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http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/47796.html
Link to Part 15
http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/48378.html
Link to Epilogue
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“Jack, damn it, we need to get you downstairs, you’re bleeding,” Owen said, fighting to keep his panic under control, babysitting the heavily pregnant Jack was one thing, an emergency was quite another.
“Hurts, Owen,” he moaned, trying to curl up in a ball.
“I know, I need you to help me out here Jack, I need to get you downstairs,” Owen said, trying to tug Jack up.
“No, TARDIS, into TARDIS,” Jack gasped.
“I can’t…”
“She’ll let you in, need to be in there,” Jack insisted, fumbling his key out and pushing it into Owen’s hand.
Swearing, the doctor pulled Jack up, staggering as he supported nearly all of his weight to the TARDIS, thrusting the key into the lock and twisting. The door swung open and he pulled Jack inside, barely pausing at the sight of the console room.
“Where now?”
“Doors,” Jack grunted, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the doors on the far side of the room, he didn’t think that it was possible for the pain to get any worse, but it was building in intensity, and he could feel the clammy blood soaking the sweat pants he was wearing.
“Stay with me Jack, come on, stay with me,” Owen murmured, Jack was virtually unconscious now.
Pulling him through the doors indicated, he found himself in a high tech medical room, there was a visible shimmer, and the couch in the center of the room changed into a surgical table. Taking the hint, Owen got Jack onto it, looking around, he saw a pair of sharp scissors and grabbed them, cutting the clothing away, leaving Jack naked on the table, he could see now just how much blood the man was losing.
“Shit, Jack, can you hear me? Jack?”
“Cut…….” Jack groaned.
“What?”
“Baby…out…now. Not…let…my…baby…die,” he whispered.
“All right, hang in there for me Jack,” Owen said, his eyes examining the room more closely, looking for anything he could recognize as a surgical instrument, or somewhere he could scrub up.
He knew that his priority was getting this baby out alive, Jack would come back if he died, odds were, this child wouldn’t. He remembered being told that this ship was sentient, and he had seen the table change in front of his eyes, feeling like a bit of a tit doing it, he hunched his shoulders and took a deep breath.
“I need to scrub up, sterilize myself, and I need surgical implements I can use,” he said to empty air.
There was a low buzz, and blue light hit him, running over him from head to toe. He saw Jack’s blood fizz and vanish from his skin, and when it faded away, his skin was faintly pink, and tingling as if he’d run a scrubbing brush over his whole body, even his clothes were cleaned of every trace of blood and dirt from hitting the hub floor, and a tray of familiar instruments, along with a cap, gown and gloves appeared near the table,
“Jack too please,” he said with more confidence as he hurried over and pulled on the gear, hearing the low buzz again and seeing a flare of blue out of the corner of his eye as he pulled the tray toward the bed.
“Jack…”
“Save…baby.”
Owen picked up the scalpel, swallowing hard against a fresh surge of panic as he regarded the heavily pregnant man in front of him, it went against his instincts to do this, no anesthetic, no support team, but Jack was…Jack. Resting one hand on top of the bump, Owen made the first cut. Jack gasped once, the added pain sending him crashing into unconsciousness.
xxx
Gwen led the way into the Hub with Martha as Tosh and the Doctor supported Ianto between them, the younger man’s shirt soaked in blood down one side from a gunshot wound in his shoulder, his arm supported in a makeshift sling made from two ties that the Doctor had dug up from somewhere. They heard a mournful cry from somewhere above, and looked up to see Myfanwy circling the water tower, but there was no movement other than that.
“Where are Owen and Jack?” Ianto asked fuzzily.
The Doctor’s sharp hazel eyes ran over the Hub, seeing the blood, and the thin trail of it running to the closed door of the TARDIS.
“No, oh Gods no, not now,” the Doctor whispered, gently passing Ianto fully into Tosh’s grip and running to the doors. They remained stubbornly closed against him.
“Doctor?” Ianto asked,
“She won’t let me in,” he whispered, stunned.
“What’s happening?” Ianto pressed.
“Something is wrong with Jack or the baby, and she won’t let me inside,” the Doctor replied.
“That could be a good thing though, right? I mean, if it was really bad, if they were dead, she wouldn’t stop you getting to them, maybe she won’t let you in because Owen is doing all right on his own, and she doesn’t want to interrupt,” Tosh suggested hesitantly.
The Doctor stepped slowly back from the doors, visibly pulling himself together as he turned to look at Ianto, still leaning into Tosh.
