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d8rkmessngrConclusion.
Master Fic List: here
Additional Note: As you may have noticed by now, some of the fics in this series will be written out of order, hence the Month 1, Month 2 designation. The timeline of this series' chapters are as follows:
1. Month 0: Sex Education
2. Month 0: The Key To Appropriate Proclaimations In A More Personal Matter
3. Month 1: Detours
4. Pillow Talk
5. Month 2: Wednesday Evening
6. Month 3: Name Calling
Part 1
IV. And try, and try…
It bounced off his ear.
"Idiot."
Another ricocheted off his cheek.
Ianto pressed his lips together into a thin line. "Do you mind?" Ianto grated out.
"Nope." Something pinged off the top of his head. Owen sat across the meeting table and four seats down, his legs crossed, feet on the table, pelting Ianto with tiny chalky projectiles from an amber vial on his lap.
"So that's it?" Owen demanded. He dropped his feet loudly to the floor. "You told him you weren't ready? That you didn't want the baby?"
Ianto thumped his head on the glass surface. "Yes—No, I didn't say I didn't want the baby."
"'I don't think I'm ready to ask,'" Owen mimicked, sounding more like a cartoon than a proper Welshman. "His pressure was one thirty over ninety this morning. Shit, Jonesy. What do you think that sounds like?"
"I meant…I just meant that I wasn't sure what we should do next. T-that I wasn't ready yet, that I…" Ianto lifted bleary eyes at Owen. "Yes. I suppose that's exactly how it sounded to him."
"Prat." A white dot bounced off the glass and struck him on the brow when Ianto looked up.
Ianto stared beyond the glass walls to the Hub below. The other three weren't back from interviewing the witnesses yet. A two meters tall beast with a boar's head sniffing around rift cracks was hard to ignore; far too many people had rung up 999. Jack pointedly grabbed his greatcoat before Ianto could, breezily declared he was driving and left with a bewildered Gwen and Tosh scrambling to catch up.
"You couldn't have said it another way?" Owen asked pelting off Ianto’s chin now. "Imbecile."
"At the time, I didn—Would you stop that, please?" Ianto snapped. He swatted the next projectile. It clattered to the table. Ianto frowned and picked up the elongated white pill. "What in the world are you throwing at me?" Ianto demanded.
Owen scowled. "Vitamins," he informed Ianto. "Prenatal vitamins. Which Jack refused to take." Owen tossed another one, which Ianto ducked easily.
"Maybe Jack wouldn't take them because you referred to them as prenatal!"
"That's what they are!" Owen shot back. "I'm not giving him candy! Nearly bit my head off when I gave them to him. Now I know why!"
Ianto's shoulders hunched. He stared at the pill he held.
Owen sighed. "If you have questions, you could have asked me," Owen scolded. "I'm not a gynecologist but our captain can't really see one either."
"He acts like it's not a big deal," Ianto murmured. He idly picked up the vitamins off his lap, the table and gathered them in a pile in front of him.
"Bollocks. It's a very big deal for him."
"Then he should act like it!" Ianto slapped a hand on the table and the pills jump.
"What? You want him to wring his hands and weep?"
"No, I…" Ianto shook his head. "Why am I the only one anxious about this?"
Owen snorted and another supplement bounced off Ianto's collar. "Trust me, everyone's all buggered about this. The girls are already planning on all the shit they're going to buy. Your child is going to be spoiled rotten, mate."
Ianto smiled tightly. It still felt odd to hear about the baby being referred to as his. Ianto poked around the pills until they all lined up in front of him.
Owen grunted as he rose to his feet. He tossed a small bottle to Ianto.
"You better get him to eat those." Owen paused at the door. He spun around and scowled at him. "His bp goes any higher, I'm giving you a vasectomy."
The rattling of the vial alerted Jack to his approach before Ianto was ready.
"I uh…" Ianto ran his tongue across his lower lip. He lifted up the vitamins and swallowed when Jack's face shuttered.
"I heard you weren't taking these." Ianto took another step into the office, a little braver when Jack merely grunted and looked at his paperwork.
Jack would only grunt in response.
Ianto gingerly sat on the edge of the desk and tucked the vial in his pocket. Jack's silence was unnerving. It was easier in the dark; both stripped and huddled under blankets and not stoicism. Here, in the stark hours of day, the words stuck in his throat.
"I want this baby, Jack," Ianto said quietly. "Never doubt that. I just…" He took a deep breath. "I just wish there was a manual telling me what to do."
Jack lifted up his eyes at Ianto. The corner of his mouth quirked.
Encouraged, Ianto cautiously lifted up the bag of magazines taken from the boot of his car.
"There's…a lot of information out there about…babies." Ianto gingerly set the bag on the desk. Jack made no move to take them.
"I know you said this was common when you're from, but you’ve got to understand…" Ianto lifted his hands helplessly. "I'm from here. I…I'm lost, Jack." Ianto lowered his hands. "I know there're things we need to do, to expect and I want to do them. I swear but I don't know where to start. This still all feels…"
"Surreal," Jack murmured, his voice hoarse.
Ianto smiled wanly at his partner. "Yeah."
Jack studied the magazines on the desk. He tentatively pushed them apart with a finger, his eyes scanning the covers. He then looked up. Wordlessly, Jack extended out his hand, palm up.
"Thank you, cariad," Ianto whispered softly. He pulled out the bottle from his pocket and pressed it into Jack's hand.
"Swollen breasts?
Jack snorted, pulled out the neckline of his white t-shirt and peered inside. He looked up and smiled tightly at Ianto sitting on the bed to his left.
"Sorry, honey, I don't think that's going to happen."
Ianto curled up the magazine he was reading, reached out of the heavy blankets piled on top of them, careful of the dinner tray over their legs and swatted Jack lightly on the shoulder with it. Jack replied with a rather very impolite snort before he gestured towards the article on his lap.
"Your body may begin exhibiting pregnancy symptoms like bloating, cramping, and mood swings that feel similar to premenstrual symptoms," Jack read out loud.
Ianto arched an eyebrow and leaned in to squint at the page. He blinked up at Jack, who gazed back at Ianto with a wide-eyed stare of his own.
"H-how are you feeling tonight?" Ianto tried.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not," Jack checked the article, "bloated, cramping, or moody nor do I have tender breasts, queasiness, fatigue, or swollen ankles, either!"
Ianto sat back. He pursed his lips.
"You may want to consider editing that last statement," Ianto finally said, "because I would say you are moody."
Jack shot him an annoyed look before he heaved a sigh and dropped down on the mound of pillows next to him. Jack flipped through the rest of the magazine with a sullen expression.
Ianto watched Jack for a few moments. "It's just a list. Not everyone exhibits the same symptoms."
"Yeah." One flip nearly tore a page out.
"These are just to see if there're any similarities," Ianto tried again.
Another flip and a subscription card flitted out.
Ianto studied Jack. "May I remind you, that this advice, in this century, is all we have?"
Jack gave up trying to read. He jabbed a finger at the picture of a mother on a mat, practicing Lamaze. "Seriously?"
Ianto coughed delicately into a fist. He remembered seeing that photo and for the entire day, he had contemplated buying a yoga mat. "I very much doubt there will be any articles written about a male pregnancy."
"Not yet," Jack grumbled. He sighed and sank lower into the bed. He stared at the ceiling.
Ianto turned on his side and studied Jack's shadowed expression.
"I guess Mr. Spock's not going to write a book I can use anytime soon," Jack muttered.
Ianto kissed a bare arm closest to him and swept a hand down the worn cotton draped over the flat planes of Jack's middle before a spread palm rested feather light at a spot over Jack's belly button.
