Chapter Twenty-Nine
Only one chapter away from 30! Yay! :-D
This chapter is for GreyWolf15 because she hurt herself on a lino cutter... hope your hand is better soon!
Please forgive any mistakes in the geography of Guernsey... I only spent three days there in total, a lot of which were spent sailing!
Disclaimer: Me no own Torchwood. :'-(
Blood was pounding in Ianto's ears as he ran, his shoes slapping the wet pavement. His breath was coming in short and ragged breaths, a sharp pain lancing down his side, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He had to fix this. He had to make everything right again.
He ran. And ran. And ran. The houses around him seemed to fade away, and he was only aware of the hard pavement punishing the soles of his feet, and the sound of his harsh breathing and his racing heart which was trying to lurch out of the base of his throat.
The tarmac started to thin out, rocks and pebbles littering the dusty track beneath his flying feet. Ianto had to slow down to accommodate the uneven footing; the loss of speed made everything around his solidify into clearer detail.
The houses were gone, replaced by wide slopes of long grass and trees that were being tossed around by the wind. The sky overhead was dark and menacing; a roll of thunder echoed in the distance, illuminated by a crack of lightning forking across the sky.
Ianto staggered to a halt at the top of the steep incline, his legs suddenly feeling weak and jelloid. He fell to his knees in the damp grass and gasped, sucking much-needed oxygen into his starved lungs. He closed his eyes to try and stop the mad spinning of his vision, but his mind decided to play tricks so he opened them again, trying to focus on his surroundings.
A fine drizzle of rain fell overhead, smudging the outline of the islands far away on the horizon. Ianto gazed out at them, his breathing slowing and his mind calming. For a moment, he thought that he could hear a voice shouting his name, but he dismissed it as wishful thinking. If he thought too much, then he wouldn't do this. He needed to do this.
The cliff edge wasn't that far away. A few feet, and Ianto would be able to mount the fence, and simply step off the edge. It wouldn't take much.
Ianto dragged himself to his feet. His ribs and ankles protested as he stumbled to the fence, clumsily pulling himself over so that he could stand on the very verge.
The wind was cold against his flushed cheeks, ruffling his hair. He shivered involuntarily, the shudders rippling through his rapidly-cooling body.
Far below him, the water looked cold and uninviting. Waves threw up little sprays of white against the soaked rock-face, and clumps of mangled seaweed swirled in eddies and currents. Ianto could taste the salt on his tongue, could smell the brine in the wind.
Ianto raised his eyes to the broken, clouded heavens—
I'm sorry, Jack.
—and stepped off.
-T-
The Doctor yelled once again, too late. He saw Ianto step forward, saw him fall. The scream died in his throat.
No – he couldn't let Ianto die. Jack would never forgive him; he owed Jack this, at the very least. The Doctor forced a final spurt from his exhausted legs, and skidded to a halt by the fence.
He didn't have time to undress, other than kick off his shoes and fight his way free of his jacket – before he took a deep breath and hurled himself after the Welshman.
The Doctor gasped as he hit the freezing water. He flailed madly for a moment, before collecting himself and struck out, trying to keep himself afloat.
There was no sign of Ianto. The Doctor opened his mouth to call out, and seawater flooded in. He spluttered, coughing, thrashing in the icy water.
A dark shape was splayed out about ten foot away from him, draped over a cluster of weed-clung rock. The Doctor's hearts both clenched in fear as he splashed over.
Another wave soaked his face and hair. The salt stung at his eyes and caught at the back of the Doctor's throat. He had to force himself not to gag.
He treaded water as he patted Ianto's cheek frantically, trying to wake him up. There was a nasty gash in his scalp just above the Welshman's left ear, blood-filled and raw. Ianto's right arm was bent at an unnatural angle.
The Doctor gave up on trying to wake him up. Instead, he clung to the rock and waited for the others to catch up and organize a rescue.
There was a cry from the top of the cliff. The Doctor looked up hopefully, and saw somebody standing up there, unlacing their shoes.
"Hold on!" came the call.
The Doctor nodded, although he knew they couldn't see him. It was more to keep himself moving than anything else.
The person on the cliff pointed their arms above their head and sprang into the air, in a proper dive.
The Doctor winced as more water was splashed all over him, drenching his head further. He wanted to rub the water out of his eyes, but he knew that in doing so he'd only make the sting worse.
Mrs Julia Applegate surfaced, gasping, and swam swiftly over to where the Doctor was clinging to the rock with Ianto.
"Mrs Julia Applegate," she said briefly, offering the Doctor a cordial nod. "We need to try and wake him up – I've phoned for the air ambulance already."
"H-he's unc-c-conscious," the Doctor managed to explain through chattering teeth. Gooseflesh was pimpling his arms through his soaked, and therefore translucent, shirt.
"I can see that, dear." Julia gave him a pointed look, and the Doctor had to bite back an inappropriate laugh at how strange it was to be put down so neatly by an older woman whilst they were waiting for medical help, treading water to keep afloat in a freezing sea.
"Is he breathing properly?" she asked, businesslike.
The Doctor hadn't checked yet. "I think so," he said uncertainly. "I've not checked quite yet – was going to do so now, but then you arrived and so obviously I haven't had the chance—" He was cut off by another wash of salty water into his mouth.
"Best to shut up, dear," Julia said, not unkindly, as she pulled her bulk onto the rock and listened to Ianto's breathing. She nodded in satisfaction as she heard the quiet in- and exhalation. "The helicopter should be here in a few minutes."
The Doctor nodded, and concentrated on keeping his chin above the water.
-T-
Ianto was greeted by dim lights when he opened his eyes. The first thing he realised was that he was lying in some sort of bed, propped up against some pillows. The second was that his head hurt. And then everything else started hurting.
He let out a strangled whimper, and flopped into the mattress. He could hear somebody scrambling to their feet and suddenly his vision was filled by Jack's face.
He smiled weakly up at Jack, too muzzy to remember that Jack was meant to be on the brink of death. He tried to move his arm to touch his lover's face, but found it uncommonly heavy. When he looked down to check, he saw a bulky white cast in place of where his arm should have been.
Ianto looked back up at Jack. The captain's blue eyes were filled with tears, and the huge bags under his eyes purpling.
Jack caressed Ianto's cheek with a gentle hand. "What possessed you to stand right on the edge of a cliff, you idiot?" he asked with a wet chuckle. "That's strictly for me to do."
Ianto frowned. "I—"
Jack stopped him with a gentle forefinger on his lips. "Ssh. Don't try to talk now. We'll discuss everything once you're feeling better."
"But aren't you—"
"Please just rest, Ianto," Jack begged, his worry showing through in his face. "You had a nasty head wound. If the Doctor and Julia hadn't found you when they did—" He broke off, grimacing. "Anyway, I need you up and running as soon as possible. You were out for a good forty-eight hours."
"Two days?" Ianto could hardly believe his ears. "What—"
"Don't worry," Jack reassured him. "Everything's OK. Just rest, and get better. Please. For me."
Ianto settled back into the pillows, wriggling sideways to make space on the bed. "Stay with me?"
"I was only waiting for you to ask."
THIS IS NOT THE END! Not by any means – just to let you all know! This is planned to have 35 chapters in total... only another six to go! :-D
Please let me know what you think with all your wonderful reviews. I would be completely blissed out if we reached 300 reviews by the end of it all – a bit ambitious, I know, but it would be a nice conclusion, don't you think? :-P