How Could She Be?
Title: How Could She Be?
Author: Jooles34
Sin: Envy
Characters: Tosh - mentions of the team
Word count: 700
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Torchwood does not belong to me
Summery: Tosh is comparing herself to her colleagues. Is that ever wise?
AN - I’ve left the ending a little open to interpretation…Interested in your opinions if you want to share…
Tosh pulled her glasses off her nose and rubbed a hand over her eyes. She’d been working on this programme for hours now, just staring at the screen; ribbons of green numbers, letters and symbols on a black background quietly scrolled in front of her.
It was a quiet day today. No calls had come through and the rift predictor wasn’t showing anything for the next 48 hours at least.
Tosh looked around her; searching out her colleagues. Owen was at his desk, his medical bay empty of patients or corpses. Leaning back in her chair Tosh could see that he was looking at the website of a new club he kept saying he wanted to check out. Oh. It was that sort of club. He had a big grin on his face.
She could hear Gwen talking on the phone to Rhys while she lounged on the sofa. They were planning their honeymoon. Tosh didn’t need to turn around to see her smile. It was apparent in every word she said.
Looking up she saw Jack and Ianto talking on the gantry. Their body language was casual, relaxed, and their heads comfortably close. They spoke in low voices so no-one could hear, but there was no mistaking the slow, easy smiles they shared.
Tosh looked back at her screen, code scrolling across; a language she was much more familiar with. While everyone else found something more fun to do when there was no work around, it was just Tosh who found more work to do.
She supposed she should be envious of the way the others fell so easily into their own distractions. But she never would be. How could she be?
She glanced at Gwen again. Gwen the police constable, the wannbe detective. She was smart enough and would work determinedly at any mystery, any problem; picking away doggedly at it until she had it solved.
But not Tosh. Tosh didn’t need to pick away at something; scrutinise, examine from every angle. Tosh simply looked at the pieces of gathered evidence and information and the solution presented itself to her.
Tosh just had to look at the data, and it moved in front of her eyes like pieces of a jigsaw until they had all fallen into their correct places; fitting together neatly to give a complete picture. And she knew Gwen envied her that.
She turned her attention to back to Owen; planning another night out. The single man, living the bachelor life. But she had seen it once. He had been regaling them with stories of a busy weekend full of booze and women and excess, and had turned to her to slyly ask what she had done with her weekend.
She had smiled and said that she’d had a quiet weekend in. Long baths, longer movies, good books and cooking herself exquisite food. And that’s when she’d seen it. That flash of envy in Owen’s eyes that she could do that. That she was comfortable enough in her own skin, her own life, that she could spend a whole weekend luxuriating in her own company; while he had to seek constant inebriated distraction in the arms of anonymous lovers.
She glanced up at Ianto now and smiled. Clever Ianto, who would work tirelessly into the night with her on computer programmes, writing codes, building algorithms. His brain was good, brilliant even, but it was no match for hers. And she’d seen the looks from him too. The looks of envy, only half disguised under admiration, as he struggled to make sense of what he was seeing on the screen, while her fingers kept a steady rhythm on the keyboard; streams of numbers and letters flowing straight from her head to the computer, and answers from the screen to her mind.
She moved her gaze to Jack. As if sensing her, Jack tore his eyes from Ianto and looked straight down at her. The lazy grin he’d been giving the Welshman turned into a broad smile as he looked towards her.
She smiled back, pondering him; what he might be envious of.
She giggled slightly to herself, tuning back to her screen. Yeah right, as if…
Author: Jooles34
Sin: Envy
Characters: Tosh - mentions of the team
Word count: 700
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Torchwood does not belong to me
Summery: Tosh is comparing herself to her colleagues. Is that ever wise?
AN - I’ve left the ending a little open to interpretation…Interested in your opinions if you want to share…
Tosh pulled her glasses off her nose and rubbed a hand over her eyes. She’d been working on this programme for hours now, just staring at the screen; ribbons of green numbers, letters and symbols on a black background quietly scrolled in front of her.
It was a quiet day today. No calls had come through and the rift predictor wasn’t showing anything for the next 48 hours at least.
Tosh looked around her; searching out her colleagues. Owen was at his desk, his medical bay empty of patients or corpses. Leaning back in her chair Tosh could see that he was looking at the website of a new club he kept saying he wanted to check out. Oh. It was that sort of club. He had a big grin on his face.
She could hear Gwen talking on the phone to Rhys while she lounged on the sofa. They were planning their honeymoon. Tosh didn’t need to turn around to see her smile. It was apparent in every word she said.
Looking up she saw Jack and Ianto talking on the gantry. Their body language was casual, relaxed, and their heads comfortably close. They spoke in low voices so no-one could hear, but there was no mistaking the slow, easy smiles they shared.
Tosh looked back at her screen, code scrolling across; a language she was much more familiar with. While everyone else found something more fun to do when there was no work around, it was just Tosh who found more work to do.
She supposed she should be envious of the way the others fell so easily into their own distractions. But she never would be. How could she be?
She glanced at Gwen again. Gwen the police constable, the wannbe detective. She was smart enough and would work determinedly at any mystery, any problem; picking away doggedly at it until she had it solved.
But not Tosh. Tosh didn’t need to pick away at something; scrutinise, examine from every angle. Tosh simply looked at the pieces of gathered evidence and information and the solution presented itself to her.
Tosh just had to look at the data, and it moved in front of her eyes like pieces of a jigsaw until they had all fallen into their correct places; fitting together neatly to give a complete picture. And she knew Gwen envied her that.
She turned her attention to back to Owen; planning another night out. The single man, living the bachelor life. But she had seen it once. He had been regaling them with stories of a busy weekend full of booze and women and excess, and had turned to her to slyly ask what she had done with her weekend.
She had smiled and said that she’d had a quiet weekend in. Long baths, longer movies, good books and cooking herself exquisite food. And that’s when she’d seen it. That flash of envy in Owen’s eyes that she could do that. That she was comfortable enough in her own skin, her own life, that she could spend a whole weekend luxuriating in her own company; while he had to seek constant inebriated distraction in the arms of anonymous lovers.
She glanced up at Ianto now and smiled. Clever Ianto, who would work tirelessly into the night with her on computer programmes, writing codes, building algorithms. His brain was good, brilliant even, but it was no match for hers. And she’d seen the looks from him too. The looks of envy, only half disguised under admiration, as he struggled to make sense of what he was seeing on the screen, while her fingers kept a steady rhythm on the keyboard; streams of numbers and letters flowing straight from her head to the computer, and answers from the screen to her mind.
She moved her gaze to Jack. As if sensing her, Jack tore his eyes from Ianto and looked straight down at her. The lazy grin he’d been giving the Welshman turned into a broad smile as he looked towards her.
She smiled back, pondering him; what he might be envious of.
She giggled slightly to herself, tuning back to her screen. Yeah right, as if…