Past Imperfect. (2/7)
Title: Past Imperfect. (2/7)
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto, team.
Rating: R
Warnings: Torture/interrogation scene in later part. (No sexual elements to torture.)
Summary: Waking up injured and with no memory of the past few days is only the start of Jack's problems as part of his forgotten past comes back to haunt him.
A/N: Set in series two after Meat but before Adam.
Starts here.
Part 2
The rain has stopped and the daylight is starting to fade when Jack hears the familiar rumble of the SUV’s high-powered engine. The wait has seemed almost endless, especially without a way to tell how much time has actually passed.
Cold and stiff Jack stumbles out of the phone box as the SUV pulls up. Limping a few steps towards it, Jack has covered less than a quarter of the distance before his knee gives out and he lays sprawled on the muddy path.
Jack is still trying to get back on his feet as Owen and Ianto get out and hurry over to him.
Kneeling beside Jack, Ianto doesn’t seem to notice or care about the mud that’s soaking into his suit as he takes off his jacket to wrap it around Jack’s shoulders.
“Jack? ”
“Hey.” Jack leans against Ianto, the warmth of Ianto’s hand where it rests against the side of his face feels amazing, a source of comfort in the cold.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Owen asks, crouching down beside Jack, hands and eyes checking Jack for injuries.
“Charmer,” Jack manages through gritted teeth as Owen presses lightly against his swollen knee. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Owen sounds worried. “What do you mean you don’t know? You must remember something.”
“Not a thing.”
“It’s all right.” Ianto continues to hold Jack close, trying to keep him warm. “All that matters is that you’re back, you’re safe.”
“Okay, enough of the mushy stuff.” Owen stands up and walks over to the SUV before looking back at Ianto and saying, “Get him over here and I’ll get a couple of tests done, then we can all go home before we freeze.”
Getting up is painful and dizzying, and Jack stumbles against Ianto as he helps him over to the SUV, nearly knocking them both to the ground.
Ianto holds onto Jack a little tighter. “Only a few more steps.”
Jack nods, talking and walking at the same time temporarily escaping him.
Owen has already dropped the tailgate of the SUV and got out the foil blanket from amongst the emergency supplies kept in the boot by the time Ianto helps Jack sit down.
“I’ll run some scans, see if there’s any Rift activity in the area,” Ianto says, a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We’ll find out what happened.”
Nodding again, Jack holds the blanket tightly about himself, as Ianto lets go and leaves to get in the front of the SUV.
Even with the Ianto’s suit jacket and foil blanket wrapped around him Jack continues to shiver while Owen carries out a quick check of his injuries.
Finishing shining light in Jack’s eyes, Owen frowns. “Good news is you don’t seem to have a concussion. Bad news is you were probably drugged, probably some kind of sedative or tranquilliser.”
“Oh.” Jack blinks, Owen blurring in and out of focus, the light having left spots dancing in front of his eyes.
“Other than that a lot of bruising, and your knee is completely fucked,” Owen continues as he gets a syringe out of his medical kit. “I’ll get some scans done when we get back, tell you the actual damage.”
“That going to help?”
“Nope, sooner I get a blood sample though the better chance I’ve got of finding out what they gave you.”
Jack nods, not even feeling the needle slide into his arm, the cold still effectively numbing everything but his leg.
* * *
The drive back to Cardiff hurts. Lying down across the back seats wrapped in a blanket, the SUV seems stiflingly hot after the chill of the Welsh countryside, and each pothole or rut in the road jars his knee until Jack has to bite down on his lip to keep from crying out. Despite this Jack is almost grateful for the discomfort as it distracts him from the fact that the scans for alien power signatures and Rift energy that Ianto had carried out had picked up nothing at all.
Eventually though they arrive back at the Hub, and supported between Ianto and Owen, Jack makes his way slowly down to the autopsy bay.
Whatever it is that he’d been drugged with Jack knows that it’s starting to wear off as he feels tired rather than disorientated as he sits on the table.
“Go get him a warm drink, nothing with caffeine though, not until I know what the bastards who did this gave him,” Owen says to Ianto, without looking round from where he’s opened one of the cupboards.
“Shall I get some food?” Ianto asks, hesitating on the steps back up to the main part of the Hub.
Although Jack doesn’t know how long it’s been since he last ate food still seems unappealing, and he shakes his head.
“No, it's Friday night, it'll take bloody ages. Anyway soon as I'm done here I'm going home,” Owen says still looking in the cupboard. He waits a moment before adding, “I'll have a coffee though.”
“All right,” Ianto says, sounding reluctant to leave. Stopping at the top of the steps he looks back at Jack. “I won't be long.”
Once Ianto has gone Jack says, “You were trying to get rid of him.”
“I was,” Owen says as he gets out a scanner, and closes the cupboard. “He doesn't need to see this.”
“It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before.” Jack closes his eyes, wondering if the lingering dizziness is making his miss something obvious.
“We've all seen it all before.” Owen walks over to Jack. “Remember that thing with the corrosive slime that only seemed to affect clothing? Because I'm not going to forget.”
“So why?”
“You really want him to associate the countryside with beaten to a pulp more than he already does?”
“Oh.” As awful as it had been at the time Jack hasn’t thought about Brynblaidd and its twisted inhabitants in months, more resent horrors pushing it from his mind.
“Yeah, oh,” Owen says, switching on the scanner. Looking at Jack’s concerned expression he adds, “Look, I’m guessing you didn’t choose to get the crap beat out of you and get dumped in the middle of nowhere.”
Jack nods, as despite the fact that he hasn’t yet been able to remember anything about what has happened to him, he knows that it wouldn’t have been by choice.
“Looks like there was probably was some internal bleeding, but you’ve already healed that up, its left a lot of bruising though.” Owen runs the scanner across Jack’s chest and down over his stomach. “Couple of partially healed cracked ribs. Given how much they’ve healed already they’ll be fixed by morning.”
After running the scanner over Jacks knee, Owen picks up an aerosol can of anaesthetic spray.
“You know,” Owen says conversationally as he applies the spray to Jack’s knee, then unrolls a bandage. “If you were normal you’d be looking at surgery, a few months physio and probably a lifetime with a limp. As it is in a day or so it’ll be like it never happened.”
“I’m lucky like that,” Jack manages before biting back a gasp of pain as Owen starts to wrap the bandage tightly around it.
Owen has just finished when Ianto returns carrying a tray with their mugs on it, and a change of clothes for Jack over his arm.
“About time,” Owen says picking up his coffee.
Jack looks at his drink as Ianto hands it to him. Sniffing it he asks, “What's this?”
“Warm fruit squash. It was either that or green tea,” Ianto says apologetically, his fingers lingering on Jack's. “I'll make it up to you.”
Letting Ianto help Jack get dressed, Owen finishes his coffee then sets the analysis blood samples he'd taken running. That done he gets a packet of painkillers out of one of the cupboards Owen hands them to Ianto, saying, “Keep him warm. Give him two of these if he’s in pain. Don't let him have more than two every four hours, and no caffeine until tomorrow morning.”
“No caffeine at all?” Ianto asks, looking doubtful. “Jack’s not going to like that.”
“He’s borderline hypothermic, and has been drugged with who knows what. You really want to find out what giving him with a stimulant will do? Because it won’t be nice.”
“You’re sure?” Ianto still sounds doubtful.
“No, I spent six years at medical school for the hell of it.”
Jack lets them bicker for a moment longer before saying irritably, “Still here, and still in charge.” Not liking the fact that both Owen and Ianto are talking about him rather than to him.
“Still injured, still drugged, and still my patient,” Owen says, looking at Jack, who's still shivering slightly as he sits on the edge of the table. “Go get some sleep, maybe you'll be able to remember something in the morning.”
“He's right, Jack. You should try to get some rest.”
“Not going to win this argument, am I?” Jack asks. He knows that Ianto and Owen are only trying to help him, and he is grateful, he just hates being in a situation where he needs help.
Ianto shakes his head. “No. I don't think you should stay here either. There's no way you can get down to your bed, well not without falling down there.” Helpping Jack off the table, he adds, “And none of that 'I don't sleep' we both know that's not true.”
“Sofa?” Jack asks, leaning against Ianto. He's fallen asleep there a couple of times after he's gone without sleep for a few days, but it wasn't comfortable.
Putting his arm around Jack, Ianto says,“I was hoping my bed would be a better alternative.”
“I like how you think.”
“And that's my cue to leave.” Owen heads towards the steps up to the main part of the Hub. “I'll let Gwen and Tosh know you're back, tell them you'll talk to them in the morning. I should have the test results by then.”
“'Night, Owen,” Ianto says, before adding gratefully, “And thank you.”
Once Owen has gone, Ianto puts his other arm around Jack, drawing him into a hug. Leaning into the embrace, Jack closes his eyes, letting Ianto hold him close, knowing that for the moment there is no need for words.
* * *
"Come on," Ianto says helping Jack limp wearily through his flat. "Let’s get you warmed up."
"Thought you'd never ask," Jack says, the warmth and closeness of sex sounding like a fantastic idea. Although given how cold and shrivelled everything feels Jack’s not sure that it would be anything other than disappointing experience for both of them.
Ianto shakes his head, giving Jack an affectionate smile, "Maybe later, right now shower."
Jack lets Ianto undress him, leaning against him while he does. It's nice just occasionally to be the one that's being taken care of. It had puzzled Jack at first why Ianto was so good at it, how he knew when to press an issue and when not to. It had only been the realisation that Ianto been the sole carer for Lisa from the time of the attack on Canary Wharf until the time Lisa had gone on her rampage through the Hub, that had made him actually consider what that had meant.
Looking after somebody who’s completely dependent on you for everything is, Jack thinks, a terrifying responsibility, especially when love them. He's not sure he'd have been able to manage it, not alone and not for so long without any help. Sometimes Ianto amazes him. The fact that Ianto thinks what he does is nothing special just amazes him even more.
Jack’s mind is still wandering as Ianto takes off his clothes as well, and turns on the shower.
“Still with me?”
“Yeah.” Tiredness is starting to take over now that the pain is receding, and Jack leans against Ianto as he stands.
"In you get." Ianto puts an arm around Jack's waist and supports him in the shower preventing him from slipping and falling on the wet, tiled floor.
The water seems scalding hot, and Jack gasps, trying to pull away from Ianto and get out the stream of water that feels like it's burning him.
Shivering slightly, Ianto holds him firm under the spray, saying, "It’s barely warm. I'm sorry, Jack, but we need to do this. You’re filthy and this will help warm you up better than anything else."
Forcing himself to stay still, Jack leans against Ianto, letting the water gradually warm him. “Sex would have been more fun.”
Ianto just smiles, and slowly increases the water temperature.
As Jack gets warmer, and the water temperature more bearable, he reaches for the shampoo, wanting to get rid of days of accumulated grime; the dried blood and stale sweat far too reminiscent of his time imprisoned on board the Valiant.
“Let me.” Ianto takes the shampoo from him.
It’s comforting, Ianto’s hands warm and strong massaging shampoo into his hair, washing the grime from his body, and Jack feels himself starting to relax.
Once the shower finished, and finally feeling warm, Jack lets Ianto help him to the bedroom.
“I am sorry, you know that, don't you?” Ianto says as he sits down on the bed next to Jack. “When we arrived at the Hub and you weren't there we thought you'd just gone out. After an hour or so we started looking.”
“Did you find anything?” Jack asks, then yawns, his body demanding that he rest.
“That you'd finished your paperwork, a couple of your shirts were missing, your coat was gone.” Ianto pulls back the duvet to let Jack get into bed. “We've all seen lately that you're not exactly happy to be back.”
“That's not true,” Jack says, pulling the duvet around him. He'd finished the paperwork because he hadn't been able to sleep, the shirts had been ruined on two separate nights when he'd gone after weevils on his own, and he'd been wearing his coat.
“If you say so.” Ianto gets into bed beside Jack, then switches off the bedside light.
“I do say so.” Jack moves so that his back pressed against Ianto's chest, glad of the warmth. “I won't leave like that, not if I have a choice.”
“I'm sorry for thinking that you would.” Resting his chin against Jack's shoulder, Ianto reaches a hand forward, fingers curling around Jack's wrist where the vortex manipulator used to be. “We'll get it back, and your coat.”
Yawning again, Jack closes his eyes, too tired to question how, with no information to work with they are going to do it.
* * *
Jack wakes with a start, heart pounding, fear coursing through him. The room is dark and quiet, Ianto is curled against his back, warm and asleep, an arm draped across Jack’s chest.
Glad that whatever nightmare it was that had woken him hasn’t disturbed Ianto, Jack lies still in Ianto’s arms, breathing slowly and deeply as he tries to get the fear he no longer remembers the cause of to subside.
His knee still throbs dully, caught in the time between the painkillers wearing off and it being fully healed. It’s bearable though, and he knows that the injuries will heal and in a couple of days it’ll be like it never happened, physically at least.
Mentally, Jack thinks it’ll take longer. This is the first time since leaving the Time Agency that he’s got a substantial amount of time unaccounted for. Sure there have been evenings that were only vague memories, nights soon after he’d found out about his immortality when he’d drunk so much that by rights he should have been dead of alcohol poisoning, or times when he’s been concussed or dead. But those periods of hazy or missing memories were explainable by-products of known events; they’d been nothing like this.
Ianto mumbles something unintelligible in his sleep, and holds Jack a little tighter.
Settling back into Ianto's arms, Jack is glad he let Ianto persuade him to come home with him, knowing that this is preferable to the alternative; a cold and sleepless night in the Hub, spent trying to work out who took him and how he could have been so careless as to let it happen. He can't think of it as anything else but carelessness; it had been weeks after he'd got back off the Valiant before he'd stopped wearing the Webley around the Hub.
Closing his eyes, Jack eventually falls asleep again, Ianto still holding him tight.
Part three.
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto, team.
Rating: R
Warnings: Torture/interrogation scene in later part. (No sexual elements to torture.)
Summary: Waking up injured and with no memory of the past few days is only the start of Jack's problems as part of his forgotten past comes back to haunt him.
A/N: Set in series two after Meat but before Adam.
Starts here.
Part 2
The rain has stopped and the daylight is starting to fade when Jack hears the familiar rumble of the SUV’s high-powered engine. The wait has seemed almost endless, especially without a way to tell how much time has actually passed.
Cold and stiff Jack stumbles out of the phone box as the SUV pulls up. Limping a few steps towards it, Jack has covered less than a quarter of the distance before his knee gives out and he lays sprawled on the muddy path.
Jack is still trying to get back on his feet as Owen and Ianto get out and hurry over to him.
Kneeling beside Jack, Ianto doesn’t seem to notice or care about the mud that’s soaking into his suit as he takes off his jacket to wrap it around Jack’s shoulders.
“Jack? ”
“Hey.” Jack leans against Ianto, the warmth of Ianto’s hand where it rests against the side of his face feels amazing, a source of comfort in the cold.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Owen asks, crouching down beside Jack, hands and eyes checking Jack for injuries.
“Charmer,” Jack manages through gritted teeth as Owen presses lightly against his swollen knee. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Owen sounds worried. “What do you mean you don’t know? You must remember something.”
“Not a thing.”
“It’s all right.” Ianto continues to hold Jack close, trying to keep him warm. “All that matters is that you’re back, you’re safe.”
“Okay, enough of the mushy stuff.” Owen stands up and walks over to the SUV before looking back at Ianto and saying, “Get him over here and I’ll get a couple of tests done, then we can all go home before we freeze.”
Getting up is painful and dizzying, and Jack stumbles against Ianto as he helps him over to the SUV, nearly knocking them both to the ground.
Ianto holds onto Jack a little tighter. “Only a few more steps.”
Jack nods, talking and walking at the same time temporarily escaping him.
Owen has already dropped the tailgate of the SUV and got out the foil blanket from amongst the emergency supplies kept in the boot by the time Ianto helps Jack sit down.
“I’ll run some scans, see if there’s any Rift activity in the area,” Ianto says, a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We’ll find out what happened.”
Nodding again, Jack holds the blanket tightly about himself, as Ianto lets go and leaves to get in the front of the SUV.
Even with the Ianto’s suit jacket and foil blanket wrapped around him Jack continues to shiver while Owen carries out a quick check of his injuries.
Finishing shining light in Jack’s eyes, Owen frowns. “Good news is you don’t seem to have a concussion. Bad news is you were probably drugged, probably some kind of sedative or tranquilliser.”
“Oh.” Jack blinks, Owen blurring in and out of focus, the light having left spots dancing in front of his eyes.
“Other than that a lot of bruising, and your knee is completely fucked,” Owen continues as he gets a syringe out of his medical kit. “I’ll get some scans done when we get back, tell you the actual damage.”
“That going to help?”
“Nope, sooner I get a blood sample though the better chance I’ve got of finding out what they gave you.”
Jack nods, not even feeling the needle slide into his arm, the cold still effectively numbing everything but his leg.
* * *
The drive back to Cardiff hurts. Lying down across the back seats wrapped in a blanket, the SUV seems stiflingly hot after the chill of the Welsh countryside, and each pothole or rut in the road jars his knee until Jack has to bite down on his lip to keep from crying out. Despite this Jack is almost grateful for the discomfort as it distracts him from the fact that the scans for alien power signatures and Rift energy that Ianto had carried out had picked up nothing at all.
Eventually though they arrive back at the Hub, and supported between Ianto and Owen, Jack makes his way slowly down to the autopsy bay.
Whatever it is that he’d been drugged with Jack knows that it’s starting to wear off as he feels tired rather than disorientated as he sits on the table.
“Go get him a warm drink, nothing with caffeine though, not until I know what the bastards who did this gave him,” Owen says to Ianto, without looking round from where he’s opened one of the cupboards.
“Shall I get some food?” Ianto asks, hesitating on the steps back up to the main part of the Hub.
Although Jack doesn’t know how long it’s been since he last ate food still seems unappealing, and he shakes his head.
“No, it's Friday night, it'll take bloody ages. Anyway soon as I'm done here I'm going home,” Owen says still looking in the cupboard. He waits a moment before adding, “I'll have a coffee though.”
“All right,” Ianto says, sounding reluctant to leave. Stopping at the top of the steps he looks back at Jack. “I won't be long.”
Once Ianto has gone Jack says, “You were trying to get rid of him.”
“I was,” Owen says as he gets out a scanner, and closes the cupboard. “He doesn't need to see this.”
“It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before.” Jack closes his eyes, wondering if the lingering dizziness is making his miss something obvious.
“We've all seen it all before.” Owen walks over to Jack. “Remember that thing with the corrosive slime that only seemed to affect clothing? Because I'm not going to forget.”
“So why?”
“You really want him to associate the countryside with beaten to a pulp more than he already does?”
“Oh.” As awful as it had been at the time Jack hasn’t thought about Brynblaidd and its twisted inhabitants in months, more resent horrors pushing it from his mind.
“Yeah, oh,” Owen says, switching on the scanner. Looking at Jack’s concerned expression he adds, “Look, I’m guessing you didn’t choose to get the crap beat out of you and get dumped in the middle of nowhere.”
Jack nods, as despite the fact that he hasn’t yet been able to remember anything about what has happened to him, he knows that it wouldn’t have been by choice.
“Looks like there was probably was some internal bleeding, but you’ve already healed that up, its left a lot of bruising though.” Owen runs the scanner across Jack’s chest and down over his stomach. “Couple of partially healed cracked ribs. Given how much they’ve healed already they’ll be fixed by morning.”
After running the scanner over Jacks knee, Owen picks up an aerosol can of anaesthetic spray.
“You know,” Owen says conversationally as he applies the spray to Jack’s knee, then unrolls a bandage. “If you were normal you’d be looking at surgery, a few months physio and probably a lifetime with a limp. As it is in a day or so it’ll be like it never happened.”
“I’m lucky like that,” Jack manages before biting back a gasp of pain as Owen starts to wrap the bandage tightly around it.
Owen has just finished when Ianto returns carrying a tray with their mugs on it, and a change of clothes for Jack over his arm.
“About time,” Owen says picking up his coffee.
Jack looks at his drink as Ianto hands it to him. Sniffing it he asks, “What's this?”
“Warm fruit squash. It was either that or green tea,” Ianto says apologetically, his fingers lingering on Jack's. “I'll make it up to you.”
Letting Ianto help Jack get dressed, Owen finishes his coffee then sets the analysis blood samples he'd taken running. That done he gets a packet of painkillers out of one of the cupboards Owen hands them to Ianto, saying, “Keep him warm. Give him two of these if he’s in pain. Don't let him have more than two every four hours, and no caffeine until tomorrow morning.”
“No caffeine at all?” Ianto asks, looking doubtful. “Jack’s not going to like that.”
“He’s borderline hypothermic, and has been drugged with who knows what. You really want to find out what giving him with a stimulant will do? Because it won’t be nice.”
“You’re sure?” Ianto still sounds doubtful.
“No, I spent six years at medical school for the hell of it.”
Jack lets them bicker for a moment longer before saying irritably, “Still here, and still in charge.” Not liking the fact that both Owen and Ianto are talking about him rather than to him.
“Still injured, still drugged, and still my patient,” Owen says, looking at Jack, who's still shivering slightly as he sits on the edge of the table. “Go get some sleep, maybe you'll be able to remember something in the morning.”
“He's right, Jack. You should try to get some rest.”
“Not going to win this argument, am I?” Jack asks. He knows that Ianto and Owen are only trying to help him, and he is grateful, he just hates being in a situation where he needs help.
Ianto shakes his head. “No. I don't think you should stay here either. There's no way you can get down to your bed, well not without falling down there.” Helpping Jack off the table, he adds, “And none of that 'I don't sleep' we both know that's not true.”
“Sofa?” Jack asks, leaning against Ianto. He's fallen asleep there a couple of times after he's gone without sleep for a few days, but it wasn't comfortable.
Putting his arm around Jack, Ianto says,“I was hoping my bed would be a better alternative.”
“I like how you think.”
“And that's my cue to leave.” Owen heads towards the steps up to the main part of the Hub. “I'll let Gwen and Tosh know you're back, tell them you'll talk to them in the morning. I should have the test results by then.”
“'Night, Owen,” Ianto says, before adding gratefully, “And thank you.”
Once Owen has gone, Ianto puts his other arm around Jack, drawing him into a hug. Leaning into the embrace, Jack closes his eyes, letting Ianto hold him close, knowing that for the moment there is no need for words.
* * *
"Come on," Ianto says helping Jack limp wearily through his flat. "Let’s get you warmed up."
"Thought you'd never ask," Jack says, the warmth and closeness of sex sounding like a fantastic idea. Although given how cold and shrivelled everything feels Jack’s not sure that it would be anything other than disappointing experience for both of them.
Ianto shakes his head, giving Jack an affectionate smile, "Maybe later, right now shower."
Jack lets Ianto undress him, leaning against him while he does. It's nice just occasionally to be the one that's being taken care of. It had puzzled Jack at first why Ianto was so good at it, how he knew when to press an issue and when not to. It had only been the realisation that Ianto been the sole carer for Lisa from the time of the attack on Canary Wharf until the time Lisa had gone on her rampage through the Hub, that had made him actually consider what that had meant.
Looking after somebody who’s completely dependent on you for everything is, Jack thinks, a terrifying responsibility, especially when love them. He's not sure he'd have been able to manage it, not alone and not for so long without any help. Sometimes Ianto amazes him. The fact that Ianto thinks what he does is nothing special just amazes him even more.
Jack’s mind is still wandering as Ianto takes off his clothes as well, and turns on the shower.
