Fic - Unforgivable Sinner
This happens after Lucy. But you don't need to read that to understand this.
Title: Unforgivable Sinner
Author: szm
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Lucy Saxon
Rating: G/PG
Spoilers: Last of the Time Lords
Betaed by the lovely hellenebright
Summary: What happened to Lucy?
Jack found her in Cardiff sleeping rough. Just a week or so after she’d shot the Master. There had been reported murders in the area, nothing to suggest that it was anything to do with Torchwood, but it was a slow week and Gwen thought they should a least look into it.
He nearly didn’t recognise her. She was still wearing the red dress he’d last seen her in, but it was torn and dirty. Her hair was a tangled mess that hung raggedly round her face.
He took her back to the hub, he didn’t tell the others.
Of course they found out.
**
Ianto stood at the glass door. Jack had refurbished one of the cells in the lower levels for Lucy. It looked… nice. She had soft furnishings and books. Even a television. At the moment it was playing a news programme, documenting the death of the U.S president at the hands of the mysterious Toclofane. And the shock murder of Harold Saxon at the hands of his wife, still at large.
“I’m on telly!” announced Lucy proudly.
“Mrs Saxon,” said Ianto softly. “I’m…”
“Ianto Jones,” interrupted Lucy with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Jack used to talk about you, only he didn’t, because he tells me that didn’t happen. Even the past is not what it used to be.”
Lucy was wearing some clothes Jack must have brought her. She looked… wrong somehow in jeans and a t-shirt. Ianto remembered her from the campaign materials. Always in very neat, very proper clothes, with a complicated hair style that somehow managed to look simple. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail now. She wore a man’s ring on a chain around her neck. Ianto remembered it being on Harold Saxon’s finger the one time they’d met. He’d shaken Ianto’s hand and smiled.
“Mrs Saxon, do you need anything?” asked Ianto.
Lucy sighed and turned off the television. “You shouldn’t interrupt people’s programmes,” she scolded lightly. “Harry used to get quite grumpy about it.”
“My apologies,” replied Ianto falling back on the habits of politeness for want of anything else to say.
“It’s okay,” she replied graciously. “You’re very pretty.”
“Do you need some water for your plant?” he asked nodding his head toward a mostly dead fern on top of the bookcase.
“Oh no,” she said, looking shocked. “I like it like this. Pretty dead thing. Like you.”
**
“So, you’re going to have a go now, then?” asked Jack tiredly, as Ianto placed his coffee on the desk.
Ianto absently rearranged the piles of paperwork on the desk, avoiding Jack‘s eye.
“Ianto…?” prompted Jack.
Ianto finally looked at Jack. “There’s nothing I can say, Sir. That you don’t already know. You are secretly keeping a dangerous woman in the hub. If she were to escape or, god forbid, get her hands on some dangerous alien technology, she would probably kill people. Her mental state being what it is, she wouldn’t even understand why it was wrong.”
Jack’s eyes dropped to the desktop. Ianto’s clinical summing up of the situation was worse than Owen’s shouting or Gwen’s righteous indignation.
“But ultimately, I really don’t have a leg to stand on in such a situation,” continued Ianto in the same detached tone.
Jack’s eyes shot back up to Ianto’s carefully blank face. “Ianto,” he said shaking his head. “It’s in no way the same thing, you loved Lisa, your motives were different.”
“I doubt Dr. Tanizaki’s children, or Annie’s mother, care much for my motives, Sir.”
“Annie?” asked Jack slightly confused.
Ianto smiled but it held no humour. “The pizza girl, Sir. The one Lisa…” Ianto’s voice broke and he looked away.
“Ianto…,” started Jack.
“Don’t, Sir,” interrupted Ianto. “I know what happened, and my part in it. I have to live with that. And with the knowledge that even knowing what I know now, I’d do it again.”
There was silence for a long moment, neither man knowing what to say next.
“Why are you doing this, Sir? If you don’t mind my asking,” asked Ianto eventually.
“What else? I could hand her over to the police, but Ianto… She’s as much a victim as anything else. The Master broke her so badly.” Jack looked up at Ianto and gestured to him to sit down. Ianto sat across the desk from Jack, face still blank. Jack couldn’t guess at what he was thinking. It made it easier somehow, to get all this out.
“During that year, she’d come and talk to me. Even thought he hated it, punished her for it. But she was the only one who did. Martha’s family was too scared to say much. And the soldiers had seen me die over and over again, I was as much a monster to them as the Master.” Jack shuddered at the memory of that year.
Ianto reached across the table and took Jack’s hand in his. Jack smiled at Ianto’s wrist. Playing with the fabric of the jacket sleeve with his other hand.
“She killed people, because he told her too. Because she thought she should. Because it was fun. The world was on fire and she danced. She killed me twice. But she just… it was like she had no hope, like it had been sucked out of her. It didn’t matter what happened because it all ends eventually.” Jack’s eyes stayed fixed firmly on Ianto’s sleeve.
Ianto squeezed his hand gently and Jack looked up. “Ever hear of Stockholm syndrome, Jack?” asked Ianto with a gentle smile.
Jack smiled to himself. “Not just that, I don’t know what to do. I keep trying to think what the Doctor would do, but he’s not here.”
Ianto didn’t say anything. They sat in silence.
“I need to call Kathy Swanson, don’t I?” asked Jack eventually, letting go of Ianto’s hand and sitting back.
Ianto nodded. “We can get her a good lawyer, Jack, she’ll probably end up in the secure unit of a mental hospital. But that’s got to be better than locked up in the Hub.”
Jack sighed and reached for the phone.
Ianto chuckled and gently took it out of his hands. “It’s two in the morning Jack. Too early to ring Detective Swanson yet.”
“First thing in the morning then,” said Jack as Ianto stood up to leave. “Ianto… stay with me?”
Ianto froze. “That’s a really bad idea, Jack,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” said Jack, standing as well. “I’ll see you out.”
Ianto caught his arm as he walked past. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t.”
**
Lucy sat in her cell. Still a cell no matter how nice it was. Her left hand tapped along to the sound of the drums in her head. Her right idly played with the ring hanging round her neck.
Not long now…
Title: Unforgivable Sinner
Author: szm
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Lucy Saxon
Rating: G/PG
Spoilers: Last of the Time Lords
Betaed by the lovely hellenebright
Summary: What happened to Lucy?
Jack found her in Cardiff sleeping rough. Just a week or so after she’d shot the Master. There had been reported murders in the area, nothing to suggest that it was anything to do with Torchwood, but it was a slow week and Gwen thought they should a least look into it.
He nearly didn’t recognise her. She was still wearing the red dress he’d last seen her in, but it was torn and dirty. Her hair was a tangled mess that hung raggedly round her face.
He took her back to the hub, he didn’t tell the others.
Of course they found out.
**
Ianto stood at the glass door. Jack had refurbished one of the cells in the lower levels for Lucy. It looked… nice. She had soft furnishings and books. Even a television. At the moment it was playing a news programme, documenting the death of the U.S president at the hands of the mysterious Toclofane. And the shock murder of Harold Saxon at the hands of his wife, still at large.
“I’m on telly!” announced Lucy proudly.
“Mrs Saxon,” said Ianto softly. “I’m…”
“Ianto Jones,” interrupted Lucy with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Jack used to talk about you, only he didn’t, because he tells me that didn’t happen. Even the past is not what it used to be.”
Lucy was wearing some clothes Jack must have brought her. She looked… wrong somehow in jeans and a t-shirt. Ianto remembered her from the campaign materials. Always in very neat, very proper clothes, with a complicated hair style that somehow managed to look simple. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail now. She wore a man’s ring on a chain around her neck. Ianto remembered it being on Harold Saxon’s finger the one time they’d met. He’d shaken Ianto’s hand and smiled.
“Mrs Saxon, do you need anything?” asked Ianto.
Lucy sighed and turned off the television. “You shouldn’t interrupt people’s programmes,” she scolded lightly. “Harry used to get quite grumpy about it.”
“My apologies,” replied Ianto falling back on the habits of politeness for want of anything else to say.
“It’s okay,” she replied graciously. “You’re very pretty.”
“Do you need some water for your plant?” he asked nodding his head toward a mostly dead fern on top of the bookcase.
“Oh no,” she said, looking shocked. “I like it like this. Pretty dead thing. Like you.”
**
“So, you’re going to have a go now, then?” asked Jack tiredly, as Ianto placed his coffee on the desk.
Ianto absently rearranged the piles of paperwork on the desk, avoiding Jack‘s eye.
“Ianto…?” prompted Jack.
Ianto finally looked at Jack. “There’s nothing I can say, Sir. That you don’t already know. You are secretly keeping a dangerous woman in the hub. If she were to escape or, god forbid, get her hands on some dangerous alien technology, she would probably kill people. Her mental state being what it is, she wouldn’t even understand why it was wrong.”
Jack’s eyes dropped to the desktop. Ianto’s clinical summing up of the situation was worse than Owen’s shouting or Gwen’s righteous indignation.
“But ultimately, I really don’t have a leg to stand on in such a situation,” continued Ianto in the same detached tone.
Jack’s eyes shot back up to Ianto’s carefully blank face. “Ianto,” he said shaking his head. “It’s in no way the same thing, you loved Lisa, your motives were different.”
“I doubt Dr. Tanizaki’s children, or Annie’s mother, care much for my motives, Sir.”
“Annie?” asked Jack slightly confused.
Ianto smiled but it held no humour. “The pizza girl, Sir. The one Lisa…” Ianto’s voice broke and he looked away.
“Ianto…,” started Jack.
“Don’t, Sir,” interrupted Ianto. “I know what happened, and my part in it. I have to live with that. And with the knowledge that even knowing what I know now, I’d do it again.”
There was silence for a long moment, neither man knowing what to say next.
“Why are you doing this, Sir? If you don’t mind my asking,” asked Ianto eventually.
“What else? I could hand her over to the police, but Ianto… She’s as much a victim as anything else. The Master broke her so badly.” Jack looked up at Ianto and gestured to him to sit down. Ianto sat across the desk from Jack, face still blank. Jack couldn’t guess at what he was thinking. It made it easier somehow, to get all this out.
“During that year, she’d come and talk to me. Even thought he hated it, punished her for it. But she was the only one who did. Martha’s family was too scared to say much. And the soldiers had seen me die over and over again, I was as much a monster to them as the Master.” Jack shuddered at the memory of that year.
Ianto reached across the table and took Jack’s hand in his. Jack smiled at Ianto’s wrist. Playing with the fabric of the jacket sleeve with his other hand.
“She killed people, because he told her too. Because she thought she should. Because it was fun. The world was on fire and she danced. She killed me twice. But she just… it was like she had no hope, like it had been sucked out of her. It didn’t matter what happened because it all ends eventually.” Jack’s eyes stayed fixed firmly on Ianto’s sleeve.
Ianto squeezed his hand gently and Jack looked up. “Ever hear of Stockholm syndrome, Jack?” asked Ianto with a gentle smile.
Jack smiled to himself. “Not just that, I don’t know what to do. I keep trying to think what the Doctor would do, but he’s not here.”
Ianto didn’t say anything. They sat in silence.
“I need to call Kathy Swanson, don’t I?” asked Jack eventually, letting go of Ianto’s hand and sitting back.
Ianto nodded. “We can get her a good lawyer, Jack, she’ll probably end up in the secure unit of a mental hospital. But that’s got to be better than locked up in the Hub.”
Jack sighed and reached for the phone.
Ianto chuckled and gently took it out of his hands. “It’s two in the morning Jack. Too early to ring Detective Swanson yet.”
“First thing in the morning then,” said Jack as Ianto stood up to leave. “Ianto… stay with me?”
Ianto froze. “That’s a really bad idea, Jack,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” said Jack, standing as well. “I’ll see you out.”
Ianto caught his arm as he walked past. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t.”
**
Lucy sat in her cell. Still a cell no matter how nice it was. Her left hand tapped along to the sound of the drums in her head. Her right idly played with the ring hanging round her neck.
Not long now…