Love Will Tear Us Apart
Title: Love Will Tear Us Apart (21/21)
Authors: maverick0324 and athousanderrors
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Owen suggested, hints of Ianto/Tosh.
Rating: NC17
Summary: Why leaving Owen alone with alien tech is a supremely bad idea...
Spoilers: Probably past end of series 1. To be safe.
Warnings: Slightly cracky, slash, language.
Author's Notes: Uh...alien tech made us do it. *nods* We're totally innocent. *snerk* Feedback will be loved and adored. Flamers will be fed to Myfanwy.
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Sixteen, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Nineteen, Chapter Twenty
"What is it?" Gwen asked, poking her head around the corner to see what Jack was up to.
"It's a gold box." Jack just stated the obvious before fingering the note into his pocket. There was no way the Doctor could have sent this to him, no way he could have known let alone found a way to send him some sort of T'uula artifact.
"Well duh, anything else?" She bounced on the balls of her feet and Jack just shook his head, he needed a bit longer to wrap his mind around this.
"Don't know, well come on I have a few other tests for Tosh." Jack walked back into the main area of the hub where Ianto had given up his catnip ball. Owen was relaxing in his chair and was dancing a laser across the wall, laughing softly as Ianto pounced, trying to catch ahold of the small beam of light.
Ianto’s paws waved in the air as he tried to catch the red dot, nearly running headfirst into the wall in his frustration. Owen was smirking, laughing quietly to himself as he watched Ianto going absolutely crazy trying to catch the dot. Ianto, however, stopped as soon as he realised Jack was there, bounding over to nuzzle at Jack’s hands and pockets, just in case he had a treat for him.
"Tosh, I want you to do a type B scan on this, use T'uula translations to pull off any of the symbols you can." He answered handing the box over to her and refusing to let his mind begin to think on what may be contained inside.
Tosh muttered to herself before nodding and taking the box to the quarantined chamber to scan it with lasers and to perhaps grab a translator from the archives while they were at it.
"Well anything else while we were gone then?" Jack asked, hands busy giving Ianto attention as Gwen and Owen turned back to their work.
Purring, Ianto went up on his hind legs, leaning heavily at Jack as he nuzzled at his cheek, before dropping back down to the floor again. Annoyed that the red dot had evaded him, he went back to batting the toy mouse Tosh had brought around the floor, though it wasn’t nearly so amusing now it didn’t move quite the same.
“Nope. Rift’s the quietest it’s been in a couple of weeks.” Owen leant back in his chair, feet up on his desk as he folded his arms behind his head.
“And you still haven’t got all your paperwork done.” Gwen pointed out with a wry grin, penstains on her fingers, paper spread across her desk.
"Yeah well at least it's not all over my hands like some people." He grumbled, spinning in his chair to look back at his desk and the sheath of papers there. Gwen grabbed one of the stress balls from Tosh's desk and looked like she was about to hurl it at Owen, but Jack quickly intercepted.
"Gwen, why don't you go and grab us some lunch while Owen finishes his paperwork?" Gwen nodded and grabbed her purse to leave as Jack made his way back up to his office.
Ianto had followed him, his catnip ball in his mouth as he leapt onto Jack's desk and laid in the middle, demanding attention.
Lying right on top of the paperwork meant, of course, that he was guaranteed attention. Sniffing at the catnip ball, he meowed happily, rolling onto his back and looking at Jack pleadingly. Petting was a very important part of a cat’s day. And it seemed to be especially so for Ianto. Content after having his stomach rubbed for a while, Ianto slowly slid off the desk, curling up around Jack’s feet as the other man settled down to do some actual work.
Jack toed off his shoes as Ianto curled up around his feet, he kept one idly stroking Ianto as he went about his paperwork. Occasionally he would would stop and feel a paw bat at his foot or a head nudging it and he would go back to what he was doing. In all the time he had known Ianto, he had never suspected the man would be tactile-y sensative, but here he was demanding to have Jack touching him.
Jack supposed it helped that he wasn't entirely Ianto as well.
Tosh spent four hours with her translator, working on the inscriptions that were wound around the box. They were difficult and complex and like nothing she had seen before. But as the scans continued doing their job, Tosh set anew to cracking the alien code.
Gwen made coffee for them all, hiding a yawn behind her hand as she placed a cup beside Tosh.
“Any idea what it is yet?” She murmured, placing a hand on Tosh’s shoulder. Tosh jumped and whirled around, nearly knocking over her cup of coffee.
“Oh, sorry! I uh..didn’t realise you were there.” Tosh blushed a little, picking up the coffee. Gwen smiled, repeating her question.
“From what I can tell…it’s some kind of technology they developed for curing disease. I’m not…” She turned her head as the computer beeped. “Oh, it’s finished…Jack!” She called out, bringing up the results of the translation on all the screens in the Hub before she’d even read the results.
Jack snapped out of the nap he seemed to have dozed into when Tosh called for him. He blinked rapidly and jogged down the steps to the Hub, Ianto pattering after him after he realised Jack and the warmth had gone.
"The translations took forever, they were some very archaeic symbols... They weren't pulling up in our translation database but I did some quick recalculating and look..." Jack's eyes skimmed over the information picking out two words T'uula and medical before letting out a large whoop of excitement.
"It is, oh God it is!" he breathed, grabbing Tosh into an embrace and kissing her.
Tosh yelped as she was spun around in the air, laughing a little at Jack’s excitement, that smile utterly infectious.
“Mind explaining to us mere mortals what the bloody hell that means, then?” Owen drawled, looking decidedly less excited. Gwen, meanwhile, was wiping at her top with a tissue, after having sprayed coffee everywhere in surprise at Jack’s loud whoop of joy.
Ianto pranced around Jack, catching at some sort of enthusiasm that was going through them. Tosh was clinging onto his shoulders as Jack spun her around, "You clever, clever woman you!" Jack praised, hugging her again before gently setting her back down on the ground.
"It means, Owen, that the Doctor is the most astounding man I think I have ever met in my life!" Jack was so excited he couldn't break the smile on his face as he bounded over and grabbed the gold box and held it up. "Nanogenes! He sent me nanogenes!”
Gwen looked at Owen. Owen looked at Tosh. Tosh looked at Jack. They all had the exact same expression on their face, with only Tosh looking like she might know what Jack was talking about.
“Is that…?” She asked as Jack clasped the box carefully, reaching out to touch it.
"A box full of small sub-atomic robot's whose job it is to fix whatever is wrong with you and get you back to perfect and healthy condition." Jack answered Tosh slowly, his voice nothing more than a hushed whisper.
Ianto jumped at Tosh's shriek as she jumped on Jack and clung to him, holding him tightly as Gwen and Owen looked back and forth at one another, a vague idea dawning in their mind.
"Sub atomic robots?"
"Fixing any and all problems?" Gwen bit her lip and looked at Owen before breaking into a large smile.
Ianto had picked up on their excitement, much as Tosh’s yell had made him jump. He meowed, not happy about not being the centre of attention. He nudged Jack’s leg, looking up at him, meowing again, sounding more than a little pathetic.
“We can fix him….” Tosh whispered, grinning from ear to ear, bouncing. She knelt down, flinging her arms around Ianto’s neck, burying her face in his fur.
“You hear that, Ianto?” She pulled back, looking into his eyes. “We’re going to fix you!” Owen laughed at that.
“Ok, can we rephrase that? Because I doubt Ianto wants us to chop off his bollocks so he doesn’t chase the other little kitties anymore.” He ducked as Gwen threw an empty paper cup at his head, still laughing merrily.
Jack couldn't contain his excitement, he picked Gwen up and spun her around, kissing her before putting her down and then doing the same to Owen, despite his attempts at making Jack put him down.
Turning to the final one left in his team, Jack knelt on the floor and smiled when Ianto head butted him, nuzzling at his neck. "We're going to get you back Ianto, I knew we were."
Ianto mrowed, not knowing why Jack was so excited, but still picking up on the emotions, purring as Jack nuzzled into him. Tosh tried to hold in a quiet ‘awwww’ at the sight of their fearless leader, crouched on the floor, clinging onto a giant black cat and nuzzling him tenderly. Thankfully, the sound was covered by Owen’s overdramatic retching noises in the background.
“Right, can we get this over with? Sooner Ianto’s back, sooner we can pretend we all like Gwen’s coffee.”
