"Sightless, unless the eyes reappear as the perpetual star…

"Sightless, unless the eyes reappear as the perpetual star….Of Death's twilight kingdom the hope only of empty men." (T.S.Elliot)

PARADOXOSIS

Points Of Divergence: Route 2:

Ianto Jones lowered the receiver and carefully placed it back on the phone on Jack's desk. He looked up at Gwen who was leaning against the doorframe. A frown spread across his brow.

"Well, that was weird." He commented.

Gwen's smile was sympathetic, since taking charge in Jack's absence, the one thing she had learnt early on was to let Ianto deal with the phone calls, especially the ones from Harold Saxon. Gwen had grown very close to the young Welshman over the last few weeks, their mutual love for Jack had somehow given them the strength they both needed to carry on. She had lost her hero, and mentor, whilst he had quite clearly lost the only thing he loved. She could see his heart breaking just a bit more each day and she knew the time would come when Ianto would shut down his emotions altogether. Gwen was determined not to let that happen. The young man had seen too much pain and loss as it was. If Jack came back she was going to kick his arse for deserting them, and then punch his lights out for hurting Ianto. She stepped into the room and plonked her backside on the edge of the overly neat desk.

"What's weird?"

"Harold Saxon has ordered us to go to Nepal. He has a jet standing by at RAF Lyneham to take us there. Some alien ship crash landing, or some such thing. A UNIT truck is on its way to collect us. I mean he's always been a bit of a pain, but we've never had a direct order before. He was adamant we ALL go."

"Well, there's no way you can go. You haven't had an all clear from Owen. Have we any intel?"

Ianto nodded, he was still looking very uneasy. "He's emailed everything, I've directed it all to the printer. God I need a coffee…." He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, another headache was battling to consume him and he really couldn't be dealing with it now.
"No coffee, Owen was very specific about you staying OFF the caffeine, with the meds you're on."

Ianto's displeasure only increased at the reminder. "Water it is then."

Gwen held out her hand. "Come on, lets get some refreshments before we begin the briefing."

Ianto took it, grateful for the small and precious comfort in the gesture.

Gwen handed out the printed emails to her colleagues as Ianto handed round the much needed coffees. He sat down sighing somewhat dejectedly at his own bottle of water. He hadn't felt this tired since……Actually he wasn't certain. He just wanted Jack home and safe. He wanted to be able to have a day when the pounding in his head and the rhythmic tapping in ears just stopped. Owen shot him a concerned look, but Ianto brushed it off with a scowl.

They discussed the intel sent by Harold Saxon. Decided they'd follow orders. Ianto would remain behind to man the Hub on the proviso that a UNIT officer was drafted in to assist him.

There was no way Owen was going to let the young Welshman risk getting on a plane with his last set of brain scans still showing the abnormality that was causing him so much discomfort. Still the meds enabled Ianto to function, at the moment it was the best Owen could do. Owen knew that even if Ianto were well enough to travel they'd never convince him to leave the Hub for anything more than a couple of hours, just in case Jack came back. Owen wanted to kill Jack right about now. Some one had to remain behind to take care of their resident livestock anyway and Ianto adored Myfanwy. The dinosaur seemed to be the only thing that ever brought a smile to the young man's face these days.

That evening UNIT arrived. Captain Samuals was very unhappy about the fact that Ianto was staying behind. It was with some reluctance that Gwen pulled away from embracing Ianto.

"Watch your back." Was whispered in his ears as they departed. Owen just shoved a piece of paper into his hands listing his drug regime and reminding him to stay away from the coffee, again.

Ianto smiled sadly when they left, feeling so unbelievably empty. He really didn't think he could feel any worse.

As it happened Ianto and Samuals, or 'Captain Sammie' as he came to be known, got on very well. He too loved Myfanwy, adored Ianto's coffee and helped him with the archives. Ianto watched the news, worriedly as Jack's face appeared on 'Most Wanted'. He and Sammie watched in horror as the American president was assassinated. Ianto's mouth hanging open when he saw Jack again on the television, what hell was going on? Then the PM was murdered by his own rather deranged wife. The Torchwood team returned from Nepal looking thoroughly pissed off about the wasted journey and Sammie went back to UNIT with a cheery good bye and a photo of himself feeding the dinosaur.

Ianto's headaches stopped and the drumming in his ears went away over night. Untill……..

Owen pounded along the alleyway. He was aware that he really needed to work out more as the distance between him and Ianto (who was in front) increased. The young man rounded a corner with his gun at the ready. Owen cursed, and ran faster. A weevil, a bloody fast one at that, had eluded them three times now and they'd been chasing it for nearly two hours. It was a vicious bastard too, had already killed two drunken students who'd been shagging behind a van in a pub carpark. Owen took the corner at speed and froze. They had backed the thing into a dead end and Ianto was standing there gun raised, stock still. Something was wrong. Horrified Owen watched as Ianto sagged to the wet concrete in a faint. The weevil flew at him, tearing into his body with teeth and claws. It took six bullets to bring it down.