DON'T LOOK NOW: PART TWELVE
There was a confusion of noise and coloured light. It was comforting in a strange, stoned sort of way and Ianto was reminded of his early Cambridge days sitting with Ralph and Ollie in Professor Symmon's office smoking god only knew what at 2am for a dare. He had never laughed so hard in his life and when they had beat a hasty retreat through the first floor window into the courtyard, there was this magnificent sense of invincibility as he leapt the ten feet or so down on to the forbidden turf. His ribs had ached for days from the laughter, his ankle had been sprained. The memory brought tears of renewed grief at the loss of both of his friends, Ralph to Canary Wharf and Ollie to.... whatever the fuck this was. He blinked the water away and let out a sigh, which was choked by an obstruction in his mouth. Ianto's eyes snapped open.
Jack nearly leapt out of his seat in surprise. It was the last thing he was expecting, to see those beautiful blues again and he immediately leant forward.
"Ianto, hey." He kissed his forehead. "Thank God, you're ok, you're ok." Jack turned away and Ianto was aware of him disappearing from his line of sight and momentarily panicked he tried to speak.
"Owen, he's awake!"
Ianto blinked again, taking in an unfamiliar ceiling above him, the inability to feel anything or to move, and there was Jack again, smiling and touching his face.
Waking up was a blur of uncomfortable movements, proddings and poking and voices that were not really making much sense, because he was too exhausted to listen. A suited stranger flashed something blue and glowing in his face and he could hear Owen cursing colourfully and every so often Jack's reassuring tones and touches. Ianto allowed himself to sink into the mire of a clouded world, not quite sleeping, just vaguely aware without taking any of it in. He remembered Toshiko being there, stroking his brow and singing soothingly in Japanese. He liked that, she had done it once before when Jack had deserted them, so long ago now. He lost track of time and motion after that, the babble become another blur until finally the crunching of his stomach brought him to his senses. He opened his eyes and fixed his gaze upon a skinny, suited man with wild hair and glasses. Ianto frowned at him and opened his mouth to talk, rather dismayed that what came out sounded more like weevil speak.
"It's alright Mr Jones. Water?"
Ianto nodded and opened his mouth as ice chips were pressed to his lips. He closed his eyes in pleasure as the cooling melting ice ran down his throat.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." More was offered and Ianto took it.
Jack watched from the door as the Doctor carefully fed Ianto with iced water, talking to him in hushed, calming tones. He had been relieved beyond belief when the Doctor had strolled through the doors the previous day, whatever it was the Doctor had done, Ianto had woken up. Jack didn't care about the how. He entered the room and took a seat around the other side of Ianto's bed and grasped the young man's hand. It was still weak and felt cold under the burn scars, but he was comforted by the faint returning squeeze of his fingers. The Doctor's brown eyes met Jack's blue ones, his eyebrows arched at the sight of Jack holding tightly on to the patient.
"I didn't realise he was so important to you."
Jack offered up a smile to his friend and mentor. "One of my responsibilities. Ianto is..... well...." He couldn't find adequate words, especially when he realised that Ianto was looking at him as well. The Welshman was smiling at him.
"I can't lose him."
The Doctor nodded, understanding, he'd felt the same way about Rose, still did.
"He's going to be fine, with plenty of rest and TLC." The Doctor turned to look at Ianto. "I have some nano genes on the Tardis, we can fix up those hands of yours too, just as soon as you're up and about. Now I just have to go and check on the other patients."
Ianto nodded. "Is my sister alright?"
"Your family are fine, they've been transferred to the UNIT facility, which is where you will be going later today. There's no need to worry, Martha Jones will be looking after you and the fine Dr Harper, you're in good hands."
"I know, sir. Whatever it was you did. Thank you."
Jack and Ianto both watched as the Doctor rose to his feet and affectionately ruffled Ianto's hair before leaving them alone together.
"I like him." Ianto murmured.
Jack grinned. "Yeah, me too."
"Is it over Jack? This whole mess, is it finally finished?"
Jack rested his head down on the edge of the bed and Ianto's fingers found their way into his soft hair, gently caressing his scalp.
"I don't know, Yan. Whoever set this up, must have had help and lots of money from somewhere. The people that are being held by UNIT are not talking. Tosh and Owen have pulled a lot of information from the computers but nothing to indicate where the support is coming from." He replied, relishing the contact and succumbing to his own exhaustion. Ianto gently prodded his shoulder.
"Come up here Jack and lie down."
Jack sat up and Ianto awkwardly moved himself to one side of the cot. Once he was settled Jack pulled off his boots and climbed on beside him, pulling Ianto's body close to his. They settled back, Ianto still under the blankets, Jack on top, Ianto's head resting against his. It wasn't long before they were both asleep. Tosh came in and found them and took a photo on her mobile phone before creeping back out of the room.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"So Jack, what exactly has been going on?"
The Doctor stretched back in the chair in Martha's office and he took the cup of tea his former companion offered him before she, too sat down. The Two them fixed their gaze firmly on Jack.
"It's a long story, so I'll give you the shortened version. Ianto independently began investigating some deaths a few months ago. It lead us up to a facility in Scotland where we found more bodies. We then found out Ianto isn't exactly pure human and we think he was part of a research program, connected to Torchwood 1 and 4. There's not a lot of evidence. Ianto was part of a breeding program some alien human hybrid being, bred for the purposes of research into alien biological weapons. We're looking at one race of aliens experimenting on another, testing out different disease and their antidotes. There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the gist of it."
"Sounds a bit X-files to me." Martha commented.
The Doctor wondered what she was talking about. "Do we know which races?"
Jack shook his head. "No matches on either the UNIT or Torchwood databases, maybe the Tardis will know, but we certainly don't. However, both sides appear to be remarkably similar to humans in their physiology. The alien markers in Ianto were minimal and Owen thinks they are almost completely redundant too. These people have operated with in Torchwood without sharing anything with the other branches, they've been completely independant of us. Bloody Hartman must have known something, but you know what the old regime was like."
"Right then, well lets get Ianto aboard the Tardis and have a look at him, see if we can't get to the bottom of this. It may be a matter for the Shadow Proclamation, but if we can identify the race involved, well it's a starting point."
"Could they be from the future?"
The Doctor smiled over his mug of tea at Jack. "Highly possible, manipulating the past by altering the genetics of their ancestors, but if Ianto is 25 years old, it means it's been going on for...."
"We estimate at least 30 years. We know all the test subjects have been tagged electronically and that a lot of them are out there in the world."
"But were Rhiannah's children tagged?" Martha asked.
Jack shook his head. "Which means there could be an untold number of unaccounted for child hybrids in the general population that we can do nothing about."
The Doctor looked thoughtful. "Still, they seem harmless enough, your Ianto hasn't proved to be any kind of a threat has he?"
"Ianto is as safe as houses. There's really not a lot we can do is there?"
"Not really Jack. Once I've analysed Ianto I'll take a trip to find where these people have come from, if I can, but beyond that, unless you have a way of finding out who is financing and co-ordinating all this....."
Jack was shaking his head. "So far there's been nothing. Work in progress, which means they'll just start all over again when all the attention has died down."
"Probably......Right then. Jack why don't you go and bring Ianto to the Tardis. I promised I'd fix his hands if nothing else."