Janto One-Shots

5. Tumbling

(Doctor Strange was a bit of an inspiration for this.
So, I logged in this morning, tired and grumpy, to see this had gotten a tad over 100 reads. I was pretty surprised! Thank you guys, that made my day!)

"Ianto, when will you be here with dinner? You left over an hour ago." Jack asked through the phone.
Ianto was trying to keep his phone in one hand and the other on the wheel, the rain outside combined with the darkness was making it difficult to steer one handed.
"There was traffic and it held me back, sorry sir." Ianto checked both mirrors before switching into the right lane.
"Alright just try to hurry, okay? Owen won't stop BITCHING!" Jack called out the last word as to make sure the doctor heard.
"Okay, I'll be th-"
Suddenly, Ianto was cut short by a semi ramming into the left side of his car, metal and plastic crumpling under the tons of force produced.
The young man's head cracked against the right window, leaving him dazed and half-aware of the situation.
The screech of metal on metal and glass shattering cut through the air like knives, pairing horrifically with the sound of brakes on asphalt, and Ianto's car began to tip to its side, then flipped.
Airbags erupted and blasted Ianto's already injured head against the seat, and the driver lost consciousness.
Meanwhile the two vehicles clattered to a halt in the middle of the intersection, smoke and bits of metal flying.
People were shouting and getting out of their cars, calling 999 and surrounding the scene.
The driver of the semi was unharmed but that was not so much the case for the driver of the other vehicle.
The flipped car was barely recognizable, crumpled like a child's frustrated drawing, the entire left side plowed away and strewn about the street.
Sirens wailed in the distance and the driver of the wrecked car hung from the seat, arms pressed to the ceiling and glass embedded in his face and hands, blood dripping from his mouth slowly. One leg was bent unnaturally, as the dashboard had been forced forward almost crushing it.
Jack, still on the phone, was shouting for Ianto to answer. A young woman came along and picked the water resistant device up, tears in her eyes and a hand to her mouth in horror.
"H-hello?" A tearful reply came to Jack's ears.
"Is Ianto there? Is he okay?!"
"I'm so, so sorry, there's been a terrible a-accident." The woman hiccuped.
"Where are you!?" Jack yelled.
"The intersection by the Plass, oh god, there was a semi and it just- hello? Hello?" The line clicked just as the emergency service arrived, sirens screaming and the multicoloured lights reflecting off the wet pavement.

"Let me through!" Jack shouted and pushed past the nurses guarding the Extreme Trauma wing.
"Sir! You can't be in here! He's in critical condition!"
"Let me see him! Torchwood, and he's my responsibility!" Jack seethed and the doctor reluctantly let him pass.
Ianto was surrounded by tubes and machines, along with a few nurses fussing over him.
A tubes ran through his mouth and nose, a large bandage was covering his left eye, cuts ran across his face and arms, stitches ran down the lower right side of his face, a neck brace held up his head, his leg was immovable, set in a stiff brace to keep it in place, and splint held his right hand up, as it had been torn almost in half during the roll-over. Bruises covered his open chest along with a deep cut.
"Oh god, Ianto." Jack breathed and walked over to the bed, and it began to get hard to breathe. "I'm so sorry."
"We'll be taking him in for surgery shortly. He has metal and glass deep in his skin, his leg needs to be set along with having implanted tissues, and we have some liquid build-up in his lungs."
"Can you make sure he's safe?" Jack asked the nurse.
The woman looked at him sympathetically.
"You're lovers, aren't you?"
Jack nodded slowly.
The nurse gently rubbed Jack's back.
"You know, he was quiet lucky. If the car hadn't rolled, he wouldn't be here now."
"Hr't like a b'ch tho'" a voice mumbled.
"Oh my god Ianto!" Jack rushed over. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't of called you when you were driving, God-"
"S' my fal't, wsn't pay'n atten'n."
"Sir, im going to need you to leave now, he needs to go to operation."
"Please take care of him." Jack called after the doctors who were rolling Ianto down the hospice wing.

13 hours later Ianto emerged drugged, yet metal and glass free, but his leg was in worse condition than thought. They managed to replace the missing bone and skin on his calf, but his foot needed more surgery and the planned injection of stem cells was scheduled to repair the damaged nerves.
Jack refused to leave his side even after the rest of the team visited.
Tosh left flowers and a small bag of chocolates.
Gwen left a card and Bond films.
Owen sneaked in a small bottle of whiskey.

Jack stroked Ianto's hand as the young man came to.
"Ja'k." The man slurred.
"You're on more drugs than a sedated weevil, don't move so much."
"That 'splains why your s' fuzzy." A finger gently booped Jack's nose. "Your not leav'n me are you?"
"Of course not. I'll be here, even persuaded them to let me sleep nearby."
"Ja'k you didn't have to do th't."
"I'll never sleep knowing you're alone in a hospital in this condition."
Ianto just sighed and intertwined his unarmed hand's fingers with Jack's.
"M' tired."
"Then sleep."
"Ok'y."
Jack pulled up the thin hospital blanket and kissed the other man's forehead.
"Night." Ianto muttered.
"Shhh, go to sleep now."
Once Jack was certain the drugged up man was asleep he stepped outside the room and was met by the nurse from earlier.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "I brought you an extra blanket if you need it."
"Thank you." The captain gave her a famous Jack Harkness smile and she smiled back.
"I'm Clara, just recently graduated so I'm on nursing duty." She extended a hand.
"Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood." Jack smiled again.
"So is he Torchwood as well?" Clara nodded her head to the soundly sleeping Ianto.
"Yeah. Though I've realized he doesn't get the respect he should."
"Well you two certainly make a lovely couple."
"Thank you. He's been through a lot of hell. Torchwood is dangerous, but he's been through more than everyone I've known, and that's a lot. I try my best to make him feel welcome and safe as I can make him."
The clock down a separate corridor started to strike 4:00 am and Clara straightened up her scrubs.
"That's the end of my shift, it's been nice meeting you Jack." She smiled and walked away.
Jack turned and entered the room again, carrying the blanket Clara had brought and laid it over Ianto's thin hospital sheet, then sat in the chair near Ianto's bed and attempted at sleep. He made a mental note to buy Ianto a new car the next morning as he felt the drowsiness pulling him down into unconsciousness.