Title: What to expect when you're expecting

Ianto pulled back from his hug with Jack as the reality of the situation began to sink in. It was easy to fly off the handle at Jack for suddenly turning up looking pregnant but now that Jack's explanation was beginning to settle in his mind, his brain turned to worry. The words "burst from the cocoon" stayed with him long after Jack had uttered them.

'You've only been out an hour,' Ianto said, remembering Jack tipping him a salute as he strode out of the hub. He hadn't even taken the SUV, preferring to make the mile long walk to where reports of strange creatures were being seen. Jack had found them alright, so it seemed, and then they'd taken advantage, impregnating him. With something Ianto preferred not to think about.

'They didn't do this to anyone else did they?'

Jack shook his head. 'No. I made sure of that.'

Of course he had, Ianto thought. Jack was exceedingly accomplished in making himself a target for alien threats in order to protect others.

'I had it under control, Jack added.' I thought they were both sedated. I was just about to call you to come collect them when one of them jumped me from behind. It didn't take long for them to do the deed.' He pulled the edge of his coat back, showing a circular hole in his side. It was like something acidic had eaten through his shirt and then pressed into the flesh beneath. 'They have these sucker things,' he explained. 'Inject the larval eggs into the host that way.'

Ianto saw the angry red patch where it had pressed against Jack's skin, marking him. 'Jesus,' he breathed.

'Yeah, they don't like to wine and dine you before pumping you full of fertilised eggs. Some aliens… Jack added, rolled his eyes in an attempt at humour which fell flat on Ianto.

'Where are the aliens now?'

Jack thumbed over his shoulder at the darkened alley just out of sight. 'Once they were done with me, I was done with them.'

Ianto swallowed hard. Jack was all about preserving life at all costs, but he could almost understand wanting to avenge what had been done to him. 'Guess I should go grab the bodies before anyone finds them.:

'Oh, no, no, no,' Jack said, grabbing Ianto's arm. 'I didn't kill them. Just gave them so much sedative they're gonna wake up in the middle of next week.'

'Oh.' Somehow Ianto had felt better about it thinking they were dead. He didn't like anyone hurting Jack. He tried to remain focused but it was hard with Jack standing there, belly bulging out a good six inches and pretending as if there was nothing wrong.

'Look, let's just get back to the hub. We can figure out the rest there.'

'Okay. Car's just around that corner,' Ianto said, indicating over his shoulder. 'I'll go get the aliens and load them in the boot. You just… stay here.

Jack rolled his eyes at Ianto. 'They're two hundred pounds each. You'll need a hand.'

'I can manage.'

'I'm not fragile. You don't have to worry about me. Yet anyway.'

It was Ianto's turn to snort in derision. 'I always worry about you.'

True to his word, Jack helped to carry the large ugly beasts to the car which Ianto brought round to the opening of the alleyway, reversing it into the entrance so they had as little distance to cover. The whole time he kept one eye on Jack, looking for any obvious signs of distress from his lover and boss. If he was in any discomfort he didn't show it.

As Ianto flipped the button on the key fob, unlocking the driver side door, Jack piped up. 'I can drive.'

He probably could, without adjusting the seat backwards a few inches yet. 'It's not far,' Ianto assured him. 'I'm sure you'll survive with me at the wheel.' He wanted to feel like he was in control for just a little while, their roles reversed as Jack's ability to make good decisions could arguably be impaired by his current situation. Situation was a good word for it, Ianto decided. Pregnant was not the word he wanted to accept. That wasn't what this was, so Jack seemed to imply. He was a host and nothing more.




They pulled into the underground car park and Ianto left their new captives in the boot. He activated a portable prison unit around them, even though Jack insisted they'd be out cold for days. The cell had enough battery life for at least twenty four hours, which gave them time enough to deal with more pressing matters.

'How do you spell it?' Ianto asked as they slipped through the side door into the main area of the hub. He was already striding toward his computer.

'Spell what?'

'The name of whatever those things are.'

'Oh. Wobzigtinata.' Ianto carefully typed each letter out on the keyboard, making sure he got the spelling correct. He wanted to know everything there was about them in their database so that he could at least be properly informed and terrified. Knowing was almost always inevitably worse.

The database didn't have much detail on the species other than classing them as highly dangerous and a risk to human life. It annoyed him that no one had recorded more detail, assuming these things had ever come here to Earth in the first place. He walked away from his computer, looking for Jack who had moved down into the medical bay and was plugging in the full body scanner. 'Tell me everything,' Ianto said, leaning over the railing and gripping it hard as Jack placed his palm down on the glass plate. It didn't take long for the device to project a large superimposed image of Jack's outline on the white tiled wall, flagging the unnatural red dots in his abdomen. 'How many?' Ianto asked, too scared to count them himself.

'Thirty eight,' Jack finally replied, looking a little pale himself. 'I didn't think I was out of it that long. I thought maybe it would only be a dozen at most.'

'How big do they get before they… you know.'

Jack made a fist indicating the approximate size. 'But we're not going to wait that long.'

'Obviously. We should call Gwen.' She might be on a well earned vacation in Spain but she'd want to know.

'No way.' Jack said. 'We can handle this.

Ianto barked out an incredulous laugh. 'Handle this? I can barely wrap my head around it. I don't know how you're faring.'

Jack turned and looked him straight in the eye. Standing there with his shirt hanging open and his belly bulging, starting to stretch at the white t-shirt underneath. There was a flickering moment where he looked like he wanted to smile and tell Ianto it would all be okay, but instead his expression remained stony and a little fearful. All that false bravado melted away as Ianto drifted down the steps to meet him. 'Help me?'

Ianto cupped his cheek and hugged him again. 'Didn't I already tell you I was here for you?' Tentatively he pulled up the edge of Jack's t-shirt to properly inspect Jack's wound. It meant he also got an eyeful of Jack's belly. He wasn't sure if touching it was okay so he remained focused on the red raw puckering shape at the side. He ran a disinfectant wipe gently around it, feeling suddenly angry that some alien had abused Jack like this. The why wasn't important.

The other thing he didn't want to think about right now was that Jack had implied he'd have to cut these things out of his body before they hatched. Ianto had always been a little squeamish when it came to autopsies, letting Gwen and Jack have all the fun of cutting things open. He was fine with dead bodies and cleaning blood and other bodily products, but taking a knife to something was a step too far. I stead he put his mind towards alternative courses of action as he applied a gauze plaster to Jack's wound.

'Couldn't we just use the singularity scalpel?' He finally said, wondering why neither of them had thought of that sooner.

Jack shook his head. 'Not this time. The egg sacs are fragile. That thing would burst them. You've seen the movie Alien, right? Think of that times however many of them are in here. We need to wait until the moment when the eggs are at their strongest so that you can grab them and pull them out without breaking through their membrane.'

Ianto swallowed.hard. Sometimes he hated how blase Jack could be.' We need a doctor.'

'You're not wrong,' Jack said, running a hand over his stomach. 'What would he say? He'd probably think it was ours.'

'No, I meant a proper doctor. Someone who can stop me from cutting some really important artery. Martha?'

'She's still working with UNIT and their partnership with CERN. No way she could get here from Switzerland in time.'

'Bollocks. Someone else then.' Anyone, Ianto wanted to say. There must be someone in Cardiff they could recruit, even just for the day and then retcon them back to oblivion once it was all over.

'It'll be fine.'

'No, it really won't be. I'm not a surgeon, Jack. I wouldn't even trust myself to put in a few stitches. Clean scrapes, apply band aids, CPR, the odd sling… I can even draw blood at a pinch, but this…'

Jack grabbed him by the shoulders. 'No one I'd trust more with my life.'

'If only…. the pharadigm soft light projector,' Ianto said, thinking out loud. He could tap into Torchwood's past and bring someone here who could tell him what to do. 'Only I sort of smashed it,' he added, looking down at his feet sheepishly. 'Norton…' he said, trying to explain without having to really go into the details.

Jack put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 'That's okay. He has that effect on me too.' Jack probably would have done more than smash up an alien device if he crossed paths with Norton Folgate and again but Ianto didn't say so. If the opportunity ever arose he'd have to fight off Jack for that honour of landing the first punch.

'Anyway… I uh, I've been trying to fix it. Not sure if I've gotten it working again but we can only try, right? At worst we're just left with me trying to attempt surgery. Can't hurt, right?' It just had to work, otherwise Ianto was going to be rushing a butchered and bloody Jack to A and E and damn the consequences.




Jack was sitting on the sofa by the time Ianto returned from the archives, carrying the soft light projector in a box. There were a few other bits of it still broken inside the box which he'd kept with it. He'd done his best to try and substitute the broken elements but he was no Toshiko. He could very well be ripping open a hole in space time just by trying to switch it on.

'You okay?' Ianto asked, watching Jack closely as he lay back on the low cushions. He was getting bigger every time Ianto looked, adding inches to his waistline. The bottom of his t-shirt no longer fitted into his pants, riding up and leaving a small section of the underside of his stomach poking out between the two pieces of clothing.

'Not quite the same as being pregnant,' Jack tried to joke. 'No cravings for a start, but maybe that's a good thing. I don't think we have any Mars bars I could eat with fried rice and peanut butter.'

'Remind me never to get you knocked up,' Ianto replied, trying to be funny for Jack's sake. 'You don't even want to know what my sister was like with her first.' He'd never been able to face buying a jar of gherkin spread without wanting to vomit since.

'That's it?' Jack asked, nodded toward the box.

'Yup,' Ianto said, tugging the delicate machine out and setting it on the coffee table. 'What do you think?'

Jack leaned tentatively forward, hampered by his growing middle. He studied the device with a furrowed brow and a look of deep concentration. 'You say that you fixed it?'

'Well…' he felt suddenly embarrassed at having made such a bold claim. 'Fix is a strong word.'

'It's good.'

'Wait what?'

'If you hadn't brought it in a box full of broken bits, I'd have said it was in mint condition. You obviously didn't break it very much.'

'Oh, I really did. Trust me. You don't know how badly I wanted it to project that pain onto Norton.' Anything to get rid of that insufferable man and make sure he couldn't haunt their doorstep ever again. At least until Ianto had realised it could probably go other places too and maybe someone from another time might need to desperately get in touch with them, or vice versa as was now the case. Breaking valuable Torchwood technology was a bit of a no-no.

Then colour me impressed that you managed to put it all back together,' Jack said.

Ianto flushed at Jack's praise. He was never going to get used to Jack telling him he was clever and needed.' I guess all that time spent with Tosh wasn't a complete waste.'

'Not at all.'

Ianto leaned forward and began powering it up. 'Okay, so here goes. 2008,' he said, twiddling dials on the side of the machine.

Jack grabbed his hand and stayed it. 'Wait. Who exactly are you planning on trying to call up?'

'Owen, obviously. He is a qualified doctor after all.'

Jack looked troubled. 'You can't.'

'But, I thought we agreed this was a good plan?'

'Use the projector, yes. Bring Owen here now? How are you going to explain that it's 2009 and he's not here? You think he's not going to ask questions? We could be altering the past. Who knows what kind of implications that could have. We could be creating a paradox that could completely unravel the future.'

Christ. What did they do now? Jack winced as some kind of pain lanced through him. 'Jack?'

'I'm okay,' he said even though he clearly wasn't. 'Body isn't used to all these sudden adjustments.'