Jack gave in and leaned forward and nipped Ianto's ear, surprised wen Ianto jerked and nuzzled at him again purring louder. "Alright, Owen go down into the medical bay and set up a room, we'll probably need to put him under like you did when he became a cat... can't imagine it will be too pleasant going through the change again..."
"Oh great, playing with more needles around the bloody cat." Owen grumbled and went off to ready a room, Gwen pausing before following him.
Jack remained on the Hub floor, Ianto nuzzling at him, his paws on Jack's shoulders. "Jack, what if--" Tosh cut herself off, but then forced herself to continue. "What if it doesn't work?"
"It will. It has to."
Tosh just nodded, picking up the golden box, shaking it gently. She widened her eyes when it began to buzz, vibrating gently in her hands. Clutching it tightly, she hurried after Owen and Gwen, eyes wide.
Purring softly, Ianto continued to nuzzle at Jack’s cheek, licking his hair, sandpaper tongue rough against Jack’s skin. His paws remained on Jack’s shoulders, tail gently swaying back and forth.
Tosh paused and watched, it was interesting to watch Ianto and Jack interact like this, interesting and at the same time, felt like she was perhaps treading on a very private moment. "Alright Ianto, let's go and get you cured shall we?" Jack said softly, hugging and scratching Ianto’s ears before turning to lead Tosh and Ianto down to the medical bays and where Owen and Gwen waited with a hope and a prayer.
Owen sighed, patting the padded table. “Right, up you get, Ianto.” Ianto looked at Owen warily. That bench never meant anything good. He backed away, hissing quietly at Owen, hiding behind Jack’s legs.
“Oh for…” Owen sighed again, folding his arms. “Fat lot of use those nano-thingies are going to be if we can’t even get him on the fucking table…”
Jack could see the problem and sat on the table, relaxing back onto it and looking at Ianto when he peered out from under the table. "Come on Ianto, hop up on the table..." Jack murmured. It took some coaxing and a few moments, but Ianto did, he laid down next to Jack and rested his head on a convenient arm.
Jack held him down as Owen was quick with the syringe, quickly hitting Ianto with what was needed to knock him out. "Right, we need to open the box and leave him be." Jack said, shooing the others out.
"But how are we going to open the box? We've already tried." Gwen was frustrated and tired and annoyed and wished everything didn't always go over her head. Jack continued ushering them out the door before setting the box down by Ianto's sleeping cat form and slowly stroking the box.
The lid slowly began to open and Jack made a hasty retreat, shutting the door behind him and watching through the glass wall. Hoping and praying it was enough.
Ianto’s breathing was shallow, pink tongue peeking out between his teeth, completely unconscious. Slowly, golden shapes began to emerge from the box, small dots of light that buzzed around the room, circling once, twice, before beginning to investigate the unconscious form on the table.
They glowed brighter for a moment, moving closer, covering Ianto’s body from head to toe, the buzzing sound almost audible through the glass wall. Moving faster now, they circled Ianto, moving up and down his body, slowly repairing the damage that had been done. Black fur faded into pale skin, ears seemed to slide down the side of his head as his snout pulled back into nose, mouth. His arms grew shorter, legs growing back to the right proportions. His tail was the last thing to go, slowly shortening, becoming thinner and thinner until it disappeared back into the base of his spine.
Ianto took a deep, shuddering breath, sitting upright with a gasp. He looked around him wildly, hands clutching at the table edges.
"Come on, come on..." Jack breathed softly watching as the nanogene's surrounded and encased Ianto's body. Jack was aware just how much like the Doctor he sounded, how much like the man had begged back in 1940 for these little things to do their work.
Slowly Jack could see pale flesh peeking out in between bits of fur, then the ears were gone, then Ianto's lips were back. It was ten minutes, ten agonising minutes but Ianto was back to human form, jerking awake before slumping back over in exhaustion.
Tosh was crying, clinging on to Gwen to hold her up as she looked happily at where Ianto, their real Ianto laid on the medical table.
Jack burst in, quickly followed by Owen who was busy checking vital stats. "Is he okay?"
"Body is just over exerted, give him some time to right himself and he'll be fine."
The others had left Jack to sit with Ianto once more, obviously willing to give the men the benefit of a private reunion. So Jack sat in another sturdy backless chair, waiting over two hours for Ianto to wake up, holding his hand and thrilling at the fact that he was in fact, holding his hand. Not a paw, not some mutation of the two. But his hand.