"Doctor Spock," Ianto corrected. He could feel Jack curling towards him, leaning towards his touch with a quiet hunger Ianto ached to think might not have been quenched before. He slipped his hand under the shirt and rubbed over the defined muscles that flexed under his touch. Ianto tried to imagine the taut, warm skin curved, rounder, like the barista.
"The baby's not there, you know." Jack reached out his fingers long and strong curled around Ianto's wrists and guided Ianto higher until they were three fingers below Jack's diaphragm.
Ianto pressed carefully. He wasn't sure what he was expecting though. Jack was just five weeks, nowhere near showing yet. It felt odd to be expecting softness on a spot where Ianto usually felt rigid strength.
"Under your diaphragm?" Ianto's brow knitted together. "Doesn't that create a problem when the baby gets bigger?"
Jack squeezed Ianto's fingers and ran his hands over each one like there were artifacts. "Not right now." Jack's bare hip rubbed against Ianto's. "When the baby gets bigger, the womb would reposition itself lower." Jack, with Ianto's hands, kneaded the spot. "But not for a while. I won't really start showing until my last trimester."
The conversation, Ianto decided as he rubbed fingers into the upper muscles that flexed whenever Jack breathed, gets stranger each day. They were using vocabulary like fetuses and trimesters far too casually like the weather. Jack said them with all the practiced familiarity of whatever time Jack originated from. It made Ianto feel antiquated.
"So ah…" Ianto hedged. He squirmed in bed. He hated that all he could think of was more questions, far too many to pin down.
"Have you figured out what you wanted to ask yet?" Jack mumbled. He grimaced towards the magazines piled over the duvet. "Or did those answer them for you?"
"Should they?" Ianto asked Jack, but Jack never responded.
V. And try again…
A week had gone by since Jack's news. A week since Ianto had discovered that he wasn't mentally equipped to deal with a pregnant partner, much less a pregnant man. Ianto tapped his pen against his chin as he puzzled over the ledger pad. He was making a list of what to do, of what he needed to start with. It was still blank.
Damn it.
It shouldn't be this hard. It shouldn't be this difficult to talk to Jack about this. Acceptance of the child came easily, why couldn't the rest fall in place? He'd made plans before: a flat in London, marry Lisa in the church his parents stood in, three children before he was thirty-five. He'd done it all before, even planning for what to do when Lisa was too overcome with pain and begged to die. It was all planned out, sorted in order of importance, filed along a schedule that had irrevocably changed after Lisa died and Jack filled the hollow, gnawing ache inside.
Ianto wrote down very carefully 'nursery in Hub' and ended it with a question mark. Jack never said if he wanted one or not. He scowled at the wall where the secret passage was, where Jack had sailed out with Gwen to go on yet another Weevil alert. He grinned at Ianto, gave him a wink and exited with the kind of bold flourish only Jack Harkness could pull off. Ianto nearly called him back. Gwen gave him a quick nod, a silent promise, over her shoulder and she went after Jack.
The pen tip on the pad snapped and tore the paper.
Ianto sat in the Tourist office, fighting the urge to throw his pen at the clock when a call came through his earpiece.
"Where's your car?" Owen asked tersely, without preamble.
Ianto raised an eyebrow. "By the garage, what about your car—"
"Yours is closer." Owen could be heard running. "Run. Get it, meet me by the invisible lift."
Ianto was already locking the office, flipping the 'Closed' sign. "Owen?"
There were harsh rasps of rummaging; Tosh could be heard shouting something in the background.
"Not now," Owen bit out. It wasn't clear whom Owen was talking to.
A chill ran down his body. "Is it Gwen and Jack?"
"Yeah."
Ianto started running.
Ianto didn't wait for the passenger door to shut completely. He didn't even wait for the medic to put on his seatbelt. Ianto pressed on the petrol and wheels squealed as his car made a turn sharp enough to send Owen crashing into the gear paddles.
Owen didn't complain.
The medical kit Owen held over his lap made Ianto's throat tighten. Owen didn't look up as he jammed both hands into the kit, checking he had everything.
"Where?" Ianto barely managed out. He groaned at the location Owen barked to him as he slung his stethoscope around his neck. "I'll have to take the highway."
"I don't care if you have to sprout wings and fly!" Owen snapped. "Just get us there!"
"What happened?" Ianto gritted out as he cut in front of a coupe abruptly.
"Not sure." Owen clutched the dashboard, his knuckles white. "Gwen just called and said we needed to be there fast."
"Not Jack?" Ianto squeezed the steering wheel until his palms burned.
The trill ring of Owen's mobile interrupted whatever the medic was going to say. Owen slapped his mobile on. "Tosh, go ahead!"
"Ianto? Where are you two now?" Tosh demanded, foregoing the greeting.
The signs zipped by. "Approaching Bute, I'm about to turn into—"
"Stay on Bute. Take the street," Tosh advised. "The distance is shorter."
"Yeah but we'll be twice as long waiting for those bloody lights," Owen argued. He nodded towards the right. "The highway's more direct—"
"You just stay on Bute! I have you on GPS now!" Tosh could be heard typing fast. "Leave it to me!"
"Owen," Ianto warned as he drew closer and closer to a red light. Traffic sped by in front of him perpendicularly on James.
"Keep going!" Tosh ordered.
Owen stared at the cars in front of them, not stopping. The red light from afar blinked languidly. "Tosh…"
Ianto clutched the wheel.
"Ianto, just bloody go!" Tosh shouted.
Ianto gritted his teeth, Owen muttered a prayer and Ianto slammed his foot on the pedal all the way to the car floor. The distance between the traffic and their car shrank.
"Christ," Ianto ground out and braced.
The light turned green just as their car sailed under it. Behind them, Ianto could hear brakes.
"Bloody hell!" Owen bolted up in his seat. "What did you do?" He gaped at the row of green lights stretched as far as the eye can see.
"I told you," Tosh said smugly, "leave the lights to me."
Ianto smiled grimly as Owen hooted. "Thanks, Tosh," Ianto murmured.
"Just get there," Tosh replied. "Keep this line open so I can keep you on GPS. I have your ETA as seven minutes."
Owen grabbed Ianto by the arm.
"I need you to make it in four," Owen said tightly.
Ianto nodded and cut sharply in front of a lorry truck without hesitation.
Heart hammering—there were a few close calls—Ianto sighted the SUV wedged in front of an alley. When Owen swore, Ianto took another look and saw Gwen and Jack with his greatcoat flapping wildly around his legs. At first glance, they both looked fine standing by the opened driver's door. At second glance though, Ianto saw Jack clinging to the SUV's door, Gwen's hand on his back, another gripping Jack's arm.
Then Jack's knees buckled. Gwen cried out.
Owen darted out of the car before it came to a complete spot.
It felt like the car went up the curb. Something metallic crunched. Ianto didn't know. He didn't care. He struggled out of his seatbelt, stumbled out of the driver's seat and was running right behind Owen.
As Ianto drew near, he could hear it: Jack's breathing. It was harsh, quick and barely recognizable as human. Jack was on his knees, doubled over, wheezing, one hand on his chest, one arm wrapped around his middle. The air vents inside the SUV were full on, howling above their heads with its miniature winds.
"Keep at it!" Gwen was pleading with Jack. She was hunched over Jack. She sounded close to tears. "They're here. Do you hear me? Owen's here, Jack."
"Details!" Owen barked even as he dropped to his knees besides Jack. "Jack, Jack, we're here. You gotta take slow breaths. Come on, mate…"
Ianto reached Jack on the other side just as Gwen babbled something about a Weevil where there shouldn't be one, an elbow during the struggle, Jack winded as they carried the Weevil back.
"…and then I realized he still couldn't catch his breath," Gwen babbled. "I turned on the vents on his face. That helped for a little while."
"Jack?" Ianto called out. Jack's only reply was the fist around his chest shot out to clutch a handful of Ianto's jacket.
"Shit," Owen swore as he stared at his handheld scanner. He nudged Gwen away, slapped away Jack's arm around his middle and ripped open his shirt.
"God," Gwen moaned at the purple-black bruise just under Jack's ribs.
Jack's eyes were wide, colorless as his breathing thinned to a wheeze.
"Owen?" Ianto asked. He covered Jack's grip with both his hands.
Owen slapped an ambu bag into his lap.
"Get him calm," Owen ordered. "That blow inflamed the womb lining. It's pressing up against Jack's diaphragm so his lungs can't expand. He's hyperventilating."
"But he's breathing," Gwen protested as she dropped by Jack's left to brace him when he started to sway.
"He's not taking in oxygen," Owen bit out as he pressed the handheld against the bruised torso. "That blow knocked right into the womb, Jack. Of all the rotten luck…"
"The baby?" Ianto asked because Jack couldn't.
Gloves snapped over Owen's hands. "Just the womb. It was surgically placed in. That Weevil's elbow snapped the connecting tissue right off and forced the womb up higher against his ribs." Owen slipped his hands around Jack's ribcage. He grimaced. "And thanks to his bloody hyper healing, it set the womb back in the wrong spot. If I can just break the adhesions…" Owen shot Jack a look.
"What? What?" Ianto demanded but Owen just grabbed the breathing mask and smashed it over Jack's mouth.
"Keep squeezing that bag. Don't stop until I tell you to," Owen said as he moved his hands over the bruised skin. Jack wheezed and gasped. His lips were turning blue. "I'm going to try and move that womb now."
"You're going to what?"
"Ianto! The bag!" Owen snarled. His hard expression eased when he looked at Jack. "It'll be fine. Just resetting the womb back where it should. Your metabolism should be able to sort out the rest. Just keep breathing."
Jack didn't speak. He couldn't. He merely squeezed his eyes shut in acceptance. Gwen wrapped an arm around his shoulders, another around his left bicep.
Ianto's hands cramped as he kept squeezing. "I'm right here," Ianto muttered by Jack's ear.
Jack's shoulders rose with each gulp of air. He leaned against Ianto, his mouth agape behind the mask.
Owen set his jaw and pressed on Jack's chest. Hard.
Jack jolted, dropped on his rear completely and howled underneath the mask. His head banged on the edge of the car seat behind him. His arms lashed out on the car door, his legs bucked, nearly kicking Owen in the balls.
"Hold him still!" Owen barked as he tried to shuffle closer. He knelt higher, putting his weight on the heels of his palms and pushed.
Eyes wide, back arched, Jack was now fueled by instinct and pain. His fists flew, collided with Gwen's knee, grazed Owen's chin and knocked the ambu bag off his face. The horrible sawing sounds of dry breathing returned. Louder. Faster.
"Keep him calm!" Owen shouted. He sat on Jack's legs and tried again.
Ianto fumbled until he found the ambu bag again. He slapped the mask back over Jack's mouth; Gwen held it in place with her hand.
Jack's head rocked in agony as Owen muttered, "Come on, come on", the heel of one hand dug deep over Jack's chest, the other hand holding the handheld scanner close to his face.
Ianto, with his free hand, hugged Jack's head to his shoulder and began to talk. About anything. About everything. About the articles he read, the horrifying stories of odd foods he encountered, about how he had rung up his sister a few times to ask her only to hang up on her when he heard her voice, about how he liked to sleep with one hand on Jack's stomach to see if he could feel the baby even if it was too early.
Seconds, minutes, or perhaps hours passed before Owen finally hoarsely told Ianto to stop.
"That should do it," Owen rasped. He eased off Jack's legs and sat back on his heels. He peeled off the thin gloves with his teeth.
Ianto was afraid to stop squeezing the air bag, but then Jack weakly touched his hand. Ianto reluctantly lowered the ambu bag. He winced.
"Sorry," Ianto murmured. He wiped at the reddened outline of the mask on Jack's face. He made a shaky smile.
"Well," Ianto tried to keep his voice light and steady, "at least this answers one question on how bad the labor might be."
Jack head-butted him weakly on the shoulder and huffed out a barely audible laugh.
"Womb's lower. Should be easier to breathe now," Owen reported. He exhaled a long sigh before lowering the scanner.
"Jack?" Gwen shuffled around to crouch in front of Jack. "How do you feel?"
Jack blinked half-mast at her. He ran his tongue across his lower lip, coughed before he tried to speak.
"S-so," Jack whispered, his mouth twitching in an attempt to smile, "no C-CPR then?"
Gwen stared at him. Then she burst into a mess of tears and choked laughter even as she slapped Jack on the knee.
It was agreed that Jack should be taken back to the flat and for once, Jack didn't protest that a decision was being made without him. He dozed lightly on Ianto's shoulder in the backseat of his car while Gwen drove the SUV and their captured Weevil back to Torchwood. Jack was far too quiet for Ianto's liking and Owen wisely didn't argue with Ianto when he declared he was going back with the men instead. Jack merely looked at the two with hooded eyes and shuffled between Ianto and Owen up the stairs.
Owen sat Ianto down on the living room couch and advised him not to "do anything or say anything stupid" before he herded Jack into the bedroom for a closer examination.
Ianto stared at the telly dark and silent. Shadows stretched as time past. He sat there, thinking about how small their living room was, how a crib could possibly fit where the bookcase was by the corner away from the windows. He thought about a baby with his eyes, maybe Jack's smile and suddenly, it was like waking up from a long sleep.
He's going to be a father.
It was an echo that ran through his head all this time, suddenly clearer and louder. Ianto released a breath and his gut unclenched.
They were both going to be fathers.
Ianto jumped to his feet when Owen finally emerged.
"Everything looks stable," Owen sighed as he removed the stethoscope from around his neck and tucked it in his medical kit. "The womb hasn't moved back up, new adhesions have anchored it lower." Owen paused at the sight of Ianto on his feet.
"The baby's all right. Jack's respiration is back to normal." Owen nodded back to the bedroom behind him. "Gave him something to make him sleep and for the pain. Probably won't be hungry later but tomorrow, stick with liquids and soft foods. Make sure it goes down properly." Owen gave him a shrewd look.
"See you in two days, aye?"
Ianto ran a hand through his hair and nodded. He watched Owen as he headed for the door. He cleared his throat when the medic reached for the knob.
"Owen. I…" Again, words failed him.
Owen glanced up. Something flickered across his face and a smile quirked. "Yeah," he just grunted and banged his kit on the threshold twice before he left. Ianto stood in the dark staring after the door. After a few moments, when it felt like his heart had finally slowed to a more reasonable beat, Ianto took a deep breath before entering the bedroom.
Ianto stood by the door and watched Jack for a few minutes.
Jack was asleep, as Owen said, on top of the blankets. He still looked ashen with dark smudges under his eyes, but thankfully, Jack had lost that pale, blue tinge to his skin from being starved for oxygen. One sleeve was rolled up for the pressure cuff, his boots askew under the bed.
Perhaps sensing the scrutiny, Jack's eyes drifted open. Half-mast, he met Ianto's eyes across the room.
"You should be resting," Ianto said quietly.
Jack wordlessly arched an eyebrow at him. His hand did a lazy floppy pat on the space next to him on the bed.
"You need sleep." Nevertheless, Ianto carefully removed his shoes, socks and trousers, slipped off his shirt and tugged the blankets out from under Jack's legs. Ianto brushed aside Jack's drowsy attempts to help and slipped his shirt and trousers off, leaving Jack in his white t-shirt and shorts. Ianto planted a light kiss on Jack's hair before slipping in and pulling the covers up past Jack's shoulders. Jack turned to his side, sighing as Ianto fitted behind him, limbs tucked under limbs, arms curled around Jack's middle.
