The hours crept by. Owen left to go home and rest once Gwen and Rhys arrived back at the Hub. They stayed for the better part of the night, until Tosh arrived early the next morning to relieve them. And all the while, Ianto stayed at Jack's side, refusing to leave for any reason. When Owen arrived back at the Hub just before midday, it was to find Tosh at her workstation, trying with some futility to get some work done.

"Let me guess," he said dryly. "Ianto's still with Jack?"

She tried to smile, and couldn't quite manage it.

"He's hardly left Jack's side. It's quite sweet, really. He's so devoted."

Owen grunted.

"Try guilty."

"I'm sorry?"

"Never mind," Owen told her. "How is Jack doing?"

Worry filled Tosh's face at his question.

"He's showing signs of healing... but only at a normal speed. There's no sign of the accelerated healing that we expected to see."

Owen frowned.

"He should've started healing at a speed normal for him by now. What the fuck is going on?"

Tosh opted not to attempt an answer to that. She was as in the dark as he was. Instead, she broached another potentially awkward topic.

"Owen, Detective Swanson keeps trying to reach us. She, um... She doesn't sound particularly happy."

Owen grunted again.

"I imagine she wouldn't be. Keep diverting her for now, and when Gwen comes back, we'll all sit down together and figure out what we're going to do."

"Are you going down to see Jack?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. Do you know if he's awake?"

Tosh motioned to her monitor in answer. Owen looked, and was surprised to see a live video feed from the room where Jack currently was.

"I thought Ianto said that room only had intercom set up in it."

"It did," Tosh confirmed. "But Ianto asked me to rig up video surveillance, just until he heals up. This way, if whoever is with him has to step out... for whatever reason, then the rest of us can keep watch over him from here. I can stop it at any time... you know, to give Jack privacy. Like when Ianto bathed him this morning."

Owen nodded, and was about to head off down to the room when he paused and looked back at the young woman.

"Tosh?" he asked softly. "How are you doing?"

She looked up at him, and for the first time he noticed the tears in her eyes.

"I just can't believe something like this could happen to Jack! He's supposed to be the invincible one! I... I just can't help thinking that if this can happen to Jack, then what about the rest of us? How safe are we, Owen?"

Before he could convince himself what a bad idea it was, Owen leant down and embraced her in a protective hug. Then, without saying another word, he headed down to see his patient.

He walked in to find Jack awake, albeit in a good deal of pain, while Ianto dozed fitfully in a chair beside the bed. Jack's eyes followed him into the room as he walked over and sat down carefully on the very edge of the bed. Despite his care, though, he couldn't prevent a minimal movement of the mattress, and Jack consequently whimpered in pain.

The sound woke Ianto from his light slumber, and he started up in surprise.

"Relax, it's just me," Owen told him quietly.

Looking guilty at having fallen asleep, Ianto got up and began to pace the room, looking for something practical to do. Owen glanced from Ianto to Jack, and couldn't help but notice the way that Jack's eyes followed Ianto around the room with an unmistakable longing.

Poor bastard, Owen thought. Still wants the Teaboy, even when he's the one who's been treated like shit this time.

"Oi, Ianto," Owen snapped, deciding it was time to get Ianto out of the room. "I want you to go upstairs and get a big jug of water. Room temperature, not cold. Bring it back with a glass and one of those straws that I know you've got hidden away."

Ianto stared at Owen blankly.

"Why?"

"Because I want to try and get a little bit of water into him. Go!"

Ianto went, if somewhat reluctantly. Owen shook his head and turned back just in time to see the alarm in Jack's eyes at the thought of anything going in his torn and ruined mouth.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna pour it down your throat," Owen assured him as he sat back down. "Just a few drops at a time, yeah? A little bit of water might just help the healing process along."

He paused, taking note of the inscrutable look on Jack's face, and took a guess at what he was thinking.

"I suppose you're wondering why we haven't just killed you."

One blink, and Owen nodded.

"Yeah, well... Tempting though it is, sometimes the body just has to recover the traditional way."

The scepticism on Jack's face was obvious, and Owen smiled apologetically.

"To be honest, mate, none of us have the stomach to do it."

If anything, the scepticism got worse, and Owen let his breath out in an impatient hiss.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. But in my defence, I was half out of my mind when I shot you. Tell me honestly, though. Do you want us to kill you?"

There was a significantly long pause before Jack finally responded with two slow blinks. Owen sighed, taking no pleasure in being right.

