Torchwood: Divergence
Book Three: Rheoleiddiad
Chapter 39
"That actually went better than I expected considering the fuss in October, and I'd say the Retcon just didn't work on her at all," Jack half-smiled, offering Iant his hand then starting them on the slow walk out of the building and to the SUV. "Which likely means she didn't buy Lois' helpful note either and probably threw the lot in the trash. At least she got the point about leaving you alone, and doesn't seem to be opposed to our relationship, so I really can't complain. Now… tell me about what happened after Canary Wharf."
"Burned both hands pretty badly trying to pull that Cyber Conversion Unit out of the wreckage," Ianto murmured, taking a deep breath. "I had cuts and bruises all over too, burns in a couple other places, sprains and strains everywhere. So, I figured once I had Lisa someplace safe, that I should have everything properly cleaned, dressed, and strapped up. Big mistake."
He paused as they came to the SUV, let his Captain help him get settled in the passenger seat.
"The doctor who took my case in A&E flagged me for symptoms of PTSD and put me in for observation," the young Welshman continued as they headed back to base. "I figured I'd humour him for a few hours, get a little sleep. First time I came awake screaming from a nightmare about all the terrible things that had happened when Torchwood Tower fell though, they bloody sedated me. Which actually made it a thousand times worse, because I couldn't wake up from the dreams and it was like reliving everything over and over again.
"When the drugs finally wore off, I'd lost an entire day and a half, was locked in restraints, and the bastard who had me sedated was trying to arrange for a full psych admission. I convinced a student nurse to take the straps off so I could use the loo, grabbed my clothes and bag of personal items when she had her back turned. Then I told her the roll dispenser was empty and begged her to fetch a refill, pulled out he IV port, slipped out of the place while she was gone, and thanked all my Archive research for teaching me to carry false ID going into iffy situations. I've hated hospitals since, and the suggestion of a sedative makes me twitchy."
"Probably a good thing they don't work anymore then," Harkness surmised, shaking his head. "Talk about the downside of modern medicine."
Ianto could only nod, glad when they circled around into the tunnel of the base's underground parking area.
"So, what fake ID did you use?" his partner queried curiously.
"Torchwood Tower Building Maintenance," Jones breathed with a half-smile. "Under the name James Harper. I picked it at random, but it's kind of spooky now, since Tosh said you used that name when the two of you were stuck in 1941."
"Great minds think alike," Jack chuckled, bringing the vehicle to a stop in its normal spot.
Ianto was happy to be home for the evening, his left arm once more throbbing, his fever up a couple more notches, every muscle aching from the earlier seizure, and exhaustion weighing at him again. His lover came to help him out of the SUV, steadied his steps across the carpark and down the corridor to the lift.
"You are done for the night," Harkness stated with a slight frown. "I'm putting you straight to bed. If you want dinner, you can have it on a tray, because you are not getting up for anything beyond a trip to the loo till morning. You can barely walk, your eyes aren't focusing half the time, and you're playing blast-furnace again. Time for bed."
"Arm hurts…" the young Welshman added wearily, not in any way inclined to argue with the older man's plan.
"I'll have Martha take a look once you're under the covers," the Captain promised, keeping a supportive arm around his beloved Changeling's shoulders as they exited the lift and the cog-wheel door rotated open. "We can fill her in about your nephew at the same time. Now, let's get you to our room and ready for bed. You want pyjamas or just your pants?"
"Pyjamas, please," his Archivist requested softly. "I'm cold…"
"That's likely your fever talking," the team medic piped up as she came their way with her travel kit. "Thought you might need a once over when you got back. Turlough's in the Boardroom with I don't know what project spread all over the table, Lois is headed down for Rift duty, and I sent Gwen home to get started on her treatments to fix her hormone imbalance. One alert while you were gone, turned out to be a Weevil and it high-tailed it for St. Mary's before we could even get close. How'd the meeting go?"
"It was good," Jack shrugged, letting his partner ease down onto the edge of the bed once he'd pulled his coat off for him. "Tonnes better than last time. The Davies are just glad to know Ianto's alive, and are surprisingly okay with him and I being a pair. And we need to enlist your help with his nephew."
"Catatonic shock…" Ianto murmured helpfully, taking a slow deep breath as the older man removed his boots. "Set in when they hit hospital…"
"The doctors are scaring his parents with talk about special care facilities," the Captain explained with a frown. "We promised to have you take a look at him tomorrow, see if you have any ideas on how to help instead of just making him comfortable and sticking IVs in him. I think if Ianto's feeling well enough, having him with you could make a difference."
"I'll have a look on the system, see if I can access the boy's chart," Martha nodded, opening her kit as their leader eased off her current patient's dark field jacket. "I'll call my ex-boyfriend tonight, see what he thinks I should look for and try, since paediatrics is his specialty. They took most of the victims by air ambulance. Where'd he end up?"
"University," Harkness provided, helpfully taking the blood pressure wrist cuff and using it on the exhausted Guardian's left arm as the team doctor employed her rolling touch thermometer. "You're still running a little low, buddy."
"Ow…" Ianto hissed with a grimace when the American accidentally jarred his injured limb while removing the digital cuff, the constriction of the blood pressure measurement already having made the wounds flare with pain.
"Sorry," Jack called quietly, putting aside the device to give the younger immortal a comforting kiss. "Should've used the other arm. Martha's getting her supplies out to remove the dressing on the cuts and check them. We'll get your arm feeling better, then let you get some sleep."
That promised rest was obviously going to take a little longer to get to than either of the them had planned, by needs must. The whole day had been horrible, the evening offering only slight improvement. But hopefully come morning things would finally start to truly get better.
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AN: Ianto needs a nap…
Sorry for the late post... I couldn't get the site to connect over the weekend, no matter what I tried.
Apparently the site is STILL having that e-mail problem. Please check the site for chapters until they resolve the issue this time.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM