Title: Watching Over You
Author: SmilingKitsune
Summary: Jack's stalking an ex.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; if I did I'd have taken better care of them then RTD.
Jack sat at what had become his customary table in the last seven months relatively early in the morning, ordering tea like always and settling in to wait. It had been almost an hour and a half, his tea gone cold long ago, when his gaze was blocked by a woman that suddenly stood in front of him, taking a seat opposite him at the table without invitation to regard him through remarkably thoughtful doe brown eyes. "He didn't come again," she said and while he wondered how she knew he hadn't been there the previous day either he knew it wasn't a question but he responded anyway.
"No he didn't Gwen," he told her trying to adjust in his seat to look over her or around her as though determined the one he was waiting for would still show up.
"Why are you doing this?" Now she was asking a question and he didn't find himself so keen to answer. "You made the decision. You did this, ending your relationship. So, why have you become his personal stalker?" she pushed.
He stumbled, all of a sudden clumsy on his feet. Jack was standing close to him, ready to catch him, knowing and expecting it to happen. He stared up at Jack accusingly putting one and one together effectively, knowing it was the man's fault. "What have you done to me?"
He was trying to come up with something, hopefully witty, to throw her off his tracks when his attention was caught elsewhere. He stared with rapt attention as a man in his early twenties entered the café dressed casually in blue jeans and a plain brown shirt that clung to him just right. Most interesting was the white bandages that stood out starkly on his left arm and the right arm in a sling while underneath his right eye was a long bright red scratch indicating how fresh and newly acquired it was.
Gwen, who'd followed his gaze to the man when she'd noticed she no longer had his attention, swore colorfully. "I thought he was supposed to be safer," she hissed at Jack.
"He is," Jack defended desperately.
"Did you retcon the memories of the things he loved from him for him or you?" Gwen demanded.
She'd kept her peace since the day Jack had come back saying Ianto wouldn't be returning to work anymore while Owen went off on him and Tosh stormed out of the Hub in tears, a reaction that had surprised them all, no one had known the two were that close. He'd been thankful at the time but had known it would happen eventually and apparently now was the time.
Jack caught him, softly shushing him, "It's okay. It's going to be okay," he tried to assure the other man who now struggled weakly against him, a look of pure fear in his eyes.
"For him of course," Jack replied quickly. Too quickly.
Her eyes narrowed on him, "You bloody selfish bastard. You didn't want to lose him to the job," she hissed venomously as she kept her eyes on the other man as he joined a pretty blonde at a table who seemed just as surprised at his state as they were. "Do you keep coming then to rub salt in a wound you gave yourself?" she asked dangerously.
He didn't have to ask what she meant. After the second month of recovery from his "amnesia" he started showing up with random people at the little café he'd taken to frequenting usually just once, very rarely twice. They tracked his movement for awhile to make sure he wouldn't make a sudden recovery after he'd been let out of the hospital having been fed a half-ass story about a car accident and being in a coma for the last four years and had been surprised when he'd started going to a club almost every night. Owen had put it down as a way to make up for the four years he didn't have in his memory.
Yes, he was definitely rubbing salt in an open, self-inflicted wound. He felt he deserved it.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked around a yawn quickly losing the battle to the retcon.
"Because you're still young and can have a life outside of all this Ianto," Jack responded running a hand soothingly through his hair with one hand while restraining him with the other.
He shook his head to clear away the memories reaching into his pocket for his wallet, leaving a good sized tip for only having a tea that he never drank. He stood up, Gwen following his lead, only looking back once at the other man. It'd been just as much for the other man as himself, Jack tried to defend to himself. Jack couldn't afford to be distracted on the field and that's how he would be if the other man had still been there. He felt a painful lurch in his heart seeing the two hunched close together close on the table.
Somehow he didn't feel as good as he'd hoped after making the decision.
"Shouldn't I be the one to make that decision? This is my life Captain Harkness. My life you just fucked with," Ianto near shouted despite his drowsy state. Jack was half impressed with the way he fought but he shouldn't have been surprised. This was the same man who'd hidden his cybernetic girlfriend in the basement determined to save her life knowing he could be executed if caught. Ianto jerked against the sleep that tugged at his mind. "Why? I—I love you…" he trailed off sluggishly, falling asleep, unaware of the tears that Jack shed above him.
The End