Deep Freeze 2/3
Title: Deep Freeze
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Team
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Warnings/Spoilers: None/None
Summary:The Torchwood team face a race against time to save one of their own.
A/N: Much love once more to mrs_cj_harkness for the beta.
Part One
Ianto groaned, his eyes fluttering open before shutting against the harsh light.
"Ianto?" Gwen whispered putting down her book to hold a hand over his eyes. He blinked slowly, testing out the lights, his eyes flickering between Gwen and his white surroundings. A heart monitor, chest pads - that was going to hurt, blood pressure machine, an IV too.
‘Must be bad' He thought groggily, trying to move his head again to take a good look around, but the effort made him feel dizzy and sick.
"He's awake, Jack," Gwen muttered into her comm before turning back to find Ianto now looking steadily up at her. "Hey you, welcome back," she grinned at him. "How are you feeling?"
"What...." He managed to croak out, before coughing violently. Gwen helped him turn on to his side under the heavy blankets and stroked his back, picking up a glass of water from the tray next to him.
"Shush, its okay, Owen says to drink as much as you can, pet." She placed the straw between his lips, watching as he drank thirstily.
The water tasted odd, hot and stale like it had been left in the sun for too long - something else was odd too. “Clothes?” He whispered, looking down at the thin summer dress Gwen was wearing.
Gwen looked down at herself with a frown, wondering what was wrong and then remembered. “Oh, pet, the heating - we’re trying to counteract the virus with heat.”
“Oh.” Ianto managed, wondering briefly why he still felt so cold, before drifting back into the blackness.
----------
Jack shooed Gwen away to get some sleep and settled himself in the vacated chair next to Ianto. He’d stripped down to his trousers and a t-shirt which he’d probably have to take off soon, it was already drenched with sweat. It felt more than a little surreal, given the sweltering heat of the Hub to be tucking blankets tighter around the man in front of him and pulling the woolly hat someone had found him more securely onto his head.
Under different circumstances the sight of Ianto in a red and blue striped bobble hat would be nothing short of hilarious, as it was though the bright colours seemed obscene against his too-pale skin. Jack wriggled a hand under the blankets to find Ianto’s, the young man’s fingers like ice in his own sweaty ones, and lowered his head to rest lightly on the blanket covered chest, the slight rise and fall under his cheek more reassuring than he’d ever admit.
----------
Ianto woke again to hot breath on his face; it felt good. He opened his eyes slowly, learning from last time.
“Hey,” Jack smiled down at him. “How’re you doing?”
Ianto groaned. “Cold. Sleepy.” He muttered, closing his eyes again.
“We’re working on that, okay, you stay with me you hear?” Jack’s voice was soft, tinged with worry. Ianto merely grunted in response.
“W’happened?” He asked, looking up, seeing the worry etched on the familiar face.
Jack winced, “You remember that thing we brought in? Turns out it’s a weapon; biological warfare. The things inside got out, got into you and they’ve latched on to your cold virus, mutating it, throwing your temperature controls all out of whack.”
Ianto let his eyes drift closed again, listening to the familiar, comforting sound of Jack’s voice. He would be happy to lie here forever if he weren’t so damn cold.
“Yan?” The concern in Jack’s voice made him look up again. “You get any of that?” The older man asked with a smile.
“Mmnh, yeah.” Ianto replied, sleepily, “Alien tech, bad, you’ll fix it.”
“Yes, yes we will, I promise ‘Yan, just hang in there.”
If Ianto didn’t know better he’d have sworn he saw tears forming in the Captain’s eyes before his own closed again involuntarily. “S’okay,” he whispered, as the darkness closed in again. “Trust you, love you.”
----------
“So, where are we at kids?” Jack demanded, practically breathing down Toshiko’s neck.
She stood up and turned to face him. “Jack, we’re doing our best, but we’ve never encountered anything like this before. I think we’ve isolated the problem but there’s nothing obviously alien in there, it’s like you said, whatever this thing was - it’s changed, mutated things that were already there and vanished. I think it’s just a matter of finding a way to combat this virus, but there are a couple of other abnormalities I’m not sure about...”
Owen cut her off with a snort, “There’s nothing just about it, Tosh. Jack, you’re asking us to find a cure for the common cold and then some: it’s not exactly a five minute job, yeah? Give us a break.”
Tosh shot him a glare and gently took Jack’s arm, propelling him towards the kitchen area. “We really are working as fast as we can, Jack.” She said softly, pulling two mugs down from the shelf and filling them with clear, cool water. She pressed one into his hand and looked up at him, dark eyes shining. “He’s one of us, Jack. We’re not going to let him go without a fight.”
----------
The next time Ianto woke, Gwen was there again and he was shivering violently. Her skin glistened, with sweat presumably; he vaguely remembers something about heat though he can’t feel it; and her dark hair is damp, strands clinging to her forehead where they’ve escaped from the messy ponytail keeping the rest off her neck. He must have made a noise because she looked up suddenly from the book she’d been reading and smiled warmly at him.
“Hello again.” She said, obviously making an effort to sound cheerful - it didn’t work. “Do you want some more water?”
He nodded, having to exaggerate the movement over the shivers wracking his body. She pressed a straw to his lips and he drank greedily. It tasted different again, sweet this time, almost like… glucose powder? Try as he might, he simply couldn’t stop shaking and a little of the water splashed from the full glass onto Gwen’s knees.
“Sorry.” He murmured as she placed the glass back down again.
“Don’t worry, pet, it’s not like you can help it and I wish I could pour the whole bloody glass over my head, it’s unbearable in here!” She sat back, smiling and fanning herself with the open book.
Gwen babbled on about everything and nothing and where such idle prattle usually annoyed him, for once he found himself content to listen, making what he hoped were appropriate responses in the right places, as he curled into a ball and gave in to the shivers.
----------
Ianto was asleep again when Jack returned, Owen in tow to relieve Gwen.
“He’s good, not fantastic, but he could be a lot worse. Temperature’s thirty-three degrees and has been for the past two hours, pulse and respiration are fine and believe it or not the shivering is a really good sign, means his body’s fighting back again.” Owen rattled off as he checked the readings from various monitors.
Owen looked as hot, tired and frustrated as Jack felt. “If he’s stable take a break, get some air and get some sleep, Toshiko too. You won’t do him any good if you’re too tired to think straight.”
“Yeah, look if he wakes up again keep him quiet, make him drink something. Any problems call me and if his temperature starts dropping again I wanna know about it five minutes ago, got that?”
“I’ve got it, go.”
Owen trudged off up the steps and Jack sat once more in the chair by Ianto’s side. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, wishing there was something he could be doing.
“Jack?” Ianto’s quiet voice shook between chattering teeth.
Jack leaned down and brushed a thumb across Ianto’s cold cheek. “I’m here, you okay?”
“So cold.” Ianto groaned.
“I know,” Jack sighed, “we can’t turn the heat up any more or we’ll fry the computers; and we kind of need them to be able to fix this.” He spread his plam over Ianto's cheek and chuckled softly as the young man let out a sound he could only describe as a whimper and pressed shamelessly into the touch. Perhaps there was something he could do after all.
“Shift over.” He ordered before climbing up and settling himself alongside Ianto on the narrow table, wrapping his hands around the other man’s icy face. Piercing blue eyes met his for a moment through thick lashes before falling closed again. “Any better?” Jack asked.
“A bit,” Ianto whispered, his breath cool against Jack’s face, “Thank-you.”
Jack smiled, “When this is all over we’ll go somewhere warm for a while, just the two of us, how’s that sound?”
“Never happen.” Was that a smirk? “Rift.”
“Oh I think the others can handle things without us for a few days.” Jack grinned, “So where would you like to go Mr. Jones? Hawaii? Barbados? Canary Islands?”
“Not really a beach person, Sir.” Now that was definitely a smirk!
Jack chuckled and flicked Ianto’s nose with his thumb. “Oi, you! Enough with the Sir already, just ‘cause you’re...” he faltered, the words hanging unsaid in the air between them: sick… dying…
Ianto was watching him again, blue eyes filled with concern. “Malta!” Jack announced quickly, “always liked Malta, wonderfully underestimated little island, had lovely sailors, should be nice this time of year, plenty of history, culture - your sort of thing, what do you say? Ten days of sun, sea and other things beginning with s!”
Ianto’s eyes closed again, but he was smiling now. “If you insist.” He murmured.
Jack simply grinned and they lay in silence for a while. They must make a funny picture he thought, him lying here half naked and dripping sweat, Ianto bundled under more layers than he’d ever imagined and still shivering despite the heat.
“Jack?” Ianto’s sleepy whisper broke into his thoughts.
“Still here.” He responded, softly.
“Talk to me.”
“Okay, what would you like me to talk about? The cracks in the ceiling? Owen’s terrifyingly skinny chest? The fact that blue and grey really are not your colours?”
Ianto gave a little huff which Jack was sure was a laugh. “Anything,” Ianto murmured, “anything at all. I just don’t… just want to hear you.”
----------
Part Three
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Team
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Warnings/Spoilers: None/None
Summary:The Torchwood team face a race against time to save one of their own.
A/N: Much love once more to mrs_cj_harkness for the beta.
Part One
Ianto groaned, his eyes fluttering open before shutting against the harsh light.
"Ianto?" Gwen whispered putting down her book to hold a hand over his eyes. He blinked slowly, testing out the lights, his eyes flickering between Gwen and his white surroundings. A heart monitor, chest pads - that was going to hurt, blood pressure machine, an IV too.
‘Must be bad' He thought groggily, trying to move his head again to take a good look around, but the effort made him feel dizzy and sick.
"He's awake, Jack," Gwen muttered into her comm before turning back to find Ianto now looking steadily up at her. "Hey you, welcome back," she grinned at him. "How are you feeling?"
"What...." He managed to croak out, before coughing violently. Gwen helped him turn on to his side under the heavy blankets and stroked his back, picking up a glass of water from the tray next to him.
"Shush, its okay, Owen says to drink as much as you can, pet." She placed the straw between his lips, watching as he drank thirstily.
The water tasted odd, hot and stale like it had been left in the sun for too long - something else was odd too. “Clothes?” He whispered, looking down at the thin summer dress Gwen was wearing.
Gwen looked down at herself with a frown, wondering what was wrong and then remembered. “Oh, pet, the heating - we’re trying to counteract the virus with heat.”
“Oh.” Ianto managed, wondering briefly why he still felt so cold, before drifting back into the blackness.
----------
Jack shooed Gwen away to get some sleep and settled himself in the vacated chair next to Ianto. He’d stripped down to his trousers and a t-shirt which he’d probably have to take off soon, it was already drenched with sweat. It felt more than a little surreal, given the sweltering heat of the Hub to be tucking blankets tighter around the man in front of him and pulling the woolly hat someone had found him more securely onto his head.
Under different circumstances the sight of Ianto in a red and blue striped bobble hat would be nothing short of hilarious, as it was though the bright colours seemed obscene against his too-pale skin. Jack wriggled a hand under the blankets to find Ianto’s, the young man’s fingers like ice in his own sweaty ones, and lowered his head to rest lightly on the blanket covered chest, the slight rise and fall under his cheek more reassuring than he’d ever admit.
----------
Ianto woke again to hot breath on his face; it felt good. He opened his eyes slowly, learning from last time.
“Hey,” Jack smiled down at him. “How’re you doing?”
Ianto groaned. “Cold. Sleepy.” He muttered, closing his eyes again.
“We’re working on that, okay, you stay with me you hear?” Jack’s voice was soft, tinged with worry. Ianto merely grunted in response.
“W’happened?” He asked, looking up, seeing the worry etched on the familiar face.
Jack winced, “You remember that thing we brought in? Turns out it’s a weapon; biological warfare. The things inside got out, got into you and they’ve latched on to your cold virus, mutating it, throwing your temperature controls all out of whack.”
Ianto let his eyes drift closed again, listening to the familiar, comforting sound of Jack’s voice. He would be happy to lie here forever if he weren’t so damn cold.
“Yan?” The concern in Jack’s voice made him look up again. “You get any of that?” The older man asked with a smile.
“Mmnh, yeah.” Ianto replied, sleepily, “Alien tech, bad, you’ll fix it.”
“Yes, yes we will, I promise ‘Yan, just hang in there.”
If Ianto didn’t know better he’d have sworn he saw tears forming in the Captain’s eyes before his own closed again involuntarily. “S’okay,” he whispered, as the darkness closed in again. “Trust you, love you.”
----------
“So, where are we at kids?” Jack demanded, practically breathing down Toshiko’s neck.
She stood up and turned to face him. “Jack, we’re doing our best, but we’ve never encountered anything like this before. I think we’ve isolated the problem but there’s nothing obviously alien in there, it’s like you said, whatever this thing was - it’s changed, mutated things that were already there and vanished. I think it’s just a matter of finding a way to combat this virus, but there are a couple of other abnormalities I’m not sure about...”
Owen cut her off with a snort, “There’s nothing just about it, Tosh. Jack, you’re asking us to find a cure for the common cold and then some: it’s not exactly a five minute job, yeah? Give us a break.”
Tosh shot him a glare and gently took Jack’s arm, propelling him towards the kitchen area. “We really are working as fast as we can, Jack.” She said softly, pulling two mugs down from the shelf and filling them with clear, cool water. She pressed one into his hand and looked up at him, dark eyes shining. “He’s one of us, Jack. We’re not going to let him go without a fight.”
