Turning Point - 45/64
Title: Turning Point
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: budding Jack/Ianto, references to past Ianto/Lisa
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: If I was the one who owned Torchwood, you think I'd admit it now?
Spoilers: Some information and events from s1,2. NONE for s3.
Summary: In the aftermath of Lisa's death, Ianto is struggling to cope - and new surprises don't help matters much. Can his friends on the team at Torchwood help him carry on?
Author's Note: Sequel to Guilt.
Thanks to: My beta cazmalfoy, angelzbabe1989 for idea bouncing, and morbid_sparks for cheerleading even when she doesn'tdidn't know what happens.
Previous chapters at master list
Chapter Forty-Five
“There are a few small spots of residual Rift energy,” Tosh said, putting the scanner back into her bag. “But nothing major.”
Jack looked around again; nothing seemed out of place or unusual. “I’m not seeing anything here.” He shook his head. “If anything came through, it must have been small. And it’s not here anymore.”
“Is it possible that nothing actually came through?” Gwen asked uncertainly. “Can Rift spikes do that?”
“It’s happened before,” Jack said. “Or at least we think it has. Hopefully it wasn’t just that we didn’t find what came through. It’s rare, though.”
Gwen looked around. “What do we do now, then?”
Jack sighed. “We wait. See if there are any reports of unusual occurrences made to the police, watch out for strange injuries coming into A&E…” He hated when their only option was patience. He could be patient - he would have gone stir crazy at some point in the last century if he couldn’t - but it wasn’t his preferred state. He would much rather be out doing something than sitting around waiting.
Taking one last look around, the four of them headed back for the SUV. In reality, such a small spike was never going to require the presence of all four of them, but the Rift had been quiet for several days, so the slightest hint of actual activity had them all leaping to action - despite Owen and Gwen both suffering slightly from hangovers after the team trip to the pub the day before.
Jack touched his earpiece. “Unless there’s anything useful coming up on the scans there, we’re going to head back now,” he told Ianto, who was monitoring from back in the Hub. “There’s nothing visible here.”
“There’s nothing coming up on the scans either,” Ianto’s voice said through the comms.
“Right.” Jack sighed; he’d hoped that something might have shown up - nothing dangerous, preferably, but something. “We’ll be back soon.”
When, by the next morning, there was still nothing showing up on any of the scans, no reports received by the police that sounded suspicious and no peculiar ailments turning up at the hospital, Jack had to concede that the likelihood was that, despite the spike in the Rift, nothing had actually come through.
He spent the first several hours of the morning chained to his desk, working through the last of that month’s paperwork, thankful for the steady supply of coffee Ianto was providing him with. He knew the others were making similar attempts to keep busy, but suspected that they - like him - were hoping for some sort of minor emergency to crop up soon - before they all went mad.
The report came through just before lunchtime, in the middle of a debate over the options for lunch orders. Owen was arguing hard for pizza, while Tosh dug in her heels over a new deli that had just opened up around the corner from the Plass.
“The filters have picked up something odd in a call to the local coppers,” Ianto said loudly, interrupting the argument as he dropped the stack of new takeaway menus he’d gone to gather from upstairs in front of them.
The bickering ended at once. “What did it say?” Jack asked him, getting to his feet in preparation.
“It wasn’t very clear,” Ianto replied. “I don’t think the caller really knew what to report, but it was something about several small luminously coloured creatures running across the bottom of his garden. He seemed to be worrying if they had escaped from a laboratory, or something.”
“Right,” Jack said decisively, taking a step towards his office so he could collect his coat. “Gwen, with me; we’re going to go have a little visit and see what we can find out.” From what he’d seen on her first day, she definitely needed a bit of training on how to question people about possible alien activity - whether they were a victim or a potential threat.
“Tosh, Owen, see if we can get any sightings of these things on the CCTV network, or if anything shows up at all on any of our scans.”
He startled slightly as he realised that Ianto had beaten him to the coat hook and had it ready for him to slip into - he’d been doing that more and more lately; Jack wondered if Ianto had even realised. “Ianto, since you’re definitely getting a lot more proficient down there than any of us, take a look and see if there’s anything you can find in the archives about small, luminous coloured… things.”
Gwen scurrying behind him, Jack practically ran to the door. As much as occasional quiet days and downtime were nice, this was more like it.
Chapter Forty-Six
Comments and concrit are loved!
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: budding Jack/Ianto, references to past Ianto/Lisa
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: If I was the one who owned Torchwood, you think I'd admit it now?
Spoilers: Some information and events from s1,2. NONE for s3.
Summary: In the aftermath of Lisa's death, Ianto is struggling to cope - and new surprises don't help matters much. Can his friends on the team at Torchwood help him carry on?
Author's Note: Sequel to Guilt.
Thanks to: My beta cazmalfoy, angelzbabe1989 for idea bouncing, and morbid_sparks for cheerleading even when she doesn'tdidn't know what happens.
Previous chapters at master list
Chapter Forty-Five
“There are a few small spots of residual Rift energy,” Tosh said, putting the scanner back into her bag. “But nothing major.”
Jack looked around again; nothing seemed out of place or unusual. “I’m not seeing anything here.” He shook his head. “If anything came through, it must have been small. And it’s not here anymore.”
“Is it possible that nothing actually came through?” Gwen asked uncertainly. “Can Rift spikes do that?”
“It’s happened before,” Jack said. “Or at least we think it has. Hopefully it wasn’t just that we didn’t find what came through. It’s rare, though.”
Gwen looked around. “What do we do now, then?”
Jack sighed. “We wait. See if there are any reports of unusual occurrences made to the police, watch out for strange injuries coming into A&E…” He hated when their only option was patience. He could be patient - he would have gone stir crazy at some point in the last century if he couldn’t - but it wasn’t his preferred state. He would much rather be out doing something than sitting around waiting.
Taking one last look around, the four of them headed back for the SUV. In reality, such a small spike was never going to require the presence of all four of them, but the Rift had been quiet for several days, so the slightest hint of actual activity had them all leaping to action - despite Owen and Gwen both suffering slightly from hangovers after the team trip to the pub the day before.
Jack touched his earpiece. “Unless there’s anything useful coming up on the scans there, we’re going to head back now,” he told Ianto, who was monitoring from back in the Hub. “There’s nothing visible here.”
“There’s nothing coming up on the scans either,” Ianto’s voice said through the comms.
“Right.” Jack sighed; he’d hoped that something might have shown up - nothing dangerous, preferably, but something. “We’ll be back soon.”
When, by the next morning, there was still nothing showing up on any of the scans, no reports received by the police that sounded suspicious and no peculiar ailments turning up at the hospital, Jack had to concede that the likelihood was that, despite the spike in the Rift, nothing had actually come through.
He spent the first several hours of the morning chained to his desk, working through the last of that month’s paperwork, thankful for the steady supply of coffee Ianto was providing him with. He knew the others were making similar attempts to keep busy, but suspected that they - like him - were hoping for some sort of minor emergency to crop up soon - before they all went mad.
The report came through just before lunchtime, in the middle of a debate over the options for lunch orders. Owen was arguing hard for pizza, while Tosh dug in her heels over a new deli that had just opened up around the corner from the Plass.
“The filters have picked up something odd in a call to the local coppers,” Ianto said loudly, interrupting the argument as he dropped the stack of new takeaway menus he’d gone to gather from upstairs in front of them.
The bickering ended at once. “What did it say?” Jack asked him, getting to his feet in preparation.
“It wasn’t very clear,” Ianto replied. “I don’t think the caller really knew what to report, but it was something about several small luminously coloured creatures running across the bottom of his garden. He seemed to be worrying if they had escaped from a laboratory, or something.”
“Right,” Jack said decisively, taking a step towards his office so he could collect his coat. “Gwen, with me; we’re going to go have a little visit and see what we can find out.” From what he’d seen on her first day, she definitely needed a bit of training on how to question people about possible alien activity - whether they were a victim or a potential threat.
“Tosh, Owen, see if we can get any sightings of these things on the CCTV network, or if anything shows up at all on any of our scans.”
He startled slightly as he realised that Ianto had beaten him to the coat hook and had it ready for him to slip into - he’d been doing that more and more lately; Jack wondered if Ianto had even realised. “Ianto, since you’re definitely getting a lot more proficient down there than any of us, take a look and see if there’s anything you can find in the archives about small, luminous coloured… things.”
Gwen scurrying behind him, Jack practically ran to the door. As much as occasional quiet days and downtime were nice, this was more like it.
Chapter Forty-Six
Comments and concrit are loved!