42. Road Trip
W/C: 1940
Warnings/spoilers/content: some profanity and short scenes from multiple points of view
Summary: their friends and family head to the safe house.
Characters: Ianto, Rhi, Johnny, Mrs. Sato, Shuji (Tosh's brother), Alice, Steven, Estelle, Peter (Owen's brother), Sarah (Peter's girlfriend)
Ianto's New Timeline: June 10, 2006
A/N: I made Mica (Rhianna Davies' daughter) a bit older than she was in the show to allow for a possible boyfriend fixation (not sure if I'll go there just yet). Originally I had used "Haha" to indicate "Mother" in Japanese but I was given a quick tutorial about the different ways to address people in Japanese by the lovely paulaloveremus (who is awesome) so it's been changed to "Kāsan". Also, I made up names for the other family members.
ALICE HAD BOTH HANDS FIRMLY on the wheel and her eyes trained on absolutely everything—the road, the traffic, her unknown passenger named Estelle and her son, who was sitting quietly in the back seat. The two women did their best to evaluate each other—without seeming like it of course because that would be rude.
Alice sighed, normal social rules don't apply here, she reminded herself. Not when Torchwood was involved. She had to protect herself and her son. Nothing else mattered. The awkward silence was starting to get to her though. Might as well make nice. Otherwise, it was going to be a very long trip.
"So," she began, her voice light and almost cheery sounding, "how do you know Jack?"
Estelle smiled and turned towards Alice before answering. "Oh, well… I was in a relationship with Jack's father many years ago."
Alice felt her face blanch. She tightened her knuckles around the steering wheel a little tighter, until they were white and bloodless and she hoped she didn't look as shocked as she felt. She remained silent, unsure of how to respond to that.
Estelle continued quietly, "We fell in love before the war." She sighed, "We were s..so in love." Her voice seemed to crack a little as she retold a story that she had thought of so many times before. "But then the war happened and he did his duty." She sat quietly for a moment with her hands clasped on her lap. "We lost touch."
"I see." Good god. Couldn't the man keep it in his pants? How many siblings did she have? It was hard to think kindly about him. She had so much anger bottled up. So much…disappointment. Apparently, she wasn't the only one.
"Jack came to me several years ago now. He said his father had spoken at length of me and he wanted to make sure that I was doing okay. It was so sweet of him. He's such a good boy."
Alice cleared her throat. "That's…nice of him."
"Yes, he's a lovely young man. So like his father." Estelle's face was transformed by her radiant smile and her voice, her voice sounded so…fond.
Alice had to refocus her attention on the road lest she cause an accident. "Yes," she agreed, trying not to fall into hysterical laughter, "he's the spitting image isn't he?" She allowed herself a secret grin.
"Yes. Oh my, it was startling at first. But Jack isn't as… light-hearted as his father was." She paused, thinking back to those wonderful days. "I fear he is carrying many burdens on his heart. Sometimes, it really shows. I don't know what happened to him in the past but there's a look in his eyes, a sadness."
They sat in silence for a while, each with their own spinning thoughts, both thinking of Jack. Strange how different their experiences were with the man and yet they'd been brought together just the same.
Estelle came out of her silent musings once again. She felt a little silly, sliding in and out of memories like that. But it was so easy. And so nice to remember those times. She sighed, "We always talk about me and my life but never about him. It's strange. I try so hard to get him to open up. But he won't talk about his father. And when he looks at our old photographs there is such pain in his eyes." She looked right at Alice and then added, "He seems so lonely, don't you think?"
She was met with silence which was a little surprising but they were strangers after all. She tried a different tactic, "How do you know Jack dear?"
"We're family."
"Oh, I see." She smiled, hoping Alice would add a little bit more to her answer.
"He's my…brother." She wished she could tell her the truth. It pained her to lie to this kind old woman.
"Oh my, I didn't know he had a sister!" Estelle couldn't help the shock in her voice but she had to admit she was glad he had some family.
"Yes," she added quickly, "we had different fathers though." Damn you Jack, you always complicate things. You always make me lie.
"I see." Did she? She wasn't sure. They certainly shared a family resemblance and they were both heavily laden with a burden from their past that left them haunted. The evidence lay in her eyes. "Mmmm…is he a good uncle?"
"He tries. To be. But we've had such a strained relationship. It's hard." Estelle took in the clenched jaw, the clenched hands, the bunched up shoulders and just felt plain badly for them.
