[TW fic] Anywhere, Anywhen (Jack, Gwen, Alonso (indirectly))
Title: Anywhere, Anywhen
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Alonso (indirectly)
Spoilers: post-CoE
Rating: G
Author's notes: Written for writerinadrawer Round 4.05. Also written when I was jet-lagged, recovering from kidney stones, and in a special, special place due to my academic work related to the aftermath of CoE. But I'm quite fond of this and may expand later to explore some stuff that came up in it unexpectedly.
Three weeks after Jack comes back, he and Gwen confiscate a sports car from a blowfish. What is it with their species and the Welcome back to earth, now it's going to break your heart thing Jack's not exactly sure, but it does explain why it takes them a month to get the vehicle back to its rightful owner. They find the phone in the glove box the night before they turn it over to Andy.
At first Gwen doesn't realize it's anything out of the ordinary. Jack holds it together while he explains. It's only when she looks happy for him, when she starts to say how this will make everything just a little bit better in his endless parade of loss that his heart begins to break.
"No can do," he tells her. "What would I say? When would I call? How wouldn't it change the timeline?"
"Just one little --"
"No. Besides, how would I choose?"
She gets it then. Because he'd have to choose or spend forever stealing moments out of his own past; neither of those things is going to help.
"Do you... should I...? We'll just lock it up then," she says, almost not crying.
Jack wonders if it's about Ianto or Owen for her, and suddenly, he wants to spend a day doing nothing but talking with Tosh. Tosh would understand. So would Ianto, really. Tosh is better at these things, he'd have said, perfectly serious and completely amused.
Jack snatches the phone out of Gwen's hands.
"Jack you can't --"
"Anywhen, Gwen. Anywhere," he says, pointing up at the roof the garage from the convertible, but meaning the night sky.
So they sit there, Gwen's eyes wide and worried for him as he dials.
"Hey kid," he says, when the line picks up on the other end, and Jack laughs richly at Alonso's surprise. There's five minutes of rushing to catch each other up, to assure each other that everything's fine, great, wonderful, followed by another five of Jack explaining they don't have to rush, that it's okay, he knows how to recharge the battery.
"Now, I don't want to go making your life any more OTT, but remember how I said you should come visit? Not just pretty words; come visit. Bring the boyfriend, the more the.... Look, you were a good friend, in terrible times. And I miss you. Is that okay?"
At he speaks, Jack sees Gwen's chin quiver. She curls her fingers against her mouth and looks away.
"I'm sorry if you were expecting something else," he says to her when he finally clicks off, his voice a little cool, "but it's what I have, and it's what I could do."
"I know, I know. I just hope --"
"Everyone but Owen would have loved him, okay?" Jack says, trying to cheer her.
Gwen nods and when Jack opens his arms to her, she lets him pull her in. Again.
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Alonso (indirectly)
Spoilers: post-CoE
Rating: G
Author's notes: Written for writerinadrawer Round 4.05. Also written when I was jet-lagged, recovering from kidney stones, and in a special, special place due to my academic work related to the aftermath of CoE. But I'm quite fond of this and may expand later to explore some stuff that came up in it unexpectedly.
Three weeks after Jack comes back, he and Gwen confiscate a sports car from a blowfish. What is it with their species and the Welcome back to earth, now it's going to break your heart thing Jack's not exactly sure, but it does explain why it takes them a month to get the vehicle back to its rightful owner. They find the phone in the glove box the night before they turn it over to Andy.
At first Gwen doesn't realize it's anything out of the ordinary. Jack holds it together while he explains. It's only when she looks happy for him, when she starts to say how this will make everything just a little bit better in his endless parade of loss that his heart begins to break.
"No can do," he tells her. "What would I say? When would I call? How wouldn't it change the timeline?"
"Just one little --"
"No. Besides, how would I choose?"
She gets it then. Because he'd have to choose or spend forever stealing moments out of his own past; neither of those things is going to help.
"Do you... should I...? We'll just lock it up then," she says, almost not crying.
Jack wonders if it's about Ianto or Owen for her, and suddenly, he wants to spend a day doing nothing but talking with Tosh. Tosh would understand. So would Ianto, really. Tosh is better at these things, he'd have said, perfectly serious and completely amused.
Jack snatches the phone out of Gwen's hands.
"Jack you can't --"
"Anywhen, Gwen. Anywhere," he says, pointing up at the roof the garage from the convertible, but meaning the night sky.
So they sit there, Gwen's eyes wide and worried for him as he dials.
"Hey kid," he says, when the line picks up on the other end, and Jack laughs richly at Alonso's surprise. There's five minutes of rushing to catch each other up, to assure each other that everything's fine, great, wonderful, followed by another five of Jack explaining they don't have to rush, that it's okay, he knows how to recharge the battery.
"Now, I don't want to go making your life any more OTT, but remember how I said you should come visit? Not just pretty words; come visit. Bring the boyfriend, the more the.... Look, you were a good friend, in terrible times. And I miss you. Is that okay?"
At he speaks, Jack sees Gwen's chin quiver. She curls her fingers against her mouth and looks away.
"I'm sorry if you were expecting something else," he says to her when he finally clicks off, his voice a little cool, "but it's what I have, and it's what I could do."
"I know, I know. I just hope --"
"Everyone but Owen would have loved him, okay?" Jack says, trying to cheer her.
Gwen nods and when Jack opens his arms to her, she lets him pull her in. Again.