Author's Notes: Here's the next chapter a little earlier than planned. The early post is in appreciation of everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I was really astonished by the response and hopefully this chapter makes up for some of the confusion the last chapter created! Thanks also to the brilliant Prothrombintime for unwavering feedback and encouragement.

Chapter Thirty-One

September 23rd, 2005

Ianto gave a shuddering gasp, his chest heaving upwards as his lungs began working to draw oxygen into his body. His eyes flew open and were immediately assaulted by a haze of painfully bright, stark white light. He blinked against the onslaught until his pupils began to adjust, making the blinding glare more bearable.

Blurred shadows moved at the periphery of his vision and he heard the indistinct murmur of insistent voices, the sound seeming very far away. He thought he heard his name being spoken, but then a spasm of intense pain overtook his body, searing like fire across his nerve-endings. He cried out in agony, pressing his eyes closed as the sound tore from his parched, tight throat.

"Ianto!" an achingly familiar voice called urgently, breaking through his jumbled, incoherent thoughts. He felt a warm, strong hand grasp his shoulder. "Ianto! Can you hear me?"

The pain eventually subsided to a dull, bone-deep ache and he risked opening his eyes again. He blinked several more times as his vision slowly began to clear and gain focus. A thumb was rubbing gently over the sensitive skin just above his collarbone, and he tried to concentrate on the comforting sensation. The dark blur hovering over him finally achieved clarity, and his heart clenched as he gazed up into the intense blue eyes he knew so well. Those eyes were peering down at him anxiously, and he was shocked to see they were blinking back silent tears.

"Jack," he managed to croak out, desperately relieved to see the other man. "What... what happened?"

He struggled to move against the hard surface beneath him, trying to reach for Jack as spasms of pain spiked randomly over his body. His hands were trembling badly and his limbs were sluggish and uncoordinated.

An unfamiliar male voice halted his progress and a hand that wasn't Jack's pressed him back down again. Reluctantly shifting his eyes away from Jack, Ianto found an unfamiliar man standing on his opposite side and looking down at him. "Ianto, stay still for a minute or two. Take slow, deep breaths and try to relax, mate. You should start feeling better soon."

"It's okay, Ianto," Jack said in a soft, reassuring tone, gently lifting Ianto's head as something soft was placed under it. "Just relax. You're safe and everything's going to be all right."

Jack stroked the side of his face tenderly. He leaned in and kissed Ianto's forehead, then took his hand, winding their fingers together. Confused and disoriented, Ianto closed his eyes again and tried to focus on his breathing as he'd been instructed. He felt the cold metal of a stethoscope diaphragm being pressed against his chest. Then he heard the hum and soft beeping of one of their alien medical devices – a Bekaran deep-tissue scanner, his mind promptly supplied. He remembered it from when he'd observed Jack using the device on various alien corpses.

Another unfamiliar voice spoke quietly, this time the voice was female. "Jack, are you okay?"

Ianto squeezed Jack's hand, wanting to reassure him that everything was all right, even though he wasn't sure what was actually going on yet. He didn't know why Jack seemed upset, but he hated when Jack was in pain. He heard Jack take a deep, shuddering breath, and then he squeezed Ianto's hand in return, stroking the soft skin on the inside of his wrist. "Owen?" Jack asked, his voice quiet and tremulous. "He's going to be okay, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's going to be fine, Jack," the strange man's voice answered. "Just let me finish this scan, then I'll take another blood sample and run an analysis."

Cold tremors rippled over Ianto's body. Still feeling bewildered and overwhelmed, he tried to calm his confused, racing thoughts. Pushing aside his curiosity about these two strange people working alongside Jack, he fought to cast his mind back. Everything was frustratingly hazy and elusive at first, but then a burst of recollection flooded his consciousness.

He'd been paralysed and sprawled out on the floor of the lift at the Stadium House building, thinking about his life and especially about Jack. He'd been trying to take comfort from his memories of their time together, waiting for the inevitable moment where his body ceased to function. He'd resigned himself to his fate, knowing he was going to die alone.

