Owner: Ithilian
Earned for: Naming Competition
Bunny's Name: Badger
Timeline: Post 'Exit Wounds' 2x13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto (duh, it's not like I write any other ones!)
Rating: T/K+
Author's Note: This is the last of this round of plot bunnies, and I'm sorry for it taking so long to get done and dusted! I quite liked writing Ianto in this, but I have some trouble with the characterisation of Jack, I'm not so sure it works well. So, reviews are essential! Thanks
Disclaimer: I own nothing, it belongs to Russel T. Davies, John Barrowman, Gareth David-Llyod and Eve Myles.
Get Some Rest
It had only been a few days since the deaths of Tosh and Owen, but Jack was feeling as though he'd lived through a lifetime of grief. He was so tired of hurting, of being scared for Ianto and Gwen but never for himself. He just wanted to detach himself from society and live back in the 51st century again, before he'd met Rose or the Doctor. He wanted to be a normal human being again. The only thing that stopped these thoughts was the fact that he would never have met and fallen in love with Ianto Jones if he hadn't started travelling.
The only time that Jack's mind stopping throbbing with guilt and remorse was when Ianto was holding him, kissing him, with him. He soothed Jack when he was at his worst, kept him safe from himself. Ianto did all of this without knowing the way he affected him. Jack would never let Ianto find out how much pain he was in.
There were times when Gwen and Ianto were working in the hub, trying desperately to cling to any amount of normality in the workplace, and Jack would sit in his office and watch them move around like ghosts. He always wondered why he was allowed to keep coming back to life when those around him had only one, fragile chance to live. It was a thought that had plagued him since the moment Tosh's eyes glazed over and the spark in them vanished.
On the first night, he'd stayed back at the hub. He knew it was the worst place he could be, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. Without needing to say a word, Ianto had stayed with him. They'd curled up together for comfort in the sleep space below Jack' s office, and Ianto had drifted off to sleep. Jack felt slightly panicky. As soon as the light had gone off, his muscles had all tensed a little bit, his heart having to be consciously calmed down. He could feel the earth pressing down on him, the dirt in his mouth, choking him. Time after time for almost two thousand years. He was so much older than he had been when John had taken him from the rooftop, yet he didn't look a day older.
When the fear set in, he held Ianto tighter, burying his face into the young man's hair, closing his eyes against the dark. The smell and feel of Ianto was all he needed to remember he was alive and safe. Of course, he wouldn't tell Ianto that, he couldn't. He couldn't risk letting himself become any more attached to Ianto than he was at the moment, it would just end in tears.
And so it carried on. Jack kept quiet about the trauma that plagued him at night and about how he truly felt about Ianto, and the three of the tried to get on with work as usual, struggling through medical and technical problems they encountered.
They had several late night callouts in the weeks that followed; catching weevils, bringing back artefacts, simple things that could all be dealt with by three people. Jack was endlessly thankful for that, he wasn't ready to start looking for new recruits. However, by the third callout, Gwen was noticing strange differences in the Captain's behaviour.
The once proud and arrogant man was suddenly nervous and slightly unsure of himself. He didn't rush in, guns blazing, anymore, he took precautions, looking around corners and using torches to illuminate dark corners. He even jumped when a loud clang echoed from the end of an alleyway. She'd noted every odd detail about the man's behaviour, cataloguing it away for future reference. However, whilst he was may have been acting strangely, he had never once done anything to put them in danger.
Not until roughly a week after Gwen started noticing differences in his persona.
The team had been alerted to a stray weevil in the city centre, down a small side street and Ianto had deduced from his scans in the SUV that it was a bull weevil, roughly nine feet tall and, from the glucose levels in it's blood, starving. As usual, they'd all taken a canister of weevil spray, a gun and Jack had a hood to cover the creature's face with once captured.
As they climbed from the vehicle, the sound of a little girl's scream rang out and Jack felt a surge of terror flash through him. He looked down the and saw that it was extremely dark between the orange pools from the streetlights. Huddled beneath a lamp about halfway down the street was a family of four; a mother, a father, a boy of around sixteen and a little girl, no older than five years old, crying in fear.
Jack reluctantly moved forwards into the gloom, taking slow, cautious steps towards the family, trying not to alert the weevil to his presence. He could feel Gwen and Ianto moving behind him and he desperately wished he could turn round and scream at them to run back to safety, to get away from the danger in front of them.
He took another step, but froze as the creature emerged from the shadows on the opposite side of the pool of light, leering at the family, causing the little girl to scream again. It was suddenly too much for him; the darkness, the fear, the stabbing pain of loss, all of it just started to close in around him and he had to fight with his limbs to stop himself from dropping his gun and running away from the scene. He could feel Gwen's eyes on him, but he couldn't do anything, he couldn't move.
Even when the weevil took another step closer to the family, Jack could do nothing but stand and stare. He was barely aware of Gwen hissing angrily at him. The three members of Torchwood 3 stood and watched as, in slow motion, the weevil lunged for the little girl with a snarl. Jack heard someone behind him fire a bullet at the creature, but that only made it angry. However, it gave the teenage boy the distraction that he needed to dive at the creature, knocking away from his little sister.
The howls and yells of pain were haunting. They snapped Jack out of his trance, and he realised that Gwen was rushing towards the weevil, Ianto close on her heels. She fired several shots at close range and the creature fell back, snarling. Ianto took the chance to spray it in the eyes, causing it to hiss in pain and anger. Jack watched at the Welshman pulled a needle of sedative from his suit jacket and injected it into the weevils neck, using a bread tag to tie its hands together.
Gwen was trying her best to help the teenage boy lying curled up on the floor, blood pouring from a wound in his neck and several gashes across his chest and stomach. She shot Jack a look that could kill before pulling out her mobile and calling an ambulance. Hopefully the boy would survive, but he'd already lost copious amounts of blood, the red liquid staining the floor around him. Ianto knelt beside her and clamped his hand over the boy's neck, stemming the flow of blood as much as he could. Gwen got up and scowled at Jack again before turning to the family, all of which were cowering away from them fearfully. The mother was sobbing, from shock and despair, the father cradling the daughter and staring blankly at his son's injured form.
She handed them all a small white pill and some water from the bag slung over her shoulder. They all accepted the retcon and swallowed it down without hesitation, lapping up the story Gwen started to feed them about their son being attacked by muggers with a vicious dog. Slowly, they slid to the floor and drifted off to sleep, the little girl curled up with her thumb in her mouth, as if she was simply napping in her bed.
Jack finally managed to make his legs move, with much cajoling and threatening, and pulled the hood from his jacket and tied it over the weevil's head, hoisting it up on his shoulder and carrying it back to the SUV to dump it in the back. He could hear sirens going off, getting closer, as the ambulance rushed to the aid of the teenager. He made his way slowly back to the others and found that Ianto had already convinced the young man to take the pill, one mixed with a lot less sedative, so he'd be awake in about ten minutes time. Jack watched as his lover sat and soothed the injured boy, telling him it was alright, that everything would be fine. The teenager believed every word, and drifted off into a slight doze within minutes. If only Ianto could do the same for him.
The paramedics soon turned up and the family were taken to the hospital. The injured boy was taken in the first and the family were taken in a second, giving them room to work on the boy, to keep him alive long enough to get him proper help. Jack watched as the vehicles faded into the distance, the lights becoming a blur in the rush of Cardiff traffic.
Jack hadn't trusted himself to say anything, leaving Gwen and Ianto to explain the situation to the paramedics and clear up any confusion. He couldn't trust his tongue not to mess up completely, like his body had. Eventually, the three of them climbed back into the SUV, Gwen sitting in the back, Ianto in the passenger seat, silence enveloping them as they drove back to the hub. The silence continued until they were back inside, Gwen at her workstation and Ianto and Jack heading into his office.
Jack was just about to step through after the young man when Gwen pulled him sharply around and slapped him across the face. He staggered backwards in shock, his back hitting the doorframe. He looked up, stunned, to see the woman's face flooded with anger and annoyance.
"You're lucky that boy's going to live!" her fists were clenched and she stood squarely in front of him. Jack couldn't think of a reply, he just stood there, looking uncomfortable. "You stood there and let that weevil attack him! You just stood there and watched!"
"Gwen, please-" He tried to explain himself, to some degree, but she cut across him.
"No, Jack! That boy could've died because you weren't paying attention to what was going on!" She stepped towards him and pointed her finger at him. Jack cowered away from her a little and she glared at him.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't-" She shook her head in disgust and Jack swallowed audibly. She was still too close for comfort, the feeling of earth pressing through his throat making the panic rise up a little more as he failed to find enough air to breathe properly. He tried to push her away but she reached back to slap him again. He closed his eyes and turned his head away, ready for the strike, but the attack never came.
He finally opened his eyes again to see what had happened and found Gwen staring at Ianto, the man coolly looking back at her, a warning in his eyes. It was then that he noticed the young's hand wrapped around Gwen's raised arm. He'd stopped her.
"Gwen, go home. It's been a long night and we all need to get some sleep." She looked at him for a moment longer, gauging whether she could start an argument with him. Obviously, she realised that he wasn't going to back down, and wrenched her arm free, grabbing her bag and coat from her desk and storming out of the hub.
The siren had long since died away by the time Jack brought himself to look at the young man. He knew that if he did, he'd buckle and all the things he'd stopped himself from telling Ianto would tumble out. He covered his eyes with his hands and tried to stop the feeling of helplessness from taking him over again. He felt something touch his cheek and brought his hands down a bit, finding Ianto standing closer to him, one hand gently holding his face. Jack looked into the trusting blue eyes and finally broke down, pulling his lover roughly into a hug, arms wrapped tightly around his neck and shoulders. Ianto held him close, strong arms closing around Jack in a way that made him feel safe.
He couldn't express what Ianto made him feel, but he knew that he didn't have to. He knew that the young man didn't need words. The way he gently pulled away and lead him out of the hub and to his car told him that. Ianto drove back to his home and lead Jack into the building and up through the stairwells to his fourth floor flat. Jack followed him silently, holding on to the back of Ianto's jacket with one hand.
The young man lead him gently through to the bedroom, sitting him down and pulling his shoes and socks off, tossing them over towards the door. Jack met his eyes and a look passed between them, one of understanding and trust that neither had really shared with the other before. It gave Jack the willpower to finish undressing himself down to his undershirt and boxers before letting Ianto tuck him into bed.
A few minutes later, Ianto had changed out of his suit and flicked the bedroom light off, making his way over to the bed and slipping under the covers in front of Jack, winding his arms around the older man and resting his forehead against the crook of Jack's neck.
"Thank you, Ianto…" Jack's voice was quiet, one of his hands absently running through the young man's hair, the other holding him as close as he dared.
"Get some rest, Jack." The gentle voice was accompanied the young man moving closer to him, his legs wrapping around Jack's, his body pressing a little harder against him, showing him he was there and that he wasn't leaving. He wanted to talk to the young man, but he knew now wasn't the time. When the time did come for Jack to talk to Ianto about what had happened, he knew he'd be able to.