hard against the urge to cough, his accent much heavier than usual in his current state. "It was bad 'nough just... visitin' for more than half an hour... after I went to Un'versity... Worse once Dad died... I hardly ever saw 'em at all... She'd never be able to get used to me now... she shouldn't have to. You did what I was thinkin'... but was too sick to actually suggest... 'M glad you were there to do it..."
Jack leaned over to kiss his partner on the forehead, then smoothed his hair and squeezed his hand.
"Here's Martha with your medicine," Gwen warned, rising from the chair and collecting the young Welshman's coat from the back as she pushed it into its normal position. "I'll go get your bath supplies."
Harkness helped Ianto sit up, one arm around the younger immortal for support as the team doctor approached the bed. The Changeling's lower chest and most of his abdomen were once more mottled with huge overlapping bruises that ran from dark red to blue-black, and were obviously causing him a considerable amount of pain when he moved.
"I know the syrup makes you gag too much to keep it down," Martha half-smiled, handing the twenty-six-year-old three good sized gel-caps and a bottle of water. "So, I emptied the analgesics out of these, then injected the expectorant into them instead. Hopefully it'll go down easier that way, and will work before the Shadows in your cells neutralise the medication."
It took the entire quantity of water, but Ianto managed to get all three of the large, clear red ovoids swallowed without mishap.
"Genius..." he breathed with a shaky smile, handing the empty water bottle back to her.
"Perfect timing," Gwen piped up from the doorway, bringing in a steaming wash basin and an assortment of towels to place on the night table. "We'll leave you two to the bath business... pop your head out the door and shout if you need anything, yeah?"
She leaned over to place a quick kiss on her recovering friend's forehead, gave his partner a pat on the back as she followed Martha from the room and closed the door. A little Jack and Ianto time was in order, and the whole team was more than happy to leave them to it.
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AN: Just need to get poor Ianto back on the mend… Jack's on the job, so he should be feeling better in no time. With luck Plan B67 will have been a success and things can get back to Torchwood normal again.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM
