Fic: The Spaces In Between - part two

[silver_sun]

Part one.



Part two.

Laying on the ground for the second time that evening, Jack closes his eyes, not wanting to consider the possibility that he might have lost this Ianto before he's even got to know him. The fact that his ears are ringing, and he feels more than a little sick as his body tries to rapidly metabolise the alcohol he'd drank, is doing nothing to encourage movement.

Nearby, Ianto groans.

That Ianto is alive is all the incentive Jack needs, and he scrambles back to his feet, and hurries over to him. "Hey, take it easy." Jack puts a steadying hand on Ianto's shoulder as he struggles to sit up.

Sitting in the rain-filled gutter, Ianto nods looking dazed, then frowns and shakes his head, unsure of which is the correct response.

"You alright?" Jack asks, concerned.

"Um." Ianto sounds as dazed as he looks. “Yes?”

Although the energy escaping from the power cell hadn't made a noise Jack doesn't want to draw any more attention to them than necessary, and he asks, “You think you can stand?”

“Try.” Ianto stands slowly on shaky legs. Swaying slightly, he grips Jack's arm to steady himself, a look of pain crossing his face as he does so.

“Let me take a look,” Jack asks, realising that pulling the wires free from the power cell will have almost certainly injured Ianto's hand.

Ianto nods, looking rather disorientated, as he starts to shiver.

Turning Ianto's hand over carefully Jack inspects the damage. Ianto's palm is red where he's gripped the power cable, the skin raised in a welt that is already starting to blister.

Although it looks nasty and is obviously painful, Jack knows that it's not serious enough to really need anything other than cold water and some antiseptic to for it to heal.

“No time.” Ianto sounds distracted and a little confused, as he pulls his hand away from Jack. “Need to fix this. Need to get back, need to tell them I've found somewhere. Not much time.”

“You weren't looking for me?” Jack sounds hurt, although he knows that he has no right to be.

“No.” Stumbling away, Ianto moves to lean against the wall of the nearest building, his shivering becoming more pronounced. “Just your vortex manipulator, needed a known point in this world to lock on to. You just happened to be with it. Sorry”

He runs his uninjured hand through his hair, the rain making it stick out in wet spikes. “They're going to think I'm dead.” A noise close to a sob is choked back, as he adds, “Or that I've abandoned them. I'd never do that.” He looks at Jack, eyes filled with misery. “They're all I have.”

“You have me.” Jack steps in closer.

“I don't even know you.”

“You're Ianto Jones, that enough for me,” Jack says, putting an arm around his shoulders. “You'll need somewhere dry to work on that.” He gestures at the damaged power cell, realising that Ianto is much more concerned with that than his own well-being. “I've got a room you can use.”

Ianto nods, looking cold and exhausted.

Unfortunately walking down the street wearing enough stored energy to blow up half the city is likely to draw all sorts of unwanted attention, especially from the law. So, Jack takes off his coat and drapes it over Ianto's shoulders, hiding the power cells from view.

Jack is grateful that his motel room isn't far, as given his own less than sober state, and the fact that Ianto is shivering so badly that he's stumbling worse than himself, Jack doubts that they'd manage much further than the few streets that it is.

Despite the short distance they are both soaking wet by the time that Jack manages to find his key card and let them into his room.

The room is sparsely furnished; a bed, a table and chair and a rail to hang clothes on comprise most of the furnishings, while a door in the corner leads through to a small bathroom. While the the deep rumble of the ships taking off taking off at the nearby spaceport can be heard through the thin walls.

As soon as they are in the room Ianto stumbles away from Jack to sit down on the bed. Although obviously exhausted, Ianto seems a little more aware than he had done immediately after the shock, as Jack sits down next to him.

After a moment, and when Ianto has made no move to get out of his wet clothes, Jack says, “You need to get out of those clothes.” Before he starts to remove the power cell rig.

Ianto smiles, a little melancholy, his voice wistful as he says, “You said that the first time we met.”

“No, I didn't,” Jack replies, putting the power cells on the table. They are surprisingly heavy, and Jack can see why Ianto had been out of breath running after him.

Giving him a puzzled look, Ianto asks, “I didn't fall in Cardiff Bay here?”

“I met you, him,” Jack corrects himself, wondering if it'll get easier in time not make these mistakes, or if this Ianto will stay around long enough for him to have the chance to. “In Bute Park, he dragged a weevil off me.”

“He made a better first impression than I did then,” Ianto says, starting to unbutton his shirt. A moment later he stops and swears, holding his injured hand.

“We need to do something about that.”

“I can deal with it,” Ianto says, looking around. “I don't suppose you have a first aid kit I could borrow?”

“No.” One of the downsides to his own accelerated healing is, Jack knows, that it means he doesn't keep anything in the way of a first aid kit with him. “But I know a man who has.”

It's not exactly true, Gorm, the motel's proprietor should keep a basic first aid kit there for his employees that he can borrow. Gorm hadn't exactly struck Jack as the type who really cared too much about rules, provided he got paid – it was one of the reasons that he'd taken a room here.

Opening the door, Jack says, “Stay there, I won't be long.”

“And where else exactly would I go?” Ianto replies, pain and tiredness making him irritable, as he starts to awkwardly strip off his wet clothes.

The motel's reception isn't exactly inviting, although Jack is fairly sure that Gorm, likes it that way as it deters people from bothering him about anything other than paying their bill or handing over keys.

One of Gorm's eyestalks swivels round to look at Jack as he walks in, while the other three stay where they are watching what appears to be a race between a dozen giant, ostrich-like birds, with small reptilian jockeys on their backs, on a view screen.

“You have a first aid kit I could use?” Jack asks, looking over the counter to see if he can spot one.

Gorm doesn't reply, most of his eyes still focussed on the match, but one of his secondary tentacled arms disappears beneath the counter and into a cupboard to retrieve a battered-looking case.

Dropping it on the top of the counter, only just missing Jack's fingers, Gorm says, “Replacement costs for what you use get added to your bill. If you get blood over the room, clean up costs extra. If anyone dies, the motel takes no responsibility.”

“Thanks.” Jack opens the case, checking that it is a first aid kit, before returning to his room.

Gorm grunts disinterestedly, before going back to watching the game.


Ianto is standing at the window when Jack returns. Feet bare and stripped to the waist, braces hanging loose, he watches the ships taking off from the spaceport with a melancholy expression.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” he says without turning round. “Jack told me so much about what it was like off planet, I wish he could be here see it.”

It seems strange to see Ianto dressed like this, the braces giving his outfit an old-fashioned look. Although Jack has to admit it does suit him.

“The view from the Vlox Tower at the spaceport is better.”

“Don't tell me you have a thing for roofs as well?” Ianto asks, turning to face him.

As he does, Jack can see a scar running across his collarbone and onto his left shoulder, the skin twisted slightly where it has healed slightly crooked.

“It's not as bad as it looks, the bullet went across rather than in,” Ianto says, noting Jack's expression. “Owen made a good job of it, I can barely tell it's there any more.”

“What happened?” Jack asks, although he's not entirely sure that he wants to know.

“Cosmic retribution.” Ianto laughs briefly, the answer obviously meaning something more to him.

At Jack's bemused look, he explains, “The Pharm, I pushed Owen out of the way, and got shot instead of him. Owen said it was only fair being as I'd shot him once.”

“Owen is alive?” Jack asks, surprised and hopeful as he puts the first aid kit down on the table.

“Yes.” Ianto sits down on the bed. “I don't think, actually I know, me and Tosh wouldn't be here with out him.”

Jack doesn't answer, not wanting deal with all the painful memories that this conversation is pushing to the front of his mind. Instead he turns his attention to the first aid kit. It isn't exactly well-stocked, but there is a tube of antiseptic that Jack recognises as being suitable for humans.

“At least it wasn't your other hand,” Jack comments, opening the tube.

“Why? I'm not right-handed.”

“You're not?”

“No, I-” Ianto stops, wrinkling his nose at the pungent smell of the cream, now that the tube is open. “Urgh, that smells disgusting.”

“It works though.” Jack squeezes some out onto his fingertips, then carefully, and as gently as he can, starts to apply it to the burn.

Ianto gasps, his free hand digging into the bed covers.

“Just give it a minute.”

“To do what?” Ianto asks, looking like he's about to get away to wash it off. “Burn the rest of my hand off?”

“To work,” Jack reassures him. “It'll numb your hand in a minute, help it heal up a bit quicker.”

Ianto just glares at him.

A few minutes later and the look of discomfort on Ianto's face has faded, and Jack asks, “So, how you feeling?”

“Sore, stupid, glad to be alive.” Ianto laughs, although he still sounds shaken by everything that has happened. “Just an average Torchwood working day, really.”

“What you did with the power cell, pulling the wire out, you risked your life so people around you stayed safe, aliens who aren't even from your world, that's not stupid.” Jack smiles at him. “Stupidly brave maybe, but never just stupid.”

Ianto blushes slightly, embarrassed. “If I hadn't we have been blown up anyway, so it's hardly selfless. Still wish I'd thought to pull my sleeve over hand first.”

“Well, you'll know for next time.”

“I hoping there isn't a next time,” Ianto says, then adds with a wry smile, “Although knowing my luck you're probably right.”

“There's a shower, if you want to get cleaned up.” Jack points to the door in the corner of the room. “It's not much, but the water is hot.”

“I probably should have done that first,” Ianto says, looking at the green cream drying across his palm. “It's going to wash off now, and I'm really not looking forward to putting it back on.”

“Just cover it.” Jack takes a plastic glove out of the first aid kit, and hands it to Ianto.

Ianto looks at it a little suspiciously, then holds it up, saying, “Six fingers, really?”

“Glix, two opposable thumbs on each hand, very talented-”

Ianto rolls his eyes.

“Hey, I was going to say musicians.”

“I'm sure you were,” Ianto says with mock sincerity, as he puts on the glove.



Part three.