FIC: World Enough And Time
World Enough And Time
Jack/Ianto, team
PG-13, 900 words
Summary: Jack has never been more grateful for the here and now.
Notes: Coda to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Fairly substantial references to the end of Doctor Who Series 3.
"So no going back to the Hub, then?" Gwen asked.
"Not tonight, no," Jack replied. "Think you've earned the night off, don't you?"
Gwen smiled a little shakily, and he nodded before turning to face the others. "Owen, how're you holding up?"
Owen grimaced. "Oh, you know, I'll soldier on somehow."
"We should really take him to hospital," Tosh said, but Owen groaned.
"That'll only make it worse. I'm just going to go home, you know, and--" he trailed off in a hiss of pain, swaying on his feet.
"All right, get him in the car," Jack said, opening the driver's door of the SUV and grinning as he got in, patting the steering wheel affectionately.
Gwen and Tosh hauled Owen into the back, where he promptly flopped over onto Gwen's shoulder. She exchanged a look with Jack in the rearview mirror before patting Owen on the head.
"Not to worry, Dr Harper, we'll get you home right away."
"You've missed this, haven't you?" Ianto asked, settling himself in the passenger seat.
Jack took a breath, looking out over the bright Cardiff lights. Somewhere, everywhere, people were laughing and arguing and watching TV and having sex and making human connections with one another, and he'd seen the city destroyed, turned into a industrial wasteground as all of Wales became a power plant, generating enough power for the shipyards of half the world. The Master had made him watch it, too, dragged him from his prison to stare in horror at it all, and the Doctor had sat there, shrunken, and all that he'd done was tell Jack that he was so, so sorry.
And now, somehow, none of it had happened, and Jack was finally back where he knew that he belonged. It was a feeling he rather thought he could get used to.
Ianto was still looking at him, and Jack knew he had so many questions to answer - quite right, too, because there was no easy way to explain that he'd left them all to follow a man he'd been half in love with for over a hundred years, and in the process had seen the whole world fall apart around him. No easy way at all. But that could wait for another day, so for now he just smiled and put the car into gear, driving away from the events of the night, back to normality. Though perhaps half-carrying a gunshot-wounded medic into a Cardiff flat didn't quite count as normal.
Once safely installed, the girls tutted over the untidiness of Owen's living quarters while Jack and Ianto got his medkit out.
"Owen'll be just fine, don't you worry," Jack said in response to Ianto's concerned look. "Seen much worse before."
"So has he," Ianto replied. "While you were away--"
Gwen's accusations and Owen's irritation and Tosh and Ianto's quiet questioning were still ringing in Jack's ears, and he couldn't dismiss the guilt, however much he knew that he'd done the right thing. He couldn't look up, couldn't say anything. He rummaged around in the box feebly, looking for something to distract him from all the things he didn't want to remember.
They'd all voted Saxon, of course, how could they not? But the Master had rounded them all up, in the end. The team had been leading a resistance movement out in East Asia that was proving far too effective, and so he'd brought them all back to the Valiant, parading them before Jack and then murdering them, one by one. And now Ianto was knelt next to him, still flooded with life and blissfully, wonderfully ignorant, while Jack was afraid he'd never shake the sound of their dying screams from his mind.
But Ianto didn't finish his sentence, looking at Jack with an expression that seemed to comprehend far too much. "Jack," he said casually as he prepared long rolls of bandages, "what happened to you?"
Jack looked up at last. "Nothing that's worth remembering," he said, and it wasn't a real answer, but it might have to do, and though Ianto's gaze didn't become any less piercing, somehow it softened.
Then Owen was yelling bloody murder from the sitting room about where his damn painkillers were already, and Ianto rolled his eyes and the world seemed to be turning again. Jack stood up, laughing, and couldn't help but notice that Ianto was smiling too, the back of his neck flushed with colour.
"Come on, we'd best go and attend to our hero," Jack said, hand resting on Ianto's shoulder.
Ianto ducked his head, and Jack really could kiss him right there and then, but they should probably make sure Owen didn't develop some sort of hideous infection first.
Jack had always had a whole world of time at his fingertips, all those glittering stars just an arm's reach away, something he'd been reminded of so forcibly tonight. But despite all that, despite all the shining wonders of the universe, he found himself suddenly grateful that he had time enough to spare here and now, just like this.
