Out of Seven Billion Lights (This is a Love Song) Pt 4
Title: Out of Seven Billion Lights (This is a Love Song) Part Four
Words: ~11,500 total
Warnings: Rated 16 for language and violence. Spoilers for Torchwood S1 and S2, and Doctor Who S3. A little hint of the novel The Story of Martha by Dan Abnett too.
Disclaimer: Torchwood and Doctor Who belong to the BBC et al. No copyright infringement intended.
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, Martha, the Master. Canon pairings.
Notes: My version of what might have happened to the Torchwood team during the Year That Never Was. Also my first ever TW fic. Slightly AU, because Martha will remember.
Three months later, and a year and a day earlier
Twelve months that had never happened. Cities rebuilt, the dead resurrected, every horror and sacrifice undone. Jack watched the Doctor carry the Master's limp body from the deck of the Valiant, and no matter how much he loved his Time Lord, he couldn't share even a fragment of his grief.
Martha took his hand and squeezed it. He smiled at her. The euphoria and exhaustion were so overwhelming that he wanted to burst into laughter, but he respected the Doctor too much to go that far.
"I met a couple of friends of yours in my travels," she said to him."You're a lucky man."
There was something in her eyes...
"Yeah," Jack said, grinning now. They were alive again, all of them, somewhere below. Brilliant Toshiko, who no-one else had valued enough, who he'd watched blossom from the awkward, frightened girl he had rescued. Sharp-edged Owen, still fighting his own demons as well as the ones that came through the Rift. Gwen, who never backed down, who loved so fiercely and so freely that she was starting to feel like not only the heart of Torchwood but of Jack's life too. And beautiful Ianto, who Jack had been unable to allow too close when his future and his very existence had been so uncertain.
Now the layers of secrets between them were falling away, and Jack could see next month, next year, and he knew, for the first time in too long, what he wanted. Who he wanted.
"Right now, I feel like the luckiest man alive."
*
"I'll be home for supper, I promise."
Gwen didn't miss the looks she got from the rest of the team. She stuck her tongue out at them and walked away in the direction of Jack's off--Jack's old office--while she continued to reassure her mobile.
"No, I do mean it this time. Alright, maybe a late supper? Okay. Yes, I will definitely be there."
"Tosh, tell me you're not still wasting your time on that."
Gwen glanced back at the sound of Owen's raised voice. Ianto shot Owen a dark look, but Tosh just said, "If Jack knew that he was going to leave, he may have prepared a message for us and left it in the system somewhere." Her voice dropped as she added. "It's what I would do."
"Jack's more a pen and paper sort at heart," Ianto mumbled.
"Jack buggered off and left us to it! What makes you so sure he wanted to say goodbye?" Owen stalked off towards his autopsy room.
Gwen realised Rhys was still talking. "No, love, I'm still here. Sorry, just my colleagues..."
"I wonder where he went, why it was so urgent," Tosh said, for the thousandth time. These conversations were growing rarer since they'd figured out that Jack hadn't been kidnapped, but his name was still a guaranteed way to darken the mood in the Hub.
"I wonder how much we never knew about him," Ianto said softly, staring at his monitor.
The past tense. Gwen had found it creeping in recently. She told herself that she didn't want to think about Jack anymore, not in any tense, and wished she was a better liar.
"Oh, Rhys, I'm sorry, I'm too distracted right now. I'll talk to you later, alright? Dinner sounds wonderful. Love you."
She hung up. Her feet had taken her almost all the way to J--to the office. She turned around.
Should she tell Tosh to get back to work and forget about Jack? No need, she trusted her to multi-task. Ask Ianto for the updated inventory? She knew he'd have it ready when she needed it, probably well before. Go after Owen? She considered his mood, and decided it was one that should just be left to blow over.
She hadn't asked for leadership, but it felt more natural every day.
"Gwen," Tosh called, sitting up straighter.
Gwen was at her side in an instant. "What is it?"
"A second report just came in of a Weevil attack down by the docks. Sounds like there were half a dozen of them this time."
Gwen quickly ran through their responsibilities for the day in her head. She checked the time on Tosh's report.
"Right, they may still be in the area. I think it's time we found that nest. Owen!"
He ran up the stairs to join them. Ianto already had weapons waiting. They were ready in seconds. As the door rolled back, Gwen felt a flush of grim pride. The four of them could do this without Jack. They had to.
On the way to the SUV, Gwen heard Tosh say to Owen, continuing with the next installment of a long argument, "All I'm saying is that he must have had a good reason."
"You know what I think, Tosh?" Owen threw his medical bag into the car. "I think that wherever and whyever Jack went, he's probably forgotten all about us by now. Maybe you should do the same."
Gwen told Owen to drive. It might shut him up for a while.
Could Jack have done that? Just left without a word, to start a new life? Out of sight, out of mind? She didn't want to believe it, but it seemed like even the work they did, even Torchwood itself, had not been enough to hold him.
She looked around the SUV at the team--at her team--and admitted to herself that she wanted Jack back so badly it made her chest ache--if for no other reason than to hit him as hard as she could.
