AN: Enjoy the fluff. I may write some more for this story. It really was meant as a one-shot. *shrugs* I guess I have no self control.

The sound of beeping pulled Ianto from sleep. He blearily looked around and took in the room. He was in a hospital and he had no Idea how he got there. The last thing he remembered was being in the cottage with Owen.

He tried to move but was assaulted by a jolt of pain shooting through his leg. Peering down towards his feet, he saw why. His leg was strapped and suspended from something Ianto thought looked like a torture device. He paled when he saw the metal protruding from his skin.

His stomach lurched and he groaned. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push the images of Lisa's body from his mind.

"Shit," Owen's voice came from across the room. Ianto looked toward the sound. Owen was striding towards him. "Hey, mate. How long you been awake?"

"Not long," Ianto said. "How did we get here? Where is everyone?"

"Jack had to go help Gwen and Tosh. He'll be back in the morning." Owen grabbed the chart from the foot of the bed and began flipping through it. "Do you remember the accident?"

Ianto nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I remember my leg hurting, the fire, and then it's blurry. I'm not sure, but I think I remember you sleeping next to me."

Owen grinned and winked. "We did more than that, mate."

Ianto's face contorted. "Please tell me we didn't."

"You offend me." He feigned hurt. "I'm not that bad a date."

Owen laughed and sat down beside Ianto. "You can relax. We didn't." He rolled his eyes. "Do you remember the ambulance ride?"

Ianto shook his head. "Not really, I don't know."

"Not surprising. Your leg got infected. You had one hell of a fever by the time Jack found us. Probably why I slept so good, you were like my personal space heater."

"What about my leg?"

"It's in rough shape. The surgeon was able to clean up the site where the bone went through and realign everything. As you can see, you've got quite a bit of hardware holding it together."

"How long will it have to look like... that?" Ianto nodded to his leg.

Owen scratched his neck. "It's going to take some time. You're on antibiotics, but where the infection had already set in, it may slow down healing."

Ianto palms were sweaty, and he clenched his hands into fists. "I can't live with that thing on me." He looked pointedly at the brace immobilizing his leg, "With those things sticking in me."

Owen furrowed his brow and looked at him curiously for a moment. It was obvious he was trying to decipher what had Ianto so upset.

Ianto was staring at the brace, memories of body parts and metal, flashing through his mind.

Owen looked down at Ianto's leg and then he must have put it together as he sucked in a sharp breath and cursed. He hurried to the other side of the room and opened a closet. He took out a sheet and returned to Ianto, quickly spreading it out over his leg.

The sheet blocked Ianto's view and broke him free from the hold the memories had. He swallowed hard and tried to adjust the pillow behind his head. Owen reached over and helped him.

Owen looked at him, his face etched with concern. "Honestly, how you doing?"

"Not so good." He frowned; his stomach felt like it was doing somersaults.

Owen looked up to meet Ianto's eyes. "You in pain?"

"Stomach is not—" He stopped as he fought a wave of nausea. The stress of the situation was just too much for him.

Owen reached over to the side of the bed, producing a basin. "Here, you go." He cupped a head behind Ianto's head and helped him hold the basin under his chin.

Ianto stomach heaved again. He felt awful. He heard the Owen press the call bell and rattle off something to the nurse, but he was too busy trying to breath to listen.

"Nurse will be in with something in a minute, hang in there." Owen kept a hand on the back of Ianto's neck.

"Trying to." He leaned back and sighed.

Owen disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a wet flannel. He gently wiped up Ianto's face. "You want to rinse your mouth?"

Ianto nodded and Owen went got a small cup of water. "Here you go."

"Thanks," he croaked, and then rinsed his mouth, spitting into the basin Owen held beneath his chin.

The nurse came in the room and injected something into the IV port. She handed Owen something that looked like a small round plaster before leaving.

Owen came over and sat on the bed. "Between what she just gave you and this," he stuck the small circle behind Ianto's ear, "hopefully your stomach will settle down. I've also tapered back the morphine a bit."

Ianto closed his eyes. "Still feel like shit."

"It's only been a second. Give it a minute to work."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Well, since you saved me and all, I figure I kind of owed you one." Owen shrugged. "Don't get too used it though. As soon as you're better, I go back to being a prat."

Ianto yawned and stretched, rolling his shoulders. "Feeling a little better now, might try and sleep."

"Good idea," Owen said, getting up. He tucked the blanket around Ianto. "I'll be in the chair if you need something."

"Thanks, Owen."

He closed his eyes and let sleep take him. The dreams began soon after …

Lisa's mangled body was dragging itself toward him, her eyes pleading. She begged for him to save her, to make the pain stop. He tried to escape, backing away. He lost his footing, sending himself sprawling to the floor. He lifted a hand, looking down in horror at the blood that covered it. He scurried back as Lisa dragged herself closer.

"Please, Ianto," she begged. "Help me."

He screamed and curled into a ball, repeating over and over again how sorry he was.

Then he felt her hands on his body, clawing and pulling at him. He screamed …

"… Yeah, I think he's coming to … thanks I've got it from here." He heard Owen talking to someone and tried to open his eyes. He could feel someone's hands moving along his arm.

Ianto's heart was hammering in his chest. He could feel beads of sweat trickling down his neck. He took a deep breath and tried to push the nightmare away. He opened his eyes and saw Owen looking worriedly at him.

"Hey, you need to relax."

He tried to steady himself and catch his breath, but he couldn't. He just needed to sit up. He tried to lift himself up on his elbows, but Owen stopped him by putting a hand on his chest. Ianto couldn't remember ever seeing him look so worried.

"Yan, look at me." Owen held grabbed Ianto's chin and gently guided him to meet his gaze.

The dream had felt so real and he still was shaking. His breaths were still coming in quick short gasps.

Owen hand pressed down on his chest. "Slowly, nice slow breaths."

Ianto could only nod. He tried to do as Owen said.

"In … and … out." Owen coached him for a few more minutes and then reached up and felt Ianto's pulse. "That's a little better. How you feeling now?"

"Better," Ianto said. "Throat hurts."

"Yeah, you scared me there for a minute. You were screaming bloody murder. Must have been one hell of dream."

"It was."

Owen seemed to be waiting for Ianto to elaborate, but he wasn't feeling up to it. He felt a sob trying to escape and a tear rolled down his cheek. He tried to wipe it from his face before Owen could see.

Owen nudged Ianto's hip. "Mind if I join you? It's not like we haven't shared a bed before."

Ianto wasn't in the mood to argue, and he feared that if he tried to speak he would lose his tenuous control, so he just nodded and shimmied over. The bed was small but Owen managed to wriggle in, careful of Ianto's leg as he did.

Ianto stared at the wall beside him, trying not to let Owen see him falling apart.

Owen stretched out beside him and sighed. "You know after I lost Katie, I used to have these dreams … nightmares really. There were times I'd scream so loud the neighbors called the police."

Ianto turned and looked at Owen, blinking in shock. Owen had his arms folded beneath his head. He glanced over at him before looking back at the ceiling.

"She was so beautiful and seeing her the way I did every night ... her body like that. It broke me. I couldn't sleep for a long time. I thought I had no one left. I didn't think there was anything I could do."

"What did you do?"

Owen looked at him and chuckled. "I guess I didn't do anything. It was Jack. Somehow he just knew, and he took me aside and we talked. We still do sometimes. Bet you didn't know that." Owen looked over at Ianto, smirking.

And he didn't. He'd always thought there was animosity between Jack and Owen. "It helped?"

Owen shrugged. "I still get the dreams sometimes, but now I get good ones too. I can remember how beautiful she was without all the bad ruining it."

Ianto drew a breath, letting it out slowly, trying to maintain control over the building emotion. "There are times I forget what she looked like before … when I can only see—" Ianto lost his battle for control and the tears fell freely.

He heard Owen curse and then an arm slipped beneath his shoulders. Ianto didn't fight him; he let the smaller man pull him in as he sobbed.

Owen rested his chin on Ianto's head, stroking his arms and back. "It's okay," he soothed.

When Ianto's sob finally quieted, he expected Owen to get up and move back to the chair, but he didn't. He reached down and pulled the blanket up over Ianto and held him. "Go to sleep, I'll be here."

He closed his eyes and trusted Owen to keep the nightmares at bay.