Torchwood: Divergence
Book Four: Hatchweliad
Chapter 10
Ianto was out the door heading for the Hub, leaving Cooper to stare after him and fully take in what he'd said.
The Captain was waiting at the mouth of the corridor, watching the readout on his EFM. He closed it down and turned to face the younger immortal as he hobbled out into the main work area, followed him as he made for the office. The twenty-six-year-old hated to be coddled, but his partner wanted to be close in case he needed him.
"Heartrate's a bit higher than seems good," Harkness commented quietly, unobtrusively supporting the Welshman as he shakily settled on the edge of the bed once they'd made it into their room.
"Can you take these so I don't throw them?" Ianto requested tightly, surrendering the crutches. "I'm not quite at the point of having a seizure, but way past the level of swearing and crying… really not in a good place right now. Hitting something's very tempting, didn't go so well last time I did it though. So, I think I'll just sit here and jitter till the convulsions start or the adrenaline bleeds off on its own. Join me?"
"Definitely," Jack nodded, obviously concerned. "Let's get you up on the bed against the pillows so you can try to relax. You think a cuddle will help, or would plain company be better?"
"Cuddle," the Changeling agreed immediately, stifling a cry of pain as he automatically tensed the muscles of his right leg to get it up on the bed. "Yep… major cuddle. Though I think I need a serious medicinal snog first."
"Two of my best talents," his partner smiled warmly as he made sure the younger man was reasonably comfortable, then joined him on the mattress. "No requests for Retcon… but I'm guessing things aren't quite settled between you and Gwen yet."
"If she leaves, it's all her," Ianto murmured darkly. "I told her I trust you, but don't know if I can trust her, and that the 'we're family' thing doesn't fly anymore or yesterday never would've happened. That I'd forgiven you for your fantasies because you'd given them up, and as a friend I'd forgive her once. Pretty sure she got the point that a repeat performance will mean a permanent goodbye via Retcon or the two of us leaving the planet. And I didn't much appreciate her insinuating that getting hurt was my fault because I didn't wait for the team on the alert and that I don't know what I'm doing on the field, when she was supposed to be apologising for trying to seduce you into choosing her instead and wanting to cheat on Rhys. But I don't intend to bring any of it up again unless she does, and I don't think she'll be happy with what I might say if she pushes the point."
"Well done," Harkness stated solemnly, moving a little closer on the mattress. "You need to hold on to that resolve, get in her face if she does or says something to upset you. And you need to get on me the same way. Do not let either of us push your buttons, yeah?"
The Captain smiled again when the twenty-six-year-old nodded, got his arms around the grey hoodie clad Changeling. He figured the older of their duvets was up to having their footwear on it for a span, and was much more interested in getting his lover calm and happy again. One intense kiss and some close snuggling later, they seemed to be making headway. After a few more minutes there was an unfamiliar rap on the doorframe and the pair glanced over to find Turlough at the threshold with the travel kit from the medical bay and the deep tissue scanner.
"I know you're likely needing some down time after facing off with PC Cooper," the redhead stated evenly. "So, I thought it might be better to check all the sore spots while you're in here. Not so much like a peep show."
"Anytime I get to undress him it's a peep show," Jack grinned. "But I promise to be a perfect gentleman."
"Your nose is growing, Captain Pinocchio," Ianto half-smiled as the older man started to unzip his hoodie for him.
"Okay, so I promise to keep it pre-watershed till Turlough leaves," the immortal American chuckled, his eyes bright and playful.
"I'll be quick as I can then," the thirty-year-old alien at the end of the bed smiled, pulling out gauze shears and laying the Bekaran scanner on the duvet. "You can leave his bottoms on for now. I don't want to mess with that brace until I know how his knee's doing. Love the clever re-tailoring, by the way."
Harkness eased his partner out of his hoodie and let him recline back against the pillows again. Turlough simply pulled down his patient's waistband, slid the flat of one blade of the shears under the edge of the bandages, then righted the tool and snipped the layers all the way up the middle. Another quick cut disconnected the bandages up over the Welshman's left shoulder, and his teammates helped him sit up once more so the whole lot could be removed along with the non-stick padding that the ejected staples were clinging to.
"Right," Torchwood's current technical genius and Time expert began briskly. "We'll start with the clavicular wound and work down. Exit site looks good, some bruising still but pretty much fully repaired on the outside. Front's the same. It and the torso wounds are likely to be sore while you're using the crutches, but everything is healed well enough not to dehisce. Let's look inside, shall we?"
He took up the Bekaran and focused on the first area, nodding after a moment.
"Should be basically 100% in an hour or so," the redhead pronounced. "Chest and abdomen next."
Each torso wound was checked in turn, both given an estimate of three to five hours to finish healing completely, since they'd already shed their staples. Then the deep tissue scanner came to bear on the upper thigh wound.
"Lots of blood in the tissues still from the femoral artery breach," Turlough tutted. "That monster bruise will likely take till afternoon or evening to really fade, and the damage from the bullet probably won't be totally healed until later tonight. Now, for the smashed puzzle formerly known as your knee."
The young Trion native turned the medical instrument on the shattered joint, made a sympathetic face and shrugged.
