A/N: Wow, this might be the shortest interval between updates I've ever managed before! Enjoy!
Gwen sat propped up in bed, rubbing a palm over one of her bandaged forearms, and Jack grinned in amusement at her compromise to Owen's no-scratching rule.
"Don't you laugh at me, Jack Harkness," she growled, trying to give him an evil look through eyes too tired to pull it off. "You should be more sympathetic, knowing what I'm going through."
Jack shrugged and sat down on the edge of her mattress. "I'm thinking of making it mandatory every time we get a new member," he said casually.
Gwen pulled a face. "Like a vaccination? Measles, mumps and alien rashes?"
"I was thinking more hazing without the paddles." Jack considered his own words for a moment. "Or maybe with paddles too."
"I can't believe you're all immune to this thing already," grumbled Gwen, ignoring him.
"Hey, we all suffered our own week of hell. At least you've got us to look after you now; back then we were all trapped in here under lockdown, scratching like mad. We weren't sure if we'd ever get better and, worst of all, we were forced to live off Suzie's stash of out of date vegetable cupasoups." Jack shuddered at the memory. "Not even the mutual creaming sessions could make up for that horror."
Gwen looked at up him, apparently undecided whether to groan, laugh or hit him. In the end she rolled her eyes and slumped further into her pillows. "At least I'll be immune after this too, I suppose," she said, yawning deeply.
"Exactly," Jack agreed. He stood up again. "You should try and get some more sleep. You look like death warmed up."
"Always the charmer," Gwen murmured, her eyes sliding shut.
Jack leaned forward to press his lips to her hair and then retreated from the already slumbering woman.
"Ianto!"
Jack waved him over the moment the young man stepped through the cog door, only to immediately disappear into his office.
"What is it?" Ianto asked as he stopped behind Tosh's workstation, eyeing the details that filled her bank of monitors.
"Seems the Rift figured out we were down one and decided to start pissing around," Owen answered, folding his arms and scowling. "But then I guess we've been lucky not having any major disasters recently."
"Well, you've just gone and tempted fate, haven't you," Ianto said blithely, glancing up as Jack emerged from the office with his greatcoat on.
"We've got multiple events across the city," Tosh began to explain. "Nothing big-"
"-but I want them sorted ASAP," the Captain interrupted as he rejoined them.
There followed a flurry of activity as everyone set about preparing for an excursion and before long Jack, Ianto and Tosh were armed and in the SUV, heading through Cardiff at the usual breakneck speed. Ianto rolled around in the back seat, absently considering the irony of how grateful he felt that the Rift had started acting up.
If they'd had to leave two of their team behind at other time, he might have felt some concern about heading out to investigate an unknown disturbance, however in this instance he was glad for something to distract Jack for a while. The older man had been scrutinising Ianto very closely the past couple of days; his questioning from the evening before and the way his eyes followed Ianto wherever he went – and not in the usual way – was starting to make Ianto feel like he had a target painted between his shoulder blades.
The young Welshman hadn't believed he'd been acting any differently, but then it was always difficult to judge normality when trying so hard to be normal. The thought of Jack finding out why he was still on edge three months after becoming an alien's puppet sent bolts of fear though Ianto's body. He was evidentially going to have to work much harder at keeping his lover firmly in the dark.
"Over there," Tosh announced, before much time had passed, and pointed through the windscreen at a shopping centre up ahead of them. Jack threw the vehicle into a screeching arc, just scraping through the car park entrance he'd almost overshot, and then followed Tosh's finger to a green verge off to the side of the complex. A small crowd of people were gathered there, but others were walking past without stopping, seemingly untroubled by whatever lay in the overgrown grass.
"Well, that's not the scene I was expecting," Jack admitted to his companions, bringing the SUV right up to the curb and climbing out. "Okay people, out the way, coming through!" he called, pushing between the onlookers to the middle of the circle. Once there he stopped, surprised, and turned back to face Tosh. "Am I missing something here?" he asked, waving a hand at what lay at his feet.
Tosh edged her way through the observers. "Oh," she declared weakly and Ianto, two steps behind, peered around her to see what had got everyone rather less excited than they should have been.
On the grass there appeared to be a slug; larger than usual, at perhaps a foot long and very fat, but slug-like in every other way.
"It looks..." Tosh was saying hesitantly, wary of the people around them, "...normal..."
"What is it?" someone asked, clearly accepting that Jack and the others were there to deal with the creature. "It can't be a slug, it's too big."
Jack lifted an eyebrow at the teenager. "It looks like a slug," he pointed out simply. "What else do you think it could be?"
"But it's....it's huge!" the youth said in disbelief and Jack grinned.
"You wouldn't believe how many times in a day I hear that," he said, winking at the woman beside the lad. He crouched down next to Tosh and they both watched her modified PDA as she scanned the creature. Jack snorted at the distinctly unimpressive results and looked up at Ianto. "Get the gear from the car."
Ianto turned away to comply whilst Jack stood and faced the onlookers still gathered nearby. "Really?" he asked them. "You're wasting your afternoon staring at a giant slug?" They gaped at him, shifting uncomfortably at his reproachful tone. "Go," he urged, waving his hands in a shooing motion. "Go buy frivolous things, eat junk food, enjoy your lives!"
The crowd dispersed quickly, chastened by his words and perhaps realising that they really could find something better to do.
"Is it okay to let them go?" Tosh asked, moving aside as Ianto placed a small containment unit down beside the creature.
"It's a freakishly large slug," Jack told her, shrugging. "Hardly front-page material. Besides, do you really want to try and Retcon all these people?"
"You mean do I want to try and Retcon all these people," Ianto corrected, handing a pair of heavy-duty gloves to the Captain. "Now, if you'd be so kind..." He motioned towards the clear box he'd set next to the slug.
Jack looked from the box to the Welshman to the slimy creature on the ground. "But you're in charge of clean-up," he pointed out and tried to give the gloves back.
"And you're in charge of alien capture." Ianto smirked in faint satisfaction and kept his hands behind his back. "This is more alien than clean-up, so you get the honour, Sir."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "Fine," he said before a grin broke across his face. "But when we get back to the Hub I'm spilling coffee all over my paperwork and you'll have to clean it up."
"Oh?" Ianto raised an eyebrow. "You'd waste my coffee like that?"
Tosh hid a giggle behind her hand as Jack tugged on the gloves with a pout and petulantly got to work.
The alien proved no trouble at all to secure; apart from almost slipping out of Jack's hands due to the copious amount of slime that covered it. It had remained motionless pretty much since they'd arrived, only squirming a little at Jack's touch and showing hardly any reaction at all to being on another world, which, whilst encouraging, was certainly curious as well.
They moved on to investigate the other instances of Rift activity, only to find more slugs at each new location, much to Jack's dismay. He'd tried convincing Tosh to take over handling the wet, squishy creatures but she'd only laughed at his plea. Ianto had simply glared him down before he'd even opened his mouth to ask.
By the end of the afternoon his skin felt sticky inside the sodden and apparently porous gloves and he'd vocally blamed Ianto for that fact at least a half-dozen times already, especially as the slime had proven resistant to wet-wipes and thus he'd been unable to drive the SUV for the rest of the day.
"Don't move," Ianto commanded the moment they were back in the Hub, and Jack found himself standing just inside the large cog-wheel door, hands held away from him as though they might move of their own volition and spread the stickiness over the rest of his body without his prior approval.
Tosh skirted around the Captain, giving him a wide berth and an amused smile, and Jack growled back at her playfully.
Ianto reappeared before him with a thick plastic bag and a bowl filled with various bottles in his hands. "Right," he said in his no-nonsense voice, "gloves in here." He held out the bag as Jack peeled off the rancid material, glad to be rid not only of the clinging items but also the smell of the vile slime. Ianto sealed the bag and set it aside, hopefully in order to destroy the gloves later on, rather than attempt to clean and reuse them.
"Come on," Ianto continued, dragging Jack's glare away from the offensive apparel. The young man turned, leading his Captain across the Hub and down a level to the large communal wetroom. Ianto set his bowl down beside one of the deep sinks and began running the taps to fill the porcelain. Jack stood in the middle of the room, hands still uselessly aloft, and watched Ianto as he poured various liquids into the water.
The young man glanced back over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Jack. "You enjoy it that much?" he asked.
"Enjoy what?" Jack replied, eyes fixed to Ianto's backside as he leaned over the sink.
"Having that stuff all over your hands."
Jack forced his attention upwards and wiggled his fingers. "It does have a certain tactile appeal," he said, lunging forward with his hands outstretched threateningly. Ianto simply shook his head and stepped aside, grasping one of Jack's arms as he passed and plunging his hand into the frothy water.
