Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: I'm not quite sure why I'm posting this to be honest. I reeeeally don't want to post this, I really don't, for some reason my hands have other ideas… I wrote this for my own entertainment, it took me roughly two or three minutes and I had no intention of actually putting it up, sorry if it's bad.
(P.S: This is a 'Bodger the Badger hunt' story, if you want to find out more about this game then please check my really rather short profile.)
Jack had always had a thing about roses.
If anyone ever brought any into the Hub he would look at them mournfully before spending the rest of the day coming out his office every five minutes to fiddle or adjust the way they sat in the vase, almost as if he could never quite position them perfectly.
Whenever he was asked about it by one on the team he would brush away their concern and simply say, 'they don't look right.'
Eventually, after Gwen had been sent a bunch of beautiful white roses and a ridiculous stuffed toy badger from Rhys to make up for forgetting their anniversary, (Gwen wasn't quite sure where the inspiration for the latter gift had come from) she had snapped at Jack over his relentless fiddling and asked him the question no one else had dared, delving into his past, something Jack never liked at the best of times.
"They don't look right." Jack insisted as Gwen snatched the prickly plant from his hand.
"You're going to break them, just leave it be!" She snapped. "Just tell me Jack, what is it with you that you feel the need to destroy such pretty flowers?"
Jack stared at the half crushed bloom in her outstretched hand, it was true they were very pretty, a perfect white in colour, "But not pretty enough." He murmured.
Gwen blinked in surprise, "What?"
Jack turned away and started walking back to his office; he could feel his team's curious gazes following him. "I said they're not perfect."
"Well I'll just pop out and find myself the perfect rose then," Gwen returned sarcastically.
Jack didn't say anything for a moment, just stopped at the top of the stairs with his back to them. When he finally spoke his voice sounded weary and for the first time his team could see all his one hundred years on his face, they wondered to themselves how he could have possibly hidden that before.
"Just remember, when you find her, tell her I wish she'd come back."
One day, Tosh handed him the list of the dead from the battle of Canary Wharf for filing, it had taken months to arrive due to the horrifyingly vast amount of dead and the lack of organisation during the counting.
Ianto had swiftly left the room after finding Lisa's name amongst the others.
It was only till much later did the team realise that the large bouquet of French roses on Tosh's desk were still untouched. Jack sat quietly in his wooden chair, having not spoken to anyone or left his office since he'd finished filing the 'T' section from loses of Torchwood One during the battle.
That day, Jack stopped searching for the perfect Rose.
.
.
.
~RaspberryAngel
