Maybe It's Not Too Late 1/1 Torchwood ficlet
Title: Maybe It's Not Too Late 1/1
Pairing: Allusions to Jack/Ianto
Genre: Introsprective character POV piece
Rating: G
Warning: Spoilers for S2x01 Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang
Summary: Set mid episode-What Jack was really thinking during his talk with Gwen...Hint: It wasn't how much he loves her
Disclaimer: Torchwood and it's characters belong to BBC and Russel T. Davies. If they belonged to me Gwen would have been killed in the end of episode 1 and Jack and Ianto would be spending every episode shagging like rabbits!
Author's Note: I've written in other fandoms for years, but this is my first time posting anything Torchwood related. After watching S2x01 I was more than a little irked by the whole Jack/Gwen dynamic that we were given, but after ranting about it to my sister, she pointed out some things I hadn't thought of about "the scene" and this little fic idea wouldn't leave me be. Not beta'd, so any mistakes are my own.
*****
“What’s this?” Jack asked, his eyes settling on Gwen’s hand.
“That’s an engagement ring, that is.” She stared up at him expectantly.
For a long moment Jack didn’t say anything, torn between happiness and more than a little envy. Gwen was engaged. Life had moved on while he had been away and it hurt a little to know that they hadn’t all been lost and rudderless without him around. What hurt even more was the realization that life would continue to move on around him and he would stay just as he was. His friends would live their lives, start families, grow old and he would still be there, alone…as always.
Before he could get too lost in his own thoughts Jack realized that he hadn’t replied to Gwen’s news and he plastered what he hoped was a convincing smile up on his face. “You’re getting married?”
“Yes,Rhys asked…when you were away.” She said the words as if somehow her answer might have been different if Jack had been around. There had been a time when he’d felt the same way about The Doctor, but he knew from personal experience that hero worship and infatuation didn’t equal love. He’d learned that lesson the hard way, when he’d heard the grinding of the TARDIS as it had left him behind.
Gwen was still looking at him, waiting for a reaction that he couldn’t give her, but he had to say something, “Wow! Gwen Cooper getting married…Down on one knee?”
“Well he tried to, then he had a twinge in his back and had to lie down on the settee, that’s what he popped the question.”
“And you said yes?” He knew it was stating the obvious but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Well, no one else’ll have me.” He knew she was trying to be flippant but there was something lurking just under her words that touched a nerve in Jack. The things he had seen, the things he’d done had made it hard at times to live with himself. Finding someone else who was willing to live with him in spite of it all had been next to impossible. There had been Estelle, for a time, but as much as he’d loved her, he’d never been able to let her see everything he was. He’d been too afraid of losing her and in the end…he had anyway; But as he looked at Gwen, still so young, with a real future ahead of her he wondered if he still had it in him to be that hopeful anymore. He wondered if he still had it in him to take another chance on love. Was there actually anyone alive that would have him? That would be willing to put up with him for the long haul? Ianto’s haunted blue eyes and soft smile filled Jack’s mind.
Feeling a faint spark of hope beginning to kindle within him Jack smiled down at Gwen and reached out to grip her shoulders. “Good for you.” He leaned in then, embracing her and kissed her cheek softly. He prayed that things would work out for her, that this job wouldn’t take over her life the way it had his for so long.
When he pulled away from her a moment later and looked down into her wide brown eyes he felt the weight of his own loses far too keenly. He took half a step back and tried not to let his emotions overwhelm him. “We should get back to work.”
As Jack walked away, further into the vaults he let his mind drift back to Ianto. There had always been something more than just a sexual attraction between them, as much as he’d try to pretend otherwise in the past. During the year that never was, it had been thoughts of the young archivist more than any others that had kept Jack going, helped him endure everything that The Master had put him through. He only hoped that it wasn’t too late to let Ianto know how he felt.
X-posted at jackxianto
Pairing: Allusions to Jack/Ianto
Genre: Introsprective character POV piece
Rating: G
Warning: Spoilers for S2x01 Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang
Summary: Set mid episode-What Jack was really thinking during his talk with Gwen...Hint: It wasn't how much he loves her
Disclaimer: Torchwood and it's characters belong to BBC and Russel T. Davies. If they belonged to me Gwen would have been killed in the end of episode 1 and Jack and Ianto would be spending every episode shagging like rabbits!
Author's Note: I've written in other fandoms for years, but this is my first time posting anything Torchwood related. After watching S2x01 I was more than a little irked by the whole Jack/Gwen dynamic that we were given, but after ranting about it to my sister, she pointed out some things I hadn't thought of about "the scene" and this little fic idea wouldn't leave me be. Not beta'd, so any mistakes are my own.
*****
“What’s this?” Jack asked, his eyes settling on Gwen’s hand.
“That’s an engagement ring, that is.” She stared up at him expectantly.
For a long moment Jack didn’t say anything, torn between happiness and more than a little envy. Gwen was engaged. Life had moved on while he had been away and it hurt a little to know that they hadn’t all been lost and rudderless without him around. What hurt even more was the realization that life would continue to move on around him and he would stay just as he was. His friends would live their lives, start families, grow old and he would still be there, alone…as always.
Before he could get too lost in his own thoughts Jack realized that he hadn’t replied to Gwen’s news and he plastered what he hoped was a convincing smile up on his face. “You’re getting married?”
“Yes,Rhys asked…when you were away.” She said the words as if somehow her answer might have been different if Jack had been around. There had been a time when he’d felt the same way about The Doctor, but he knew from personal experience that hero worship and infatuation didn’t equal love. He’d learned that lesson the hard way, when he’d heard the grinding of the TARDIS as it had left him behind.
Gwen was still looking at him, waiting for a reaction that he couldn’t give her, but he had to say something, “Wow! Gwen Cooper getting married…Down on one knee?”
“Well he tried to, then he had a twinge in his back and had to lie down on the settee, that’s what he popped the question.”
“And you said yes?” He knew it was stating the obvious but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Well, no one else’ll have me.” He knew she was trying to be flippant but there was something lurking just under her words that touched a nerve in Jack. The things he had seen, the things he’d done had made it hard at times to live with himself. Finding someone else who was willing to live with him in spite of it all had been next to impossible. There had been Estelle, for a time, but as much as he’d loved her, he’d never been able to let her see everything he was. He’d been too afraid of losing her and in the end…he had anyway; But as he looked at Gwen, still so young, with a real future ahead of her he wondered if he still had it in him to be that hopeful anymore. He wondered if he still had it in him to take another chance on love. Was there actually anyone alive that would have him? That would be willing to put up with him for the long haul? Ianto’s haunted blue eyes and soft smile filled Jack’s mind.
Feeling a faint spark of hope beginning to kindle within him Jack smiled down at Gwen and reached out to grip her shoulders. “Good for you.” He leaned in then, embracing her and kissed her cheek softly. He prayed that things would work out for her, that this job wouldn’t take over her life the way it had his for so long.
When he pulled away from her a moment later and looked down into her wide brown eyes he felt the weight of his own loses far too keenly. He took half a step back and tried not to let his emotions overwhelm him. “We should get back to work.”
As Jack walked away, further into the vaults he let his mind drift back to Ianto. There had always been something more than just a sexual attraction between them, as much as he’d try to pretend otherwise in the past. During the year that never was, it had been thoughts of the young archivist more than any others that had kept Jack going, helped him endure everything that The Master had put him through. He only hoped that it wasn’t too late to let Ianto know how he felt.
X-posted at jackxianto