new Torchwood fic: Grateful
Title: Grateful
Author: Rainshadow (
rainshadowsfic )
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Jack/Gwen, slight Gwen/Ianto overtones
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1000
Warnings: SPOILERS for 2x13 Exit Wounds, H/C
Summary: Gwen's distraught. Jack's grateful. Ianto rides it out.Disclaimer: Not mine! =(
A/N: un-beta’ed so mistakes are mine. See more A/N at the end.
Jack, halfway up the stairs to his office, paused when Ianto, who was in front of him, stopped. They’d just come from cold storage. Ianto nodded at Toshiko’s work station, currently occupied by a sleeping Gwen. Jack moved towards her, gently stroked her hair.
“Gwen. Go home.” Gwen started, having nodded off with her head braced against her hand. She blinked. “No, no, I have to finish this, get it to Andy at the station, he needs-“
“What he needs,” Jack said gently, taking her hand, “is for you to be coherent enough to pull them through the next day.”
Gwen choked back a sob, came up dry. She’d cried so much the past few days, she’d run out of tears. How long had it been? How many hours had passed since… since Toshiko and Owen had left them, permanently? It was a nightmare, so much worse than when Jack had left them. They’d pulled together then, they’d been a proper team, and it felt like Jack had barely even come back before things had gone to hell. They’d barely gotten a chance to work.. oh god, who was she kidding? Their family hadn’t had enough time to be reunited, not really, that mess with Owen, and then her disaster of a wedding, and now…
Sod it, guess she did have some liquid left in her body after all. Gwen shuddered, and Jack clutched her, trying to contain the shaking. Huge, ugly sobs wracked her body, wrenched from her, enormous and painful and grieving. “They’re gone!” she choked, and Jack could barely understand her, her voice was so thick.
Jack looked back at Ianto, his face anguished, as helpless as Gwen. Ianto walked over, picked Gwen up, and carried her over to the couch, Jack following. He nodded for Jack to sit down, then deposited Gwen in his lap.
“It isn’t fair!” she cried. “We were supposed to be together, like a family. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”
“I know,” Jack murmured into her hair, rocking her. “I know. It’s so hard.”
“None of this should have happened,” she ranted. “It was going to be so perfect, everyone, after Rhys found out, and Owen and Tosh never got their chance, and the way she pined for him, and it wasn’t supposed to be like this!” she shrieked, hands fisted, her jaw clenched tight and she could feel pain blossoming in her head, one hell of a migraine coming on. She quieted, moaned, rubbing her temples. Ianto dug into his breast pocket, and produced a few tablets of aspirin. She laughed half-hysterically when they appeared in her palm, and swallowed them dry.
Jack looked up then, from burying his head against Gwen’s shoulder. Misery was written in every line of his face, and both Gwen and Ianto reacted instinctively, making small noises of concern and drawing in closer-Ianto sat down next to them, Gwen pressed a hand to his cheek. Jack sighed, closed his eyes, leaned into her touch. With one hand, he covered hers, and the other reached for Ianto, tracing down his left wrist and linking their fingers tightly together. He opened his mouth several times, but didn’t speak for some time. Ianto and Gwen waited, their attention focused on him. Patient.
“I was buried alive underneath Cardiff for almost two thousand years. Dying and waking and choking on earth only to die and wake again. It was… horrible and terrifying and I just wanted it to stop, I just wanted to stay dead. Something strange happened and-Then Torchwood found me, and I got to sleep for a long time, finally. And when I wake up, I have to-“ his voice broke, and he struggled for a moment for control. “I had to put my baby brother in cryo, may have to kill him someday, and as if two thousand years of penance aren’t enough,” he spat, “I come back to find Owen and Toshiko gone.”
He pulled their hands together over Gwen’s lap, cradling them, linking their hands together and covering them with his own. He looked up at them, face torn with deep sorrow and what seemed to be a fierce joy. “But what you don’t know is that I’m selfish,” he whispered, dropping their hands, putting an arm around each of them and drawing them close. Gwen and Ianto exchanged glances, their hands still clasped.
