"So, what's the diagnosis, Doctor Jones?" Jack asked.
They were gathered in Martha and Mikey's room at a budget hotel, a 15-minute walk from Cardiff Central. Their room was smaller than the bedsit, but with less furniture in it, the six of them could just about manage. Gwen had commandeered the armchair in the corner of the room and Rhys stood over her, hand resting on her shoulder. She felt useless. There was nothing for her to do other than watch and wait.
Mickey had pushed the tea and coffee making facilities to the side of the desk and was setting up what looked like a highly modified laptop that was connected to various other devices. Meanwhile, Martha had sat Ianto down at the foot of the double bed, suit jacket and waistcoat removed.
"Give me a minute, Jack," Martha chided as she read through the readout on the small screen of a handheld device. It chirruped and flashed a green light. "Okay, so it's identified the species… And you're 100% human."
Jack cheered and threw his arms around Ianto, landing next to him on the bed with a bounce.
"Well, I'm sure my sister will be disappointed with that result," Ianto replied dryly. "She was convinced I was an alien when we were kids."
Gwen looked over at Martha questioningly. Rhys gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
Martha sighed. "You know, this would be a whole lot easier if I knew what I was supposed to be looking for."
"You're not looking for anything," Jack said, turning to glare at her. You're checking that Ianto's okay and you just said he is."
"I said that he was human," Martha replied evenly, "which is not the same thing. Still pretty impressive though, all things considering."
"And why would that be?" he asked in a low voice.
Gwen tensed in her chair. She hadn't heard Jack speak like that for a long time. She hadn't heard it when she demanded to know about the negative Rift spikes and the missing people, or when they turned against him and opened the Rift, nor when Tosh had been manipulated into bringing a killer alien into the Hub barely a month after Ianto had been caught doing the same thing. In fact, the last time she heard Jack speak to anyone like that was the day after Jasmine had left with the faeries. None of them had been able to understand what Jack had done that day, not for a long time. They pushed him away, and he pushed them away in equal measure. Gwen had never worked out whether Jack had been that angry with them or if he felt he deserved their anger and ensured he received it.
"Mate, he was dead six months ago," Mickey said, looking at Jack over his shoulder, still fiddling with his setup on the desk. "I've seen a lot of things, but you're still the only one who's managed to come back from the dead."
"It's happened before, or hasn't your girlfriend told you about what happens at Torchwood?"
"I was pronounced dead at Canary Wharf, even though I'd been living in a parallel world for months, then came back here two years later, so it's not like it's just Torchwood that can resurrect people. But from what I've heard, you brought your colleagues back with a glove, twice, and the outcome wasn't very pretty either time."
"Oh, and you'd know all abo-"
"Enough!" Gwen shouted. "That's enough, both of you," she said with tears in her eyes and throat itching with the effort of repressing them. Rhys rubbed her shoulder, but she shook him off. "This isn't helping anyone."
Mickey muttered an apology and turned back to his screens.
Gwen came to crouch in front of Jack. He didn't apologise, but he wiped a fallen tear from her cheek. "We need to know, Jack. I need to know. Even if it's only to keep Ianto safe, we need to know what we should be looking for."
"There's nothing to look for," Jack repeated firmly. "He's fine. He's back and he's safe. Now drop it."
"Ianto?"
The man in question just shrugged. "I feel okay. Well, okay for a dead man."
"You're not dead," Jack hissed at him angrily before his eyes watered and he looked down at their clasped hands, ashamed. He sniffed and spoke quietly, but with conviction. "You're here now. It doesn't matter."
Ianto shrugged again at Gwen's unasked question. She huffed out a breath in frustration and stood up. "Fine! Be like that. But until we know what's happened, we have no idea what to do if he suddenly drops down dead again."
"That's not going to happen."
She saw Ianto wince in pain at Jack's tightened grip. "Yeah? And how do you know that? Because Ianto, our Ianto, is buried six feet underground in St Wools cemetery, not swanning around in the suit he died in doing whatever it was that you two were doing at a demolition site in Abergavenny."
"He's not going anywhere, not again," Jack spat at her.
Before Gwen could continue, Martha cut in. "I think everyone just needs to calm down for a moment, okay? Jack, sit back down! Gwen, remember what I told you about avoiding stress? All these accusations are no good for anyone right now. Let's just take a breather for a second, yeah?"
Jack and Gwen continued to glare at each other but backed away. Ianto rubbed Jack's shoulder soothingly and Rhys did the same for Gwen.
"Okay," Martha continued with a sigh, "we're not going to get anywhere like this. Gwen's right, it would be easier for me to know if I was looking for anything in particular-"
"You're not."
"-but, if that's not the case, then it's probably a good idea for me to give Ianto a full check-up anyway," she said trying to soothe Jack.
Gwen had said that he was acting irrational and possessive around Ianto, but she hadn't expected him to be this intense. The Captain Jack she knew could be very protective of anyone he cared for deeply. She'd witnessed it herself on the night Owen Harper had been fatally shot then brought back to life. But Jack was acting nothing like he had back then.
At the moment, she decided, it was probably for the best to humour him and accept what he was saying in order to keep everyone calm. She understood Gwen's concerns that Ianto was somehow responsible for Jack's outbursts of emotion. It certainly suited him if he had something to hide that no one other than Jack was allowed anywhere near him.
"Ianto, I noticed that the cut on your cheek seems pretty new. Do you have any other injuries? I can give them a look over, make sure they're not bothering you. It's no trouble."
She could see the panic in Jack's eyes growing as she asked the question. Ianto just looked shiftily at him before answering in a low voice. "Just some scrapes and bruises. Nothing too bad."
Jack took Ianto's hands in his. "Oh Ianto, I didn't realise. I'm sorry. I should have thought…"
Martha looked down at his hands and noticed that his knuckles were scraped and swelling slightly. She wondered how she hadn't noticed before. She'd left UNIT because she'd trained to be a doctor but ended up working with more corpses than patients in need of treatment. Working freelance wasn't much better in that respect, but the was a lot more excitement and a lot less paperwork. But it seemed that her skills as a doctor had detreated if she hadn't even noticed that Ianto was hurt.
"Just on your hands?" she asked.
"My, uh, chest, too. And probably my legs."
"Does it hurt when you breathe?"
He shrugged one shoulder, almost apologetically. "A little."
By now Jack had taken out Ianto's silver cufflinks, pocketed them, and rolled up his sleeves. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked him softly, fingers tracing the dark marks that stood out on Ianto's pale skin.
Gwen's eyes widened as she saw the bruises, as did Rhys's, but neither of them said anything.
Ianto shrugged again in reply to Jack's question, a faint blush pinking his cheeks. "I didn't want you to worry. And it's not too bad, all things considered. To be honest, I'd kinda forgotten about it."
"You can tell me anything, Ianto Jones." Jack raised Ianto's hand and brushed a soft kiss to the damaged skin on his knuckles.
The tips of Ianto's ears turned pink too and he smiled.
Martha smiled too. "Okay, you're definitely getting a full check-up, Ianto. And whilst I'm here, I'll give you one too, Gwen." She paused for a moment as if the thought were only just coming to her. "Actually, let's go for the full set. You up for a medical too, Jack? Don't worry, nothing too invasive. Then I'd be able to sign all of Torchwood off as fit and healthy."
"Just like the old days," Jack murmured to himself.
"Oh joy, more paperwork," Ianto said with a roll of his eyes. "I don't know why you bother with Jack, it's always the same."
She laughed. "I'm always glad to have a patient that's fit and healthy. They're the best part of this job. I might need that little pick me up after I have to tell Gwen again that she needs to keep her stress levels down and sleep more."
"Oi," Gwen protested through a yawn. "It's not my fault this time! Blame Torchwood."
But Martha could see she didn't mind really. She knew what Martha was doing. "That's always your excuse," she said with a theatrical sigh.
Jack laughed. "Okay then, nightingale. You don't need all these excuses. I know you've been dying to see me with my shirt off for ages now."
"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking to!"
"Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it, Mickey Mouse? I know you're dying for a piece of me too."
"And suddenly it's as if he's never been away," Rhys muttered.
"Don't worry, big boy. I've got plenty of love to go around. You'll get your slice too."
"And before you start flirting with the pregnant woman, let's stop it right there," Martha interrupted. Jack pouted at her, but she just rolled her eyes. "Right then Ianto, shall we get yours over and done with?"