PART 2: Count Your Blessings

1.

Three months later

The sea air was fresh against Ianto's face, waking him up even more than the music coming from his iPod and the running already had. He breathed deeply and regularly, paying attention to it, measuring his breaths with his steps drumming on the wooden walkway leading along Cardiff Bay. It was half six in the morning and only a few other joggers and some people out for a walk with their dogs passed Ianto by while he ran his usual round from his flat to work. It was exercise and exorcism, banning the memories of how he had spent most of his mornings just a few months ago … in bed with Jack, touching, writhing and moaning … he ran faster. This was his new routine and it helped him wake up when all he seemed to feel lately was tired out and it helped him keep his weight stable when a lot of his time lately was spent snacking. He'd officially taken away Gwen's title as the sweet tooth on the team. Maybe it was sadness over his break-up with Jack or just a phase … fact was that he didn't feel so guilty about eating when he ran in the morning.

When he arrived at the tourist office, Jack was waiting for him, leaning against the hand rail that divided the walkway from the sea, and breathing in the morning air. Ianto slowed his steps and switched off his iPod. "Beautiful day," he commented on the sunrise and the cloudless sky.

Jack nodded. "A touch of spring." He smiled. Then his grin turned into a worried frown. "You look tired."

"Slept all night." Ianto opened the door to the tourist office. They stepped inside, exchanging fresh outside air for dusty inside air. Ianto pulled a face and made a mental note to clean up later. He'd neglected the office a bit over the last few months. They just seemed to be too busy all the time. And now, with Gwen's wedding coming closer, it seemed to be getting even worse.

Jack closed the door. "Maybe you should stop running. You do enough of that during working hours."

"Yeah, on the job. But I enjoy running without immediate danger at my back."

He passed a finger over a nearby shelf, estimating how bad the dust had become and noticing that some of the flyers and catalogues were outdated. Jack watched him with an amused smile, but didn't say anything. They lapsed into one of the awkward silences they were prone to now. If they didn't work together, they probably would never see each other again. But they had a job and responsibility and since neither of them was keen on quitting, they had to stay functional. So they had been painfully professional around each other the first month and were now slowly approaching something akin to a friendship. Nevertheless, awkward silences were still part of their new relationship.

Jack said, "I'm just worried."

"I know," Ianto replied. He looked at Jack with a serious expression. "Thank you." He hit the button that opened the secret entrance to their base. "But I'm fine." As if his body was dead-set on betraying him, it chose this moment to protest. Pain shot through Ianto's stomach and he doubled over, panting.

"Ianto?" Jack asked and touched his shoulder.

The pain only got worse and Ianto allowed himself to collapse onto his knees. He leaned forward on one hand and wrapped the other arm around his middle. He whimpered.

"Ianto?" Jack leaned closer, trying to see what was hurting.

Ianto straightened as far as possible and grabbed the lapel of Jack's coat in one hand."Oh, God. Something's wrong."

"I'm calling Owen," Jack said, his mobile already pressed to his ear.

Ianto groaned, suppressing a scream. His hand fisted Jack's coat. He didn't listen to the conversation. He just tried to breathe against the pain, but it wouldn't stop. He groaned again, louder this time, feeling sweat building on his forehead.

Jack's hands were on his shoulders. "It's okay," he muttered calmly. He was always good at soothing people in a painful or stressful situation and Ianto basked in the sound of his low voice, the kind touch, the reassurances. "Owen's on his way."

A sudden agony ripped through his stomach and he screamed. And then, thankfully, the world went black.

xxx

Half an hour later, Ianto was lying curled up under a blanket on the couch in the main Hub. Jack was hovering, like he usually did when he was worried about one of his team, near the entrance to the med bay, one arm crossed over his chest and the fingers of his free hand tugging on his lower lip. Owen was perched on the edge of the couch, squinting at the screen of the Bekaran scanner and making thoughtful noises. "There's something," he said finally. Ianto braced himself for the worst. The pain had vanished as suddenly as it had come but the memory of how bad it had been was carved into his mind and he was scared it would happen again. Owen shook his head in frustration. "I can't quite see it. The scanner can't make sense of it. Strange." He switched off the scanner and looked at Jack. "I'll have to enhance the picture. It'll take a few hours."

"Do whatever's necessary," Jack replied. Ianto could see that he was nervous, even though he tried not to show it. "Let me know as soon as you've got something."

"'Course," Owen said and went over to his computer.

Jack stepped closer to Ianto. "Lately, you've been tired a lot. I shouldn't have overlooked that."

"It's okay," Ianto replied. "Didn't pay it any mind, myself." He sat up cautiously, but the pain was really gone. He sighed deeply and rubbed his neck, trying to loosen up stiff muscles. "The Bekaran scanner can't make sense of it," he repeated Owen's assessment. "That's worrying."

"Yeah," Jack replied. "It's from the 35th century. It knows any kind of cancer, it knows a lot of nasty illnesses."

Silence settled between them, only interrupted by Owen muttering to himself about how to download the picture from the scanner to his computer.

Ianto swallowed. "That terrifies me." He tried to laugh, but it got stuck in his throat on its way out.

Jack nodded slowly, crossing the other arm over his chest as well. "We'll deal with whatever it is."

Ianto just hoped it could be dealt with.

xxx

Jack decided that there was nothing he could do for Ianto at the moment. He'd brought him a cup of tea and made him a sandwich and then he lingered for a few minutes, not quite sure if there was anything else Ianto needed. He felt a bit out of depth since this was the first time since their relationship ended that Ianto needed help or didn't feel well and the things Jack usually did to make everything better just didn't apply to them anymore. Gwen and Tosh's arrival at the Hub gave him a good excuse to flee into his office. The women took over motherhenning immediately, very much to Ianto's annoyance if his irritated face was anything to go by. Jack watched them for a few minutes from the door to his office, then his phone called for his attention. He sighed and dropped into his chair, picking up the receiver. "Harkness?"

A male voice answered, "This is General Leslie."

"Oh, no," Jack sighed. Ianto managed to escape Gwen and Tosh and went to the coffee machine. Jack saw Tosh join him and start talking to him softly. She was probably more than a bit worried about him and judging by the look Gwen sent in their direction, she was as well. Owen was lounging in his chair, watching the picture from the Bekaran scanner slowly become clearer. Even though the circumstances were anything but good, Jack revelled in the way his team functioned so well together. He focussed his attention on their UNIT liaison. "What can I do for UNIT on such a fine morning? Hopefully not another visit by your precious doctor?"

"No. Haven't seen him for three months and ain't that a blessing?" Leslie answered. "I'm calling on behalf of the Queen and the Prime Minister. Seems like there's a UNIT case overlapping with a Torchwood case and they want us to work together."

Ianto entered Jack's office with a mug of coffee and Jack smiled gratefully. He didn't comment on Ianto's paleness or the fact that he'd collapsed in pain not even an hour ago. Ianto was like Jack in so many ways. He needed to be productive and he hated being coddled.

Jack watched Ianto vanish into the corridor leading towards the showers and asked, "What case?"

"We had four murders on UNIT officers in the last week. Got a nice message with those, too: UNIT – this is your fault."

Jack froze. "Wait a moment-"

"Yes, exactly like the message you got with your two murders. Only, we didn't know that until this morning. Apparently, we should think about working together more closely. We didn't have access to your case files. I assume you kept an eye out for similar occurrences but our cases didn't show up. A huge screw-up."

"I agree. So you're calling me to arrange a get-together?"

"Yes. We want your team in London right away."

Jack pulled a face. "Can't take the whole team, I'm afraid. We have kind of a situation here with one of my team members and until my doctor gives me the all-clear, he won't leave the city. Not to mention the active Rift we have here."

"Alright. Bring whoever you think is necessary to resolve this matter. We have coroners and medics ourselves, so your doctor can stay in Cardiff to care for your man."

"Appreciate it," Jack replied. "We'll be on the way in under an hour."

xxx

When Jack left his office one call to the Prime Minister later, Gwen turned in his direction and put a warning finger on her lips before nodding towards the couch. There, Ianto sat slumped back and with a file in his slack hands. Jack pressed his lips together and stopped at Owen's desk. "He's sleeping."

Owen nodded. "I know."

"This isn't like him."

"Guess what, I know that as well," Owen answered, irritated. Gwen and Tosh joined them, obviously not about to be left out. Owen was studying Ianto's medical file intently while the scanner image was still being processed by the computer. "Since when would you say he's been showing this exhaustion?"

Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair. "A few days at least. I thought it was just the job. There was a lot going on." He put his hands on his hips, looking at Gwen and Tosh questioningly. He didn't know if they maybe knew more about it than he did and it left a deep ache in his chest even considering the possibility that they would. Neither Gwen nor Tosh said anything, confirming his words. Jack crossed his arms. "Owen, how long 'til you know?"

"Still at least an hour. This isn't CSI, Jack. I can't just pop in a picture and after thirty seconds filled with a cool soundtrack, a clear image comes out. We're using the best software there is thanks to Tosh but … it takes some time."

"Alright," Jack replied. "I'm just worried."

"Yeah, me, too. Don't get me wrong – I want to get to the bottom of this just as quickly as you do." He looked up at Jack, holding his stare with a serious expression on his face. Jack noticed that Gwen was nervously biting her thumb nail and Tosh was fingering her hair. All of them were concerned, no doubt about it.

Jack nodded in acknowledgement. Then he cleared his throat. "In the meantime, I will have to leave. Gwen, you're with me."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Where are we going?"

"UNIT has some deaths … they could be related to the Golem case."

Tosh stared at him in surprise. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Looks like it. And it looks like Torchwood isn't the only organization that guy's angry with." He looked at Gwen. "UNIT will meet us in London. We'll be gone for the day." Then he addressed Owen, "Think you can manage?"

"We'll have to," Owen answered.

Gwen pulled her mobile from her jeans pocket. "I'm just going to call Rhys." She hurried away for some privacy.

Jack went over to Ianto and took the file out of his hand. Then he rearranged him to lie stretched out on the couch and took off his shoes. He spread a blanket over him Tosh handed him and then looked down at him with a worried frown. "Ianto's a light sleeper. If it was something harmless, he would be awake now, complaining about me waking him."

"I know," Tosh replied and her small hand closed around Jack's.

"I should have noticed sooner."

"There was no way you could," Tosh said firmly. Jack looked down at her and felt comforted by the gentle look in her dark eyes. "He misses you," she whispered as if confiding a secret that was supposed to be kept just between her and Ianto.

"I miss him, too." He shook his head and watched Ianto for a moment. "I can't be what he wants me to be. I would only hurt him in the end."

"You already did," Tosh said softly. "He doesn't ask for much, you know. He never would."

"But he should. He deserves better, Tosh."

Gwen returned to the main Hub and nodded at Jack while she grabbed her coat from her chair.

Jack cleared his throat. "We better leave now." He kissed Tosh's forehead and whispered, "Take care of him." Then he hurried to his office to get his coat and left.

xxx

"Tosh," Owen said softly, "come here a minute." He sounded hesitant and that alone intrigued Tosh enough to forget about the time lock program she was writing to defend the Hub. It was her current pet project and very complex. She enjoyed the challenge of trying to form a time dilation field around the base to protect it in case of emergency. But Owen seemed to have found something even more interesting. She left her workstation and joined him at his. Ianto was still sleeping on the couch. He would be embarrassed when he woke up. Tosh had already wondered, more than once, if she should wake him. She was sure that he'd want her to but she was worried about him and thought that sleep would only do him good. Owen was pointing at his computer screen. "The picture from the Bekaran scanner's done. Tell me what you see."

"Isn't that your job?" she asked with a smile but turned to look at the picture. It was still grainy, still not quite easy to make out but she thought she saw Ianto's kidney and other organs surrounding it.

"Believe me, I think I know what I see there but I want you to try and guess."

Tosh knew basic human anatomy. She wasn't a doctor, but she could tell when there was something big wrong, like, "What kind of organ is that?" She pointed at a small, oval … thing. From it, several strands led to Ianto's other organs.

"Correct," Owen answered. "It's an organ he shouldn't have. One he certainly didn't have when I did my last check-up."

"Are you telling me that he's grown a new organ?" The possibilities ran through her mind at lightning speed: a parasite, some form of alien cancer, a piece of technology that had entered his body somehow and was now starting to do something to him …

Owen's voice pulled her away from her increasingly awful thoughts. "Yes, and I can even tell you what it is. If Ianto were a woman, I would now congratulate him to his pregnancy."

"Oh God!" Tosh said, putting her hand over her mouth. "He's pregnant?"

"Looks that way. I'm going to do more tests but it looks like Jack managed to knock him up."

Tosh lowered her voice, even though, rationally, she knew there was no reason to. "You think it's Jack's?"

Owen's voice had dropped to a murmur as well. "I don't think that anyone else could be the fa … the other father."

"What about a piece of technology in the archives?"

"Ianto would have mentioned if he'd activated something by accident. He's nothing but careful with that sort of thing."

Tosh nodded. Owen was right. Ianto was almost obsessively careful with the technology he handled down there and rightly so. One wrong button could very well pulverize you. They were quiet for a moment, just staring at Ianto's … uterus and the tiny foetus in it.

Tosh took a breath. "Do you think ..." She paused, feeling like an idiot to even suggest it.

"What?"

"Do you think they were going for a baby?"

Owen laughed and the sudden loud sound startled Myfanwy in her nest and made her cry out in protest. Owen looked over his shoulder at Ianto and Tosh checked on him as well – still asleep. Owen looked up at Tosh. "Don't be ridiculous. First of all, they would never use technology from here to get a baby. Second, they weren't exactly the founding a family kind of couple. And third, Jack seemed really clueless as to what is wrong with Ianto. If they were going for a child, he would have known that it could have something to do with pregnancy."

From behind them, somebody asked, "Pregnancy?" They turned around to Ianto, who was standing a few steps away, his usually immaculate hair tousled from sleep and his eyes wide with shock. "I'm not pregnant."

Owen cleared his throat. "Sorry, mate. You are."