Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
I Walk A Lonely Road
Ianto leant closer to his laptop, his shirt sleeves rolled up and the glow bathing his face the only light in the room. Without taking his eyes off the screen he reached for the coffee mug standing as both sentinel and companion on the small metal desk and took a sip of the tepid liquid. He grimaced and wiped at his tired eyes, allowing a glance at the time proffered in the right-hand corner of the screen; it was twenty past two in the morning.
He placed the tall mug back on its slate coaster and let his head sink into his hands as he tried to draw conclusions from the threads dangling around him. He looked back at the images of Lucy Cole, the ex-Mrs Harold Saxon and his mind murmured a chorus of whispered warnings; something seemed off. The timid girl from earlier family photos and glossy magazine shoots had changed in the last year to one with confidence and authority; there was something deep within her eyes that unsettled him, something he could not locate in the previous images. He closed his eyes and tried to stretch the exhaustion from his body, standing to pace around the room, away from the lure of her disturbing stare.
He had done this before, in his muddled mind, when time had reset and he was trying to make sense of the different sets of memories that had forged in his head. Was that what had given Lucy this inner self-assurance? To have lived through a nightmare and survived? Had it made her stronger, when it had broken so many?
He looked down at the psychiatric reports for those individuals that time had damaged, whose minds had not been able to cope with the reinstatement of the timeline. One hundred and fifty-four people destroyed by nightmares of their own deaths and the Toclafane; shattered by a year of hell.
One hundred and fifty-four that they knew of; one hundred and fifty-four that had sort out counselling; one hundred and fifty-four…
He rested against the windowsill, finding no comforting breeze in a night that was heavy with heat, even the jaded stars seemed to sweat in the stagnant air above the restless city.
Ianto's mobile gave two distinctive bleeps, the sound echoing in the silence of the room. He moved swiftly to its resting place on the coffee table and picked it up.
RE: Holiday destination
Take Out Insurance!
W.
He smiled and deleted the message. Picking up his car keys, Ianto headed for the Hub.
Beta by the wonderful helbee