----------
The next time Ianto woke, Gwen was there again and he was shivering violently. Her skin glistened, with sweat presumably; he vaguely remembers something about heat though he can’t feel it; and her dark hair is damp, strands clinging to her forehead where they’ve escaped from the messy ponytail keeping the rest off her neck. He must have made a noise because she looked up suddenly from the book she’d been reading and smiled warmly at him.
“Hello again.” She said, obviously making an effort to sound cheerful - it didn’t work. “Do you want some more water?”
He nodded, having to exaggerate the movement over the shivers wracking his body. She pressed a straw to his lips and he drank greedily. It tasted different again, sweet this time, almost like… glucose powder? Try as he might, he simply couldn’t stop shaking and a little of the water splashed from the full glass onto Gwen’s knees.
“Sorry.” He murmured as she placed the glass back down again.
“Don’t worry, pet, it’s not like you can help it and I wish I could pour the whole bloody glass over my head, it’s unbearable in here!” She sat back, smiling and fanning herself with the open book.
Gwen babbled on about everything and nothing and where such idle prattle usually annoyed him, for once he found himself content to listen, making what he hoped were appropriate responses in the right places, as he curled into a ball and gave in to the shivers.
----------
Ianto was asleep again when Jack returned, Owen in tow to relieve Gwen.
“He’s good, not fantastic, but he could be a lot worse. Temperature’s thirty-three degrees and has been for the past two hours, pulse and respiration are fine and believe it or not the shivering is a really good sign, means his body’s fighting back again.” Owen rattled off as he checked the readings from various monitors.
Owen looked as hot, tired and frustrated as Jack felt. “If he’s stable take a break, get some air and get some sleep, Toshiko too. You won’t do him any good if you’re too tired to think straight.”
“Yeah, look if he wakes up again keep him quiet, make him drink something. Any problems call me and if his temperature starts dropping again I wanna know about it five minutes ago, got that?”
“I’ve got it, go.”
Owen trudged off up the steps and Jack sat once more in the chair by Ianto’s side. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, wishing there was something he could be doing.
“Jack?” Ianto’s quiet voice shook between chattering teeth.
Jack leaned down and brushed a thumb across Ianto’s cold cheek. “I’m here, you okay?”
“So cold.” Ianto groaned.
“I know,” Jack sighed, “we can’t turn the heat up any more or we’ll fry the computers; and we kind of need them to be able to fix this.” He spread his plam over Ianto's cheek and chuckled softly as the young man let out a sound he could only describe as a whimper and pressed shamelessly into the touch. Perhaps there was something he could do after all.
“Shift over.” He ordered before climbing up and settling himself alongside Ianto on the narrow table, wrapping his hands around the other man’s icy face. Piercing blue eyes met his for a moment through thick lashes before falling closed again. “Any better?” Jack asked.
“A bit,” Ianto whispered, his breath cool against Jack’s face, “Thank-you.”
Jack smiled, “When this is all over we’ll go somewhere warm for a while, just the two of us, how’s that sound?”
“Never happen.” Was that a smirk? “Rift.”
“Oh I think the others can handle things without us for a few days.” Jack grinned, “So where would you like to go Mr. Jones? Hawaii? Barbados? Canary Islands?”
“Not really a beach person, Sir.” Now that was definitely a smirk!
Jack chuckled and flicked Ianto’s nose with his thumb. “Oi, you! Enough with the Sir already, just ‘cause you’re...” he faltered, the words hanging unsaid in the air between them: sick… dying…
Ianto was watching him again, blue eyes filled with concern. “Malta!” Jack announced quickly, “always liked Malta, wonderfully underestimated little island, had lovely sailors, should be nice this time of year, plenty of history, culture - your sort of thing, what do you say? Ten days of sun, sea and other things beginning with s!”
Ianto’s eyes closed again, but he was smiling now. “If you insist.” He murmured.
Jack simply grinned and they lay in silence for a while. They must make a funny picture he thought, him lying here half naked and dripping sweat, Ianto bundled under more layers than he’d ever imagined and still shivering despite the heat.
“Jack?” Ianto’s sleepy whisper broke into his thoughts.
“Still here.” He responded, softly.
“Talk to me.”
“Okay, what would you like me to talk about? The cracks in the ceiling? Owen’s terrifyingly skinny chest? The fact that blue and grey really are not your colours?”
Ianto gave a little huff which Jack was sure was a laugh. “Anything,” Ianto murmured, “anything at all. I just don’t… just want to hear you.”
----------
Part Three