Ianto grimaced as his hands brushed over the area that was bruised; it was still warm under the worn cotton t-shirt.
"Does it still hurt?" Ianto asked as he settled his hands over where the womb was now, closer to his belly button.
Jack's hands joined him.
"A little," Jack admitted, his voice a gravelly rasp. His fingers laced with Ianto's over his stomach. Tentatively, Jack took a breath. "But it's getting better." His laugh came out as a puff of air. "Advantages of immortality, I guess." Jack shifted in Ianto's loose embrace. "Also what had me nearly losing the baby, too." Jack took a deep breath. "If I died…"
Ianto placed a gentle kiss to the back of Jack's neck. "You didn't."
"But if I had. I…I don't know if the baby would have survived or…" Jack's voice hitched. "Or if everything just resets like she never existed."
Ice wormed into Ianto's gut. He pressed his face to Jack's shoulder from behind.
"I was scared," Ianto admitted because it felt easier to in the dark. "I wasn't sure what was happening and watching Owen and all I could do was…I never felt that helpless before."
Jack tilted his head back and rubbed his chin against Ianto. "Yeah," he said hoarsely, "same here."
Ianto laughed bitterly. "Doubtful. You were pregnant before, you know what to expect—"
There was a minute flinch, a grimace Ianto never would have noticed if they weren't pressed so closely together.
"Ah," Ianto exhaled slowly. He wiggled closer under the duvet until their bare legs brushed. Ianto rubbed his foot along the firm curve of Jack's left ankle. He was oddly reminded of how Lisa used to do that for him after he woke up from a nightmare. How odd; it felt perfectly all right for him to do the same for Jack.
"I was pregnant, Ianto, but back then, I was just a guy, not a doctor or specialist."
Was there ever a day Jack Harkness was just a guy, Ianto wondered absently. He couldn't imagine. He carefully rubbed Jack's abdomen and tried to envision the womb inside. It was easier to picture now.
"All that research," Jack forced out, "you were doing. I don't know if any of that applies to me. Some things feel familiar but others? I don't know if it's normal. Hell, I lost the first—"
"You didn't lose anything," Ianto interrupted. Jack's shoulders were stiff and pressed uncomfortably to his chest. "It wasn't because of you. It happened."
"How would you know?" Jack's voice was gruff with self-loathing. "Even I don't know."
"Because you're going to have our baby," Ianto told him. He could still feel the tensed shoulders like the edge of a desk against him. "We won't let anything happen to it."
"There wasn't enough time for me to fully appreciate I was pregnant back then until…" Jack drew in a shuddering breath. "When I recovered and they told me she had died, I realized then how much I'd really wanted her."
It wasn't clear who made the wet sniff but Ianto rested his head on the back of Jack's neck.
"I'd really wanted her, Ianto. But I realized it too late." Jack squeezed Ianto's fingers. "I'm not pretending I'm not pregnant. I'm just…nervous." Jack made a self-deprecating snort. "It's kind of hard to believe I'm going to be a father."
Ianto smiled against Jack's skin. "I think that's normal." He was sure of it. It was the one thing he was certain of. Ianto nuzzled the back of Jack's head.
Jack moved his palms around Ianto's arms. "So what now?"
"I think, for one, we should consider putting you on light field duty," Ianto murmured. He could feel Jack shift and suddenly he was staring at blank eyes. Ianto rubbed a thumb across Jack's lower lip. "No Weevil hunting, nothing too risky…"
"Unless warranted." Jack mirrored Ianto's gesture. "If we can't spare the manpower, Ianto, I can't just stand back and do nothing."
"We could…" Ianto hesitated. "We could consider recruiting Martha Jones for the time being."
There was a fear Ianto understood that flickered across Jack's expression.
"I'm sure she won't tell him if we ask her not to."
The worry eased only a fraction. "He might force me to go back to my time to protect the timelines."
He'll have to get past me first, Ianto thought fiercely. "He would have done so already, but all right, we'll only think about it for now."
Jack brushed his lips across Ianto's mouth. Ianto shuddered as he felt hands gliding down to the slit in his shorts. Fingertips grazed overheated skin.
"How about…" Ianto managed not to squeak when Jack's searching fingers grasped him and squeezed.
"H-how about m-moving the bookcase into the bedroom and we put the crib there." Ianto hated himself for wiggling back but he needed to think and Jack needed rest. "The crib would be away but still be close enough to hear the baby and we can still have our p-privacy."
Jack's smile was a dangerous mix of sleepiness and coy. "Privacy is good. Privacy can be fun. I like privacy."
Help. Ianto swallowed a whimper when Jack…reached again.
"And the greenhouse?" Ianto stammered. Damn Jack and his hands. He shifted his hips and Jack chuckled as he tugged his shorts down. "It could be a good spot, strategically, for a nursery."
Jack withdrew—Ianto couldn't decide if that was good or not—and he considered Ianto.
"You were really thinking about this," Jack noted. "You wanted to ask me all this before, didn't you?" Jack sighed. "I wasn't really receptive then, huh?"
"Well…" Ianto bit back a smile. "Getting Whitehall to concede they were wrong would be easier."
Jack cuffed Ianto lightly on the head. He snickered when Ianto growled.
"I think I'm ready," Ianto murmured, sobering. They drew close enough for their noses to touch.
"Ready?" Jack's eyes lightened. He cupped Ianto's face. A knee slipped in-between Ianto's legs and Jack arched closer until the heated swell in Jack's shorts brushed against Ianto's cock, rubbing until Ianto found himself feeling heady.
"Definitely ready," Ianto moaned before he snaked an arm around Jack's middle. Their chests bumped against each other as he stared hard into Jack. "Completely ready."
"I want this baby too," Jack whispered. His hands shook when he wrapped them around Ianto. "I just…all those questions you wanted to ask me before…I hate to admit it, but I don't think I have the answers."
Ianto pulled Jack closer, their lips a hair's breath away. "I think we can find the answers together."
Jack's eyes flitted across Ianto's face, mapping everything as if seeking a truth only he was looking for. His eyes widened and Jack swallowed. He hovered his mouth over Ianto's, his heart thumping serenely against Ianto's chest as their limbs tangled.
"Together," Jack agreed throatily before he made his vow over Ianto's lips, sealing the promise.
The End
Master Fic List: here
Additional Note: As you may have noticed by now, some of the fics in this series will be written out of order, hence the Month 1, Month 2 designation. The timeline of this series' chapters are as follows:
1. Month 0: Sex Education
2. Month 0: The Key To Appropriate Proclaimations In A More Personal Matter
3. Month 1: Detours
4. Pillow Talk
5. Month 2: Wednesday Evening
6. Month 3: Name Calling
Part 1
IV. And try, and try…
It bounced off his ear.
"Idiot."
Another ricocheted off his cheek.
Ianto pressed his lips together into a thin line. "Do you mind?" Ianto grated out.
"Nope." Something pinged off the top of his head. Owen sat across the meeting table and four seats down, his legs crossed, feet on the table, pelting Ianto with tiny chalky projectiles from an amber vial on his lap.
"So that's it?" Owen demanded. He dropped his feet loudly to the floor. "You told him you weren't ready? That you didn't want the baby?"
Ianto thumped his head on the glass surface. "Yes—No, I didn't say I didn't want the baby."
"'I don't think I'm ready to ask,'" Owen mimicked, sounding more like a cartoon than a proper Welshman. "His pressure was one thirty over ninety this morning. Shit, Jonesy. What do you think that sounds like?"
"I meant…I just meant that I wasn't sure what we should do next. T-that I wasn't ready yet, that I…" Ianto lifted bleary eyes at Owen. "Yes. I suppose that's exactly how it sounded to him."
