Ficlet: Mixed Feelings
Title: Mixed Feelings
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Owen.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Jack’s stomach is expanding. Is he or isn’t he expecting?
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt # 440 - Congratulations! It's a _____! at slashthedrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“Congratulations!” Owen announced, coming into the office, where Jack and Ianto sat waiting impatiently for the verdict. “It’s an alien, or to be more accurate, six of them. You’ve been impregnated with some kind of spawn. Probably happened last week when that alien bug thing stung you. What you thought was a stinger must’ve been its ovipositor. Looks like your reputation got around and it thought you’d be the ideal host for its offspring.”
Ianto had tuned Owen out from the words ‘impregnated with alien spawn’, struck by a sudden, absurd sense of disappointment. Five minutes ago, he’d been worried that he’d knocked Jack up despite all their precautions, his mind in a whirl over what they should do if he had. Torchwood was the worst place possible to raise kids; Jack was always at risk of dying in the field because of his cavalier attitude to his own safety, but if he died while he was pregnant, the baby would die too…
Owen was still talking. “Now I’ve got the singularity scalpel sussed, I can whip those little parasites out of you in a couple of minutes. Should be able to learn quite a bit about the species with half a dozen intact specimens to work with.” Owen sounded positively gleeful about getting to play with one of his favourite toys again, not to mention having the larvae to study. He’d not been happy that they’d had to blow the bug to bits.
“Good, the sooner you get them out of me, the better,” Jack said firmly. “Get everything set up and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay, but don’t take all day about it.” Owen breezed out the door without a backward glance, eager to get started.
Ianto hadn’t moved; he was still just sitting there, feeling numb. He knew he should be relieved that Jack was simply incubating alien larvae, a problem for which there was a simple solution, so why did he feel such a sinking sense of loss?
A warm hand touched his arm. “Are you okay?” Jack asked gently.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Ianto forced a smile. “Go on, better get those buglets removed before they get any bigger; you know Owen hates to be kept waiting.”
“Ianto… I know how you feel. For a while there I thought I might be expecting your child, and I was terrified, because we agreed we wouldn’t, and we’ve been so careful, but at the same time… The idea of having a miniature version of you, a little person who combines the best parts of both of us… The more I thought about it… I guess what I’m trying to say is that despite everything, I was kinda beginning to hope I really was pregnant.”
“So was I,” Ianto admitted quietly.
“Y’know, just because it was a false alarm doesn’t mean we couldn’t…”
Ianto smiled. “There’d be a lot to consider,” he pointed out, “but maybe we could think about trying for real?”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Owen.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Jack’s stomach is expanding. Is he or isn’t he expecting?
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt # 440 - Congratulations! It's a _____! at slashthedrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“Congratulations!” Owen announced, coming into the office, where Jack and Ianto sat waiting impatiently for the verdict. “It’s an alien, or to be more accurate, six of them. You’ve been impregnated with some kind of spawn. Probably happened last week when that alien bug thing stung you. What you thought was a stinger must’ve been its ovipositor. Looks like your reputation got around and it thought you’d be the ideal host for its offspring.”
Ianto had tuned Owen out from the words ‘impregnated with alien spawn’, struck by a sudden, absurd sense of disappointment. Five minutes ago, he’d been worried that he’d knocked Jack up despite all their precautions, his mind in a whirl over what they should do if he had. Torchwood was the worst place possible to raise kids; Jack was always at risk of dying in the field because of his cavalier attitude to his own safety, but if he died while he was pregnant, the baby would die too…
Owen was still talking. “Now I’ve got the singularity scalpel sussed, I can whip those little parasites out of you in a couple of minutes. Should be able to learn quite a bit about the species with half a dozen intact specimens to work with.” Owen sounded positively gleeful about getting to play with one of his favourite toys again, not to mention having the larvae to study. He’d not been happy that they’d had to blow the bug to bits.
“Good, the sooner you get them out of me, the better,” Jack said firmly. “Get everything set up and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay, but don’t take all day about it.” Owen breezed out the door without a backward glance, eager to get started.
Ianto hadn’t moved; he was still just sitting there, feeling numb. He knew he should be relieved that Jack was simply incubating alien larvae, a problem for which there was a simple solution, so why did he feel such a sinking sense of loss?
A warm hand touched his arm. “Are you okay?” Jack asked gently.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Ianto forced a smile. “Go on, better get those buglets removed before they get any bigger; you know Owen hates to be kept waiting.”
“Ianto… I know how you feel. For a while there I thought I might be expecting your child, and I was terrified, because we agreed we wouldn’t, and we’ve been so careful, but at the same time… The idea of having a miniature version of you, a little person who combines the best parts of both of us… The more I thought about it… I guess what I’m trying to say is that despite everything, I was kinda beginning to hope I really was pregnant.”
“So was I,” Ianto admitted quietly.
“Y’know, just because it was a false alarm doesn’t mean we couldn’t…”
Ianto smiled. “There’d be a lot to consider,” he pointed out, “but maybe we could think about trying for real?”
The End