Slowly, Ianto's breathing grew more shallow, his heart beat increased and then, his eye's fluttered open. Jack couldn't remember ever feeling such relief as he felt when he knew that Ianto was safe and awake.
Blue eyes opened slowly, soft grunt of effort as Ianto turned his head, gaze finally focusing on Jack.
“J’ck?” He murmured, voice hoarse, trying to reach out for the other man, still too weak to do more than lift his hand. He was confused, and aching from head to toe. What was going on?
"Ianto, o... oh Ianto..." Jack's voice broke as he launched at the table, Ianto's face in his hands as he kissed him deeply.
Ianto gasped into the kiss, clutching weakly at Jack, eyes closing in relief. He was human. He was fine. Finally, Jack pulled back, Ianto gasping for breath, still far too weak. He covered one of Jack’s hands with his, squeezing gently.
“What happened?” He murmured, coughing gently, clearing his throat. “I don’t…”
Jack shook his head and slid onto the medical table, tightening his grip on Ianto's hand, his other going to pet down Ianto's side, a habit now but one that he delighted in feeling skin with none the less.
"The alien tech you got blasted with, it turned you into a full cat." Jack murmured softly, his eyes drinking Ianto in happily. "You've been that way for over two months now." Ianto's eyes fluttered, he yawned but gestured for Jack to continue.
"We had something come through the rift. Something from the Doctor, something he sent me worked on changing you back."
“Two months? I…” Ianto frowned, turning his head to nuzzle against Jack’s cheek, body fighting exhaustion to press closer to Jack, arm sliding over his waist.
“I don’t remember…” He closed his eyes, fighting the fog that seemed wrapped around his brain. “I remember…” His breath caught, body pressing closer. “I remember saying goodbye…” He tilted his head, seeking Jack’s lips, kissing him fiercely. “Told you I’d never leave…” He murmured, lips brushing Jack’s, uncertain laughter shaking his body.
Jack laughed and wrapped his arms so tightly around Ianto's body. "That you did Ianto, that you did." Jack buried his face in Ianto's neck to hide the bit of moistness from his eyes and if Ianto noticed it at all, he politely didn't say anything about it.
"Oh it's good to feel you in my arms again Yan." Jack murmured, clutching Ianto harder than before and squeezing him close.
“Good to be in your arms again.” Ianto replied, wincing as Jack squeezed just a little too tight. He shivered a little, the air in the room rather cold against bare skin. Winding his arms around Jack, he kissed the other man’s temple, nuzzling gently at his cheek.
“Much as I hate to break up the happy reunion…” Owen appeared in the doorway, hands in his pockets.
“Ianto needs bedrest. And catching a chill because he bollock naked in a tiled room isn’t really the best idea.” He was smiling, though, clearly delighted to see Ianto back, even if he wasn’t going to show it.
Tosh, on the other hand, was far more demonstrative. She flew down the steps, hugging both Jack and Ianto tightly.
“We missed you!” She gasped, tears in her eyes as she kissed Ianto’s cheek, hugging him again.
Jack laughed and smiled and couldn't stop being happy with having Ianto back. Gwen had some of Jack's pyjama trousers in hand as well as a clean shirt and handed them over to Ianto quietly. "It's good to have you back, pet." She smiled and hugged him.
Tosh would barely let him go to allow him to get dressed, almost afraid that if she did let go, she would lose Ianto back to the cat form. Jack helped Ianto on with the clothes as Owen rattled off a list of do's and don'ts, telling Jack that he was to keep Ianto in bed for at least two days without any physical exertion.
"Try to keep your hands off him for 48 hours all right?"
Ianto remained seated on the bench, a little too wobbly to stand for long. Tosh fussed around him for as long as she could, eventually being dragged away by Owen and Gwen with a few lewd comments tossed over their shoulders as they left. Sighing in relief, Ianto leant against Jack a little more heavily, arm around his waist.
“Bed?” He murmured, turning his head to kiss Jack’s shoulder, moving closer to nuzzle at his neck. He couldn’t seem to stop doing that, rubbing his face against Jack’s shoulder like he was a ca- ah. So, it looked like the cat instincts weren’t entirely gone. Right now, though, Ianto didn’t give a fuck.
He had Jack. He had his mind. And no more hairballs.
