Fic: A Normal Life
Title: A Normal Life
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, OCs.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Jack has never seen his immortality as a gift. He’d give anything for the kind of normal life other people take for granted.
Word Count: 1243
Written For: Prompt 215 - Normal at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
A/N: Set in my Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
Gwen picked fretfully at the edge of her cast, frowning at it, knowing it meant Jack would restrict her to Hub duty until her broken wrist healed; there was no way she’d be of any use in the field if she couldn’t even drive, let alone hold her gun.
“It’s not fair, all I did was slip on a patch of ice!” She hadn’t even been working at the time, just out having dinner with Rhys. The accident had completely ruined their date night, since they’d spent the next several hours in Accident & Emergency, while x-rays were taken, and her wrist set. Gwen scowled at Jack, who just last week had broken both legs in an unfortunate accident involving a cement mixer and a pile of bricks. “You don’t know how lucky you are. You get injured, even killed, and next thing you know, you’re walking around, cracking jokes, like nothing ever happened!”
“You think I’m lucky?” Jack turned to stare at Gwen, disbelief colouring his tone. “I get to watch everyone I know, everyone I ever care about, grow old and die while I have to carry on alone, not just once, but time after time, for the rest of eternity! Let me tell you, Gwen Cooper, I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat if I could, broken wrist and all, let you live forever while I enjoyed the normal life you take for granted every single day. You have no idea what I’d be willing to sacrifice if I could have what you’ve got, the chance to live my life with the man I love, maybe raise a family, grow old together, knowing I’d find peace at the end of a life lived to the full. You’re the lucky one. So your arm will take a few weeks to heal, so what? That’s a small price to pay for only having one life to live.” With that, he spun on his heel and stalked back to his office, slamming the door behind him so hard that the glass rattled. Nobody would ever understand what it was like to be him, to be as far from normal as it was possible to get.
“You were a bit harsh with her,” Ianto said quietly a little while later, joining Jack in his office and closing the door behind him much more gently than his lover had.
“Was I? You heard her, she wants to be like me!”
“She’s just frustrated, hates being stuck at her desk all the time. You’d feel the same way, in her place.”
“That doesn’t mean she gets to tell me I’m lucky when I’m anything but! Immortality isn’t a blessing, something to be grateful for. It’s a curse, something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy!”
Ianto kept his opinion to himself, but he was in complete agreement, although probably not for the same reason. To his mind, having enemies who couldn’t be killed would be the worst kind of nightmare. Instead, he simply shrugged.
“I know, but you have to admit the quick healing does come in handy.”
“If I could have that without the rest…” Jack trailed off with a weary sigh. “I just wish we could be like Gwen and Rhys, looking forward to a normal, happy life together. I’d like to grow old and grey with you.”
“We’re never going to be normal, Jack, not with the life we lead, working for Torchwood. Nothing about what we do here is normal, I think there must something about that in the Torchwood Charter, abandon normality all ye who enter here. We gave up all hope of anything approaching a regular life long ago.”
Jack managed a weak chuckle. “Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean I can’t wish things were different.”
Taking his usual perch on the edge of Jack’s desk, Ianto looked into his lover’s eyes, his expression serious. “You know I’d trade places, take the burden from you, if I could.”
“I’d never do that to you.” Slumped in his desk chair, Jack glanced out the window into the main Hub. “Might do it to Gwen, if I could, since she thinks it would be so great, but not to you. Never you. I couldn’t condemn you to the hell of eternal life. You don’t deserve to suffer like that.”
“Neither do you.”
“The difference being, I wasn’t given any choice in the matter. This was done to me without my consent, and now I’m stuck with it whether I like it or not. I don’t blame Rose, I know it wasn’t deliberate, but that doesn’t change anything.”
OoOoO
A few hundred years later, on a distant planet so far from earth that the locals had never even heard of humanity’s birthplace, Jack drew a sudden, convulsive breath as he jolted back into life, legs and arms flailing, hands clutching for something, anything, to hold on to.
“What the Hell!” the being bending over him exclaimed, or words to that effect, since the language he was speaking wasn’t English, or any language that would have been familiar back on earth. He scrambled backwards in alarm, almost tripping on his own lower appendages.
“Nothing to worry about,” a calm voice responded. “Coming back is always a bit disorienting. He’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
The grey-skinned alien turned towards the other person. “You know that’s weird, right? I mean, people don’t just suffer fatal blaster wounds, then come back to life, good as new! He should be dead!”
“He was dead, and now he’s not. He can be killed, but death just doesn’t stick.”
“Well, it’s not natural!”
“Perhaps not, for most people.” Ianto gave the alien a small but reassuring smile, tight-lipped to avoid showing his teeth, because that was considered impolite on this planet. Wherever they went, he always did his best to follow local customs and avoid causing offence; when in Rome, and all that. “But for us, it’s completely normal. Not pleasant, but you might say we’ve grown accustomed to it. Sort of had to.”
“You’re like that too?”
Ianto inclined his head. “Yes. Let’s just say, as unpleasant as the dying and coming back can be, it still beats the alternative of staying dead. I died, a long time ago, in a most unpleasant manner, then found myself alive again. On the whole, I have no complaints.” He looked down at Jack, who was clinging to him, gathering his wits, and getting his breath back. “He still feels guilty about it, even though he had nothing to do with it.”
“I’m the one who got you killed,” Jack rasped out.
“No, actually I got me killed, by going into what I knew was a dangerous situation without taking the proper precautions. If I’d stopped to think, I would’ve gone looking for that bloody Hazmat suit before facing down an alien known for manipulating viruses. Still, things worked out for the best in the end. Right, Jack? It may not be quite the life you hoped for, but at least we get to live it together.”
Jack sighed, sitting up. “Well, when you put it that way…”
He’d wanted a normal life, one he could spend with the man he loved, and instead he’d got an infinite number of lives, but he didn’t have to live them alone.
It might not be anywhere close to normal, but he couldn’t help thinking it was so much more than he deserved.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, OCs.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Jack has never seen his immortality as a gift. He’d give anything for the kind of normal life other people take for granted.
Word Count: 1243
Written For: Prompt 215 - Normal at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
A/N: Set in my Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
Gwen picked fretfully at the edge of her cast, frowning at it, knowing it meant Jack would restrict her to Hub duty until her broken wrist healed; there was no way she’d be of any use in the field if she couldn’t even drive, let alone hold her gun.
“It’s not fair, all I did was slip on a patch of ice!” She hadn’t even been working at the time, just out having dinner with Rhys. The accident had completely ruined their date night, since they’d spent the next several hours in Accident & Emergency, while x-rays were taken, and her wrist set. Gwen scowled at Jack, who just last week had broken both legs in an unfortunate accident involving a cement mixer and a pile of bricks. “You don’t know how lucky you are. You get injured, even killed, and next thing you know, you’re walking around, cracking jokes, like nothing ever happened!”
“You think I’m lucky?” Jack turned to stare at Gwen, disbelief colouring his tone. “I get to watch everyone I know, everyone I ever care about, grow old and die while I have to carry on alone, not just once, but time after time, for the rest of eternity! Let me tell you, Gwen Cooper, I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat if I could, broken wrist and all, let you live forever while I enjoyed the normal life you take for granted every single day. You have no idea what I’d be willing to sacrifice if I could have what you’ve got, the chance to live my life with the man I love, maybe raise a family, grow old together, knowing I’d find peace at the end of a life lived to the full. You’re the lucky one. So your arm will take a few weeks to heal, so what? That’s a small price to pay for only having one life to live.” With that, he spun on his heel and stalked back to his office, slamming the door behind him so hard that the glass rattled. Nobody would ever understand what it was like to be him, to be as far from normal as it was possible to get.
“You were a bit harsh with her,” Ianto said quietly a little while later, joining Jack in his office and closing the door behind him much more gently than his lover had.
“Was I? You heard her, she wants to be like me!”
