Trading Places

---------------------------------------

Chapter 11- Connor and Becker

---------------------------------------

Waiting

Jack took the box that had caused them so much trouble back to the Hub. Having learned his lesson that it would open if dropped, therefore releasing the creature imprisoned within it, the box was tightly bound with a good few layers of brown sticky tape. He wasn't taking any chances this time as he let himself into the Torchwood building and went down to the vaults.

He taped the contents report to the outside of it, just in case someone else got their hands on it in the future and decided to investigate. For a moment, he just stared at it. So much trouble and grief from such a small object. Slamming the vault door and keying in the locking code, he went to gather a few things before heading back to the hospital.

Jack walked back into the waiting room at the hospital but before he spoke, Ianto held up a finger to shush him. He was sitting in one of the chairs lined along the wall. Beside him, Connor lay along three of them, knees curled up to his chest, his head resting on Ianto's lap. His eyes were still red from crying.

"He's exhausted," Ianto whispered as Jack quietly closed the door and came to sit opposite him. "He fell asleep about an hour ago; I don't want to disturb him yet. He needs the rest."

"So do you," Jack pointed out. "You look tired."

Ianto stroked a strand of hair back from Connor's forehead and the young man twitched in his sleep. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll be fine."

Jack dug through the bag he had brought with him and pulled out a flask and a plastic cup. "I thought you'd appreciate this more than the coffee in the vending machines here."

"Jack, you're a lifesaver," Ianto told him, accepting the cup and taking a sip. "You could strip paint with the stuff they give you here."

"So, any news?"

Ianto shook his head. "We haven't seen anyone since the Doctor came to speak to us when we first came in."

It was three hours later when Connor suddenly bolted awake, almost falling off he chairs as he sat up. Ianto grabbed him to steady him.

"Connor, calm down."

Connor rubbed his eyes and looked around at the clock. "How long was I asleep?"

"Nearly four hours," Ianto told him. "Relax; I would have woken you if we'd heard anything new."

Jack persuaded him to have something to eat, trying to reassure him. The doctor had said that they wouldn't know much for the next ten or twelve hours so the wait didn't necessarily mean that something was wrong.

"I just wish I knew," Connor said. "I wish they'd let me see him. Can't you do something?" he asked Jack. "Go and flash a badge at them and make them let me see him."

Jack shook his head. "They know what they're doing, Connor. Let them do their jobs."

By the time that the door to the waiting room opened and a harried-looking female doctor came in, Connor was ready to storm the hospital, gun blazing, and demand answers. He was on his feet before she had even got through the door.

"Is he OK? What's happening? Where is he? Can I see him?"

Ianto gently took Connor's arm and made him back off the doctor. She smiled.

"I presume that you are Connor?" she asked. "He asked for you-"

Connor heaved a sigh of relief. "That means he's OK, right?"

"Connor, let her talk."

The doctor cast Ianto a grateful look and continued. "Mr Becker is responding well to the drugs we've been giving him and his body is fighting the infection. That doesn't mean that he's completely out of the woods yet, however. With Pneumonic Plague- and I really would like to speak to you more about this," she said. "Typically, the symptoms take up to seven days to appear but from all accounts, Mr Becker's took mere minutes."

Connor sighed loudly, bringing her attention back. "The disease affects the lungs, causing a build up in them which then makes it difficult for the patient to breathe properly. Now, as I said, Mr Becker is responding well but the nature of this disease means that it will take a while for his lungs to clear completely. I understand that he is with the military?"

Jack nodded. "He is, although his posting is classified."

The doctor nodded, not asking any more. "He will have to remain off active service, at least until he is fully healed."

"Can I go and see him?" Connor asked, begged almost.

The doctor smiled. "I'll get the nurse to take you through."

She summoned the young nurse who had come with her and was now waiting outside the door and told her that Connor could go through. Ianto stood up as well; Connor still looked completely terrified and he didn't want him to go alone. As soon as they were out of the room, Jack turned back to the doctor.

"So, what weren't you telling us?" he asked. Seeing the guarded look on her face, he smiled. "I know that you were giving Connor the version reserved for family, but we need to know."

She sighed and closed the door, sitting down again. "Two of the others from the train carriage didn't make it. The disease simply took hold too fast for us to be able to combat it."

"Becker was one of the last to be infected," Jack said.

"Well, those few minutes probably saved his life. For a short time, it looked as though the drugs weren't working; he had to be resuscitated once, shortly after he came in." Pausing, she studied Jack. "You were in the carriage with them yet you emerged unharmed. How is that? And how did they contract this in the first place? From the speed it took hold and its progression rate… I've never seen, or even heard of, anything like this before."

Jack smiled. "Unfortunately, I can't explain how I came out uninfected any more than I can tell you how it began," he told her. "What I can do is assure you that it will never happen again. I've seen to that."

"I'd feel better if you could at least tell me who you all are," she said. "When we pulled Mr Becker's medical records, they came back as classified, with the same kind of block we usually find on government documents."

Jack showed her his ID, since most of Cardiff already knew about them anyway. "Ianto and I are Torchwood," he said. "Connor and Becker are kind of on loan to us from elsewhere."