"And why is that dear?" she asked, not unkindly and sat back in her seat for what she figured would be a long wait. She wasn't wrong.
Alice thought about her answer carefully. Several minutes of silence passed before she found the right words. "It's a very long story. Mostly, to do with our…mother. I wish it were different but there's so much anger between us." Hmm. That wasn't true. Was it? She quickly corrected herself, "Well, actually he doesn't really feel angry towards me at all. So, I guess it's all my fault. Mine and my mother's." Damn. It sounded terrible when she said it out loud. It sounded so…petty.
"Oh. That's a shame," she said, sounding both sad and knowing.
"Yes, it is," she agreed tightly and they both heard the remorse in her words.
SHUJI LOVED SITTING in the front seat, especially on a road trip. He always felt so grown up sitting next to the driver. "HAHA, where are we going?
"I don't know exactly," she answered distractedly, "We just need to follow the GPS."
"But why?" He tried not to whine.
"Why…what?" Her mind was busy trying to recall every conversation she and Toshiko had ever had regarding this emergency. The nice young man that had visited them had seemed so confident and kind. She had really liked him. She hoped that he and Toshiko were friends. At the time, she hadn't really believed that they would ever have to use their emergency plan.
"Why did we have to leave?"
"Because…I'm not exactly sure but Toshiko said it was important—very important—and she's very clever."
"Yes," he agreed, "she's brilliant!"
"Yes, she is and we must trust her to keep us safe."
"From what?"
"I'm not sure."
"Oh, well. At least we're having an adventure."
"PETER, WHERE THE hell are we going?"
"I don't know."
"What?! And you're still going to follow his instructions blindly?" Her screeching was painfully loud as it bounced around the inside of the car and then the inside of his head.
"Yes," he sighed, "I am."
"I can't believe you!" She sat there fuming, boiling inside with hatred and suspicion. She hated his brother. He was a nasty fucker. Totally unreliable. Completely fucked up. So, his wife died. It happens! It didn't mean he could be a dick for the rest of his life. Sometimes, Peter was such a push over. She didn't even know why she bothered…
Peter was reaching that point where he'd had enough of her nastiness, the point of getting out before she dragged him down with her.
They may have had their share of problems but Owen was his brother. He was family. He'd always been there for Peter, no matter what. He trusted Owen. And this was…a strange situation for sure but it seemed really important to follow the instructions. He knew Owen worked for some kind of shady government agency regardless of what Owen said. Everybody knew about Torchwood anyways. It was one of the worst kept secrets in the whole of Cardiff. He could have sworn that he saw him get out of that black SUV last month. It had to be him. And if so…well, they dealt with weird shit…everybody knew that…and that meant this was really bad and probably really weird. He checked his mirrors and then the map and tried to guess what weird shit they'd be facing tomorrow.
RHI HAD A solid grip on the wheel, her gaze flickering from the side mirror to the rear view every few seconds. Johnny sat between their two frightened children in the back seat, a protective arm slung around each.
Their eyes met briefly in the rear view mirror before her eyes darted nervously to the side mirror again.
Johnny pitched his voice low so as not to waken the children but high enough so she could hear him, "Do you want to switch for a while love?" He waited for her reply.
She thought about his offer and was about to agree when she caught herself. Her thoughts were racing, driven by paranoia and fear. She was on edge, her body poised for a fight, leaving very little room for rational thought. She knew she was acting a bit crazy but she couldn't ease off just yet. They still has so far to go.
She'd relax when they got there. She felt guilty for leaving Johnny out in the cold, lost in the dark without a clue about what was happening. Meeting his eyes in the mirror, she shook her head and smiled apologetically. "No thank you my love. Maybe at the next rest stop?" She was grateful when he smiled back at her. It felt good to be understood.
TW Ianto's Journal TW Ianto's Journal TW
It's hard to explain our relationship. We're brother and sister sure but there has always been an extra, unseen element, one that most people didn't notice or if they did they actually pretended they didn't see it. I know that she trusts me, that she's come to value and trust that extra something. And I'm grateful for that. It's come to our rescue too many times to count. By this point, it's almost impossible to ignore. I'm just so glad she trusts me. She didn't even question the page. I feel so… grateful.
I can save them.
I know I can.
To do: save the world
Not to do: Freak out
TW Ianto's Journal TW Ianto's Journal TW
Continued in… Home Away from Home
