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Skeletons in the Closet
By: Tenshi-Chan

Part 2

Ianto woke up feeling dazed and confused. It took him a moment to remember what he was doing in bed at such a late hour when he was usually working at the hub at that time of day. When he did, he really wished he hadn't. He felt decidedly sick, but there was nothing left for him to throw up. He'd done it the instant Owen had gotten him home and the truth of the matter had hit him. Lisa was well and truly dead. It had been bad enough seeing her as a half-converted cyber woman, but knowing that he'd never see her again hurt. He had loved her, really he had. She had cared for him at a time when he thought he hadn't mattered to anyone in the world.

He was torn from his remeniscing when the doorknob turned. He curled on his side and closed his eyes again as the door opened. Jack had put him on a suicide watch, after all. He doubted there was anything in the room he could use to do the deed anyway.

"You're not fooling me, mate." Owen's voice was filled with compassion. "But I've been where you are, so I know you would rather just lie there. I'll leave you to it, but remember I'm right outside."

Ianto snorted as Owen left the room. As if he would ever confide in the snarky man who admitted that he was a twat. And who was he to say he'd been in Ianto's shoes? He highly doubted the man had seen all of his co-workers get taken into the room, one-by-one, only to come out as those nightmarish things. The only thing that had saved him wasn't that he had hidden. It was because whatever had stopped the cybermen had done it before they had finished strapping him into the conversion unit. He could still see the blades hovering over his head, ready to start the process. He sighed and wondered how Jack would react if Ianto told him that the conversion unit keeping Lisa alive had been the one intended to turn him into a cyberman. Rather than repulse and frighten Ianto, it had made him feel that he was holding her. She had given him such a sweet smile when he had told her. That was before the pain became too much for her.

That's when he remembered the pills he kept. They were hidden in his mattress, and he doubted anyone would think to look there. He hid them there because one or two pills could be hidden from the many detectors, but it was too dangerous to carry a bottle of pills into work every day, and he wasn't sure Owen would take his word for it that they were vitamins, and he wasn't sure how sensitive the sensors in the hub were. They were hidden in his mattress because he remembered Yvonne being fond of performing spot-checks for alien tech and other substances in the employees homes, and hadn't been sure if the leader of Torchwood 3 was the same. The medication was a strong pain-killer, and would raise too many questions if it were in the open. Questions he couldn't answer.

He moved as quickly as his shaking hands would let him. He had no idea how often Owen checked on him, and wanted to swallow them before the man could stop him. He fumbled with the fitted sheet and smiled when he found the zipper. He quickly pulled at the tab and reached into the little hole in the foam that he had put there. He had to move carefully because he didn't want the pills to rattle too much. It seemed to take forever, but he managed to get the bottle open.

He paused only for a moment before deciding that he was already in Hell without Lisa and popped the entire bottle into his mouth. A few of the pills scattered, but he didn't pay attention to them. Three or four fewer wouldn't make that much of a difference. He quickly dry-swallowed the pills, needing to swallow several times to keep from coughing the mass out. Then he lay back and closed his eyes.


Jack knocked a few times on the door and couldn't keep the worry from his face when Owen answered. "How is he?"

Owen jerked his head towards a door in the apartment. "I checked him about two minutes ago. He was pretending to be asleep."

Jack groaned. "Owen! You were supposed to stay WITH him! Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." He strode for the door.

"Why? He doesn't have anything that ... oh bloody HELL!" Owen ran in as soon as he saw Ianto on the bed with several pills and an empty bottle on the floor. "There wasn't anything here! I checked!"

Jack watched as the doctor hauled Ianto into the bathroom and induced vomiting to get as much of whatever Ianto had swallowed out of his system so they could get the Welshman back to the hub for proper poison control. He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Probably hid it someplace. You never know when or how a suicidal person will act. It's why there's a phrase called 'suicide WATCH.' You watch the person, not just keep an eye on them." He sighed. He hadn't wanted to take more extreme measures. "This was a bad idea. I should have kept him in the Hub. I just thought that if he were at home, in familiar surroundings, he'd be more comfortable."

Over Ianto's coughing, Owen barked out a laugh. "Take a look around, boss. This place hasn't been a home for a long time, if ever. Kid's got the bare furnishings. There aren't any mementos or photos or anything of the sort that says 'Ianto Jones lives here.' The kitchen is barely stocked. I think he spends most of his time at the hub and only ever came here to sleep ... if he even did that much here. For all I know he just had this place to keep up appearances."

Jack looked around and had to admit that Owen had a point. The place was bare of anything save a sofa, the bed in the master bedroom, and a set of dishes that might have been picked up at a corner store or a garage sale. There was a television, but Jack had the feeling that some little old lady had given it to Ianto out of sympathy that the boy hadn't had one. He turned back to the bathroom where Owen had just finished getting a glass of water down Ianto's throat, only to induce vomiting again. "As soon as you think he'll live long enough, get him back to the Hub. I'll go on ahead to clear Tosh and Suzie out."

He felt ill himself as he made his way to the car. Ianto was so young ... much too young to be going out like Romeo. He knew Owen, though, and he knew his medic would do everything in his power to keep Ianto alive. Things kept getting worse and worse for that kid, and Jack felt like he was powerless to stop it. He sat down heavily in the SUV. "Give me a shit load of Weevils and about four or five Hoix all at the same time any day. I'd rather be dealing with them than with this mess that I'm partially responsible for."

He shook his head and started the car. Of course Ianto felt like he had nothing to live for or look forward to. He spent most of his days being ignored unless they wanted something done. Jack remembered, with a twinge of guilt, that he had taken Owen, Tosh and Suzie to a nearby restaurant the other night and had asked Ianto to watch the Hub for them. It was never the young Welshman's turn to be included in the group. Now that he thought of it, Jack couldn't remember giving Ianto the basic gun training. He'd just assumed Ianto knew the basics since the kid had worked at Torchwood 1.

He had conveniently forgotten that Yvonne didn't waste money training everyone with basic weapons. She had a select group of guards, and everyone else pretty much did the one thing they were hired for. Ianto had been pretty much the same thing at Torchwood 1 as he was at the Hub, a glorified tea-boy. Jack made a vow in that car to become more involved in the lives of his team. It was time he double checked and stopped taking things for granted. The last time he had, he'd come back to the Hub one New Year's Eve to the gruesome image of all the people he had worked with dead except for their leader, who had given command of Torchwood 3 to Jack before killing himself.

He wasn't going to let that tragedy happen again. He'd sooner give up waiting for the Doctor. With that thought firmly in mind, he started to plan as he drove towards the Hub.

To Be Continued ...