"Well, there you go." He paused, and for half a minute the two men just stared at each other. Finally, Owen laughed softly. "First time I've ever had you as a captive audience, and I can't think of a single thing to say."

Beyond the pain, Owen was sure he could see a trace of amusement in Jack's eyes. Gritting his teeth, Owen stood up again carefully.

"Jack, I'm just going to check you over, all right?" He looked up at the camera that had been installed overnight, and then flicked on the intercom. "Tosh, you there, love?"

"I'm here, Owen. What is it?"

"Switch off the camera. I'm going to check Jack over, and I don't think we need it being broadcast."

There was a moment of silence, and then the small red light on the camera flickered off.

"It's off," Tosh's voice confirmed. "Let me know when you're done, and I'll turn it back on."

"Will do. Thanks, love."

He returned to the bedside, taking care to stand where Jack could see him easily.

"Okay, Jack, I'm going to talk through everything I'm doing. I'll keep watching you, so if I'm doing anything you don't want me to do, or if I'm hurting you, just blink twice. Okay?"

One single blink.

"All right, then," Owen murmured. "I'm gonna start by pulled the sheet back to your waist, okay?"

Again, one blink.

Slowly, with all the care he could show, Owen pulled the sheet down until Jack's upper body was completely uncovered. The damage that had been done was immense, and it was all Owen could do not to cringe at what he was seeing.

He had conducted a cursory examination of these injuries already upon arriving back at the Hub, but at that point his concern had been with ensuring Jack was stable and as comfortable as humanly possible. Now, he took more time to look at the injuries that covered Jack's upper body.

The bruising that covered his chest was severe but according to Jack's medical chart, which he'd swiped from the hospital at the same time they'd hijacked their Captain, the worst of it there were several cracked ribs. Bad enough, Owen conceded, but compared to the rest of him...

The worst damage was that which the barbed wire had done, especially to his face. He didn't believe Jack was so shallow that he believed looks to be all-important, but he made a silent decision to keep mirrors well away until the Captain had fully healed.

He took his time, checking Jack's heart, lungs and other vital organs with gentle care to ensure they were all functioning as they should. From there, he moved to check whether Jack had regained any movement or sensation in his hands and feet. He hadn't.

Owen catalogued the bruises and lacerations that covered the Captain's torso, moving slowly down to his hips. He was just reaching for the sheet, intending to pull it back further, when a distressed whimper caught his attention. He looked at Jack questioningly.

"What is it? You don't want me to look?"

Two ferocious blinks. Owen bit back a groan.

"Jack, mate, I need to see. I'm sorry, but I have to look."

Two more blinks, followed by a tear escaping his bruised eyes. Owen gritted his teeth, searching his mind for something that would let Jack trust him enough to finish checking him over.

"Jack, listen... I swear I'm just going to look, and see how you're healing up. Believe me, I've got no interest in anything else. That's Teaboy's exclusive domain, I promise."

He'd hoped to see even just a small spark of amusement in the Captain's eyes, only to be shaken to find very different emotions reflected there.

Pain, humiliation... shame. Owen felt sick to his gut, and he knew what he was going to find even as Jack gave a single, shaky blink in assent. Slowly, carefully, Owen lifted the sheet back, and found himself struggling to withhold a groan at what he was seeing.

He'd worked Accident & Emergency long enough to know exactly what the bruising on and around Jack's groin suggested, and though he had no skill in psychiatry, he had seen that look of shame too often in the eyes of women not to understand the truth behind it.

Shaking his head slightly, Owen checked Jack's legs and ankles before drawing the sheet back up to cover the lower half of Jack's body once more. He then took another minute to examine Jack's broken arm with the Bekaran scanner. It took him that minute to compose himself enough to be able to speak without his voice breaking.

"Okay, so some of your injuries have started to heal, but others look like they're taking their sweet time. I reckon at the rate your arm is healing, we'll be able to take the cast off in about a week... maybe less. I have no idea, though, how long it'll take for the damaged nerves to heal. I'd have thought nerve damage would've healed fastest, but there you go. Maybe when this is over, you'll quit being such a stubborn git and let me give you a thorough examination so we don't get caught out again." He paused, and then spoke again, taking care to keep his voice low and calm. "Jack, I need to ask you a question, and I need you to be honest. Were you interfered with sexually?"

Jack shut his eyes tightly, and Owen could almost taste the tension and distress and misery that radiated out from the Captain in waves.

"Listen, Jack, I'm not making judgements," Owen told him gently. "I know you didn't ask for any of this to happen to you, and I don't care what the circumstances were that led to it. You aren't to blame for what some fucker did to you. I need you to tell me, though. Were you raped?"