The lift doors slid open and an anguished voice reached his ears. "Ianto! No! Oh, no... no, no, no..."

Ianto struggled to force his eyelids apart and found Jack on his knees beside him, staring down at him with wide, frightened eyes. His face was splattered with blood and his handsome features were twisted into a mask of misery. "Jack," he struggled to whisper, his vocal chords only barely responding by that point. "Jack... can't... can't move... Hart... poisoned me... I... I'm... I'm sorry..."

"Don't speak, save your breath," Jack murmured, reaching forward and caressing his cheek. "Everything's going to be okay, Ianto. I promise."

Jack promptly scooped him up from the floor, cradling him against his body and rising to his feet. "Stay with me, Ianto. We need to get you back to the Hub. There isn't much time, but we're going to fix this. Just stay with me, please."

Ianto wanted to tell Jack that it was okay, that there was nothing to be done, that it was already too late. He wanted to tell Jack that he loved him, to tell him how much their time together had meant to him. He wanted to know what had happened to John Hart and what he'd done to Jack. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he was trapped inside his unresponsive body and he was utterly helpless. All he could do was try to hold on a little bit longer, no matter how futile it was, for Jack's sake if not for his own.

Jack sprinted to the SUV, the weight of Ianto's body not seeming to slow him down even slightly. He carefully laid him out along the back seat. "It's gonna be okay," he reiterated, his voice strained and uncharacteristically frantic. "Just hold on for me, Ianto."

He gunned the engine and with a deafening screech of the tires, he drove them back to the Hub at breakneck speed. All Ianto could do was stare up at the SUV's roof and hope that Jack didn't have to slam on the breaks and cause his body to crash violently into the back of the front seats.

By some small miracle they made it back to the Hub in one piece. Jack picked him up again, cradling him carefully against his chest, and ran all the way through the Hub, his boots pounding loudly in the eerie silence. He was panting from exertion but he kept murmuring to hold on and that it was all going to be okay. Ianto wanted to believe him, but he was certain it was too late. He was just relieved he'd been able to see Jack one last time, and he was glad he wouldn't die alone after all.

Finally they reached the medical bay and Jack set him down carefully on the examination table, pulling off his suit jacket and tossing it aside haphazardly before laying him down on the cold, steel surface. Jack turned away and fumbled around noisily for several moments before returning to Ianto's side with two syringes in his hand. Jack looked down at him and stroked his cheek.

"Ianto, listen, I'm fairly certain I know what this is. I've seen Hart use it before. But there isn't much time... you're struggling to breathe and it won't be long before your body shuts down. Hart might have an antidote... the problem is I don't know how long it's going to take me to find him. He's probably on the other side of the city looking for the last canister." Jack paused and took a deep breath, looking at Ianto regretfully. He quickly rolled up Ianto's shirt sleeve and picked up one of the syringes. "I need to take some blood from you to analyse, but in the meantime I'm going to put you into cryo-freeze. It's the only way... it'll buy us time and keep you alive until I can get the antidote."

Ianto felt a needle puncture his arm, his mind reeling with panic. He'd seen both Tommy and Jack survive the cryogenic suspension process unscathed, but the idea terrified him nonetheless. He tried to rationalise that if it gave him even the slimmest of chance of survival then it was worth it, not that he could object to Jack's plan even if he had wanted to. He was dying anyway, so it didn't really make a difference. All he could do was wait as he listened to the sounds of Jack hurrying to retrieve and prepare one of the a cryo-freeze units.

It was only a minute or so later and Jack was back at his side, hastily removing his tie and unfastening the top buttons of his shirt. He removed Ianto's watch along with the contents of his pockets, then pulled off his shoes. "I'll do whatever it takes to get you back, Ianto, I promise. Don't worry... it's just like going to sleep... then you'll wake up and you'll be back with me again." Jack leaned down and kissed his forehead, cupping his face gently with his hands. "Remember, you owe me that date we talked about." His voice wavered, catching with emotion. "I'm not letting you get out of that."

Jack was looking down at him so intently, his fearful eyes gazing directly into Ianto's. The utter despair in Jack's features was too much for Ianto to bear. He hated that he was causing Jack pain, he hated that he was being forced to leave Jack, and he hated being utterly powerless to do anything about it. He wanted to scream out at the unfairness and injustice of it all. Tears formed in his eyes and slid down his face. He desperately wanted to comfort and reassure the man he loved. Unable to do any of those things, all he could do was continue to gaze up into Jack's anguished face. As much as he was horrified to see Jack so distraught, the doubts he had about Jack's feelings for him vanished in that moment. He knew with absolute certainty that Jack loved him. Determinedly, he held onto that thought with every ounce of his remaining strength.

With one final stroke of Ianto's face, Jack gently closed over his eyelids, shrouding him in darkness. There was another stab of a syringe as Jack injected him with the cryo-freeze compound. Cold fire surged through his veins as the sound of Jack's voice reached his ears, seeming to come from far away.

"I'll fix this and I'll be here when you wake up." The raw, undisguised emotion in Jack's voice tore at Ianto's heart. "I'm not letting you go without one hell of a fight Ianto Jones."

They were the last words Ianto heard before he lost consciousness and slipped away into the abyss.

Ianto's eyes sprung open again as his mind finished replaying the vivid, painful memories. He looked up into Jack's glistening eyes and surged upwards, pulling at Jack until they were wrapped awkwardly in each other's arms. He buried his face in the junction between Jack's shoulder and neck, breathing in the other man's comforting, familiar scent. "Jack," he murmured, overwhelmed with relief and gratitude as he tried to process the fact that he was alive and that Jack had somehow managed to save him.

"Oh, Gods, Ianto. It worked, I've got you back," Jack muttered, wrapping Ianto in his arms and clinging to him tightly. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered, pressing insistent kisses against Ianto's face and hair. "I've been so scared I'd never see you again."

There was the sound of a throat being cleared loudly. "Bloody hell, Jack. Let the poor bloke breathe for God's sake."

Having forgotten about the other two people in the room, Ianto reluctantly pulled away from Jack far enough to turn his head and look at the two strangers standing at the end of the examination table. The thin, dark-haired man was scowling at them, while a beautiful petite Asian woman with glossy swept back black hair was smiling at them widely, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. They were both quite young, appearing to be in their late-twenties.

The man handed Ianto a glass half-filled with water. "Here you go, mate. This should help. Just take small sips."

Ianto nodded and took the glass gratefully, gripping it tightly with a trembling hand. Resisting the urge to gulp down the water, he sipped at it slowly, the cool liquid feeling wonderful as it soothed his dry throat. Jack was still holding onto him tightly, seeming unwilling to let him go for even a moment. He tried to give Jack a reassuring smile.

"Better?" Jack asked as Ianto passed back the empty glass and the dark-haired man put it down on one of the equipment carts nearby.

"Yeah." Suddenly feeling self-conscious with three pairs of eyes scrutinising him so intently, he glanced down to where his unbuttoned shirt had slipped away from his shoulders, the pale skin of his exposed torso looking unnaturally stark under the bright lights of the Hub's medical bay. He quickly pulled the shirt up and covered himself, fumbling as he struggled with the buttons.

"Here, let me do that," Jack said softly, taking over and deftly fastening the buttons, leaving just the top two open.

"Sorry... um, who are you?" Ianto asked, turning his attention back to the two strangers.

"Sorry, Ianto." Jack looked at him apologetically, then gestured at the surly looking man. "This is Owen Harper."

The man huffed. "Doctor Owen Harper, thank you."

"And this is Toshiko Sato, mathematics and computer genius," Jack continued, ignoring the other man's indignant interjection. "Owen, Tosh, this is the one and only Ianto Jones, my second-in-command." He winked at Ianto before adding, "Amongst other things."

Toshiko stepped forward, a warm smile spreading across her face. "It's lovely to finally meet you, Ianto. Jack's told us a lot about you."

