Life is All, Part II: Archival Revival, Chapter 7

[amuly]

Title: Life is All Part II: Archival Revival: Chapter 7
Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Martha/Mickey, budding Alonso/Lois
Word Count: 2,809
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jack possibly revives Ianto. (Okay, he does. I’m no M. Night Shyamalan.)
Warnings: none
A/N: I’m not a doctor, nurse, or med student. I’ve learned everything I need to know about medicine from House. So I apologize right away for any medical inaccuracies in this chapter. And besides: nanogenes. So bah! :P

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 Part II: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6

            “No no no no no…” Jack moaned, keeping his death-grip on Ianto’s hand. “Martha, Martha you have to do something…” his voice dropped to a whisper as he stared at Ianto’s closed eyelids. “Do something.”

            Martha was already there, ripping open Ianto’s shirt and slapping sensors to his chest. “I would, Jack, if you would just move and let me do my job!”

            Jack grunted and stood up, but kept his hand clasped around Ianto’s. He wasn’t letting go now: not after he had traveled so long and so far for him.

            “Still no pulse…” Martha was slapping more sensors on Ianto as she ran back and forth between his body and the monitors. “Scanners indicating nano-activity – that must be the nanogenes, trying to do something.” Suddenly Jack felt himself being spun around, and he looked down to see Martha’s blurry face looking up at him. “Jack.”

            Jack blinked, trying to focus past the tears.

            “Jack. You said if he gets the nanogenes and not the antivirus, he’ll wake up and then die all over again?”

            A sharp pain ripped through Jack’s chest at the thought. He scrambled, searching for some hope.

            Surprisingly, it was Alonso who offered it. “But that’s only if the virus was engineered to combat nanogenes, right Jack?” Everyone turned to look at him. The young man shifted uncomfortably under the attention. “I mean…they might not have. Regis doesn’t know about nanogenes yet: maybe the Iucunds didn’t, either?”

            “Iucunds?” Gwen was looking at Alonso appraisingly.

            “Uh…Jack called them the 456.”

            Jack turned away from the conversation, focusing entirely on Ianto. “Come on, Ianto,” he whispered. “Please. Please come back. Come back for me, please.”

            “Jack…” Martha’s voice was rushed. “Jack, the body’s…it’s heating up. Not just room temperature…thirty-three degrees…thirty-four…I…it looks like his organs are coming back online…”

            Martha ran over to the table, pressing a finger to Ianto’s neck and feeling for his pulse. “Jack, I need you to move. Now!”

            With a gasp Jack moved back, dragging Ianto’s arm with him. He still wasn’t going to let go of it.

            Martha pressed her ear to Ianto’s mouth for a moment, eyes focused on the monitors the whole time. “I don’t know how much the nanogenes can do…” She pinched his nose and opened his mouth, beginning to administer CPR. Jack could see her mouth moving as she counted the amount of chest compressions. She glanced at the monitors again. “Temperature at thirty-six now, and still rising. Lois!”

            Lois came running over, hands clenching at her side nervously.

            Martha shoved a resuscitator in her hands. “Keep pumping air into his lungs.” With barely a fumble Lois took the device from Martha and fitted it over Ianto’s mouth and nose, before pumping it in rhythm. Martha was fixated on the monitors. “Body temperature thirty-seven and holding. Heart…oh bugger…” She turned sharply to Ianto.

            With a gasp, Ianto’s eyes shot open. Jack moved in, shoving the resuscitator from his mouth and Lois out of the way. “Ianto? Ianto!”

            “Jack you have to move back, the virus…”

            “Jack?” Ianto coughed, looking frantically up at Jack. “Did you use the glove? Oh, no, Jack, please don’t…”

            Ianto’s breath quickened, and the monitors began to beep frantically.

            “Jack, you need to calm him down, he’s going to give himself a heart attack!”

            “Ianto, Ianto, please…” Jack’s voice broke, his breaths coming as fast as Ianto’s. It was with a monumental effort that he took one deep breath, staring down into Ianto’s eyes. Those blue eyes he never thought he’d see again. “Ianto, please, calm down. It’s not the glove.” Ianto still looked panicked, so Jack squeezed his hand tighter and pulled Ianto’s whole arm to his chest. “Ianto, do you trust me?”

