Worth The Risk

Chapter 4

His eyes fluttered. The brightness of what he assumed was a fluorescent light made Ianto shut his eyes immediately. When he opened them again, everything was blurry and out of focus. He felt like he'd just tumbled down the rabbit hole. Ianto wished that Alice and the White Rabbit would soon appear and then he could come to the conclusion that this was all a dream, as was his throbbing head.

His eyes adjusted to the brightness, and he was able to take in his current surroundings. He was lying on the couch in Jack's office, but there was no sign of Jack. In fact, there wasn't a sign of anybody. There was no consistent typing sound of Toshiko, there was no moaning of Owen, and there was no sweet giggle of Gwen. There was nothing. Just silence.

How did I end up in here?

Ianto tried to recall the memories of that past few hours, but it seemed only to antagonise his already painful headache. He tried to speak, but the words got caught in his mouth and it was only then did he notice the disgusting after taste of bile in his throat. He swallowed to hopefully rinse the horrible feeling, but it was no use.

"Jack?" he mumbled. Ianto tried to stand, only to fall back into the couch again. Just how long was he asleep? He tried again. Putting one foot in front of the other and using objects such as the desk and chair to support him, he slowly proceeded towards the door.

"Jack?" he yelled louder. A sudden painful throbbing sensation robbed Ianto of all thought as he brought up a hand to lightly pat his forever-aching head. Because of this, he was unaware of Jack's presence come running through the door just in time to catch him as Ianto fell forwards. Jack brought him to the floor and cradled him in his arms.

"I'm here, Ianto. I'm here." Jack held him close as he gently stroked Ianto's head.

Ianto looked his Captain in the eyes. "Nice to see you again, Sir." He smiled and Jack returned with grin. "How long have I been asleep?"

"For about 12 hours," Jack whispered.

"And, how did I get here? I can't seem to remember."

"Tosh and I found you in the cells unconscious and we carried you back up here."

"Unconscious?" Ianto repeated.

Toshiko returned from the autopsy room, carrying several large coloured folders. Walking past Jack's office, she saw Ianto on the floor in Jack's arms. As odd as it may have appeared, Toshiko couldn't help but smile.

"Are you feeling better, Ianto?" She asked, standing just inside the doorway.

"I am feeling just fine, thankyou Tosh," he replied and immediately looked back into Jack's eyes.

She smiled and returned to her work station. She opened the first coloured folder and began working, silently and contently. She liked it when she couldn't hear Owen's never ending droning noises.

"OOOOOOOH," came Jack's voice from his office. Tosh hopped off her stool to check if everything was in order. What she saw drove her into hysterics.

Jack and Ianto were still on the floor, just as she had left them, but with an extra-added bonus.

"Nice to see you too, Ianto," Jack commented sarcastically as he kissed him on the head and left his office with vomit all over his shirt.

Toshiko put Ianto's arm over her shoulder and helped him hobble back over to the couch, at which point, Jack returned with a roll of paper towels, carpet cleaner and a damp cloth.

"That's…my job…Sir," Ianto mumbled.

The Hub door rolled opened and soon Gwen and Owen were giggling like two schoolgirls at the sight of their Captain covered in some-one's vomit.

Jack set the cleaning products on his desk and kneeled down next down to his lover and placed the damp cloth on his forehead.

"I'm sorry, Captain." Jack just smiled and went to change his shirt. "I'll ma' sure that geths thry cleaned."

"Say again, Ianto."

"I thsaid ttthhat I'll get your thhirt thry cleaned, thir."

Jack frowned. As far as he knew, Ianto wasn't a drinker, so drunkenness was out of the question. "Ianto, you're not feeling. I need you to get some sleep."

He shook in protest. "That won't be nethathary, thir. I feel fiine."

Jack kneeled next to him. "But you don't sound fine." He smiled and caressed Ianto's hand, but frowned. His hands were ice cold and his fingertips were going an ugly bruise colour. Jack removed the damp cloth on Ianto's forehead, which was felt as hot as teakettle.

With cloth hand, he left his office slowly to visit Owen at his workstation. Rather than working, Gwen and he were in a relatively interesting conversation about their history of drunken episodes. Gwen, already having begun her second story about how she engaged in a mud fight with a random girl at the same bar, stopped mid-sentence and retreated timidly to her own workstation. Jack's unhurried progression towards Owen could've given anyone the insinuation that he came bearing bad news, which suggests why Gwen left in such a manner.

"Jack. I was, er, just—"

"Feel this," Jack chucked Owen the cloth, which he caught in one hand. Owen had a confused expression on his face.

"It's hot."

"That damp cloth was run with cold water and in the space of five minutes of it lying on Ianto's forehead, it turns to that," Jack indicated to the cloth in Owen's hand.

Owen immediately dismissed it. "Probably just a fever." He tossed the cloth back to Jack and begun his work.

"Then come and work a diagnosis for the rest of him, then." Owen paused for a moment as Jack gestured towards his office. He sighed and heaved himself up from his chair and grabbed his doctor's coat, already equipped with his medical instruments, which hung lazily off the back.

"Do I get paid double this?" he said as he walked past Jack, putting his coat on, and into his office.

"Alright, Ianto. Lets see what's wrong with you," he bent down to Ianto's level. He stopped when saw Ianto's discoloured hands.

"When did this happen?" he was addressing more Ianto than Jack.

"I…I can't remember…" Without warning, Ianto convulsed slightly; a miniature seizure.

"Goth damn this headache…"

"His bottom is droopy, which explains his slurred speech," He seized his stethoscope from around his neck and checked Ianto's heartbeat. "His heartbeat is rapid, but that could be due to some anxiety."

Jack watched silently as the doctor worked his magic, so to speak.

Owen mumbled as we went along his invisible checklist, examining Ianto from head to toe. As this progressed, his incoherent medical jargon stopped and he wore a solemn expression on his face.

He nodded his head when he finished and was led back outside Jack's office, so Ianto wouldn't hear.

"So? What's the diagnosis?" Jack inquired, arm's folded across his chest.

"Where was he when you found him?"

"He was down in the cells, unconscious. Tosh got in our CCTV footage and it turns out Ianto ran into a wall and knocked himself out."

Owen sighed. "Jack…it's only my early diagnosis, but…" Jack shifted uncomfortably. "Ianto is presenting similar symptoms to what you find in a brain cancer patient."

Jack's eyes widened. "Come again?"

"Going by the obvious evidence, he received a massive blow to the head which resulted in knocking himself unconscious, he is complaining of headaches, he's got a immense fever, slurred speech, disorientation and judging from what I saw earlier he is also suffering from nausea."

Jack paused so he could comprehend this new information. "What about his hands?"

Owen shook his head. "I dunno. I've never seen that before. I can't link his hands with any other symptom that might suggest what he's experiencing."

"I want to run a full bio-scan on him. Find out what's happening to him," Jack said sternly.

Owen was about to protest, but stopped before he said something he might've regretted. With Jack's help, they both steadily guided Ianto down to the autopsy room. Upon leaving, Jack quickly pecked him on the lips and returned to work.

Toshiko jumped off her stool and followed Jack into his office.

"Gosh, aren't I popular today?"

Toshiko ignored him. "I think I may have found a new development," she placed the trinket box on his desk in front of him, exposing the large crack down the side.

"So it was hollow…but that doesn't mean something was never inside of it."

Tosh smiled. "Exactly. I went back through the CCTV footage of the Hub whilst we were away to find out what happened," she said, already halfway back to her station.

She elegantly sat back on her stool with Jack standing behind her. "And I fount…" she brought up a window with the CCTV footage, "…this." She pressed "play" and the footage showed that night's previous events.

"What the hell is that?" Jack whispered.

"That was what used to be inside our trinket box. And I'd so bold as to guess that that is what made it unbearable to touch.

"If that made the box unbearable to touch, then I can't imagine what it's doing to—"

Jack bolted down to the autopsy room where the bio-scan was just entering its early stages.

"Jack, I need you to get out!" Owen protested. Jack ignored him.

"Ianto, what happened to you while we were away? It's urgent that you tell me!"

Ianto tried to remember, but his head wouldn't allow it. "I..I can't remember anythin'."

"Jack, get out!"

"C'mon, Ianto! I need you to remember!"

"Oh Goth, my head!" Without warning, he began to seizure violently. Owen, Jack and eventually Gwen helped form a safety barrier so he wouldn't fall off while Tosh looked on fearfully. Eventually, the seizure diminished to mild shakes. Owen went about checking for vital signs and any injuries. Jack receded to the stairs and put his head in his hands.

"He's okay. So signs of broken or dislocated bones, breathing is normal, heartbeat is slowing. He's just unconscious, but I'll need to do a scan for any brain damage," he heard Owen say.

"Thankyou Owen, but….I don't think you're the type of Doctor I'm in need of right now."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Just so you now, Ianto's speech was slurred [they weren't major typos. It was a little bit difficult to write, as I just wrote it as how it sounded. Anyways, hope you liked the latest chapter. R&R. Thanks.