Torchwood: Divergence
Book Three: Rheoleiddiad
Chapter 6
Jack took the steps two at a time, unable to understand anything but maybe three random words of what his lover was shouting. That the young Welshman was afraid and pleading he could tell by tone alone, the rest was a mystery. He hurried into the bedroom, only to have the Changeling scoot back across the bed away from him and off the far side to hit the floor, awkwardly scrambling toward the window and coming up against the wall in a state of total panic.
"Ianto?" the Captain called gently as he pushed the door closed, figuring his lover was still dreambound. "I'm here for you, buddy… I'll take care of whatever's wrong."
"I'm sorry!" Ianto cried hoarsely, not at as high a volume but still desperate as tears started to fall and he edged further back from the older man. "I didn't ask them! I didn't do it on purpose, honestly!" Please don't send me away, Jack! Don't leave me alone in the Dark again! I want to stay with you! Please!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Harkness tried to soothe, feeling like he'd just been kicked in the guts. "Nobody's gonna lock you past Death's Door, Ianto, least of all me. Hush now… don't hide… it's okay. Come on… come back over here out of the corner."
Carefully, the older immortal approached his hyperventilating partner, managed to get a hold of his nearest, violently trembling hand. Then he knelt down beside him, got him to turn away from the wall and face him.
"I… I didn't mean for her to see or feel…" the Scieron reborn twenty-six-year-old wept, his eyes both haunted and pleading. "I… I didn't ask… I swear… They just wanted her to… to understand… I'm sorry… I never… m… meant…"
He'd started to gasp now, the painful, ragged gulps of air that always heralded a seizure. Jack quickly gathered the younger man close, held him tight as he cried out in pain and fear when the convulsions hit. The episode was incredibly bad, likely because of the type and terrible strength of the emotions that caused it. When the seizure finally passed, Ianto slid down to curl into a trembling foetal ball on the floor, his face hidden against the Captain's right hip and both arms wrapped tight around his thigh just above the knee. Then he simply cried. It was the quiet, steady weeping of someone trying not to show how badly they were wounded, but in too much pain to do anything else, and it made his lover's heart ache to see such suffering.
Harkness gently stroked his partner's short-cropped hair with one hand, used the other to carefully rub his back in soothing circles. After a time, when it seemed the flow of tears was slowing down, he'd make an attempt to find out what exactly had started the problem in the first place. Until then, he'd simply try to comfort the young Welshman as best he could.
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Gwen had granted her friends fifteen full minutes, but was now heading up to find out what was wrong. She was only halfway up the risers however, when Jack emerged and closed the door behind him. He motioned her down and out, intending to find a little privacy on the front walk. Cooper grabbed her coat on the way, gave Rhys a reassuring nod and stepped out into the chilly air. The Captain joined her, slipping into his greatcoat as he walked toward the SUV.
"Bad dream?" the former constable queried curiously.
"He's been having nightmares off and on since the incident with that Cult, hasn't really gotten more than thirty minutes of uninterrupted sleep at a stretch for weeks," Harkness nodded, his expression grim. "This was the granddaddy of the lot though. He hid from me, Gwen. Cowered in the corner with his face to the wall and his hands behind his head, like a prisoner of war waiting to be executed. He was afraid to let me near him and ended up suffering the worst seizure I've witnessed since he got his memories back. He was scared to tell me about the dream, and when he finally did, it was like every word caused him physical pain."
He paused, moving to lean against the side of the SUV, his concern obvious.
"He dreamed that what the Scieron showed you, the little flashes of his past, gave you nightmares," Jack continued tightly. "That the experience made you hate him so much, you called him a monster and kept slapping him till Martha and I got you away from him. You said you couldn't bear to look at him, let alone work with him after what the Shadows had done, so you were going to leave Torchwood. But I told you not to go, that I'd take care of things.
"In the dream, I told him what the Scieron did was a violation no different than rape, and he was to blame because he allowed them to do it. I accused him of hurting and betraying you in the worst way possible, said I couldn't tolerate that kind of abusive behaviour, refused to be responsible for allowing him to hurt anyone else the same way. I asked the Scieron to consign him to the Dark… told him it was more important to keep you with the team and at my side, that he'd finally proven it was a mistake to have him with me, because he was a danger to Torchwood and all mankind. He said he could feel them burning their cells from his body, woke up begging me not to send him away and swearing that he hadn't meant any harm. When I walked in, he was terrified that I was coming to have him banished beyond Death's Door and completely lost it."
"Bloody hell," Gwen gaped. "Yeah, what the Scieron showed me, let me feel was pretty horrific. But it would never make me leave Torchwood or hate Ianto. It just let me understand him better is all. How could he think you'd turn on him for something like that, that he had no control over? Or that you'd choose me over him… you bloody told me to piss off when he died."
"The fact that he's been the messenger giving you really devastating news lately has been bothering him a lot," the American pointed out uncomfortably. "Plus, we've been so busy this week there hasn't been much 'us' time since his full recovery, so he's probably feeling kind of insecure again too, and I'll admit I've been pretty preoccupied worrying about you. He's been taking more than his share of missions, cleaning the entire base, refurbishing the physical Archives, working on multiple analyses for Turlough and Martha till all hours, and still playing butler for me. He's run himself into the ground trying to hide from what's worrying him, and I think it just reared its head in the ugliest way possible. He's upset, afraid, exhausted, embarrassed, and generally freaked out right now, but doesn't want to offend your mother by leaving."
"Go," Cooper insisted firmly. "Mam will understand. I'll clear everyone into the back garden for a bit. Just get him to the SUV and go. God… he is so not stable in this new life even now. Take him home and show him everything is okay. I'll even come by later to tell him myself. But right now, just get him back in familiar surroundings where he feels safe, bunk in and prove that he's afraid for no reason, yeah?"
"When he first woke up he was speaking Welsh," Jack nodded, starting toward the house once more. "Still not my strong suit. Could you or Rhys understand what he was saying?"
"I had to really think hard to figure any of it out," the raven-haired woman frowned. "My best guess is that it was pretty much what he told you. Um… 'Please don't force me to go', maybe 'make me go'… 'Don't send me back'… and something like 'I meant no harm' or 'I didn't mean any harm, I swear'. Shit… he really was only trying to help me, Jack. I was the one that turned nasty with him. The Shadows got in my face for it because he never would. He tried so hard to fix me, and now he's all broken to bits inside instead."
"We'll get it sorted," the Captain stated evenly, his jaw tight. "Apologise to your mother, tell her he's sick, hallucinating from a high fever or something and I need to take him home. I'll route Rift alerts to Turlough's PDA, get Ianto into the SUV and back to the Hub. I'll leave you his Bluetooth in case you need it, and let you know if he's settled enough for visitors later."
"Need Turlough to give you a hand with him?" Cooper asked as they headed inside.
"No," Harkness declined with a grimace. "He's already mortified about coming awake the way he did in someone else's house. Company right now would just make it worse."
Gwen nodded, signalling the afore mentioned redhead over and issuing a few quiet orders, as their leader grabbed his partner's black greatcoat and headed back upstairs. It had been an odd day so far, and didn't look to be improving as the hours ticked by. Hopefully that would change soon.
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AN: Harsh… and only going to get worse…
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM