Previous part of Daytrips and Knighthoods II - Calan Awst.

***

The door to the computer mainframe opened with a swoosh that reminded Ianto of the doors on the starship Enterprise.

Sarian stepped through behind Jack and stood just inside the door. Blodwen suddenly appeared at Ianto's side taking his elbow and smiling when he glanced down to see who it was.

"I thought only Jack could go in?"
"Only father IS going in, Ianto... there's a containment field surrounding the core, so there is a small perimeter of safe area in the room, just inside the door."

Ianto saw Sarian pat Jack on the back and nod. Jack walked a few feet in front of Sarian and the field shimmered as he passed into the core area.
He watched as Jack knelt, opened a hatch and began immediately fumbling on his tool belt. He started to cut at the heart of the computer and tossed the dead tissue aside as he excised it.

Delphine and Carys glanced back to their monitors occasionally but otherwise every eye was on Jack as he worked. Ianto watched one of the fleshy looking nodes that had been tossed aside after Jack had cut it away. It withered, shriveled and then turned to dust before his eyes and he wondered just how long that would have taken outside of the core area.

Jack worked on, seemingly oblivious to whatever forces were at work in the area. He finished cutting away the nodes and spoke.

"I think I've gotten it all...Carys can you do a quick check?" He glanced back to see Carys speaking with Delphine and then giving him a thumbs up.
"Okay, I'll start adding the biomatrix now."

He removed the lid of the container and reached inside removing a handful of what looked like putty from Ianto's perspective, but was an almost ruby color. He applied generous handfuls of the glop to the area that had been cut and shaped it with his two palms into mounds. He looked into the container and smiled then spoke again.

"Someone's been helping me...great idea and thank you." He removed what looked alike a roll of putty rope and pinched off a length then stuck it into the mound he'd already applied. After attaching the rope he tugged and stretched it into position. Then he began wrapping the mound and the extrusion with what Ianto assumed was the control plaster.

After finishing the first node he moved to the adjacent one and began again. Midway through the application of the control plaster to the second set of biomatrix Ianto noticed a faint golden light start to surround Jack as he worked. The light formed tendrils which were absorbed into the core almost like smoke.

The glow looked exactly like the one that had surrounded them when Jack had pushed his life force into him in the suite and when he had kissed Blodwen on the head in the med bay. Jack was on his knees working and wavered a bit in his place when the glow started but kept working. He turned around for a second, clipping the container with the materials to his harness and smiled back at everyone watching him.

"I'm okay...just getting a little dizzy so I don't want to lose track of the container."
"Will you be able to finish the third node?" Sarian asked on com.
"Think so..." Jack sounded weaker "...gonna try to anyway."

Ianto could feel himself tensing and then felt Blodwen rubbing his arm.
"He'll be alright, Ianto...you know he'll be alright."
"Still don't like it though."
"I know."

Jack was starting to move slower...more deliberately.
"It's hard to concentrate.. Carys, I may need you to talk me through the steps now."

"Certainly, father. Mold the biomatrix with your hands into a mound and apply it to the nipple on your left...good. Now, take the biomatrix that looks like a snake and pinch off a piece about a foot long...good. Now stick that into the center of the mound you just put on...good....now take the wrap and start to wind it all over the biomatrix."

Ianto could not help but stare as Jack followed every command like a puppet and paused waiting for the next instruction. The now bright golden tendrils fairly flowed from his body and were absorbed by the computer core.

"Last one now, Jack..."
Carys went step by step again and Jack followed each command...now with a single hand as he had weakened so much he needed to support himself by leaning on the core structure.
He tore off the last piece of control plaster and collapsed.

"Come on father...just stick it onto the frame...you can do it." Carys encouraged him then turned and covered her comm and spoke to everyone around.
"I don't want him to have to go back in there. All he has to do is stick the ends of the plasters on the frame and he's done." Jack was now draped against the computer core frame and looked only half conscious.

"Let me try." Ianto offered
"No, I'll do it...I can speak to his mind." Blodwen said.
"Are you sure Blodwen..." Carys asked"...we don't want you trapped again."
"I won't get trapped." She pulled herself up to her full 4 foot six inches and focused on Jack.

His head turned slightly and she wavered in place. Ianto stood behind her and held her up.
Jack's hands carefully picked up the ends of the plasters and breathing with great difficulty now, he gently placed the ends on the frame edge and closed the clamps over them, before collapsing on the floor. The golden glow continued streaming from his body into the core itself.
Blodwen wavered in her place.
"He's dead Carys."
"It's okay, Bloddy, he's finished..." she shouted to Sarian "Pull him out, Sarian."

Sarian who had been holding the retrieval harness started to pull and Jack's body started to slide towards the door with all the accoutrements of the task dragging along with him. Everyone crowded around the doorway to offer assistance or encouragement as Sarian pulled the lead of the harness steadily until Jack's body cleared the containment field.

He lifted Jack under the arms and dragged him back through the door as Carys and Delphine leaned down to remove the harness and its attachments. Then Delphine lifted Jack as if he were an infant and deposited him on the stretcher that Elain moved into position. Sarian nodded and spoke. "Ianto, I'm sure you'll want to be in the med bay with him. Everyone else I'm sure you all have things to do now. Carys...how're the implants?"

Carys was working at one terminal and after placing Jack on the stretcher Delphine was at the other. "We will initiate the grow sequence now, director."
She and Delphine set to work as did several others at various other hallway stations.

"Good, I'll be on comm and will accompany Ianto to the med bay. Please advise if there are any problems."
"There are none anticipated director...the tissue grafts seemed to be substantial enough this time...they are already responding to the growth signal."
"Excellent, he'll be pleased when he wakes up...let's go, Ianto." Sarian began pushing the stretcher with Ianto, Blodwen and Elain walking next to him.

In the med bay, Jack was stripped, washed, put into Cartref's version of scrubs and placed in a cubicle in a quiet corner. Ianto took up one chair and Blodwen the other until Sarian returned from the monitoring station.

She stood when Sarian entered the cubicle.
"Ianto, it will obviously be awhile, so I'm going back to my office to see about getting the rest of the place back up and running. There are a lot of things that still need to be done, call me if you need something. I'll send over some coffee for you."
"Thank you Sarian."

"I'll stay with Ianto, director unless you need me somewhere else."
"No, Blodwen that's fine... I'm sure Ianto could stand the company right now..." He turned back to Ianto "...this is likely to take some time you know?"
"I know...after the Abbadon incident it took days...if it hadn't been for Gwen we'd have frozen him in the morgue...when I think about that..." Ianto's voice wavered.

"You didn't know, Ianto...how were you to know?" Sarian said softly
"He came back before that...but I thought that was because everything was going back. Gwen's Rhys came back to life... so I thought...WE thought that was why Jack came back... but Gwen knew, he'd told her."

"He only told her because she'd seen him shot in the head by Suzie Costello, Ianto... that forced him to tell her...I know him, he wouldn't have told her if he could have avoided it." Blodwen placed a hand on Ianto's arm and squeezed.
"He doesn't want Torchwood agents to know, if he can avoid it. He's afraid what happened before will happen all over again..."

"The Guppy and Holroyd thing?"
"...Them and others who came after them...he was cannon fodder... and not voluntarily cannon fodder either."
"Cannon fodder AND lab rat." Blodwen added.
"He told me."

"I'm going up to my office... call me if you need anything, yeah?" Sarian patted Ianto on the shoulder and headed for the door.

Ianto and Blodwen sat quietly for a time before Ianto got up and carefully placed a blanket over Jack arranging his hands on top and then smoothing it across his torso.

"He looks so blue... so cold."
"I know."
"It's hard...I mean I KNOW in my mind that it isn't permanent but it ALWAYS feels like the end."
"It's a very difficult thing for our mind to accept something so far outside of our experience... even if it IS Torchwood experience. There's SUPPOSED to be a certain permanence with death... we're used to that."

"Yeah but you'd think after Suzie and Owen and Jack himself oh so many times, it would be... would SEEM almost normal by now..."
"But logically...your mind says it can't happen, yet it does... but until it does, it STILL seems impossible."

"And every single time, I hold my breath and pray that this ISN'T the time when his luck...or energy...or whatever it is, runs out."
"I know... and it's no less a miracle to me every time he comes back."
"I try to be as close as possible to him or holding him in some way when he comes back. It always seems so sudden and painful."

"It is always painful for him... and depending on how long he's been dead and how he died it can be worse. You saw how he was before."
Ianto nodded.

"He likes it, you know."
"What?"
"Being in physical contact when he comes back...it gives him something to latch on to. He told me once that it hurts so much he just wants to curl up, cry and be rocked like a baby."
"For all his bluster and bravado, he's like a child sometimes."
"I thought we'd already determined that?" Blodwen laughed.
"Yes...well." Ianto shrugged

"This week means so much to him..." Blodwen smiled down at Jack's supine corpse
"All that unconditional love." Ianto acknowledged
"Exactly...he doesn't have to seek it, or ask for it...he's already earned it."
"I just wish this week had been more the respite he was seeking than it's turned into." Ianto sighed.

"It could have been really awful, Ianto... think about what might have happened had he not been here to intercede...Cartref and the entire Gower could have been devastated."
"Oh god, I hadn't thought of that...if he hadn't gone in and bled off the power."

"Exactly...instead we get some minor damage..." she broke off.
"And no "˜real' losses." Ianto made the air quotes for the word real.
"Don't fool yourself, the losses are real enough...fortunately, this particular loss is a renewable resource."
Ianto nodded.

"He's NOT expendable, Ianto...I did not mean it that way...no one...not one single person here thinks that."
"Unfortunately he DOES."
Blodwen nodded this time "And we have never been able to convince him otherwise... and probably never will."

***

Sarian woke Ianto the next morning, Elain had moved an additional bed into Jack's cubicle for Ianto and he'd actually fallen asleep after Blodwen left the med bay.

"Ianto..." Sarian touched him gently "...I've got coffee and breakfast for you." Ianto opened one eye then realizing where he was sat up quickly and looked at Jack's still form.

"No change there yet...come on, breakfast then you can go clean up while I keep watch..." when Ianto started to look around Sarian pointed "...loo's that way."
Ianto nodded and walked quickly out of the cubicle.

On his return he found that Sarian had poured coffee for him and sat down at a table in the corner.
"Come on...eat. He'll not forgive me if you don't...I thought we could eat together."
"Thank you...I'm famished." Ianto started shoveling food into his mouth ala Jack. He looked up, saw Sarian smiling at him and stopped, wiped his mouth and spoke.

"Sorry, Jack's table manners tend to rub off."
Sarian laughed. "No, it's alright... really, but I was thinking the same thing."

"He still looks so blue; I wonder how much longer this will take."
Sarian turned to look at Jack. "He wasn't in there very long, so I'm hoping it will maybe be tomorrow... I doubt we'll see any change today."

"The week's almost up." Ianto shook his head sadly.
"I know, it just isn't the same without him. I've taken his appointments because I know you want to be here with him. Nearly all the business is complete and then we only have the naming ceremony for Morgan...which is postponed until he's back with us. During the night we had a rift alert in Cardiff, I deployed the response team."

"What was it?"
"Looks like debris from a Barro."
"A Barro?"
"Oh, sorry...that's a freighter. We're still trying to determine origin; but looking at the composition it's definitely after the 40th century... probably Nidessian in origin. There's nothing alive, charged or dangerous about it but it's in the archive queue so Jack can have a look at it."

"So...NOT going to explode then?"
"Definitely not."
"Well, that's a mercy." Ianto laughed.

Sarian finished his coffee and spoke. "Well, I've got the rest of his appointments this morning and then I'll be back to see how you're doing. Do you want me to send lunch over for you or will you join us."
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather stay here with him."

"Then I'll come over here for lunch. Any idea what you'd like?"
"Oh the beef please...Jack was spot on about how wonderful it is."
"It is that...then I'll see you at lunch. I'll have some additional coffee brought over when they come to collect the cart."

"Thank you, Sarian."
"You are very welcome, Ianto."
Ianto finished his coffee in peace as Sarian went back to the Seren Wib.

Later when Helen came on duty; Ianto had a shower and shave. He decided against going back to the Seren Wib and utilized scrubs instead. He and Helen were sitting in Jack's cubicle chatting about nothing in particular when it happened.

Ianto saw a finger twitch on Jack's right hand and went immediately to his bedside.
"His finger moved." Ianto picked up Jack's hand and slid onto the bed near the head where he could pull Jack into his lap.

Helen turned on her monitoring devices and stood by.
"I really don't NEED to be here... he'll be perfect when he comes back just like always... it just makes me feel better, you know." She shrugged.

"I completely understand." Ianto nodded and pulled Jack's upper body across his lap just as Jack gasped and grabbed at Ianto's upper arms.
He looked around in a panic briefly, then into Ianto's face and gave a small smile.

"Welcome back." The tears in Ianto's eyes were those of relief.
Jack spoke in a whisper. "Hi."
"Hi yourself... we missed you."

Jack's eyes drifted to Helen, who smiled and spoke.
"I know you're exhausted, Jack but otherwise okay?"
"I'm...okay...just tired."
"Good... I'll leave you two alone...call me if you need anything. I alert Sarian that he's back." She said to Ianto then looked at Jack again. "You can go to sleep Jack, no one expected you back this early."
Jack nodded slightly and closed his eyes but didn't let go of Ianto's arms.

They sat quietly for a while Jack mostly dozing but occasionally opening his eyes and looking around. Every time he did Ianto reassured him and he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Sarian delivered lunch himself and Jack woke when he heard Sarian greet Helen. When the cart was pushed into his cubicle Jack smiled.

"Taking up waiting tables now, Sarian?"
"Jack, I've told you a million times...a good resort manager can do every job in his facility."

Jack chuckled and shook his head.
"You wouldn't catch Edwin waiting tables." Jack said softly.
"Precisely what I said, a GOOD resort manager can do every job in his facility."
"I'm telling Edwin and he's gonna kick your ass."
"Oh please...like I'm afraid of rainbow boy."
"He hears you call him rainbow boy and you WILL be in trouble." Jack laughed softly with his eyes closed.

"Helen wants you to try to eat something... I brought extra beef for you, or if you'd like I can call Rosy and have her make something else... porridge or laverbread?"
"No... the beef's fine as long as there's..."
"Extra gravy... I know, and there is..." Sarian interrupted "... come on, I'll help you get him to the table, Ianto."

Sarian assisted Jack to sit up while Ianto slid out from under him where he'd been sitting since Jack had awakened. They seated Jack at the table and Sarian uncovered a plate for him and handed him a spoon.

Sarian served Ianto and himself then sat down. Jack ate a few bites and then looked up.
"So...report."
"Well we deployed to an alert in Cardiff last night...found fragments of a Barro, from the composition and markings it looks Nidessian 40th century or later. No energy signatures of any kind, most likely a hull fragment or container, not drive related anyway. We've got it queued for your examination when you feel up to it."

"Okay, how's the grow going?"
"Carys says it looks great, should only take another 40 or so hours and it will be ready for configuration."
"Good." Jack said around a piece of bread then looked down at his plate and began eating in earnest.

They ate quietly for a while; Ianto struggled not to scold Jack for his manners and occasionally glanced up to see Sarian looking bemusedly at him. When Jack finally stopped and sat back, closed his eyes and dramatically dropped his napkin onto his plate.

"If you're done I think you should get some more sleep." Sarian said softly.
Jack nodded with his eyes closed. "Yeah but not in here, I want to go back to the suite."

Ianto looked surprised and dabbed at his mouth before speaking.
"Will you be able to walk that far... I'm not carrying you and if you won't use a wheelchair then you will be sleeping right there." He pointed at the bed.
"I can walk."
"If you say so...but personally I don't believe it."

Jack was still sitting with his eyes closed and Ianto looked at Sarian when Jack didn't argue.
Sarian shrugged and closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side mimicking sleeping and Ianto nodded.

Sarian got up quietly and placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, Jack's eyes never opened.
"Come on...bed with you." Sarian practically lifted Jack and guided him back to the bed. This time there was no argument and Jack rolled right onto his side and resumed sleeping.

"Well done...thanks."
"I can stay here if you want to go get real clothes."
"I think I will, I'll be back shortly."
"Take your time, Ianto...he isn't going anywhere."

Hours later, when Jack finally opened his eyes, Ianto was sitting in a chair reading.
"Hello...again." Ianto smiled.
"Hi."
"Back with us for a while this time?"
"Yeah...how long?"
"You've been asleep about 6 hours...that may be some kind of a new record for you."
"Could be...what's going on?"

"Well, Sarian has finished all of the appointments and the only open item left is the naming ceremony for Morgan, which is tentatively planned for tomorrow morning. Carys and Delphine are still monitoring the new growth and I'm told that they are beginning to get sensory responses from some of the tissue...whatever that means. The north elevator shaft has been scanned and examined firsthand and there was no damage to the elevator or the shaft and it has been placed it back in operation. The archive recovery has begun and I was told to tell you that it looks like nothing important was lost in the explosion."

"Well...everyone's been busy."
"Yes, they have..." Ianto shook his head "...the efficiency of the operation here puts One to shame and makes Three look like hobbyists. It's amazing. I just wish we could work together."

Jack sighed and sat up. "I know, but it can't happen...it just wouldn't be safe for them..." Jack ran his hands back through his hair and shook his head. "...Gwen wouldn't have a problem with it I'm sure...it's the rest of them...UNIT, the government...the Crown even. They become aware and they'll start trying to control it...control them and if something should happen it would put them ALL in danger."

"I understand... I just wish there was a way to do it without exposing the personnel."
"Well, you think of a way that's foolproof and we'll do it."
"I'll work on it."

"You do that... let's get out of here...I want a shower and some more food." Jack swung his legs over the side of the bed and then stood. Ianto joined him and they headed back to the Seren Wib.

Jack had his shower, alone and Ianto ordered a late meal for them both Jack seemed subdued and so dinner was quiet. After they ate they decided on another stroll through the expansive grounds the clear, mild night providing them with a banquet of stars overhead. Jack took a number of deep breaths and sighed.

"It's good to be outside; feels like I've been cooped up forever."
Ianto looked up. "It's so lovely here I almost hate having to go back to Cardiff."

Jack's gaze shifted suddenly from the sky to Ianto's face. "Ianto? Believe me if I could..."
"Jack...it wasn't a request...just a statement. I wouldn't think of leaving Three...unless of course you decided to move here as well."

Jack sighed "I wish... I'd love to just turn Three over to Gwen and move out here full time...but there's so much she doesn't know...and in spite of all the shifting of the more dangerous artifacts here... Three is still a front line unit..." he shook his head "...maybe after we put together another team...but..."
"That's going to be a long way off, considering my boss is refusing to even look at any candidates as yet." Ianto smiled.

"Sorry... I... I don't know what I'm waiting for... I guess I feel like they're irreplaceable...like even thinking of trying to fill their slots is somehow desecrating their memory."

"I know but it has to be done...we can't go on with just the three of us."
"I know, Ianto. Sarian has been looking at a few possible candidates for me."
"Sarian?...I mean...has he?" Ianto sounded slightly offended
Jack sensed Ianto's hesitation.

"I didn't assign him, Ianto...he just started doing it. Since I'm not here; I really couldn't stop him."
"True... but you refuse to even look at any of Gwen's and my suggestions."

Jack laughed "I haven't looked at any of his either, Ianto. There's a whole series of his emails I haven't opened...ticks him off to no end."
"Well, just so there's no favoritism then."
"None whatsoever, but realistically, I guess I need to do it. So we'll look at Sarian's together and then at yours when we get back to Cardiff."

"Fair enough."
"I'd actually been thinking about that PC that was Gwen's partner."
"Andy Davidson?"

"Yeah, he was the one who helped her find the Flat Holm facility. I'm thinking he might be a good fit. Plus he's already interested, according to Gwen."
Ianto sighed "He was one of the people I'd listed. His bio and background info is in a folder currently gathering dust in your procrastinate box along with my other suggestions."
"Oh, sorry."

***