THE END (for now...)
Authors: maverick0324 and athousanderrors
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Owen suggested, hints of Ianto/Tosh.
Rating: NC17
Summary: Why leaving Owen alone with alien tech is a supremely bad idea...
Spoilers: Probably past end of series 1. To be safe.
Warnings: Slightly cracky, slash, language.
Author's Notes: Uh...alien tech made us do it. *nods* We're totally innocent. *snerk* Feedback will be loved and adored. Flamers will be fed to Myfanwy.
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Sixteen, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Nineteen, Chapter Twenty
"What is it?" Gwen asked, poking her head around the corner to see what Jack was up to.
"It's a gold box." Jack just stated the obvious before fingering the note into his pocket. There was no way the Doctor could have sent this to him, no way he could have known let alone found a way to send him some sort of T'uula artifact.
"Well duh, anything else?" She bounced on the balls of her feet and Jack just shook his head, he needed a bit longer to wrap his mind around this.
"Don't know, well come on I have a few other tests for Tosh." Jack walked back into the main area of the hub where Ianto had given up his catnip ball. Owen was relaxing in his chair and was dancing a laser across the wall, laughing softly as Ianto pounced, trying to catch ahold of the small beam of light.
Ianto’s paws waved in the air as he tried to catch the red dot, nearly running headfirst into the wall in his frustration. Owen was smirking, laughing quietly to himself as he watched Ianto going absolutely crazy trying to catch the dot. Ianto, however, stopped as soon as he realised Jack was there, bounding over to nuzzle at Jack’s hands and pockets, just in case he had a treat for him.
"Tosh, I want you to do a type B scan on this, use T'uula translations to pull off any of the symbols you can." He answered handing the box over to her and refusing to let his mind begin to think on what may be contained inside.
Tosh muttered to herself before nodding and taking the box to the quarantined chamber to scan it with lasers and to perhaps grab a translator from the archives while they were at it.
"Well anything else while we were gone then?" Jack asked, hands busy giving Ianto attention as Gwen and Owen turned back to their work.
Purring, Ianto went up on his hind legs, leaning heavily at Jack as he nuzzled at his cheek, before dropping back down to the floor again. Annoyed that the red dot had evaded him, he went back to batting the toy mouse Tosh had brought around the floor, though it wasn’t nearly so amusing now it didn’t move quite the same.
“Nope. Rift’s the quietest it’s been in a couple of weeks.” Owen leant back in his chair, feet up on his desk as he folded his arms behind his head.
“And you still haven’t got all your paperwork done.” Gwen pointed out with a wry grin, penstains on her fingers, paper spread across her desk.
"Yeah well at least it's not all over my hands like some people." He grumbled, spinning in his chair to look back at his desk and the sheath of papers there. Gwen grabbed one of the stress balls from Tosh's desk and looked like she was about to hurl it at Owen, but Jack quickly intercepted.
"Gwen, why don't you go and grab us some lunch while Owen finishes his paperwork?" Gwen nodded and grabbed her purse to leave as Jack made his way back up to his office.
Ianto had followed him, his catnip ball in his mouth as he leapt onto Jack's desk and laid in the middle, demanding attention.
Lying right on top of the paperwork meant, of course, that he was guaranteed attention. Sniffing at the catnip ball, he meowed happily, rolling onto his back and looking at Jack pleadingly. Petting was a very important part of a cat’s day. And it seemed to be especially so for Ianto. Content after having his stomach rubbed for a while, Ianto slowly slid off the desk, curling up around Jack’s feet as the other man settled down to do some actual work.
Jack toed off his shoes as Ianto curled up around his feet, he kept one idly stroking Ianto as he went about his paperwork. Occasionally he would would stop and feel a paw bat at his foot or a head nudging it and he would go back to what he was doing. In all the time he had known Ianto, he had never suspected the man would be tactile-y sensative, but here he was demanding to have Jack touching him.
Jack supposed it helped that he wasn't entirely Ianto as well.
Tosh spent four hours with her translator, working on the inscriptions that were wound around the box. They were difficult and complex and like nothing she had seen before. But as the scans continued doing their job, Tosh set anew to cracking the alien code.
Gwen made coffee for them all, hiding a yawn behind her hand as she placed a cup beside Tosh.
