Reasonably good chapter today, hope you like it!

Chapter 10

But the moment has passed by me now
To have put away my pride
And just come through for you somehow

"Doctor, we need to move quickly… They're trying to get Jack to sign a DNR order on me, he said my heart's getting weaker." Ianto said dully as he emerged from Jack's room.

"It must be the prolonged separation." The Doctor mused quietly. "Ah well, it's good I've found your power source then, isn't it?"

Ianto's face split into a grin. "You're saying I can go home?"

"There's no need to be so pleased about it…" The Doctor said with a hurt expression. "But yes, you can go home."

"Look, I didn't mean it like that." Ianto looked ashamed and frowned slightly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Truth is, I don't blame Jack in the slightest for running after you, not anymore, not after I've met you… You should come and visit him sometimes, he'd love it, I know he would."

"Ianto-" The Doctor began, feeling a little uneasy. Ianto cut him off.

"I'm not saying on a regular basis, just sometimes, perhaps when you're refuelling, give him a call, drop in and have a talk with him." Ianto fixed him with an intense look, which the Doctor met for a moment before grin broke out across his face.

"It's a deal." He smiled and the TARDIS hummed happily beside them. "In return, could you do something for me?"

"Sure." Ianto said, his relaxed expression creasing into a light frown.

"Will you tell him that I don't think he's wrong?" The Doctor's face was remorseful and his voice sounded guilty, so Ianto bit back the snarky retort that rose up unbidden. "Tell him that now I can see that there's nothing more right that him. He'll know what I mean."

Ianto nodded and the Doctor jumped into life again, dragging Ianto back over to the chairs where he began to hook him up to the machine again.

*

"Jack, he's been having runs of v-tach for the past hour, it's wearing him out." Owen's voice was soft and pained from the opposite side of the bed. Jack had both elbows leaning on the soft mattress, hands clutching Ianto's as he pressed his lips to it once more, now a comfort thing to do when he felt out of his depth – something which was becoming an increasingly regular occurrence, not that he would admit that to anyone.

"I'm not going to do it, Owen. I'm not giving up." Jack said stubbornly, closing his eyes and sighing. It had been three days and he was starting to wear thin.

"I'm with Jack on this one, we can't give up on him." Gwen said from behind the captain, her hand on his shoulder.

"But what if this isn't anything paranormal? What if it's plain old, terrestrial brain damage?" Tosh whispered. "Sure, he doesn't need the respirator to breathe and his wounds are starting to heal, but his heart is deteriorating."

"Those bruises. I refuse to believe that lot's explanation of delayed trauma." Jack snapped. "One minute they weren't there, the next they were spread across him. We watched the ones on his face appear, Owen!"

"I'll give you that, it's not a normal occurrence." Owen conceded.

"Owen, please. Don't do this to him. His brain waves are improving all the time, you can see that!" Jack was almost hysterical, though he concealed it well.

Owen felt extremely uncomfortable seeing Jack so broken down like this – he'd always been so stolid, so sure of himself. Now he was just a man in love who was facing the hardest decision of his life. Owen stayed silent and watched Jack wearily, debating whether to continue the argument or not.

Jack made up his mind for him.

"I won't do it." He said finally, Owen nodding his grudging agreement. Everyone knew that the conversation was closed from the look on Jack's face as he turned his attention back to Ianto.

*

"Why can't you just fly the TARDIS over to the hospital and shove me in the room?" Ianto asked curiously as the Doctor started the second wave of wires and readings.

"Well, you'd still be in two parts – your body and your soul." The Doctor stopped and stood up, chewing his lip as he thought. "This transaction needs an enormous amount of power, power that you can't find on the earth. So either way, I'd have to bring you back out here to hook you up and send all that energy through you."

"Oh." Ianto nodded, impressed by the obvious logic in the Doctor's answer. "Well, why can't I phone him? You know, and explain everything."

"You're manifested here because of the TARDIS – there's no guarantee that your voice would carry across the universe before the energy manifesting it dissipated… and a call from me wouldn't necessarily do any good. Now, I need you to concentrate on finding that link again. I need you to strengthen it as much as you can to ensure this works." Ianto nodded and closed his eyes again. He'd come to think of the connection as some sort of glowing, blue green rope in the darkness that had once consumed him and carried him away.

Now he could travel to and from in his sleep and it had been a small consolation for the wait. It didn't take long for the Doctor to be calling him back to his attention and he opened his eyes.

"This is serious, Ianto." He looked at him intently and Ianto focused and nodded. "This should make you stick, it's more energy than the TARDIS has herself so there should be no draw left for you. It may start to come unglued though and you'll need to find some way of stamping on it and splicing your parts back together."

"Electric shock?" Ianto asked, already knowing what to do. He was still lying in the hospital ICU after all. The Doctor nodded at his suggestion and Ianto filed that piece of knowledge away, turning his focus back to the Doctor.

"I'm sorry, but I can't be sure about this. There's a risk that you could get stuck along the path somewhere, or lost, maybe even returning here. I honestly don't know." The Doctor looked worried, but Ianto just nodded and gave him a wry smile.

"If my body dies, I'm assuming this part of me does too. If my heart's failing because I'm not whole, then I need to do something." The Doctor nodded and smiled again, clapping Ianto on the back with a bark laughter.

"Ianto Jones, it's been a pleasure." He grinned and winked before slamming the lever down once more.