Ficlets
Yesterday I was very bored and some very lovely members of my f-list entertained me. To say thank you to these lovely people I wrote the following ficlets.
Title: Midnight Tea
For: jumperkid
Prompt: Something with Ianto and the Doctor
Jack returned to the Hub and no-one wanted to leave in case he disappeared again. It was over forty-eight hours later before Jack convinced them to go home. Gwen was first, she had to go and a least check in with Rhys. Tosh and Owen went a few hours after that, Ianto not long after them.
He was glad Jack was back, but couldn’t quite cope with being alone with him yet.
When Ianto got back to his flat it was nearly midnight. He pulled his coat off and hung in on the hook on the back of the door. He emptied his pockets into a small pottery dish next the phone and walked into the kitchen. He pulled to mugs down from the shelf and set about making tea. When he was finished he took the mugs into the lounge and set them on the coffee table, using the light from the kitchen to see by.
“I know you’re here somewhere, so you might as well come out,” said Ianto into the semi-darkness
The lounge light flickered on and the Doctor sat down on the chair picking up one of the mugs and carefully sipping the hot liquid. “I didn’t take him you know, he just sort of jumped aboard,” said the Doctor eventually.
“I know that,” replied Ianto blankly, sitting on the end of the sofa as far away from the Doctor as he could get. “The CCTV footage of Jack flinging himself into thin air shouting your name gave it away. Besides I know what the TARDIS sounds like.”
They sat in silence for a while, sipping the tea.
“I’m sorry anyway,” said the Doctor eventually. “You asked me to stay out of your life.”
“But you just can’t manage it. You were at Canary Wharf,” replied Ianto flatly.
“Not for you,” countered the Doctor.
“I know. I’m glad you were there or else that would have been a bigger mess than it was. But I know when you’re around. And it can’t always be accidental, you watch me, all the time.”
“I promised your great-grandmother I’d look after her children. All of them,” said the Doctor firmly.
Ianto laughed bitterly. “Then you’re doing an excellent job!”
“I warned you about joining Torchwood,” said the Doctor gently.
“Just because you don’t agree with something doesn’t make it wrong,” said Ianto, anger finally rising to the surface. “What are we supposed to do when your not here? You can’t just drift in and out of people’s lives and expect them to be grateful for it!”
“I should go,” said the Doctor rising to his feet. “Goodbye, Ianto.”
Ianto waited until he heard the front door open and close. “Stay or go. You should make your bloody mind up,” he whispered to himself.
Title: Dragon
For: jadesfire2080
Prompt: Dragon
“Tosh you are talking out of you’re arse,” said Owen with indignation.
“No I’m not,” replied Tosh calmly. “Jack, Ianto, and Gwen went to help Detective Swanson get a Dragon off a car park. Not strictly anything to do with Torchwood, but Jack owes Detective Swanson a favour. ”
“Why wasn’t it on the news then?” asked Owen triumphantly.
“Owen, you have a hangover. You haven’t seen, heard, or read anything yet today. Face it you could have driven past the Dragon and not noticed it.”
“Tosh,” said Owen with the air of someone trying to explain quantum physics to a moron. “There is no such thing as Dragons!”
“Of course there are,” countered Tosh tapping away at her computer seeming oblivious to Owen’s ire. “Proven scientific fact since 1910”
“Are you high?” asked Owen. “Dragons? Giant, people eating, lizards with bad breath?”
“Yep.”
“Ten pounds says you’re a liar.”
“Ooh talking money. But it’s not talking very loud is it.”
“Alright then fifty!”
“You’re on.” Tosh turned to face Owen and smirked. Owen could tell from the expression he was screwed. He contemplated giving Tosh the money now and sparing himself the humiliation.
Tosh hooked the comms up to the main speakers.
“Tosh?” came Ianto’s voice through the speakers. “Little bit busy right now. JACK MOVE!”
“Sorry Ianto but Owen wants to know where you are and he doesn’t believe me.”
“Trying to catch a Dragon,” replied Ianto. “Call up the CCTV if he doesn’t believe you. Ianto out.”
Tosh grinned at Owen and tapped some keys on the keyboard. A grainy picture of Jack, Ianto, Gwen and several police officers surrounding a very large lizard popped up on the screen.
