Torchwood Paranormal, Part Fourteen

[veronicaluv]

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Part Fourteen

"God, I love the country." Jack closed his eyes and lifted his face to the pale sun, breathing in the bracing autumn air that had cleared out with the passing of the previous night's storm. There was a hint of wood smoke in the breeze, underscored by the scent of decaying vegetation beneath his feet, a heady combination that made him wonder-very briefly-why anyone would want to live anywhere else.

"No, you don't." Ianto nudged Jack's shoulder with his own as he passed Jack on the trail, taking the lead as they descended into a small vale. "You're a city lad, admit it."

"Now, listen," Jack protested as he hurried to catch up, "I enjoy a walk in the outdoors as much as the next man. I was only joking when I said we should take the golf cart."

"Really."

"Okay," Jack amended, "maybe half joking. But it is beautiful out here."

"It is." Ianto stopped and leaned against a large boulder beside a stream, pulling two bottles of water out of his rucksack and handing one to Jack.

The chill was sharper here, making Jack appreciate the warm lining of his leather jacket and gloves. He drank from the bottle as he looked around, then brought his gaze back to the man beside him. In his thick navy pea-coat and woollen cap, Ianto looked as much at home here as he did in a three piece suit at the Hall. The cold air had brought up the roses in his cheeks, making his eyes startling blue against the browns and greens of the wood as he'd led Jack down an overgrown path, allowing Jack a glimpse of the boy who knew these woods so well.

Despite the rough night he'd had, Ianto had appeared none the worse for it when Jack had caught up with him earlier that morning. He'd been awake before Jack and was sitting at the family dining table with Rhiannon when Jack had joined them, a cup of Ianto's marvellous coffee in his hands almost before he'd sat down.

"Well, there's nothing for it," Rhiannon had said, "we'll shut the place down if you think it's that dangerous." She lifted her chin in Jack's direction. "You look peckish. Here." She pushed a basket of warm, currant-studded scones across the table.

Mouth already watering, Jack tried to at least pretend to hesitate. "Well, I wouldn't want to be rude and say no."

"Rhiannon, listen to me," Ianto continued his conversation with Rhiannon, resuming his seat after refilling his own cup, "that's not what I meant at all. Jack and I think we can handle the situation, even resolve it, so that we don't have to close down, or least not for very long. He's offered to let us use Torchwood Paranormal as private consultants. It just-it may take some time."

"Bet that'll cost a pretty penny," Rhiannon sighed.

Jack plucked a scone out of the basket and tore off a piece. "Yeah, we're still in negotiations on that point." He popped the piece into his mouth and grinned an Ianto, who ignored him as he addressed his sister.

"Ms. Sato has moved into town with the others, so her suite will need to be broken down and cleaned when the staff return tomorrow. As soon as the rooms are done, send everyone home, we won't need them for the rest of the day." He paused to swallow. "Full wages, of course."

"Gone to town?" Rhiannon turned from Ianto to Jack and back to Ianto, a faint look of alarm in her eyes. "She and the rest are coming today for Sunday roast, yeah? I've enough food to feed an army and I won't see it go to waste."

Ianto shared an amused glance with Jack, then quickly reassured her. "We'll have the entire crew, plus I've invited the security people out in the van to come in as well. You'll have quite a crowd."

"That's more like it," Rhiannon said. "But why do we still need security if you've done filming?"

Jack wiped his mouth with a serviette. "Insurance reasons. Sometimes overzealous fans try and join in on the hunt, so we have to keep security around to make sure everyone's safe. As long as we're here, they'll have to stay on."

"Well," Rhiannon rose to her feet, "reckon I'd best get to it so no one's disappointed. I suppose you'll want a proper breakfast before you two-what have you boys got scheduled for today? No ghosts for you to chase on a sunny Sunday, are there?"

"I thought I'd take Jack out to the old mine," Ianto said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. He avoided Jack's widened eyes, keeping his gaze on the basket of scones and choosing one with meticulous attention.

Rhiannon stopped in mid-stride, a carton of eggs in her hand. "The old mine? Whatever for?"

"Because-well, because-"

Seeing that Ianto hadn't come up with a reasonable explanation, Jack stepped in. "Like you said, it's a sunny Sunday and I've been cooped up in this house for days. May as well get some exercise, right, Ianto?"

Ianto nodded. "Of course. My thoughts exactly."

So it was with Rhiannon's admonition to be back in time for dinner-and a rucksack stuffed with water and snacks shoved into Ianto's hands as they left the kitchen-that Jack had followed Ianto into the woods near the Hall, undertaking what Ianto promised to be an easy hike to the mine's perimeter. They'd been walking for an hour when they stopped in the vale for a brief break, and now as Jack looked around, his earlier thought came back to him. He knew he'd never really want to live full time in the country, but what if Ianto did? Was this where Ianto's heart told him he belonged?

Jack took another swig of water, waving off Ianto's offer of a biscuit from the rucksack.

"Why would you ever want to leave all this?" Jack asked. Ianto started to answer, but Jack stopped him with an upheld hand. "I don't mean right this minute, but weren't you on your way to London when you had to come back and help out?"

Ianto nodded. "The Hall, these woods-they'll always have a part of me, but I never wanted to live here forever. Like any child, I always dreamt of travel, of new experiences and adventure." He looked at Jack, his expression so charmingly guileless that Jack wasn't surprised to feel his heart give its familiar lurch. "As long as I had a bolt hole of some kind, some place safe to call home, I'd make do with a bedsit somewhere. As it is, I've only been to London on holiday."

"What about Philip? A life away from the Hall means a life away from him as well."

Ianto lowered his eyes. "It was something I could never work out, to be honest. Even when I was at university, I always knew I could come back here. But if we lose the Hall to our creditors and we have to move on-well, we know Philip can't leave, don't we?"

"Do we?"

Ianto looked at Jack, eyebrows rising. "Of course. He's never ventured any farther than the edge of the grass."

Jack took a few steps away from Ianto, then turned back. "But is that because he can't or because he won't? We know he's guarding Adam, that much is clear. But if Adam is gone, would Philip be free of the confines of the Hall?"

"I don't-I don't know. I just assumed he was tied to the Hall like the rest of the ghosts."

"Ah, but we're agreed he's not a ghost, right? Remember what he said last night-we all just want to go home. Adam wants to go home. That means his home-and Philip's-is not the Hall, but somewhere else."

"Of course, but where?"

"Let's look at the facts. We know Philip and Adam aren't ghosts and they aren't demons. They can connect to and interact with humans, but either by design or by choice they only interact with humans who are sensitive to paranormal activity. We don't know if there are creatures like them everywhere, or if they're unique to the Hall, or to Wales, or the northern hemisphere-you see where I'm going?"

"True, you've never encountered anything like this before, you've said so."

"Exactly. So let's go with the idea that they're unique, because I couldn't find anything online about this particular phenomenon and I haven't had a chance to ask Tosh to check it out. Now, Philip has said that Adam is a threat and he also tried to stop me from going into the music room that first night."

"Ah, yes." Ianto smoothed his thumb over the label of his water bottle."The music room that was declared off limits in the contract."

Jack waved his hand. "Details, details. So, that night, Adam doesn't attack me, in fact, he goes out of his way to engage me. It's you he attacks during filming, which is something he's never done before. And I remember something else, something from the first time I communicated with Philip. It was-I didn't get a feeling of anger from Philip that night, it was more that he was sad, as though there'd been a terrible tragedy."

"So," Ianto said slowly, "whatever this tragedy is, Adam caused it. And he has the power to cause another, if he gets free of the music room."

"Right, so the next question is, what is it about the music room that's so special?"

Ianto pulled at his bottom lip. "I know that the music room is not original to the Hall. In fact that entire wing was added only after the turn of the twentieth century, prior to the First World War."

"Are there plans on file somewhere?"

"If they exist, they're either not at the Hall or they're well hidden. A few years ago we cleaned every room from top to bottom, and everything pertaining to the Hall was documented and filed with our solicitor. I don't recall anything specific about the music room."

"Okay, let's set that aside for now. What else do we know?"

Ianto's mouth tightened. "We know that Adam has attacked Philip and made him weak whilst he grows stronger."

"Not necessarily. What if it wasn't Adam who injured Philip, it was the room itself? Philip wouldn't go inside with me that night-"

"And he would never accompany me when I cleaned in there, either." Ianto shook his head. "I don't know, Jack. It doesn't explain how Adam ended up in the music room, or where they came from, or if the mine explosion had anything to do-

"Hey, I didn't say I had any answers. I'm actually more of a question kind of guy."

"So I've noticed. Any other questions before we move on?"

"Yeah." Jack positioned himself directly in front of Ianto. They'd lost the light-hearted mood they'd started out with and Jack wanted to regain it. "So, Mr. Jones, if all your problems were solved and you could be anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would it be?"

If the question took Ianto by surprise, he didn't show it. He was still leaning against the boulder, so he had to tilt his head up in order to answer Jack.

"I guess that depends," Ianto said, a hint of a shy grin shadowing his mouth as he looked past Jack's shoulder.

Something warm and playful in Ianto's tone made Jack take notice. He had to clear his throat before he could ask the obvious question. "On what?"

Smiling directly up into Jack's eyes, Ianto's reply was simple. "Where will you be tomorrow?"

Jack blinked a couple of times, momentarily thrown off balance by Ianto's heartfelt answer. Then he broke into a wide grin that quickly developed in a delighted laugh.

"What if I said Paris?"

Ianto scrunched his nose. "Paris in autumn? Sounds lovely. I've always wanted to go there," he added wistfully.

Surprising himself, Jack held back from saying the next thing that popped into his head, some flirty silliness about Ianto and Paris and moonlight. Here in the Welsh woods, Paris and its many delights seemed not only far away, but frivolous and shallow. Oh, he knew there was a time and place to discuss a possible trip to Paris, but that was in some hopefully near future, not something to be contemplated on a bright autumn morning in beautiful north Wales.

Jack recapped his water and handed it to Ianto to place back in his rucksack. "Then we'll put that at the top of our to-do list when all this is over."

"Unlikely." Ianto pushed away from the boulder and nodded at Jack. "But nice to think about."

Now that, Jack thought, was another understatement. A private flight, a penthouse suite with a view of the Eiffel Tower, lots of room service-oh, yes, a nice thought, indeed.

They started back up the trail that Ianto had said would lead them to the Waunfawr mining site. The path took a sharp left turn on the other side of the valley, proceeding up a slope so steep that Jack was forced to use his hands and a few exposed roots to hoist himself up to a tree-lined ridge. Ianto was there ahead of him and as soon as Jack was steady on his feet, they continued through the woods until they came upon a dilapidated stone fence that edged a wide field, walking alongside it until they reached a stile, then crossing over. On the other side was a dirt road wide enough for a vehicle to use.

"This is the back access road to the mine," Ianto said. "We'll follow it into those trees over there, but that's as far as we can go. Legally, anyway."

"Legally?"

"The mine and its environs are off limits to everyone except the government and the team from the University of Leicester who've come to study the prehistoric archaeological digs. The security is more robust than it was when Rhiannon and I were children-now the fence is electrified and there are cameras everywhere. I imagine we're already under surveillance."

Jack shaded his eyes with his hand as he looked toward the tree line. "How far from the fence is the mine?"

"Farther than it used to be." Ianto began walking and Jack fell into step beside him. "There were actually three mines, two of which were closed down in the early fifties. The last mine stayed in operation until the explosion in 1957. After that, the mining company shut everything down and abandoned the site."

"Abandoned," Jack murmured. He felt a shiver crawl up his spine but ignored it, consigning it to the quickening breeze. The fine weather of the morning was beginning to pass, grey-tinged clouds scudding across a blue sky foretelling a return to autumnal weather.

Walking into the shelter of the trees, Jack could see a tall, metal gate coming into view. "If the site was abandoned," he stopped to roll his shoulders, the word abandoned continuing to resonate inside him, "how did they discover the older diggings?"

"There was a government mandate in the sixties to clean up deserted mining operations and Waunfawr was on that list, so I can only assume that something happened then. The funding for further excavations ebbed and flowed with the times, but I've read that advances in technology have made the site attractive once again. Unfortunately, it will never be a tourist attraction like Great Orme, it's simply too dangerous for the public."

They reached the gate and Jack saw for himself that the mine's security system was modern but not terribly sophisticated. "Is this as close as we're going to get?"

Ianto pointed out a path leading away from the fence. "There's a rise about a quarter of a mile away. If nothing else has changed, we should be able to see some of the outbuildings, but that's about it. The fences were much closer in when Rhiannon and I played here as children." He glanced at his watch. "We'll have just enough time to take a quick look, then we'll need to start back home. If you-Jack? Jack, are you all right?"

Jack opened eyes he hadn't known he'd closed. As soon as they'd turned toward the hill, something had tugged at his consciousness, something familiar he couldn't put a name to. "I'm sorry-do you feel that?"

Ianto frowned at him. "Feel-no, I don't feel anything."

