"But I want a cuddle." Tosh was sulking with the blanket gathered around her shoulders. "Jack!" she shouted again, then giggled. "Why can't they hear me, Doctor Irish Man? I want my friends beside me."
McGill twitched on the bed on top of her, fiercely gripping his face around his eyes. He twitched and started to talk. "You helped me, Miss Sato. You came up with the idea of stealing the stealth field when the door was opened."
Tosh blinked and started to feel her head clear. "I don't remember. Why can we see them? I don't think they can see us."
"We're still inside the field. Ianto designed it as a one-way protection." McGill kept breathing heavily.
Tosh blinked again. There were painful black spots around the edge of her vision. She stroked McGill's head. "Are you okay?" she asked clenching and unclenching her hand.
"I'm fine," he lied. "Are you feeling better?" He tilted his head up, but did not face her directly.
Tosh coughed softly and wiped her nose. "Still hot. My nose is starting to run again. I think I still have that horrible space flu." She felt the temperature of her forehead with the palm of her left hand. "Oh. The headache is coming back."
"You'll be fine," he lied again. He edged to the side of the bed and felt the pressure of the shield pushing his elbow.
"I'm cold now," noted Tosh. A note of childishness was creeping in to her voice. Her forearms were shivering.
"We need to get your medication. If they close the door, the shield will jump back to the main wall."
"I'll be f-f-fine," Tosh sighed. She lay back on the pillows controlling her breathing. "I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you." She grasped at a name from a clearer memory. "McGill?"
"Yes, Miss Sato. Call me Dr. McGill." He laughed thru short breathes.
"You could call me Tosh. It's Toshiko really. But I like 'Miss Sato'. It makes me feel important." She sniffed. A heavy pressure was pounding the bones over her cheeks and under her eyes. "Why are your eyes bleeding, Dr. McGill?"
"Those people outside. Something was inside their hoods. Not just eyes. An energy or a power. Superhuman. Inhuman." He could barely talk above a whisper.
Tosh twitched where she lay. "Were they pursuing me?" she giggled. "Did they want my body? Did they want to drain all my blood?"
McGill laughed painfully. "I don't even think they knew you were here. We just caught their attention."
"They won't come back, will they?" she asked. "I feel scared now."
"Your friends seemed to get in without any trouble," McGill noted. "Don't be afraid."
:::
"So the room is currently unshielded," explained Ianto.
"And the door is open," Jack pointed out. "So your security's already less than perfect."
Ianto was thinking aloud. "We could just leave the room. Close the door, I mean, and hope they let the stealth field spring back again?" He tapped a finger to the corner of his mouth.
Jack sighed. "What if it's just you that leaves? I'll stay in here and reassure them once you've gone."
"No need to be touchy," Ianto replied. Jack seemed bored by the whole exercise. The bloody handprints on the floor seemed to have no effect on him. "If you want to leave, go home I mean, I'm not holding you back."
Some of Jack's sparkle seemed to return briefly. "Why don't we both leave?"
"I'm not sure about that. That cuts us off from them again. Which is fine if they're playing silly beggars. But what if the bloody handprints on the Victorian tiles are a measure of something more serious?" Ianto hated it when he had to be sarcastic.
"Tosh will find a way to communicate with us. Your pal McGill must have some intelligence too. We could leave a note." Jack cast his eyes around to look for a piece of paper.
"If we stand outside we won't be able to see them. That's how it works." Ianto always carried a long list in his mind of all the unsolvable problems that he had never solved. It was a burden that was getting to be a little heavier as the day progressed.
Jack wrinkled his lips and slapped his left hand on Ianto's shoulder. "Let's not just stand looking in the window then. Why don't we just leave and go find a quiet place to chill out?"
"I'm leaving a note," said Ianto. He left his cellphone on a side table by the sink along with a slip of paper with the words 'CALL JACK' neatly scripted on it. "We can sort things out better over the phone."
They both stepped out into the empty corridor. "What are you waiting for?" asked Jack looking up and down. "Noone is watching."
"I know. Don't rush me. "Ianto pulled the old fashioned door closed and let the visual camouflage of the tiles swirl around his hand and finally hide everything from sight.
"I can still feel the lock," he said, rubbing his fingers on the wall.
Jack shrugged. "I get it. As safe as before. Now we can find out what's happening." He pulled his cellphone from his trench-coat pocket and held it up dramatically. It did not ring. "So. I'm still up for coffee," he offered.
"You could wait a bit longer than three seconds" Ianto sighed. "There could be all sorts of reasons for them not to call straight away."
Jack shrugged. "Well that must be six seconds now. I'll send them a text message too. See? 'Call me now. I'm worried.' And a sad face at the end. We can't do much more." He returned the phone to his pocket.
"I should have stayed in the room," muttered Ianto. "That would have made more sense."
Jack raised his eyebrows and was about to reply when the phone rang.
Ianto sighed. "At last." He gestured for Jack to pass him the phone. "Tosh? Alain?"
A small voice at the end finally spoke "Kon'nichiwa," she said.