Torchwood: Divergence
Book Two: Adferiad
Chapter 62
"Ianto?" Jack's voice was firm but edged with worry, drawing the younger man back to sound and sensation.
"What the hell…" Ianto growled hoarsely, instinctively putting out a hand to determine where he was.
"You're in the Autopsy Lab," Harkness explained, fielding his partner's out-stretched hand and examining the slowly fading bruises, scrapes, and cuts on his fingers and palm. "We found you down halfway to the couch sporting gashed knees and shins, along with one granddaddy of a nose bleed. Care to tell me what happened while Martha gives you a once over?
"Took a bad step when the Rift alarm went off," the twenty-six-year-old murmured unsteadily, his head still aching, his joints sore enough to make him not want to move for a while, and his abdomen and back throbbing dully in time to his heartbeat.
"Spot check with the Bekaran shows serious strain in your shoulders, hips, and knees," the team medic piped up. "Diffuse head trauma consistent with an impact or severe whiplash, and the repair of your optic nerves looks to have been set back a bit."
"Misstep?" the Captain questioned pointedly, his grip on the young Changeling's hand tightening somewhat.
"I missed a step," Ianto admitted with a wince. "Actually, it may have been two… I was getting some coffee when the alert sounded, didn't remember to count the stairs. I slipped on one and hit the deck plates just after."
"Nearly a two-foot drop onto metal decking," Martha snorted. "Yeah, that'd do it. Things are healing, but the joints that were torn up are still weak and easy to damage. That's why you're supposed to be careful. Am I going to have to put you back to bed for another week?"
"No," the young Welshman answered quickly.
"Yes," his partner countered bluntly.
"Not for an entire sodding week," Ianto protested vehemently, trying to sit up in spite of how sore he was and getting held down by the Torchwood members on either side of the exam table. "I swear to God, I'll rent my old flat in Grangetown and stay there for bloody ever if you try to put me on my back for that long. I'll be more careful, alright? Just don't trap me in the room like a useless sack of laundry again, please."
"Whoa, calm down," Martha advised, gently patting her patient on the chest. "Your vitals are shooting way too high. You're either going to put yourself into a seizure or start that horrific nose bleed again. Neither would be good right now. Try to relax… I promise not to restrict you to bed for a whole week. But I do want you in bed for the rest of the work day at least. Give all the sore places a chance to mend and let those gouges on your legs close properly. A touch of ointment and a good rest, yeah?"
"Yeah…" the distressed Archivist agreed reluctantly, doing his best to regain his normal calm. "Sorry I shouted…"
"You're frustrated," Martha said sympathetically as she fussed over the afore mentioned wounds on his knees and shins. "And you didn't actually even shout, you just spoke up a little louder than usual. I don't mean to be so Mother Hen with this, really. I'm worried about you is all."
"I know," Ianto breathed, sounding guilty and miserable. "I just hate feeling useless, and no matter how hard I try to help I fall short, because I have to act like I'm made of glass and can't see to do anything really constructive regardless. And being coddled makes me want to bang by head against the wall. Now I know first-hand why Owen was on the prod sometimes at the end."
"We understand what you're going through, pet," Gwen put in comfortingly from the observation platform, but she didn't get far.
"No, you don't," the Scieron Changeling on the exam table interrupted flatly. "No offense, but honestly… when was the last time one of you was struck blind?"
"Does seeing a photo on the internet of the 'Top Gear' hosts at the beach in Speedos count?" Turlough called from his work station.
"Close, but no," Ianto responded with a grimace, finding the very idea of the mentioned picture too ghastly to even contemplate. "That's incredibly sick and twisted by the way, as well as just plain wrong. But really… if you want to have the slightest notion of why I'm so sodding irritable, try working with your eyes bandaged over. Find out for yourself how big of a pain in the arse something as simple as using the loo is when you can't see a thing, then we'll talk about understanding, yeah?"
"Man, you are cranked up," Jack observed, still holding the twenty-six-year-old's hand and now carefully stoking the fading burn scars on the Welshman's left cheek below his bandages. "This has been a lot harder on you than you've let us see. I know you're tired of sitting around, and I appreciate the things you've been doing to help out. If you hadn't responded to that alert today, we would have been in big trouble. I just wish you hadn't gotten hurt doing it. But you did, and you need to take some time out to let things knit again. We won't make you go back to bed for the rest of the day… but I'll ask you to please do it for me. Just so you won't be in pain all night and might feel like helping me with a couple of projects later on. Will you let me take you to our room?"