Gwen started softly, “Jack, I don’t think you’re selfish, all that time, it wasn’t your-“
“I’m selfish because,” he said steadily, cutting her off. “Because I’m so damn grateful…” and his voice dropped to a harsh whisper again. “so grateful that the two of you are alive, that it’s not Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones that I’m mourning, so selfish, to be glad it’s them and not you,” he moaned.
“Jack,” Ianto whispered, unsure what to say.
“Ianto,” Jack said, breathless. “My gorgeous Ianto,” and kissed him. Gwen started to pull away, but Jack held her tight, and Ianto did not loosen his grip on her hand. Jack broke the kiss, and Ianto’s gaze flicked to Gwen. Jack looked at her, heartbreaking smile on his face, and kissed her, too, lips still salty from her tears.
“Jack,” Ianto said.
“Jack,” Gwen repeated, confirmation.
“We are still a team,” he told them. “We are still Torchwood. And we will take the memory of Owen and Tosh with us, and carry on.”
Gwen and Ianto nodded, and the three of them stayed that way, til Gwen and Ianto slept the sleep of the utterly exhausted, and Jack held them in his arms, felt their hearts beating, felt their breath warm on his neck, and was grateful.
End
A/N: So, yeah, we’re all reeling from Exit Wounds, I imagine. And as hard as that was, what I am having the most trouble with is the two thousand year thing. Yeah, penance, I get that. but it’s Jack. I feel like he’d… he’d have to find some way out, jump time, oh, I don’t know what I’m saying. Mostly I can’t fathom, cannot grasp the idea of being conscious for that long, being tortured for that long, and not going completely batshit insane. Any takers?
Oh, and what’d you think of the fic? I know plenty of people don’t really like Gwen, but this may be growing on me as an OT3 >.> k, scuse me while I go cry for Tosh n Owen now.
Author: Rainshadow (
rainshadowsfic )
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Jack/Gwen, slight Gwen/Ianto overtones
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1000
Warnings: SPOILERS for 2x13 Exit Wounds, H/C
Summary: Gwen's distraught. Jack's grateful. Ianto rides it out.Disclaimer: Not mine! =(
A/N: un-beta’ed so mistakes are mine. See more A/N at the end.
Jack, halfway up the stairs to his office, paused when Ianto, who was in front of him, stopped. They’d just come from cold storage. Ianto nodded at Toshiko’s work station, currently occupied by a sleeping Gwen. Jack moved towards her, gently stroked her hair.
“Gwen. Go home.” Gwen started, having nodded off with her head braced against her hand. She blinked. “No, no, I have to finish this, get it to Andy at the station, he needs-“
“What he needs,” Jack said gently, taking her hand, “is for you to be coherent enough to pull them through the next day.”
Gwen choked back a sob, came up dry. She’d cried so much the past few days, she’d run out of tears. How long had it been? How many hours had passed since… since Toshiko and Owen had left them, permanently? It was a nightmare, so much worse than when Jack had left them. They’d pulled together then, they’d been a proper team, and it felt like Jack had barely even come back before things had gone to hell. They’d barely gotten a chance to work.. oh god, who was she kidding? Their family hadn’t had enough time to be reunited, not really, that mess with Owen, and then her disaster of a wedding, and now…
Sod it, guess she did have some liquid left in her body after all. Gwen shuddered, and Jack clutched her, trying to contain the shaking. Huge, ugly sobs wracked her body, wrenched from her, enormous and painful and grieving. “They’re gone!” she choked, and Jack could barely understand her, her voice was so thick.
Jack looked back at Ianto, his face anguished, as helpless as Gwen. Ianto walked over, picked Gwen up, and carried her over to the couch, Jack following. He nodded for Jack to sit down, then deposited Gwen in his lap.
