Fandom: Torchwood
Challenge: longliveianto Cliche Bingo!
Prompt used: Truth serum/Drugs
Rating:PG
Spoilers: Mild for 'Kiss, kiss, bang, bang' and 'fragments'.
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood, I just play with it.
Truthfully.
Jack downed the rest of his coffee, frowning slightly at the strange taste it left in his mouth before shrugging to himself, the dishwasher probably hadn't rinsed the mug properly. He frowned some more however as he noticed Owen watching him with a satisfied smirk. "What?" Jack asked with narrow eyes.
"Oh, nothing." Owen grinned "Say Jack, where were you born?"
Jack's mouth opened of its own accord, "Boeshane peninsular, it's, well it will be, on one of the colony worlds." He froze, his hand going up to cover his mouth and his eyes widening, Ianto and Gwen looked up in surprise, after hearing Owen's question they'd expected yet another laughing answer from Jack that was a blatant lie. This however seemed like the truth. "What did you do?" Jack growled, grabbing Owen's shirt.
The younger man flinched, suddenly rethinking his plan, "That Truth serum we confiscated on Saturday. Put a drop in your drink." He said, pulling it out of his pocket.
"You… You idiot!" Jack yelled, "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"So tell me." Owen muttered moodily, wincing as Jack's eyes burned angrily.
"You have no idea how much I know, how many secrets I have. Things you can't know, any of you. I know codes to Nuclear missiles! I know what year first contact is officially made and when World War three starts! People finding out these things could change all of time!" Jack shouted, the words coming out before he could stop them, he turned quickly and stormed off to his office, slamming the door behind himself.
"It was only meant to be a joke." Owen muttered when the other three scowled at him.
"Kitchen." Ianto murmured to Gwen and Tosh before leaning forwards and plucking the truth serum out of Owen's hand, "Maybe I should look after this." He said angrily before walking away. Tosh and Gwen followed Ianto to the kitchen, watching as the man made a fresh pot of coffee.
"Poor Jack." Gwen murmured, "I mean, don't get me wrong, sometimes I really want to know his secrets but…This is just…"
"Intrusive?" Tosh supplied, "It was a shitty thing for Owen to do. Blimey… I had no idea how much Jack knows, how difficult it must be for him…"
Gwen pulled a face, "What do we do? Do we just leave Jack alone until it wears off?" She asked.
Ianto shook his head as he poured out coffee, "Actually, I had an idea that will get Owen back, and hopefully make Jack feel like we're on his side." He said and, when seeing their curious looks, held up the truth serum.
"We take it too?" Tosh breathed, "Owen won't go for that."
"That's where Gwen comes in." Ianto smirked.
.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~.
"Owen?" Gwen asked, poking her head into the med bay.
"I already told you, it was meant as a joke." Owen grumbled.
"No it wasn't. Look I get it, I want to know more about Jack too…" Gwen smiled, "Here," She added, "I made you some coffee. Ianto refused to."
Owen gave a half smile, "Ta." He said, taking the mug and drinking from it, frowning at the taste.
"Sorry, it's not as good as Ianto's." She murmured.
"It'll do." Owen replied, finishing the lot and wincing as it burnt his throat slightly.
"Good, Jack's called a team meeting." Gwen said and Owen winced but followed her from the med bay and up to the board room. Jack was sat at the table, scowling at it with a mildly confused look on his face. Ianto and Tosh were leaning back in their own chairs.
Owen sat down, "What's going on?" He asked as Gwen picked up the mug on the table and drank from it.
"We gave you some truth serum, and we took it ourselves." Tosh replied instantly, looking quite surprised at how well the serum worked, she hadn't even had a chance to stop herself from talking.
"You tricked me!" Owen yelled at Gwen as Jack looked up in surprise. "Why you?" Owen added with a grumble.
"Ianto figured you wouldn't trust him or Tosh, whereas because I ask Jack question all the time it seems natural for me to agree with you and want to know more. Which I do, I just don't want to find out this way." Gwen shrugged, "Wow this thing takes over your head." She added.
"It's only used in interrogations in the future, it's illegal otherwise." Jack supplied and Owen winced again, "You've all taken it?"
"Yup." Ianto nodded.
"Whose idea was that?"
"Mine." Ianto said before he could stop himself.
"Possibly not the most sensible of plans but the thought was nice." Jack murmured, smiling at Ianto who flushed slightly.
Ianto lowered his head, "I just figured that no-one would ask you anything worrying or totally private if they knew you could embarrass them or bring up certain memories in return." He murmured shyly.
"So what now?" Owen asked, scowling at Ianto.
"Well we can go and hide in certain places in the Hub and avoid each other or we can talk and promise not to overstep the mark." Tosh said, shrugging her shoulders, "We can always bring out the retcon later on if absolutely necessary." Everybody stayed still, watching each other carefully, unsure of what to say or do next.
"Who's hungry?" Ianto asked finally.
"Me." Owen said instantly.
"Not really." Gwen admitted.
"A little." Jack conceded.
"My stomach's rumbling." Tosh said, turning red as everyone laughed.
"I'll order takeaway." Ianto said before stopping, "No actually, best not, I'll only end up telling the guy on the phone something way too personal and stupid."
