Slashthedrabble Challenge 496 - The best medicine

[m_findlow]

Title: The best medicine
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto/Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 496 - Laughter at slashthedrabble
Summary: Ianto's recovery is speeded up by an unlikely source.

It was the sound of laughter that woke Ianto from slumber. Looking around at the white room with its white walls, he was reminded that he was still stuck in the hospital. The explosion that had put him there was a distant memory, though that may have been residual memory loss from the concussion. More important was that he wasn't about to bleed to death or suffer infection from the shrapnel that had lodged in his lower back. Owen knew when he was beyond his skills, and because of the proximity to the spine, wasn't going to risk doing the surgery himself. Instead Ianto had been shipped to the nearest hospital where he was left in the hands of the NHS. Everything was pretty vague after the bomb had gone off. What he knew was only what the doctors and nurses had told him since.

That had been days ago. The surgery had gone well by all accounts. Now all that was left was to recover, and to make sure there was no infection. It would take time, so they said. A bit of pain and a lot of physical therapy to get back to full strength.

He had a morphine drip and a little control he could press if things got too uncomfortable, but he resisted the urge to use it. He knew how much the painkillers would knock him around and the last thing he wanted was to spend any longer here than necessary, spaced out on drugs.

Not that he needed them right now. He knew that laughter anywhere. There was something soothing and revitalising about hearing Jack's laughter drifting along the corridor. The sound was like warm honey and felt as reassuring as sitting in his mum's kitchen with a mug of tea.

He tried to listen for more details, but it was only the chuckling of feminine voices, and Jack's own booming laughter that prevailed. No doubt he was flirting with the nurses at their station, winning them over with his charming smile and his easy going nature. He could be reading the dictionary and they'd still be enthralled.

Being in on the joke wasn't necessary. Just the sound of it could lift Ianto's spirits from the despair of being stuck in bed with nothing to do.

Finally, he got to put a face to the good humour as Jack poked his head into the room.

'Hey, you're awake.'

'That I am,' Ianto replied.

'I came by about an hour ago but you were sleeping. Figured I'd hang around in case you woke up.'

'Causing trouble, no doubt.'

'Who me?' Jack said, acting coy. 'You look a lot better than when I was here earlier. I thought I was going to have to send Owen down here to read them the riot act for not looking after you properly.'

'I'm okay. Better for seeing you, though. Or hearing you, I should say. I guess it's true what they say. Laughter really is the best medicine.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

As long as Jack doesn't make Ianto laugh at the moment he should be okay. Poor Ianto though, that sounds like a nasty injury. He was lucky.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

He was very lucky, but he'll be fine. Jack will have charmed all the nurses by now so they'll all dote on Ianto and make sure he gets the best care possible.