“Hah!” said Owen. “That’s not a Dragon it’s just a big lizard.”
Tosh was still grinning. “A Komodo Dragon to be exact. Discovered by western science in 1910 on the islands of Komodo, in central Indonesia. A giant lizard, typically over six foot, has been known to attack, and indeed eat people. As for the bad breath? A Komodo Dragon eats rotting meat and has so much bacteria in its mouth that if it bit you and you managed to get away you’d be dead within seven hours anyway. This one is called ‘Daisy’ and escaped while on route to the zoo. Fifty quid please Owen.”
Owen forked over the money, mumbling about bloody know-it-all women.
Title: Telescope
For: viola_jen
Prompt: Telescope
Coming back from travelling with the Doctor was… difficult. Not only did he have to try and explain to his team why he left. Why he came back. And why they should forgive him and not lock him up for fraternising with Torchwood’s greatest enemy. He also had to work through the backlog of paperwork that had built up. Really it had only been a week in this timeline, how the hell was there so much? There would have been more but Ianto and Owen had done as of much of it as they could.
So it was nearly a month before Jack got to check out Tosh’s new project. She showed him, pulling back the tarpaulin to reveal a tube about four feet long. Its surface was a strange sort of shiny black that seemed to absorb and redirect the light. It stood on a sort of gold coloured tripod that had two flashing mauve lights on it.
Jack froze as Tosh continued in an excited breathy tone. “…and at first I couldn’t make any sense of it. It seems to be some kind of alien telescope because when you…” Jacks breath caught in his throat and he couldn’t her over the pounding in his ears because Tosh put her face to one end of the tube! He reached out and carefully pulled Tosh oh so slowly away from the device.
“Tosh,” said Jack, rasping through his dry throat. “Not a telescope.”
“Not a telescope?” repeated Tosh with a worried frown. Jack’s body language finally seeping through her haze of excitement.
Jack shook his head violently “Bomb,” he said quietly, pointing to the flashing lights on the base. “Very big, armed, bomb.”
“Oh,” said Tosh with wide eyes, not resisting as Jack backed them away.
Title: Midnight Tea
For: jumperkid
Prompt: Something with Ianto and the Doctor
Jack returned to the Hub and no-one wanted to leave in case he disappeared again. It was over forty-eight hours later before Jack convinced them to go home. Gwen was first, she had to go and a least check in with Rhys. Tosh and Owen went a few hours after that, Ianto not long after them.
He was glad Jack was back, but couldn’t quite cope with being alone with him yet.
When Ianto got back to his flat it was nearly midnight. He pulled his coat off and hung in on the hook on the back of the door. He emptied his pockets into a small pottery dish next the phone and walked into the kitchen. He pulled to mugs down from the shelf and set about making tea. When he was finished he took the mugs into the lounge and set them on the coffee table, using the light from the kitchen to see by.
“I know you’re here somewhere, so you might as well come out,” said Ianto into the semi-darkness
The lounge light flickered on and the Doctor sat down on the chair picking up one of the mugs and carefully sipping the hot liquid. “I didn’t take him you know, he just sort of jumped aboard,” said the Doctor eventually.
“I know that,” replied Ianto blankly, sitting on the end of the sofa as far away from the Doctor as he could get. “The CCTV footage of Jack flinging himself into thin air shouting your name gave it away. Besides I know what the TARDIS sounds like.”
They sat in silence for a while, sipping the tea.
“I’m sorry anyway,” said the Doctor eventually. “You asked me to stay out of your life.”
“But you just can’t manage it. You were at Canary Wharf,” replied Ianto flatly.
“Not for you,” countered the Doctor.
“I know. I’m glad you were there or else that would have been a bigger mess than it was. But I know when you’re around. And it can’t always be accidental, you watch me, all the time.”
“I promised your great-grandmother I’d look after her children. All of them,” said the Doctor firmly.
Ianto laughed bitterly. “Then you’re doing an excellent job!”
“I warned you about joining Torchwood,” said the Doctor gently.
