Torchwood: Divergence Book Four: Hatchweliad
Chapter 5

The treatment of Ianto's multiple wounds got underway; his three caretakers completely focused on doing what they could until their actual medic arrived.

Turlough made judicious use of local anaesthetic, then inserted the incredibly scaled down laparoscope into the existing bullet hole in his patient's chest, used its camera and the Bekaran scanner Habiba still held to locate, grab, and pull out the flattened projectile, noting that it had hit a rib going in the reason it hadn't had the velocity to continue straight through. He carefully introduced a longer secondary tool catheter, used it and the scope to feed a drain tube into the injured Archivist's lung, and employed a large syringe on the tube's free end to draw the accumulated blood out of the organ before using surgical glue to close the rip the bullet had caused. Lois removed the seizure bit so their patient could cough, then got it back in place when he gave a weak nod.

"Okay, one down," the redhead acting as medic murmured, removing the instruments and sterile packing from the original entry wound as the cog-wheel door opened to admit Martha. "We'll leave the outer wound for now. It's more important to get the rest of the bullets out, damaged organs repaired, and major bleeding controlled."

"What've we got?" the young woman prodded in full Doctor Jones mode, quickly pulling on a clean lab coat and gloves even as a fresh slab of cottonwool was taped over the chest wound.

"Lung's clear," Turlough stated, deferring to the team's actual medic. "But we still have loose bullets in the lower left abdominal area, high right thigh, and somewhere in the mess of a shattered right knee."

"Which one's bleeding more?" Martha queried evenly.

"Thigh," Jack replied, having been trying to keep all the wounds controlled until they could be dealt with, and incredibly worried by how quiet his partner was being during the procedures.

Lois had cleaned and antiseptic cream coated the graze above the Changeling's ear, was now busily wiping tears and sweat from his face. He was breathing fast and shallow through his nose where the oxygen cannula rested, but had barely whimpered or moaned when the chest work was being done.

"Turlough, see if you can use the scope to remove the slug in the abdomen," Martha directed briskly. "The less cutting we have to do the better. I'm so glad you suggested getting that little beauty. Jack, as soon as Turlough's oriented on his target, I need the Bekaran and suction down here to find the one in his leg. Wow, that is a gusher… are you sure it didn't nick the femoral artery?"

"Pretty sure," Turlough responded tightly, easing the bigger tool catheter into the gaping belly wound beside the lighted scope as Harkness took possession of the deep tissue scanner. "I'll need suction here as well when you've to a minute."

"Bollocks," the team medic swore softly as she worked. "Barely missed the femoral artery, but looks like it may be compromising the femoral vein right beside it. Ianto, I'm going to have to cut through the muscles to get a clear shot at the damage. Try to take deep even breaths through your nose and be as still as you can. Just let me split the leg of your boxer-briefs."

There was no reply, but the young Guardian tried to obey the injunction to take deeper breaths. He was trembling like a leaf, his skin ashen and going from clammy to fever hot by turns. The twenty-six-year-old's jaw clenched tighter against the seizure bit and he choked as the scalpel was used to completely lay open an area of his upper leg, the local anaesthetic doing little good, but he still didn't cry out.

"Got you," Turlough breathed, carefully removing the bullet that had torn through his friend's abdominal muscles and lodged in the upper most curve of his pelvis on the left, having mercifully missed the intestines and all other major organs in the area… hurray for crappy shooting. "It's repacked, we'll clean out the pooled blood shortly. I'm going to start on the knee."

"Almost got it," Martha whispered, easing back on the forceps that gripped the slug she'd been after, only to have blood spray up her chest when it came free. " Clamp!"

Ianto suddenly convulsed in that same instant, his body jerking hard against the restraints as their medic struggled to control the bleeding from the major vein that had been breached.

"Suction," she called hurriedly, trying to suture the damaged vasculature as quickly as possible. "Retract the muscle more for me, Turlough."

"Ianto?" Jack called worriedly when the injured Welshman went very still and red light glimmered along the lash line of his closed eyes.

"He's still breathing," Lois reassured, removing the seizure bit from the Changeling's mouth. "But his pulse is kind of weak. I thing he might be unconscious."

"The Scieron have opened an internal portal to influence the injuries," Harkness explained tightly. "That can't be good."

