TW FIC: Tempest in a Coffeecup
Title: Tempest in a Coffeecup
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Word Count: 465
Spoilers/Warnings: Exit-Wounds
Summary: It's two days after "Exit Wounds" and they're still trying to cope.
Author's Notes: Written for horizonssing Day Three Challenge. tea·cup /ˈtiˌkʌp/ [tee-kuhp] -noun
1. a cup in which tea is served, usually of small or moderate size.
2. a teacupful.-Idiom
3. tempest in a teacup or teapot, a disturbance or uproar about little or nothing.
So far I've been keeping up on horizonssing : Day One | Day Two
The sound of ceramic shattering - with such force that it had to have been thrown against a wall and not simply dropped or knocked to the floor - brought Jack to his feet, his gun drawn as he came to the door of his office.
Before he could get a handle on the problem, Ianto was there, pushing him back in with a firm hand on his chest.
“Ianto, what happened?” Looking over Ianto’s shoulder, he could see Gwen slumped over her desk, shoulders shaking as she sobbed.
“Tempest in a teacup,” Ianto said calmly. “Or in this case, a coffecup.”
Jack continued to watch Gwen over Ianto’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Ianto collapsed into a chair. “What’s actually wrong or what is she saying is wrong?”
“A little from column A and a little from column B?” Jack suggested.
“What’s really wrong is that her computer is acting up and she turned around and began to ask Tosh to look at it before she remembered,” Ianto said, having to swallow around the lump that formed in his own throat.
Jack collapsed back into his desk chair. “I did the same thing this morning. Started to holler for Owen to see if he had the autopsy on that dead weevil we hauled in last week.”
Ianto nodded. He hadn’t actually spoken aloud, but he found himself thinking of their fallen friends in the present tense and then being reminded that they were gone. It was like a punch to the gut each time.
“What’s she saying it is?” Jack asked quietly.
“That we’re out of the hazelnut flavored cream for her coffee and I had to resort to regular half-and-half.” Ianto tried to grin as he relayed Gwen’s ridiculous excuse for her foul mood. Even more ridiculous when they all knew exactly why she, and they, were so on edge.
Jack sighed. “Why don’t you give her a hand cleaning up the mess before she cuts herself on the pieces. I’ll call Rhys to see if he can bring her home.”
Ianto nodded and headed for the door. Before he could actually leave Jack called him back. “Ianto?”
“Yes?”
“You’ll talk to me when you start to feel like throwing things, right?”
Ianto nodded, swallowing thickly again. “Promise me the same,” he said not turning to look Jack in the eye.
“Yeah. I will, I promise. And in the mean time, maybe we should switch to paper coffee cups for a while.”
Ianto managed to find the smallest of smiles for Jack before heading out to get a broom and mop and to get Gwen situated with a cup of tea while they waited for Rhys to take her home where she could come undone in private.
So he and Jack could do the same.