Aftermath
“I don’t have time for this,” Ianto said. “Don’t have time to fight with a stupid dinosaur.” he added angrily collecting his stuff. “And don’t tell me you’re not; I don’t care.”
With that, the young man left Myfanwy’s nest, leaving her alone with the food she was refusing to eat. Ianto was angry. He was angry with himself, with the whole team, with Jack and of course with her. They had killed Lisa, his Lisa.
He was also angry because he couldn’t stop himself from worrying for that stupid living fossil. ‘She’s only brooding because you’re angry and she doesn’t understand why’ he told himself.
A normal day at the Hub was always a busy day, at least for him. The rest of the team managed to have slow days, but they were always making sure things weren’t slow for him. Funny thing, they were perfectly good at doing that while still ignoring him.
Ianto had however managed to go back and check on Myfanwy twice. She hadn’t moved, hadn’t eaten and was still brooding in the far corner of her nest.
It was late, and Jack had insisted on not allowing him in the Hub after working hours, so Ianto hurried up the stairs, taking some chocolate with him; at least she would eat chocolate.
This time Ianto found Myfanwy lying flat on her belly, her long neck and beak stretched out in front of her. Her wings were half spread by her sides. His stomach dropped to his shoes and he held his breath until he had checked hers. She was fine, or at least alive. He lowered himself to the ground by her side, gently taking her head to rest on his thighs.
“What’s going on?” he said. “Don’t do this, please, not now.” he pleaded.
He suddenly felt so powerless, so useless and so lonely; what could he possibly do?
Owen was upset. He couldn’t stop himself from keeping an eye on Ianto. He had never thought much of the teaboy and the recent events had done nothing to help him trust him. When he’d seen Ianto making for the stairs leading to the hatch for the fifth times today, he waited two minutes and followed.
“What the hell is going on, here?” he barked. Ianto was forcing something in the pteranodon’s beak. “Get off her,” he commanded.
Ianto obeyed and stepped aside, giving the medic as much room as he needed to check on Myfanwy.
“I was just trying to give her some water.”
“Water?”
“She keeps on refusing her meals, and I don’t think she’s drinking much either.”
“How long?”
“I’m not sure, two or three day...”
“And what were you waiting for?” Owen asked. “I don’t think Jack’s going to be very pleased with this.” he grunted “Help me to take her down to the lab.”
“What’s going on? What are you still doing here, Ianto?” Jack asked, as they arrived in the main Hub. “Hey, what’s wrong with her?” he added, taking Owen’s place to help Ianto carrying the pteranodon.
“Looks like your precious pet had eaten something, she shouldn’t have,” the doctor replied leading the way to the autopsy bay.
Jack glanced at Ianto who looked miserable, “What happened?” he asked. The young man just sighed out his frustration. Jack nodded back and told him to leave it and to go home.
It didn’t take long for Owen to find the problem, taking it out was a little more difficult.
“So?” Jack asked, as the medic was studying the metallic stuff he extracted from Myfanwy’s oesophagus.
“Lisa. I’d say.”
“Oh.” Jack said, feeling sorry for the poor thing lying there. “Will she be okay?”
“She should be. This was just hurting her, preventing her from swallowing anything, that’s all.” Owen said, taking off his gloves. “Don’t worry, you’re precious pet will be fine.”
Jack came down into the lab and took the pterodactyl gently in his arms. “I should take her back to her nest while she is still sleeping,” he said.
“Yes, probably,” Owen said. “I hate to say it, but if it wasn’t for me checking on what Ianto was doing up there, that thing would have died of dehydration in the next few hours.”
“I let him know that,” Jack answered. “And thanks for caring.”
Even though Myfanwy had shown up just the night before Ianto’s arrival, the team considered the pteranodon as one of Jack’s pets. It would never have occurred to Owen that she could have been more precious to Ianto than to Jack.
Ianto didn’t sleep well, not that he was usually sleeping well anyway. So he was early. It was stupid; Jack was not going to let him in before time. He waited. Jack waited until the last minute to open the door. It was only a matter of discipline, nothing else.
Ianto went down directly to the kitchenette to make Jack’s first cup of coffee. As soon as this was done he could look for Myfanwy.
“She’s fine.” Jack told him quietly as soon as Ianto stepped in the main Hub.
“Really?” he asked glancing toward the autopsy bay.
“I checked on her, less than an hour ago. She’s fine.” Jack said. What Jack was not going to say, was that he had spent most of the night cuddling the pteranodon. “You’ll probably have to feed her with mush for a while.”
“Mush?”
“Yeah, like a baby bird.”
Ianto was puzzled; there was some kind of guilt in Jack’s eyes. He went to the kitchen, made two coffees and brought both to Jack’s office, where the Captain had been heading.
“So, what is wrong with her?” he asked, giving Jack his cup.
“Something was stuck in her throat. Owen took it out.”
“Something?” Ianto asked, genuinely puzzled.
“You don’t want to know.” Jack answered quickly. Too quickly.
“Okay.” Ianto said quietly. “I should probably make that fish mush before the others ask for their coffee.”
“Yeah.” Jack agreed, focusing on savouring his coffee. Trying to tell Ianto, he should have asked for help with Myfanwy was useless. The young man was still not there yet. He was making progress, though. For the first time since Lisa the coffee wasn’t decaf.
By the end of the day, Myfanwy had eaten all her mush and was asking for more. Everyone was back on regular fantastic coffee and Owen was savouring a last one with his captain before leaving.
“So?” he said. “The kid really has a thing for freaks.”
Jack glanced up from his own cup.
“Do you really think I didn’t notice how much he cares for her?”
Jack sat back in his chair with a wide, pleased grin, but didn’t say anything. Myfanwy was healing, the team’s scars were healing, and everything was on its way to being fine.
What could possibly go wrong, now?