AN: Thank you for the reviews, I do try to keep my AUs reasonably realistic. Glad you all seem to be enjoying it.
As soon as Druitt collapsed to the floor Ashley teleported Ianto to the main floor of the warehouse. Because of the EM generator they had to arrive some distance away but as soon as they had appeared Ashley let go of him and joined Jack where he was kneeling next to her father.
"Is he alright?" She asked as Kate stepped around the door of the warehouse from where she had been hiding outside.
Jack nodded, "Out cold but otherwise fine. Ianto call it in." He ordered as he used his wrist strap to deactivate the EM generator that had been attached to the dart.
"It's Ianto, we have him." Ianto said into his phone, "Ashley's going to bring him in now if Henry will deactivate the EM shield?" He listened to the answer and then snapped the phone shut. "Your mother asked that you take him to the main lab." He told Ashley. "They've waiting for you there."
Ashley nodded, "What about you three?"
"I'll come with you now, just in case." Jack told her. "Ianto and Kate can clear our rooms and then you can come back for them later."
"You should be dealing with your dad," Kate suggested. "We'll check out and then head back to the UNIT base, I'm pretty sure Martha said she'd still be around and I want a rematch." In order to pass the few hours they needed to the previous day the three women had played poker, when Martha had thrashed the Sanctuary girls' asses Kate had demanded a rematch.
"You do that." Jack told them as Ashley placed one hand on him and one hand on her father, "And Ianto? That was a good plan." He added a split second before she teleported them.
It had been Ianto's idea that he go with Ashley while Kate followed Jack. His theory had been that if Druitt heard them sneak through the roof access then he could come forward and Druitt wouldn't think to look for someone else. He had to know that Jack wasn't in Egypt alone and that Ianto wouldn't allow Jack to meet with a murdering psychopath alone, therefore he would expect Ianto be either walk in with Jack or be somewhere nearby in case of an emergency. It had also been Ianto's idea to use Lisa's name as the code work to signal Ashley to shoot.
Everything had gone exactly as Ianto had planned, Druitt hadn't known Ashley was there until it was too late.
"Come on." Ianto said, "Lets get checked out and join Martha on the base." He kept his mouth shut on the fact that he was the Torchwood reigning champion of poker.
Helen sighed with relief when Ashley, Jack and an unconscious John appeared in the exact centre of the main lab. It wasn't that she didn't have perfect faith in the abilities of Jack and Ashley, but it was very reassuring to know that they had succeeded. She paid no attention to the fact that her team and Jack's all had their weapons draw and trained on John, she was insistently by his side and checking his vital signs, all of which were steady.
"Jack help in get him on the gurney." Helen ordered, nodding to Henry to bring the gurney over. Jack did as he was told without any argument. "What about Kate and Ianto?"
Ashley answered her mother, "They're clearing up in Egypt." She saw the look her mother gave her, "Nothing happened honestly. I meant they were packing up our rooms and then heading back to the UNIT base to wait. Kate thought I'd want to be here."
Helen smiled, "Of course. Everything is set up in the SHU." Helen explained as she began guiding the gurney in that direction. "We decided it would be safer to transfer the parasite to its new home in-situ. Then we don't have the added problem of moving the containment unit."
"And the SHU is defiantly where this thing belongs." Ashley said.
"Didn't you say that about your dad once?" Henry commented, he and Tosh, both having managed to catch up on at least some of the sleep they'd missed, would be there in case any last minute calibrations or alterations were needed while Owen as there as a back up medic and help for Helen is she needed it. The Big Guy, Will and Jack were moral support for Ashley who understandably refused to be anywhere else.
The cell that would house the containment unit had been specially prepared by Henry and Tosh. Everything that connected it to the outside world was removed, even down to the lights. A small generator used an idea stolen from the vampires of Balassam to derive electricity directly from the Earth to provide the energy needed to run the containment unit and EM generator. As a back up a second EM bubble would be placed around the room itself, this one produced from outside the room and powered by the Sanctuary's generators.
The overall idea was that parasite would never get free.
"Ashley, I want you to wait outside." Helen said as they reached the room.
"No mom." Ashley protested, "I should be there."
"You will be." Helen told her, gesturing to the observation window. "But I can not risk you in the room, what if the parasite somehow senses that you have the same abilities and jumps into you instead of the containment unit? I would never be able to forgive myself if that thing infect you." She cupped Ashley's face, "I lost my fiancé to that thing, I will not risk loosing you."
Ashley nodded, Jack placed his hands on her shoulders and steered her towards the observation window. He remained stood behind her with his hand on her shoulder, Henry and the Big Guy took up places on either side of her. All ready to offer whatever support they could.