Tosh laughed, "Get pizza, we can order online." She said, pulling the laptop across the table towards herself and logging on to the pizza delivery website. Twenty minutes later they were all munching on pizza, sat around the boardroom table.
"How long is this serum going to last?" Ianto asked.
"Usually about twenty four hours." Jack replied, "Why?" He added before wincing, "Sorry, automatic!"
"I was planning on visiting my sister this evening, it' probably not a good idea if I can't lie to her. I'll only end up telling her about Torchwood." Ianto shrugged. "Plus if my niece asks if her dress is pretty again I'll probably have to say No!" He chuckled making Gwen and Jack snort.
They were all quiet for a while before Tosh looked at Owen with a strange expression, "Owen, I'm not asking this to be a bitch but… Why are you such an ass all the time?" Everyone froze as Owen's face paled and his eyes became furious.
"There's no point in being nice to people who are only going to let you down. I spent my entire childhood telling my mum how special she was and giving her mother's day cards. She never cared; barely spoke to me except to tell me what a disappointment I was." Owen growled, "Katie… Katie made me better, made me a nicer person… But why should I be nice now? Why should I be happy? I let her go, I let her die."
"That wasn't your fault." Jack snapped.
"Really?"
"Not like I can lie about it is it?" Jack murmured, placing his hand on Owen's, "There was nothing you could have done, nothing anyone could have done. Maybe if we, Torchwood, had got there a few hours earlier we could have helped but… Someone would have had to figure out what was wrong with her and all the symptoms pointed to a brain problem."
"I'm a doctor; it's my job to be know what's wrong with people."
"You can't save everyone." Ianto said, almost bitterly and Jack moved his spare hand onto Ianto's shoulder.
Tosh munched on a third slice of pizza, "Jack? Did you love John Hart?" She asked quietly, changing the subject.
Jack sighed and moved to look out of the window, "Yes, once upon a time I loved him, I wasn't in love with him though. It was a long time ago for me, in the future for you… The Time Agency paired us together because I was the only one who could keep him in line, he was a wild spirit, still is… We had some good times but, I've changed, looking back I'm ashamed of some of the things I did… Please, please don't ask about them, it's not important anymore, that part of me is gone, left a long time ago." The team nodded, although the expression on Owen's face showed he wanted to know more but was scared of the consequences he knew he still wasn't in the clear over giving Jack the truth serum in the first place.
"What… What are you going to do to me? I mean… You can't suspend me, can you?" He asked quietly.
"No, too many things are coming through the rift at the moment for us to be a man down. I don't know what to do if I'm honest, which I have to be!" Jack gave a low chuckle before becoming serious again, "I'll think about it. You're not getting away with it though, trust me." He said darkly and Owen winced slightly.
Jack frowned as he noticed Tosh watching Ianto curiously, "You're being every quiet. I thought you'd be full of questions. Don't you want to ask Jack something?" She asked quietly and then winced as she realised that she'd asked an actual question and so Ianto had to reply, "Sorry!"
"I don't want to know the answer." Ianto replied, unable to help himself.
Jack stared at him in horror, "What? No… You could ask me, whatever it is you can ask me! Go on, what is it you'd ask?" He demanded.
Ianto scowled even more, "Am I just a convenient passing shag to you in your life journey?" Ianto snapped out, unable to help himself.
Jack looked devastated but couldn't shove off the truth serum, "No, of course not. You are so much more than that to me Ianto Jones, very day I have with you is amazing, every second you're still around… You are so amazing. I love you." Jack blurted out, his eyes wide,
Owen frowned, "Why don't you just say so?" He asked the man.
Jack scowled, "Because… I was worried Ianto wouldn't feel the same." He mumbled much to Ianto's amusement.
"I… I love you too Jack… I just, sometimes I'm scared I wont have enough time with you." Ianto whispered, giving a small yelp as Jack suddenly hugged him, holding him tight. They didn't notice as the rest of the team stood up and left the room, leaving them alone. Jack said nothing more, simply holding Ianto and stroking his back, Ianto gripped back just as tightly, his lips pressing against Jack's neck as he brushed back his tears.
.~*~*~*~*~ Thirty years later: ~*~*~*~*~.
The man moved through the room, picking up the box on the floor and lifting it onto the table before opening it. He removed a few books and put them in a pile on the table before frowning as he found a DVD in a small, flimsy, plastic case. The words on the disk read: Truth Serum, 2nd of March 2009. The man gave a small smile, moving over to the TV and slotting the DVD in. His smile widened as the Torchwood Boardroom appeared on the screen, complete with five figures, "We gave you some truth serum, and we took it ourselves." Came Toshiko Sato's voice and the man sank down onto the sofa, staring at the screen as the events of so long ago played out. He barely noticed as the door opened and his lover walked in, "Whatcha watching? Oh… Oh, now where did you find that? Blast from the past… I love you as much today as I did then, the only difference is now, I don't need truth serum to help me admit it." Jack Harkness said softly, sitting down next to Ianto on the sofa and wrapping his arm around the man.
"Even though I'm getting old and grey?" Ianto murmured with a chuckle.
"Grey's a nice colour." Jack replied.
Ianto kissed him, "Love you." He whispered.
.~*~*~*~*~*~.