“Just because you don’t agree with something doesn’t make it wrong,” said Ianto, anger finally rising to the surface. “What are we supposed to do when your not here? You can’t just drift in and out of people’s lives and expect them to be grateful for it!”
“I should go,” said the Doctor rising to his feet. “Goodbye, Ianto.”
Ianto waited until he heard the front door open and close. “Stay or go. You should make your bloody mind up,” he whispered to himself.
Title: Dragon
For: jadesfire2080
Prompt: Dragon
“Tosh you are talking out of you’re arse,” said Owen with indignation.
“No I’m not,” replied Tosh calmly. “Jack, Ianto, and Gwen went to help Detective Swanson get a Dragon off a car park. Not strictly anything to do with Torchwood, but Jack owes Detective Swanson a favour. ”
“Why wasn’t it on the news then?” asked Owen triumphantly.
“Owen, you have a hangover. You haven’t seen, heard, or read anything yet today. Face it you could have driven past the Dragon and not noticed it.”
“Tosh,” said Owen with the air of someone trying to explain quantum physics to a moron. “There is no such thing as Dragons!”
“Of course there are,” countered Tosh tapping away at her computer seeming oblivious to Owen’s ire. “Proven scientific fact since 1910”
“Are you high?” asked Owen. “Dragons? Giant, people eating, lizards with bad breath?”
“Yep.”
“Ten pounds says you’re a liar.”
“Ooh talking money. But it’s not talking very loud is it.”
“Alright then fifty!”
“You’re on.” Tosh turned to face Owen and smirked. Owen could tell from the expression he was screwed. He contemplated giving Tosh the money now and sparing himself the humiliation.
Tosh hooked the comms up to the main speakers.
“Tosh?” came Ianto’s voice through the speakers. “Little bit busy right now. JACK MOVE!”
“Sorry Ianto but Owen wants to know where you are and he doesn’t believe me.”
“Trying to catch a Dragon,” replied Ianto. “Call up the CCTV if he doesn’t believe you. Ianto out.”
Tosh grinned at Owen and tapped some keys on the keyboard. A grainy picture of Jack, Ianto, Gwen and several police officers surrounding a very large lizard popped up on the screen.
“Hah!” said Owen. “That’s not a Dragon it’s just a big lizard.”
Tosh was still grinning. “A Komodo Dragon to be exact. Discovered by western science in 1910 on the islands of Komodo, in central Indonesia. A giant lizard, typically over six foot, has been known to attack, and indeed eat people. As for the bad breath? A Komodo Dragon eats rotting meat and has so much bacteria in its mouth that if it bit you and you managed to get away you’d be dead within seven hours anyway. This one is called ‘Daisy’ and escaped while on route to the zoo. Fifty quid please Owen.”
Owen forked over the money, mumbling about bloody know-it-all women.
Title: Telescope
For: viola_jen
Prompt: Telescope
Coming back from travelling with the Doctor was… difficult. Not only did he have to try and explain to his team why he left. Why he came back. And why they should forgive him and not lock him up for fraternising with Torchwood’s greatest enemy. He also had to work through the backlog of paperwork that had built up. Really it had only been a week in this timeline, how the hell was there so much? There would have been more but Ianto and Owen had done as of much of it as they could.
So it was nearly a month before Jack got to check out Tosh’s new project. She showed him, pulling back the tarpaulin to reveal a tube about four feet long. Its surface was a strange sort of shiny black that seemed to absorb and redirect the light. It stood on a sort of gold coloured tripod that had two flashing mauve lights on it.
Jack froze as Tosh continued in an excited breathy tone. “…and at first I couldn’t make any sense of it. It seems to be some kind of alien telescope because when you…” Jacks breath caught in his throat and he couldn’t her over the pounding in his ears because Tosh put her face to one end of the tube! He reached out and carefully pulled Tosh oh so slowly away from the device.
“Tosh,” said Jack, rasping through his dry throat. “Not a telescope.”
“Not a telescope?” repeated Tosh with a worried frown. Jack’s body language finally seeping through her haze of excitement.
Jack shook his head violently “Bomb,” he said quietly, pointing to the flashing lights on the base. “Very big, armed, bomb.”
“Oh,” said Tosh with wide eyes, not resisting as Jack backed them away.