The Torchwood Drabble Files

by badly-knitted

A collection of Torchwood drabbles that continues to grow. Thanks to everyone who's making this possible. You're greatly appreciated, so I'm reinstating an old game - the writer of every 100th review gets to request a drabble/ficlet of their choice. Still using a T rating to cover anything I might write, just to be safe.

482. Nightmares

Title: Nightmares

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Jack and Ianto

Rating: G

Spoilers: Nothing specific.

Summary: He's haunted by nightmares every time he closes his eyes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, or the characters.

A/N: For the prompt 'Wake Me Up', one of the prompts I didn't get around to using for tw100's challenge 292: Billboard Hot 100 last year. I've dug them out again to supplement the prompts I got from my f-list, just because there are still loads I wanted to use.

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Wanderer: In defence of Jack, think about it. The drabble is written from Tosh's perspective in a way, she's feeling sorry for herself and overwhelmed, wondering if she'll be able to cope with being a parent. When a Rift alert comes in, she's the only one who can't go into the field, but everyone who can is needed to deal with a threat. Jack knows she hates feeling useless, and there should at least be one human keeping an eye on the kids, so he says, "Sorry, Tosh, I hate lumbering you but we'll be back as soon as we can. You'll do fine, just try to think of it as a trial run. You've babysat both the girls before. The playroom's secure, nothing there that can harm the kids so don't worry. Gotta go." Tosh immediately thinks "He thinks it'll be good practice. Oh God, he thinks I need to practice! He thinks I'm going to be a terrible mother! I'm not ready for this!" Pregnancy hormones on overload. Then as she's panicking, George brings her a cup of tea and the Fluffs prove she's not alone, and everything is fine. (Kind of hard to get that all across in 100 words though).

Thank you!

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OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

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He'd witnessed so much horror in his life, only to relive it every night in his dreams. He'd seen friends and loved ones die while he continued on, fought aliens whose only goal was to destroy humanity, seen the very worst things humans could do to each other. It was bitter irony that he couldn't even escape the memories in sleep.

As horrific visions woke him, wild-eyed in the darkness, heart racing, he found himself wrapped in a warm embrace.

"Just a bad dream. You're safe, go back to sleep."

In his lover's arms, he found sanctuary from his nightmares.

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The End