22
Ianto slept like the dead.
Waking to the sensation of the bed dipping as Jack carefully stood.
"Jack?"
"It's OK, I just need the hit the head" Jack said softly, "I'll leave the door open."
Ianto nodded and stretched as he watched the naked Captain wander into the bathroom. Ianto grinned as he watched the bum wriggle out again for a second.
Cheeky bugger.
Ianto sighed and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the sound of Jack singing softly, covering the sound of pee hitting water.
He had his eyes closed but still knew when the lights went out.
His eyes flew open as he looked towards the bathroom, finding a bright shaft of light.
Blown bulb?
Ianto carefully slid from the bed, creeping towards the safety of the light.
He held his breath, hoping against hope that he would be safe.
He felt the tendrils of cold as they wound around his ankle and he tried to cry out to Jack but was pulled off his feet with such force that his breath was knocked from him.
He slapped against the concrete floor, grunting with the pain of bruised or maybe broken ribs as he struggled to call out.
The smell of rotting flesh filled his nostrils, making him want to vomit as he rolled onto his back and threw his arms over his face.
He felt something piercing the flesh of his arm and finally found the breath to scream as he gouged at the thing with his other hand.
"Ianto!" Jack yelled as he pounded into the room and threw his naked body onto the entity.
Ianto screamed again as he felt something raking at his shins and he tried desperately to buck it off.
The room was bathed in light, blinding Ianto but he heard Owen's roars as he joined the battle with a loud thump and groan that sounded like Gwen.
Then came the loud noise of a fire extinguisher and Ianto cried out as cold foam hit his bare skin.
Jack was making a terrible noise and Ianto blinked as he fought to regain his sight, rolling to his hands and knees as he crawled towards Jack's death rattle.
Owen was working desperately to save him but Ianto pulled him back as he saw the chest was torn open and Jack was suffering.
Ianto grabbed a scalpel and plunged it into Jack's left eyeball as Owen now screamed with horror. Ianto struggled to remove the scalpel from the eye socket and let it fall to the concrete with shock.
Then darkness returned to the room.
At least, for Ianto.
.
.
.
Jack was pacing as Owen worked.
"Would you either stop doing that out the corner of my eye or fuck off" Owen snarled, still angry at the first resurrection he had ever witnessed.
His hands were shaking as he reached for the needle and thread, nerves shot from the revelation that his boss was immortal.
Fucking bastard had fooled them all.
As he turned to stich the livid tears to the alabaster skin of Ianto's left arm, his shaking stopped and Owen became the iceman.
He had completed the scratched legs and still marveled at the luck. The fucking thing had torn into his flesh but missed a main artery by a hair's breadth.
The arm was the real problem, the gouges deep, two to the bone.
Jack had stopped pacing and moved to Ianto's side, taking the hand of the undamaged arm and gently checking the fingers for damage.
"Told you they're just bruised" Owen snarled, "Funny. You acting like you don't trust me. I'm not the one with a big bloody secret!"
"I'm an alien" Ianto said softly, startling them both out of their staring contest. "I am half human, half … something Jack knows is not dangerous."
Owen gaped.
"I can't explain it but me mam was not of this world. I know that now."
Owen looked down at his hand as it rested on Ianto's forearm. He removed it like Ianto was hot.
"Owen." Ianto whispered, "Owen. I'm afraid. Please don't hate me for fearing rejection."
Owen frowned and then threw the suture needle into a nearby bowl. "Shit!"
"Owen?" Ianto looked at Jack, fear evident and Jack pulled him into a sitting position as he held him against his chest.
"It's OK, it will all be OK" Jack soothed, "No one will reject you. No one will hurt you darling. Oh Ianto, please stop shaking."
"It's all going to change now" Ianto sighed, "Now everyone has a good reason to hate me. A better one than Lisa. Thanks to my anatomy I can be a real freak."
"Stop it" Owen snapped, "You are not a freak!"
"Actually, I think Tosh was impressed with your … ah … anatomy" Jack leered.
"Oh god" Ianto wailed as he suddenly remembered he had been naked in Jack's bunker when attacked and subsequently had blacked out.
"Is there no dignity left?"