            Ianto’s eyes were wide with fear, but he shut his mouth and pressed his lips together in a thin line. His eyes focused entirely on Jack, and he nodded tightly.

            “Then you’ll have to just hang on for a minute and let Martha do her work. Alright?”

            Again, Ianto nodded, even as his throat convulsed with nervous swallows. Jack’s eyes were brimming with tears as he looked down at Ianto. Without tearing his eyes away, he asked Martha: “What are the readings saying? Is he…what’s going on?”

            There was a long, long pause as everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath – everyone except Jack and Ianto, whose panicked breaths were synchronized with each other. Then, “Life signs stabilizing…I’ll need Ianto to stay there another five minutes, and a blood sample…”

            Jack sucked in a breath. “But?”

            Martha turned away from the monitors. “But it looks like the nanogenes worked. I don’t think the virus was manufactured with a defense against them. Ianto…”

            A grin split Jack’s face. “Ianto, you’re going to live.”

            For a moment everything was silent, until Ianto’s mouth started to twitch. He looked into Jack’s eyes, searching for…something. Finally, apparently seeing what he needed to, he smiled. It was the most beautiful thing Jack had ever seen.

            “Jack? I’m…I’m alive?”

            Jack’s free hand went up to cup Ianto’s face, in happy imitation of the last time they had spoken. Jack laughed – slightly hysterically, but still a laugh. “You’re alive. For real,” he said, preempting any questions, “No risen mitten, or zombies, or…anything. You’re alive.”

            Ianto choked, sobbing. Immediately Jack scooped him up, pulling him into a fierce hug before pulling back and kissing him.

            Kissing Ianto…it felt like coming home. It felt like everything Jack had ever done wrong was made right, like every pain he had suffered was just a dream, like he would never feel lonely or lost again.

            Jack pulled away, thumbs swiping over Ianto’s eyebrows, then moving down to wipe the tears from beneath his eyes. “Hey, hey, shh.” Jack couldn’t stop touching Ianto. His Ianto: his alive, warm, talking, breathing, crying Ianto.

            Ianto half laughed, half sobbed, shaking his head. “I know, I’m sorry, it’s just…” Ianto trailed off, eyes drifting away from Jack for the first time since his revival. “Who are…?” Jack could tell, without turning around to follow his gaze, the instant Ianto’s eyes alighted on Alonso. “Who’s he?”

            Jack glanced over his shoulder, just to make sure. Alonso was standing there, rather awkwardly, like his deepest wish at the moment was to sink into the floor. “That’s Alonso.”

            “Alonso?” Oh, Jack had missed that quirked eyebrow so much. But, right. That quirked eyebrow was directed at him. Ianto was giving him that look, that impatient, why-do-I-put-up-with-you, you-better-come-clean-right-now-mister, look.

            “It’s just…Alonso. He helped get the nanogenes! And the antivirus.”

            Ianto remained unconvinced. “Jack, he has a hickey on his neck.” Alive for less than five minutes and he was already as perceptive as ever.

Jack shrugged. “Well…I mean…come on, Ianto. You didn’t expect…” As Ianto’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared, Jack decided it might be time to change tact. “I mean, look, he really helped. A lot. And I didn’t even know I could bring you back until we had been together for a week…”

            “Been together?” Ianto pushed Jack away, climbing off the table with some difficulty. Martha hovered around the edges of the conversation, needle and vial in hand for a blood sample. Both men ignored her. “How long was I dead, exactly?”

            Jack hesitated, glancing at Gwen. “About a year.”

            “A year!” Ianto’s eyes widened, and he ran a nervous hand through his hair. “A year…” he breathed. Then he seemed to remember he was supposed to be berating Jack, and he turned his attention back to him. “A year, Jack? Honestly? I mean, I understand you have needs, but to get a companion after a year?”

            Jack sighed. So maybe he had thought this reunion would have gone a bit more…romantically. He needed to lay off the cheesy romance novels. “But, Ianto…ask Alonso, it was never any good. I was thinking about you the whole time.”

            Ianto whirled on Alonso, whose face couldn’t get redder if someone dumped a bucket of paint on top of his head. “Ah. Well, that’s a consolation, of course. So tell me, Alonso: is that true?”

            Alonso’s eyes darted between Jack and Ianto, obviously trying to figure out some answer that wouldn’t get him shot into low orbit. “Um…he was always thinking of you?” Alonso rushed on, after Ianto didn’t do more than twitch slightly. “The only reason he kept me around at first was because I knew where the Iucund…er, 456…home world was.”

            “At first?”

            Gwen, God bless her, stepped in between Ianto and Alonso at this point. “Ianto, sweetheart?”

            “Gwen.” Ianto blinked, then glanced down immediately. “Did you…”

            “Yes. Little baby girl named Braith.”

            Ianto’s face lit up. “Oh, Gwen that’s wonderful!” He enveloped her in a hug. “Braith. Beautiful Welsh name.”

            “Isn’t it?”

            Jack watched fondly as Gwen and Ianto giggled about the baby for a moment. Everything would be all right. He just needed to get Ianto somewhere private so he could explain everything to him. Someplace, preferably, without Alonso. “Just so you know,” Gwen was continuing, “When this lot showed up, I did defend your honor.”

            Ianto smiled. “Thanks, Gwen.” He glanced around, taking in his surroundings for a long moment. “So,” he raised an eyebrow, “is this the new team?”

**

            After a series of introductions – and Martha finally getting her hands on a blood sample from Ianto, although it did seem a rather moot point after the first ten minutes – the entire Torchwood team settled into the new conference room with take-away and coffees. “Never found any place as good as yours,” Gwen was saying, “But we made do.”

            Ianto sipped at the coffee, contemplative expression on his face. Jack just wanted to leap across the table and kiss those lips, hold those hands, feel Ianto against him again… “It’ll do for now.” Ianto pronounced, finally. He smiled at Lois. “You’ve never had a chance to try my coffee before, unfortunately.”

            She smiled back. “I’m eager to hear what all the fuss is about. Rhys and Gwen wouldn’t stop moaning over not being able to find a decent cuppa.”

            Rhys walked in then, baby Braith in his arms. “Look who’s awake.”

            Gwen was immediately up, cooing and taking her daughter from Rhys. “Oh, did you have a good nap?” She quickly became immersed in rubbing her nose against her daughter’s, so Rhys stepped in.

            “So, speaking of naps, do you lot have sleeping arrangements sorted?”

            Ianto, Jack, and Alonso all shot each other looks. Ianto was the first to speak. “I suppose my flat isn’t mine any more?”

            “Sorry mate.” Rhys shrugged. “Didn’t exactly expect you to come back, you know?”

            Ianto nodded, frowning. Jack glanced up at Rhys. “Hotel? For now?”

            “Yeah, yeah, we can do that.” He pulled out a PDA and started tapping at it. “We’ll put you up for a week, then see what we’re doing from there. Should I,” he glanced up, eyes flickering between Ianto and Jack, “How many rooms? Two, or…”

            Jack turned to Ianto, eyes widening. He never thought…of course he and Ianto would share a hotel room. Wouldn’t they?

            For a moment Ianto cocked an eyebrow at Jack, as if to say, “Oh, were we sleeping together? I forgot.” Jack felt a nervous shiver go down his spine. But then Ianto was sighing, looking back up at Rhys. “No, two rooms is fine. I suppose Jack will need some time to explain himself.”

            Mickey burst out laughing from the other side of the table, mouth half full of food. “Looks like you’re in the doghouse, mate.” He winked at Ianto. “I like you. Anybody who can put Captain Jack Harkness,” he emphasized the name with wiggling fingers, “in his place is on my side. Me ‘n Martha’ll take you out to the pub sometime, soon as you get your, er…” he shrugged, “life-legs back.”

            “Thanks.” Ianto smiled tightly at Mickey. He seemed like he was still trying to get used to this boisterous new member of the team. Ianto’s eyes flickered over to Jack. “Well, I suppose…” he glanced around, “we should check in? At the hotel?” He smiled apologetically at the other team members around the table – skipping over Alonso, Jack noted. “Sorry, I’m just feeling a bit tired.”

            Gwen immediately leapt up, pushing baby Braith into Rhys’ arms. “Of course, sweetheart. Come on, we’ll get you to the hotel and get you settled. It must just be…” she waved her hands around, at a loss for words. “You know. Overwhelming.” She ushered Jack, Alonso, and Ianto out the door, before saying over her shoulder, “Lois, come on.”

            The girl hopped up out of her seat, snatching her coffee and following them out the door. Gwen continued giving orders as she lead the three men to the new Torchwood car park. “Lois, I’ll need you to get some clothes for all three of them,” she turned to Ianto, “We have all your stuff in storage, so in a day or two we’ll head over and get what you need for now.”

            Ianto nodded in understanding, before plucking at his shirt. Martha had managed to rip off most the buttons, though Rhys had luckily – or unluckily, in Jack’s mind – given him a vest to wear under it for now. “Yeah, wouldn’t mind a new kit.”

            Gwen continued as Lois scribbled onto a PDA. “Jack didn’t really have much, but I suppose you’ll be needing a few shirts and trousers?” The last bit was directed at Jack, who nodded. Gwen continued. “And Alonso, you’ll need a whole wardrobe. Think you can manage that, Lois?”

            Lois smiled brightly. “Of course. I’ll get a few outfits tonight, and tomorrow Alonso and I can go shopping.” Her gaze lingered on Alonso for a moment, before she shook herself and blushed. “I just mean…wouldn’t want to get you something you didn’t like, is all.”

            The smile Alonso shot back was just as soppy and flushed. “Sure. I’d love you.” His eyes widened, and he hastened to amend his statement. “To take me shopping. That is.”

            Jack and Ianto glanced at each other, mirroring expressions of amusement plastered across both their faces. But then Ianto seemed to remember that he was supposed to be upset with Jack, and his expression immediately fell into a glare before he looked away. Jack just grinned as he watched Ianto’s back. Ianto could never stay mad at Jack for long. Jack frowned. At least, he hoped.

**

            A quick drive to the hotel and a flurry of hugs and kisses for Gwen – and even a few hugs for Lois – and then the three men were left standing in the lobby, holding hotel keycards.

            Alonso turned to Ianto, hesitation written in every line of his body. He looked like he wanted to run, but he stayed firm, and held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ianto Jones.” Jack grinned as he watched years of etiquette lessons override Ianto’s instincts and force him to shake hands with Alonso. “You really were all he talked about. The reason I stuck around so long was so I could meet you.” Ianto looked incredulous, so Alonso hurried on. “It really was. I just figured…” he glanced at Jack, and Jack saw the moment that hope died in Alonso’s eyes. “Well, you must be an extraordinary man, for Jack to love you so much.”

            With that, Alonso nodded one last goodbye to Jack and Ianto, then took off for his room.

            Jack turned to Ianto, explanation already ready on his lips. Ianto silenced him with a single look. He turned on his heel, and started for the elevators. Jack hurried to follow him, mouth opening and closing in an attempt to speak. Whatever Ianto had done to him, it worked, because Jack couldn’t for the life of him find anything to say.

            When they finally reached their hotel room Ianto opened the door and stepped inside, for all the world seeming like he was ignoring Jack completely. Jack knew better – or, at least, he was pretty sure he knew better – and followed Ianto inside without a word.

            Jack stood in the doorway, shifting from foot to foot. Ianto turned, raising an eyebrow and looking at Jack. The spell that Ianto had put over Jack’s vocal cords broke, and Jack finally found something to say. “You aren’t…” he held out a hand imploringly to Ianto. “You aren’t really upset with me. Are you?” He crossed his arms. “I did trek across a quarter of the galaxy, and sixty years back in time, just to bring you back to life.”

            Ianto sighed, running his hand through his hair. But it was with a fond smile that he looked back up at Jack. “No, Jack. I’m not mad.” He sat down on the bed and patted the sheets, inviting Jack over. “Come on Jack. Let’s talk.”

End of chapter note:

            So that’s it for Part II!! I know, you’re saying finally. Sorry. I just really wanted to do a full-fledged, epic space-adventure plot arc to bring Ianto back, okay? But! For all your patience, you shall be richly rewarded. Part III is on the way next Friday, and that will have 7 chapters as well. And Ianto is alive for all of them ^.^ I’d like to thank anyone still reading this so much for sticking with it and bothering with it, even through all the Alonso stuff. So many hugs to all of you!

 
Want more? Continue to Part III, Chapter 1 here.