“She’s just frustrated, hates being stuck at her desk all the time. You’d feel the same way, in her place.”
“That doesn’t mean she gets to tell me I’m lucky when I’m anything but! Immortality isn’t a blessing, something to be grateful for. It’s a curse, something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy!”
Ianto kept his opinion to himself, but he was in complete agreement, although probably not for the same reason. To his mind, having enemies who couldn’t be killed would be the worst kind of nightmare. Instead, he simply shrugged.
“I know, but you have to admit the quick healing does come in handy.”
“If I could have that without the rest…” Jack trailed off with a weary sigh. “I just wish we could be like Gwen and Rhys, looking forward to a normal, happy life together. I’d like to grow old and grey with you.”
“We’re never going to be normal, Jack, not with the life we lead, working for Torchwood. Nothing about what we do here is normal, I think there must something about that in the Torchwood Charter, abandon normality all ye who enter here. We gave up all hope of anything approaching a regular life long ago.”
Jack managed a weak chuckle. “Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean I can’t wish things were different.”
Taking his usual perch on the edge of Jack’s desk, Ianto looked into his lover’s eyes, his expression serious. “You know I’d trade places, take the burden from you, if I could.”
“I’d never do that to you.” Slumped in his desk chair, Jack glanced out the window into the main Hub. “Might do it to Gwen, if I could, since she thinks it would be so great, but not to you. Never you. I couldn’t condemn you to the hell of eternal life. You don’t deserve to suffer like that.”
“Neither do you.”
“The difference being, I wasn’t given any choice in the matter. This was done to me without my consent, and now I’m stuck with it whether I like it or not. I don’t blame Rose, I know it wasn’t deliberate, but that doesn’t change anything.”
OoOoO
A few hundred years later, on a distant planet so far from earth that the locals had never even heard of humanity’s birthplace, Jack drew a sudden, convulsive breath as he jolted back into life, legs and arms flailing, hands clutching for something, anything, to hold on to.
“What the Hell!” the being bending over him exclaimed, or words to that effect, since the language he was speaking wasn’t English, or any language that would have been familiar back on earth. He scrambled backwards in alarm, almost tripping on his own lower appendages.
“Nothing to worry about,” a calm voice responded. “Coming back is always a bit disorienting. He’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
The grey-skinned alien turned towards the other person. “You know that’s weird, right? I mean, people don’t just suffer fatal blaster wounds, then come back to life, good as new! He should be dead!”
“He was dead, and now he’s not. He can be killed, but death just doesn’t stick.”
“Well, it’s not natural!”
“Perhaps not, for most people.” Ianto gave the alien a small but reassuring smile, tight-lipped to avoid showing his teeth, because that was considered impolite on this planet. Wherever they went, he always did his best to follow local customs and avoid causing offence; when in Rome, and all that. “But for us, it’s completely normal. Not pleasant, but you might say we’ve grown accustomed to it. Sort of had to.”
“You’re like that too?”
Ianto inclined his head. “Yes. Let’s just say, as unpleasant as the dying and coming back can be, it still beats the alternative of staying dead. I died, a long time ago, in a most unpleasant manner, then found myself alive again. On the whole, I have no complaints.” He looked down at Jack, who was clinging to him, gathering his wits, and getting his breath back. “He still feels guilty about it, even though he had nothing to do with it.”
“I’m the one who got you killed,” Jack rasped out.
“No, actually I got me killed, by going into what I knew was a dangerous situation without taking the proper precautions. If I’d stopped to think, I would’ve gone looking for that bloody Hazmat suit before facing down an alien known for manipulating viruses. Still, things worked out for the best in the end. Right, Jack? It may not be quite the life you hoped for, but at least we get to live it together.”
Jack sighed, sitting up. “Well, when you put it that way…”
He’d wanted a normal life, one he could spend with the man he loved, and instead he’d got an infinite number of lives, but he didn’t have to live them alone.
It might not be anywhere close to normal, but he couldn’t help thinking it was so much more than he deserved.
The End