Deep Freeze 3/3
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 1: This chapter in particular would not exist without the ever fabulous mrs_cj_harkness I really cannot express enough thanks for all your hard-work/hand-holding/muse-bashing hun - this one's for you!
Part Two
Owen clattered down the stairs into the autopsy bay. “We’ve got it! Tosh has found the…” He trailed off as he took in the sight of Jack lying on the table next to Ianto, cradling the younger man’s head in his hands. “Jack!? What happened? What’s wrong? Why didn’t you call me?”
Jack sat up, swinging his legs off the table and stretching as if he’d been lying still for far too long. “Nothing’s wrong,” he said quickly, “you’ve found something?”
Owen blinked, “Yeah, Tosh found it actually. That girl’s bloody brilliant.” He held up a small vial filled with pale liquid.
Jack stared at the little tube in Owen’s hand, “That’s it?” He whispered, as if speaking normally would somehow make it untrue, “That’ll fix him?”
Owen grimaced, “I’m not gonna lie to you, Jack. We’re ninety-nine-point-whatever percent certain, but it’s as good as we’re gonna get; it’s this or nothing.”
Jack closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. Owen watched, the low hum and beeping of machinery obscenely loud as he waited for Jack to make his decision.
“Go for it.”
----------
“Like I said before, there’s more than one problem here, but when you look deeper they’re all aspects or side-effects of the same thing? So this,” Tosh indicated the slowly filling flask beside her, “should work on everything together, knocking out the mutated virus and negating the effects it’s had on Ianto’s system.”
She looked up worriedly at Jack, “It might… well there are some slight biological changes I’m not certain can be reversed, but the biggest problem would be his thyroid and at worst I expect he’d simply be a little more susceptible to the cold than the rest of us. A lot of people live with thyroid conditions perfectly comfortably; we’d just have to make sure he stayed warm in future…” She trailed off uncertainly.
Jack gave her a warm smile and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “You did good, Tosh. You did real good, thank-you.” His smile widened into a grin as the petite scientist gave him a shy smile of her own. “So, what’s the plan?” Jack continued.
“We need to bring his temperature up slowly, understand? We’ve had time to get used to this heat, Ianto hasn’t. Expose him to this straight off and we might as well not have bothered.”
Jack nodded slowly, leaning against the railing as the doctor outlined their plan for the next few hours.
“We’ll put it in an IV; dilute it so it’ll work through his system slowly, meanwhile we bring the Hub temperature back down to normal. It’s going to be a tricky balance for a while, too cold too soon and we give this thing a new foothold which we really do not want to do.”
Jack stood up, impatient to get started. “Right, so Owen downstairs with me, Toshiko, you’ll take the thermostat, Gwen, just stay alert, anything else we need will be up to you, got that?” He barely waited for confirmation before turning back down the steps to wake Ianto.
----------
“Ianto?”
Ianto opened his eyes and looked up into Jack’s smiling ones.
“Hey there beautiful. You awake? I need to talk to you.”
Ianto nodded and tried to speak, but his throat was dry and all that came out was a cough. Jack reached for the water and waited patiently while he drank.
“I’m listening.” He managed after a moment.
“Good.” Jack grinned. “Ready to feel warm again?”
Ianto blinked at him in confusion.
“Tosh found a cure,” Jack was interrupted by a cough from the other side of the room, he glared over Ianto’s shoulder before continuing, “Tosh thinks she’s found a cure and Owen insists you make an informed choice. So?”
Ianto turned his head, trying to see Owen over his shoulder. The doctor must have caught the movement because he moved quickly into sight.
“How sure?” Ianto asked.
Owen sighed. “As near as makes no difference, mate, but it’s your life we’re talking about here and if this goes wrong I don’t want that on my conscience.”
Ianto gave him a weak smile, “My choice,” he said softly between still-chattering teeth, “Do it.” Ianto paused, struggling to control his shivering. “I trust you.”
Owen gave a curt not and went to move away, but something stopped him and he turned back to Jack and Ianto. “This is likely to get pretty uncomfortable at some point. I’ve no idea how this stuff is going to react, just that it should work, but warming up from where you are isn’t going to be easy; just so you know.”
Ianto watched him steadily for a moment then gave a small nod of his own.
“Thank-you.”
----------
Jack gripped Ianto’s hand tightly and watched in horror as the young man arched off the table, obviously fighting not to cry out. He’d been growing more and more restless over the past few hours, doing his best to ignore the growing discomfort but each wave of pain had been stronger than the last until they’d finally come to this.