Ianto glanced at Jack suspiciously but the other man just gave him an unrepentant shrug. "Toshiko? I've heard about you..."

"I found your file about Toshiko," Jack said, smiling at him. "I knew you wanted help with your Rift predictor idea, so I pulled some strings and got Tosh released and transferred to Cardiff."

Toshiko nodded, smiling shyly. "Jack told me I had you to thank for getting me out of that horrible place and giving me the opportunity to work here."

"It's, ah... it's good to meet you too, Toshiko," Ianto replied politely, although he was confused as to how these people had joined the team so suddenly. While he'd hoped Jack would eventually agree to recruit some extra staff, he'd expected to have a colossal fight on his hands. Something was definitely wrong about all of this.

Toshiko stepped back and Ianto turned his attention to Owen, who gave him a brusque nod. "Good to have you back in the land of the living, Ianto. Just so you know, I'm expecting some of this magic coffee of yours as soon as you're back on your feet. Harkness here never shuts up about it."

Ianto chuckled slightly, although he was concerned about what else Jack might have told them about him. "I'm sure that can be arranged, Doctor Harper."

"Not until you're fully recovered though," Owen warned him. "You're going to be on medical leave until I give you the all clear to come back to work. That alien poison is nasty stuff. There's no permanent damage, but it's going to take time for your body to fully recover." He retrieved a syringe and reached for Ianto's arm. "Now, I need to draw some blood, okay?"

Ianto nodded, his unease over the situation growing rapidly. He held out his arm and turned away, cringing as he felt the needle pierce his skin. He'd always hated needles. He returned his attention to Jack. "Jack, what happened to John Hart? And how long was I frozen for?"

Owen finished drawing the blood sample, putting the vile and equipment on a tray to his side. There was an awkward silence with the three of them looking at each other with obvious anxiety.

"Jack, what's going on?" Ianto asked again, raising his voice and beginning to feel alarmed.

Glancing around properly for the first time, he noticed how much the medical bay had changed. The previously sparse space now looked like a full-blown laboratory, crowded with tables, shelves and carts, almost every surface occupied with all manner of high-tech scientific and medical equipment. A sick feeling started to take hold in the pit of his stomach.

Jack finally broke the tense silence. "Guys, can you give Ianto and me a moment?"

Tosh and Owen nodded and made their way up the stairs and into the main area of the Hub. Ianto watched them until they were out of sight, then turned his gaze back towards Jack. His anxiety was increasing with each passing moment.

Jack sighed heavily. "Ianto, there's no easy way to tell you this. After I put you into cryo-freeze, I found John Hart, but he didn't have the antidote. He still had some of the poison though, so I was able to get a sample of it. I wanted to kill the bastard, I was ready to tear him limb from limb for what he did to you." A flash of intense anger darkened Jack's features. "But he got what he deserved in the end and he'll never hurt anyone again. It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later, once you've had some rest and feel better."

"With no antidote on hand, I had to figure out how to create one," Jack continued. "I couldn't do it myself, I don't have that kind of skill or knowledge." He paused and shook his head, then sat down beside him on the table. "I didn't know what to do, I knew I had to find someone to help. That's where Owen came in. I needed someone to help me develop an antidote from scratch."

Jack took Ianto's hand in his own. "I found Owen in London and I convinced him to move to Cardiff and work for me. He can be a monumental pain in the arse, but he's a brilliant doctor. He's been working on developing an antidote since he arrived here. He's got a lousy bedside manner, but I can't fault his work ethic. He's worked on this tirelessly. Owen's a man who likes a challenge and he never once gave up." He gestured at the plethora of equipment around the room. "All of this, it was all to help you. I made sure Owen had everything he could possibly need."

Ianto nodded slowly, trying to comprehend the enormity of what Jack had just told him. "How long?" he asked in barely a whisper, looking at Jack fearfully.

Jack took a deep breath and tightened his grip on Ianto's hand. "Ten months," he said finally. "You've been in cryo-freeze for a little over ten months."