Torchwood Fic: Photographic Memory
Title: Photographic Memory
By:
mrssjw
Rating: G ("Harmless is just a word")
Characters: Gwen, Jack, Ianto
Length: Short Story (1,666 words)
Summary: Gwen has a gift for Jack and it's not something he'll easily forget.
Spoilers: Mention of Something Borrowed, but if you haven't seen the episode, it's nothing that would really ruin the plot for you.
Author's Note: Just a little something I came up with while working on "Inseparable", my full length fiction. Not much really, but well worth the time it took to write it. I think it's a sweet little interlude between all the death and aliens of Torchwood.
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Torchwood... not that I wouldn't jump at the chance to.
Photographic Memory
“Jack?” Gwen knocked on the half-open door before poking her head inside. Jack looked up from the book he’d been reading.
“Gwen! Welcome back,” he got up and walked round to give her a tight hug. “How was the honeymoon?”
“Wonderful, thanks. Look, I just wanted to drop this by, then I’ve got some stuff to catch up on. But I wanted to you to have this.” Jack noticed for the first time that she was holing a rectangular white box in her hand.
“You know, my birthday isn’t for another few months.” He smiled, and she grinned back at him.
“I know… this is a thank you gift.” Now he looked confused; flattered, but confused all the same.
“What are you thanking me for?” He asked, and she pushed the box into his hands. She nodded at it, and he carefully lifted the lid.
“For helping with the wedding. I really appreciate everything you did, and the wedding photos look great! I don’t know how you did them,” she put up a hand to stop his explanation, “It’s all right, I probably don’t want to know, but they are fabulous. So… thanks!”
Jack looked down at the box. Inside was what appeared to be a photograph album. Looking at her askance, he lifted it from the box, and opened the front cover.
It was a picture of all of them. Gwen, Tosh, Owen, Ianto and Jack, stood together, smiling for the camera. Jack recognized it as the photograph that had been taken about a week after Gwen joined Torchwood. Ianto had insisted they needed a current Team portrait for the archives, and so Jack had rounded everyone up and made them all sit still long enough for the shutter to go. Now, Jack looked up at Gwen with a small smile forming.
“What is this?”
“It’s an album. I thought you might like to have it. We’re aren’t all going to live forever, Jack, and this way you can remember us when we were happy, rather than whatever gruesome and untimely ending we come to.” She laughed to take some of the harsh reality out of her words. Jack smiled fully as he skimmed through another few pages.
“Thanks, Gwen. It’s great.” He leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek, and she turned to go.
“Hang on,” he called out, coming across a picture he didn’t realize anyone had taken. She stopped and looked back.
“Where’d you get this one?” He showed her the picture in question, and she turned a becoming pink. It was a photo of Jack and Ianto, caught in a warm embrace. They didn’t look like they had anything else on their minds, except each other, and the warmth of the image was unmistakable.
“Umm….” Gwen hedged, “I’m not sure I remember…”
“Gwen, I remember this night… Nobody else was in the Hub. So how did you get this picture?” He lifted an eyebrow at her, and she mumbled something.
“CCTV?” Jack repeated, astounded. “What were you doing going through old CCTV footage, Mrs. Williams?” His use of her married name took her by surprise, but she was more interested in finding a way out of this uncomfortable conversation. When he continued to prod, she gave in.
“Ianto and I were talking about it one morning, and he… well, he and I are really close now, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that he would know where to find a nice picture of you two together…” Jack laughed, although inwardly he made a mental note to wipe the CCTV footage more often, if his teammates were going to be rifling through it.
Although, on second thought, he mused as he waved at Gwen and she happily scampered from the room, relieved to have escaped the inquisition. Maybe I’ll leave it alone, since they seem to find such great enjoyment in coming across stuff like this.
Jack settled behind his desk and began to look through more of the photographs that Gwen had compiled for him. It was sweet, really, and just the sort of thing that he would expect from her. He had to admit, he would enjoy keeping this. It would always remind him that there was more to Torchwood than just death and aliens. Another knock on his door announced the arrival of Ianto and a steaming mug of coffee. Jack glanced up at the younger man as he handed him his mug, and gave him a dazzling grin.
“What’s that for, sir?” Ianto asked him, smiling slightly in return.
“Nothing, really.” Jack’s expression could have lit the entire office, it was so shining and bright. Ianto glanced around the room suspiciously.
“What are you looking for Ianto?”
“Hidden cameras. I’m suddenly getting the impression that a large man in a chicken costume is going to come jumping out from around a corner at me.”
“What?” Jack laughed, “Why?” Ianto shrugged, and made to leave. Jack lunged across the desk, and caught his hand.
“Why, Ianto?”
“Because you are rarely this amused so early in the morning. Unless you count the time Owen dropped the contents of the slug he was trying to do an operation on down the front of himself.” Jack got to his feet, and wondered if there were any CCTV cameras in his office. It had never dawned on him to check if they still worked or not. He came around the front side of the desk, and leaned into Ianto.
“Maybe I’m just happy to see you.” Jack suggested, and Ianto smiled, shaking his head.
“It’s more likely that you’ve seen Gwen’s gift, and are trying to think of new places for us to be caught on film.” Ianto told him, and Jack raised an eyebrow at him.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what that look in your eye means, Jack.”
“So be it,” Jack said, and cut off the rest of the conversation with a kiss.
At her workstation, Gwen fidgeted in her chair. She knew that Ianto was up there with Jack, and she was dying to know how his week without her had gone, but until Ianto came down, Gwen wouldn’t be able to ask him. She was inwardly pleased with how much Jack had seemed to enjoy her gift, and wondered if she could come up with enough different photographs to fill up albums for Owen, Tosh and Ianto as well. She had fun putting one together for Jack, and would no doubt have just as much fun doing the same for the rest of her teammates. A sound from above drew her attention to Ianto, exiting Jack’s office. He caught her looking at him, and smiled. She grinned back at him, knowing that smile meant that he had something to share, and she hopped to her feet. He tipped his head in the direction of the coffee machine, and she met him there.
“Well?” She asked, impatiently, and he winked at her.
“I’d say Jack really liked the album.” He told her in an undertone. Gwen laughed, and put a hand on Ianto’s coat sleeve.
“Really? What did he say?”
Ianto met her gaze, his hazel eyes gleaming with the secret he knew she could read. It was the look he often wore after Jack had been kissing him, and Gwen pressed a hand to her lips to stifle more giggles.
“He liked it that much, eh?”
“Let me put it this way, Gwen,” he paused to rearrange some of the items on the counter. “I would be very happy if you could give him new pictures everyday.”
Gwen couldn’t hold back her laughter this time, and Ianto chuckled along with her. She smiled, looking up at the window of Jack’s office. Sure enough, her suspicions were correct, when she saw the Captain standing there, watching them. She gave him a perky little wave, and returned to her desk.
Jack eventually sat back down, and stared at the blue cover on the album. He sighed, and opened it up to a new page. A series of pictures, all with Gwen, and all at strange angles, filled up almost four pages of the album. He remembered this day as well. Rhys had bought Gwen a new digital camera for her birthday, and she had brought it in to work the next day to show it off, and take a few snapshots. She had run around the Hub, taking photos of herself with each of the others, grinning like a giddy child with a new toy.
She had insisted on taking the pictures herself, hence the odd angles, but he had to admit, they had turned out much better than he would have thought. Granted, Owen didn’t look too happy to have been squeezed into the frame, but Tosh was smiling modestly, and Ianto had clearly caught Gwen’s fevered enthusiasm, judging by the silly smile on his face. Jack paused as he came to the one of him and Gwen together. She had pressed a kiss to his cheek, and taken the picture, watching the camera out of the corner of her eye.
Jack chuckled anew at the memory, and got up to put the album on a shelf. Gwen couldn’t know how much he loved it, and he knew that it would be something he would come back to many times over the years. With a shake of his head, Jack smiled again, and sat down behind his desk. Maybe he would take them out to lunch, provided the world wasn’t on the verge of ultimate destruction again. Yeah, Jack liked that idea. He turned to his pile of paperwork, picking up his pen.
Lunch, and then he’d see if anyone had a camera. They could do with some more pictures around the Hub of happy times. Who knows… maybe he could trick Owen into getting Janet all dolled up and they could put a few of the Weevil in his new favorite book.
By:
mrssjw
Rating: G ("Harmless is just a word")
Characters: Gwen, Jack, Ianto
Length: Short Story (1,666 words)
Summary: Gwen has a gift for Jack and it's not something he'll easily forget.
Spoilers: Mention of Something Borrowed, but if you haven't seen the episode, it's nothing that would really ruin the plot for you.
Author's Note: Just a little something I came up with while working on "Inseparable", my full length fiction. Not much really, but well worth the time it took to write it. I think it's a sweet little interlude between all the death and aliens of Torchwood.
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Torchwood... not that I wouldn't jump at the chance to.
Photographic Memory
“Jack?” Gwen knocked on the half-open door before poking her head inside. Jack looked up from the book he’d been reading.
“Gwen! Welcome back,” he got up and walked round to give her a tight hug. “How was the honeymoon?”
“Wonderful, thanks. Look, I just wanted to drop this by, then I’ve got some stuff to catch up on. But I wanted to you to have this.” Jack noticed for the first time that she was holing a rectangular white box in her hand.
“You know, my birthday isn’t for another few months.” He smiled, and she grinned back at him.
“I know… this is a thank you gift.” Now he looked confused; flattered, but confused all the same.
“What are you thanking me for?” He asked, and she pushed the box into his hands. She nodded at it, and he carefully lifted the lid.
“For helping with the wedding. I really appreciate everything you did, and the wedding photos look great! I don’t know how you did them,” she put up a hand to stop his explanation, “It’s all right, I probably don’t want to know, but they are fabulous. So… thanks!”
Jack looked down at the box. Inside was what appeared to be a photograph album. Looking at her askance, he lifted it from the box, and opened the front cover.
It was a picture of all of them. Gwen, Tosh, Owen, Ianto and Jack, stood together, smiling for the camera. Jack recognized it as the photograph that had been taken about a week after Gwen joined Torchwood. Ianto had insisted they needed a current Team portrait for the archives, and so Jack had rounded everyone up and made them all sit still long enough for the shutter to go. Now, Jack looked up at Gwen with a small smile forming.
“What is this?”
“It’s an album. I thought you might like to have it. We’re aren’t all going to live forever, Jack, and this way you can remember us when we were happy, rather than whatever gruesome and untimely ending we come to.” She laughed to take some of the harsh reality out of her words. Jack smiled fully as he skimmed through another few pages.
“Thanks, Gwen. It’s great.” He leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek, and she turned to go.
“Hang on,” he called out, coming across a picture he didn’t realize anyone had taken. She stopped and looked back.
“Where’d you get this one?” He showed her the picture in question, and she turned a becoming pink. It was a photo of Jack and Ianto, caught in a warm embrace. They didn’t look like they had anything else on their minds, except each other, and the warmth of the image was unmistakable.
“Umm….” Gwen hedged, “I’m not sure I remember…”
“Gwen, I remember this night… Nobody else was in the Hub. So how did you get this picture?” He lifted an eyebrow at her, and she mumbled something.
“CCTV?” Jack repeated, astounded. “What were you doing going through old CCTV footage, Mrs. Williams?” His use of her married name took her by surprise, but she was more interested in finding a way out of this uncomfortable conversation. When he continued to prod, she gave in.
“Ianto and I were talking about it one morning, and he… well, he and I are really close now, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that he would know where to find a nice picture of you two together…” Jack laughed, although inwardly he made a mental note to wipe the CCTV footage more often, if his teammates were going to be rifling through it.
Although, on second thought, he mused as he waved at Gwen and she happily scampered from the room, relieved to have escaped the inquisition. Maybe I’ll leave it alone, since they seem to find such great enjoyment in coming across stuff like this.
Jack settled behind his desk and began to look through more of the photographs that Gwen had compiled for him. It was sweet, really, and just the sort of thing that he would expect from her. He had to admit, he would enjoy keeping this. It would always remind him that there was more to Torchwood than just death and aliens. Another knock on his door announced the arrival of Ianto and a steaming mug of coffee. Jack glanced up at the younger man as he handed him his mug, and gave him a dazzling grin.
“What’s that for, sir?” Ianto asked him, smiling slightly in return.
“Nothing, really.” Jack’s expression could have lit the entire office, it was so shining and bright. Ianto glanced around the room suspiciously.
“What are you looking for Ianto?”
“Hidden cameras. I’m suddenly getting the impression that a large man in a chicken costume is going to come jumping out from around a corner at me.”
“What?” Jack laughed, “Why?” Ianto shrugged, and made to leave. Jack lunged across the desk, and caught his hand.
“Why, Ianto?”
“Because you are rarely this amused so early in the morning. Unless you count the time Owen dropped the contents of the slug he was trying to do an operation on down the front of himself.” Jack got to his feet, and wondered if there were any CCTV cameras in his office. It had never dawned on him to check if they still worked or not. He came around the front side of the desk, and leaned into Ianto.
“Maybe I’m just happy to see you.” Jack suggested, and Ianto smiled, shaking his head.
“It’s more likely that you’ve seen Gwen’s gift, and are trying to think of new places for us to be caught on film.” Ianto told him, and Jack raised an eyebrow at him.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what that look in your eye means, Jack.”
“So be it,” Jack said, and cut off the rest of the conversation with a kiss.
At her workstation, Gwen fidgeted in her chair. She knew that Ianto was up there with Jack, and she was dying to know how his week without her had gone, but until Ianto came down, Gwen wouldn’t be able to ask him. She was inwardly pleased with how much Jack had seemed to enjoy her gift, and wondered if she could come up with enough different photographs to fill up albums for Owen, Tosh and Ianto as well. She had fun putting one together for Jack, and would no doubt have just as much fun doing the same for the rest of her teammates. A sound from above drew her attention to Ianto, exiting Jack’s office. He caught her looking at him, and smiled. She grinned back at him, knowing that smile meant that he had something to share, and she hopped to her feet. He tipped his head in the direction of the coffee machine, and she met him there.
“Well?” She asked, impatiently, and he winked at her.
“I’d say Jack really liked the album.” He told her in an undertone. Gwen laughed, and put a hand on Ianto’s coat sleeve.
“Really? What did he say?”
Ianto met her gaze, his hazel eyes gleaming with the secret he knew she could read. It was the look he often wore after Jack had been kissing him, and Gwen pressed a hand to her lips to stifle more giggles.
“He liked it that much, eh?”
“Let me put it this way, Gwen,” he paused to rearrange some of the items on the counter. “I would be very happy if you could give him new pictures everyday.”
Gwen couldn’t hold back her laughter this time, and Ianto chuckled along with her. She smiled, looking up at the window of Jack’s office. Sure enough, her suspicions were correct, when she saw the Captain standing there, watching them. She gave him a perky little wave, and returned to her desk.
Jack eventually sat back down, and stared at the blue cover on the album. He sighed, and opened it up to a new page. A series of pictures, all with Gwen, and all at strange angles, filled up almost four pages of the album. He remembered this day as well. Rhys had bought Gwen a new digital camera for her birthday, and she had brought it in to work the next day to show it off, and take a few snapshots. She had run around the Hub, taking photos of herself with each of the others, grinning like a giddy child with a new toy.
She had insisted on taking the pictures herself, hence the odd angles, but he had to admit, they had turned out much better than he would have thought. Granted, Owen didn’t look too happy to have been squeezed into the frame, but Tosh was smiling modestly, and Ianto had clearly caught Gwen’s fevered enthusiasm, judging by the silly smile on his face. Jack paused as he came to the one of him and Gwen together. She had pressed a kiss to his cheek, and taken the picture, watching the camera out of the corner of her eye.
Jack chuckled anew at the memory, and got up to put the album on a shelf. Gwen couldn’t know how much he loved it, and he knew that it would be something he would come back to many times over the years. With a shake of his head, Jack smiled again, and sat down behind his desk. Maybe he would take them out to lunch, provided the world wasn’t on the verge of ultimate destruction again. Yeah, Jack liked that idea. He turned to his pile of paperwork, picking up his pen.
Lunch, and then he’d see if anyone had a camera. They could do with some more pictures around the Hub of happy times. Who knows… maybe he could trick Owen into getting Janet all dolled up and they could put a few of the Weevil in his new favorite book.