New Fic: Confessions- Confession is Good for the Soul, Not for the Nerves.
Completely unrelated to previous fics but will be a series.
Title: Confession is Good for the Soul, Not for the Nerves.
Fandom: TW spoilers for season 2.
Pairing: Jack/Ianto implied.
Characters: Jack, Owen.
Series/Sequel: Series- Confessions
Summary: Jack needs to make some confessions but first he has to get up the nerve.
Confession is Good for the Soul, Not for the Nerves.
Jack has been acting tense since he returned and that’s aside from his issues with Gwen and the pure unadulterated terror he has about his date. No this is something else.
He has so many secrets, always has had, but there’s one he has always been ashamed of and the events prior to his extended death and then his disappearance had made him decide to come clean. So, having made that decision, that is exactly what he intended to do.
Just as soon as he worked up the guts to confess.
The problem with a secret is that it inevitably leads to avoidance which leads to lies. Lies lead to more lies which are so hard to get away from. To get out of. To just plain stop. That’s what making Jack so tense right now- trying to stop the lies.
That’s the first step at least but after so long it’s a hard habit to break. But this is something he wants so he’ll try. At least he thinks he wants it.
No, he’s sure. He can’t face not having it, not now after fantasizing about it.
He’s thought it through, so many times, and almost all possible outcomes. That people would take it well, be indifferent or blow up about it.
And then there’s the ideas about how they would react, the two of them. The two most important men, people, in his life ever. Jack’s quite sure one of them will be easier to tell and will take it much better too. Even if it would make his life more awkward.
The other one- well there’s not really any chance he’ll take it even remotely well, but it’s for his sake that Jack can’t keep up the façade.
He has to come clean, to Owen and Ianto.
And Owen deserves to hear the truth first, no matter how much easier it’ll be to confess to Ianto. To that end and after more than a month and a half of procrastination, Jack takes- drags- Owen out to lunch.
He tells the others they are going to investigate a disturbance but Owen knows it’s going to be some ghastly father/son bonding. The same kind of thing Owen has stringently been avoiding.
There’s just too much to deal with . They haven’t spoken, not properly, since God since before Gwen. Since then there’s just been so much happening, always keeping them apart, at odds.
Thankfully, at the moment, the normal tensions between Jack and Owen are one of the many things not being mentioned.
Now Jack has managed to get him alone and a fight is inevitable. There’s just… The major problems alone and you have the fact Owen killed Jack and Jack abandoned Owen. So not gonna be a pleasant lunch.
Jack pulls up in front of a fairly swank restaurant and hands the keys over to the valet.
Owen gives him a strange look- normally Jack is too wary to hand over the keys in case he needs them in a hurry.
Jack notices his look and smiles, “We’re off duty. It’s just lunch.”
Owen frowns, they always have a cover story, hell half the time they end up working. “But you told Ianto-”
“Yeah. No, that was just… I couldn’t exactly tell them I wanted to take my son out to lunch! Besides this is awkward enough without having had that conversation already.
They sit down and look over the menu when something occurs to Owen, “What did you mean ‘already’?”
“Hmm?” Inquires Jack and Owen kicks his shin.
“Don’t even try it, innocent doesn’t work for you.”
“Fine, I’m going to tell them. With everything… it’s going to come out anyway, especially after our talk today. I just want to be honest up front and not because I’ve been found out-”
“You mean you want a distraction from ‘Jack abandoned us’.”
“That too.”
“So why will whatever you’re gonna say piss me off so much I out our little secret?”
“Eh… Lets order.”
As soon as the waiter leaves Owen kicks his dad again.
“Fine. I… okay, it’s about your father.” Owen looks at him confused so Jack clarifies, “Your other father.”
“The one you won’t tell me anything about?” Owen is sitting forward full of anticipation and edged with worry.
“That’s not true! I told you I loved him very much- that’s important information.”
“Yeah but normal parents might give something more helpful like a name, distraction, date of birth-”
Jack smiles and rhymes off the date of birth.
“What? But that would make him younger than me.”
“Eh yeah. Things got complicated. But he’s a really great guy and you, well not like isn’t the best word. Eh-”
“Oh shit. It’s him, isn’t it. You, how could you NOT tell me!”
“Owen… don’t jump to conclusions-”
“Dad, I’ve been at his birthday every year since he got here! Ianto fucking Jones.” Owen sighs and calms almost immediately. “I suppose it could be worse. It could have been Captain John Hart or even the bloody Doctor.”
Jack looks at him warily, “You’re not mad?”
“Like I said, could’ve been a lot worse. But you should watch out. Teaboy’s gonna kill you for this. Oh, bugger. Do I have to start calling him Da?”
Jack chokes on his water and then bursts out laughing, “Please don’t! At least not until after he calms down-”
“Oh dad, you have no idea do you? Ianto isn’t going to calm down. He’ll be livid! And the girls aren’t going to take it easy either! Lets just not tell them.”
“Owen! He’s your father and he has a right to know- hell if he’d gotten to raise you, you’d be a helluva lot better off!”
“And Welsh. I’d also be a baby right about now- hold up he shot me! That’s great one dad abandons me and the other one shoots me!”
“I, he- you’re winding me up.”
“Yes I am, but you deserve it, daddy. He will be pissed. How can Ianto be my dad?”
Jack looks pained and turns from Owen’s gaze. “I sent you back in time. I’m not ready to be a dad right now-”
“But you were back then?”
“You’d be the best judge of that. But I knew I already was a father. It’s one of the side effects of time travel. At first… I told you about him.” Owen knows who Jack’s talking about. The only man to ever terrify his father.
“The Master? Screwed up the world and what?”
“He… I was pregnant when I left. I gave birth while I was his prisoner. He killed you. Right in front of me. Twice actually. As you are and as… I thought his paradox machine meant… I thought I’d lost you.”
Owen reaches for his hand and squeezes it reassuringly. “Dad I’m here. I’m fine and that bastard is dead.”
Jack clutches his hand and continues, “After the paradox machine was destroyed I was pregnant again, or still… but it really messed me up. That’s when I realised. Realised how I’d gotten you.
“I got the Doctor to help and I left you with me. I also gave him one memory of Ianto, of how much I love him. And here we are.”
“Okay. And I always knew I was weird but this? When Ianto hears all that he’s gonna smack you and kiss you then probably smack you again.”
“You’re taking this disturbingly well.”
“Oh, Jack, Dad, you should have realised I’m just plain disturbed by now.”
“But-”
“No. So I died, I’m fine now, obviously, what more can I ask for?”
Jack pulls Owen awkwardly across the table and hugs him tight, “I missed you.”
“Course you did , I’m fantastic.” Owen lets himself be manhandled and pats his dad reassuringly on the back.