"It's about forty percent reconstructed," he advised. "Actually, pretty good, considering it wasn't much more than tiny splinters and pulped tissue. I'd say leave the brace on till tomorrow mid-morning and we'll take another look just to be safe. Use the crutches at least till it comes off, after if it's still sore or feels weak, and don't try running any marathons for the next few days. So, we'll leave the bandages on that leg. If you want Jack to help you with a shower later today, we'll change them out to keep the brace from chafing. Everything's healing fast though, so you should be fit for light duty tomorrow afternoon as long as you don't try to dance with anything more aggressive than a batch of singing slugs."
He packed up the med kit, hefted it and the scanner, then headed for the door.
"I'll close this, shall I," Turlough smirked as he started to leave. "Be kind to that leg, Captain."
Then he was gone, pulling the bookcase shut behind him. Jack still held his partner's hoodie, but didn't offer to help the younger man put it back on, instead sauntering over to lock the door before returning to the bedside.
"Still feeling edgy?" he asked with a gleam in his eyes.
"A little," Ianto shrugged, noticing the smirk sliding across the American's face. "Why?"
Harkness grinned and eased over onto the mattress beside his Archivist, pulling him close and claiming his mouth in an intense kiss even as both of his hands wandered the injured man's bare chest and back in a careful, caressing massage. Then he eased the young Guardian against the pillows once more, began kissing his way down his throat and chest, gingerly undoing pins and inching the waist band of his track bottoms ever lower as he went. He could feel the Welshman's heartbeat speeding up, the pace of his breathing increasing as well, but he could sense the excitement behind the tremor in the hand the twenty-six-year-old placed on his shoulder in encouragement. If too much adrenaline was causing Ianto a problem, why not have a little fun helping him work it off?
Jack continued his slow, teasing trek down the younger immortal's body with special attention to the healing bullet wounds, hoping the Rift would stay quiet for just a little while longer.
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Gwen finally emerged from the Boardroom, just as Turlough descended from the office with the medical kit and scanner.
"Is he okay?" she asked worriedly, afraid the young Welshman had ended up in a seizure and hurt himself after he'd left the room earlier and not wanting to get blamed for that as well.
"Wound check," the redhead stated flatly, his gaze silently saying 'as if you really care', though he refrained from actually voicing the comment. "Brace and crutches till at least mid-morning tomorrow. Rest should be all clear by tonight."
Cooper sighed in relief, started to head toward the office to ask if there was anything she could do to help.
"I wouldn't do that," her teammate called as he moved down into the Autopsy Lab. "There were plans for some alternative medical treatment when I left."
The former constable stopped in her tracks, well aware of what that most likely meant. She reversed and went to start up her workstation instead.
"She can be taught," Turlough said quietly as he came back to his own area.
"Do you have a problem with me?" Gwen demanded, turning to face the younger man and somewhat surprised when he squarely met her challenge.
"Yes," the Trion prince replied easily, his expression stoney. "What respect I had for you when I joined Torchwood, has pretty much evaporated since the beginning of the year. I don't make friends easily. In the event that I ever do, I get very attached to those people. So, when I see them being repeatedly, blatantly mistreated or abused by someone they care about and trust, I get extremely irritated. You are the only other surviving member of the team Jack and Ianto worked with before the 456. They trust you; they care about you; they go above and beyond for you. And you, Gwen Cooper, take shameless advantage of that. I'll admit you've had some issues recently, but for all those two have done to help you, you push for more.
"You're the one who kept harping that Jack needed to treat their relationship more seriously, that he should do more to make them a 'real' couple. And the Captain has obviously proven himself to Ianto, or they'd both be gone by now. They were finally fully settled and truly happy after their much-needed holiday last month. Rather than being pleased for them though, you try to get Jack to turn on Ianto and say he wants you instead. You, a married woman with a poor idiot husband who adores you, and a daughter who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for the interventions and sacrifices of the two men you're suddenly trying to come between. You have a wonderful life you don't appreciate, a husband and friends you don't deserve. So, yes, I have a problem with you. I'm professional enough not to let that interfere with how things run here at the base or on the field, but on a personal level you can sod off for all I care."
The former PC stared open-mouthed at the young alien, both shocked and taken aback. She couldn't be angry with such a cold dose of the truth, and he was too right for her to take offense or feel hurt. First Rhys, and now the second least openly opinionated member of the team. This current problem really was all in her lap, and she didn't like it one bit… but also had no clue how to make things right again.
"Apologies don't mean much in this," Cooper stated, trying to keep her voice even. "But I swore I'd do whatever Jack and Ianto decide it's going to take to somehow start fixing the damage I've done. I don't know if that'll be enough for you too."
"I know the details of how Captain Jack Harkness was freed from the Ashton Down compound during the 456 crisis," Turlough stated plainly. "What failed miserably and what actually worked, the ugly truth behind the aliens' final defeat and later eradication. I know who this world really owes for the lives of the children. So, whatever will 'fix' things for him, will win peace from me. But even if he's kind hearted enough to forgive you again, I'm not so ready to let betrayals slide. Any respect will have to be deservedly earned all over from scratch. So… now that we've cleared that up, I forwarded the overnight Rift logs to your station. I've got an Archive search to run and a spectrum analysis to finish for Martha before she makes it in."
Knowing a dismissal when she heard one, and all too aware she deserved the "cold shoulder" he was giving her, Gwen nodded and turned back to her monitor array. She was going to have a long hard road to walk in the days ahead… and she honestly had no-one to blame but herself.
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AN: Turlough is definitely a member of the Ianto Fan Club… and has no qualms about telling Gwen exactly what he thinks of her.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM