Ficlet: Mortuary
(Yeah, that thing I said about breaking up? I'm fickle.)
Title: Mortuary
Author: lefaym
Beta: Many thanks to lionessvalenti
Fandom: Torchwood
Character(s): Gwen, Lois
Summary: Gwen wants Lois to know; Lois makes her choice.
Rating: PG for dark themes
Disclaimer: RTD and the BBC own Torchwood.
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers for Children of Earth.
Word Count: 280 words.
Concrit welcome.
Mortuary
Their footsteps echoed eerily in the long cold room beneath the University Hospital in Cardiff, and Lois shivered as she surveyed the rows of refrigerated drawers.
“Why are we here?”
“We’ve arranged for Torchwood to have partial use of this mortuary until we rebuild our base.” Gwen paused, and drew a deep breath. “There’s something you need to see, before you agree to this.”
“What is it?”
Gwen looked at her, cocking her head slightly to the left. “How old are you, Lois? Twenty-two?”
Lois blinked in surprise. “Twenty-three last month.”
“Twenty-three,” Gwen repeated softly. “Okay then.”
Gwen closed her eyes for a moment, as though gathering her strength. Then she raised her hands to the drawer marked ‘034’ and pulled, revealing a body in a white hospital gown.
Lois recognised the corpse from the grainy images that had been transmitted from Thames House.
She’d seen him die.
“Ianto Jones,” said Gwen, her voice barely more than a whisper. She laid two fingers gently alongside his cheekbone. “Twenty-six years old.”
He seemed small and pale in the dull light of the mortuary; it was hard to think of him as the same man who’d challenged the 4-5-6 and refused to back down. He looked like a boy.
“Take a good look,” said Gwen. “This is what Torchwood does to you. To all of us, in the end.”
Lois felt a tremor ripple through her body as she continued to look down at him, but she swallowed hard and forced herself to be calm. “I know,” she said.
“Will you still work for us, Lois?”
She raised her head, and met Gwen’s eyes without flinching.
“Yes,” said Lois. “I will.”
Title: Mortuary
Author: lefaym
Beta: Many thanks to lionessvalenti
Fandom: Torchwood
Character(s): Gwen, Lois
Summary: Gwen wants Lois to know; Lois makes her choice.
Rating: PG for dark themes
Disclaimer: RTD and the BBC own Torchwood.
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers for Children of Earth.
Word Count: 280 words.
Concrit welcome.
Mortuary
Their footsteps echoed eerily in the long cold room beneath the University Hospital in Cardiff, and Lois shivered as she surveyed the rows of refrigerated drawers.
“Why are we here?”
“We’ve arranged for Torchwood to have partial use of this mortuary until we rebuild our base.” Gwen paused, and drew a deep breath. “There’s something you need to see, before you agree to this.”
“What is it?”
Gwen looked at her, cocking her head slightly to the left. “How old are you, Lois? Twenty-two?”
Lois blinked in surprise. “Twenty-three last month.”
“Twenty-three,” Gwen repeated softly. “Okay then.”
Gwen closed her eyes for a moment, as though gathering her strength. Then she raised her hands to the drawer marked ‘034’ and pulled, revealing a body in a white hospital gown.
Lois recognised the corpse from the grainy images that had been transmitted from Thames House.
She’d seen him die.
“Ianto Jones,” said Gwen, her voice barely more than a whisper. She laid two fingers gently alongside his cheekbone. “Twenty-six years old.”
He seemed small and pale in the dull light of the mortuary; it was hard to think of him as the same man who’d challenged the 4-5-6 and refused to back down. He looked like a boy.
“Take a good look,” said Gwen. “This is what Torchwood does to you. To all of us, in the end.”
Lois felt a tremor ripple through her body as she continued to look down at him, but she swallowed hard and forced herself to be calm. “I know,” she said.
“Will you still work for us, Lois?”
She raised her head, and met Gwen’s eyes without flinching.
“Yes,” said Lois. “I will.”