“Any idea what it is yet?” She murmured, placing a hand on Tosh’s shoulder. Tosh jumped and whirled around, nearly knocking over her cup of coffee.
“Oh, sorry! I uh..didn’t realise you were there.” Tosh blushed a little, picking up the coffee. Gwen smiled, repeating her question.
“From what I can tell…it’s some kind of technology they developed for curing disease. I’m not…” She turned her head as the computer beeped. “Oh, it’s finished…Jack!” She called out, bringing up the results of the translation on all the screens in the Hub before she’d even read the results.
Jack snapped out of the nap he seemed to have dozed into when Tosh called for him. He blinked rapidly and jogged down the steps to the Hub, Ianto pattering after him after he realised Jack and the warmth had gone.
"The translations took forever, they were some very archaeic symbols... They weren't pulling up in our translation database but I did some quick recalculating and look..." Jack's eyes skimmed over the information picking out two words T'uula and medical before letting out a large whoop of excitement.
"It is, oh God it is!" he breathed, grabbing Tosh into an embrace and kissing her.
Tosh yelped as she was spun around in the air, laughing a little at Jack’s excitement, that smile utterly infectious.
“Mind explaining to us mere mortals what the bloody hell that means, then?” Owen drawled, looking decidedly less excited. Gwen, meanwhile, was wiping at her top with a tissue, after having sprayed coffee everywhere in surprise at Jack’s loud whoop of joy.
Ianto pranced around Jack, catching at some sort of enthusiasm that was going through them. Tosh was clinging onto his shoulders as Jack spun her around, "You clever, clever woman you!" Jack praised, hugging her again before gently setting her back down on the ground.
"It means, Owen, that the Doctor is the most astounding man I think I have ever met in my life!" Jack was so excited he couldn't break the smile on his face as he bounded over and grabbed the gold box and held it up. "Nanogenes! He sent me nanogenes!”
Gwen looked at Owen. Owen looked at Tosh. Tosh looked at Jack. They all had the exact same expression on their face, with only Tosh looking like she might know what Jack was talking about.
“Is that…?” She asked as Jack clasped the box carefully, reaching out to touch it.
"A box full of small sub-atomic robot's whose job it is to fix whatever is wrong with you and get you back to perfect and healthy condition." Jack answered Tosh slowly, his voice nothing more than a hushed whisper.
Ianto jumped at Tosh's shriek as she jumped on Jack and clung to him, holding him tightly as Gwen and Owen looked back and forth at one another, a vague idea dawning in their mind.
"Sub atomic robots?"
"Fixing any and all problems?" Gwen bit her lip and looked at Owen before breaking into a large smile.
Ianto had picked up on their excitement, much as Tosh’s yell had made him jump. He meowed, not happy about not being the centre of attention. He nudged Jack’s leg, looking up at him, meowing again, sounding more than a little pathetic.
“We can fix him….” Tosh whispered, grinning from ear to ear, bouncing. She knelt down, flinging her arms around Ianto’s neck, burying her face in his fur.
“You hear that, Ianto?” She pulled back, looking into his eyes. “We’re going to fix you!” Owen laughed at that.
“Ok, can we rephrase that? Because I doubt Ianto wants us to chop off his bollocks so he doesn’t chase the other little kitties anymore.” He ducked as Gwen threw an empty paper cup at his head, still laughing merrily.
Jack couldn't contain his excitement, he picked Gwen up and spun her around, kissing her before putting her down and then doing the same to Owen, despite his attempts at making Jack put him down.
Turning to the final one left in his team, Jack knelt on the floor and smiled when Ianto head butted him, nuzzling at his neck. "We're going to get you back Ianto, I knew we were."
Ianto mrowed, not knowing why Jack was so excited, but still picking up on the emotions, purring as Jack nuzzled into him. Tosh tried to hold in a quiet ‘awwww’ at the sight of their fearless leader, crouched on the floor, clinging onto a giant black cat and nuzzling him tenderly. Thankfully, the sound was covered by Owen’s overdramatic retching noises in the background.
“Right, can we get this over with? Sooner Ianto’s back, sooner we can pretend we all like Gwen’s coffee.”
Jack gave in and leaned forward and nipped Ianto's ear, surprised wen Ianto jerked and nuzzled at him again purring louder. "Alright, Owen go down into the medical bay and set up a room, we'll probably need to put him under like you did when he became a cat... can't imagine it will be too pleasant going through the change again..."
