Ficlet: A Universe Away
Title: A Universe Away
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Rhiannon, Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 764
Summary: Rhiannon finds she misses her brother so much more now she knows he’s alive.
Spoilers: CoE with a twist.
Written For: brumeier’s prompt ‘Any, any/any, And just so you know
The distance is what's killing me
Time and space have become the enemy
And what I need is so far away,’ at comment_fic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood or any of the characters.
A/N: Set in My Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
Rhiannon hadn’t thought she’d miss him like this, her baby brother. They hadn’t been close, not for a long time, really not since they’d been kids. Too much of an age gap, and then after he left for London to seek his fortune, too much time and distance between them. But he’d still been there, on the other end of the phone, whenever she’d wanted to check up on him, or whenever he’d remembered to call her.
In some ways it had been easier to bear when she’d believed he was dead. End of the line, out of chances to reconnect, gone but not forgotten. She’d been able to mourn the loss of her only sibling, honour the sacrifice he’d made for the world’s children, and carry on. Finding out he was still alive but far beyond her reach was far harder to take.
Not that she wasn’t glad for Ianto. He hadn’t deserved to die so young, so tragically, but… He couldn’t return to earth, not in his own lifetime, or hers, or even her children’s, and she had no way of travelling to a time when his return to the planet of his birth was possible.
She stood outside the backdoor of her house and stared up at the stars. Ianto was out there, somewhere, with his new husband, travelling through space and time, having unimaginable adventures that she couldn’t be part of, all because of some random quirk of fate.
Getting the letter from Ianto, the one Jack had delivered in person, had been such a relief. Her brother was okay, happy even, with all of time spread out ahead of him to live the life he deserved. But now she knew just enough to realise how little she’d actually understood him. She’d thought he was a boring, paper-pushing civil servant, when in reality he was busy putting his life on the line, saving Cardiff and the world from evil space aliens. There was so much she wanted to know, so many questions she wanted to ask him, and she couldn’t because he was out in space, and she was stuck here on earth.
Where was he right now? What was he doing? Was he helping the people of another world, or maybe dining on alien delicacies, or swimming in alien seas? Was he thinking about her and her family? Did they even cross his mind?
No, that was unfair. He’d taken the time to write her a letter, asked his husband to visit earth and deliver it in person, answer any questions she had. Clearly he hadn’t forgotten her. He missed her, and the kids; he’d said as much. She’d written a letter back, which Jack had taken with him when he’d left, but that had been weeks ago.
Not that she’d expected regular correspondence. She couldn’t have asked Jack to keep playing mailman, any more than she could have assumed that Ianto would make regular trips to the past to arrange for letters to be delivered to her in the present. Even if he WAS going to live forever, he surely had better things to do with eternity than spend it writing letters to his bossy big sister and his ungrateful nephew and niece, who’d seen him more as a walking cash machine than a person.
She wanted to hug Ianto and tell him she was sorry for not trying harder to mend the distance between them when it was still possible. Now there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of light years between them, and her arms weren’t long enough to reach.
“I love you, baby brother, I hope you know that, and if we ever have the chance to meet again in person, I’m going to hug the stuffing out of you. I should’ve done that long ago. I should have been there for you, or at least tried to be, but I was so focused on my family that I forgot that you were my family first, long before Johnny and the kids came along. Please be safe, take care of that dashing husband of yours, and try not to die too often.”
Rhiannon hugged herself; it was late, and getting chilly out, but this nightly ritual was as important to her now as tucking her kids into bed and kissing Johnny goodnight. She needed the connection with her brother, no matter how tenuous it might be. No matter how much time and distance lay between them, she promised him, wherever he might be, that as long as she lived, she would always hold him in her heart.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Rhiannon, Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 764
Summary: Rhiannon finds she misses her brother so much more now she knows he’s alive.
Spoilers: CoE with a twist.
Written For: brumeier’s prompt ‘Any, any/any, And just so you know
The distance is what's killing me
Time and space have become the enemy
And what I need is so far away,’ at comment_fic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood or any of the characters.
A/N: Set in My Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
Rhiannon hadn’t thought she’d miss him like this, her baby brother. They hadn’t been close, not for a long time, really not since they’d been kids. Too much of an age gap, and then after he left for London to seek his fortune, too much time and distance between them. But he’d still been there, on the other end of the phone, whenever she’d wanted to check up on him, or whenever he’d remembered to call her.
In some ways it had been easier to bear when she’d believed he was dead. End of the line, out of chances to reconnect, gone but not forgotten. She’d been able to mourn the loss of her only sibling, honour the sacrifice he’d made for the world’s children, and carry on. Finding out he was still alive but far beyond her reach was far harder to take.
Not that she wasn’t glad for Ianto. He hadn’t deserved to die so young, so tragically, but… He couldn’t return to earth, not in his own lifetime, or hers, or even her children’s, and she had no way of travelling to a time when his return to the planet of his birth was possible.
She stood outside the backdoor of her house and stared up at the stars. Ianto was out there, somewhere, with his new husband, travelling through space and time, having unimaginable adventures that she couldn’t be part of, all because of some random quirk of fate.
Getting the letter from Ianto, the one Jack had delivered in person, had been such a relief. Her brother was okay, happy even, with all of time spread out ahead of him to live the life he deserved. But now she knew just enough to realise how little she’d actually understood him. She’d thought he was a boring, paper-pushing civil servant, when in reality he was busy putting his life on the line, saving Cardiff and the world from evil space aliens. There was so much she wanted to know, so many questions she wanted to ask him, and she couldn’t because he was out in space, and she was stuck here on earth.
Where was he right now? What was he doing? Was he helping the people of another world, or maybe dining on alien delicacies, or swimming in alien seas? Was he thinking about her and her family? Did they even cross his mind?
No, that was unfair. He’d taken the time to write her a letter, asked his husband to visit earth and deliver it in person, answer any questions she had. Clearly he hadn’t forgotten her. He missed her, and the kids; he’d said as much. She’d written a letter back, which Jack had taken with him when he’d left, but that had been weeks ago.
Not that she’d expected regular correspondence. She couldn’t have asked Jack to keep playing mailman, any more than she could have assumed that Ianto would make regular trips to the past to arrange for letters to be delivered to her in the present. Even if he WAS going to live forever, he surely had better things to do with eternity than spend it writing letters to his bossy big sister and his ungrateful nephew and niece, who’d seen him more as a walking cash machine than a person.
She wanted to hug Ianto and tell him she was sorry for not trying harder to mend the distance between them when it was still possible. Now there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of light years between them, and her arms weren’t long enough to reach.
“I love you, baby brother, I hope you know that, and if we ever have the chance to meet again in person, I’m going to hug the stuffing out of you. I should’ve done that long ago. I should have been there for you, or at least tried to be, but I was so focused on my family that I forgot that you were my family first, long before Johnny and the kids came along. Please be safe, take care of that dashing husband of yours, and try not to die too often.”
Rhiannon hugged herself; it was late, and getting chilly out, but this nightly ritual was as important to her now as tucking her kids into bed and kissing Johnny goodnight. She needed the connection with her brother, no matter how tenuous it might be. No matter how much time and distance lay between them, she promised him, wherever he might be, that as long as she lived, she would always hold him in her heart.
The End