Title: In case of emergency
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Gwen, Rhys
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,085 words
Content notes: Spoilers for Torchwood book “Consequences - Virus”
Author notes: Written for Challenge 498 - First aid
Summary: Ianto is in need of some attention after having saved the day.


‘Ianto, you're bleeding!’ Gwen cried, noticing the large red stain that was seeping through the sleeve of Ianto's dark pinstripe.

‘You said it was fine,’ Rhys replied, scowling his disapproval at Ianto having earlier shrugged off the matter.

‘I had more important things to deal with,’ Ianto told them. Like making sure my two best friends didn't spend the rest of their lives in an alien-induced waking coma. And he had. In fact he'd barely noticed the pain from being shot in the arm until now. He'd been so fixated on the problem at hand that he'd managed to block out the pain. Now though, awash in the relief of Jack and Gwen having been cured, and underscored by everyone having now noticed, it was beginning to hurt. Really hurt.

‘I…’ He angled his head to look down at his upper arm. The fabric was even darker than the deep charcoal he remembered, and it was starting to get a glossy appearance as more blood soaked into it. He must have aggravated it when Jack had finally come out of his coma, throwing himself forwards, up and then straight flat onto his face on the floor as his muscles fought to catch up with the rest of him waking back up.

‘Ianto…’ He couldn't tell from Jack's tone if he was annoyed or upset. Jack fingered the wet sleeve. ‘You've been shot.’

‘Didn't I always say I'd take a bullet for you?’ Ianto joked, though it was weak as his head began to spin a little bit. He watched with a slight detachment from reality as he noticed the tiny dark red droplets on the concrete next to him. When had those gotten there? He blinked, trying to force the dots to connect into a patter as another one added itself into the mix, ruining the shape he'd been creating in his mind. Rhys caught him from one side whilst Jack's arm was around him from the other, preventing him from completely going at the knees. ‘Bit light-headed there for a moment,’ he muttered.

‘Rhys, help me get him down to the medical bay,’ Jack said, Ianto finding himself suddenly surrounded by the three of them as they escorted him like the Secret Service after a president had been shot.

So much for taking glory for saving the day, he thought vaguely. He managed a smile as they bustled him clumsily along. He had been pretty kick arse, he decided, taking out the guy behind him before taking down the ten in front of him. Of course they hadn't known a lot about it after the flash grenades had gone off, disorienting them completely. It wasn't a fair fight, but Ianto would take whatever advantage he could get. Ten against one wasn't exactly fair to begin with. Maybe for Jack or Gwen, but not him.

Gwen was asking him to sit down, he realised, being guided onto the metal gurney. She was coaxing his jacket off and he yelled out as the movement caused a blinding shot of pain in his arm. ‘Sorry sweetheart,’ she apologised. The shirt underneath had to go too, but this time Gwen used a pair of scissors to cut the sleeve away. ‘It was going in the bin anyway,’ she said as he tried not to look outraged. She made a very good point but that didn't stop it from feeling sacrilegious. He'd paid good money for that shirt.

Jack was there with a pair of latex covered hands, prodding the wound to inspect it. ‘Bullet’s still in there,’ he declared.

Ah, so not just a knick as it sped past his arm. No wonder it hurt so much. Adrenaline and the fear of your lover being trapped in a waking coma forever were excellent diversions from pain.

‘You want something for the pain before I try and get it out?’ Jack asked, seemingly a rhetorical question. Did he ever!

He nodded, trying to seem nonchalant about it. Jack pricked the area multiple times with a syringe, and slowly the pain eased back into first gear, just a dull ache now.

Jack waited for the tension in Ianto's shoulders to ease before Ianto watched him come at the arm with a pair of long tweezers, disappearing into the hole in his arm, still seeping blood despite the tourniquet that Ianto hadn't noticed tied around his arm just above the bullet entry point. Jack jiggled around for a while, Ianto watching in morbid, morphine-induced fascination, finally getting a grip on the munition and tugging it free, dropping it into a metal dish as if Ianto might like to keep it later once it was cleaned – a memento for the one-man Torchwood killing machine. Jack rushed to press gauze to the wound as it bled a little more, fixing it with an elasticated bandage to keep it in place. ‘It'll need flushing out but we've got to get the bleeding to stop first.’

‘Gunshot first aid 101,’ Ianto replied.

Gwen wrapped an arm around him along with a blanket and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Thank you. You saved us.’
,
‘What else was I going to do? Run Torchwood all on my own?’ he joked. ‘Well I mean I could, but it's more fun with you two around.’ He looked back at Gwen and then at Jack, seeing nothing but admiration in their eyes. He wasn't one for being the centre of attention but he had it nonetheless. By accident he'd been the last man standing. The assassin had meant to poison all three of them, but Ianto had been out of sight, which gave him the advantage, shooting the assassin dead. First kill of the day, but by no means the last.

‘It's definitely more fun with us,’ Jack agreed, pulling the blanket tighter around Ianto's shoulders and leaning in to give Ianto his own kiss. Ianto winced slightly as he moved his arm under the blanket. ‘You want some more morphine?’ Jack offered.

‘Nope. But I won't say no to more kisses.’ Ianto turned to Gwen. ‘Just Jack’s, no offence.’

‘None taken,’ Gwen replied, reaching out for Rhys’ hand and smiling. ‘I think we've done enough kissing for today, don't you?

‘Eh? What's that mean?’ Rhys asked, looking between them.

Jack leaned in again, hiding Ianto's blushing from Rhys. Even in the most desperate times, there was probably no good explanation for kissing someone else’s wife. Jack’s timely intervention was exactly the kind of emergency first aid he needed most.