Ianto collapsed back onto the autopsy table with a sob, closing his eyes and taking deep, gasping breaths as the pain subsided for a moment.
Jack turned to Owen. “I thought you said uncomfortable, not sheer bloody agony!” He bit out.
The doctor had the decency to look a little contrite at that, “I also said I had no idea how the virus would react to this stuff, sorry. On the other hand his core temperature’s coming up steadily and all his vitals are fine so I’d say it’s working, we just have to wait this out.”
“It’s definitely… doing something!” Ianto exclaimed brokenly.
He was down to a single blanket now and the Hub had cooled enough that the others were fully dressed in their normal clothes again, though it was still warmer than usual.
“Can’t you give him anything, Owen?” Gwen asked from her place at the top of the stairs.
Owen sighed, “No, sorry. He’s got enough of a cocktail party going on in there as it is, I don’t want to risk adding something else that might upset the balance.” He checked the IV and turned to Ianto, “We’re almost half way there, mate. Think you can hold on a bit longer?”
“Do I have a choice?” Ianto growled between gritted teeth, “God, this hurts, it’s like… burning from the inside out, fuck…” He trailed off into a string of muttered curses, crushing Jack’s hand in his own.
There was a clicking of heels above them and Jack looked up as Toshiko joined Gwen by the railings.
“The thermostat is back down to its standard setting.” She informed them, “The Hub should return to normal temperature over the next hour and a half.”
“As should Teaboy here.” Owen nodded.
“How’s he doing?” Tosh asked anxiously.
“He is currently wishing he’d never fucking heard of fucking Torchwood or aliens or…” Ianto dissolved into curses again as Gwen and Tosh looked down in shock.
“I’d say he’s doing fairly well then.” Owen muttered, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
----------
Ianto did his best to sit still as Tosh moved the scanner through the air in front of him, his entire body tingled as the urge to scratch became almost unbearable. After a few long-seeming moments she turned it off and smiled up at him.
“All gone, there’s not a trace of virus left.” She said happily.
“So why do I still itch like this?” He asked, looking between Tosh and Owen who was, for once, tidying away his own equipment.
“That’ll be Tosh’s miracle cure,” The doctor replied with a yawn, “should work itself out over the next few hours so drink lots of water, get some sleep and don’t scratch.” He shrugged, “You’ll be fine.”
Ianto nodded and gripped the edge of the table harder. “Thank-you, Owen.”
“Yeah, well, don’t reckon I’d keep my job long if I lost Jack’s favourite toy yeah?”
Ianto chuckled and turned to Tosh who promptly stepped forwards and enveloped him in a warmly returned hug. “You too, Tosh” he murmured against her hair, “thank-you so much.”
She stepped back with a shy smile, “Just doing my job, Ianto.”
Ianto opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as Jack swept down the stairs, grin firmly in place.
“Right, all clear?” He took his answer from Tosh’s delighted face and continued quickly. “Okay then people, it’s six am, we’ve had a helluva night, you’re all taking the day off. I don’t want to see either of you again ‘till this time tomorrow.” He said indicating Tosh and Owen in turn. “You too missy!” He called as Gwen reappeared by the railings. “Go home and get some proper rest.”
“What about Ianto?” Tosh asked, “I mean he’s all clear but…”
“Ianto is staying here under observation for the next twenty-four hours, just to make sure.” He reassured her, “Now go on, get out of here the lot of you before I change my mind!” He chivvied them up the stairs, laughing.
Ianto simply rolled his eyes and trailed after, after all a few days of over-protective Jack was small price to pay all things considered.
----------
Ianto smiled contentedly as he felt the bed dip and Jack settle alongside him. A warm, familiar hand settled on his shoulder and he turned to meet Jack’s questioning gaze.
“Still itching?” Jack asked, softly.
“Mmm, a little,” Ianto replied, “it’s bearable.”
Jack snaked an arm round Ianto’s waist and pulled him close, “Other than that then, how are you doing?” He asked with a smile.
Ianto yawned; a little put out that he should still be feeling so tired having spent most of the last twelve hours unconscious. “Warm.” He sighed, settling his own arm around Jack and curling into the delicious heat the other man gave out.
“That good, huh?” Jack laughed, all tension gone.
Ianto lifted his head to press a soft kiss to Jack’s lips before replying. “You have no idea.”
----------
[FIN]
Alternate Ending
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 1: This chapter in particular would not exist without the ever fabulous mrs_cj_harkness I really cannot express enough thanks for all your hard-work/hand-holding/muse-bashing hun - this one's for you!
Part Two
Owen clattered down the stairs into the autopsy bay. “We’ve got it! Tosh has found the…” He trailed off as he took in the sight of Jack lying on the table next to Ianto, cradling the younger man’s head in his hands. “Jack!? What happened? What’s wrong? Why didn’t you call me?”
Jack sat up, swinging his legs off the table and stretching as if he’d been lying still for far too long. “Nothing’s wrong,” he said quickly, “you’ve found something?”
Owen blinked, “Yeah, Tosh found it actually. That girl’s bloody brilliant.” He held up a small vial filled with pale liquid.
Jack stared at the little tube in Owen’s hand, “That’s it?” He whispered, as if speaking normally would somehow make it untrue, “That’ll fix him?”
Owen grimaced, “I’m not gonna lie to you, Jack. We’re ninety-nine-point-whatever percent certain, but it’s as good as we’re gonna get; it’s this or nothing.”
Jack closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. Owen watched, the low hum and beeping of machinery obscenely loud as he waited for Jack to make his decision.
“Go for it.”
----------
“Like I said before, there’s more than one problem here, but when you look deeper they’re all aspects or side-effects of the same thing? So this,” Tosh indicated the slowly filling flask beside her, “should work on everything together, knocking out the mutated virus and negating the effects it’s had on Ianto’s system.”
She looked up worriedly at Jack, “It might… well there are some slight biological changes I’m not certain can be reversed, but the biggest problem would be his thyroid and at worst I expect he’d simply be a little more susceptible to the cold than the rest of us. A lot of people live with thyroid conditions perfectly comfortably; we’d just have to make sure he stayed warm in future…” She trailed off uncertainly.
Jack gave her a warm smile and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “You did good, Tosh. You did real good, thank-you.” His smile widened into a grin as the petite scientist gave him a shy smile of her own. “So, what’s the plan?” Jack continued.
“We need to bring his temperature up slowly, understand? We’ve had time to get used to this heat, Ianto hasn’t. Expose him to this straight off and we might as well not have bothered.”
Jack nodded slowly, leaning against the railing as the doctor outlined their plan for the next few hours.
“We’ll put it in an IV; dilute it so it’ll work through his system slowly, meanwhile we bring the Hub temperature back down to normal. It’s going to be a tricky balance for a while, too cold too soon and we give this thing a new foothold which we really do not want to do.”
Jack stood up, impatient to get started. “Right, so Owen downstairs with me, Toshiko, you’ll take the thermostat, Gwen, just stay alert, anything else we need will be up to you, got that?” He barely waited for confirmation before turning back down the steps to wake Ianto.
----------
“Ianto?”
Ianto opened his eyes and looked up into Jack’s smiling ones.
“Hey there beautiful. You awake? I need to talk to you.”
Ianto nodded and tried to speak, but his throat was dry and all that came out was a cough. Jack reached for the water and waited patiently while he drank.
“I’m listening.” He managed after a moment.
“Good.” Jack grinned. “Ready to feel warm again?”
Ianto blinked at him in confusion.
“Tosh found a cure,” Jack was interrupted by a cough from the other side of the room, he glared over Ianto’s shoulder before continuing, “Tosh thinks she’s found a cure and Owen insists you make an informed choice. So?”
Ianto turned his head, trying to see Owen over his shoulder. The doctor must have caught the movement because he moved quickly into sight.
“How sure?” Ianto asked.
Owen sighed. “As near as makes no difference, mate, but it’s your life we’re talking about here and if this goes wrong I don’t want that on my conscience.”
Ianto gave him a weak smile, “My choice,” he said softly between still-chattering teeth, “Do it.” Ianto paused, struggling to control his shivering. “I trust you.”
Owen gave a curt not and went to move away, but something stopped him and he turned back to Jack and Ianto. “This is likely to get pretty uncomfortable at some point. I’ve no idea how this stuff is going to react, just that it should work, but warming up from where you are isn’t going to be easy; just so you know.”
Ianto watched him steadily for a moment then gave a small nod of his own.
“Thank-you.”
----------
Jack gripped Ianto’s hand tightly and watched in horror as the young man arched off the table, obviously fighting not to cry out. He’d been growing more and more restless over the past few hours, doing his best to ignore the growing discomfort but each wave of pain had been stronger than the last until they’d finally come to this.
Ianto collapsed back onto the autopsy table with a sob, closing his eyes and taking deep, gasping breaths as the pain subsided for a moment.
Jack turned to Owen. “I thought you said uncomfortable, not sheer bloody agony!” He bit out.
The doctor had the decency to look a little contrite at that, “I also said I had no idea how the virus would react to this stuff, sorry. On the other hand his core temperature’s coming up steadily and all his vitals are fine so I’d say it’s working, we just have to wait this out.”
“It’s definitely… doing something!” Ianto exclaimed brokenly.
He was down to a single blanket now and the Hub had cooled enough that the others were fully dressed in their normal clothes again, though it was still warmer than usual.
“Can’t you give him anything, Owen?” Gwen asked from her place at the top of the stairs.
Owen sighed, “No, sorry. He’s got enough of a cocktail party going on in there as it is, I don’t want to risk adding something else that might upset the balance.” He checked the IV and turned to Ianto, “We’re almost half way there, mate. Think you can hold on a bit longer?”
“Do I have a choice?” Ianto growled between gritted teeth, “God, this hurts, it’s like… burning from the inside out, fuck…” He trailed off into a string of muttered curses, crushing Jack’s hand in his own.
There was a clicking of heels above them and Jack looked up as Toshiko joined Gwen by the railings.
“The thermostat is back down to its standard setting.” She informed them, “The Hub should return to normal temperature over the next hour and a half.”
“As should Teaboy here.” Owen nodded.
“How’s he doing?” Tosh asked anxiously.
“He is currently wishing he’d never fucking heard of fucking Torchwood or aliens or…” Ianto dissolved into curses again as Gwen and Tosh looked down in shock.
“I’d say he’s doing fairly well then.” Owen muttered, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
----------
Ianto did his best to sit still as Tosh moved the scanner through the air in front of him, his entire body tingled as the urge to scratch became almost unbearable. After a few long-seeming moments she turned it off and smiled up at him.
“All gone, there’s not a trace of virus left.” She said happily.
“So why do I still itch like this?” He asked, looking between Tosh and Owen who was, for once, tidying away his own equipment.
“That’ll be Tosh’s miracle cure,” The doctor replied with a yawn, “should work itself out over the next few hours so drink lots of water, get some sleep and don’t scratch.” He shrugged, “You’ll be fine.”
Ianto nodded and gripped the edge of the table harder. “Thank-you, Owen.”
“Yeah, well, don’t reckon I’d keep my job long if I lost Jack’s favourite toy yeah?”
Ianto chuckled and turned to Tosh who promptly stepped forwards and enveloped him in a warmly returned hug. “You too, Tosh” he murmured against her hair, “thank-you so much.”
She stepped back with a shy smile, “Just doing my job, Ianto.”
Ianto opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as Jack swept down the stairs, grin firmly in place.
“Right, all clear?” He took his answer from Tosh’s delighted face and continued quickly. “Okay then people, it’s six am, we’ve had a helluva night, you’re all taking the day off. I don’t want to see either of you again ‘till this time tomorrow.” He said indicating Tosh and Owen in turn. “You too missy!” He called as Gwen reappeared by the railings. “Go home and get some proper rest.”
“What about Ianto?” Tosh asked, “I mean he’s all clear but…”
“Ianto is staying here under observation for the next twenty-four hours, just to make sure.” He reassured her, “Now go on, get out of here the lot of you before I change my mind!” He chivvied them up the stairs, laughing.
Ianto simply rolled his eyes and trailed after, after all a few days of over-protective Jack was small price to pay all things considered.
----------
Ianto smiled contentedly as he felt the bed dip and Jack settle alongside him. A warm, familiar hand settled on his shoulder and he turned to meet Jack’s questioning gaze.
“Still itching?” Jack asked, softly.
“Mmm, a little,” Ianto replied, “it’s bearable.”
Jack snaked an arm round Ianto’s waist and pulled him close, “Other than that then, how are you doing?” He asked with a smile.
Ianto yawned; a little put out that he should still be feeling so tired having spent most of the last twelve hours unconscious. “Warm.” He sighed, settling his own arm around Jack and curling into the delicious heat the other man gave out.
“That good, huh?” Jack laughed, all tension gone.
Ianto lifted his head to press a soft kiss to Jack’s lips before replying. “You have no idea.”
----------
[FIN]
Alternate Ending