"He's a child, Jack. He can't stay in the hub. I have a contact at child services; we can find him a nice home, with stable environment for him to grow up in, again." Owen tried smoothing the idea over him. "Besides, it may only be temporary until we find a way to reverse this whole thing."
"I said no. Ianto is my responsibility. He's staying with me." Jack responded to him with a tone leaving no room for argument.
"Jack, he can't stay in hub. It's not safe." Tosh added timidly.
"I'll be staying at Ianto's flat from now on. There will a rota for watching the hub over night and a rota for watching Ianto when it's my turn to be in here." He began to explain.
"This job is not meant for people who want to raise children…" started Owen.
"I'm not handing him over to strangers Owen!" Jack yelled at him, interrupting half way through his sentence.
"Let me finish. It won't be just you raising him; you can count us to help. Right, Tosh?" Owen finished.
Following the conversation back and forth she happily agreed. "Yes, of course. We will all raise him together. We all care about him Jack. Let us help."
Jack nodded; he knew he would need help. Taking care of Ianto in the event they could not cure him would be a team effort. "Thank you."
"Alright, enough of the dramatics we sound like a bloody soap opera, I think my balls may have shrunk." Owen quipped while he walked back to check on Ianto.
Jack chuckled and Tosh giggled at his sudden outburst. After sobering up a little Jack instructed Tosh to bring the device to the med bay. Owen had agreed with him on letting the device complete the second stage as soon as possible.
Once the device was brought in, Ianto's vitals normalized and his brain waives went to being that of a normal toddler. "Its done." stated Owen. "He should wake up in a few hours. I'll be upstairs helping Tosh."
Jack sat by Ianto's side, holding his small hand, watching the minutes tick by waiting for him to wake up. He heard foot steps coming toward the med bay, not heavy enough to be Owens but without the clicking of heels typical of Tosh he knew who it was approaching. He attempted to calm himself when an unreasonable amount of anger threatened to take over him. He couldn't blame Gwen for what happened. Yes, she was deep down in the archives when she wasn't supposed to and yes, she did grab tech after she was specifically told not to touch anything she did not know the function of; he stopped, knowing his line of thinking wasn't helping. They had all made mistakes in their career with Torchwood, it was inevitable and part of the job.
"Jack?" Gwen asked gently. "How is he?"
"He hasn't woken up yet. Have Tosh and Owen filled you in?" he asked flatly.
"Yes. Jack, I really am sorry for what's happened. It's all my fault." She answered in a low voice. "Rhys, he's really good with kids. We can take him if you'd like, or I could just come over and help you out in the evenings."
"Did they explain about the rota?" he answered waiting until she nodded and then continued. "Then when it's your turn you will help, that's enough."
"Alright, do you need me to do anything?" she asked.
"Keep looking for more information on the Argolin. Then assist Owen and Tosh with anything that they might need." Jack answered his dismissal clear in his tone.
He sighed and his shoulder slumped as she left the room. It was exhausting sometimes to be Captain Jack Harkness, the leader and face of Torchwood Three. Beneath the bravado and super hero persona, behind all the flirting and the charisma was a man who was over a hundred years old, weary of life and tired of loosing people he cared about.
Toshiko Sato had never met a puzzle she couldn't solve. She was tenacious and once she set her mind on solving one she didn't quit until it was done, regardless of how long it took. Add to that the fact that this was personal and affecting the closest thing she had to a best friend, then that device had no chance. She would not give up, no matter what. She sat back remembering the last night her and Ianto had spent together. They had picked up some Thai food before heading to her place. They had made it a point to spend at least one night out of the week together. Sometimes they would go see a movie and have dinner, always choosing a movie or a restaurant outside of their norm, pushing each other to experience new things. On other nights they would stay in and play board games that would be easy for a child to play but they would add extra rules or limitations to make it specifically challenging and all the more fun.
That night the board games were never pulled out. Instead once they had finished their meal they had spent the rest of the evening talking and getting out their frustrations.
"I just wanted something nice outside of Torchwood. I wanted to be special to someone." She finished in a whisper.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you then. You helped me so much after Lisa; I shouldn't have let our friendship slide." Ianto responded gently holding her hand.
"No need to apologize. I was wallowing in self pity and let myself get swept away. It was a weak moment and I have always been a sucker for a nice smile and gorgeous eyes." They both smiled at that. "Talk about nice smiles and gorgeous eyes. How's the captain treating you?"
Ianto nearly chocked on his tea and coughed to regain his composure. "What are you talking about?"
"Ianto, I know you two were shagging before… well you know. I deleted enough CCTV to cover for the both of you back then. Lately you both seem relaxed around each other again; the flirting is back and stronger than ever but more than that I notice the way he looks at you when he thinks no one can tell. Or the way his hand lingers when he hands you things." She looked at his blushing face waiting for a response.
"I was hoping we were being more discreet than that." He sighed.
"Have you talked about what happened?" She asked.
"I tried to but he said actions speak louder than words and that was the end of it. That night was more than just sex. It was like he was making love to me and telling me so many things with every kiss and every touch" he seemed to realize what he had said and blushed profusely.
"I'm happy for you, Ianto. You deserve to be loved." she stated sincerely.
"So do you." He responded before pulling her into a fierce hug.