Title: Incorrigible
Rating: T
Summary: Jack's back, whole and happy. And so Torchwood is complete. Jack/Gwen. Sorta sequel to 'Unspoken Answers'.
Disclaimer: Do I own Torchwood? I wish. The great and mighty BBC have that honour… Lucky buggers.
A sequel-ish to Unspoken Answers, so you kinda have to read that one first to understand this one... Sorry.
And this is pointless fluff. It was going to be something vaguely substantial, but the Muse didn't like that idea. Apparently.
Anyway. Enjoy!
Incorrigible
The Hub was quiet at night. Very quiet.
That little piece of information was something she'd discovered since she'd moved in. When her teammates had said their goodnights and gone home, the Hub descended into a kind of half-sleep, as if the old structure needed people to run around and tease and joke to be alive.
But she didn't mind it. Quiet was good.
She stood on the upper catwalk, hands resting against the railings. She watched the steady fall of water, and wondered how even that crash of liquid on liquid could be so quiet in the dead silence of night.
"Gwen?" His voice respected the stillness of the Hub; he spoke softly, his voice echoing smoothly around the arched walls.
She didn't answer – lost in thought.
He sighed. She felt his hands alight on her hips, and she let herself be pulled back into the circle of his arms. His chin gently rested on her shoulder, and she leaned back against his chest. "What is it?" he asked quietly.
"Just thinking."
He snorted. "You got up at two am, to come out here and think?"
She smiled. "Yeah, I know. Bad excuse."
"C'mon. What is it?"
She sighed. "It's nothing," she said. "I just can't sleep."
He chuckled, and lightly kissed her neck, just behind her ear. "Welcome to my world," he murmured against her skin. "Now come back to bed."
The tone of his voice made clear his double meaning.
Gwen smiled. "You're incorrigible."
Jack smirked. "And proud."
---------
"Owen! You're late!"
The culprit in question glared over at Jack. His eyes were conspicuously bloodshot and he looked as though he was inches away from grabbing at his head in pain. "Shu'up J'ck," he mumbled, his words just a little slurred.
Harkness ambled over, thumbs stuck behind suspenders, and smirked devilishly. He roughly ruffled Owen's bed-hair, jostling the other's head in the process.
Owen groaned. Loudly.
Toshiko glanced over from behind her bank of computers, data and codes scrolling across the screens faster than the human eye could process. "What's up with him?" she called, causing Owen to groan again and screw his eyes shut.
Jack clapped Owen cheerfully on the shoulder – Owen lurched. "Whopper of a hangover," he commented sagely.
Toshiko rolled her eyes and went back to her work.
"Ianto!" Jack called, still lightly shaking Owen with one hand. Owen looked vaguely green.
"Sir?" Ianto replied, looking up from his conversation with Gwen.
"Got anything for the hangover from hell?" Jack asked conversationally. Owen made a soft retching noise. Gwen and Toshiko, noses buried in paperwork and/or reports, smirked in tandem.
Ianto rolled his eyes, and grinned. "I'll have a look," he answered, gaze sparkling with mirth. The Welshman shook his head and vanished to look for his potent hangover remedy.
Jack strolled over to Gwen, leaving Owen to clutch alternately at his stomach and his head. "How you doing?" he asked nonchalantly.
She looked up at him from under long lashes. "Fine."
"Tired?" He was smirking.
"Not really." She was resisting the urge to slap him.
"Good." With one last teasing smile, he wandered off.
She rolled her eyes.
---------
They were all gathered around the table in the Boardroom. A PDA was sat neatly on the glass surface in front of Toshiko and a mug of something that seriously stank in front of Owen.
Gwen wrinkled her nose and shot him a disbelieving glance. "What is that?"
Owen narrowed his eyes at her. "Ianto's hangover cure."
"And it looks like it's working," Toshiko chipped in. "He's not slurring anymore."
There was a ripple of laughter, and Owen switched his glare to the Asian woman.
"Anyway. Anything 'End of the World'-ish that we should be seeing to?" Jack asked, rapidly bringing the conversation back on track.
No one answered.
Jack's eyebrows rose. "Nothing?" He was incredulous.
"Well, a couple of false alarms," Gwen admitted as Owen took a noisy slurp out of his mug. "But otherwise…" She shrugged. "Nothing."
Jack leaned back in his seat, and grinned. "Brilliant!"
"There was something…" Toshiko's fingers tapped the screen of her PDA, summoning up an image. She slid it across the table to Jack. "This was sighted just outside the city."
Jack went suddenly still, and the Boardroom was abruptly silenced, even though none of them could see what was on the screen.
After a second, Harkness exhaled slowly, deliberately. He cancelled the image and returned the PDA to Toshiko. He offered her a smile. "Thanks Tosh. But we don't need to do anything about it."
She nodded, and switched the PDA off.
Gwen lightly touched Jack's knee. His fingers caught hers, and she squeezed.
She'd just glimpsed what Toshiko had shown him – a familiar image of an upright blue box.
---------
"Are you okay?"
Jack glanced up as Gwen entered his office and seated herself on the edge of his desk. He smiled, just a little. "I will be. Just a shock."
"Your Doctor?"
"Maybe. Not necessarily."
She didn't ask. She knew he was in the frame of mind where she wouldn't get any answers. "We're thinking of going out tonight," she ventured. "A meal, a drink. Fancy coming?"
He looked up at her, met her gaze. Smirked. "Trying to get me drunk, Miss Cooper?"
Her face relaxed into an easy grin. "Maybe. You interested, Captain Harkness?"
Jack grinned. He reached up and dragged her down into his lap – she squealed. He shrugged nonchalantly and linked his arms around her waist. "Why not?"
With slow movements he pressed his lips to the base of her throat, lightly kissing upwards, scraping his teeth over where blood throbbed just below her skin. A soft gasp escaped her lips and she tilted her head back, allowing him better access. He caught her flesh between his lips and sucked, oh-so gently.
"Oi!"
Gwen started at the shout from below, and scrambled off Jack's lap.
"Will you two break it up?" It was Owen, hands propped on hips. "We don't work in a bleeding brothel, okay?"
Gwen moved to the glass door and leaned out. "You're just jealous 'cause he's a better shag than you!" she yelled.
Jack, Toshiko and Ianto burst out laughing.
And Owen went bright red.
---------
The pair of them stumbled out of the pub laughing. Ianto, Toshiko and Owen had turned in hours ago – Owen after having downed about one and a half bottles of whisky; Toshiko had had to drive him home.
Gwen leaned on Jack's arm, laughing in an alcohol-induced buzz. She was happyunbearably so. And, okay, maybe a little bit drunk. Jack was gaily recounting some wild shenanigans or other (she'd lost track of his crazy stories about fifty minutes ago) and she was just happy to listen.
He paused, and they stopped in the street. He looked down at her, smiling. "Happy?"
She smiled, and swayed. "Very." She hiccoughed.
Jack rolled his eyes, and swung her up into his arms. "No more beer for you," he told her loudly.
She giggled.
He grinned. "Lets get back to the Hub."
Her fingers found their wandering way to his cheek, and she gently stroked his skin. She seemed to sober up, just for a second. "Don't leave me," she whispered hoarsely, voice roughened by the alcohol.
He turned his head and gently kissed her fingertips. "I won't," he reassured.
Placated, she snuggled into his arms, and he groaned beneath her shifting weight. "Stay still!" he exclaimed.
She giggled, her voice lost in the fabric of his greatcoat.
He smirked and began to stride in the direction of the Hub. "Y'know," he began conversationally, "Owen interrupted us earlier on."
Her head came up, and she surveyed him, the beginnings of a predatorial gleam in her eyes.
"We never did finish," he completed, voice heavy with meaning.
She grinned. "Completely incorrigible," she slurred.
He swooped down and kissed her. "Oh yeah."
--end--