A/N:
Well, it's short, but I feel like I'm back on track again, even though almost 500 words of this were originally part of a stand alone chapter for Short Stories… then I decided to shift it over here since it takes place during the same time frame. Besides, I thought it would be fun for Shane to meet some of Jack's friends ;-)
Chapter Seven
"One kiss breaches the difference between friendship and love."
Author Unknown
Tim couldn't sleep. Maybe it was that he'd spent so much time sleeping already, or maybe it was just the nagging feeling of guilt over what had happened. What could have happened if they'd been just a little bit less lucky this time because he could have gotten himself killed. He could have killed Sara and Mickey in the process (and that's what he was the most guilty over.) He shouldn't have been fooling around with the alien tech, he shouldn't have been acting like a probie…he sighed. Maybe he was just antsy because he knew Tony was due in Cardiff in a few days. He hadn't asked his former colleague to come in early, he'd just decided to all on his own after he found out that Ziva was coming in early and Gibbs was already there—or rather that he'd stayed at Ducky's place in Scotland the last month. That was the beauty of being retired, their old boss had said, he could take a month long vacation if he wanted one. Tim had to admit that a vacation sounded nice, seeing as his last one had been cut short by an alien invasion. Not that it had been much of a vacation to begin with…
And he realized how casual that thought had formed in his head… alien invasions weren't supposed to be that routine. Unless you work for Torchwood… Just the same, he wouldn't trade this new life in for anything. It wasn't just that he was sure if they were still back in DC that Abby never would have agreed to that first date …or whatever it had been. It was really more like a twelfth or thirtieth date, it was just that their last date before it had been several years ago.
They'd only dated briefly back then before she broke it off. Honestly he'd been surprised she said yes in the first place, that first time he asked her to lunch. But that was another story, just like the tattoo he got for her (even if it was dedicated to his Mom—his Mom who had not been amused the first time she saw it, something he'd hoped would never happen. It hadn't taken her long to blame Abby, all she had to do was see a picture to figure it out, tell him he shouldn't be dating the sort of girl who would 'do that to herself'. He wasn't sure his mother had ever forgiven Abbs for the tat, no matter that she hadn't asked him to do it. But she had liked it. That was all he cared about.)
But that felt like an entire lifetime ago. Maybe two lifetimes.
For their first date in Cardiff, he'd taken Abby to a little Italian place Ianto recommended. He'd been (extremely) anxious about asking his boss to recommend a nice place to eat (he hadn't even asked Abby out yet; he wasn't sure she'd say yes.) Even though Torchwood clearly didn't have a Rule Number Twelve, he wondered how any of them would feel about the new guy, the probie, asking her out at all. It was obvious how protective both Ianto and Jack were. The Welshman, however, had smiled and seemed genuinely pleased to be consulted about a restaurant.
Tim tried to convince him and Jack (and Abby, and Mickey and the rest of the team and even himself) that it was just a casual dinner between friends. He wasn't fooling anybody and he knew it, even though he kept denying it. No matter how many other women he'd been out with since meeting her—admittedly not very many, at least not seriously, blind dates set up by his editor just didn't count—Abby was always The One. Being able to remain, to become, good friends with her after they broke up only made him love her all the more. Respect her all the more.
Which hadn't made him any less nervous as headed back to her flat after that first date in Cardiff, especially when she slid her arm into his after they got out of her car.
"So…I'd ask you if you were going to walk me up, but I guess you live here too," Abby grinned at him. She was wearing a black lace dress that she'd found in some antique shop with her hair done up in two little 'balls' on top of her head, instead of her usual pigtails or braids.
He squirmed uncomfortably at her comment. "Yeah. I… I guess I should start looking for my own place." He tried to hide his disappointment. It was silly. He knew he couldn't stay with her indefinitely, but it had been nice, living together for a little while, even if he'd been on the settee, which meant it wasn't really living together of course. Still, morning coffee… breakfast… other than the fact that she was embracing her adopted culture and sometimes the things the Welsh considered breakfast food frightened him a bit. And the fact that she still squeezed the toothpaste from the middle of the tube and tended to leave dirty tea and coffee mugs all over and had apparently still not discovered what coasters were supposed to be used for… But it was still nice. He liked being around her. Only it was really unfair, too…
And Abby was looking at him funny. "You don't have to. I even made you a key," she said, in what Tim would have sworn was a happy, hopeful little tone, producing the shiny new key from her velvet purse. "I was going to give it to you when we got home," she added.
