Title: Christmas Cards
Rating: T
Summary: Ianto always found the sending of Christmas cards to be unnecessary - until a card from Gwen threatened his relationship with Jack.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto of course!
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood.
Author's Note: I wanted to get this up sooner. I thought of the idea on Christmas Eve, and wrote the first chapter on Christmas night. But then it got longer than I anticipated...
Christmas Cards
For Ianto Jones, the sending of Christmas cards was one of those necessities that didn't actually seem all that necessary. While it was certainly thoughtful to let others know that they were appreciated at this time, he found a phone call to be much more personal.
It cost less, too.
In any case, giving Christmas cards to work colleagues seemed a completely redundant exercise. Ianto reasoned that, given that you saw these people every day, there were plenty of opportunities to wish them a happy Christmas. Sending such a message in card form, if anything, seemed to suggest that the sender was too afraid to openly speak to the receiver.
Gwen Cooper, however, did not share Ianto's views, as on Christmas Eve, after finishing a meeting in the board room, Gwen stood up to distribute cards.
"Here you are, Ianto," Gwen said, giving Ianto the card. Ianto murmured his thanks and opened the card. There was a Christmas message printed on the card, as well as Gwen's own handwriting, which read:
To Ianto,
Merry Christmas,
From Gwen.
Ianto turned to Toshiko, who was sitting next to him.
"What does yours say?" he asked.
" 'To Tosh, Merry Christmas, From Gwen'," read Toshiko. Ianto rolled his eyes. Gwen had probably scribbled the cards at the last minute, along with the other hundred or so that she gave to everyone else she knew. The same messy handwriting and the same message on every card. Ianto looked up to see that Gwen had just handed Jack his card. As Jack took the card from Gwen he gave her a 1,200 watt grin, immediately causing Ianto to feel pangs of jealousy.
"Excuse me," he said, making his way out of the board room. As he left, he couldn't help but glance a look at Jack's card out of the corner of his eye, and what he saw made him fume with anger:
To Jack,
Merry Christmas,
Love Gwen.
Oh no, whatever shall Ianto do? I decided to post this all at once, so the next chapter is ready and waiting!