"Prat." A white dot bounced off the glass and struck him on the brow when Ianto looked up.
Ianto stared beyond the glass walls to the Hub below. The other three weren't back from interviewing the witnesses yet. A two meters tall beast with a boar's head sniffing around rift cracks was hard to ignore; far too many people had rung up 999. Jack pointedly grabbed his greatcoat before Ianto could, breezily declared he was driving and left with a bewildered Gwen and Tosh scrambling to catch up.
"You couldn't have said it another way?" Owen asked pelting off Ianto’s chin now. "Imbecile."
"At the time, I didn—Would you stop that, please?" Ianto snapped. He swatted the next projectile. It clattered to the table. Ianto frowned and picked up the elongated white pill. "What in the world are you throwing at me?" Ianto demanded.
Owen scowled. "Vitamins," he informed Ianto. "Prenatal vitamins. Which Jack refused to take." Owen tossed another one, which Ianto ducked easily.
"Maybe Jack wouldn't take them because you referred to them as prenatal!"
"That's what they are!" Owen shot back. "I'm not giving him candy! Nearly bit my head off when I gave them to him. Now I know why!"
Ianto's shoulders hunched. He stared at the pill he held.
Owen sighed. "If you have questions, you could have asked me," Owen scolded. "I'm not a gynecologist but our captain can't really see one either."
"He acts like it's not a big deal," Ianto murmured. He idly picked up the vitamins off his lap, the table and gathered them in a pile in front of him.
"Bollocks. It's a very big deal for him."
"Then he should act like it!" Ianto slapped a hand on the table and the pills jump.
"What? You want him to wring his hands and weep?"
"No, I…" Ianto shook his head. "Why am I the only one anxious about this?"
Owen snorted and another supplement bounced off Ianto's collar. "Trust me, everyone's all buggered about this. The girls are already planning on all the shit they're going to buy. Your child is going to be spoiled rotten, mate."
Ianto smiled tightly. It still felt odd to hear about the baby being referred to as his. Ianto poked around the pills until they all lined up in front of him.
Owen grunted as he rose to his feet. He tossed a small bottle to Ianto.
"You better get him to eat those." Owen paused at the door. He spun around and scowled at him. "His bp goes any higher, I'm giving you a vasectomy."
The rattling of the vial alerted Jack to his approach before Ianto was ready.
"I uh…" Ianto ran his tongue across his lower lip. He lifted up the vitamins and swallowed when Jack's face shuttered.
"I heard you weren't taking these." Ianto took another step into the office, a little braver when Jack merely grunted and looked at his paperwork.
Jack would only grunt in response.
Ianto gingerly sat on the edge of the desk and tucked the vial in his pocket. Jack's silence was unnerving. It was easier in the dark; both stripped and huddled under blankets and not stoicism. Here, in the stark hours of day, the words stuck in his throat.
"I want this baby, Jack," Ianto said quietly. "Never doubt that. I just…" He took a deep breath. "I just wish there was a manual telling me what to do."
Jack lifted up his eyes at Ianto. The corner of his mouth quirked.
Encouraged, Ianto cautiously lifted up the bag of magazines taken from the boot of his car.
"There's…a lot of information out there about…babies." Ianto gingerly set the bag on the desk. Jack made no move to take them.
"I know you said this was common when you're from, but you’ve got to understand…" Ianto lifted his hands helplessly. "I'm from here. I…I'm lost, Jack." Ianto lowered his hands. "I know there're things we need to do, to expect and I want to do them. I swear but I don't know where to start. This still all feels…"
"Surreal," Jack murmured, his voice hoarse.
Ianto smiled wanly at his partner. "Yeah."
Jack studied the magazines on the desk. He tentatively pushed them apart with a finger, his eyes scanning the covers. He then looked up. Wordlessly, Jack extended out his hand, palm up.
"Thank you, cariad," Ianto whispered softly. He pulled out the bottle from his pocket and pressed it into Jack's hand.
"Swollen breasts?
Jack snorted, pulled out the neckline of his white t-shirt and peered inside. He looked up and smiled tightly at Ianto sitting on the bed to his left.
"Sorry, honey, I don't think that's going to happen."
Ianto curled up the magazine he was reading, reached out of the heavy blankets piled on top of them, careful of the dinner tray over their legs and swatted Jack lightly on the shoulder with it. Jack replied with a rather very impolite snort before he gestured towards the article on his lap.
"Your body may begin exhibiting pregnancy symptoms like bloating, cramping, and mood swings that feel similar to premenstrual symptoms," Jack read out loud.
Ianto arched an eyebrow and leaned in to squint at the page. He blinked up at Jack, who gazed back at Ianto with a wide-eyed stare of his own.
"H-how are you feeling tonight?" Ianto tried.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not," Jack checked the article, "bloated, cramping, or moody nor do I have tender breasts, queasiness, fatigue, or swollen ankles, either!"
Ianto sat back. He pursed his lips.
"You may want to consider editing that last statement," Ianto finally said, "because I would say you are moody."
Jack shot him an annoyed look before he heaved a sigh and dropped down on the mound of pillows next to him. Jack flipped through the rest of the magazine with a sullen expression.
Ianto watched Jack for a few moments. "It's just a list. Not everyone exhibits the same symptoms."
"Yeah." One flip nearly tore a page out.
"These are just to see if there're any similarities," Ianto tried again.
Another flip and a subscription card flitted out.
Ianto studied Jack. "May I remind you, that this advice, in this century, is all we have?"
Jack gave up trying to read. He jabbed a finger at the picture of a mother on a mat, practicing Lamaze. "Seriously?"
Ianto coughed delicately into a fist. He remembered seeing that photo and for the entire day, he had contemplated buying a yoga mat. "I very much doubt there will be any articles written about a male pregnancy."
"Not yet," Jack grumbled. He sighed and sank lower into the bed. He stared at the ceiling.
Ianto turned on his side and studied Jack's shadowed expression.
"I guess Mr. Spock's not going to write a book I can use anytime soon," Jack muttered.
Ianto kissed a bare arm closest to him and swept a hand down the worn cotton draped over the flat planes of Jack's middle before a spread palm rested feather light at a spot over Jack's belly button.
"Doctor Spock," Ianto corrected. He could feel Jack curling towards him, leaning towards his touch with a quiet hunger Ianto ached to think might not have been quenched before. He slipped his hand under the shirt and rubbed over the defined muscles that flexed under his touch. Ianto tried to imagine the taut, warm skin curved, rounder, like the barista.
"The baby's not there, you know." Jack reached out his fingers long and strong curled around Ianto's wrists and guided Ianto higher until they were three fingers below Jack's diaphragm.
Ianto pressed carefully. He wasn't sure what he was expecting though. Jack was just five weeks, nowhere near showing yet. It felt odd to be expecting softness on a spot where Ianto usually felt rigid strength.
"Under your diaphragm?" Ianto's brow knitted together. "Doesn't that create a problem when the baby gets bigger?"
Jack squeezed Ianto's fingers and ran his hands over each one like there were artifacts. "Not right now." Jack's bare hip rubbed against Ianto's. "When the baby gets bigger, the womb would reposition itself lower." Jack, with Ianto's hands, kneaded the spot. "But not for a while. I won't really start showing until my last trimester."
The conversation, Ianto decided as he rubbed fingers into the upper muscles that flexed whenever Jack breathed, gets stranger each day. They were using vocabulary like fetuses and trimesters far too casually like the weather. Jack said them with all the practiced familiarity of whatever time Jack originated from. It made Ianto feel antiquated.
"So ah…" Ianto hedged. He squirmed in bed. He hated that all he could think of was more questions, far too many to pin down.
"Have you figured out what you wanted to ask yet?" Jack mumbled. He grimaced towards the magazines piled over the duvet. "Or did those answer them for you?"
"Should they?" Ianto asked Jack, but Jack never responded.
V. And try again…
A week had gone by since Jack's news. A week since Ianto had discovered that he wasn't mentally equipped to deal with a pregnant partner, much less a pregnant man. Ianto tapped his pen against his chin as he puzzled over the ledger pad. He was making a list of what to do, of what he needed to start with. It was still blank.
Damn it.
It shouldn't be this hard. It shouldn't be this difficult to talk to Jack about this. Acceptance of the child came easily, why couldn't the rest fall in place? He'd made plans before: a flat in London, marry Lisa in the church his parents stood in, three children before he was thirty-five. He'd done it all before, even planning for what to do when Lisa was too overcome with pain and begged to die. It was all planned out, sorted in order of importance, filed along a schedule that had irrevocably changed after Lisa died and Jack filled the hollow, gnawing ache inside.
Ianto wrote down very carefully 'nursery in Hub' and ended it with a question mark. Jack never said if he wanted one or not. He scowled at the wall where the secret passage was, where Jack had sailed out with Gwen to go on yet another Weevil alert. He grinned at Ianto, gave him a wink and exited with the kind of bold flourish only Jack Harkness could pull off. Ianto nearly called him back. Gwen gave him a quick nod, a silent promise, over her shoulder and she went after Jack.
The pen tip on the pad snapped and tore the paper.
Ianto sat in the Tourist office, fighting the urge to throw his pen at the clock when a call came through his earpiece.
"Where's your car?" Owen asked tersely, without preamble.
Ianto raised an eyebrow. "By the garage, what about your car—"
"Yours is closer." Owen could be heard running. "Run. Get it, meet me by the invisible lift."
Ianto was already locking the office, flipping the 'Closed' sign. "Owen?"
There were harsh rasps of rummaging; Tosh could be heard shouting something in the background.
"Not now," Owen bit out. It wasn't clear whom Owen was talking to.
A chill ran down his body. "Is it Gwen and Jack?"
"Yeah."
Ianto started running.
Ianto didn't wait for the passenger door to shut completely. He didn't even wait for the medic to put on his seatbelt. Ianto pressed on the petrol and wheels squealed as his car made a turn sharp enough to send Owen crashing into the gear paddles.
Owen didn't complain.
The medical kit Owen held over his lap made Ianto's throat tighten. Owen didn't look up as he jammed both hands into the kit, checking he had everything.
"Where?" Ianto barely managed out. He groaned at the location Owen barked to him as he slung his stethoscope around his neck. "I'll have to take the highway."
"I don't care if you have to sprout wings and fly!" Owen snapped. "Just get us there!"
"What happened?" Ianto gritted out as he cut in front of a coupe abruptly.
"Not sure." Owen clutched the dashboard, his knuckles white. "Gwen just called and said we needed to be there fast."
"Not Jack?" Ianto squeezed the steering wheel until his palms burned.
The trill ring of Owen's mobile interrupted whatever the medic was going to say. Owen slapped his mobile on. "Tosh, go ahead!"
"Ianto? Where are you two now?" Tosh demanded, foregoing the greeting.
The signs zipped by. "Approaching Bute, I'm about to turn into—"
"Stay on Bute. Take the street," Tosh advised. "The distance is shorter."
"Yeah but we'll be twice as long waiting for those bloody lights," Owen argued. He nodded towards the right. "The highway's more direct—"
"You just stay on Bute! I have you on GPS now!" Tosh could be heard typing fast. "Leave it to me!"
"Owen," Ianto warned as he drew closer and closer to a red light. Traffic sped by in front of him perpendicularly on James.
"Keep going!" Tosh ordered.
Owen stared at the cars in front of them, not stopping. The red light from afar blinked languidly. "Tosh…"
Ianto clutched the wheel.
"Ianto, just bloody go!" Tosh shouted.
Ianto gritted his teeth, Owen muttered a prayer and Ianto slammed his foot on the pedal all the way to the car floor. The distance between the traffic and their car shrank.
"Christ," Ianto ground out and braced.
The light turned green just as their car sailed under it. Behind them, Ianto could hear brakes.
"Bloody hell!" Owen bolted up in his seat. "What did you do?" He gaped at the row of green lights stretched as far as the eye can see.
"I told you," Tosh said smugly, "leave the lights to me."
Ianto smiled grimly as Owen hooted. "Thanks, Tosh," Ianto murmured.
"Just get there," Tosh replied. "Keep this line open so I can keep you on GPS. I have your ETA as seven minutes."
Owen grabbed Ianto by the arm.
"I need you to make it in four," Owen said tightly.
Ianto nodded and cut sharply in front of a lorry truck without hesitation.
Heart hammering—there were a few close calls—Ianto sighted the SUV wedged in front of an alley. When Owen swore, Ianto took another look and saw Gwen and Jack with his greatcoat flapping wildly around his legs. At first glance, they both looked fine standing by the opened driver's door. At second glance though, Ianto saw Jack clinging to the SUV's door, Gwen's hand on his back, another gripping Jack's arm.
Then Jack's knees buckled. Gwen cried out.
Owen darted out of the car before it came to a complete spot.
It felt like the car went up the curb. Something metallic crunched. Ianto didn't know. He didn't care. He struggled out of his seatbelt, stumbled out of the driver's seat and was running right behind Owen.
As Ianto drew near, he could hear it: Jack's breathing. It was harsh, quick and barely recognizable as human. Jack was on his knees, doubled over, wheezing, one hand on his chest, one arm wrapped around his middle. The air vents inside the SUV were full on, howling above their heads with its miniature winds.
"Keep at it!" Gwen was pleading with Jack. She was hunched over Jack. She sounded close to tears. "They're here. Do you hear me? Owen's here, Jack."
"Details!" Owen barked even as he dropped to his knees besides Jack. "Jack, Jack, we're here. You gotta take slow breaths. Come on, mate…"
Ianto reached Jack on the other side just as Gwen babbled something about a Weevil where there shouldn't be one, an elbow during the struggle, Jack winded as they carried the Weevil back.
"…and then I realized he still couldn't catch his breath," Gwen babbled. "I turned on the vents on his face. That helped for a little while."
"Jack?" Ianto called out. Jack's only reply was the fist around his chest shot out to clutch a handful of Ianto's jacket.
"Shit," Owen swore as he stared at his handheld scanner. He nudged Gwen away, slapped away Jack's arm around his middle and ripped open his shirt.
"God," Gwen moaned at the purple-black bruise just under Jack's ribs.
Jack's eyes were wide, colorless as his breathing thinned to a wheeze.
"Owen?" Ianto asked. He covered Jack's grip with both his hands.
Owen slapped an ambu bag into his lap.
"Get him calm," Owen ordered. "That blow inflamed the womb lining. It's pressing up against Jack's diaphragm so his lungs can't expand. He's hyperventilating."
"But he's breathing," Gwen protested as she dropped by Jack's left to brace him when he started to sway.
"He's not taking in oxygen," Owen bit out as he pressed the handheld against the bruised torso. "That blow knocked right into the womb, Jack. Of all the rotten luck…"
"The baby?" Ianto asked because Jack couldn't.
Gloves snapped over Owen's hands. "Just the womb. It was surgically placed in. That Weevil's elbow snapped the connecting tissue right off and forced the womb up higher against his ribs." Owen slipped his hands around Jack's ribcage. He grimaced. "And thanks to his bloody hyper healing, it set the womb back in the wrong spot. If I can just break the adhesions…" Owen shot Jack a look.
"What? What?" Ianto demanded but Owen just grabbed the breathing mask and smashed it over Jack's mouth.