Ianto began to feel a rising panic. He couldn't do this. Jack was in big trouble and there was nothing he could do to make it better. Jack was going to explode and die a horrible death and it wasn't going to stop there. It would go on for death after death until all of those wretched eggs finished hatching, leaving him bleeding and dying on the ground, screaming in agony.

'There's someone else,' Jack said.

'Who?'

'Greg Bishop. Torchwood medical officer, 1941. He'd be dead by now if he'd survived. We can make it plausible.'

Ianto's eyes narrowed. 'Lie, you mean.'

'You have a better idea?' Jack snapped. 'Sorry,' he apologised. 'Can I blame the hormones?'

'You could if they were actually being affected. But I suppose if it was me in your show, I'd be short tempered, too.'

'Greg won't pry,' Jack assured him. 'We tell him the future depends on his discretion and he'll do it. He was former army. He knows how to follow orders. He's also-'

'One of your exes,' Ianto finished for him, having read all of Torchwood's personnel files a hundred times over, and some of the more personal diaries and notes left behind by various Torchwood staff over the years, describing their relationships with Jack. In other words he'd do anything for Jack, just like Ianto would.

'Trustworthy,' Jack countered.

It didn't seem they had much choice. 'Fine. Let's do this. Before you pop.'

Jack gave Ianto the date and time to lock into the projector, picking a day from their historical records in which Greg Bishop would have been at the hub and not doing anything of note that would flag his absence for a few hours. Plus, it was nearly ten pm now and the chances of anyone at all being there were slim.

'Right, so here goes.' Ianto waited for the inevitable crack and fizzle of a broken alien device about to explode, but instead it just hummed quietly as it had done that first time he'd ever used it.

The air in front of them shimmered for a moment and then an image of a man appeared. He had his back to them but he was slim, dressed in a suit and had a fine complement of jet black hair gelled back against his head. He twirled and Ianto came face to face with Greg Bishop, Torchwood officer, startled by the bright blue eyes, even more intense than Jack's, and the fact that he was, begrudgingly, very handsome. Jack really knew how to pick them.

Greg's gaze locked onto Jack immediately. 'Jack, where did you come from all of a sudden and…. Holy Christ,' he cried, seeing Jack properly, sitting there on the sofa with his belly protruding from underneath his t-shirt. 'What happened to you?' Then his gaze drifted to Ianto, who must have been an even more surprising figure, standing there in his own suit, but with a much bolder range of colour in his deep purple shirt and lavender tie combination. It was had not to feel the tiniest bit smug. Greg frowned at Ianto. 'Who are you? How did you get inside?'

Jack took charge. 'Greg, this is Ianto. Ianto, Greg. And… This isn't Torchwood 1941.'

Greg looked around at the hub, obviously now noting all of the tiny little details that distinguished it from the hub that had stood here for nearly a century and the one that he was accustomed to in his own time. So much would be exactly the same, but there'd be little fragments here and there and said "Toto , I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Greg's confused expression returned to the pair of men. 'Where are we?'

'Well, technically,' Ianto began, deciding he needed to stamp some authority on the situation, 'it's not where, but when. This is 2009, Torchwood hub, Cardiff, Wales, still here standing, and you're still back in 1918, however we've used an alien device to project your consciousness here through the relative weaknesses in spacetime.'

'So, I'm here and I'm not here?'

'Precisely. You're here because we urgently need a doctor.'

Greg took another look at Jack, who gave him a sheepish little wave. 'No kidding. But what can I do in the immediate present? You look to be, what, sixteen weeks along? Maybe eighteen?'

'It's not human,' Jack replied. 'This happened just two hours ago. An insertion of larval eggs that are going to hatch and tear their way out of the host body.'

'Like a sac of spider's eggs,' Greg observed.

Ianto hated him for being so calm about it and describing it like that. He wanted Greg to be as horrified as he was.

'Oh, Jack,' Greg said in a tied voice that was far too much like Ianto's own tone for his liking. It was that tone of the long suffering boyfriend, always having to confront Jack's mishaps and misadventure.

'Anyway,' Ianto said, cutting off any sentimental moment between them, 'the point is, Jack says they need to be surgically removed prior to the hatching phase and I'm no surgeon.'

'But you are,' Jack added.

'Ex Army Medical Corps,' Greg corrected him. 'Not quite the same thing.'

'Enough for what we need. You can talk Ianto through the procedure.'

Greg pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Yes, I suppose that's achievable. What else can you tell me?'

Ianto showed him the hub's files on the creature, slim as they were on his tablet display, scrolling through them as Greg read the screen without so much as a wow at the technology which had replaced their traditional paper files. Jack filled him in on the rest of the missing details as best he could.

'So, judging by the time you were impregnated… '

'Infested,' Ianto corrected him.

Greg huffed. 'Is he always this defensive?'

'Oh, you can talk,' Jack teased. 'I remember you getting all jealous more than once.'

'I wasn't jealous,' the two men both retorted simultaneously, each falling silent in embarrassment.

'You can fight over me later,' Jack told them. 'I mean, you probably can't seeing as how one of you is just a projection from 1941, but hey, I'm all for watching how this plays out regardless. You know, once I'm not about to explode with alien devil spawn…'

Ianto cleared his throat. 'You were saying something about timing?'

'Yes. I think we still have an hour or two up our sleeves before we've reached the critical time.'

'You want me to wait another two hours?' Jack asked, looking down at his stomach. 'I'm gonna have stretch marks if I keep going at this rate.'

'I imagine it isn't pleasant but it's important.'

'We'll make you as comfortable as we can,' Ianto promised him.

Greg turned his attention from Jack to Ianto. ‘Can you show me your medical apparatus? I'd like to familiarise myself with your equipment.’

Jack nodded. ‘That's a good idea. Ianto, can you also pull up some medical journals also on cesarean section surgery? Might come in handy.’

