12.
Jack found Ianto in the medical bay, looking exceptionally miserable as Owen poked and prodded him. He glanced up at Jack, then immediately looked away.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I know I was out of line upstairs."
Owen snorted. "You only said what we've all wanted to pound into her at some point."
Ianto shook his head, obviously regretting his words in the tourist office. "Maybe, but I was disrespectful about it, angry and aggressive. I should apologize."
"Later," said Jack. "Owen's right, you said what the rest of us were all thinking. She's had this problem since the day she started, it's past time we called her on it."
"It probably just rolled off her shoulders," Owen pointed, sounding annoyed.
Jack didn't tell them that Gwen had asked him one last time what he was holding back. He turned instead to the doctor. "Everything all right?" he asked, trying to sound light and not as worried as he felt.
Owen nodded. "Everything looks good, though he really needs to be in bed recuperating. I've given him some fluids and a lot more meds to help him through."
"I am right here," Ianto pointed out.
"And like I said, you should be in bed resting, not coming up with crazy schemes to kill aliens." Owen paused. "We are going to kill it, right?"
Jack exchanged a look with Ianto. "I don't think we'll have a choice, Owen. This thing is in our heads. It's not going to stop just because we ask it to."
"Oh, I totally agree," said Owen, nodding. "And I've got your back. But what if it messes with one of us before we can kill it, then what?"
"It won't," Jack said.
"That's what you told Gwen," Owen pointed out. "And of course she needs to know everything and understand everyone, especially when it comes to you."
Ianto rolled his eyes; Jack was too tired to grin and shrug it off.
"But are you sure that we don't need to know what else is going on? Because that's our safety you're gambling on when you hold your cards close."
Jack blew out a breath, trying to frame his answer, but Ianto spoke for both of them.
"We already told you. The Xrillian is mad at Jack because he shot it in 1963. Then when it apparently disappeared back into the cube, he put it in the archive and left it there for forty-five years."
Owen studied Ianto shrewdly. "So it's hurting Jack by hurting you, like Tosh said." When Ianto shrugged in response, Owen turned to Jack and continued. "It could still go after one of us, though. I'd like to think that you'd be a little bothered if I got shot, or if Tosh got stabbed. What's to stop that from happening?"
This time Ianto looked away, his jaw tight. Jack knew he'd have to say something, and if he were honest, it didn't bother him to tell Owen as much as it did Gwen.
"There were two cubes in 1963," Jack said. "One of them was destroyed coming through the Rift, and the team disposed of it. Apparently the Xrillian's mate was in the second cube. It thinks I killed it."
Ianto was staring at the ground so hard he could have drilled holes in it. Owen glanced back and forth between them. "So this thing is looking for what, revenge?" Jack nodded once, pulling his arms tight around him in defense. Owen, however, laughed. "And that's the big secret? That it's targeting Ianto because it thinks he's your mate?"
"Owen," Jack started, but the doctor waved him off.
"Relax," he said. "I understand why you wouldn't want to tell Gwen, since that would set off a virtual firestorm of questions, but I don't see the big deal. You're still sleeping together, aren't you?"
"Yes," said Jack. "And we prefer to keep that between ourselves."
"You work in an office with five people, of course we know you're shagging," Owen pointed out. "So I don't…oh." He trailed off, glancing between Jack and Ianto with a slow nod. "I get it now."
"What?" asked Ianto, his head whipping up. "What do you get?"
Owen's face took on that rare of look of sympathy. Jack could see Ianto's defenses rising even higher. "It's really messing with you both, isn't it? That's why you said it was personal, why you got all bent out of shape upstairs. You're dreaming about Jack killing you, and he's dreaming something equally as bad. And not because you're coworkers who're shagging, but because you're mates."
Jack opened his mouth to speak, but didn't know what to say. Owen held up a hand to stop him anyway. "Look, it's none of my business, like you said, and I won't say anything to the girls. I thought there was more to whatever was going on, but this…this is tough." He shook his head and sighed. "I can't imagine."
Jack cleared his throat. "Thanks, Owen."
"So long as you both know that you're not at fault here, right?" Owen asked. "Whether it's a nightmare or a waking dream, you're being forced to see and hear and feel these things. It's not what's really going on."
"We know," Jack replied. "But it's…complicated."
"Don't let it beat you," said Owen. "Maybe when this is over you should take a day, or a weekend, and work through it. In my professional opinion, of course."