“It isn’t fair!” she cried. “We were supposed to be together, like a family. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”
“I know,” Jack murmured into her hair, rocking her. “I know. It’s so hard.”
“None of this should have happened,” she ranted. “It was going to be so perfect, everyone, after Rhys found out, and Owen and Tosh never got their chance, and the way she pined for him, and it wasn’t supposed to be like this!” she shrieked, hands fisted, her jaw clenched tight and she could feel pain blossoming in her head, one hell of a migraine coming on. She quieted, moaned, rubbing her temples. Ianto dug into his breast pocket, and produced a few tablets of aspirin. She laughed half-hysterically when they appeared in her palm, and swallowed them dry.
Jack looked up then, from burying his head against Gwen’s shoulder. Misery was written in every line of his face, and both Gwen and Ianto reacted instinctively, making small noises of concern and drawing in closer-Ianto sat down next to them, Gwen pressed a hand to his cheek. Jack sighed, closed his eyes, leaned into her touch. With one hand, he covered hers, and the other reached for Ianto, tracing down his left wrist and linking their fingers tightly together. He opened his mouth several times, but didn’t speak for some time. Ianto and Gwen waited, their attention focused on him. Patient.
“I was buried alive underneath Cardiff for almost two thousand years. Dying and waking and choking on earth only to die and wake again. It was… horrible and terrifying and I just wanted it to stop, I just wanted to stay dead. Something strange happened and-Then Torchwood found me, and I got to sleep for a long time, finally. And when I wake up, I have to-“ his voice broke, and he struggled for a moment for control. “I had to put my baby brother in cryo, may have to kill him someday, and as if two thousand years of penance aren’t enough,” he spat, “I come back to find Owen and Toshiko gone.”
He pulled their hands together over Gwen’s lap, cradling them, linking their hands together and covering them with his own. He looked up at them, face torn with deep sorrow and what seemed to be a fierce joy. “But what you don’t know is that I’m selfish,” he whispered, dropping their hands, putting an arm around each of them and drawing them close. Gwen and Ianto exchanged glances, their hands still clasped.
Gwen started softly, “Jack, I don’t think you’re selfish, all that time, it wasn’t your-“
“I’m selfish because,” he said steadily, cutting her off. “Because I’m so damn grateful…” and his voice dropped to a harsh whisper again. “so grateful that the two of you are alive, that it’s not Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones that I’m mourning, so selfish, to be glad it’s them and not you,” he moaned.
“Jack,” Ianto whispered, unsure what to say.
“Ianto,” Jack said, breathless. “My gorgeous Ianto,” and kissed him. Gwen started to pull away, but Jack held her tight, and Ianto did not loosen his grip on her hand. Jack broke the kiss, and Ianto’s gaze flicked to Gwen. Jack looked at her, heartbreaking smile on his face, and kissed her, too, lips still salty from her tears.
“Jack,” Ianto said.
“Jack,” Gwen repeated, confirmation.
“We are still a team,” he told them. “We are still Torchwood. And we will take the memory of Owen and Tosh with us, and carry on.”
Gwen and Ianto nodded, and the three of them stayed that way, til Gwen and Ianto slept the sleep of the utterly exhausted, and Jack held them in his arms, felt their hearts beating, felt their breath warm on his neck, and was grateful.
End
A/N: So, yeah, we’re all reeling from Exit Wounds, I imagine. And as hard as that was, what I am having the most trouble with is the two thousand year thing. Yeah, penance, I get that. but it’s Jack. I feel like he’d… he’d have to find some way out, jump time, oh, I don’t know what I’m saying. Mostly I can’t fathom, cannot grasp the idea of being conscious for that long, being tortured for that long, and not going completely batshit insane. Any takers?
Oh, and what’d you think of the fic? I know plenty of people don’t really like Gwen, but this may be growing on me as an OT3 >.> k, scuse me while I go cry for Tosh n Owen now.