Greg frowned at them. ‘What's that?’

Jack rested an arm on his belly for a lack of other places to put it. ‘Common medical procedure for removing babies from pregnant women where a natural birth isn't possible.’

‘You cut the baby out? But that's barbaric. I thought modern medicine was meant to be, well, modern.’

‘Well, we could always try drilling a hole in his head and see if that works,’ Ianto retorted. He felt a small buzz of satisfaction at seeing Greg scowl back at him. ‘It's actually very safe rather than risking mother and baby through a complicated delivery.’

‘I think I'll be the judge of that.’

‘Fine. I'll make all the details available to you. One of us will take care of Jack in the meantime.’

Greg's gaze drifted from Ianto to Jack, searching for any excuse to do something different. Jack just nodded, his own gaze begging them not to cause a scene. Ianto found it outrageous. Like he was making a scene! He'd have rather taken his chances trying to explain to Owen why he wasn't here now to perform the surgery in person. At least he could give Owen a mouthful, and know where he stood. Owen was a known quantity. This bloke however…

Ianto stalked quietly off to set up the resources from their mainframe system so that he could review them. The sooner he got Greg out of his hair the sooner he could get back to some kind of normal. He might want to help, and might be here to do Ianto a favour but right now it wasn't feeling like much of a team effort. He seemed to think Ianto was the stupid, backwards one. Ianto was pretty sure things in 2009 were a lot better than they had been in 1941, Torchwood technology notwithstanding. Just remember you're doing this for Jack, he reminded himself, that was what was important.

‘Pillows,’ he muttered, walking off to fetch the comforts he'd promised Jack. Not to mention handcuffs, since Jack was unlikely to stay still and behave himself. He sighed. When Gwen got back she was going to owe him two week's holiday in Spain for this.



'Don't tell me you're actually going to stay where I leave you,' Ianto remarked, returning laden with things for Jack, who was still resting back on the sofa.

'I'm trying. And I don't feel so great, to be honest.'

'Not great, how?' His voice was laden with concern.

Jack shuffled a little, trying to tug down his t-shirt so that it would cover him. 'Just… tired. A little sore. This is a new one for me too, you know. The human body isn't meant to stretch this much in such a short space of time. Welfare of the hosts isn't big on their list of priorities.'

'Just tell me what you need from me, Ianto said, tucking a blanket around Jack's legs and pulling it up over him so that he didn't have a section of midriff exposed to the cold hub air.

'Coffee?'

'Caffeine isn't good for pregnancy.'

'I'm not pregnant.

Ianto pursed his lips at the technicality. 'Still caffeine could have unintended effects. I can make you a herbal tea,' he added, coaxing Jack forward so he could slide a pillow behind him.

'Biscuits?'

'Should you eat before major surgery?'

'Hey, I'm eating for thirty nine now.'

'Please don't remind me.' He propped and primped until he was sure Jack was going to swat him away for being too clingy, yet Jack for once let him fuss. It was a sign, Ianto decided. Jack was just a little bit scared about all of this but didn't want to say so, so he wasn't going to deny Ianto the opportunity to stay close by.

'So, what do you think?' Jack finally said.

'What do I think of what?'

'Greg.'

Ianto gave the question the moment's cautious consideration it deserved. He seems knowledgeable. I mean, for a doctor of that era.'

'No. I mean, what do you think?'

Ianto blinked and then caught Jack's curiously arched eyebrow and his meaning dropped on Ianto. 'I'm not answering that.'

'Oh, come on.' Jack pulled him by the wrist, forcing him to sit down next to Jack on the sofa. 'I'm dying to know.'

Ianto rolled his eyes. You would be.' Only Jack would be worrying about whether Ianto was interested in flirting with a man from the 1940s when he should be worrying about the ever-growing alien eggs inside him.

Jack gave a dramatic sigh. 'Hey, it's not like it can ever actually happen. What's the harm in telling me? I won't mind if you say he's cute.'

'You're seriously asking me if I'd go a threesome with you and him?'

'Oh, please. Says you who once asked me if I'd have an orgy with a whole estate full of creepy, over-friendly neighbours.'

Ianto huffed. 'Well, you would have. Creepy or not.'

'Just humour me. On a scale of one to ten. How attractive do you find him?'

'Not relevant,' Ianto said, trying to divert the topic of conversation away from Jack's typically risque subject matter. 'I know you'll say ten so what's the point? He's your ex.'

Jack gave him a disappointed sign. 'I've had a lot of exes. If you're going to get jealous every time…'

'I'm not jealous! It's just…weird, you know. Maybe not for you. Imagine if I brought round my back catalog.'

Jack's eyes lit up. 'Would you?'

'Shut your face.'

'Fine. I'm not trying to compare you.'

Ianto folded his arms across his chest. 'Thank you.'

'But if we could have a threesome…'

'Shut it. Just remember you're putting me in charge of a lot of very sharp implements later. I might ask Greg knows how to surgically remove part of your libido.'

'You wouldn't dare.'

Ianto grinned. 'Try me.'




Ianto did his best to make Jack comfortable, making him a nice hot cup for tea, weak as it was, and just trying to be generally reassuring so Jack didn't think he was freaking out on the inside. Once he was satisfied that Jack didn't need anything else other than persistent company, he went to find Greg, huddled down at the bottom of the medical bay with Ianto's laptop, reviewing all the data few on the latest medical and surgical procedures he could find and leaving the voice activation program running so that Greg, despite his incorporeal state, could navigate the material on command.

Ianto paused at the top of the stairs for a moment and just watched him. He was intensely focused on the task at hand and his brow creased heavily as his eyes darted across the screen. He looked like a man on a mission and Ianto felt slightly guilty at their somewhat rocky introduction. It was obvious that he wanted to help and was trying to digest as much information as he could so that he could make sure Ianto didn't end up killing Jack. Or worse.