"Sure…" Ianto breathed, surrendering without further argument, his face drawn beneath the heavy gauze that covered his eyes.
"Walk or get carried?" Harkness asked evenly. "Your choice."
"Walk, please," his partner sighed, letting the American help him sit up and slide off the exam table. "Can I have my coffee?"
"I'll grab you a fresh cup," Cooper offered as their leader guided the Guardian's right hand to the stair rail then steadied his steps up the risers. "I'll bring it in for you once you're settled."
"Thanks," Ianto whispered, limping away into the Hub with the Captain's help.
"I could get you a few audio books to pass the time," Turlough offered from where he continued to work at his station. "I think the shop up the street has a sale on for some right now. How about I bring you the 'Twilight Saga'?"
"How about I demonstrate how well I can shoot blind?" the young Welshman countered with a smile that his pain tight voice didn't reflect and promised possible mayhem.
The redhead across the room simply laughed, obviously not serious in the first place. Jack couldn't keep the smile off his face, though he didn't cackle the way his lover's replay made him want to.
"Boys," Martha called from the medical bay. "Don't make me come up there."
"Yes, Ma'am," both young men responded at the same time, and Harkness did laugh then.
"Steps," he chuckled, putting Ianto's right hand on the rail outside the office. "If I guide you down to the firing range tomorrow, will you show me how well you shoot blind?"
"As long as you promise to stay directly behind me," Ianto acquiesced quietly, allowing his companion to walk him past the desk and other obstacles on the way to their room. "I'm sorry I was such a prick earlier… I'm just really tired of how long this recovery is taking. I know it was the best way to handle the situation, but for Christ's sake. I want to be whole and well again, Jack. Now."
"I know," his Captain nodded, letting the Archivist ease down onto the side of the bed, then undoing the alien seal along the inside ankle of each of the younger man's boots and removing them for him. "And I wish I could do more to help. You're already wound up like an over-torqued spring. By the time everything's back to 100%, you're gonna be ready to bounce through the roof. I foresee a lot of time in the firing range to blow off steam… maybe even some midnight base jumping to stretch your wings."
"Lots of missed 'dabbling' to make up for once my joints aren't playing games anymore," Ianto murmured, pulling his jumper off over his head with a groan as his shoulders protested. "I've destroyed another pair of trousers, haven't I?"
"Looks like it," Jack replied truthfully. "Stand up a minute and I'll help you get them off. You know, I never realised just how sharp all the edges of those stairs and the grid work of the decking are. I'm surprised we haven't had major casualties before this."
"Especially considering how often we two are barefoot around here," the twenty-six-year-old agreed, hissing air through clenched teeth as he stepped out of his ruined trousers and quickly sat back down, unconsciously listening to Gwen and Martha talking out in the Hub near the office steps. "Who knew a simple fall could make so many things hurt so bloody much."
"The gashes seem better at least," his partner commented, crouching to place a quick kiss on each point of damage. "Okay… let's get you under the covers. Now, what I'm going to do, is grab you mobile, a headset, and the big laptop from the Armoury. That way, if we have to go out on an alert again, you can co-ordinate for us from here. That laptop has the A.I.D. programme on it like the main stations, so you'll be able to hear what the system's telling us. We get your expert guidance around Cardiff if we need it, you get to stay comfy in bed. Sound fair?"
"Yes, sir," Ianto murmured, easing back against the pillows by the headboard as the pain doubled in his groin and lower back. "Could you pull my pyjama shirt from the third drawer? Bit chilly where the blankets don't quite reach."
The American fetched the item, helped the younger immortal into it, then kissed him on the forehead.
"Have you ever been blinded, Jack?" the Changeling queried quietly, shivering as his temperature continued to climb.
"Actually, no," Harkness confessed. "Had a head injury once with puke worthy double vision, but that's as close as it gets."
"Oh," Ianto breathed. "Just curious."
"You weren't out of line back there if that's worrying you," the Captain half-smiled, starting for the door. "Let me go get your gear."
"Jack…" the young Welshman called hesitantly, listening to hear if the man paused. "Thanks for putting up with me through this."
Harkness returned to the bedside, leaned over to give his lover an intense kiss.
"Anytime, buddy," he reassured as he drew away. "Get comfortable, I'll be right back."
Then he was out the door, a quiet few words in the office warning Ianto that he was about to have other company. What a horrible day this was shaping up to be.
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AN: Ianto is not a happy bunny…
Still having internet problems, so if I don't respond to a review right away, that's why.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM