In Sickness and in Health (2/5)
“Ah! Home sweet home!” grinned Jack as Ianto let them into his flat. The young man made a non-committal noise as he dropped his keys on the table, removed his jacket and walked down the hallway to the living room. Jack sighed before following him.
“Ianto…” he murmured, coming up behind his lover, snaking an arm round his waist, nuzzling his warm neck, “you need to rest.”
“I’m fine really. It’s probably just a twenty four hour thing,” mumbled Ianto, relaxing against Jack’s solid form.
“A twenty four hour thing that’s lasted three days,” pointed out Jack reasonably, kissing the nape of his neck, “you should’ve told me,” he admonished gently.
“I was, but with all that stuff coming out of the Rift and UNIT on our backs and with Gwen being away, we couldn’t afford to lose any more staff,” said Ianto, turning to face Jack.
“We would’ve coped; we always do,” murmured Jack, tracing his jaw line.
“It wouldn’t have been fair on Owen and Tosh,” muttered Ianto, averting his gaze downwards.
“It wasn’t fair on you either though was it?” said Jack softly, tilting his chin up to face him. Ianto just shrugged; unsure of how to answer.
“Ianto, you are allowed to get ill you know. You are human after all,” murmured Jack, drawing him closer again.
Ianto nodded against his shoulder, “I just forget sometimes, that’s all,” he mumbled.
“Good thing I’m here to remind you then isn’t it?” murmured Jack, pressing a kiss to his hair. From a young age, Ianto had always had to look after others; his own needs often being ignored or neglected leaving him with the mistaken notion that he didn’t matter. Over the past year or so, Jack had worked hard to convince him otherwise but he still had occasional lapses, which only strengthened Jack’s resolve to care for him as long as he should live.
“I need a shower,” muttered Ianto, moving out of Jack’s arms and running a hand through his hair.
Jack nodded, “I’ll make you some toast yeah?”
Ianto raised an eyebrow, “I thought you didn’t do domestic?” he smirked.
“For you I would,” said Jack sincerely, catching Ianto’s gaze with his own.
“Thank you,” murmured Ianto, kissing his Captain lightly before leaving the room.
“Any time,” breathed Jack as he kicked his brain back into gear. How did Ianto do that?
Smiling to himself, Jack meandered into the small kitchen to create his piece de resistance. He loved Ianto’s flat; being on the third floor, it was high enough to be high, enabling him to look over his beloved city whilst also being low enough to feel included. He liked the fact that it was away from the Hub and all its goings ons and that once inside; he and Ianto could pretend they were a normal couple with normal lives and normal jobs. He supposed the main reason he liked the flat was that it enabled him to experience the life he could never have; albeit temporarily.
Half an hour later, the shower was still running. Strange, Ianto never took that long, especially if he were ill. Frowning, Jack left his carefully crafted cuisine, which, through no fault of his own had taken far longer than it should’ve and went to investigate.
“Ianto, you alright?” called Jack through the door. No reply. Cautiously, he opened the door and saw Ianto lying unconscious in the shower, the now icy water pounding down in top of him.
Jack sighed as he turned the shower off, Ianto obviously felt a lot worse than he was letting on. Crouching besides the younger man, Jack checked his vitals just to be on the safe side and was relieved to see they were all functioning normally even if their owner was not.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” muttered Jack fondly as he gently dried him. The last thing Ianto needed was to catch hypothermia on top of everything else.
“Jack? What happened?” mumbled Ianto as he regained consciousness to be met with a pounding headache.
“You fainted. In the shower,” said Jack matter of factly as he helped Ianto sit up, his voice verging on coldness. Ianto nodded weakly, seeming not to have noticed Jack’s change in demeanour as he leant his head against the condensed tiles and closed his eyes.
“Ianto, when was the last time you ate or slept?” asked Jack softly, studying the young man’s features which weren’t giving away anything.
“Ianto,” he prompted more forcefully.
Ianto opened his eyes wearily and turned to face the Immortal, “Dunno, coupla days maybe?” he mumbled, accent thick with exhaustion.
“A couple of days! Ianto, you need to eat! What if you’d’ve collapsed in the field hmm? Where would we be then? You’d be dead and I’d have to identify your mauled remains! All you had to do was have a couple of hours sleep im my bed or on the couch like Owen and Tosh, that’s all you had to do!” shouted Jack intimidatingly, gripping Ianto’s upper arms bruisingly.
“I’m sorry,” mumbled Ianto, taken aback by Jack’s ferocity.
Jack sighed, the anger evaporating as soon as quickly as it had risen, “I know, Sweetheart, I know,” he murmured, pulling his young lover into a gently hug, stroking his back soothingly, “I don’t want you to be sorry, I want you to look after yourself hmm? You are not immortal and I’ve kinda grown to like you hmm?” he whispered softly, his fingers entwining themselves in the young Welshman’s damp curls. He was more angry with himself rather than Ianto; he was supposed to be not only his boss but also his, friend and lover, he should’ve spotted it sooner. Ianto nodded sleepily, kissing Jack’s shirt clad shoulder.
“Right, here’s what we’re gonna do; I’m gonna get you dressed and then you can make it up to me by eating some toast okay?” said Jack gently as he noticed how much the boy was shivering.
Ianto nodded against his shoulder, “I am sorry though; I didn’t mean to scare you,” he mumbled.
“Shh, not your fault,” murmured Jack, kissing his damp hair before helping him up and dressing him in pyjama bottoms and a long sleeved grey t shirt before leading him by the hand to the kitchen and sitting him down.
“Now I know all you want to do is sleep but you need to try to eat,” said Jack gently, placing the plate and a glass of orange juice in front of his young lover.
“Thank you,” mumbled Ianto gratefully.
“There’s nothing to thank me for,” murmured Jack, pressing a kiss to his warm forehead, “eat,” he whispered, moving the plate closer and sitting down.
After ten minutes, Ianto was obviously having trouble staying awake, his body unwilling to give any more having been pushed well beyond its limits.
“Come on, lets get you to bed,” muttered Jack, taking pity on the kid and helping him up and towards the bedroom where Ianto all but crawled into bed as Jack stripped down to his undershirt and boxers before climbing in and pulling the young man close; kissing his hair and stroking his back until he felt his breathing even out as he finally fell into an exhausted slumber, feeling warm and loved.
http://welsh-scotsman.livejournal.com/6120.html chapter one
http://welsh-scotsman.livejournal.com/6413.html chapter three