Ianto cleared his throat before moving down the steps. 'Everything okay?'

Greg's smile was amicable. 'I just wish I had a pen and paper so I could write some of this down. It's really very remarkable, some of these procedures. Real cutting edge stuff. And the drugs you have are miles ahead.'

'The drugs are pretty good,' Ianto confessed. He'd been on the receiving end more than once and thanked God for them. 'Listen, I just wanted to maybe see if we couldn't do over introductions. I don't think you really saw my best side. This is all just a bit weird for me.'

'Not just you,' Greg replied. 'I'm trying to wrap my head around seeing Jack here in the future looking just the same as he did yesterday. Not to mention having him being romantically involved with someone else. This morning I woke up in that God awful little seaside shack Jack calls a villa, squashed next to him on a bed that's narrower that anything I had to sleep in when I was with the army corps. It's not a villa, it's a bathing box. And a small one at that.'

The mental image wasn't hard to conjure and it made Ianto smile. 'Well, I can tell you the size of his sleeping arrangements hasn't changed in seventy years. I'm forever falling out of that narrow cot when he moves down in that room bunker thing under his office when. He always romanticises that box by the sea when he talks about it. It sounded nicer than what he has now, but I guess the truth has stretched over time.'

'I can assure you, there is very little romance about it. It stinks of muddy sea silt and is freezing cold. Jack is honestly the only redeeming element.'

Ianto managed a smile as they waxed on about their boyfriend's many annoying traits. 'There's really no point to us fighting over Jack's affections,' he said. 'You've got your Jack back in 1941 and I've got mine here in 2009. We both get to have him.'

'Lucky sod.'

'You love him a lot, don't you?'

Greg looked bashful for the first time as he shoved his hands in his pockets and avoided making eye contact. 'I didn't mean for it to happen. Jack's like a dog with a bone, though. He just wouldn't give up.'

Ianto nodded in agreement. 'He really never does.'

'He really hasn't changed in all these years, has he?'

'I'm sure some things have changed but all in all, he's still jack. Some things you just can't change.' Ianto was glad of that. He didn't want Jack to change. He looked worriedly over his shoulder back up at the space beyond the top of the stairs. 'He's going to be okay, isn't he?'

'We're going to do our utmost,' Greg promised. 'We both love him too much to do anything less. Now,' he said, turning back to business, 'do you think you could show me where you keep all the medical equipment?'




'Have you two been busy making friends whilst I've been gestating?' Jack asked, watching the two men reappear from the medical bay, having organised everything they'd need for later and setting it all out in preparation. 'I hope I didn't miss anything good.'

Ianto rolled his eyes, imagining Jack was thinking about them hidden down there snogging the life out of one another, whisky he was up here, fat and forgotten. 'Well, at least your dirty mind and warped sense of humour haven't been impaired.'

Jack's smile faltered. 'Actually, I'm not doing so well. To be honest I'm a little scared.' He looked embarrassed to admit it.

Greg sat down on the sofa next to him, or at least looked like he was. 'We're not going to let anything bad happen to you, I promise.'

'We both promise,' Ianto added, perching on the opposite side and placing the reassuring hand on Jack's knee that Greg wasn't able to.

'My knights in shining armour.'

'Well, your knights would like to know if you can get up and wander yourself down to the medical bay so we can get an updated scan.'

'Sure. Help me up?' Jack asked, resting a hand on his large bulge, trying not to disturb it too much. Ianto took him by both hands and gently pulled him to his feet, staying at his side as he waddled slowly the few feet to the top of the stairs and then carefully down them.

Ianto guided him to sit on the top of the foam lined gurney, wheeling over the device so that he didn't have to stretch to reach it. 'Have you come up with names for them all yet?' Ianto teased, trying to keep the mood light.

'Well, I thought we'd name the ugliest one John, then the most obnoxious one Owen, and then the smartest one-' Jack went suddenly silent, keeled over and vomited onto the floor. He waved away Ianto who made a fuss around him in an instant, as Jack grabbed for the closest bin to finish the job.

'What's happening?' Ianto asked. 'Why's he sick all of a sudden?'

'Reflux from the pressure on his stomach,' Greg said. 'It's pushing up the acid into the oesophagus.

Jack wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as he set the bin down beside him, ready for round two.' And here I was thinking it was the tea. Stick to coffee next time, Ianto. Your tea is awful.'

'It was meant to be awful. I didn't want you overloaded on caffeine so it was mostly hot water.'

'You're a terrible and unsupportive partner.'

'I think I'm doing alright. But since we're trading insults, you're not nearly as sexy pregnant as I thought.'

Jack's face brightened at the comment. 'You've imagined me pregnant before now?'

Ianto let his eyes slip shut, wishing he could disappear into the floor. 'I really wish I hadn't said that.'

'It's the flat chest that's off-putting,' Greg said. 'Needs a bit of breast to match.'

'You're right. A few more natural curves in all the right places,' Ianto added, thankful that Greg had come to his aid.

'Oh, very funny you two,' Jack snarked. 'Like I need any more problems right now. Not like either of you have ever been pregnant before. Leaking nipples are not as much fun as they sound. I don't think I've ever felt so unattractive in my life. And I've been missing limbs before.'

Greg gave him a sympathetic look.' Well, we both think you're good looking enough just as you are. All the same, I don't think we should wait any longer. It's clearly going to compound other problems.'

'Tell us what we need to do,' Ianto said, turning serious even as he let his hand slip into Jack's, squeezing it firmly.




'You still trust me?' Ianto asked, standing over Jack now gloved, masked and wearing a plastic apron, looking more like a butcher than the image of the competent surgeon.