"We need to work through this first," Ianto pointed out. "If we can't stop this thing, it'll keep going until one of us is dead and the other broken." It was fairly obvious who would play which role.
"Then we stop it, and Gwen's bleeding heart be damned," said Owen. "She opened the Rift and turned back time to save her boyfriend. I don't see why one of you can't put down an alien for the same reason."
Jack ducked his head with a smile at the look on Ianto's face when Owen referred to him as Jack's boyfriend. They definitely didn't see themselves that way, and Jack wasn't sure they ever would. And that was all right, because it was more than that, more than a single label. Knowing that others had done more to save those they…yes, that they loved…made Jack feel that much stronger in his convictions. They had to stop it, no matter the cost to the alien or the team.
"All right," Owen coughed, obviously uncomfortable with the silence that had sprung up. "I'm going to go help Tosh so she's not alone. You two stick together in case it attacks again. Give a shout if you need one of us."
"Thanks, Owen," said Jack. "I appreciate it."
Owen grumbled under his breath about bosses and teaboys and left them in the medical bay, alone again. Jack tucked his hands into his pockets.
"That definitely wasn't how I was expecting that to go!" he offered cheerfully. Ianto actually smiled.
"Sometimes Owen's not half as bad as he tries to be."
"Sometimes?" shouted the doctor from above them. They both laughed. Jack pulled up a chair next to Ianto.
"Seriously, how are you? Besides shocked at Owen and pissed off at Gwen?"
"I'm fine," Ianto sighed. "And I'm not pissed off, not exactly. It's been a long week and I couldn't take her attitude anymore. Not this time, when she hasn't experienced it in her head. I'm sorry," he offered again, and Jack shook his head and reached for his hand.
"No apologies necessary. I understand, I really do. Even if it seems like I don't. Believe me, I do." He remembered his time in Hell, when he'd grown so fed up with Gwen that he'd shot her.
"Jack?" Ianto asked. "What's wrong? You had the same look on your face upstairs."
"It's just that…" Jack took a deep breath. "Remember when I told you I'd seen and done things in Hell? Terrible things?"
Ianto nodded, looking wary. "And one of them had to do with Gwen?" he asked. Jack nodded, but before he could say anything, Ianto stopped him. "It's fine, Jack. You don't have to tell me. It wasn't real, and whatever happened there…well, I suppose it stays there."
Jack frowned. "It's not what you think," he said.
"I still don't need to know," Ianto insisted.
"But I want to tell you. It might…it might help." Ianto still looked reluctant, so Jack took his hand and held tight. "When I was in Hell, I killed Gwen. I shot her in the head because she was driving me crazy with her mothering and bossing and questioning. I couldn't stop myself. I pulled out my gun and shot her," he repeated, hanging his head as he remembered the awful scene in Hell.
Ianto was staring at him when Jack finally raised his head to meet Ianto's eyes. But whether it was shock or horror or relief there, Jack couldn't tell.
"You didn't have to tell me," Ianto finally said. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"I wanted to tell you," Jack replied. "I don't want it to happen again. I don't want this thing to make me kill her, especially after what happened upstairs. I couldn't resist before and I don't think I could resist again."
Ianto frowned. "Of course you could, you resisted when it wanted you to kill me."
"Because you're different!" Jack exclaimed. "I know you don't think so, but you are. You're special, and it knows that, which is why this is happening."
Ianto looked away. "This is really insane, isn't it?"
"Hell of a week," Jack agreed. He laid his head on the bed and felt Ianto's hand run through his hair, gentle and comforting.
"I don't even know if this is real, right now," Ianto murmured so softy Jack could barely hear him. "Or if something will go wrong, and you'll suddenly stand up and leave us all behind."
"I'm not leaving," Jack replied. "We're going to beat this thing and do exactly what Owen suggested. Go away for a weekend, take some time for us. No aliens, no nosy coworkers, just us."
"Just us," Ianto replied. Jack stood up, sat on the edge of the bed, and leaned over to kiss him. What started as a simple kiss quickly grew into something more heated, until they were interrupted by a groan from above them.
"Can't you two wait 'till this is over to kiss and make up?" said Owen. "Some of us are trying to work."
"What've you got for us, Owen?" asked Jack, standing straight and glancing up at the doctor with a smirk.
"Tosh has figured out how to reproduce the energy of the Riftquake," he announced. "It's time to talk to our little square friend."