“Come on Ianto, if we can’t get to the medical bay inside the TARDIS, we’ll go with the primitive technology available here to at least start fixing you up,” he said, coming to resume his place supporting the younger man as they guided him toward the steps down to Owen’s domain.
“But…Jack,” Ianto protested, crying out in pain as he twisted to look back over his shoulder.
“Let Owen worry about Jack, and we’ll worry about you,” Martha said quietly.
“Less of the 'we', Dr. Jones. Toshiko, could you start a preliminary work up on Martha, please, just to make sure there are no nasty surprises to be expected from the Mayfly that was inside her.”
“Of course,” Tosh said, peeling off with Martha to one of the smaller examination rooms deeper in the Hub.
“Sit there,” the Doctor said to Ianto, helping him sit up on the autopsy table, ignoring Gwen, who had settled herself on the upper level to watch.
Taking off the makeshift sling, he cut away the already ruined shirt, and examined the wound.
“Looks ok, considering, bullet went through, we’ll clean it up for now, and then worry about fixing it properly when we get back into the TARDIS,” the Doctor said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Ianto’s temple without giving it a thought, until he heard Gwen catch a breath behind them. Rolling his eyes, he smirked at Ianto, and they continued to ignore her as he focused on the wounded Ianto.
“Do you really think Jack and the baby are going to be ok?” Ianto asked miserably.
“If the TARDIS won’t let me in, she’s content enough that Owen knows what he’s doing, and she thinks I’ll be a distraction, or worse, in the way. We have to believe she knows what she’s doing Ianto,” he said, starting to disinfect the wound.
Half an hour later, he had the wound cleaned, bandaged and supported in a proper sling, and he knew that they couldn’t ignore Gwen any longer. He glanced up at her as he helped Ianto off the table, seeing her nearly vibrating with righteous indignation.
“Problem, Miss Cooper?” he asked.
“You…you, Jack is pregnant with your child, and you just…you and Ianto, carrying on under his nose,” she yelled.
Martha and Tosh had arrived just before she launched her little tirade, and Martha’s jaw dropped when she heard her. Grabbing Gwen and spinning her around, Martha hauled off and slapped her across the face, hard enough to knock the already off balance woman to the floor.
“How dare you? How dare you make assumptions and accusations about something you know nothing about? From what I understand, you are not in a position to be throwing stones, and their house, unlike yours, isn’t glass. The man they love, and their child, might be dying in there, and you want to stick your oar in something that is no concern of yours at all?” she yelled at the startled woman.
Gwen pressed her hand to her stinging cheek, looking up at the incensed Martha through teary eyes.
“Oh, grow up, turning on the waterworks just because you got a well deserved slap. You’re not five years old, so stop acting like a toddler who’s just been yelled at by mummy for throwing a tantrum,” Tosh snapped impatiently.
The Doctor and Ianto had come up the stairs while they had been yelling at Gwen, and now the Doctor rested a hand on Martha’s shoulder while Ianto put his good hand on Tosh’s.
“Come on, we can go and wait out there for the TARDIS to open the doors,” the Doctor said as they guided them out, leaving Gwen sitting on the floor, alone with her thoughts.
They were all startled to see Owen leaning in the TARDIS doorway, looking pale, and tired and bloody.
“All the yelling done now?” he asked sarcastically.
“Owen, how are Jack and the baby?” Ianto demanded, starting forward, Owen moved from the doorway to block him, glaring at both him and the Doctor.
“He thought you two were dead. All we heard was the shooting and the yelling, and you wouldn’t answer on the comm. He thought the two of you were fucking dead.” Owen hissed angrily.
“What happened?” the Doctor asked.
“I don’t know if he banged himself getting up, or if he simply moved too sharply or quickly. There was a grade 3 placental abruption, 70% separation; there wasn’t even enough time to drug him before I had to cut. Jack bled out on the table.”
“And the baby?” this time it was Martha who pressed.
“A little on the small side, only five pounds one, but seems healthier than a human preemie would be after such a traumatic birth, and all the lights on the incubator that the ship produced are green, so I assume that is a good thing.”
“The baby is alive?” the Doctor breathed, sagging back into the nearest seat.
“She’s alive and kicking. Jack is back too, but he’s not conscious yet,” Owen said, finally getting out of the way to allow them into the TARDIS.
“A girl,” Ianto laughed, pulling the Doctor up and into a one armed hug.
