Slashthedrabble Challenge 440 - Two for one deal

[m_findlow]

Title: Two for one deal
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 440 - "Congratulations! It's a...." at slashthedrabble
Summary: Jack and Ianto got more than they bargained for.

Jack stroked Ianto's hair as he lay with his head in Jack's lap, snoozing after a long day at work. His arm was draped protectively over his pregnant stomach. Jack was still in awe of the idea that they were going to be parents, unable to wipe the stupid grin from his face.

The next morning, whilst Ianto was still sleeping, Jack dragged himself out of bed, feeling a wave of nausea suddenly overtake him, and staggering to the bathroom just in time to grip the toilet bowl, dry retching into it as his stomach protested violently. The nauseous feeling persisted throughout the morning, but by lunchtime seemed to have passed.

The next morning he experienced the same violent waves of sickness, this time waking Ianto in his haste to untangle himself from the bedsheets.

'Are you okay?' Ianto said, sounding worried as he followed Jack into the bathroom, standing there in the doorway.

'Fine,' Jack replied. 'Just a stomach bug.'

Things continued on for several days, though Jack couldn't manage to shake the sudden bouts of nausea, nor the tired achy feeling in his joints and his back.

Ianto watched Jack struggling, though Jack refused to let Owen check him over, insisting that he was fine. When he slumped next to Ianto on the sofa at the end of the day, he looked just as tired as Ianto felt.

'What you need is a nice hot bath,' Ianto said.

Jack gave a weary chuckle. 'I thought I was meant to be the one looking after you.'

Ianto waddled into the bathroom and began running the water, adding lavender oil whilst Jack disrobed. He'd been so tired lately that they hadn't done more than collapse into bed. Being pregnant had killed his sex drive.

When he turned around to see Jack's body, he nearly fell over.

'Uh, Jack, when did you develop a paunch?'

'Huh?' he said, looking down, seeing  the large swollen shape for the first time.

'I'm calling Owen,' Ianto said, fearing the worst.

Whilst they waited, Jack grabbed Ianto's hand. 'Um, I think maybe I'm pregnant.'

'But... you can't be!' Ianto replied, incredulous. Crazy enough that he was. He'd only just started getting use to the idea himself.

Owen arrived shortly after, taking blood samples and running scans.

'Congratulations, Jack. It's a case of couvade syndrome.'

'What?'

'You're mentally empathising with Ianto. He gets morning sickness, you get morning sickness. His back aches, so does yours.'

'And this?' Jack said, pointing to his stomach.

'Advanced stages of empathy,' Owen replied.

'Can you fix it?' Ianto asked. 'Bad enough one of us has to go through this.'

'That's up to Jack. Only he can stop it. It's all in his head, God help us. It's quite common, actually. Should resolve itself eventually.'

Ianto grabbed Jack's hands and looked him in the eye.

'I love you, but you don't need to suffer on my account. I'm happy to carry the burden for the both of us.'

Jack smiled, reaching out to stroke Ianto's pregnant belly. 'It's not a burden, Ianto. It's a gift.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Must admit I'm a little disappointed that they weren't both pregnant at the same time, lol! They could have compared pregnancy aches and pains, it would've driven Owen nuts dealing with two pregnant men at once!

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

I think Owen and Ianto will agree that one pregnancy is more than enough for all three of them to cope with!