Title: Any Other Day
Summary: The day after his world was pulled out from under him, Ianto Jones comes into work as if it was any other day.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Reference to a canon minor character death.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Jack Harkness, and Gwen Cooper. Mention of past Ianto/Lisa.
Word Count: 900
Spoilers: For Cyberwoman as well as a deleted scene from Cyberwoman.
Beta: Thank you to lj user=" czarina_kitty" for the beta. Any remaining errors are my own.
Author's Notes: I was watching the deleted scenes on my Torchwood DVD and the bunny for this little character study bit me hard. I hope you enjoy it:)
Any Other Day
Ianto Jones arrived at work early in the morning, as usual. He hung up his coat, straightened up the display of tourist pamphlets, and sat down at his desk in the tourist information office as if it was any other day. But, the truth of the matter was, today was anything but a normal day.
Lisa was dead. His heart had been crushed. His world had been shattered, and he was hanging onto his sanity by the slimmest of threads. He was surprised that he'd been allowed to leave the Hub at all as his teammates dealt with the bodies and the remains of the cyber conversion unit. But he had, and if he wanted to he could have run.
Even without Torchwood resources, it would have been easy for Ianto to disappear. Blending into the background and becoming invisible was his specialty after all. But he'd had enough of running, hiding, and looking over his shoulder to last him a lifetime. So, knowing that it would probably be the last thing that he would ever do, he typed his personal pass codes into the computer.
Ianto was stunned to realize that they still functioned. The computer gave him the same level of access that he always had. It must have been an oversight, but never the less, he knew that Jack would now be aware of his presence and would come up momentarily to deal with him. Whether it would be by the execution Jack had originally promised or by retcon, Ianto found that he didn't really care anymore. Either way, he would die with whatever dignity he had left.
Mindlessly, he pulled up his active case files and flipped through them as he waited for Jack and the judgment he would deliver. He kept his eyes on his screen when he heard the outside door open. He didn't look up until a cup of coffee was placed on top of the Wales brochure sitting directly in front of him. He looked at the coffee and then up at Toshiko who was standing there with a tray of take away coffees and looking at him with a small smile.
"I got you a coffee," Tosh said quietly.
Flustered, Ianto quickly responded, "Right."
Tosh shuffled her feet and added in an almost embarrassed fashion, "Nobody ever gets you a coffee."
An awkward silence followed and Tosh started to move toward the secret door and before pausing to ask, "Are you doing anything nice for the weekend?"
It was the most ridiculous attempt at small talk that Ianto could have imagined. As if he could possibly have weekend plans immediately following the death of the woman he loved. His professional mask was on the verge of cracking and he needed her to leave. Now. So Ianto walked over to the button to open the secret door, and without a care for how rude he sounded, said dismissively, "Go on through."
He turned back to his computer screen and forced himself not to look at Tosh as she lingered in the doorway for a moment before going down into the Hub.
Ianto turned to watch her leave as he heard the door begin to close behind Tosh. He felt utterly bewildered by her rather clumsy attempt at a conversation. Jack still hadn't arrived, guns blazing, to take him into custody the way he had expected and Tosh had brought him a coffee. Hands shaking, he took a long swallow from the cup in front of him and fought back the tears that danced in the corners of his eyes.
He couldn't stop a quiet sob from escaping as the flavour of the coffee rolled over his tongue. It was a terrible brew; made with cheap beans and likely had been sitting in the pot for hours before it was poured. It was far too sweet for his tastes, and the sugar did nothing to disguise the bitter edge of the poor quality of the coffee.
It was still the best gift he could have possibly received.
He drank the rest of it slowly. Savouring every last sip of the revolting beverage until only the dregs remained in the bottom of the paper cup.
Jack still hadn't come to take him away.
Ianto took a deep breath to try to get his wildly fluctuating emotions under control. Then, with as much dignity as he could muster, he got up, pushed the button, and headed down into the Hub to face Jack. As he descended, a small speck of hope began to burn in his chest that maybe, just maybe, Toshiko's gesture of forgiveness and Jack's inaction meant that today wasn't going to be the day he died after all.
The alarm sounded as the cog door rolled back, and Ianto stepped forward into the base. He glanced around until he spotted Jack, standing with Gwen as they looked down at him from the glass walls of the conference room. He stood unmoving in the center of the floor and met Jack's stern gaze openly. At Jack's nod, Ianto let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding and gave a slight nod in return. Then he picked up a bin liner and silently began to clear away the rubbish lying around the Hub, as if it was any other day.
Even though today wasn't like any other day at all, not really.