Helen nodded as she went into the cell where Owen had already set up the gurney in the correct place and was preping the medical equipment. Henry was running last minute checks on the containment unit while Tosh ran every conceivable scan on John, these would be compared to scans taken after the removal in the hope of finding a physiological marker that would identify the presence of the parasite.
Once she had finished her scans she placed all the equipment out side of the room, nothing electrical was to be allowed in the room, not even cell phones and radios were allowed in the cell in case the parasite could somehow use it to escape.
"Are we ready?" Helen asked, she received nods from first Owen and then Tosh and Henry. "Alright then." She allowed herself to stroke the side of John's face and prayed that she was doing the right thing. Then she picked up the same weapon that she had used on him the previous week.
"Mom!" She heard Ashley shout from outside and looked up to see that Jack's supporting hands had become restraining. Helen turned her attention back to her patient.
"Henry is the room's EM shield on?" That shield would prevent the creature from getting out of the room and should force it into the containment unit where the second EM shield would keep it there.
"Yes doctor." Henry replied.
Helen nodded and took a deep breath before raising the weapon and firing point blank into John's heart. The last time it took three attempts to being him down, this time it only took one. Placing two fingers on John's neck Helen confirmed that his heart had stopped. She immediately reached of the defibrillator that was attached to the containment unit.
"Wait." Owen said, placing his hands over hers, "We have to wait to make the parasite desperate."
Helen nodded and took a deep breath, that had always been the plan. To recreate the original events as close as possible, including the delay before they attempted to revive John. Helen just hadn't realised how hard that waiting would be, she was grateful for the reassuring squeeze Owen gave her hands as they waited.
"Time." Tosh called, she had a pretty accurate internal time sense, something Jack had told her was unusual for the twenty-first century but in keeping with her already brilliant and analytical mind. With that in mind she had been nominated to keep track of the time since they didn't want to risk having even a watch in the room with the creature.
Helen immediately began to resuscitate John. As expected two hundred and three hundred volts had no effect so Helen ordered Owen to up the defibrillator to maximum, three hundred and sixty volts, since they still weren't sure whether or not the creature had caused the power surge Owen was also standing by to trip a switch and cause a power surge that Tosh had built into the system. Tosh hadn't been sure how the power surge would affect the machine or the person using it so it was a last resort and Owen would takeover since it was a proven fact that electricity couldn't harm his already dead body.
That precaution proved to be unnecessary. As soon as Helen administered the three hundred and sixty volt shock John's body stiffened even more than simply the shock should have caused, the area around the paddles glowed faintly pink.
"Got it!" Henry shouted excitedly as Helen checked John's pulse, finding it once again steady if weak. "Activating the EM shield." He paused for a moment and studied a small display panel on the EM shield generator, which was of necessity separated from the containment unit. "It's contained!"
Helen removed the paddles from John's chest, noting the faint marks left on his pale smooth chest. The random thought drifted through her mind that John's chest no sooner healed from one injury than he got another. The scars of Tesla's torture were now near invisible unless the observe knew exactly where and what to look for, as were the scars from Ashley's claws, just as the ones on Helen's own arm had healed quickly and well.
Helen looked up at the observation window where he saw that Jack still had his arms wrapped around Ashley, but whether he was restraining or supporting was debatable. "He's alive." She told her daughter with a smile.
"And that thing has a new home." Henry said, backing away from the unit, "All systems are stable for the moment." He told Helen, "But Tosh and I are going to stay for an hour or so to monitor it just to be sure."
"Let's move John up to the infirmary." Helen said and Owen help her manoeuvre the gurney out of the room. Ashley was at her side the moment she was out of the room. "I'm going to keep him sedated for a while longer." Helen told her, "His body has been through a several traumas in the past fortnight, it needs time to recover."
Ashley nodded, Jack joined them in the elevator while Will and the Big Guy disappeared though to where no one knew. They went to one of the more privet rooms off the main infirmary, one that Helen had set up in advance for just this purpose. Ironically it was the exact same one that Ashley had been put in when she'd collapsed after her and Henry's rescue from the Cabal facility they had tried to infiltrate.
Helen administered an additional sedative and connected John up to several monitors, his breathing was steady and regular but his heart was causing her a little concern. Although the rhythm was steady it was weaker than Helen would have liked but that was only to be expected when it had been stopped twice in less than two weeks. Added to that was the unknown possibility of any additional trauma caused by the exit and return of the parasite.
Just as she was finishing setting up the monitors Helen suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and exhaustion wash over her, she would have collapsed if Owen hadn't caught her. "Right, now you rest." He said firmly.
"I'm fine." Helen said, shaking her head to try and clear it but even she knew that was a lie. Now that the parasite was removed and John was safe, the adrenalin she had been running on for a week was gone and she felt like she could sleep while still standing.
"And the sky is green Helen." Jack said.
"No need to ridicule me Jack. I need to be here in case something happens." She insisted.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Owen replied, "I'm more than capable of handling any thing that might come up and unlike you, I literally cannot sleep."
"I need to be here." Helen insisted. Ashley understood exactly what her mother meant, Helen knew she wasn't needed for medical purposes, her desire to stay came completely from personal reasons. After so long without John and coming so close to loosing him again, Helen didn't want to leave his side unless there was no choice and even then there would probably need to be a weapon involved.
Owen understood that too, "There's plenty of other beds here. That way you'll be woken if one of the monitors goes off." The last part Owen doubted, Helen Magnus looked dead on her feet, even more so than he did and that was saying something. The poor woman would probably sleep through an apocalypse and by Owen's reckoning Torchwood were due for another one of those.
Rather than allow Helen to argue, Jack guided her to the bed next to John's and forced her to lie down. Tenderly Ashley covered her mother with a blanket, "Get some rest mom."
"Aren't I supposed to be the one tucking you in?" Helen asked, fighting back a yawn. While it was true she usually slept little it was also true that she did need sleep, she was still human after all. And with the recent troubles she had pushed herself beyond what she had previous thought was her limit, but with such a tempting prize, the possibility of her John been returned to her, she had found that she could not sleep.
She was vaguely away of Owen setting the machines to feed patient information to a PDA he slipped into his pocket while Jack and Ashley discussed retrieving Kate and Ianto from Egypt before all three of them left the room.
Helen lay on her side looking over at John, he looked so peaceful she wondered when the last time she had seen him like that was. Only two occasions came to mind, once so long ago in Oxford when all the male members of the Five had fallen asleep in her lab while she ran one of her longer experiments. The second was the night they made love for the first time.
Wondering if they would be able to recapture those early days once again Helen closed her eyes and allowed herself to sleep, dreaming about that possible future.
John felt like he was trying to swim through quicksand as he struggled against the sedatives in his system. He was aware that something was different but it took him a moment to realise what it was. Peace. He felt peaceful, his rage was once again gone. John's insides froze, that meant the demon was free.
John struggled harder to regain consciousness, finally he managed to force his eyes open but was surprised to see one of the infirmary rooms at Helen's Sanctuary. Then he wished he hadn't opened his eyes, his head hurt and his chest didn't feel much better. Ignoring the discomfort he tried to sit up when his gaze shift to one side and he caught sight of Helen's sleeping form.
She looked so beautiful and peaceful that he might have feared her dead had he not noticed the stead rise and fall of her chest. Her presence calmed his fear. If she was sleeping, and she clearly was since unlike him she wasn't hooked up to a variety of machines, then his demon must somehow be contained because she could never be so relaxed if there was danger.
She looks so beautiful and peaceful, one arm curled under the pillow the other hand of the other resting beside her face. There was a blanket tucked around her and John felt a momentary stab of jealously for who ever had done that for her. Once it had been his job, his right and privilege, to take care of her like that, to tuck a blanket around her when she fell asleep in her lab or her father's library in the midst of her research. But even that jealously pleased him because it brought with it no murderous desire, no burning need for the blood of whoever had annoyed him.
Perhaps then, if he was truly as purged as he felt, there could be some hope that Helen might allow them to be together again. His mind was catapulted back to their final night together, a night he very much suspected had gifted them with Ashley. In those easily days the only time the demon slept was when he was in Helen's arms, he'd gazed down at her beautiful innocence as she slept that final night knowing that his sins would cost him his final refuge of peace and sanity.
She hadn't changed much since that night, except her hair colour, indeed she had changed little since that first day they had met in the library at Oxford, when her spirit, intelligence and lively conversation, so rare amongst Victorian women, had captured his attention to the point where he had to know her better and had invited her to take a turn about the grounds with him.
He would have been tempted to get out of bed just to see if her hair was still as smooth as he remembered but for the weakness he felt in every muscle of his body, likely a result of what had been done to remove the demon and whatever tranquillizer Ashley had used on him. He must remember to compliment them on that plan, it was ingenious to use Jones as a decoy.
He could feel unconsciousness rising to claim him again and knowing that it was what his body needed, and that it was safe, he did not fight it. Instead he turned his head so that the last thing he saw before sleep claimed him again was his beloved angel.
AU: So John is himself again, physically at least. But does that mean it will be plain sailing from here?