---------

Connor found himself almost tiptoeing to the hospital room that the nurse had shown him to. It was just so silent, except for the odd beeping of a machine in the rooms they passed, or the low murmur of voices from nurses' station down the hall.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" Ianto asked.

"I need to do this on my own."

Ianto nodded, understanding. "Go on. I'll wait here for you, OK?"

Connor's chest tightened as he caught sight of Becker lying in the hospital bed. His skin was pale and damp, his dark hair plastered to his forehead. For a while, Connor thought that he was still asleep but then his boyfriend's eyes opened.

"Conn?"

It was all that Connor needed, that one whispered word, and it hit home that Becker really was OK. He was at the bed and reaching out for Becker before he stopped himself, not knowing whether or not it would hurt him in any way. Eventually, he settled on a light hug, just wanting to touch, no matter how briefly. He stood up again and looked down at Becker.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" he said, his voice quivering. He felt tears in his eyes and brushed them away. "Do you have any idea how scared I was?"

Then he leaned down to hug Becker again.

Becker swallowed hard. "Water?"

There was a cup on the cabinet beside the bed, a water jug beside it, as well as a cup of ice chips in case Becker's stomach couldn't take the water. When he offered the ice chips, however, Becker shook his head and so he took the cup. Putting a straw into it and holding it to his mouth, Connor set it back down when Becker indicated he'd had enough.

"Better. Sorry I scared you."

Connor shook his head. "It's not your fault; I shouldn't have said that." He sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning over to press his lips to Becker's forehead. "You're alright and that's all that matters."

"You're stuck with me a bit longer," Becker said, his lips curving into a smile. "Love you."

"Love you too."

When the nurse returned and sent Connor out again, he was feeling much happier about the whole situation. He was told that Becker needed to rest and that he could come back later. Ianto was still outside, leaned against the wall and looking embarrassed as a young female orderly flirted with him. As soon as he saw Connor, he straightened up.

"How is he?"

Connor smiled for what felt like the first time in ages. "He's awake and he talked to me."

The nurse who had sent Connor out came over to join them. "He's sleeping quite a lot at the moment; the drugs we're giving him will mean that he'll sleep for at least the next eight hours," she informed them. She looked pointedly at Connor. "He's not the only one who needs some rest. I'm assuming that you haven't been home since he was brought in and so I'm telling you to go home and sleep."

"But-"

"I will make sure that we call you should there be any change in Mr Becker's condition," she promised. "Now go home for a while, rest."

From the look on her face, there was no arguing with her and Connor heaved a defeated sigh. Even if he did stay, as he wanted to, he knew that she wouldn't let him back in. She would just keep at him to go home for a while.

"Come on, Connor," Ianto said. He handed the nurse a card with the Torchwood emergency numbers on as well as Connor's mobile number. "We can come back when he's awake again. He'll be fine; the doctor said that he was past the worst of it now."

Reluctantly, Connor allowed Jack to drive them back to Ianto's house. He could see that the two of them were almost asleep on their feet and he realised that he was as well. When he got to bed, however, he just couldn't sleep. The empty space on the other side of the bed reminded him that Becker wasn't here.

"Jack? Ianto?" he pushed open Ianto's bedroom door hesitantly. "Can I sleep in here? It feels weird on my own in there."

Jack smiled, nodding as he pushed the covers back for Connor to get in. They moved him between them and dragged the covers back up. Surprisingly, Connor fell asleep relatively quickly after that. The short nap he'd had at the hospital hadn't been long enough and now the exhaustion claimed him.

--------

Three days later, the doctors were pleased enough with Becker's progress to allow him to come home. It was, of course, on the condition that he not exert himself, which meant no activity beyond sitting on the sofa watching TV. He had a stack of tablets and a list of when to take them as well, but that didn't matter. He was home, that was all Connor cared about.

He had called Abby the day before, not wanting to call until he knew what was happening. Even talking to her now, knowing that Becker was alright, had brought a lump to his throat. He knew if he'd spoken to her earlier, that he wouldn't have been able to keep it together.

Abby had insisted that she was coming to see them, but he'd managed to stop her. They were due to return home tomorrow anyway, the ARC/Torchwood exchange over.

"She's just concerned," Becker told her when he hung up the phone and came back to the sofa. "She's a good friend."

Connor nodded. "I know." Abby had been his best friend since he'd started on the ARC project, even sharing her home with him when he needed somewhere. "She says that the guys at work send their regards; Lester said he has all of the incident report forms waiting for you when we get back home. She thinks he was joking," he said.

"He probably wasn't," Becker said wryly, getting himself comfortable again, resting against Connor's side.

They had the place to themselves at the moment, enjoying the calm after all of the chaos. Jack and Ianto had gone out on a call, another glitch in the rift's output. He had the feeling that the 'problem' was largely made up, Jack's not-so-subtle effort at giving them some alone time, and he was glad of it. The past few days had been the longest of his life and it was good to finally relax.

Connor heard Jack and Ianto come back in at around midnight. Curious as he was, he could find out what the rift had thrown out in the morning.

--------------------------

To Be Continued…