Jack opened his eyes, and tears spilled freely down the sides of his face. Then, slowly, he blinked once.

"Okay," Owen whispered hoarsely.

He was just considering what to say or do next when the door opened and Ianto walked back in with the water that Owen had asked for. The Welshman paused in the doorway, looking from Owen to Jack with a growing frown. Setting down the water down, he strode over to the bedside, shouldering Owen none too gently out of the way.

"What have you done?" he demanded to know.

Owen opted not to answer. What Jack had just admitted to him had been in utter confidence, and Owen was not going to betray that. It occurred to him briefly that perhaps Ianto already knew something about it, but again that was not for him to be asking. Especially not here, right in front of Jack. So instead, he walked around and began to pour water into the glass that Ianto had brought back with him.

"Gwen and Rhys are upstairs," Ianto told Owen soberly, not quite losing that look of suspicion. "And Detective Swanson is currently on hold, demanding to speak to one of us. Says she refuses to be put off any longer."

Owen swallowed a sigh.

"All right. I'll go and talk to her. Ianto, see if you can't get him to take a bit of water. Use the straw, and just a few drops at a time to start with. Just try and get a bit of moisture back into his mouth."

He then headed out to deal with the persistent detective.

Owen found Tosh, Gwen and Rhys waiting in the conference room. Without saying a word to any of them, he walked over to his own seat — he refused point blank to take Jack's seat — and pressed a button that put Kathy Swanson through on the loudspeaker.

"Detective Swanson, this is Dr Harper. How can we be of assistance?"

If the situation hadn't been so grim to start with, Owen's question might have actually been funny. As it was, they could literally hear Swanson bristling on the other end of the line.

"You can be of bloody big assistance by bringing your captain back to the hospital! You had no right to take him out of there! He needs to be where he'll get the right sort of medical care!"

"We had every right to take him," Owen snapped back, "and he's exactly where he needs to be. We can look after him a bloody sight better than the quacks at that bloody hospital."

"I don't know who you think you are, Dr Harper, but those 'quacks' saved your captain's life."

"No, Detective. They didn't. Now, was there anything else before I hang up on you?"

"Yes, there is. You bloody well took evidence from the hospital!"

"You mean the blood samples that were taken from Jack? Of course we took it. Anything else?"

"You're deliberately hampering our investigation!" Swanson exploded. Owen hardly blinked.

"Your investigation is over, Detective. We're taking charge."

"Oh no, no, you're not doing that! Not for this. This is a police investigation, and I will not have Torchwood going vigilante over this!"

"Well, frankly, I don't see how you can do anything about it, Detective," Owen said bluntly.

In the moments that followed, they could all hear the detective drawing in a long, deep breath, as though she was trying to calm herself down. When she spoke again, her tone was softer, but no less tense.

"Dr Harper, your captain was abducted and assaulted by person or persons as yet unknown. There is nothing that warrants Torchwood taking over. However, if you're willing to compromise, then maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement."

Owen frowned, immediately on edge at that. He didn't trust the detective's suddenly conciliatory tone, but decided to hear her out regardless.

"Go on."

"For starters, we have your SUV impounded as evidence."

Tosh uttered a short, incredulous laugh at that.

"Are you trying to blackmail us? We can have the SUV back quickly enough."

"Maybe you can… Miss Sato, isn't it? But not before we've gone through it very thoroughly, I guarantee it. And I know you lot have some way of messing with people's memories, but I doubt you could do that with the entire Cardiff Police Department."

"What the hell do you want, Detective?" Owen demanded.

"I want you to bring Jack back to the hospital."

"Sorry, no can do. Even if we wanted to, it'd be cruel and unnecessary to move him again, and he's in enough pain right now without us adding to it. He's staying right where he is."

Another frustrated silence followed.

"All right, a compromise, then. I want to see him, and talk to him."

Owen snorted loudly.

"Forget it, Detective. That would mean bringing you here to our base. It's not gonna happen."

"Did I forget to mention that I have that odd leather wrist strap of your captain's?"

Deathly silence met Swanson's words. She went on with ill-concealed satisfaction when none of the Torchwood crew responded.

"So far, it hasn't been entered into evidence, and no one else knows it was at the crime scene, but that could change very quickly… and believe it when I say there are a lot of people who would love to get their hands on it. So, Dr Harper, what do you say? Can we compromise?"

Owen shut his eyes, resisting the urge to curse aloud.