“Still with me?”
“Yeah.” Tiredness is starting to take over now that the pain is receding, and Jack leans against Ianto as he stands.
"In you get." Ianto puts an arm around Jack's waist and supports him in the shower preventing him from slipping and falling on the wet, tiled floor.
The water seems scalding hot, and Jack gasps, trying to pull away from Ianto and get out the stream of water that feels like it's burning him.
Shivering slightly, Ianto holds him firm under the spray, saying, "It’s barely warm. I'm sorry, Jack, but we need to do this. You’re filthy and this will help warm you up better than anything else."
Forcing himself to stay still, Jack leans against Ianto, letting the water gradually warm him. “Sex would have been more fun.”
Ianto just smiles, and slowly increases the water temperature.
As Jack gets warmer, and the water temperature more bearable, he reaches for the shampoo, wanting to get rid of days of accumulated grime; the dried blood and stale sweat far too reminiscent of his time imprisoned on board the Valiant.
“Let me.” Ianto takes the shampoo from him.
It’s comforting, Ianto’s hands warm and strong massaging shampoo into his hair, washing the grime from his body, and Jack feels himself starting to relax.
Once the shower finished, and finally feeling warm, Jack lets Ianto help him to the bedroom.
“I am sorry, you know that, don't you?” Ianto says as he sits down on the bed next to Jack. “When we arrived at the Hub and you weren't there we thought you'd just gone out. After an hour or so we started looking.”
“Did you find anything?” Jack asks, then yawns, his body demanding that he rest.
“That you'd finished your paperwork, a couple of your shirts were missing, your coat was gone.” Ianto pulls back the duvet to let Jack get into bed. “We've all seen lately that you're not exactly happy to be back.”
“That's not true,” Jack says, pulling the duvet around him. He'd finished the paperwork because he hadn't been able to sleep, the shirts had been ruined on two separate nights when he'd gone after weevils on his own, and he'd been wearing his coat.
“If you say so.” Ianto gets into bed beside Jack, then switches off the bedside light.
“I do say so.” Jack moves so that his back pressed against Ianto's chest, glad of the warmth. “I won't leave like that, not if I have a choice.”
“I'm sorry for thinking that you would.” Resting his chin against Jack's shoulder, Ianto reaches a hand forward, fingers curling around Jack's wrist where the vortex manipulator used to be. “We'll get it back, and your coat.”
Yawning again, Jack closes his eyes, too tired to question how, with no information to work with they are going to do it.
* * *
Jack wakes with a start, heart pounding, fear coursing through him. The room is dark and quiet, Ianto is curled against his back, warm and asleep, an arm draped across Jack’s chest.
Glad that whatever nightmare it was that had woken him hasn’t disturbed Ianto, Jack lies still in Ianto’s arms, breathing slowly and deeply as he tries to get the fear he no longer remembers the cause of to subside.
His knee still throbs dully, caught in the time between the painkillers wearing off and it being fully healed. It’s bearable though, and he knows that the injuries will heal and in a couple of days it’ll be like it never happened, physically at least.
Mentally, Jack thinks it’ll take longer. This is the first time since leaving the Time Agency that he’s got a substantial amount of time unaccounted for. Sure there have been evenings that were only vague memories, nights soon after he’d found out about his immortality when he’d drunk so much that by rights he should have been dead of alcohol poisoning, or times when he’s been concussed or dead. But those periods of hazy or missing memories were explainable by-products of known events; they’d been nothing like this.
Ianto mumbles something unintelligible in his sleep, and holds Jack a little tighter.
Settling back into Ianto's arms, Jack is glad he let Ianto persuade him to come home with him, knowing that this is preferable to the alternative; a cold and sleepless night in the Hub, spent trying to work out who took him and how he could have been so careless as to let it happen. He can't think of it as anything else but carelessness; it had been weeks after he'd got back off the Valiant before he'd stopped wearing the Webley around the Hub.
Closing his eyes, Jack eventually falls asleep again, Ianto still holding him tight.
Part three.