However, the wolfish creature mentioned briefly is mine.
Enjoy!
Title: Consequences of Conversation
Summary: A conversation the Torchwood team has over dinner turns into a recalling of memories; not all of which are pleasant. Especially for our dear Captain Harkness.
Author: Nalana(SpinderOfSouls)
Genre: General/Angst
Rating: PG-13 simply to be safe.
Archiving: & A Teaspoon and an Open Mind
It had been a calm week. Or, at the very least, as calm as Torchwood ever was. They had been on a couple recon missions, dealt with a few strangling aliens, but there had been no casualties they would have had to cover. And much to her relief, Gwen was finally feeling a little more in place.
So here they were, the elite team crowded around the briefing table with take-out boxes strewn all over the tabletop. Laughter filled the air as Owen recalled a previous job with quite an active rendition. This had become routine. At the end of the week they all sat together and rotated through food cultures.
"Remember that time you got covered with those slug-things. We had to pry them off with Gavalln oil. You reeked for two weeks." Toshiko interjected, making the local scientist shudder.
"Yes, still, it wasn't as bad as the time we caught that wolfish thing and had to bring her here. Right Jack?" He shot a look at the team's leading man. "We caught this anthropomorphic about half a year back. The Captain here interrogated."
"The next thing we know she's up in his lap, slurping him, and refuses to let go of him." Ianto added casually.
"Well, it wasn't so bad, if you don't mind slobber." Jack shrugged. "Besides. It's amazing how fur feels agai-" Jack became aware of the staff's stares, and with a slight blush coughed. "Anyway..."
Gwen smirked and looked back down at her food, amused how Ianto had taken the embarrassment out of the conversation with a single sentence. Brief and to the point, but always quite handy! He really was the go-to guy.
"Say, Gwen. This man of yours, how long have you two been together, eh?" Owen prodded, causing Gwen to smile a bit.
"Almost three years." Her smile grew a little bit more. As confused as she had been about her relationship lately, she couldn't deny that she still loved him.
"He's a good bloke, then?"
"Mmmhmm. Yea. I couldn't really ask of more from him. He's one of the most considerate men I've known." She said with a slight beam to her.
"Now that's adorable!" Toshiko gleamed, dreamily placing her head in her hands. "Love. Ah. Those were the days."
The newest Torchwood member sat her food down, pulling her feet up to the side of her chair. Owen poked the Asian woman by his side with his fork lightly. The woman wrinkled her nose at him.
"What was that for?"
"You being sappy. Ahhh love! Green fields and daises! Sunshine and a light rain! Chocolates and - HEY!" Owen frowned when he was poked back for his mockery.
"Come off it, yea?" Toshiko pouted. "You can't tell me you've never felt that way about someone!"
"Pfft. The Ladies love me, and I share me love! What more is there to that."? Owen attempted to lean back in a suave manner, only for his chair to topple over.
"And your masculinity has been eradicated." The butler-esque man smirked.
"Okay, okay." Owen pulled himself up before his pride was gone as well. "Okay. There was this one girl. But I was young!"
"Geezer." Jack said, voice latent with sarcasm.
"Ha-ha. Very funny."
"So, why don't you tell us about this special girl of yours?" Gwen suggested, sliding her feet back down.
"Her name was Shawni, we were in the same tech group. A gorgeous geek, who would have thought? Anyhow. We hooked up a couple years after graduation, thought I had something going for us. But..." Owen sighed. "Then Mr. Rich came along."
"Ouch." Gwen flinched.
"You're telling me. So, Ms. Prying, what about you?" He prodded the female beside him.
"Oi. Where do I begin? I've had my share of starry eyes. But, I always screwed it up. It always seemed to them like my work was the most important thing to me." She sighed lightly. "Maybe it was. What can you do, though? You make some choices."
"I don't know!" She shook her head. "Maybe one day..."
Gwen's gaze turned to Ianto. He cocked his head at her. After a moment he grinned and shook his head. The dark haired female pouted slightly.
"The man wants to stay an enigma. Let him." Jack broke the silence before Gwen could pester the silent one.
"He's not the only enigma we have." Gwen turned her attention to the lounging Captain. "What's your bleeding heart?"
The Captain's smirked died down, his posture becoming a little lax. The others watched as Jack's eyes glazed over. For a moment no one breathed. Gwen wasn't sure if it was because of his response to that question or if it was due tot her attempt to actually ask the inward companion of theirs a direct question relating to himself.
"Come on, Gweeny!" Owen made a quick attempt to break the silence that had floated over them. "Jack probably hasn't had time to love, not with all of them that have been throwing themselves at his feet. Here's to you!" he raised his glass. "So many, so little time."
"Fool." Jack scoffed, staring at his feet. "Your right, in a way though. I went through people to avoid being attached. Nasty business, love is. When you've glided through life as much as I had, you begin to think there's nothing wrong with living like that."
"He was right." Jack said inwardly. "Humans are stupid. Sometimes at least. Heh..."
"Then, when you're least expecting it, that person comes along. And you fight it; you try to charm your way through things. It's no use. So eventually you give in. You accept that you've fallen into this historic trap. And things work for a while."
The room had frozen. All eyes were on the Captain. Not even the pterodactyl, who was perched near by, seemed to make a sound. Gwen shifted in her seat, not knowing what to say.
"One day," Jack's words made the entire staff jump a little. "you realize that you were really lying to yourself. Because no matter how much you care for them, their heart is already taken. Then... they abandon you."
Jack lifted his drink to his lips, taking a deep swallow, before slamming the glass back onto the table. Within another moment, the Captain had wiped off the sulking mood that had overcast above him and was joking with Owen once more. Gwen sighed to herself, letting the conversation move on.
Later that evening, when the staff had scattered to go home, the former constable lingered for a bit. Gathering up her coat from her desk, she swung by the overhead room dubbed the Captain's office. She wasn't surprised to see him there. He was the first one to get there, and the last one to leave like clockwork. Some days she could have sworn that he never did leave.
What did shock her was the bottle of whiskey on his desk. She never saw him as the type for it, but it was more the fact that from the looks of him the considerable amount gone from the bottle was likely ingested this evening. For a second Gwen considered talking to him, until she noticed that he carried the same melancholy expression that had plagued him in the earlier conversation.
Standing outside the doorway, she remained unnoticed. Jack's gaze was fixated towards the interrogation hold, into the shadows. Gwen waited as he swallowed painfully hard. If she didn't know better, she would have said that his cheeks were moist, his eyes red. Jack folded his arms on his desk, burring his face into them.
It wasn't until she saw the trembling of his shoulders that her breath caught and her chest burnt with sympathy. Her feet urged her to go forward, but her mind turned her around and headed her towards the outside world. Only the sound of her footsteps blocked out the resonance of the Captain's breaking.