Chuckling to himself, Jack set about washing himself, occasionally flicking droplets of water at the other man and then finally sighing in relief when he pulled back from the sink, skin clean at last.
Ianto held out a towel but Jack countered by holding out his hands expectantly. The older man bit back another laugh as Ianto rolled his eyes and obediently patted them dry before producing a bottle of lotion and starting to smooth it over Jack's reddened skin.
Jack watched him, smiling affectionately at the absolute focus the young Welshman gave to his task. He was reminded of his recent concerns about Ianto's reversion to an almost entirely detached and professional demeanour. He wanted to believe his lover's assurance that it was simply a lingering ghost of being used, but something still didn't sit quite right about that.
"Ianto." The moment he spoke, the other man tensed. Jack marvelled briefly at the skill Ianto possessed in reading his thoughts and intentions, but then he frowned at the sudden atmosphere that had gathered around them. "I was thinking maybe we could go out later." The Captain tilted his head, trying to catch Ianto's eye. "Grab some dinner or something. It's been a while, y'know."
The corner of Ianto's mouth curved up into a smile. "It has," he agreed. His body relaxed again and Jack nodded slightly to himself, glad that he had changed his tactic at the last minute, but fully intending to take advantage of the more casual setting that a meal out would provide.
"Jack?" Owen's voice suddenly crackled in his ear. He pulled one hand free of Ianto's slick grasp and activated the comm.
"Owen," he replied, realising for the first time that they hadn't seen the doctor upon their return to the Hub. "What's up?"
"Tosh said you got covered in some kind of alien secretion?"
"Oh yeah, just a little slug juice." Jack held his hand back out to Ianto, even though there was no cream left to rub in. "Shame you weren't with us, you would've loved playing with the slippery little buggers."
Owen made a doubtful noise. "Yeah, well, just make sure you've got none of it on your skin or your clothes if you come in to see Gwen. I don't want to risk bringing anything toxic into the room right now."
Something in the doctor's tone alerted Jack's instinct for danger. The movement of Ianto's fingers also ceased and they shared a look. "Something wrong, Owen?" Jack asked carefully.
"You could say that," came the prickly response. "Gwen's skin has started to blister."
Jack and Ianto hurried to rid themselves of any trace of the alien slime before dashing back through the Hub to Gwen's room. Tosh was already there, hovering on one side of the bed whilst Owen stood on the other, injecting something through an IV line attached to the back of Gwen's hand.
The change from the last time Ianto had seen her was drastic. Earlier that day she'd been tired and itchy but in good spirits, yet in the interim her complexion had become sallow, the circles beneath her eyes were darker than ever, and her gaze slid lazily around the room, completely unfocused.
The two men eased their way in past Tosh, eyes fixed on Gwen's forearms. Owen had unwound the bandages and they could see that the rash had become a violent cherry-red and small lesions now covered her skin.
"What happened?" Ianto asked. "We didn't get anything like this before."
"Yeah, well, it's obviously a different strain, isn't it," Owen growled unhappily. "Whatever we were exposed to before must've been a weaker version, one that didn't develop past the initial stage of the rash."
"But it was enough to give us immunity to this one?" Ianto repressed a shudder, imagining what might have happened if the entire team had been struck down by this form of the virus. There was no doubt about the fact that Gwen couldn't care for herself, so if everyone had fallen ill with it at the same time...
"Lucky, eh?" Owen said into Ianto's grim visions. He scowled at the machines he had set up to monitor Gwen's new condition, as though he could find a solution within their displays. "The rash has got worse as well," he told them as he worked. "It's like this all over her body now." He waved a hand at the bright red limbs, his jaw clenching with anger and concern.
"And the blisters?" Ianto asked, feeling a little queasy.
"Only on her arms."
So far, Ianto added silently to himself. He glanced to his side, where Jack stood, eyes fixed on Gwen's pallid face.
"Can you treat this?" the Captain asked in a monotone.
Owen pursed his lips. "I don't know yet. I could only ease the discomfort of the original rash, so I'm not sure if I can do any better with this." He busied himself with the collection of bottles and instruments he'd gathered there over the past few days, studiously avoiding looking at the others.
Ianto could read the tension in the young doctor's shoulders, but he was more concerned with the blank look creeping across Jack's face.
Over the years Ianto had become very adept at reading the immortal's expressions and so he knew without a doubt that there was fear gathering in his lover's heart. This new development, so unexpected and vicious, had Jack worried, and that was not an easy thing to do at all.