"Oh great, playing with more needles around the bloody cat." Owen grumbled and went off to ready a room, Gwen pausing before following him.
Jack remained on the Hub floor, Ianto nuzzling at him, his paws on Jack's shoulders. "Jack, what if--" Tosh cut herself off, but then forced herself to continue. "What if it doesn't work?"
"It will. It has to."
Tosh just nodded, picking up the golden box, shaking it gently. She widened her eyes when it began to buzz, vibrating gently in her hands. Clutching it tightly, she hurried after Owen and Gwen, eyes wide.
Purring softly, Ianto continued to nuzzle at Jack’s cheek, licking his hair, sandpaper tongue rough against Jack’s skin. His paws remained on Jack’s shoulders, tail gently swaying back and forth.
Tosh paused and watched, it was interesting to watch Ianto and Jack interact like this, interesting and at the same time, felt like she was perhaps treading on a very private moment. "Alright Ianto, let's go and get you cured shall we?" Jack said softly, hugging and scratching Ianto’s ears before turning to lead Tosh and Ianto down to the medical bays and where Owen and Gwen waited with a hope and a prayer.
Owen sighed, patting the padded table. “Right, up you get, Ianto.” Ianto looked at Owen warily. That bench never meant anything good. He backed away, hissing quietly at Owen, hiding behind Jack’s legs.
“Oh for…” Owen sighed again, folding his arms. “Fat lot of use those nano-thingies are going to be if we can’t even get him on the fucking table…”
Jack could see the problem and sat on the table, relaxing back onto it and looking at Ianto when he peered out from under the table. "Come on Ianto, hop up on the table..." Jack murmured. It took some coaxing and a few moments, but Ianto did, he laid down next to Jack and rested his head on a convenient arm.
Jack held him down as Owen was quick with the syringe, quickly hitting Ianto with what was needed to knock him out. "Right, we need to open the box and leave him be." Jack said, shooing the others out.
"But how are we going to open the box? We've already tried." Gwen was frustrated and tired and annoyed and wished everything didn't always go over her head. Jack continued ushering them out the door before setting the box down by Ianto's sleeping cat form and slowly stroking the box.
The lid slowly began to open and Jack made a hasty retreat, shutting the door behind him and watching through the glass wall. Hoping and praying it was enough.
Ianto’s breathing was shallow, pink tongue peeking out between his teeth, completely unconscious. Slowly, golden shapes began to emerge from the box, small dots of light that buzzed around the room, circling once, twice, before beginning to investigate the unconscious form on the table.
They glowed brighter for a moment, moving closer, covering Ianto’s body from head to toe, the buzzing sound almost audible through the glass wall. Moving faster now, they circled Ianto, moving up and down his body, slowly repairing the damage that had been done. Black fur faded into pale skin, ears seemed to slide down the side of his head as his snout pulled back into nose, mouth. His arms grew shorter, legs growing back to the right proportions. His tail was the last thing to go, slowly shortening, becoming thinner and thinner until it disappeared back into the base of his spine.
Ianto took a deep, shuddering breath, sitting upright with a gasp. He looked around him wildly, hands clutching at the table edges.
"Come on, come on..." Jack breathed softly watching as the nanogene's surrounded and encased Ianto's body. Jack was aware just how much like the Doctor he sounded, how much like the man had begged back in 1940 for these little things to do their work.
Slowly Jack could see pale flesh peeking out in between bits of fur, then the ears were gone, then Ianto's lips were back. It was ten minutes, ten agonising minutes but Ianto was back to human form, jerking awake before slumping back over in exhaustion.
Tosh was crying, clinging on to Gwen to hold her up as she looked happily at where Ianto, their real Ianto laid on the medical table.
Jack burst in, quickly followed by Owen who was busy checking vital stats. "Is he okay?"
"Body is just over exerted, give him some time to right himself and he'll be fine."
The others had left Jack to sit with Ianto once more, obviously willing to give the men the benefit of a private reunion. So Jack sat in another sturdy backless chair, waiting over two hours for Ianto to wake up, holding his hand and thrilling at the fact that he was in fact, holding his hand. Not a paw, not some mutation of the two. But his hand.
Slowly, Ianto's breathing grew more shallow, his heart beat increased and then, his eye's fluttered open. Jack couldn't remember ever feeling such relief as he felt when he knew that Ianto was safe and awake.
Blue eyes opened slowly, soft grunt of effort as Ianto turned his head, gaze finally focusing on Jack.
“J’ck?” He murmured, voice hoarse, trying to reach out for the other man, still too weak to do more than lift his hand. He was confused, and aching from head to toe. What was going on?
"Ianto, o... oh Ianto..." Jack's voice broke as he launched at the table, Ianto's face in his hands as he kissed him deeply.
Ianto gasped into the kiss, clutching weakly at Jack, eyes closing in relief. He was human. He was fine. Finally, Jack pulled back, Ianto gasping for breath, still far too weak. He covered one of Jack’s hands with his, squeezing gently.
“What happened?” He murmured, coughing gently, clearing his throat. “I don’t…”
Jack shook his head and slid onto the medical table, tightening his grip on Ianto's hand, his other going to pet down Ianto's side, a habit now but one that he delighted in feeling skin with none the less.
"The alien tech you got blasted with, it turned you into a full cat." Jack murmured softly, his eyes drinking Ianto in happily. "You've been that way for over two months now." Ianto's eyes fluttered, he yawned but gestured for Jack to continue.
"We had something come through the rift. Something from the Doctor, something he sent me worked on changing you back."
“Two months? I…” Ianto frowned, turning his head to nuzzle against Jack’s cheek, body fighting exhaustion to press closer to Jack, arm sliding over his waist.
“I don’t remember…” He closed his eyes, fighting the fog that seemed wrapped around his brain. “I remember…” His breath caught, body pressing closer. “I remember saying goodbye…” He tilted his head, seeking Jack’s lips, kissing him fiercely. “Told you I’d never leave…” He murmured, lips brushing Jack’s, uncertain laughter shaking his body.
Jack laughed and wrapped his arms so tightly around Ianto's body. "That you did Ianto, that you did." Jack buried his face in Ianto's neck to hide the bit of moistness from his eyes and if Ianto noticed it at all, he politely didn't say anything about it.
"Oh it's good to feel you in my arms again Yan." Jack murmured, clutching Ianto harder than before and squeezing him close.
“Good to be in your arms again.” Ianto replied, wincing as Jack squeezed just a little too tight. He shivered a little, the air in the room rather cold against bare skin. Winding his arms around Jack, he kissed the other man’s temple, nuzzling gently at his cheek.
“Much as I hate to break up the happy reunion…” Owen appeared in the doorway, hands in his pockets.
“Ianto needs bedrest. And catching a chill because he bollock naked in a tiled room isn’t really the best idea.” He was smiling, though, clearly delighted to see Ianto back, even if he wasn’t going to show it.
Tosh, on the other hand, was far more demonstrative. She flew down the steps, hugging both Jack and Ianto tightly.
“We missed you!” She gasped, tears in her eyes as she kissed Ianto’s cheek, hugging him again.
Jack laughed and smiled and couldn't stop being happy with having Ianto back. Gwen had some of Jack's pyjama trousers in hand as well as a clean shirt and handed them over to Ianto quietly. "It's good to have you back, pet." She smiled and hugged him.
Tosh would barely let him go to allow him to get dressed, almost afraid that if she did let go, she would lose Ianto back to the cat form. Jack helped Ianto on with the clothes as Owen rattled off a list of do's and don'ts, telling Jack that he was to keep Ianto in bed for at least two days without any physical exertion.
"Try to keep your hands off him for 48 hours all right?"
Ianto remained seated on the bench, a little too wobbly to stand for long. Tosh fussed around him for as long as she could, eventually being dragged away by Owen and Gwen with a few lewd comments tossed over their shoulders as they left. Sighing in relief, Ianto leant against Jack a little more heavily, arm around his waist.
“Bed?” He murmured, turning his head to kiss Jack’s shoulder, moving closer to nuzzle at his neck. He couldn’t seem to stop doing that, rubbing his face against Jack’s shoulder like he was a ca- ah. So, it looked like the cat instincts weren’t entirely gone. Right now, though, Ianto didn’t give a fuck.
He had Jack. He had his mind. And no more hairballs.
THE END (for now...)