Jack forced a smile back. 'Always.'

'I think I've correctly calculated the amount of sedative required,' Greg said. 'Still a hundred and eight six pounds, Jack?'

'Hundred and eighty two, thank you very much.'

Greg smirked. 'I'll account for the extra being on account of your condition.'

Grge leaned over Ianto's shoulder as he drew the required amount out of the vial and tapped the side of the needle.

'Good.' He turned to look down at Jack, now laying on the thin foam gurney in white hospital scrubs. 'We'll see you on the other side.'

'Looking forward to it.'

Greg nodded to Ianto who pushed the syringe into a saline drip he'd already set in Jack's arm with more than a little assistance, trying to find the vein.

'Count backwards from ten for me?'

'Ten, nine, ei…' Jack's eyes slipped shut and the two of them watched for a few moments making sure his breathing remained even and unlaboured.

'Easy part done,' Greg said.

'Easy? Have you ever tried to get Jack to sleep?'

'True. Okay, time to get down to work.'

Grge stepped Ianto through the preparatory work, arranging scrubs around the area so that the rest of Jack was covered except for his stomach. From where he was stood, Ianto could barely even see Jack's face, hidden behind the huge mound of his stomach. It was probably a good thing, he realised. He didn't think he could watch Jack's face as he did this. He already felt moments from losing his nerve just swiping the area with a thick, strongest smelling antiseptic solution. He looked down at the array of implements Greg had instructed him to lay out on the metal tray. He couldn't imagine needing them all. Surely one razor sharp scalpel was enough, wasn't it?

Greg was concentrating on the monitor keeping track of Jack's vitals as it beeped out a steady reassuring rhythm. 'Ready when you are,' Ianto said, feeling anything but.

Greg came and stood right next to him. It felt claustrophobic even though Greg wasn't actually physically there, but he didn't tell him to step back. He wanted Greg to be as close as possible to watch what he was doing and make sure that he did it right.

'Time to make the first incision.'

Ianto cringed, picking up the scalpel and staring at the line Greg had made him draw on the underneath of Jack's stomach as a guide. He wished he'd paid more attention to his biology A levels, but dissecting chicken kidney hadn't enthused him back then and it still didn't now.

'Press firmer,' Greg instructed when Ianto's first cut barely scratched Jack's skin. 'You'll need to go a half inch at least.' Ianto thought he might be sick as he pushed deeper, watching a thick stream of blood come pooling out, rolling down into the crease where Jack's stomach met his hip, following quickly with the movement of his blade. Please forgive me, Ianto repeated in his head. This didn't feel like he was helping Jack, only hurting him.

'That's better. Keep going.' Greg's words were calm and had a rhythm all their own. The next few instructions became easier once he'd gotten over the initial shock of what he was doing. Still, it didn't make him feel any less nauseous. The mask was making it hard to breathe, his own hot breath puffing back into his face, adding to the beads of sweat forming at the hairline.

'Okay that's the first incision done,' Greg said. 'Now you need to do a second to open up the internal sac wall protecting the eggs. Use those forceps there to prise open the exterior subcutaneous layers so that you have better access to the internal sac.'

If the cutting had been bad, it was nothing compared to clamping the brutal looking tongs that forced Jack's skin wide open on both sides, revealing a mess of pink and red internal organs, as well as the huge milky coloured blob snaked with blue and red veins all over it.

Ianto took a step back at the sigh of it. 'I can't do this.'

'You can and you have to,' Greg told him. 'Otherwise that sac is going to burst and kill him and when he comes back he's going to wake up in excruciating agony.'

The rebuke stung because not only was it true but because it was coming from someone who perhaps loved Jack even more than he did. He was responsible for what happened. No one else could wield the knife and do this for him. Throwing himself into the line of danger was the easy part of this job. Sacrificing yourself didn't take much thinking over when other lives were at stake, but this was somehow worse. He wasn't in danger, but he had someone else's life in his hands all the same. He held the scalpel close to the large white blob and paused a moment to look over his shoulder at his mentor.

'I trust you,' Greg said. 'Now, just a feather light pressure this time. We don't know how thick the sac walls are. They look reasonably thin and transparent but let's go slow.'

Ianto did so, knicking just the tiniest hole and keeping the blade steady as he dragged it lengthwise across millimetre by millimetre, slowly creating an opening.

'Really good,' Greg said, studying the large gash created. 'Now we can start the extraction process. You'll have to reach in gently. Just sort of slide your fingers under the flap and let them go wherever there's a space. Don't force them in. Keep your fingers curled in so you don't rupture any of the sacs. Don't squeeze anything too hard.'

Ianto did everything he was told, though it felt like a lot to remember all at once. He pressed his hand gently under the flap of skin, feeling the horrible slick warmth of Jack's innards even though the gloves. His hand slipped between a bundle of strange objects. He winced. 'Okay, I think I'm inside. I can feel them all around my hand. It's horrible.'

'Okay. Let your hand naturally wrap around the one underneath your palm. Sort of scoop it out, if you can.'

Ianto felt it press against his curled fingers, round and squishy and about the size of a fist, just as Jack had said. 'It's awful.'

'Try and imagine it's a tiny little baby bunny. Ianto appreciated the mental image more than he could express. Very slowly he withdrew his hand, lifting up the opening in Jack's belly with a cringe as his hand came free with an awful wet slurping sound. He twisted his wrist over and in his palm was an aqueous ball of something sickening. It was semi transparent and cloudy white fluid filled the space that wasn't occupied by the hideous little creature, even more ugly and ill-formed than its parents. A cute baby bunny it definitely wasn't. He wanted to drop it immediately but forced himself to instead transfer it to a lidded container, setting it carefully down on the hard plastic bottom where it jiggled a little but thankfully didn't break. He let out a shuddering breath as he slid the lid back into place. Even if it broke free now, it couldn't escape.

