Skeletons in the Closet
A Torchwood fic
By: Tenshi-Chan
Part 4
Jack was sitting at his desk reading an Email from his contact at UNIT while waiting for Owen. He'd told the team medic to look into Ianto's medical history. He really hoped that the young man didn't have suicidal tendencies. He looked up as Owen entered with a grimace on his face. "What have you got for me?"
Owen held up a folder. "A compiled medical file that's about four inches thick." He dropped the thick folder onto Jack's desk. "He's been in and out of A&E since he was a kid. Never the same hospital twice in a row. Now I don't have to be a doctor to know the signs of someone who's suffered a lifetime of abuse when I see them." He sat down and gazed at the folder darkly. "The stuff that happened when he was a kid is bad enough ... what really pisses me off is that it was happening up to what happened at Torchwood One." Then he tapped the folder. "I want to do a full physical on the kid."
Jack looked at the first few sheets that had what might have seemed like ordinary childhood injuries to the untrained eye. Then he caught the dark tone in Owen's voice. "Why?"
Owen looked around. "Because he was just in the A&E last week with some minor burns. I thought 'Okay ... he spilled tea or something like that.' Until I read the report." He paused as he weighed his options. "I'd like to know how in the bloody hell he managed to spill anything on the small of his back." He clenched his fists. "You didn't do it, and I sure as hell didn't do it. Tosh wouldn't hurt anyone and you said that the cyber-woman was incapable of movement. I don't like what that narrows it down to."
Jack froze at the implication.
Owen looked at Jack sadly. "Tell me I'm wrong, Jack. Tell me that our Tea-Boy isn't being used by one of our own as a guinea pig."
Jack looked at the description of Ianto's latest "accident" ... second degree burns in an unusual starburst pattern and felt a sinking feeling as he remembered something that could cause such a pattern. "Damn it."
Owen sighed. "That's what I thought. What are we going to do?"
Jack glanced at the hatch to his bunk where Ianto was currently sleeping. "We put a stop to it before anyone else gets hurt in the name of research." He shook his head. "Why put up with it? Ianto is incredibly intelligent and quite attractive ..."
"Stop right there before you say something that'll scar me for life." Owen scowled and tapped the folder again. "He's been abused his whole life, Jack, by one person or another. A person gets beat down long enough, they start to believe they deserve it."
Jack sighed and looked into a few of his older records. "It almost makes me want to take him out to dinner once or twice to show him that not everyone is out to hurt him."
Owen shook his head. "I wouldn't if I were you, Jack. Might cause him more harm than good. Keep up your usual banter with him. He might make the first move. If and when he does, and you want that kind of relationship with him ... I'll adopt a 'don't ask, don't tell' attitude."
Jack nodded and looked over as the hatch opened and a slightly sleep-mussed Ianto emerged. "Hey!"
Ianto closed the hatch and straightened his clothes as best as he could without pressing them. "What happened?"
Owen snorted. "In essence, you took a couple of Valium and slept a few hours." He then folded his arms. "Before the day's over, I want you on the examination table so I can give you a thorough looking over. I wanna know just what other injuries you're hiding."
Ianto glanced over at Jack and paled when he saw his name on the folder. "Oh Lord."
Jack sighed and shook his head. "Why didn't you tell me what Suzie was doing?"
Ianto fidgeted a bit before answering. "She said if I did, she'd tell you about Lisa and then I may as well be signing my own death certificate."
Jack clenched his teeth and forced himself not to throw something. 'She had no right.' Then he took a breath before he spoke again. "So she knew about the Cyber Unit?" At Ianto's nod, Jack growled. "Then it was not up to her to keep that secret. I'm sorry, Ianto, but as soon as she knew, she should have come to me. Instead she used her knowledge to blackmail you into submitting yourself to her tests. She took her authority and abused it, and I won't have that."
Ianto looked absolutely floored. "What are you going to do?"
Jack smiled without mirth. "Give her a talking to that she won't remember."
Owen was sickened to the very core as he finished his examinations. He took great care not to take any of his rage out on Ianto, who kept shooting Owen looks as he got dressed. "Go on and sit down. You've been through Hell today and your hands are shaking." He gave Ianto a rare, brief smile, and took his notes up to Jack.
He glanced at the paper and felt sick again. Not only as a doctor, but as a regular human being. It made matters much worse since he had only recently been shagging the weapons specialist. He took a deep breath before entering. "I'm not entirely sure you want to see this now, Jack."
Jack stood up and walked over with his hand out. When he had the report, he walked back to the desk and leaned against it. "Spit it out."
Owen grimaced. "About the only bits of the tea boy that aren't injured are his face and hands ... basically what we see. Just about everywhere else is bruised, burned, cut, what have you. His torso was bandaged by an amature ... possibly he bandaged himself. He has a couple of bruised ribs along with the burn on his back. His arms, legs and back are riddled with scars, and it's a miracle that he can walk around since his feet look like raw hamburger. Lord knows when he last had a proper meal since those suits he wears hide the fact that he's greatly underweight. Once this fiasco with Suzie is over, I want him in a hospital where he can get the proper care he needs."
Jack scowled. "I'm taking it that you've severely edited the report." He sighed and looked out into the hub. "I'd rather keep him here where he'll be around people he knows. We have resources here that regular hospitals just don't have." He drummed his fingers on the desk and considered various options. "All right ... come on." He walked out of the office.
Owen followed and stood back as Jack approached Ianto, who looked small and apprehensive.
Jack was silent a moment. "In a about an hour, Suzie will be back in to work. Tosh usually comes in a little later. I want you to act as if nothing has changed. Go about fixing the coffee and whatever it is you usually do."
Owen gaped at Jack, but closed his mouth against the objection he had.
"Now that I know what's going on, she has no power over you. When she leaves here, she'll have no power over anyone." He pulled out a small bottle and emptied out some of it's contents in front of Ianto. "For Suzie's coffee. That's why you have to prepare it. It's doubtful that she'll suspect it coming from you." When Ianto took the pills, Jack's eyes softened a little. "Once Suzie's been dealt with, you have a couple of options."
Ianto blinked in confusion.
"You can stay here and let us look after you or go to a hospital. I have the authority to order you to do one or the other, but you deserve some say over your care." Jack walked over to sit down. "Once you've healed up, you have another choice. You can keep working here as a proper member of the team, or I could retcon you and get you a nice job in whatever field you want. Hell ... with what you've gone through, you deserve to be set up as an independently wealthy young man who just won the lottery."
Owen smirked at Ianto's shock. "Looks like you severely underestimated the boss, Ianto. So ... what's it gonna be?"
Ianto sighed and thought a moment. "I'd rather Owen looking after me than another strange doctor." He worried at his lip. "As for what to do after, I just can't see myself as anywhere else but here."
Owen nodded and stepped forward. "Right, then. First thing I intend to do is see to those feet. How the bloody hell are you walking?"
Ianto shrugged. "I guess I just learned to ignore it."
Owen growled a little. "No more ignoring your pains, Tea-boy. You're going to have to do a little walking once Suzie gets in, but I can give you something that will dull the pain while you're on your feet." He was gentle as he took one of Ianto's damaged feet in his hands. "This should kick in before she gets here, and I'll give you a couple of pain killers that won't react with whatever Valium is still in your system." The sigh Ianto let escape as Owen slathered some of the ointment on spoke volumes. He wondered how long it had been since Ianto had experienced a day free from pain. If he had anything to do about it, he'd make sure Ianto's life was as pain-free as possible from that day onward.
To be Continued...
