"Hey..." a hoarse voice said and even though Jack was half asleep on his chair, he jumped on his feet, almost fell, and went by the bed, taking the closest hand in his and stroking the hair back from Ianto's forehead.
"Hey there, sleeping beauty..." he managed to smile through his tears.
Ianto coughed, and Jack left him alone a second to come back with a glass of water then helped him sit up enough to drink.
"I'm not a fucking princess, Jack," he grumbled when he could speak normally again.
Jack laughed, relieved, and kissed his forehead, letting his lips linger a bit too long, not entirely realising he was alive.
"God I thought you were dead. Never again, please. I need you, Ianto, I... Just, don't. Okay?"
"I'll try," Ianto laughed. "What happened?"
"You... got shot. God, I'm sorry I should have been more careful, I should have taken it for you."
"Hey, hey... I'm glad you're okay..."
"Always, always," Jack promised as he kissed his hand.
"What happened next?"
"Owen let his gun fall, it fired randomly. He broke something but we've already replaced it. He ran after the guy with Gwen but they didn't find him. They're all working on it."
"Did he... Was he the one to hurt Rhi?"
"We believe so."
"Where is she?"
"She's fine Ianto, don't worry."
"Does she know...?"
"Yeah. We had an interesting conversation," Jack smiled. "Sooo... you came out, ugh?"
Ianto swore as he remembered this, then smiled as well.
"I forgot to tell you..."
"It's okay... Right, I should probably go help them now. The doctors said you'll be fine on your own, and they let us take you back here. Owen is your doctor now, you know he has some training in this. If you're in pain, take these," he said, pointing his index at a box full of medicines. "You can come in the main room if you want, that's where we'll be, but only if you're feeling good enough. Call me if you need anything, and I mean it. If you don't, I'll take it badly."
Ianto nodded, not sure he had quite fully understood everything, and Jack sighed, kissing the back of his hand again.
"I thought you were dead. Really. You were unconscious, I couldn't find your heartbeat, and they said a minute later and you would have been... God I'm so sorry, this is my fault. Oh and I should have told you... You slept for four days. I... I'll be next door, okay? You need anything?"
"I'm okay Jack," Ianto said, not sure he liked this overprotective Jack. "Oh and Jack?" He still called back as Jack was leaving. "I... I love you too," he confessed after a few seconds of silence. Jack just stared at him open-mouthed.
"I... I'm..."
"You don't have to say it back, you've shown it well enough but... But I really do, you know?"
"Yeah, ugh... I... Yeah," he nodded, clearly not knowing what to say and maybe freaking out a bit. He drew in a deep breath, trying to organise his thoughts and calm his body down because the words had just made his heart imploded and he felt so good, so much more than good, and, oh, was he blushing? "I... Me too," he eventually said and, wow, had he just said two words that made sense? He laughed nervously and walked back to Ianto to kiss him lovingly. "Yeah, me too," he whispered against his lips, but it didn't feel quite right. "I love you too," he finally said, and this time it felt so right and natural, and why had it taken Ianto almost dying in his arms for them to say it?