"It means he's on the edge," Turlough grated, helping Martha finally get the femoral vein repaired in the Archivist's upper thigh. "And we need to move faster. Jack, use the Bekaran and the suction to clear the blood from his abdominal cavity, then hold the scanner so that I can work on his knee. That frees Martha to get that upper leg fully controlled and start closing everything else as well."

"What's your plan for the joint?" Martha queried as she continued to work.

"Get the bullet out, put the pieces back into as close to correct position as possible, stitch what connective tissue I can, and staple the skin closed," the Trion prince replied simply, giving their patient a warning pat on the shin before apply a scalpel to the area around the ruined knee. "Then I'll get him into a full immobilization brace till it heals and hope for the best. How's the gut wound coming, Jack?"

"Just about done," the Captain responded through gritted teeth, trying to be careful but thorough and quick as well. "I'm honestly amazed this one didn't hit any organs."

Finally, he moved to hold the scanner over the damaged joint, cringing at the sight of all the shattered bone, shredded tendons, and mangled muscle.

"There's the culprit," Turlough hissed, using the Bekaran's image to guide his blade and forceps. "Lodged in the distal femur. Put a really nasty split in the bone too. Out you come. Bugger all… it's only part of it, so there must be other fragments in here. Irrigate and suction the area, please… good… there's another piece… ow… and a third in the middle of a nerve bundle… charming. That looks to be all the metal though. Now for the puzzle work. How's the wound closing going?"

"Thigh's finally done," Martha replied evenly as she worked. "And I'm half through the chest. You said the clavicular went straight through?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lois piped up, one shaking hand monitoring their friend's carotid pulse, while she continued to gently wipe his face with the sterile pad held in the other. "Still packed on either side and not showing any bleed through, so it must not have hit the big veins and things there. And he's got some burns on both hands as well as a few other places, that I just covered in cooling gel. Also, cracked ribs on the right side according to what the scanner showed when Turlough was working on his chest."

"We'll have to finish stripping him down for full clean up and bandaging," the doctor warned, finishing with the chest wound and moving around to address the gaping hole in the Changeling's lower abdomen so she could look at the through-shot on the same side. "I think he'll be okay if you want to leave for that."

"I'll close my eyes if I get too overwhelmed," Habiba declined with a slight blush. "You'll need the Captain to help with the rest, and I can try to keep him calm and quiet if he wakes up before you're done. Besides, I really need to work on getting over that kind of reaction. I'm not a prude or anything… it's just that my brain flips to 'he's bloody gorgeous and completely off limits' and makes me blush so hard I think my skin's going to peel off."

Martha grinned and nodded, busily working to get their teammate patched up. Everyone was all business, and they were finally in the process of clean up and bandaging when Gwen arrived in the Hub.

"How is he?" the former constable demanded, horrified by all the heavy gauze covering the Welshman from hips to clavicle and coiled around his right leg from crotch to toes.

"Bad," Turlough replied tersely, carefully positioning and securing a full immobilization brace on Ianto's injured leg, that went from just below the top edge of the bandages but above the extra padding over the thigh wound, all the way down to his ankle. "Leg's locked in. Let's treat the burns and get him into bed."

"I'll switch out the IV," Martha stated, too focused on the patient to worry about the redhead's sharp tone. "I want to be sure he doesn't dehydrate with as high as his temperature is spiking. And the oxygen stays on till he's breathing better."

Jack didn't look at Cooper where she hovered on the observation deck, he simply helped get the sear marks on his partner's arms, neck, and face ointment coated and properly bandaged. Turlough did the work on the twenty-six-year-old's hands, meticulously wrapping each digit individually before covering the palms and backs to just past the wrists, careful to work around the IV port in the right and remove the soot covered watch from the left. Finally, they were finished, Lois rising quickly to hurry upstairs and across the Hub to get the door open to the room behind the office, and the bedside lamp turned on. Harkness moved to stroke Ianto's clean up dampened hair and kiss him on the forehead.

"Time for bed, buddy," he murmured gently, waiting for the two acting medics to take charge of the IV bag and the tiny but powerful oxygen concentrator unit before gingerly gathering his beloved Archivist into his arms.

The group proceeded upstairs and across into the bedroom, got the young Welshman settled beneath the covers in a partially upright position against several pillows. Jack gave Ianto a gentle kiss and promised to be back in just a minute, trooping out through the office with the rest of the team and into the Hub. Time to put the whole stressful day to bed as well.

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AN: Medical mitigation has been accomplished… now it's just a matter of time and busy Shadows.

Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM