When Ianto Jones began to return to consciousness he immediately regretted it. He knew what would come next. The paranoia, the pain, the overwhelming sense of emptiness. He wished he could just stay asleep. As he started to get more aware of his surroundings he thought he felt more pain than usual. Then his memories from the last month caught up with him.

He was on a high. Not as good as the one's he'd had before but it was better than being sober.

But then again, anything was better than being sober.

He was lying on one of the old, dirty mattresses that Deano had found.

His arm hurt. He didn't think that needle was clean enough. But he'd never cared before so why should he care now? What's the worst that could happen?

Jack would freak if he saw him like this. He should call Jack. He's been trying to call him, he's wondering where he was. As if he cares, though, he probably just wants a cup of coffee or something, Ianto thought. Fucking Teaboy that's all he is to them.

Ianto opened his eyes slowly when he heard the rest of his friends drive into the yards, whooping, laughing and screaming. They were revving up the car, trying to let the people inside know they were here. They wanted them to go out, and that means they've done it.

"Right, boys, we've done it!" They screamed as the men climbed down from the tree. "We've finally done it! We broke in and there it was, just sitting there in all its purple glory." That's when Ianto noticed they weren't driving Kev's car, they we're driving the Saint's truck. Ianto couldn't deny the shiver of fear at the thought of what was to come when the Saint's find out that they've got their truck.

The Murdock Saint's, or Saint's, were a group of guys who'd lived across town since as far back as Ianto could remember. They weren't exactly a gang but people knew not to mess around when they saw the purple truck come down the road. Once you stayed out of there way, they never bothered you, they'd even been known to help people. But Ianto's friends didn't exactly like to stay out of their way. Ianto was never sure exactly what happened to start the feud between the Saint's and them, but he knew it was something to do with Nick and the Saint's leader's sister. Ianto thought it best to stay out of it.

"Is that such a good idea?" Someone behind Ianto said. Wes, maybe? Ianto's sense of recognition wasn't too good when he was high, he'd noticed. "Who gives a fuck?" Someone else shouted. "It's brilliant! We have to take it for a lap of honour 'round the estates!"

Ianto scratched at the inside of his elbow, picking at the small scabs that had formed where he'd put the needles in wrong.

"But, what happens when the Saint's find out that we took it? They'll kill us."

"We'll arm ourselves then." Someone shouted, which was greeted by a laugh.

An hour later, everyone was back inside, out of the rain that had started to fall. Ianto scratched at his arm once more before he heard a car pull of upside. He froze. He heard shouting and banging outside and watching as some of the guys stood up and hopped up onto the pile of boxes and disappeared out the window. All was quiet until shouting was heard and a loud thud.

Everyone was on their feet within seconds and they hopped out the window to see what was happening outside.

As Ianto hopped from the last branch of tree he caught sight of Nick in a heap on the ground and he didn't seem to be moving. Ianto wanted nothing more than to run over to him and make sure he was okay but the sheer number of Saint's standing in front of them made him think twice.

Ianto can't remember exactly what happened next but he knows that there was a lot of shouting, a lot of swearing and next thing he knew he was on the ground getting a boot to the face. He grabbed the Saint's ankle and pulled, twisted it sharply, only stopping when he heard a crack and a cry from the man.

Ianto quickly got to his feet and ran over to where a Saint was wrestling with Deano, gave a single swift kick to his kneecap and grabbed him in a headlock for enough time to Deano get up, dust himself off and kick the Saint in the stomach. Ianto let go and Deano quickly grabbed his head and slammed it into the concrete.

People were dropping to the ground left, right and centre as he and Deano ran from one brawl to the next, helping where they could. Soon, each small fight merged into one big one, revolving solely around the leader of the Saints and Nick. Ianto was so mesmerised by the fight that he almost didn't see the flash of silver as it was pulled from a pocket and handed quickly to the leader of the Saints. Ianto didn't think twice. He dived and tackled the Saint to the ground, pulling his wrist back until the loud crack was heard and the knife was dropped.

Ianto then stood up and kicked the man in the head, the anger in him not ceasing until long after he had stopped moving. Ianto stood over the leader of the Saints and froze as he realised what he'd done. Every man stood staring, wondering who this small, scrawny git was and how had he just taken down the leader of the Murdock Saint's.

Then sirens were heard. They could see the flashing lights in the distance and everyone quickly panicked and ran. Ianto didn't know what to do, he couldn't see a way out of this situation. He looked down to see the knife in his hand, when had he picked that up? He couldn't move with fear.

Then he saw Nick running at him, screaming something. Ianto couldn't concentrate on what he was saying. He just saw his lips moving, contorting with each yell. Ianto turned just in time to see that the warehouse was engulfed in flames. One of the Saints must have set it alight. He stood watching the blaze in horror, forgetting about the unconscious man at his feet, the knife in his hand and the approaching sirens until Nick collided with him, knocking him to the ground.

Nick pulled the knife from Ianto's fist and punched him in the face. "What are you doing?!" Ianto yelled. "I'm saving your ass!" cried Nick as he stood above the Saint with the knife in his hand, with a look in his eye that Ianto had never seen before. Then he turned around to kick Ianto in the face.

Ianto can't remember much of what happened next.

"Hello? You okay? Can you hear us? Come on, wake up..." Ianto heard voices echoing through his head. He groaned.

"There we go, come on now, almost there..." Ianto groaned once more before letting his eyes flutter open, being greeted by the sight of two paramedics standing over him. Ianto turned his head to the side and looked at the chaos. The fire was almost put out, dozens of firemen tending to it; the Saint's leader was being taken away in body bag, having left a large pool of blood on the ground. Ianto turned his head the other way, and caught sight of Nick being taken away in a pair of handcuffs. Ianto stared on in shock.

Ianto dragged his arm up to lightly press his fingers to his newly blackened eye and wincing. The paramedics were still talking to him, and then they grabbed his arms and helped him stand up. Ianto stumbled a few steps towards the parked ambulance before leaning over a retching onto the ground, coughing and spluttering. A paramedic patted his back and hauled him upwards when he'd finished. They led him over to a parked ambulance where they sat him down, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and treated his injuries.

Ianto's phone began to ring in his pocket. He pulled it out and let it slip through his fingers, landing on the ground with a soft thud, one of the paramedics picked it up soon after it had rang out, and when he saw that there had been 14 missed calls from Jack, he called him back and explained what happened. Ianto couldn't concentrate on what was happening around him, he just couldn't get himself to focus.

Next thing he knew, Jack was wrapping his coat around his shoulders and he was being led towards the SUV. He'd pleaded with Jack to let them drive around for a bit, not wanting to go back to his quiet flat just yet.

He woke up 14 hours later.

"Ianto? You awake?" Jack whispered from his spot in the corner of the room. Ianto groaned and shushed him, before trying to roll over but wincing as the pain shot through his ribs and shoulder. "Come on, Ianto, I know it hurts but you can't spend the day in bed."

"Yes, I can." Ianto muttered into his pillow.

"You think you can get up?" Jack said quietly.

"Can't. Hurts too much." Ianto said, voice slightly strained.

"Do you want me to get Owen?" Jack asked, panicking slightly.

"It doesn't hurt that much." Ianto said with a scoff and another wince.

Jack sighed. Ianto scratched at the inside of his elbow, but opened his eyes to find in wrapped in a thick, white bandage.

Jack watched him. "It was infected." He said quietly, "The needles you were using weren't clean enough. Owen spent ages filling you with every antibiotic we have. But he say's you'll be fine now." Jack wasn't looking at him. Ianto recognised it as he was or afraid, or had been afraid, he wasn't quite sure.

"Jack, I- I'm sorry, okay? About everything, I really didn't mean it to get this far. I only went last night just to see the wreck, I had no plans on actually using, but some of the boys were there, and I don't know what came over me..." Ianto said, trying to catch Jack's eye.

Jack sighed. "I know, Ianto, I know it's not your fault, and I know you didn't mean for this to happen. I was just... scared; I couldn't bear the thought of losing you."

Ianto was at a loss for words.

"I'll let you get back to sleep."

Jack was gone before Ianto had the chance to say anything else.

Ianto sat in Owen's chair, leg fidgeting and biting his nails. "My ribs hurt!" he called to no one in particular.

"I'd expect so; it's only been a week!" Owen called back.

"You're not being very helpful," Ianto said, matter-of-factly.

"There's nothing more I can do for you, Ianto, I've patched you up, you're just going to have to deal it." Owen sighs.

"But I'm starving," Ianto whined.

"No, you're not," Owen stated. "You're just going through withdrawal. That's why you're so restless, and that's why you're so fucking annoying."

"Rude," Ianto muttered.

"That's what I'm here for," Owen muttered back.

"Can't I, like, do something?" Ianto asked, scratching at a scab on his hand.

Owen turned to him. "Like what, Ianto? What do you want to do?"

Ianto stopped. "Well, I don't know..."

Owen sighed. "Exactly, you don't know. Now shut up while I try and get this work done."

Ianto made a face and went back to biting his finger nails. He winced as one started to bleed.

"I told you to stop biting it, you fucking idiot." Owen muttered, two minutes later as he was placing a plaster around Ianto's finger.

Ianto used his good arm to punch Owen in the ribs.

"I can't do this!" Ianto shouted, kicking over Jack's chair.

Jack stood behind Ianto, paperwork in hand.

"Ianto, it's been a month and a half, I know this withdrawal is killing you, but you're so close, we're all here for you." Jack said, placing a hand on Ianto's shoulder.

"Oh, fuck off, Jack." Ianto muttered, storming out.

"Owen, lock the doors, he's doing a runner again." Jack muttered into the comms.

Jack watched as Ianto made it to the door and found it locked. "Oh, for fuck's sake!" He screamed, making everyone in the Hub jump. Ianto then turned on his heel and made his way to the archives.

He didn't return for four hours.

"Ianto, buddy, you've gotta stay awake, I know it's a symptom of your withdrawal but you can beat this, I know you can." Jack said, looking at Ianto in the rear-view mirror, whose head had been drooping for the past ten minutes.

Ianto mumbled something incoherent and let his head fall against the window of the SUV. Owen pinched Ianto's leg. "C'mon, Ianto, stay awake, don't give in to it."

Without opening his eyes Ianto reached over and gave Owen a dead arm.

"Harsh." Owen muttered, rubbing his arm.

"Ianto, you can't keep doing that, we're just trying to help you." Jack said, as if scolding a child.

However something told Jack that he didn't care as his head dropped to Gwen's shoulder, murmuring incoherently.

"Well, it's been over a month since you've shown any signs of withdrawal..." Owen said. "I think you're over the worst of it." Owen said, snapping off his medical gloves. Both Jack and Ianto sighed in relief.

Ianto put his head in his hands and Jack watched as his shoulders shuddered. Jack tentatively placed his arms around Ianto and held him to his chest.

"I can't believe it," Ianto said into Jack's shoulder. "It's finally over."

"Yan, its okay, buddy, you're fine. We're here, it's over." Jack whispered into his ear. "Its okay, Ianto, you're okay."

Okay, so last chapter, I don't know if it's good or not, but sure we'll just leave it here. Hope you enjoy it, but if you don't well there's not much I can do about it. (Just remember that this story was made on a prompt, so if you have any more well I'm sure I could have a crack at it.) xxx