"I… I appreciate you letting me stay with you," he stammered. He'd only been allowed to leave the hospital on the condition that he had someone to keep an eye on him for a while, just to make sure there were no lasting effects from the 'alien angel dust' he'd inhaled. It was his own fault. "But…" but she was right, it was time for him to move.
"Timmy." She positioned herself between him and her front door, even though she'd already unlocked it so they could go in. "You don't have to move out."
"You only have one bedroom…"
"I know that. Now are you going to kiss me good night or are we going to stand on our front porch arguing all night?"
"Erm... I think I'd like to kiss you good night."
"Good answer, McGee."
He smiled. He closed his eyes.
And he still couldn't sleep. He contemplated calling her, Abby was a night owl by nature… but maybe she'd been out with Ziva all evening and was tired, and if that was the case, he didn't want to wake her up just because he had insomnia. Then it occurred to him that he knew of a couple of other people who weren't likely to be sleeping at this hour. He didn't want to wake Ianto by calling Jack—and he wasn't sure he wanted to talk to his boss anyway, not in the wake of an act of such unparalleled stupidity—but it was only barely midnight back home and he hadn't talked to his sister, other than a brief check-in the day after the 456 were vanquished, in months. He still owed her an explanation for exactly why his trip to the States had been cut short before he got to visit her and Mom and Dad.
They were still talking when Bobby came in to check on him at six o'clock in the morning, Cardiff time. Abby and Ziva were just a few steps behind him. He smiled when he saw his fiancé; she grinned back, practically bouncing when she saw he was awake.
"Right then," said the. "Let's see if we can't get you up and out of here in time for your wedding," he teased.
Abby smacked his arm. "You'd better give him the all clear Bobby!"
Ziva merely watched…
………………………………………………………………………..
Jack pulled Shane Bruster into his arms, almost lifting the young man up off the ground (if he didn't miss his guess, Shane had lost weight since he'd seen him last.) Having him back safe and sound in Cardiff was distinctly better than having him say he was fine over the phone, even if the reason he knew Shane was back was because funding had run out on his most recent project. Jack felt guilty about that, although it hadn't been his fault directly… still, the government was in no small amount of turmoil in the wake of everything that had happened—and the video that had 'accidently' leaked to the public, via Sara's friends in Las Vegas. Not that he'd exactly sanctioned the move, but he couldn't fault her for her actions, either.
"You really didna have to pick me up," the younger man insisted at him. Even first thing in the morning, airport was packed. It seemed worse than usual, more people wanting—needing—to be with friends and family after what had happened. "I could've managed…" but the look his relative was giving him suggested that he would beg to differ. Shane had yet to establish exactly how he and this Captain Jack Harkness were related, just that they had a common ancestor in Great Granddad Captain Jack Harkness. "Are you really all right, then? You know the whole—whatever it was last month—?" he asked. There wasn't a parent on the planet who was really all right, but… "And the kids?"
Jack just smiled. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Jason and Seren, too," he told him. He draped one arm over his great grandson's shoulders. "Come on, let's get your gear and get out of here. I just have to make one stop and then I'm free for the day," he added.
"Oh?"
"I…a couple of friends are in hospital. We should probably pick up some grapes," he added with a wry grin. Like the rest of the Americans who had joined his team, neither Tim nor Sara understood why people always bought grapes when they visited hospitals. He wasn't quite sure why they did it either, but it was a bit more practical than flowers, he supposed. All that really mattered was that Bobby had rung him to say he'd seen them and Tim and Sara were both doing fine, he just wanted to a few more tests before giving them the official 'all clear' to return to duty.
"Nothing serious, I hope?" said the younger man.
He couldn't help but smirk, "Nah, just an incident with an umbrella."