"Keep squeezing that bag. Don't stop until I tell you to," Owen said as he moved his hands over the bruised skin. Jack wheezed and gasped. His lips were turning blue. "I'm going to try and move that womb now."
"You're going to what?"
"Ianto! The bag!" Owen snarled. His hard expression eased when he looked at Jack. "It'll be fine. Just resetting the womb back where it should. Your metabolism should be able to sort out the rest. Just keep breathing."
Jack didn't speak. He couldn't. He merely squeezed his eyes shut in acceptance. Gwen wrapped an arm around his shoulders, another around his left bicep.
Ianto's hands cramped as he kept squeezing. "I'm right here," Ianto muttered by Jack's ear.
Jack's shoulders rose with each gulp of air. He leaned against Ianto, his mouth agape behind the mask.
Owen set his jaw and pressed on Jack's chest. Hard.
Jack jolted, dropped on his rear completely and howled underneath the mask. His head banged on the edge of the car seat behind him. His arms lashed out on the car door, his legs bucked, nearly kicking Owen in the balls.
"Hold him still!" Owen barked as he tried to shuffle closer. He knelt higher, putting his weight on the heels of his palms and pushed.
Eyes wide, back arched, Jack was now fueled by instinct and pain. His fists flew, collided with Gwen's knee, grazed Owen's chin and knocked the ambu bag off his face. The horrible sawing sounds of dry breathing returned. Louder. Faster.
"Keep him calm!" Owen shouted. He sat on Jack's legs and tried again.
Ianto fumbled until he found the ambu bag again. He slapped the mask back over Jack's mouth; Gwen held it in place with her hand.
Jack's head rocked in agony as Owen muttered, "Come on, come on", the heel of one hand dug deep over Jack's chest, the other hand holding the handheld scanner close to his face.
Ianto, with his free hand, hugged Jack's head to his shoulder and began to talk. About anything. About everything. About the articles he read, the horrifying stories of odd foods he encountered, about how he had rung up his sister a few times to ask her only to hang up on her when he heard her voice, about how he liked to sleep with one hand on Jack's stomach to see if he could feel the baby even if it was too early.
Seconds, minutes, or perhaps hours passed before Owen finally hoarsely told Ianto to stop.
"That should do it," Owen rasped. He eased off Jack's legs and sat back on his heels. He peeled off the thin gloves with his teeth.
Ianto was afraid to stop squeezing the air bag, but then Jack weakly touched his hand. Ianto reluctantly lowered the ambu bag. He winced.
"Sorry," Ianto murmured. He wiped at the reddened outline of the mask on Jack's face. He made a shaky smile.
"Well," Ianto tried to keep his voice light and steady, "at least this answers one question on how bad the labor might be."
Jack head-butted him weakly on the shoulder and huffed out a barely audible laugh.
"Womb's lower. Should be easier to breathe now," Owen reported. He exhaled a long sigh before lowering the scanner.
"Jack?" Gwen shuffled around to crouch in front of Jack. "How do you feel?"
Jack blinked half-mast at her. He ran his tongue across his lower lip, coughed before he tried to speak.
"S-so," Jack whispered, his mouth twitching in an attempt to smile, "no C-CPR then?"
Gwen stared at him. Then she burst into a mess of tears and choked laughter even as she slapped Jack on the knee.
It was agreed that Jack should be taken back to the flat and for once, Jack didn't protest that a decision was being made without him. He dozed lightly on Ianto's shoulder in the backseat of his car while Gwen drove the SUV and their captured Weevil back to Torchwood. Jack was far too quiet for Ianto's liking and Owen wisely didn't argue with Ianto when he declared he was going back with the men instead. Jack merely looked at the two with hooded eyes and shuffled between Ianto and Owen up the stairs.
Owen sat Ianto down on the living room couch and advised him not to "do anything or say anything stupid" before he herded Jack into the bedroom for a closer examination.
Ianto stared at the telly dark and silent. Shadows stretched as time past. He sat there, thinking about how small their living room was, how a crib could possibly fit where the bookcase was by the corner away from the windows. He thought about a baby with his eyes, maybe Jack's smile and suddenly, it was like waking up from a long sleep.
He's going to be a father.
It was an echo that ran through his head all this time, suddenly clearer and louder. Ianto released a breath and his gut unclenched.
They were both going to be fathers.
Ianto jumped to his feet when Owen finally emerged.
"Everything looks stable," Owen sighed as he removed the stethoscope from around his neck and tucked it in his medical kit. "The womb hasn't moved back up, new adhesions have anchored it lower." Owen paused at the sight of Ianto on his feet.
"The baby's all right. Jack's respiration is back to normal." Owen nodded back to the bedroom behind him. "Gave him something to make him sleep and for the pain. Probably won't be hungry later but tomorrow, stick with liquids and soft foods. Make sure it goes down properly." Owen gave him a shrewd look.
"See you in two days, aye?"
Ianto ran a hand through his hair and nodded. He watched Owen as he headed for the door. He cleared his throat when the medic reached for the knob.
"Owen. I…" Again, words failed him.
Owen glanced up. Something flickered across his face and a smile quirked. "Yeah," he just grunted and banged his kit on the threshold twice before he left. Ianto stood in the dark staring after the door. After a few moments, when it felt like his heart had finally slowed to a more reasonable beat, Ianto took a deep breath before entering the bedroom.
Ianto stood by the door and watched Jack for a few minutes.
Jack was asleep, as Owen said, on top of the blankets. He still looked ashen with dark smudges under his eyes, but thankfully, Jack had lost that pale, blue tinge to his skin from being starved for oxygen. One sleeve was rolled up for the pressure cuff, his boots askew under the bed.
Perhaps sensing the scrutiny, Jack's eyes drifted open. Half-mast, he met Ianto's eyes across the room.
"You should be resting," Ianto said quietly.
Jack wordlessly arched an eyebrow at him. His hand did a lazy floppy pat on the space next to him on the bed.
"You need sleep." Nevertheless, Ianto carefully removed his shoes, socks and trousers, slipped off his shirt and tugged the blankets out from under Jack's legs. Ianto brushed aside Jack's drowsy attempts to help and slipped his shirt and trousers off, leaving Jack in his white t-shirt and shorts. Ianto planted a light kiss on Jack's hair before slipping in and pulling the covers up past Jack's shoulders. Jack turned to his side, sighing as Ianto fitted behind him, limbs tucked under limbs, arms curled around Jack's middle.
Ianto grimaced as his hands brushed over the area that was bruised; it was still warm under the worn cotton t-shirt.
"Does it still hurt?" Ianto asked as he settled his hands over where the womb was now, closer to his belly button.
Jack's hands joined him.
"A little," Jack admitted, his voice a gravelly rasp. His fingers laced with Ianto's over his stomach. Tentatively, Jack took a breath. "But it's getting better." His laugh came out as a puff of air. "Advantages of immortality, I guess." Jack shifted in Ianto's loose embrace. "Also what had me nearly losing the baby, too." Jack took a deep breath. "If I died…"
Ianto placed a gentle kiss to the back of Jack's neck. "You didn't."
"But if I had. I…I don't know if the baby would have survived or…" Jack's voice hitched. "Or if everything just resets like she never existed."
Ice wormed into Ianto's gut. He pressed his face to Jack's shoulder from behind.
"I was scared," Ianto admitted because it felt easier to in the dark. "I wasn't sure what was happening and watching Owen and all I could do was…I never felt that helpless before."
Jack tilted his head back and rubbed his chin against Ianto. "Yeah," he said hoarsely, "same here."
Ianto laughed bitterly. "Doubtful. You were pregnant before, you know what to expect—"
There was a minute flinch, a grimace Ianto never would have noticed if they weren't pressed so closely together.