"Yes, you do." Jack stepped closer to Ianto, resting his hands on his shoulders. "Close your eyes."

"No." Tilting his head, Ianto's expression remained wary. "Not unless you tell me why."

Jack rolled his eyes and touched his forehead to Ianto's, then dropped his hands and took a step back. "Okay, there's an echo here."

"An echo?"

Jack lifted his fingers to Ianto's chest, just beneath his heart, but didn't touch him. "You can feel it right here, it's kind of like the rumble of a heavy lorry driving past. A vibration, but without a source."

"Maybe that's all it is," Ianto replied. "I'm sure there's a lot of activity at the mine."

"On a Sunday?"

"Well," Ianto stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pea-coat, "perhaps not, but I still don't feel anything."

Jack turned away, torn between frustration and amusement. There was something important here, but unless he could either put a name to it or convince Ianto to indulge him, he feared that the moment would pass. The sensation was still there, not unpleasant, still tantalizingly familiar, and growing stronger as they got closer to the mine. Maybe proximity was the key to Ianto-

Wait, what is-what is that? He's right, there's something-

Jack whirled to face Ianto, who was staring in the direction of the mine.

"Ianto?"

Ignoring Jack, Ianto frowned, looking for all the world like a man who was faced with a puzzle he could not solve. His eyelids fluttered shut, then reopened wide as he sought out Jack's face.

"I feel it."

"I know." Jack grinned at him, rocking back on his heels. "And I will manfully restrain myself from telling you that I told you so."

"How could you-oh, no. We did it again, didn't we? You heard me-in your head."

His Ianto-based intuition warned Jack to step lightly. Judging by the faintly scandalised look in Ianto's eyes, this hit-or-miss telepathy developing between them troubled him more than it did Jack, so he decided to bring them both back to the physical world.

Instead of answering, Jack placed his right hand on Ianto's shoulder, employing just enough pressure to indicate that he didn't want Ianto to move. Keeping his mind as clear as possible, he walked around Ianto until he was standing directly behind him, his right hand curved around Ianto's shoulder and the left resting on the space beneath Ianto's heart so that he held him in a loose embrace. Ianto stiffened then relaxed, but whatever he was thinking, Jack couldn't hear it.

"Close your eyes." Jack whispered the words in Ianto's ear, hoping that the reality of Jack's arms around him would ground Ianto so they could work through the sensation together. "Forget about the telepathy. Tell me what you feel. Talk me through it."

Ianto covered Jack's hand with his own, pressing Jack's palm flat against Ianto's body. "A faint pulse, almost like a heartbeat, very steady. And it's not-"

"A lorry," Jack finished for him.

"No," Ianto muttered, "there's something familiar about it, isn't there? It's not mechanical, it's organic, as though it's part of the earth, as though it's coming from the earth. I don't know, Jack-"

Ianto started to pull away, but Jack held him close, aligning their bodies, their cheeks touching. "Think about it, Ianto, think about what you find familiar."

"It feels like Philip, and yet not like him at all." Ianto slumped against Jack, and even without telepathy, Jack could feel the shock go through him. "God, Jack, is there another one here? Another Philip, another-another Adam?"

Jack winced, feeling like he could've kicked himself. To him, this was an adventure, a riddle to solve, a new revelation that an ever-surprising universe was offering to share with him. To Ianto, it was all too personal-this was his home, Philip was his friend, Adam was a threat-another entity could shake Ianto's world to the core.

"No, no, Ianto, listen to me." Jack tightened his hold. "I'm not getting that at all. Whatever's here, it's ancient, older than any spirit I've ever come across. And-tell me if you feel the same-it's not sentient, exactly. I don't feel any emotion, any attempts to communicate."

"No, you're right." Ianto relaxed but kept his hand over Jack's. "It feels more like this, like a heartbeat-a heartbeat without a body. But why haven't I felt this before? I've been here a million times, I've never experienced anything like this, not once."

Jack shut his eyes, wishing he could find the answers Ianto needed. He didn't consciously reach out to Ianto but for the briefest moment, he felt the brush stroke of Ianto's mind against his own. Tentatively reassuring, slightly bewildered, Ianto's response came and went almost immediately. Before he could stop himself, Jack chased after the warm, bright presence of Ianto's mind in his, but it was gone too quickly, leaving Jack both exhilarated at the intimacy and remorseful that he'd pushed too far.

"Sorry about that," Jack murmured, sliding his arms around Ianto's waist. "Didn't mean to be rude."