"That was fast," Ianto commented, and Tosh appeared at the railing.
"I'm good," she grinned. "Really good. I'd already started looking into the readings a few days ago, so it wasn't hard to figure out at all. And since I can't run any tests without affecting the cube, I figured you'd want to be up here."
"We should probably get Gwen down here too," Jack said, following Ianto up the stairs. "You did say something about her talking it to death."
"I did not—" Ianto started to protest as Owen burst out laughing, and even Tosh grinned. "Okay, I did. I do think, however, that it should be you. You're not only the leader, but the one it's after."
"I couldn't agree more, since who knows what she'd say. Let's do this."
Owen called Gwen down as Tosh brought out the Xrillian cube and set it on a table. Jack hovered nearby, refusing to let his nerves get the better of him. He wasn't afraid of being attacked, not physically. It was whatever the alien threw at them mentally that he was trying to prepare for. And if it didn't go after him, then it might go after Ianto, and Jack didn't want to see the other man suffer anymore. It had to end. They'd try to talk to it, but what use would it really do? They couldn't offer a hostile psychic alien sanctuary in any way; it would always be a threat.
Checking that his gun was loaded, Jack slipped it into his holster. Ianto stepped up next to him, standing tall and determined, the blanket left behind on the sofa. To Jack's surprise, he too had his weapon, which he slipped into the pocket of the sleeping pants he was still wearing.
"You won't need it," Jack said quietly.
"You don't know that," Ianto replied.
"I do, because I'm not going to let you kill it."
Ianto turned and gave him an incredulous look. "And why the hell not?"
"It's my job," said Jack, avoiding Ianto's eye. "It's my fault that this thing's still here and going after us, so it's my responsibility to put an end to it."
He could feel Ianto shaking his head beside him, imagined the Welshman was probably rolling his eyes as well. Jack gave him a pointed look. "I don't want this on your conscience."
Ianto actually huffed at him. "I've killed before, Jack."
"This is different," Jack replied. "This is personal."
"Why does that matter?" Ianto asked. "I can separate the two, you know. I've been doing it for months. I'm not going to kill it because I'm mad at it for wrecking my sleep cycle. If it's a threat, I'll do what I have to do."
"I'll do it first, then," Jack replied, trying to hide a grin. This time he did see Ianto roll his eyes.
"This isn't a pissing contest, Jack," Ianto told him.
"I'm trying to protect you," Jack said.
"From what?" Ianto demanded. "From myself? My conscience? Or from Gwen?" He let out a short laugh. "I'm not worried about what she thinks of me. In fact, you should probably let me shoot it so she doesn't take it out on you like she's done every other time."
"Now who's trying to protect whom?" Jack asked.
"I'm not—"
Tosh turned around then and actually stomped her foot. "Will you two stop it? You sound like children, pushing each other back and forth on the playground. We should all be armed, because we can't predict what it will do when it's forced out of the cube. It could be aggressive. It could go after any one of us physically or mentally. So everyone should have their weapon and be prepared to use it."
"Tosh," Gwen said from the steps, joining them from upstairs. "I don't think—"
Ianto groaned under his breath as Owen moved to intercept her. He laid a firm hand on her arm and spoke quietly, so that no one heard what he said. But Gwen's face showed it all: she gazed at Jack and Ianto in confusion first, then disbelief, then something that looked like disappointment and hurt. Once again Owen held up a hand to stop her from opening her mouth, and to everyone's surprise, she nodded before joining them. Yet she was stiff, and it was clear that she was uncomfortable. Jack, however, ignored her.
"All right, Tosh," he said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation and offering a trademark grin to diffuse the tension. "Let's see what you can do!"
She began explaining, in detail, how she was going to reproduce the energy of the Riftquake. Jack followed most of it; Owen's eyes went unfocused almost immediately. Gwen looked like she was trying to understand, but Ianto—who normally kept up with Tosh quite well—looked impatient. Finally Tosh started the procedure, increasing the strength of her improvised simulator each time there was no obvious reaction from the cube.
Until without warning Gwen froze, reached behind her, and pulled out her gun only to point it straight at Ianto.
Author's Note:
Another chapter that I hadn't planned on, in which Owen puts on his nice hat. It's short, but I'm digging these shorter chapters (seriously – editing 6-8K chapters is a bear!) and it gets us closer to where we're going. Penultimate chapter coming up. Hold on to your hats, it's looking intense. Thank you so much for reading!