"Ah," Ianto exhaled slowly. He wiggled closer under the duvet until their bare legs brushed. Ianto rubbed his foot along the firm curve of Jack's left ankle. He was oddly reminded of how Lisa used to do that for him after he woke up from a nightmare. How odd; it felt perfectly all right for him to do the same for Jack.
"I was pregnant, Ianto, but back then, I was just a guy, not a doctor or specialist."
Was there ever a day Jack Harkness was just a guy, Ianto wondered absently. He couldn't imagine. He carefully rubbed Jack's abdomen and tried to envision the womb inside. It was easier to picture now.
"All that research," Jack forced out, "you were doing. I don't know if any of that applies to me. Some things feel familiar but others? I don't know if it's normal. Hell, I lost the first—"
"You didn't lose anything," Ianto interrupted. Jack's shoulders were stiff and pressed uncomfortably to his chest. "It wasn't because of you. It happened."
"How would you know?" Jack's voice was gruff with self-loathing. "Even I don't know."
"Because you're going to have our baby," Ianto told him. He could still feel the tensed shoulders like the edge of a desk against him. "We won't let anything happen to it."
"There wasn't enough time for me to fully appreciate I was pregnant back then until…" Jack drew in a shuddering breath. "When I recovered and they told me she had died, I realized then how much I'd really wanted her."
It wasn't clear who made the wet sniff but Ianto rested his head on the back of Jack's neck.
"I'd really wanted her, Ianto. But I realized it too late." Jack squeezed Ianto's fingers. "I'm not pretending I'm not pregnant. I'm just…nervous." Jack made a self-deprecating snort. "It's kind of hard to believe I'm going to be a father."
Ianto smiled against Jack's skin. "I think that's normal." He was sure of it. It was the one thing he was certain of. Ianto nuzzled the back of Jack's head.
Jack moved his palms around Ianto's arms. "So what now?"
"I think, for one, we should consider putting you on light field duty," Ianto murmured. He could feel Jack shift and suddenly he was staring at blank eyes. Ianto rubbed a thumb across Jack's lower lip. "No Weevil hunting, nothing too risky…"
"Unless warranted." Jack mirrored Ianto's gesture. "If we can't spare the manpower, Ianto, I can't just stand back and do nothing."
"We could…" Ianto hesitated. "We could consider recruiting Martha Jones for the time being."
There was a fear Ianto understood that flickered across Jack's expression.
"I'm sure she won't tell him if we ask her not to."
The worry eased only a fraction. "He might force me to go back to my time to protect the timelines."
He'll have to get past me first, Ianto thought fiercely. "He would have done so already, but all right, we'll only think about it for now."
Jack brushed his lips across Ianto's mouth. Ianto shuddered as he felt hands gliding down to the slit in his shorts. Fingertips grazed overheated skin.
"How about…" Ianto managed not to squeak when Jack's searching fingers grasped him and squeezed.
"H-how about m-moving the bookcase into the bedroom and we put the crib there." Ianto hated himself for wiggling back but he needed to think and Jack needed rest. "The crib would be away but still be close enough to hear the baby and we can still have our p-privacy."
Jack's smile was a dangerous mix of sleepiness and coy. "Privacy is good. Privacy can be fun. I like privacy."
Help. Ianto swallowed a whimper when Jack…reached again.
"And the greenhouse?" Ianto stammered. Damn Jack and his hands. He shifted his hips and Jack chuckled as he tugged his shorts down. "It could be a good spot, strategically, for a nursery."
Jack withdrew—Ianto couldn't decide if that was good or not—and he considered Ianto.
"You were really thinking about this," Jack noted. "You wanted to ask me all this before, didn't you?" Jack sighed. "I wasn't really receptive then, huh?"
"Well…" Ianto bit back a smile. "Getting Whitehall to concede they were wrong would be easier."
Jack cuffed Ianto lightly on the head. He snickered when Ianto growled.
"I think I'm ready," Ianto murmured, sobering. They drew close enough for their noses to touch.
"Ready?" Jack's eyes lightened. He cupped Ianto's face. A knee slipped in-between Ianto's legs and Jack arched closer until the heated swell in Jack's shorts brushed against Ianto's cock, rubbing until Ianto found himself feeling heady.
"Definitely ready," Ianto moaned before he snaked an arm around Jack's middle. Their chests bumped against each other as he stared hard into Jack. "Completely ready."
"I want this baby too," Jack whispered. His hands shook when he wrapped them around Ianto. "I just…all those questions you wanted to ask me before…I hate to admit it, but I don't think I have the answers."
Ianto pulled Jack closer, their lips a hair's breath away. "I think we can find the answers together."
Jack's eyes flitted across Ianto's face, mapping everything as if seeking a truth only he was looking for. His eyes widened and Jack swallowed. He hovered his mouth over Ianto's, his heart thumping serenely against Ianto's chest as their limbs tangled.
"Together," Jack agreed throatily before he made his vow over Ianto's lips, sealing the promise.
The End
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 07:50 am (UTC)I don't know if I commented enough on the previous parts to this series, but I've been reading, and I really wanted to see this, what came immediately/nearly immediately after Ianto finds out. I've never been/known anyone well who was currently pregnant, but it *feels* realistic and very *them*. Really touching and a pleasure to read.
Even knowing the later chapters, that was SO suspenseful!
Poor Jack. Gah.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 11:04 pm (UTC)Glad to know because I was worried that writing out of order did ruin the tension of the story. :)
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 07:58 am (UTC)Love this so much!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 11:04 pm (UTC)Men...so silly. LOL
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 10:13 am (UTC)*huggles them*
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 10:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 11:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 03:46 am (UTC)Ah, thats men for you. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 11:51 am (UTC)Even knowing that there is a month 2 and 3 I was really worried that Jack was going to lose the baby.
Great story!!!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 01:16 pm (UTC)Loved this wonderful angsty chapter. It is usually very hard to feel that Jack is in jeopardy. This worked so well.
Very good.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 03:17 pm (UTC)Brilliant fic!!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:01 am (UTC)Weeell, it IS Jack. :D
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 04:02 pm (UTC)"But Jack, you can't walk around naked. And your clothes don't fit anymore," Gwen looked at the box of maternity clothes. Tent dresses with huge bows on the front.
"Fine. I'll have Ianto adjust my trouser but I refuse to wear those!" Jack stormed out of his office, slamming the door behind him.
"Oh thank God that worked. I really didn't want to see Jack running around with his trouser's open and hanging off his hips anymore," Owen groaned and left the office also.
"Don't worry Gwen, we still have all those pictures of Jack stashed away. We can always look at them later." Gwen and Tosh giggled at each. They didn't mind having Jack running around the Hub half naked.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:18 am (UTC)I was glad to be posting it. This fic took a long time! LOL
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 05:36 pm (UTC)mpreg is one of my squicks usually but i just love this universe.
just amazing.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:25 am (UTC)Ah, men. Cacn't live with them...might as well make them live with each other. LOL
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:27 am (UTC)Yes, I nearly lost my coffee reading that. LOL
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 09:55 pm (UTC)He'll have to get past me first, Ianto thought fiercely.
--And possibly all your readers. I love him dearly, but no, Bad Time Lord! -hits on nose with rolled up newspaper-
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:28 am (UTC)Oh, not to worry, he's not too bad...:)
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Date: 2009-03-09 02:50 am (UTC)It's realistic and touching and fucking frightening lol, sounds a lot like pregnancy to me...
I absolutely love it, I think you are amazing, thanks for the update, this series rocks.
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Date: 2009-03-09 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 04:10 am (UTC)LOL...Uh, mommy doesn't support that kind of education, dear. :D School first, randomly smuuty Janto between Teaboy and Captain later. LOL!
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Date: 2009-03-09 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 11:37 pm (UTC)