Ianto pressed his cheek to Jack's. "It's all right, I don't think either of us have control over it."

"Not yet," Jack said, "but we will."

"Will we?"

"Hey, this is new to me, too, but I have every faith that you and I can handle anything that comes our way, even this."

"You're humouring me," Ianto muttered, "but as per usual, I find it ridiculously reassuring."

Reluctantly, Jack released him. Ianto had been warm and solid in his arms, a thoroughly enjoyable sensation, but the temperature was dropping and he knew they were running out of time. He watched as Ianto straightened the lapels of his coat and glanced at the sky, then turned to Jack with a quick smile.

"We'd better hurry, I don't like the look of those clouds coming in." Ianto said. His voice had steadied, his tone slightly amused, but Jack heard the uncertainty beneath it. As they returned to the path, he gave Jack a sideways glance. "So how old is the oldest spirit you've encountered?"

A sudden gust of wind had Jack pulling the collar of his jacket up around his ears. "That's quite a story."

"I'd be disappointed if it was anything less." They fell into step again, the steadily climbing trail barely more than a sheep track but wide enough for them to walk shoulder to shoulder.

Jack knew that Ianto was putting off discussing the vibration, but he honoured the unspoken request, understanding Ianto's need to distance himself from yet another revelation. The vibration remained low and unobtrusive, but Jack made sure he kept part of his attention attuned to it-he wanted no more surprises today.

"The oldest spirit I've ever encountered was a handsome young man who died around 50 A.D."

"Go on," Ianto said. "really? And where did you find such an old ghost?"

Jack grinned at Ianto's indulgent tone. "It was at Maiden Castle in Dorset. Of course, you know it's just a hillfort now, but back in the day, it was a thriving community. At least until the Romans showed up and crashed the party."

"Yes, the Romans had a habit of doing that. And who was this spectre?"

"A very confused Roman soldier, looking for his legion. I tried to tell him they left town but he was pretty determined to find them. Come to think of it, it was probably my admittedly rusty Latin that confused him. God knows what I was actually telling him. Not that I minded him sticking around," he added with a wink, "I'm always happy to hang out with men in leather skirts."

"Duly noted." Ianto stepped ahead of Jack just as the path ended in a pile of rocks embedded in the side of a hill. "We're here."

"Here?" Jack looked around, seeing nothing but the rocks surrounding them and the tree-lined path they'd just hiked stretching out below. "Where's here?"

"Follow me, step where I step, mind where you put your hands."

A few minutes later, Jack was standing beside Ianto at the crest of the hill, looking down into a long, tapering valley. They had a very narrow space to stand in, Ianto having brought them up over the rocks through a complicated series of steps and handholds that had Jack alternately fearing for his life and enjoying the view above him as he followed Ianto's lead. The wind was noticeably keener in this small cleft in the hill, and once Jack was on his feet, he was sure he felt a few drops of rain hit his face.

"There are some of the old outbuildings." Ianto raised his hand and pointed to a small cluster of weathered structures huddled together in the middle of the valley. "Mostly administration, I believe. Paymaster, medical, things like that. The actual mining operations can't be seen from here."

Jack was only half listening. Once they'd reached the top of the hill, the vibration had increased. He glanced at Ianto's face and saw the same realisation there, though Ianto seemed to be doing his best to ignore it. They stood shoulder to shoulder, barely five feet of clear space inside this small nook that looked deceptively safe, until Jack saw that the edge of the clearing ended in a steep precipice. He hadn't noticed how high they'd climbed until he looked over his shoulder and could actually make out the stern, beautiful lines of Caernarfon Hall in the mist-shrouded distance.

"This must've been a great place to play when you were a kid, although had your parents known you had to be part mountain goat to get up here, they probably wouldn't have been too happy."

"It was, and they never knew." Ianto turned his face away before Jack could see his expression, pulling the rucksack's strap over his head and setting it aside. "To hear Rhiannon tell it, this is where she and Johnny shared their first kiss."

Leaning against a rock that was conveniently arse-high, Jack nodded. "It does have a kind of Wuthering Heights vibe to it, doesn't it?"

"It does." Ianto was looking toward the west, away from the mining operations, where the horizon opened up to rolling fields and dense copses of oak trees. Jack's heart sank at the quietly spoken words, as thoughts of whisking Ianto away to Paris and all the other adventures he longed to share with him once again began to waver in the face of the reality of their two very different worlds.

Then Ianto surprised him, facing Jack and holding out his hand with a conspiratorial smile. "Stop looking so worried," he said. "It'll be a nice place to return to once in a while, won't it?"

"I like that idea," Jack said. "I like that idea a lot and I think we should talk about that on the way back. I have some pretty good ideas of my own, you know." He took Ianto's outstretched hand and levered himself up. He was suddenly aware that the vibration had increased and was on the verge of pointing out the obvious-that they needed to start hiking back before the darkening sky let loose on their heads-when the earth shifted beneath his feet as the vibration kicked up to an almost audible whine. His left knee went out from beneath him and he stumbled into Ianto, who caught him by the shoulders.

"Jack? What's the matter, did you trip?"

Jack was about to answer when the world shifted again, knocking out his other leg and driving both of them to their knees.

"Jack, what is it, what's wrong?"

Jack stared into Ianto's startled eyes, the understanding that the earth wasn't moving and that Ianto was unaffected driving a shaft a fear into his heart.

"I don't know, I can't-something's pushing-ah, God!"

With one punch from an invisible fist, Jack doubled over, the breath knocked out of him. He rolled into a ball to protect his core from a series of punishing blows that had no origin but felt as real as if he were being beaten by a pro.

"Jack! Jack, what can I do-can you stand?" Ianto pulled him into his arms as if trying to shield him. "Hang on, hang on, I'll call for help."

"No!" Jack clutched at his midsection as the blows continued. "No," he panted, "this isn't physical, it's an attack coming from the mine-the vibration, can't you feel how it's changed?"

The ferocity of the onslaught increased, forcing Jack to twist out of Ianto's hold and roll onto the ground, his forehead pressed into the dirt, fingers scrambling at pebbles, but there was no escape. Ianto was still holding him, his chest to Jack's back, his arms wrapped around Jack's waist, but the vibration was boring into him from all sides, cramping his arms and legs and squeezing his chest so hard that he was afraid his ribs would crack. Beside him, Ianto was frantic, trying to get a response from him, but Jack had no breath to reply. He knew he was under some kind of psychic attack from whatever the vibration represented, and in the midst of the agony tearing through his body, he reached out with his mind in a desperate attempt to communicate.

It was hard to concentrate, to send out thoughts devoid of aggression or fear, but Jack knew he had to try, he had no other choice. Tears stinging his eyes, he tried to break through the barrier of sound reverberating in his head to locate the source, but the onslaught only increased until he was only seconds away from passing out. He fought as hard as he could, afraid of leaving Ianto vulnerable, but there was no escape as every nerve in his body compressed to the point of collapse. He could no longer breathe or see, his entire world reduced to the knot of torment his body had become.

Just when he thought he would fly apart from the pressure, he heard a loud roar, like the desolate cry of a wounded beast magnified a thousand times, followed by a crack that shook the ground beneath him. He struggled to bring his arms over his head to protect it, but from what, he didn't know.

And then it was gone, the assault stopping as though a tap had been turned off. His body clenched into a tight ball, Jack could still feel the vibration, but now it was flowing over him as it faded away, drifting across his skin like a cool breeze. There was no danger in the vibration now, no threat, not even a sense that it was intelligent, just a dull throbbing that blended with the sharp scent of earth and rain.

Dragging air into his lungs on a deep, choking breath, it took Jack a moment to understand that Ianto was no longer at his side- and that terrified him. He lifted his head and opened his eyes, blinking against the tears and dust that had gathered on his lashes, desperately trying to clear his vision. All he saw was the valley beneath him, which meant that he was perilously close to the edge of the hill and the rocky precipice beyond. He managed to get his hands beneath him, pushing up and away, twisting into a sitting position as he wiped at his eyes with the cuff of his coat.

As soon as his eyes refocused, he saw something that turned his blood to ice.

"No," he whispered.

A few feet away, Ianto lay sprawled on his back, unmoving. Jack scrambled over to his side and grabbed his wrist, searching for a pulse and unable to feel one. He tried the same thing at Ianto's throat, his mind racing, his heart breaking, his entire world crashing down around him when he found no response. Resting his hand over Ianto's mouth, he prayed to feel the warmth of Ianto's breath but there was nothing, just cool, smooth skin beneath his fingers.

"No," he muttered again. Then, "No! Damn it, Ianto, no!"

Swiftly undoing the buttons of Ianto's pea-coat, Jack pushed aside the thick fabric. Placing one hand over the other, fingers entwined, he began CPR.