"You seriously want to come to our base, and talk to Jack? Detective, what makes you think he'd even want to see you?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

Owen blinked, startled by the unexpected challenge.

"Excuse me?"

"Ask him, Dr Harper. Let him decide for himself whether he wants to see me."

"And if he doesn't…?"

"Then I'll stop calling you. But if he agrees, then you let me come to see him, today. No more delays or stalling. Fair enough?"

Owen cursed under his breath, realising belatedly that Swanson had to have some piece of knowledge under her belt, to be so confident that Jack would allow her into the Hub. It was too late to argue, though, and he could barely believe how neatly he had been backed into a corner. Scowling, he stood up, deciding to physically walk down to the little room where Jack was, and ask him directly.

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

Ianto was pleasantly surprised by the quantity of water that Jack had been able to manage. Following Owen's suggestion, he'd used the straw and had allowed just a few drops at a time into Jack's mouth. It was no easy task, for Jack struggled to open his mouth even just a fraction, and it took a steady hand to avoid scraping the edge of the straw against his lips.

Even so, Ianto estimated that Jack had managed to accept close to a couple of hundred millilitres of water before he finally blinked twice to indicate he could take no more. Dutifully, Ianto set aside the glass before turning back to Jack.

"That was good, Jack," Ianto murmured with a relieved smile. "I think that was more than Owen hoped you'd take." He paused to take in the expression on Jack's face, and sighed softly. "I know, you hate this. You hate that we have to look after you… but we aren't doing it because we have to, Jack. We're doing it because we want to. We love you, Jack. I love you. You do believe that… don't you?"

Jack didn't respond immediately, and when he did, it was with one slow, tentative blink. Ianto shut his eyes against a sudden threat of tears. He should have known better than to think that Jack would not have remembered what happened. Forcing himself to look once more at his lover, Ianto leaned down and pressed his lips to the feverish skin of Jack's forehead, even as the tears came in a flood.

"I do love you, Jack, honestly. Please believe me. What happened… it wasn't you, or anything you said or did. It… It was me, being a fool, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Jack made no sound as Ianto wept. He wanted desperately to believe him, but at the forefront of his exhausted mind was the painful memory of Ianto telling him he was no longer welcome to join the Jones family for Christmas. Oh, Ianto hadn't put it like that, of course. He'd spun some story about changed plans, but Jack was a master at reading between the lines, and the carefully-worded lie only seemed to make it that much worse.

He could only explain Ianto's behaviour by thinking that he himself had done something drastically wrong… although, he still didn't understand the need for Ianto to have lied about it. It wasn't as though the Welshman had ever had a problem letting him know in the past when he'd overstepped the boundaries. The Captain desperately wanted to know what he had done that was so bad that Ianto had seen fit to punish him like this, and lie about it to his face.

Jack shut his eyes, taking no comfort in the cool touch of Ianto's lips to his hot forehead. There was no dimming the pain he felt at the realisation that his company was not wanted. Ianto, of course, had acted as though it was no big deal, and so Jack had behaved in a similar manner to try and mask the hurt he felt. In truth, though, it was a big deal, and he couldn't understand why everyone seemed to think that Christmas meant nothing to him.

Admittedly, Christmas had never been celebrated on the Boeshane Peninsula. It wasn't until he'd found himself travelling with a twentieth century Earth girl and a nine hundred year-old Gallifreyan Time Lord that he'd experienced his first Christmas, and he remembered it with a bittersweet longing.

He remembered that Rose had been positively horrified that he knew nothing about Christmas and had spent two solid days schooling him in the festival before throwing a premature practise celebration in the Tardis. To make sure he was properly prepared for when they went home to her mum's place for the real thing, Rose had insisted, much to the Doctor's amusement. The Doctor had suggested to him later on, right out of earshot from Rose, that they meet privately in the cloisters if Jack wanted some real preparation for meeting the infamous Jackie Tyler.

If Jack remembered rightly, that had all been just a week before the three of them been transmatted onto Satellite Five. Grief flooded him afresh, and he shoved the bitter memories away before they could take hold, choosing instead to focus on thinking about the technical aspects of Christmas.

He recalled that the religious aspect of Christmas had fascinated him, and even now he was still curious about a religion that humbled its deity in order to glorify it. It was the idea of being included in that slightly odd extended family, though, that had really sold it to him. For the first time since his childhood, Jack had finally felt like he belonged, and that he was genuinely wanted.

