Turning Point - 50/64

May 02, 2010 13:19

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 Fifty

Ianto smiled to himself as he and Jack carried in Estelle’s talk materials from the SUV. He had no idea how she had managed to get it all down there on the bus by herself, or how she’d been planning to get it all back again. It had taken some convincing on Jack’s part even to get her to agree to their offer of a lift home - even though they were heading this way anyway to pick up the photos.

Clearly, no matter how frail she outwardly appeared, Estelle could be a force to be reckoned with when required.

“Thank you, boys,” Estelle said, putting her handbag down on the kitchen table. “You’re true gentlemen, both of you.” She smiled at Jack and then at Ianto. “Just like his father was.”

Ianto blinked. “You knew his father?” He was quite certain that the logistics of that just didn’t work out.

“Oh yes,” Estelle replied, a nostalgic smile on her face. “During the war. Oh, he was dashing, was Jack.” She turned around to face a small shelf, scattered with photo frames and assorted knick-knacks. “I think I still have… ah yes.” She picked up a small frame, passed it to Ianto. He took it and examined the photo in it. A uniformed man sat on a bench at the seaside, his arm around the beautiful young woman beside him.

He assumed the young woman was Estelle, and the man… He looked a little harder, the man’s face just confirming his suspicions. “What happened?” he asked softly, handing the photo back.

“It was wartime,” Estelle said, replacing the frame on the shelf. “He went abroad to fight, we lost touch.” She smiled over at Jack. “And then Jack got in touch a few years ago, which was a lovely surprise.”

Ianto couldn’t help but smile as he watched Jack and Estelle exchange fond looks.

“Right, those photos,” Estelle said, turning around and looking through a stack of folders on a table. She pulled one out, handing it to Jack. “They’re not much, mostly just pictures of the area.”

“Thank you,” Jack said sincerely.

There was something against the back of Ianto’s ankles and he jumped. He realised that he must have made some sort of verbal exclamation too, as both Estelle and Jack turned to look at him.

“Oh Moses,” Estelle said, shaking her head fondly and crouching down. When she stood back up she had a jet black cat nestled in her arms. “It’s about time you went outside, I think,” she said to the cat, stroking its back.

She carted the cat to the back door, opening it and shooing him out.

“We should be going,” Jack said, sounding just a little reluctant. “But the next time you see these creatures, you call us immediately.”

Estelle nodded. “Mm-hm.”

Jack wrapped an arm around her. “It’s important to me, okay. You be careful, and call us night or day, whatever the time.”

“I’ll be fine, Jack, there’s nothing to worry about,” Estelle chided gently.

Jack just pulled her closer. “Just be careful, for me.”

Ianto swallowed a lump in his throat at the look on Jack’s face as he bent to press an affectionate kiss to the top of Estelle’s head. In the years he’d been alive, Ianto knew Jack must have lost many lovers and, for the first time, Ianto was really seeing what it had done to Jack; seeing that inevitable mortality wasn’t the only way Jack had lost.

How many lovers had Jack been forced to leave before they noticed he was… different?

He kept stealing glances at Jack as they walked down Estelle’s front path back to the SUV. It was almost visible as Jack forcibly pushed the pall of sadness away from him.

“Do you get to see her often?” he asked gently, climbing into the passenger seat of the SUV.

Jack shrugged, and the engine roared to life. “Now and then. Not as often as I’d like; not as often as I probably should.”

Ianto nodded. “But you worry.”

They pulled away, heading back to the Hub. “Yeah,” Jack sighed. “Especially when… She sees them as happy, joyful creatures, calls them fairies… She doesn’t know what they truly are, how dangerous they are.”

Ianto frowned. “You don’t call them fairies?”

Jack shook his head. “They come from the dawn of time, wreak havoc across the ages. How can you give that a name?”

There was silence in the car for a long moment as they sped through Cardiff.

“Why today, Jack? How did you know she’d have new photos?” Ianto eventually asked. “And why did you bring me?”

“I didn’t know, not for sure,” Jack replied, not taking his eyes off the road. “Just a hunch. And I brought you because…” He trailed off and sighed.

Ianto bit his lip and went for it. “Is this anything to do with last night?”

Jack hesitated.

“Those weather patterns, I mean,” Ianto clarified. “You never mentioned if you found anything more after you sent me to sleep.”

Jack sighed. “Those might be part of it, yes.” He glanced over. “I really hope they’re nothing to do with them, but I’m definitely worried they might.”

Chapter Fifty-One
Comments and concrit are loved!

length: 40000+, fanfic, tw: jack/ianto, fic: turning point, rating: pg/pg-13, verse: guilt, fandom: torchwood

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