Ianto swallowed, his own anxiety growing at the dulling of Jack's eyes. Whatever the other man had planned for that evening would clearly have to wait; Jack wouldn't leave the Hub after this news and Ianto...well Ianto wanted to be somewhere else right then.
With a gasp, the young man dropped to his knees, legs unable to hold his own weight and he paused a moment, gathering himself. His chest heaved, skin damp with sweat, and his back stung deliciously.
"Does it ever stop?" he asked abruptly, surprising himself with the question. Now was not the time for speaking; now was the time for collecting his possessions and leaving in silence so he didn't have to analyse what had just happened.
"Does what ever stop?" came the response, the speaker's voice rich and strong and endlessly reassuring.
"Needing this." Ianto tilted his head, as though to look up, but couldn't lift his eyes from the floor. "Will I ever get enough and just stop?"
There came a sigh from above and then legs appeared beside him. "I couldn't say for sure." The other man crouched down and still Ianto refused to meet his eyes. "People change, needs change. Sometimes once is enough to get it out of their system. Sometimes they come here regular as clockwork but then something changes in their everyday life and they stop." A hand drifted over Ianto's shoulder, not quite touching but letting him know the offer was there. "It's all relative, depending on the individual."
"Do you ever want to stop, Alex?"
A quiet laugh. "Occasionally. When clients come here for certain other reasons and have no concept or appreciation of what I truly offer."
"But you don't turn them away," Ianto guessed.
"No, I correct them," replied Alex. "My own needs still stand."
Ianto said nothing, simply nodded. He stared at the padded cuffs around his wrists, fascinated by the intricate detail that had gone into them. They must have been made by a specialist, he decided, someone who cared about their creations, but how many people who wore them ever noticed the artistry within the fine metal and leather?
The notion disturbed him and he felt a sudden need to be free of their confines. Who could think the cuffs beautiful when they knew what they were used for? He scrabbled at them, nails sliding over the catches in his haste to be rid of the heavy shackles, and only when the other man caught his hands did he realise what he was doing.
"Let me," Alex said quietly, and he quickly removed them, setting them aside out of sight.
Ianto deflated in on himself, momentarily as still as a statue whilst he began to prepare himself for standing and leaving the room. It didn't take much; he'd been entrenched in lies one way or another for most of his life and so pulling on his impassive mask was like second nature to him. No, it didn't take much, and yet it was still getting progressively harder every time he left one of these sessions.
"Would you like to shower before you go?" Alex asked, returning to the ritual they had established for this part of the encounter. The same question, posed at the end of each scenario, and their time together was officially over. Their temporary roles dissipated into the heavy air and the truth of their identities began to seep back in.
But then he touched Ianto, actually touched him whilst the young man was still collecting the shattered pieces of his façade from the hardwood floor. Ianto looked at the hand upon his forearm, stared at it as though it were completely alien, and found himself more disturbed by the contact than if the hand had belonged to an alien.
"No," he said, because he always said no; the journey home, sticky with sweat and exertion, was another part of his return to the normal world and the shower in his home was always the final resting place of the demons he'd expunged during the session. "Thank you," he added, because he was always polite.
"Okay," Alex said. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Ianto's forehead. "I'll let you get dressed." And then he was gone, leaving Ianto alone and staring blindly at the door through which the other man had left. First the touch and then a kiss? His mind reeled, unable to cope with the unexpected when he was not yet back within himself; when he was not quite Ianto Jones again, but still the half-empty shell that resembled everything that was wrong with him.
The chaste kiss upon his brow left behind it a searing heat, almost strong enough to counter the fresh stripes of fire that ran across his back, and Ianto found himself floundering, unsure which he should focus upon, which would bring the least pain to his heart.
It proved to be no easy decision and so he instead chose the third option; the easy way out. He chose to ignore it.
Standing, Ianto reached for his clothes, where he'd placed them, neatly folded, an hour or so earlier, numbly re-donning the costume that would get him safely back to his flat, where he could then fix the persona fully into place and no longer need the suit to hide within.
His movements caused his back to twist, reminding him of the reason for his presence there, for the truth of his arrangement with Alex, even if the other man was forgetting himself, and he clung to that thought as he finished dressing.
He then took the coward's way out again, emerging from the 'playroom' into the empty living room beyond and standing there for a moment without calling out. Alex was nowhere in sight, and when he didn't appear at the sound of Ianto moving about, the young man gladly grasped the opportunity to sneak from the apartment and back out into the safe darkness of the night.