She didn't want to believe it...but really, within the context of his endless existence, how much could four individuals mean to him?
~
Words: ~11,500 total
Warnings: Rated 16 for language and violence. Spoilers for Torchwood S1 and S2, and Doctor Who S3. A little hint of the novel The Story of Martha by Dan Abnett too.
Disclaimer: Torchwood and Doctor Who belong to the BBC et al. No copyright infringement intended.
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, Martha, the Master. Canon pairings.
Notes: My version of what might have happened to the Torchwood team during the Year That Never Was. Also my first ever TW fic. Slightly AU, because Martha will remember.
Three months later, and a year and a day earlier
Twelve months that had never happened. Cities rebuilt, the dead resurrected, every horror and sacrifice undone. Jack watched the Doctor carry the Master's limp body from the deck of the Valiant, and no matter how much he loved his Time Lord, he couldn't share even a fragment of his grief.
Martha took his hand and squeezed it. He smiled at her. The euphoria and exhaustion were so overwhelming that he wanted to burst into laughter, but he respected the Doctor too much to go that far.
"I met a couple of friends of yours in my travels," she said to him."You're a lucky man."
There was something in her eyes...
"Yeah," Jack said, grinning now. They were alive again, all of them, somewhere below. Brilliant Toshiko, who no-one else had valued enough, who he'd watched blossom from the awkward, frightened girl he had rescued. Sharp-edged Owen, still fighting his own demons as well as the ones that came through the Rift. Gwen, who never backed down, who loved so fiercely and so freely that she was starting to feel like not only the heart of Torchwood but of Jack's life too. And beautiful Ianto, who Jack had been unable to allow too close when his future and his very existence had been so uncertain.
Now the layers of secrets between them were falling away, and Jack could see next month, next year, and he knew, for the first time in too long, what he wanted. Who he wanted.
"Right now, I feel like the luckiest man alive."
*
"I'll be home for supper, I promise."
Gwen didn't miss the looks she got from the rest of the team. She stuck her tongue out at them and walked away in the direction of Jack's off--Jack's old office--while she continued to reassure her mobile.
"No, I do mean it this time. Alright, maybe a late supper? Okay. Yes, I will definitely be there."
"Tosh, tell me you're not still wasting your time on that."
Gwen glanced back at the sound of Owen's raised voice. Ianto shot Owen a dark look, but Tosh just said, "If Jack knew that he was going to leave, he may have prepared a message for us and left it in the system somewhere." Her voice dropped as she added. "It's what I would do."
"Jack's more a pen and paper sort at heart," Ianto mumbled.
"Jack buggered off and left us to it! What makes you so sure he wanted to say goodbye?" Owen stalked off towards his autopsy room.
Gwen realised Rhys was still talking. "No, love, I'm still here. Sorry, just my colleagues..."
"I wonder where he went, why it was so urgent," Tosh said, for the thousandth time. These conversations were growing rarer since they'd figured out that Jack hadn't been kidnapped, but his name was still a guaranteed way to darken the mood in the Hub.
"I wonder how much we never knew about him," Ianto said softly, staring at his monitor.
The past tense. Gwen had found it creeping in recently. She told herself that she didn't want to think about Jack anymore, not in any tense, and wished she was a better liar.
"Oh, Rhys, I'm sorry, I'm too distracted right now. I'll talk to you later, alright? Dinner sounds wonderful. Love you."
She hung up. Her feet had taken her almost all the way to J--to the office. She turned around.
Should she tell Tosh to get back to work and forget about Jack? No need, she trusted her to multi-task. Ask Ianto for the updated inventory? She knew he'd have it ready when she needed it, probably well before. Go after Owen? She considered his mood, and decided it was one that should just be left to blow over.
She hadn't asked for leadership, but it felt more natural every day.
"Gwen," Tosh called, sitting up straighter.
Gwen was at her side in an instant. "What is it?"
"A second report just came in of a Weevil attack down by the docks. Sounds like there were half a dozen of them this time."
Gwen quickly ran through their responsibilities for the day in her head. She checked the time on Tosh's report.
"Right, they may still be in the area. I think it's time we found that nest. Owen!"
He ran up the stairs to join them. Ianto already had weapons waiting. They were ready in seconds. As the door rolled back, Gwen felt a flush of grim pride. The four of them could do this without Jack. They had to.
On the way to the SUV, Gwen heard Tosh say to Owen, continuing with the next installment of a long argument, "All I'm saying is that he must have had a good reason."
"You know what I think, Tosh?" Owen threw his medical bag into the car. "I think that wherever and whyever Jack went, he's probably forgotten all about us by now. Maybe you should do the same."
Gwen told Owen to drive. It might shut him up for a while.
Could Jack have done that? Just left without a word, to start a new life? Out of sight, out of mind? She didn't want to believe it, but it seemed like even the work they did, even Torchwood itself, had not been enough to hold him.
She looked around the SUV at the team--at her team--and admitted to herself that she wanted Jack back so badly it made her chest ache--if for no other reason than to hit him as hard as she could.
She didn't want to believe it...but really, within the context of his endless existence, how much could four individuals mean to him?
~