Title: Day 6
Author: tarotgal
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my 'verse. I don't get paid a cent to play. Please don't sue and make things worse.
Summary: Ianto is sick and sleepy, but Torchwood can't seem to function without him.
Note: Part of the 12 Ficlets in 12 Days project 2009-2010. Requested by Lady Korana

Ianto went from staring at his terminal to squinting, to nodding off completely. Before he knew what was happening, he felt a hand on his shoulder and an arm around his back. “Ianto, I think this cold is getting to you.” Ianto nodded automatically and sniffed. “Why don't you lie down?”

The ideal situation would be to go home to his flat and curl up in his bed. And the next best thing would be to drag himself over to Jack's quarters to lie down on Jack's bed. But all Ianto managed to do was to stumble over to the couch beneath the Torchwood logo and stretch out. He was asleep within seconds.

*

“Ianto?” Ianto woke to find Owen standing before him.

“What?” Ianto snapped.

Owen held up a box of tissues in one hand and a tiny cup containing bright green liquid in the other.

“What's that? Some alien-inspired, synthesized compound?” Ianto asked skeptically.

“No,” Owen replied, handing it over. “Plain old Nyquil from the chemist down the street.”

Ianto took it and downed it in one. He knew he should thank Owen for it, but his breath caught and he grabbed frantically for the tissues. “ehhhhhh!” He held a few fingers to his nose and fought his eyes closing long enough to get the tissues in hand. He buried his nose in the tissues and relaxed. “ehh-ehhh-eh-EHIhshhhh! KTchuh!” Ianto sniffled and gave a muffled, “Excuse me,” into the tissues.

Owen bent over and pressed something to Ianto's forehead. It beeped, and Owen removed it. “No fever.” He sighed. “Look, to be honest, the medicine will kick in soon and knock you out. Just try and keep out of the way, all right? My day's busy enough without having Jack on my back about looking after you. Got it?”

Ianto nodded and closed his eyes. If they were being honest, he didn't want to see Owen either. Ianto felt another sneeze coming on. “ehhh…” It played lazily in his nostrils, urging without striking. And he fell asleep with tissues pressed to his nose before anything more came of it.

*

“Ianto?” Ianto woke and found Tosh hovering in front of him.

“Yes?” He didn't see a green cup in her hand, which was a good sign. But his head felt heavy and full and terribly out of sorts.

“Would you like some tea?”

It was sweet of her to ask, but did she have to wake him up from a perfectly good sleep for that? He rubbed at his nose with the tissue still clutched in his hand and realized it was running profusely. He sniffled and held the tissue in place. “No,” he told her.

She smiled at him. “All right. But I'd like some. Could you tell me how you make it so good?”

Ianto lifted his head slightly. “And give you the secret to my success? So that I would no longer be the supreme overloard of tea-making in the hub? Absolutely.”

Tosh laughed a little.

“Just double what it says on the package, add a spoonful of honey, and let it steep for an extra five minutes.”

“Thanks, Ianto.” She left and Ianto seriously considered stuffing tissues up his nose. In the end, he just blew his nose a hundred thousand times until he was so exhausted he fell back to sleep.

*

“Ianto?” Ianto woke reluctantly. Gwen was there, tucking a blanket around him.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn't want to wake you. But we needed the password to your computer terminal… and you looked cold.”

He coughed and squinted at her. “My terminal?”

“Something's beeping and we can't turn it off.”

Ianto groaned deeply, but at least he had nothing to hide on his computer. And he could indeed hear the beeping.  He didn't care what was coming through the rift so long as he didn't have to get up off the couch. So he gave her his password. “X824THLL0.” He could change it later today anyway and it wasn't as though he had anything to hide any more.

“Thanks, Ianto.”

Ianto closed his eyes, but couldn't fall asleep immediately. His nose started tickling badly again. “ihhh… ihh-ehhhhh…” The blanket Gwen had brought was thick and warm and lovely, but he had no choice but push it back so that he could get to the tissue box and get the tissues to his nose. “ehh-HShhhhh! Ehh-Ihchhh! Ih-HIHShihhh! Sniffffff!” Ianto tried to blow his nose, but he didn't have time before “ehhh..eh-gehhh-Hihshhh!”

The blanket had shifted, fallen a little. He tried to pull the blanket back up but didn't want to move any more than he had to. “ehhhh-HIHShhhhh! Sniff! Ehhh-IhShuhh! Kitchhhh! Sniff!” He blew his nose finally and tossed the tissues onto the floor when he was done.

Shivering, Ianto curled up more and, cold and sniffly, fell asleep again.

*

“Ianto?” Ianto woke and Gwen was still there, as if she hadn't left.

And his nose was still fiercely, which hadn't left either. “Wh-what?” he asked around soft gasps. He pinched his nose, not wanting to sneeze on her by mistake. “ehhh?”

“Ianto, there was a large tourist group upstairs and we ran out of those green brochures. You know, the ones with the maps that talk about the sight-seeing tour? Do we have more of those or should I just push the red ones on them instead?”

“The huhh the red trolley ehhhhhh tour is unreliable. Just eh-ehhh! Try the top f-filing ca-ca-cabi-ehhh-cabinet.” Ianto took a great breath and sneezed again. “IhhhhhhKTchhhh!”

“Bless you.” Gwen tucked the blanket back around him again. “And thanks.” She raced back up the stairs.

Ianto reached for another tissue, dislodging the blanket at once. “ehh-ktchhhhh! HihhTchhh!” He sniffled and blew and punched his nose again to keep from sneezing long enough for sleep to take him.

*

“Ianto?” Ianto woke and groaned again; it was Owen… again.

“More medicine?” he asked.

Owen nodded. “And, also… how much do you feed the Weevils?”

Ianto chuckled to himself, though really he was glad that they hadn't forgotten. The last thing they needed was some desperately hungry Weevils going crazy in the cells. So Ianto gave him the instructions, not doubting Owen's ability to handle them.

Owen thanked him and made him swallow another cupful, which wasn't much of a 'thank you' in Ianto's book. It was nice how Owen had remembered to feed Weevils and not Ianto. Though, honestly, he wasn't remotely hungry anyway.

Ianto tried to adjust the blanket again, but gave up when it had covered his upper body but slipped off over his feet. And who had removed his shoes anyway? Ianto checked and found his tie and suit jacket still on; it was just his shoes that were gone.

He tried sitting up to look around for them, and to get the blanket back into place. But changing position made his stuffed up nose tingle. It drained from one side to the other or back or… something. His head felt even foggier than before and he didn't even have the coordination to lift a hand to his face, let alone a tissue this time. “hehhhUhshhhhh! Ihtshhhh!”

Ianto passed out in mid-sniffle.

*

“Ianto?” Ianto woke but refused to open his eyes. What more could they want from him? If they were going to wake him up just to tell him the world was ending, they could just forget it.

“C'mon, Ianto.” It was Jack's voice again, and it sounded so soft and alluring that Ianto almost obeyed. “I want you to open those big, beautiful eyes for just a minute for me.”

Reluctantly, Ianto did exactly that. Jack was squatting in front of him, amidst a veritable sea of balled-up tissues. The hub was quiet and dark. The computers were still on, but all the monitors within sight had been switched off. And Ianto couldn't see anyone there apart from Jack.

“There those eyes are.” Jack smiled. “It's time to go to bed,” Jack extended a hand in invitation.

Shivering, Ianto reached out and took it.