Greg nodded at him. 'Very good. Now, only thirty seven more to go. I'm all for you being extra careful, but we're going to have to go faster than that to get them all out in time.'

'Couldn't lend us a hand then, could you?' Ianto tried to joke, feeling his own hand still trembling slightly.

'You know I would if I could.'

One by one, Ianto slowly removed the vile objects, pausing each time to open the containment unit and place them inside before snapping the lid back shut. Even after he'd done it a dozen times it still felt totally wrong slipping his hand inside Jack and burrowing around like a child trying to choose a lucky dip. Thank God Jack was under a general anaesthetic. He couldn't have done this with Jack still conscious.

Machines began to beep angrily at him as he pushed his arm inside once more, trying to curve his hand around the next egg to come out. It took all his nerve not to suddenly withdraw in fright and risk rupturing one or more of the eggs.

'What's happening?'

Greg studied the readings. 'It's okay. Don't panic. Just a slight dip in his blood pressure. Take your hand out.'

Ianto did so, quickly but carefully, watching as the machines slowly stopped beeping angrily at him.

'There we are,' Greg said. 'Just some added pressure on his other organs. They're still growing, obviously. Lucky we've removed some or they might have crushed his spleen or ruptured his bowel.'

'Might be best if you didn't share that.' Ignorance was bliss as far as Ianto was concerned. It disturbed him that even with a third of them removed, Jack's belly hadn't decreased in size one bit. It was as if he were just making room for the others to get bigger.

'We're going to have to speed things up,' Greg said, looking worried. 'They're growing faster than I anticipated, which means-'

'Yes, I know what that means. Alien chest-burster scenes.' Without overthinking it he plunged back inside and cupped another one in his slickened palm. 'So, tell me, what's the grossest thing you've ever had to do? Medically speaking.'

'Nothing that would compare to this,' Greg replied. 'Trust me, you're doing great. I wouldn't swap places with you for anything.'

'How very reassuring.'



As the numbers slowly went down, Ianto's ability to pull back the flap of skin with his other hand and reach in for the reminder became somewhat easier. Jack's body did its best to try and heal itself in the process, making the skin more elastic and taut as it shrunk back down but Ianto tried to keep it open as much as he could. Rifling around in a tight space was that much harder, even with the forceps holding it open a few inches for him. He kept going despite it, until he slid his hand back in and couldn't find any more. 'Do you know how many are in the box?' he asked.

'No. Weren't you keeping count?'

'Bit else on my mind, to be honest.'

Greg leaned over the clear lid of the box and tried it to count the pile of jellied eggs. 'Yes, I think that's thirty eight. That's all of them definitely? You couldn't feel any more still in there? The scan could have missed one.'

Ianto took Jack's hand and repositioned it back onto the alien full body scanner. It took a moment to run its assessment, but there were no more red dots showing up in Jack's belly.' Got them all,' Ianto confirmed. 'Thank God.' He didn't think he'd ever felt so relieved.

'Good. Now we can start removing the outer sac lining and start suturing everything back together. My guess is it should come away reasonably easily. It's not tethered to any other vital organs from what I can tell. It's a self-sustaining organic life support system. Fascinating but for the fact that I'd rather it not be self-sustaining inside Jack. Grab the edge and tug gently.'

Ianto wiped his hands on a cloth to remove the gelatinous goo covering them before going back in to firmly grip the edges of the lining with his fingertips. He pulled ever so gently at it and felt it begin to dislodge. It must have sensed that it was no longer needed to support life because it began to come away much more easily the more he pulled, until the whole hideous thing was hanging from his hands, like a deflated beach ball. 'That is one of the grossest things I have ever seen. And I've seen weevils dead from eating their own flesh.' He carried it over to the tub and placed it inside with all the eggs.

'How are your sewing skills?' Greg asked.

Ianto broke into his first genuine smile all evening. 'My dad was a master tailor. You should see my stitching on Jack's coat. Invisible.'

'Well, time to prove it to me. You don't just get to patch up Jack's clothes today.'

Ianto only just managed to thread the needle with the suturing filament the way Greg wanted it when there was an almighty bang that made both he and Greg jump out of their collective skins. Ianto pricked himself with the needle as he spun in reaction to the sound.

The large containment box they'd placed the eggs inside rocked and jumped around on the medical bay floor as one by one the eggs hatched and the creatures inside burst forth with a speed and ferocity that stunned them both. Jack hadn't been kidding when he said they burst out of their egg sacs. The containment box held, if only just, and Ianto dreaded to think what that kind of force would have done to Jack's body.

'Just in the nick of time,' Greg said, even as Ianto was shoving the shuddering box inside one of their morgue trays and quickly sending it on its way down to a secure holding room.

'If that's what their kids do, no wonder Jack didn't stand a chance against two adult ones,' Ianto said. Dad and dad were still locked in the boot of the SUV and he prayed like hell that the forcefield generator he'd put them inside held out a while longer.

'We're good?' Greg asked. 'That unit down there should hold them. If not, the cold might kill them.'

Ianto nodded. Death by freezing seemed like a fair recompense.

'Now, should we get back to stitching up Jack? No doubt he'll be wanting to look his best for all those hearts he's going to break when he wakes back up.'



Ianto felt like he'd run a marathon by the time Greg was nodding and inspecting his work, telling him they were finally done. He'd never had to concentrate so hard for so long in his life. How did surgeons do this for a living? He supposed it was less exhausting if you weren't emotionally invested in the patient. Still, Jack almost looked back to normal now. His skin had unstretched itself, snapping back into place flat against his abdomen as Ianto's careful suturing left him with just the one red, angry looking scar running all the way from left to right just above his hip, held together by dozens of virtually seamless stitches. He'd heal in time on his own, back to that perfect beach body that made Ianto slightly jealous every time they ripped each other's clothes off. Somehow he could just never compete with his pasty white complexion and smattering of chest hair, even if Jack thought it was sexy.

'Do you still have a convalescent ward?' Greg asked.

'Yes. Though it's called the recovery room now.' Convalescing felt like a very long term thing and no one around here was laid up for more than a few days before leaping back into the fray, bandages, crutches and all. That was Torchwood for you.



Ianto slid Jack's gurney into the lift that would take it down two floors to the medical suites where all of them had spent time at one point or another. He walked down the two flights slowly in order to meet the gurney as it arrived before rolling it out of the lift and into the first suite on the left, which was a room for one with a large comfy looking hospital bed, complete with electronic adjustable height and shape. With a little gently tugging he was able to transfer Jack from one to the other.

'The bed is rather wider than what we've got in 1941,' Greg observed.

'We accommodate all types these days.' He didn't mention he'd picked this extra wide bed for ulterior motives. He wanted one wide enough that he'd be able to squeeze onto it as well. 'I don't know about you but I'm knackered.'

'And covered in blood,' Greg pointed out.

Ianto looked down and saw he was spattered in it despite the protective apron he'd been wearing the whole time. He he been doing surgery or mass murder? It was hard to tell. 'Guess I could use a shower, huh?'

'You've earned it. I can keep an eye on things here and come find you if I need you.'

'Just don't be popping into the shower stall on me.' He'd only just remembered the way Norton Folgate had made a habit of just popping up wherever he liked.

'I can do that?' Greg's voice was almost teasing.

'Don't even think about trying it out. You're not my type. Jack's the only one for me.'

Ianto took no time at all to scrub himself from head to toe. Nice as it might have been to just stand there under the hot water forever, he wanted to get back to Jack. He tugged on a spare pair of white hospital scrubs and padded back to the suite. Jack was resting peacefully, still sedated, and so didn't notice Ianto pull back the blanket, settling in beside Jack.

'I'll stay here until he wakes up. You can go and do whatever it is projections do, Ianto said to Greg who hovered by the opposite side of the bed.

'I'll stay and keep an eye on Jack, too. You should get some rest yourself. No use if he wakes up in a blind panic and ruptures those sutures, undoing all your fine work.'

'Suit yourself.' Right now he was tired and relieved and past being polite.

'I love him too, you know. Even if he's not mine anymore.'

'I know.' Ianto just didn't feel like sharing, as he draped one arm over Jack's chest, the heel of his palm resting where it could feel the slow, steady heartbeat pounding underneath. Greg had his time even though it was brief. Ianto's own time would likely not be much longer either. He was going to make the most of it.

Despite trying his best to watch Jack's eyelids for signs that he was coming around, Ianto felt his own grow heavy until he couldn't keep them open a moment longer.



Jack's head felt all fuzzy when he finally forced his eyes open. Nothing hurt and that was a good thing. If anything, he felt pleasantly light and floaty. Painkillers were amazing things. And when he looked down at himself he could see all the way to the lump his toes made at the end of the bed. No giant pregnant bulge blocking his view and no mess of shredded torso from what he could sense tucked under his blanket. Added to that was the familiar weight of a lover's arm protectively across his chest and the subtle scent of soap from freshly washed skin. Life was back to remarkably normal, just how he liked it.

'Hello,' Greg said, leaning over to invade his field of vision. 'Good to see you awake.'

'Good to see you again, too, Bishop.' He took a moment just to stare at him and remember how beautiful Greg was. It was the whole reason he'd fallen head over heels in the first place. He never could resist such a fine looking man. 'I've missed you,' he added.

'Been a while, has it?' Greg smirked despite himself. 'Can't say I blame you for moving on. Dead or old and wrinkled by now, I imagine.' He waited for Jack to provide some kind of confirmation but Jack remained tight-lipped. Part of him couldn't for very good reasons. The other part simply couldn't bear the truth of it, and that he was to blame for Greg's untimely and horrible death. His heart had ached for an eternity afterwards.

'You're not going to tell me anything about my future, are you?'

Jack shook his head. 'Can't. Theory of causality and all that shtick. Gotta let history play itself out.'

Greg nodded his acquiescence. 'Understood. At least I know you're still around in the future. Happy by the looks of things.'

Jack spared a little sideways glance at Ianto whose head was resting on the pillow next to him, nestled in the crook between Jack's ear and his shoulder. There was a little wet patch forming where drool was escaping out the edge of his slightly open mouth and into the shoulder of Jack's scrubs. 'Yeah, I'm okay.'

'I'm glad,' Greg said. 'A lot of people couldn't have done what he did tonight. He's a good man.'

Jack nodded in agreement. 'The best. I keep getting lucky, don't I? You. Ianto. What did I do to deserve any of it?'

'More than you know, Jack. More than I've ever said. I probably shouldn't start saying so when I get back, should I?'

'I doubt I'd listen anyway. You're too pretty to look at to be bothered with listening.'

Greg rolled his eyes. 'Careful. Your new beau might be faking sleep there and hear every word you're saying.'

Jack could feel Ianto's slow, steady breaths against his ear. 'Nah, he's out for the count. I can ogle you all I want. Maybe I'll call you up again sometime.'

Greg stepped closer, running a transparent hand across Jack's cheek. 'We had our time. I'm still having it, and enjoying every second of it. But you need to enjoy the here and now. You of all people must know it doesn't last.'

'It never does,' Jack agreed.

'So, rest up. Heal yourself and then show that young man of yours he has no reason at all to be jealous of anyone else taking his place. Doctor's orders.'

Jack smiled and let his eyes close as he leant back against Ianto's warm body. 'Yes, sir.' There could scarcely be a better cure.