Preoccupied as he was with thoughts of the impending visit to his parents, Ianto was oblivious to the tension exuded by Rose when she returned. He missed the frown directed at her by the Doctor, and he also missed the anxious shake of her head in reply to that frown. By the time he realised Rose was even there, both she and the Doctor were doing a magnificent job of pretending there was absolutely nothing wrong.
"Where is Jack?" he asked.
"In his room," Rose told him. "S'okay. Gage is with him. He's gonna keep him busy, so hopefully he won't even notice you're gone."
Ianto sighed.
"I shouldn't need to be so clandestine about visiting my own parents, but Jack… He just doesn't want to accept that I won't always be here."
The Doctor regarded him curiously.
"Should he need to?"
Ianto directed an unamused look at the Time Lord.
"Doctor, even if I stayed with Jack for the rest of my life, eventually he will still be without me. Nothing can change that, unless you can do something about his immortality…?"
The Doctor was conspicuously silent, and even more conspicuously ignored a pointed look from Rose. Ianto nodded, his suspicions confirmed.
"I thought as much. It would just be better all round if he gets used to being without me sooner rather than later."
Any further conversation was cut short when the TARDIS came to a shuddering halt, enough so that Ianto half-expected Jack to come rushing into the control room, demanding to know what was happening. He spotted the Time Lord watching him with a half smile.
"He won't have noticed us landing," the Doctor reassured him. Ianto grimaced.
"I hope not. So... Can I just go on out?"
"Just a moment," the Doctor murmured. "Let me run a quick check of the surrounding area, and just make sure that there's no one around who shouldn't be."
Ianto waited with increasing nerves while the Doctor ran his scan. He was just starting to think there must be a problem when the Time Lord grinned and motioned to the door.
"It's all clear. Go ahead, Ianto. Oh, and here..."
Ianto blinked in surprise when the Doctor tossed him a key attached to a fine silver chain.
"What's this for?"
"To let yourself back in with, of course," the Doctor explained matter-of-factly. "Didn't think I was going to just leave the door open for you, did you? Now, go on. Put it around your neck, and don't lose it."
Ianto slipped the silver chain over his head, and tucked the key away safely beneath his shirt. He started towards the door, and then paused.
"If Jack does happen to realise I'm not here, perhaps you'd better just come and get me. You know, just to avoid the upset."
"Go on," Rose said, shoving him affectionately towards the door. "Go see your mum 'n dad. Don't worry about Jack, we'll take care of him. He won't even notice you're gone. You'll see."
An odd look passed over Ianto's face, but he only smiled in response before heading out of the TARDIS.
"All right," the Doctor said, turning to Rose once Ianto had gone. "What's going on?"
She briefly considered ignoring the question, only to dismiss the thought a moment later. If they were going to be in any way successful in helping Jack to recover, lying or holding out was not the right thing to do. She explained what had transpired in Jack's room between Jack and herself while the Doctor listened in thoughtful silence. He didn't say a word until she finished speaking.
"Gage is with him right now?"
"Yeah. I suppose, if anything, at least he's got a way to keep Jack distracted while Ianto is with his mum and dad."
The Doctor's eyebrows shot up at her somewhat unfortunate choice of words. Rose realised instantly what she'd just said, and went flame red.
"I don't mean it like that! I just meant, he'll at least have something to talk about. Not the most comfortable of topics, mind you, but it'll keep Jack busy."
The Doctor didn't know whether to laugh or frown, and eventually settled for a wry smile.
"Seems the old Jack Harkness might still be there after all, lurking not too far beneath the surface. I honestly don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"Well, I miss him," Rose said with a hint of ferocity in her voice. "It wasn't the flirting, either. Well, not just the flirting. I could talk to him, you know? In a way that I can't always talk to you. He was like a big brother, always looking out for me. I miss that, and I wish he could just be back to the way he was before!"
She was almost in tears, and the Doctor didn't hesitate to pull her into a comforting hug.
"I know," he murmured. "I wish that too, Rose, but we have to be prepared to accept that it may not happen. Not completely."
"How long?" Rose asked plaintively. "How long before we start tryin' to help him remember?"
"Once we've taken care of everything here on Earth," he answered. "When we're safely back in the vortex, then we'll begin. It's not going to happen quickly, though. If it even happens at all, it's going to be a gradual process. We're not just talking about a few repressed memories here. We're talking about the psychic equivalent of brain damage here."
Rose nodded in reluctant acceptance. She knew that was the best she was going to get out of him, and not to push the issue any further. There was, however, one other thing she wanted to know before the Doctor was completely distracted by other things.
"Doctor, you said that what Jack is now... a fixed point... that you can feel it."
He nodded as he fiddled with an obscure dial on the control panel.
"Like fingernails down a chalkboard. I felt it as soon as we landed inside Canary Wharf, it was that strong."
"Well, if it was that strong, haven't you ever felt it... him before?"
He froze, staring at her with a look that was alien in its utter intensity.
"What are you trying to say, Rose?"
She looked like she was regretting having spoken at all, but she didn't back down.
"Jack was a prisoner of Torchwood for over a hundred years, Doctor. Are you gonna tell me that in all the time you've lived, and all the time you've spent on Earth, that you've never once sensed him?"
The Doctor went very still and quiet, and Rose felt her stomach curl unpleasantly.
"You did, didn't you?" she asked softly. A sigh escaped the Doctor's lips, and he finally turned to face her.
"Yes, but not in this regeneration, or my last one. I came across Jack... or at least, that 'fixed point' sensation in two or three of my past regenerations. I didn't know who or what was causing it, and I just did what was instinctive."
"You ran."
"Yes. Just as well, too. Would have been disastrous if I'd come across Jack at any of those times."
"Reapers?" Rose wondered, trying her best to swallow the bitter thought that Jack might have been saved from his imprisonment so much sooner.
"Possibly," the Doctor agreed. "It just would have been very, very... well, icky."
It was with difficulty that Rose didn't laugh. 'Icky' was not a word she thought she would have ever heard the Doctor utter. He smiled at her amusement.
"Oh, you know what I mean, Rose. The bottom line is, we have him back with us now, and we're not going to lose him again, right?"
Rose answered with a fierce nod.
"Right."
Grinning again, the Doctor clapped his hands together enthusiastically.
"Okay, then! Why don't we..."
He was cut off short by an anguished howl that shattered the TARDIS' otherwise quiet atmosphere. They exchanged dismayed looks as Jack's voice wailed loudly in distress, howling Ianto's name.
"Why don't we go see if we can keep Jack from panicking, and thinking Ianto's left him?" she suggested.
"You read my mind," the Doctor said wryly. "After you, Miss Tyler."
She rolled her eyes at him, and hurried away down the corridor, with the Doctor close behind.
Ianto was both surprised and relieved to find that the Doctor had managed to land the TARDIS in the front garden of his parents' home. He wouldn't have dared to say anything to the Doctor's face, but he had honestly expected to step out of the TARDIS and find he had to walk five miles or more to the outskirts of Newport, where his parents lived. It was a relief for that not to be the case. He grimaced a little as he approached the front door. Now, he just hoped that they landed at the right time frame, and not five years into the future.
His fears were not exactly eased when the door opened and his mother rushed out. Ianto grunted as he found himself caught up in a bone-crushing hug.
"Mam... please..."
She released him from her embrace, but Ianto's relief was short-lived as she promptly smacked him hard on the arm.
"You had us worried sick! For the love of all things sacred, Ianto, we thought you were dead!"
He frowned as he rubbed at the spot she'd slapped.
"I called you as soon as I could, Mam..."
He yelped as she slapped him again, and cringed under the ferocity of her glare.
"One phone call, days after London goes to hell! One! For all we knew, you could have been calling under duress! And that's not to mention the fact that we hadn't heard a peep from you for nigh on six months beforehand! Your poor sister thought you were dead, and we were starting to wonder!"
Ianto's eyebrows lifted, and he looked over at his father for help.
"Tad...?"
Alwyn Jones returned Ianto's pleading stare with little sympathy.
"Don't look at me, son. Your mam is right. We had no idea whether you were really safe or not. That thirty second phone call did nothing to reassure us. It's been two weeks since all that business in London, and a good six months before that since we'd talked to you last. And on top of that, do you realise we've had people from UNIT here, looking for you?"
Ianto felt a chill race down his spine, and he found himself looking around, as though he expected to see UNIT soldiers appearing out of thin air. His parents exchanged tense looks.
"Relax, boy. There hasn't been anyone from UNIT around here for more than a week," Alwyn said coolly. "Now, why don't you come inside, and tell us where you've been for the last two weeks?"
Ianto's shoulders slumped, and he followed them inside.
"Now, sweetheart, stop looking like we're about to interrogate you," Meredith chided him. "Sit down, and I'll put the kettle on. We'll have a lovely cup of tea, and talk."
"Actually," Ianto ventured awkwardly, "I'd love a cup of coffee, if that's all right."
"It bloody well isn't," Alwyn snapped. "You know we don't keep that coffee rubbish in the house. You'll have tea, and you'll damn well like it."
"Alwyn, stop it," Meredith growled. "Are you trying to drive him off again?"
Alwyn glowered at his wife.
"Of course not, but he always behaves like he's better than us, and I won't have it in our own home!"
Ianto rubbed his hands over his face, starting to wonder just why he'd been so anxious to see his parents.
"Tea is fine," he said, struggling to keep his tone even and non-confrontational. "Look, I'm sorry, I had no idea it had been two weeks for you."
Silence met his words, followed eventually by a strange noise from his father.
"Two weeks for us? What do you mean, for us? Are you trying to tell us it hasn't been that long for you?"
Ianto sighed, and spoke slowly and carefully.
"Let me tell you everything I can, from the beginning. Then, maybe you'll understand why you haven't heard from me for so long."
"All right, then," Alwyn conceded. "This ought to be good."
"Alwyn, shut up," Meredith told him. "Let him say his piece."
Favouring his mother with a grateful look, Ianto went on to give them a heavily edited version of everything that had happened from the moment he'd received his 'promotion' to Secure Archives. He could tell easily enough from the looks on their faces that they didn't believe him, but he didn't stop until he'd finished with their final escape from Canary Wharf in the Doctor's ship.
"You really expect us to believe that?" Alwyn asked in a dangerously quiet voice. Ianto held his father's stare, showing far more bravado than he really felt. However, after facing Daleks and Cybermen, and the murderous madness of Robin Spence and Yvonne Hartman, he was hardly going to back down now.
"Tad, did you happen to see how I actually arrived here? Because I didn't walk all the way here from London."
Frowning, Alwyn got up and stalked over to the window. He peered out for several seconds before speaking in frustration.
"I don't see anything. Not a car, or even so much as a bike..."
"Look again, Tad. Look harder. Over in the corner of the front garden, by Mam's rose bushes."
He did so before looking back at Ianto incredulously.
"That's a bloody phone box."
"It's a police box," Ianto corrected automatically, only to flinch at his father's withering glare. "Sorry. But yeah, that's it. That's the Doctor's ship."
"A little blue box? Ianto..."
Ianto couldn't quite suppress a wry smile.
"It's a lot bigger on the inside, believe me."
"And this man you've been looking after," Meredith said in a deliberate manner. "Is he... in there? Now?"
"Yes," Ianto answered. He heard a strange note in her voice, but chose to ignore it. "My friend Gage is with him. Hopefully, he'll be able to keep him busy for an hour or so, until I'm back..."
"Back?" Meredith burst out. "What do you mean, back? You're not going anywhere, Ianto Jones! You are staying right here with your family, where you belong."
"Mam, please," Ianto pled, starting to feel a touch desperate. "You don't understand. I need to go, at least for now. Jack... He doesn't seem to be able to cope without me yet. I'm working on it, but at the moment he's still too attached to me for me to be able to just walk away from him. He's come so far, and I don't want to damage the progress he's made."
"So, what you're saying is that he gets separation anxiety?" Alwyn asked bluntly. "Like a dog?"
Ianto bristled, rapidly starting to lose his patience with his father, and he was on his feet even before he himself realised it.
"He's not a dog, Tad! He's..."
Anything Ianto had been intending to say evaporated at a familiar sound, the sound of Jack's anguished wail. Striding over to the window, he looked out to see exactly what he had hoped to avoid. Jack was on the lawn just outside the door of the TARDIS, being held back only by the collective strength of Gage, Rose and the Doctor. He was howling pitifully, wailing for Ianto and struggling desperately to free himself from his minders' hold. Swearing, he darted out the door, ignoring the questions coming from his parents.
"Jack!" Ianto called out, shouldering both Gage and the Doctor aside with little preamble. "Cariad, I'm here, I'm right here. Calm down, love."
He wrapped his arms around Jack, taking the full force of the other man's distraught struggles, refusing to let go even when Jack nearly lifted him clean off his feet. Slowly, though, Jack's cries lessened, and he finally seemed to realise who was holding him. With another miserable cry, Jack collapsed to the ground, and he flung his arms around Ianto in sheer distress.
"All right, sweetheart," Ianto whispered, holding Jack and allowing himself to be held in turn. "It's all right. I'm here, I didn't go far. I'm right here."
As Jack cried into his shoulder, he looked up accusingly at the three standing there in guilty silence.
"Well, that lasted how long? Barely twenty minutes!"
"It was my fault," Gage confessed softly, but Ianto shook his head.
"Not now, Gage. I don't want to hear it at the moment."
"Ianto?"
Ianto heard the voice behind him, and felt his heart sink. Meredith Jones moved around slowly into his line of sight, confusion and concern on her face.
"Is this him? Is this your Jack, that you were telling us about?"
Ianto nodded, seeing no point in lying.
"Yes, Mam. This is Jack. And these are the people who helped us escape from London. Gage Adams, Rose Tyler, and the Doctor."
Meredith looked back at her husband, whose expression was unreadable as he watched the pitiful sight of the distraught stranger clinging to his only son. She then approached slowly, and crouched down beside Ianto and Jack, and reached out cautiously to lay a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder. He started a little at her touch, and turned his head just enough to be able to see her despite his face still being mostly buried in Ianto's shoulder.
"Hello, Jack," Meredith said in a quiet, warm tone, and at the same time favoured him with an equally warm smile. "My name is Meredith. I'm Ianto's mam."
Ianto felt Jack's grip on him tighten just a little, and though he said nothing in response, Ianto suspected he knew what he was thinking – that she was just one more person who might want to take his Ianto away from him. Meredith continued to speak, still smiling that warm, gentle smile.
"When Ianto was a little boy, and he was upset or frightened, I'd give him chocolate milk and ice cream to make him feel better. Would you like some chocolate milk and ice cream, Jack?"
Ianto struggled not to grin, knowing his mother had just said the magic words. Not surprisingly, Jack's head came up slowly, and he stared at Meredith through red and swollen eyes.
"Ch... Chocolate ice cream? With topping, and sprinkles?"
Her smile widened, and she reached out instinctively to stroke his tear-streaked cheek.
"Yes, sweetheart, if you like. Now, c'mon. Up you get."
Slowly, Jack allowed himself to be coaxed up onto his feet. Meredith held a hand out to him, and he looked questioningly to Ianto, who answered with a nod and a reassuring smile. Jack placed his hand into Meredith's, and she led him into the house. Ianto waited until they'd gone before turning to look darkly at Gage, Rose and the Doctor.
"Not even twenty minutes," he hissed. "What the hell happened?"
"I messed up," Gage admitted, sounding sick. "I scared him... I didn't mean to, but I scared him. He called out for you, and of course you weren't there... He just became hysterical, and we couldn't calm him down. He was convinced you'd left him, and he was coming to find you. We were trying to get him back into the TARDIS when you came out of the house."
"Bloody hell, Gage," Ianto whispered, pushing his fingers through his hair in aggravation. "I only asked you to look after him for an hour. Just an hour! Why was that so hard?"
"It wasn't all his fault," Rose spoke up quickly. "Some things happened, and Gage was trying to sort it out... It just kind of backfired."
Ianto stared at Rose for a long moment, then at Gage, and finally at the Doctor, who by all accounts had decided to stay back and keep his mouth shut for once. Shaking his head, he began to back away towards the house.
"I'm going inside, and I'm going to finish this visit with my parents, and then Jack and I will come back to the TARDIS together. Then, when I've got him properly settled again, you're all going to tell me exactly what is going on here. Is that clear?"
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and stalked away into the house.
"He really is rather formidable, isn't he?" the Doctor remarked finally, sounding altogether too amused. Gage grimaced as they made their way back inside the TARDIS. He really did not like the prospect of having to tell Ianto exactly what had transpired to set Jack off on such hysterics.
"Yeah. He really is."
Jack may have gone willingly with Meredith but his anxiety hadn't diminished in the slightest, as was evidenced by the way he flung himself at Ianto the moment the younger man walked into the kitchen.
"All right," Ianto murmured soothingly as he rubbed his hands up and down Jack's back. "It's all right. I'm right here, love. I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm sorry," Jack sobbed, burying his face in Ianto's shoulder once more. "Please don't leave me, Yan toe. Please…"
Ianto looked to his mother helplessly, and was grateful to see she was stirring a glass filled with chocolate milk.
"C'mon, cariad. Come and sit down. Look, Mam's made up some chocolate milk for you."
With difficulty, Ianto manoeuvred Jack over to the table and into a chair. It was made all the more difficult by the fact that Jack refused to relinquish his hold on Ianto; as though he was terrified that if he did let go, Ianto would vanish.
"Here you go," Meredith said. "Go ahead and try that."
Still clinging to Ianto with one hand, Jack reached for the glass. His hand was trembling violently, though, and some of the contents sloshed over the side.
"I'm sorry!" Jack burst out, on the verge of a fresh wave of tears.
"Don't be silly," Meredith told him. "It's just a little bit of spillage, easy mopped up. Now here, let go of Ianto. It's all right, he's not going anywhere, are you, dear?"
"No, Mam," Ianto answered. He laid a hand on Jack's shoulder to reassure his charge that he wasn't going to disappear. Meredith nodded her approval as Jack reluctantly released his hold on Ianto.
"Now, you hold on with both hands… that's it… and just drink slowly. There you go!"
Ianto couldn't help but smile as Jack drank a few mouthfuls. When he looked up again, there was a shy smile on his chocolate milk coated lips.
"Thankyou, Mam."
If Meredith was taken aback Jack's choice of address, she didn't let it show. Instead, she favoured Jack with a gentle kiss to the top of his head before using a napkin to wipe his mouth clean.
"You're welcome. Now, how about I get you that ice cream that I promised?"
Jack's face lit up once more, the upset of earlier nearly forgotten.
"Please!"
"Very good," Meredith praised him. "I like a boy with good manners."
"Yan toe taught me," Jack informed her in utter seriousness.
Ianto was busy watching Jack with an indulgent smile, and almost missed his father leaving the room. He paused, staring at the retreating figure of his father, and feeling momentarily torn. Finally, he made his decision, leant down and spoke gently to Jack.
"I'm just going to go through that door there, Jack. I'll be right on the other side, all right? I'm not going far. You stay here, and have some ice cream."
Jack looked uncertain, but nodded anyway, and Ianto rewarded him with a tender kiss on his cheek. He then turned and went after his father.
Alwyn hadn't gone far. Ianto found him on the other side of the kitchen door, worry etched into his face. Ianto approached him slowly, not quite sure what to say.
"I know, he can be difficult to deal with," Ianto said, "but it's not Jack's fault. He wasn't always like this. He was a different person, and we're just trying to help him recover. Please try to understand, Tad…"
"We thought you'd been abducted," Alwyn said abruptly. Ianto stared at him in confused surprise.
"You… What? Why? Who told you that…?" He faltered as realisation hit. "UNIT… It was UNIT, wasn't it?"
Alwyn nodded, and sank into a chair. He lowered his head and pushed his fingers through his hair.
"A Lieutenant something-or-other came a day or two after everything went to hell in London. He made a show of being concerned about you, but it wasn't you that he was worried about. Not really. At that stage, though, your mam and I had no idea whether you were even still alive, so we were willing to tolerate anyone for a bit of news. He told us that you'd survived the battle… That's what he called it, the battle… He said you'd survived, but that you'd been taken captive by a monster that escaped during the chaos."
Ianto bristled. Once upon a time, he had hoped that UNIT would have been a solution to Jack's problem. Now, he knew better, and it was a bitter pill to swallow, to think that the supposedly reputable agency had the same attitude towards Jack as Torchwood.
"Jack isn't a monster, Tad."
"I know," Alwyn assured him. "I see that now. But when we were first told, your mam and I didn't know what to think. All we knew was that our boy was missing! What were we supposed to do, Ianto? You tell me!"
Ianto felt a chill settle deep in his gut.
"You called UNIT, didn't you? Oh god…"
"No, not this time," Alwyn insisted. "I confess that I wanted to, but your mam wouldn't let me."
Ianto wasn't appeased, and continued to stare suspiciously at his father.
"But…?"
"But I did call them after we got that phone call from you… just to tell them we'd heard from you, and that you seemed to be okay. Damn it, Ianto, don't you look at me like that! UNIT are supposed to be the good guys, aren't they? If we can't trust them, who the hell do we trust?"
"No one, Tad," Ianto burst out. "You don't trust anyone except me! And yes, UNIT are supposed to be the good guys, but they'll still lock Jack up like some sort of animal! God, I've got to get him back into the TARDIS. They probably already know he's here!"
"Ianto…"
"No! He's not safe here. We have to go now."
Ianto ran back into the kitchen, where Jack was eagerly awaiting the big bowl of ice cream that Meredith was preparing.
"Jack, love, we have to go, right now."
Meredith looked at him in startled confusion, and Jack uttered a cry of protest.
"No! Mam's making me ice cream with sprinkles!"
Ianto hated himself for what he was about to do, but there was no other option. He needed Jack to move quickly, without argument.
"Jack, listen to me. UNIT knows you're here. If we don't go straight back out to the TARDIS, they'll take you away and lock you up, just like they did in the bad place!"
Jack stared up at him in wide-eyed horror.
"Away from you?"
"Yes," Ianto said in an increasingly strained voice. "Yes, Jack. Away from me. Now, c'mon, please!"
With a frightened cry, Jack stumbled up and out of the room. Ianto glanced back at his parents with an apologetic gaze.
"I'm sorry, but I can't come back here. Not until I know that Jack is safe from UNIT. I… I'll call you when I can."
He hurried after Jack, hoping they weren't too late.
He caught up with Jack at the doorway. The older man huddled there, looking out in terror.
"Yan?"
Ianto pulled the TARDIS key out from within his shirt, and took Jack's hand firmly in his own.
"We're going to walk out there together. It's going to be fine, love. You'll see."
"I don't want to be locked up again," Jack whimpered.
"You won't be. We won't let them. Not me, not the Doctor, or Rose or Gage…"
Tears spilled from Jack's eyes.
"Gage would. He's mad at me."
Ianto blinked in shock, caught off-guard by the unexpected statement.
"No, he isn't! Why would you think that?"
"He said I have to have a cold shower," Jack answered. "If he wasn't mad at me, he would have said I could have a bubble bath."
Jack's logic was simple, childlike and indisputable. Ianto sucked in a long breath. He didn't understand why Gage would have said such a damaging thing to Jack… although, in hindsight, he thought he understood now what had caused Jack's earlier fit of hysteria. This, however, was not the time or the place to be dissecting the issue.
"Let's just get ourselves back to the TARDIS, all right? We'll be safe there. Look, it's right over there. A dozen steps, and we'll be safe inside. C'mon, love. Let's go."
They crossed the lawn together, and Ianto fitted the key quickly into the lock. He was just pushing the doors open when Jack uttered a wordless scream of fear. An instant later, Ianto gasped in shock as he was yanked around and shoved hard into the TARDIS.
He landed with a jarring thud on the floor just inside the doorway, and was just regaining his breath and equilibrium when Jack landed squarely on top of him and drove all the breath clean out of his body.
"Jack…" he wheezed, "get off me… Off…"
Something wet and warm dripped onto his face, and ran down his cheek. He wiped at it, and felt his stomach roll at the sight of blood smeared over his fingers. Ianto struggled to push Jack off him, and finally squeeze his way out from underneath. Only then did he see the reason for Jack's utter stillness.
Jack had taken a bullet to the temple. The shot had probably killed him instantly, and only by sheer luck had he fallen into the TARDIS, and not outside the safety of her doors.
"No," Ianto moaned as he tried to drag Jack's body up into his arms. "Jack…"
"Gage, pull his legs away from the doors, and get them closed," the Doctor ordered. "Hurry! We've got company coming."
Gage lifted Jack's legs and moved them around so that he could push the doors closed. As he did so, he saw the red berets of multiple UNIT soldiers coming over the wall of the Jones property, guns drawn and ready to use. He could hear someone shouting at them to surrender, and was infinitely grateful that closing the doors shut out those unwanted demands.
"Hold on," the Doctor shouted. "We're going back into the vortex."
Ianto barely heard the doctor. His focus was entirely on jack, and he continued to cradle him when, less than a minute after taking a bullet to the head, Jack revived with a strangled gasp and pained sob.
"Yan…?"
"I'm here, love," Ianto murmured. "It's all right. I'm here."
Jack's face crumpled, and he began to cry.
"Ouch, Yan, my head hurts..."
"I know," Ianto murmured. "Just lie still for a minutes. Then, we'll run you a nice, hot bubble bath, and get you cleaned up."
Jack stared up at him with wide, watery eyes.
"I... don't have to have a cold shower?"
Ianto fired a sharp look in Gage's direction, and the older man winced in discomfort and tried to shrink back out of sight behind Rose.
"No," Ianto told him firmly. "You don't."
"There we go," the Doctor announced with even more flourish than usual, making Ianto suspicious that he was trying to ease the tension. "Safely back in the vortex."
"C'mon, cariad," Ianto said, getting up somewhat unsteadily. "Let's go run that bath."
He took half a dozen steps before his brain registered that something was wrong. As the shock and adrenalin wore off, he became aware of a sharp, biting pain in his side that was steadily growing in intensity. His brushed over the irritated spot, and came away covered in fresh blood.
Dimly, he heard Gage shout something, followed by a similar cry from Rose, but none of that really registered. Instead, the one sound that did register in his ears was the sound of Jack screaming his name in fear and panic.
His knees hit the floor of the TARDIS as his legs gave way beneath him, and he was only distantly aware of someone's strong, if cool hands preventing him from falling completely and potentially striking his head on the floor. Ianto heard Jack's distressed wail again, though it sounded as though it was coming from a great distance away. Then, finally, blackness descended, and he knew no more.
tbc...