AN Thanks to JonesIantoJones who had a very busy and brilliant time at SFX and yet still managed to beta this for me.

Disclaimer: nope not mine

One of the lines is in response to a review I had from 'Life is like a Novel' hope this answers it for you. Right let's see how Ianto is after being mauled by the weevil.....

Returning to London part 17

Tosh was helping Owen stitch Ianto's wounds. Two of the slashes had gone quite deep and went from his left shoulder right down to his right hip and so far Owen had put in over one hundred stitches. They would leave scars, the others weren't quite as deep or long and would only leave faint scars. Owen kept glancing at Ianto who still seemed to be unaware of what was going on. Both Owen and Tosh had tried to get a response out of him, but so far nothing had worked. Owen had just put the last stitch in and was about to cover them when the alarm went on the cog door. Tosh looked up as she heard Jack and Gwen approach.

"I hope my car is still in one piece Harkness and that I'm not going to be getting loads of speeding fines anytime soon." Owen shouted without looking up from what he was doing.

"Your car is fine, not sure about the fines though - wasn't taking much notice - just wanted to get back as quickly as possible." Jack answered as he came to lean on the railings above the med bay. Looking down at the scene before him, concern clearly evident on his face he asked "How is he Owen?"

"Not good. Two of the cuts are very deep and long as you can see from all the stitches I've put in. The others just needed cleaning out and a bit of glue on them and they should be fine. He's had an antibiotic injection and some pain relief. The cuts should heal up ok though the long ones will leave a scar. At the moment I'm more worried that he's still not responding to anything. He's been like this the whole time and I really don't know how to bring him out of it." Owen answered despondently.

Jack looked at him with a grim smile not knowing what to say in response. "Gwen, Tosh debrief in the boardroom." He called out to the girls. As they walked away he turned to Owen and said. "Stay here with him, talk to him see if you can get a response. He seems to trust you maybe it will be enough to bring him out of this. I'll tell you what happened later when Tosh can sit with him. Ok?"

"Thanks Jack." Owen murmured as he sat on the chair beside Ianto. Once Jack had left Owen breathed a sigh of relief and picked up Ianto's hand and bringing it to his cheek he started talking softly. "Ianto I know you can hear me. Everything is going to be alright. I've done my best needlework on you, but you will still have one sexy scar. I don't know what happened out there today but if I know you, and I think I do, then I bet you were doing something heroic, 'cos if you weren't then you are in for a hell of a bollocking. I'm just so glad that Jack got to the weevil before it got to you. I don't want to loose you. Not yet - we're only just getting started." He placed a small kiss to the palm of Ianto's hand. He then leant down and placed a kiss to his lips hoping that it might bring him back. It didn't. Owen didn't know what else he could do or say so he just sat there one of his hands holding Ianto's while the other was gently carding through Ianto's hair. He wasn't sure how much time had passed when Tosh came down and gently put her hand on his shoulder. "Jack wants to debrief you now."

Owen looked at her then back at Ianto.

"Go on I'll sit with him." She said with a small smile.

Owen got up off the chair and much to Tosh's surprise placed a soft kiss on Ianto's forehead and murmured. "Tosh is going to sit with you for a bit, but I'll be back soon."

******TORCHWOOD******

As Owen approached the boardroom he heard Gwen's voice "You can't honestly believe that Ianto would be that selfless that he'd put himself in danger to save a girl he didn't even know."

"Actually Gwen I can." Jack told her honestly. "Ianto is the most least selfish person I know and that's saying something. What do you think happened then?"

Without hesitating Gwen said. "He did it for the attention. As if he wasn't getting enough already."

Jack looked at her increduously. "You think he let the weevil attack him just to get attention."

"Well....yeah." She stuttered.

"You really believe he would knowingly put himself in danger for no reason. You really don't know Ianto at all. Do you? He hates attention. Any sort of attention. He hates all the fuss when he's injured. Why do you think he tries to hide his injuries all the time? Unless someone sees him get hurt he doesn't tell anyone, much prefering to deal with it himself."

Gwen was now getting angry. "But that's just it, you say he doesn't like attention and doesn't like fuss so hides when he's hurt, which means when we do find out he gets double the attention. If you ask me todays stunt with the wevil was just attention seeking. I don't care what Andy said about him trying to protect the girl. If he'd really wanted to he could have just asked Andy for his phone to contact us and we could've dealt with it. But no not Ianto he had to go and get himself mauled so now everyone is making a fuss over him. Classic attention seeking behaviour."

Owen had heard enough. He barged through the door and snapped at Gwen. "I can't believe you think Ianto did this deliberately. Do you now how many stitches I've put in?" Gwen shook her head.

"Over one hundred and fifty. The scar he's going to be left with is going to run from his left shoulder down his chest and finish by his lright hip." Owen was visibly shaking as he talked. Jack put a calming hand on his arm but it had no effect Owen continued talking. "Considering you're supposed to be the heart of Torchwood you have a funny way of showing it. Ianto isn't an attention seeker he's a very private person. You saw how he reacted this morning with your prying question - yes I know you called it friendly concern - but he hated telling you about the nightmares. He doesn't want your pity. He just wants to do his job as best he can. So if I know Ianto he wasn't confronting that weevil for the attention - as you put it - he was doing his job and keeping the public safe. Now I have a patient who needs me, so Jack is this debriefing going to take long."

Gwen stood opened mouthed looking at Owen, then fuming turned to Jack. "Are you going to let him talk to me like that?"

Jack smirked "Well he did make a very good point. Now if you can go and write up the reports of this mission it would be greatly appreciated and I can get on with telling Owen what happened with Ianto."

Gwen started to argue thought better of it, instead huffing and walking out of the boardroom.

Owen sat down on the nearest chair. "I'm sorry Jack, but she just got to me. It's been a stressful day in more ways than one and it's not over yet."

Jack agreed. "She was getting to me too. I don't know why she's got it in for Ianto at the moment but I need to keep a eye on it. Make sure it doesn't become a major problem." Jack then went onto explain what had happened at the park with Ianto and the weevil. Once he'd finished talking Owen spoke with a small smile "I knew he wouldn't have delibrately put himself in danger. It's just like him to put someone else's safety first. Have you finished as I would really like to get back to him.?"

"Sure. Just one thing?" Owen looked up at Jack as he continued "Is there anything going on between you two? Only both Tosh and I heard what you said to him in the park."

Owen sighed "We were hoping to keep it low key for the minute. To be honest I don't know. I think we would both like there to be and for now we are going to see where it goes. Please don't say anything - just let us figure it out. It may come to something or it may not."

"Ok. Just don't break his heart like I did. He deserves to be happy" Jack said meanigfully.

With that Owen was out the door and was heading towards the med bay when Gwen called sweetly. "Owen can I have a word please?"