Hucking Harkness
Chapter 9
The Hub, 1:30pm Tuesday.
"Jack no! Just wait, please," Gwen implored desperately, trying to hold Jack back by the cuff of the bomber jacket he was pulling on inside out, grasping at the one sleeve he'd managed to find. His other arm was twisted up in its own sleeve, which he hadn't realised yet, was inside out. The Captain paused, making contact with the eyes of his remaining team. Owen tried his bit, "Gwen's right Jack, if you go in there now you'll completely blow his cover. At least wait 'till we get a phone call from the hospital. Then you can go up there all worried boyfriend, yeah?" With a tortured sigh, Jack relented, his tense shoulders dropping a little. Until his phone ran.
"Hello? Ianto?" The words were out of his mouth before he realised the stupidity of them. Owen rolled his eyes. Jack knew that, of course it wasn't Ianto, but his lover's name was at the forefront of his mind.
"Uh, Mr Harkness?" Jack realised he'd completely missed the woman's previous few sentences, or who she was. "Sorry, yes, that's me. Is Ianto okay? What happened?"
"Mr Jones has been brought into Morriston Hospital, Swansea with suspected head trauma. He took a fall-"
"I'm on my way."
"Mr Harkness is there someone-" but Jack had already hung up. "-else who could drive?" Jamelia finished her sentence to the dial tone before shaking her head. The last thing they needed was another patient because of a man frantic to see his partner! Men- they were so hot-headed.
"Owen, what the hell?" Exclaimed Jack, as Owen snatched the SUV keys, just as Jack was about to unlock the door.
"Passenger seat Harkness, there's no way I'm letting you drive in that state. Get yourself together will you? You're a mess!" It was only then Jack realised with surprise, that his hands were shaking. He must be coming down from all that pent up adrenaline. He sat, as he was told, relegated to the passenger seat, and calmed himself down considerably on the way. As Captain he needed to keep a clear head and not blow a working cover. Ianto had sent them some detailed, close-up scans from inside the feed room yesterday, while discussing his working hours with Llewelyn. He'd been very persistent, not allowing either the trainer or head groom to get a word in edgeways and kick him out.
The screen in front of Jack suddenly animated itself, loading the programmes it needed, from the computer behind the driver's seat. As Ianto's test results came in, his medical file popped up on the small digital screen. "Read it to me and I'll tell you if the Teaboy's still going to be shaggable..." Owen said absently, hitting the fast lane of the M4 motorway, the sound of a car horn blaring as usual behind him. Jack tended to be too quick off the mark to cut anybody off when he drove, but Owen wasn't so insouciant at slinging the big vehicle around. Jack started reading, not a favourite pastime while in a moving vehicle but he was anxious for news.
The first thing Ianto's brain recognised was the overwhelming smell of antiseptic. Then he heard the beep of a pulse monitor and, twitching his index finger, discovered that it belonged to him. He attempted to open his eyes, but barely managed a flutter effect before the light penetrated through his dark lashes and he groaned, screwing them shut once more.
"Ianto?" The voice sounded loud in the room, but Ianto recognised Jack's anxious tone. His arm shifted slightly on the sheets and he realised belatedly that Jack must have been holding his hand. "Mmm?" Jack's hand caressed his cheek, and Ianto leaned into the touch, eventually opening his eyes to meet Jack's. "Don't do anything stupid with the Teaboy alright Jack?" Ianto frowned at Owen. "What are you doing here?"
"I drove. Saves on speeding tickets in the residential areas if Jack doesn't drive."
"They weren't residential last I went through there!"
"And when was that? Before I left Kindergarten?" Jack scowled, as did Ianto, though it was more to do with his headache than actual annoyance at Owen. The doctor for once took the hint, leaving the room with Ianto's file under one arm.
Several hours later and Ianto was bored out of his mind. He'd tried the sudoku Tosh had given Jack, but he was struggling to concentrate and it was giving him a headache, the numbers blurring on the page. He gave up after the first block. Jack had left on a rift alert after only a few minutes of Ianto being awake. He'd promised he'd be back, but until then Ianto had been left to his own devices. He'd eaten some of his dinner, but it made the slight nausea he felt worse, so he'd quickly abandoned it. The door opened quietly and a head of dark fluffy hair peered slowly round, brown eyes meeting his.
"Gaz! What are you doing here? I thought you were meant to be working?" It was about time for the evening feed.
"My day off on Tuesdays." Gareth glanced over his shoulder as the hospital door opened and Jack slipped into the room, immediately coming over to Ianto, the perfect boyfriend. Sometimes it amazed Ianto how quickly Jack could switch between personas. He could be "Captain and Head of Torchwood" one second and "Devoted lover and sex god" the next. Jack moved back, glancing towards the other presence in the room at the same time Ianto did.
"Gareth, this is Jack, my boyfriend." Ianto smiled softly at Jack who sat beside his hospital bed.
"He the one giving you all them missed calls then?"
"Yeah." Ianto sounded guilty, "I've been distracted all week."
"Don't worry mate, it weren't your fault. Cled says Hucking Harkness has been acting up ever since her race on Sunday." Jack looked up sharply as Gareth continued, oblivious. "Says it's the food mix she's been eating. Nobody blames you."
"Thanks Gaz. I'll see you when you get back tonight?"
"Yeah, that's right, see you. Take care mate."
"Uh, no you won't," interrupted Jack, "I'm sorry Ianto, but the doctors want you to stay in overnight, just to be sure. Personally, I agree with them and you can't argue- Owen thinks it's a good idea too." Ianto sighed in resignation and bid Gareth farewell until the next day.
- T -
2.00 pm Abergelli Farm, Swansea
When Ianto heard about the imminent arrival of Prima Ballerina later on that afternoon, he had already resigned himself to Jack's plan. He'd had a lot of time to think during his overnight stay in the hospital and before he'd fallen asleep wrapped in Jack's arms the night before, the older man had made him realise the importance of this part of the plan. Any argument he'd had could be dashed by the obvious danger presented by Hucking Harkness- the effects of the drug on these horses was dangerous, to horse and rider; no-one in the team could condone another person getting hurt. Especially one of Ianto's new friends. He had become quite fond of his fellow jockeys by now, spending so much time in their company and was grateful to Gareth, especially, for visiting him in hospital and covering most of his work.
He was brought out of his reverie by a large, expensive-looking, sleek, black horse box. It pulled to a stop at the top of the yard and Rhys Williams jumped out from behind the wheel. The horse box was succeeded by Owen Harper's slick convertible. Owen jumped from the seat and jogged round to open the door for his immaculately dressed 'wife', Toshiko, who disembarked gracefully before linking arms with Owen. The pair made their way towards the front of the sleek black vehicle, meeting Cledwin who was wiping a hand on the back of his jeans in order to shake.
"Mr Harper! Nice to meet face to face at last."
Owen shook professionally before brushing the man off, "Yeah well, the wife wanted to see it settled. I take it you have everything ready?"
"As you requested, sir." Ianto nearly choked at the formal address, there was no way anyone would say that to Owen if they knew of his prickly personality. "Ianto? Could you take Prima Ballerina to her stall, we'll come down when we've finished a few business matters." Ianto nodded, joining Rhys round the back of the vehicle to lower the ramp.
TBC
A/n My sincerest apologies for the lack of an update recently. It's all been well planned and mostly written- It just needs me to devote some actual time to it! I need a time-turner, you know, so I can relive a few hours twice? Then I'd cope! lol Thanks for your continued support. Enjoy and I shall endeavour to upload the next bit sooner. *Hugs* Carrie ; )