They led the way into the TARDIS without further hesitation, heading for the medical bay, which the TARDIS had now put back where it belonged. Owen looked confused at the fact that it wasn’t where it had been a few minutes before, but gamely kept his mouth shut, determined not to say anything stupid.
The room had changed again when they reached it, Jack now lying once more in a standard medical bed, the monitor in the head chiming a regular, but somewhat slow beat over the unconscious man. The incubator was a few feet from the bed, the tiny little baby inside kicking and flexing her fingers slightly as she slept. The Doctor automatically checked all of the readings for himself, confirming Owen’s diagnosis; the baby was small, but healthy.
“Oh my God, she’s gorgeous,” Tosh breathed, looking at the sleeping baby as the little rosebud mouth open in a tiny yawn or sigh.
Ianto was staring wide eyed in awe at the tiny little girl, this little life that he was now in part responsible for raising and guiding through life almost overwhelmed. He felt the Doctor kiss his forehead again as he stared at her, before the Time Lord passed him to check on Jack.
xxx
Ianto and the Doctor were still in medical, the Doctor cradling the baby against his chest as he fed her the formula that the TARDIS had made specifically, Ianto sitting beside Jack, who still hadn’t woken. It had been several hours since they had chased the others out, telling them to sleep, so the sound of hesitant footsteps startled them both. Looking up, they saw Gwen hovering in the doorway.
“What do you want?” Ianto asked coolly.
“I wanted to apologize, they were right; I was out of line before.”
“Yes, you were,” the Doctor agreed.
“I’m sorry; it was none of my business. I’m glad that the baby is ok, how’s Jack?” she asked, stepping a little further into the room.
“Still out, he’ll wake up when he’s ready,” the Doctor sighed, smiling down at the baby as she echoed the sigh, turning away from the bottle. The Doctor offered it to her again, but she turned away once more, so he figured she had had enough, winding her gently, he returned her to the incubator.
“Tosh said she was beautiful, she was right. Have you named her yet?” Gwen asked.
“Not until Jack is awake, he carried her, he died for her to be born safely, he names her,” the Doctor said firmly.
“Hope,” the voice was tired, faint, but it carried to the other people in the room.
“Our daughter’s name is Hope,” Jack said.
Tbc (Epilogue to come)
Well, that’s it, the end is nigh and the title of the story is explained. ;)
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Glad it made your day, and epilogue in the next couple of days, all being well.
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Love the Gwen-bashing, too! Martha slapping her down, literally! Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
This has been a fantastic story, and I'll be sorry when it ends, but it's been an absolute joy to read. I'll be looking forward to the epilogue, and hopefully more before too long of Eternity-Verse... (hint!)
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Yes, even when I don't intend to, my natural inclanation to bash the bitch comes through, lol.
Glad you've enjoyed the tale, epilogue soon, and yes on the E-verse, I need another pregnant Jack now, *g*. We'll just have to see what happens in Who this weekend to see if there needs to be any alterations in the 'verse.
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*pets Jack* Hope his lovers spoil him rotten for being so very wonderful about all this. And of course, being the reason they fell for each other as well.
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I'm sure Ianto and the Doctor will be taking very good care of Jack to make this up to him, and thank him.
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I'm glad no one (esp. Ianto and the Doctor) was permanently hurt or killed.
Owen really stepped up to the plate and came through in a big way for Jack and the baby. And I love protective-irritated-exhausted!Owen who asked if all the rest of them were through with the yelling. If only the writers had written him like you in the first season then I wouldn't have had to wait until Adam in sn.2 to start to like him.
*claps* Brava. You always do such an amazing job of bringing your characters to life and making the story compelling with romance, angst, and evil cliffhangers of doooooom. LOL.
You are one of only two authors that I eagerly look forward to new parts of your fic, *even though* I know there will be a big 'ol cliffhanger of doooooooom (*snerk* can't say that too often).
I'm bad, but I did enjoy Martha slapping Gwen. And I'm amazed and even a bit glad that Gwen came to apologize.
Yay to the Tardis! She did her part well.
Ooh, and you wrote an epilogue. I suppose that plus this wonderful ending. *hughug*
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Glad you liked this Owen, it kind of sounded like something he would say, and I wish he had been written better in S1 too, not as such a tit. Glad you like the evil cliffhangers of dooooooooom too, *g* cos I love writing them ;)
I figured someone had to give her a slap, and as Martha knew the soul searching that had gone into the three of them hooking up, it would more likely be her, plus, she seems more the sort than Tosh.
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