After parting ways with Rose and the Doctor — he refused any longer to think of it as being abandoned, it just hurt too damn much — that heart-warming sense of belonging and being wanted was something he'd not experienced again. He'd regained it briefly with Estelle, but he'd always known that was never meant to last, and he hadn't been lucky enough to experience the joy of sharing a Christmas with her.

It wasn't until Ianto had come into his life that Jack had begun to hope that he might find that sense of belonging once more. The invitation to spend Christmas with Ianto and his family had cemented that hope in him.

In the end, it had all just served to make the rejection just that much more painful when Ianto took back the invitation. Jack, who was rarely without something to say whatever the situation, had no words to adequately describe the hurt and rejection he felt, and yet at no point had he considered that maybe it wasn't anything he'd done. He still believed that Ianto's apparent rejection of him was the result of something he'd done wrong. Consequently, Ianto's attempt to shoulder the blame only served to confuse the hell out of him, and his inability to ask the questions he needed to ask only added to his growing frustration.

The door opened, derailing his train of thought, and he looked up as Owen walked back in. The young man halted just inside the doorway, eyeing them both — and Ianto in particular — incredulously.

"Okay," Owen decided finally, "I don't want to know. Jack, listen up, mate. We've got Detective Swanson on the line. She's not giving up, and now she wants to come to the Hub to see you. She won't accept no for an answer, and she's got that wrist strap of yours, Jack. Says she'll turn it over as evidence if we don't agree."

Ianto frowned.

"What's the problem? We can override her authority easily enough."

"The problem is that she's threatening to turn it in as evidence, and we can't go ret-conning the whole fucking police department!" Owen snapped. "And they've got the bloody SUV, too. As much as I hate to admit it, we might just need her help to get it back before police forensics swarm it." He trailed off, shifting uncomfortably as he thought back to the challenge that Swanson had issued.

"What, Owen?" Ianto pressed, and Owen sighed irritably.

"Jack, do you want to see her?"

To the surprise of both men, he didn't respond straight away. For just a moment, Jack became lost in his own thoughts, swept up in a dark and grim memory. For a brief moment, he was back in that room, overwhelmed with pain, fear and shame.

There he was, brutalised and exposed, a joke in the eyes of the police who were crowding into the room. There was a steady stream of police filing through the room, and some of them had openly smirked and sneered at him as they went. One detective was standing just inside the doorway, making callous jokes to anyone who would listen. Jack wanted nothing more than to sink into the oblivion of sleep, to escape the agony of his injuries and the humiliation of his situation, but it seemed he wouldn't be allowed even that.

And then Detective Kathy Swanson walked in. Rather than join her colleagues in mocking him, she'd sent them all packing from the room. Then, she'd come to crouch beside him, murmuring reassurances. He remembered the sensation of her hand against the top of his head, and the way that she'd continued to offer words of comfort even as he was screaming in pain...

He came back to reality to find both Owen and Ianto watching him anxiously. As soon as he focused again, Owen started to back towards the door.

"Okay. I'll tell her to go shove it then, shall I?"

Two rapid and furious blinks, and Owen froze on the spot.

"What? Are you saying you want to see her?"

Jack blinked once, with unmistakable certainty. Owen gaped momentarily, stunned into near speechlessness.

"You... really want to see the copper who broadcast it to her whole office that we were trapped inside our own base?"

One single, firm blink.

"Bloody hell, Jack. You realise all she wants is to harass you for evidence, and try to make us take you back to hospital?"

He blinked again, with force. Yes, he wanted to see her, and he had no means to explain why.

Damn it, Owen, just do what I ask for once? he thought miserably.

Owen sighed and shook his head.

"All right, then. I'll go tell her, arrange it for tomorrow..."

Two blinks, and Owen could swear his blood pressure was starting to go up.

"What now?"

"I think he wants to see her today," Ianto murmured, and Jack blinked once to confirm Ianto's guess. Owen clenched his jaw for a long moment before nodding.

"Fine. Today, then. But I'm telling you now, if you're out of it when she gets here, I will quite cheerfully be the one to throw the cold water on you."

He wheeled around and strode from the room, mumbling something under his breath that neither Jack nor Ianto could hear. Ianto glanced down at Jack, and felt some gratitude at the hint of amusement he could see in the older man's eyes. If anyone could bring it out in him, it was Owen. He sat back down, and noticed that Jack's eyes had shifted back to him.

"You're sure about this, Jack?" he asked, quietly grateful to have the subject shifted to something less discomforting.

Jack didn't answer by blinking. He didn't need to. The look in his blue eyes gave Ianto all the answer he needed.

tbc...