Jack/Ianto, team
PG-13, 900 words
Summary: Jack has never been more grateful for the here and now.
Notes: Coda to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Fairly substantial references to the end of Doctor Who Series 3.
"So no going back to the Hub, then?" Gwen asked.
"Not tonight, no," Jack replied. "Think you've earned the night off, don't you?"
Gwen smiled a little shakily, and he nodded before turning to face the others. "Owen, how're you holding up?"
Owen grimaced. "Oh, you know, I'll soldier on somehow."
"We should really take him to hospital," Tosh said, but Owen groaned.
"That'll only make it worse. I'm just going to go home, you know, and--" he trailed off in a hiss of pain, swaying on his feet.
"All right, get him in the car," Jack said, opening the driver's door of the SUV and grinning as he got in, patting the steering wheel affectionately.
Gwen and Tosh hauled Owen into the back, where he promptly flopped over onto Gwen's shoulder. She exchanged a look with Jack in the rearview mirror before patting Owen on the head.
"Not to worry, Dr Harper, we'll get you home right away."
"You've missed this, haven't you?" Ianto asked, settling himself in the passenger seat.
Jack took a breath, looking out over the bright Cardiff lights. Somewhere, everywhere, people were laughing and arguing and watching TV and having sex and making human connections with one another, and he'd seen the city destroyed, turned into a industrial wasteground as all of Wales became a power plant, generating enough power for the shipyards of half the world. The Master had made him watch it, too, dragged him from his prison to stare in horror at it all, and the Doctor had sat there, shrunken, and all that he'd done was tell Jack that he was so, so sorry.
And now, somehow, none of it had happened, and Jack was finally back where he knew that he belonged. It was a feeling he rather thought he could get used to.
Ianto was still looking at him, and Jack knew he had so many questions to answer - quite right, too, because there was no easy way to explain that he'd left them all to follow a man he'd been half in love with for over a hundred years, and in the process had seen the whole world fall apart around him. No easy way at all. But that could wait for another day, so for now he just smiled and put the car into gear, driving away from the events of the night, back to normality. Though perhaps half-carrying a gunshot-wounded medic into a Cardiff flat didn't quite count as normal.
Once safely installed, the girls tutted over the untidiness of Owen's living quarters while Jack and Ianto got his medkit out.
"Owen'll be just fine, don't you worry," Jack said in response to Ianto's concerned look. "Seen much worse before."
"So has he," Ianto replied. "While you were away--"
Gwen's accusations and Owen's irritation and Tosh and Ianto's quiet questioning were still ringing in Jack's ears, and he couldn't dismiss the guilt, however much he knew that he'd done the right thing. He couldn't look up, couldn't say anything. He rummaged around in the box feebly, looking for something to distract him from all the things he didn't want to remember.
They'd all voted Saxon, of course, how could they not? But the Master had rounded them all up, in the end. The team had been leading a resistance movement out in East Asia that was proving far too effective, and so he'd brought them all back to the Valiant, parading them before Jack and then murdering them, one by one. And now Ianto was knelt next to him, still flooded with life and blissfully, wonderfully ignorant, while Jack was afraid he'd never shake the sound of their dying screams from his mind.
But Ianto didn't finish his sentence, looking at Jack with an expression that seemed to comprehend far too much. "Jack," he said casually as he prepared long rolls of bandages, "what happened to you?"
Jack looked up at last. "Nothing that's worth remembering," he said, and it wasn't a real answer, but it might have to do, and though Ianto's gaze didn't become any less piercing, somehow it softened.
Then Owen was yelling bloody murder from the sitting room about where his damn painkillers were already, and Ianto rolled his eyes and the world seemed to be turning again. Jack stood up, laughing, and couldn't help but notice that Ianto was smiling too, the back of his neck flushed with colour.
"Come on, we'd best go and attend to our hero," Jack said, hand resting on Ianto's shoulder.
Ianto ducked his head, and Jack really could kiss him right there and then, but they should probably make sure Owen didn't develop some sort of hideous infection first.
Jack had always had a whole world of time at his fingertips, all those glittering stars just an arm's reach away, something he'd been reminded of so forcibly tonight. But despite all that, despite all the shining wonders of the universe, he found himself suddenly grateful that he had time enough to spare here and now, just like this.