Jack- June 7th, 2009, Part Three
Oct. 14th, 2009 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ericadawn16Title: But Time Didn’t Stop
Characters: Jack,Rhi Jack/Ianto
Rated: PG-13 ANGST COE Spoilers
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Rhi learns about Torchwood.
Author's Note: Starts after COE.
Previous Segment: June 7th, 2009, Part Two http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/63337.html
June 7th, Part Three
Rhi was playing with her glass.
“Not much, just that whenever something out of the ordinary happens, they show up…never seen them myself…” Rhi started and gasped, “You don’t mean to tell me that you and Ianto…Torchwood?”
She was smart…and if Rhys was fine with knowing everything…
“I run Torchwood here in Cardiff and Ianto was my right hand man. He could do anything from tracking down license plates to keeping us fed to saving my ass,” he explained and his hand gripped the cold glass.
“He never said much about what he did except that he was in charge of tea and coffee…I thought he was just a teaboy, but he seemed happier than any other job he had. This and that place he worked at in London were the first jobs he’d kept for more than nine months…but aliens? You blokes captured aliens together?” she asked and took a large gulp.
“Aliens, a Roman soldier or two, a girl from the future, a Pterodactyl…”
“A Pterodactyl, like a dinosaur? But how does that work?” Rhi inquired and her brown eyes were quizzical.
“First of all, I should tell you that everyone employed by Torchwood has to sign the National Secrets Act. I was more lenient than I was supposed to be, but Ianto…he always took it seriously, that’s why he wouldn’t have been more specific about his job,” said Jack and hated how easily he had started using the past-tense, “Cardiff sits right in the middle of a rift in time and space.”
He paused to see what her response would be. Scooting closer, she asked, “You’re not afraid of treason?”
“After this week, what more could they do to me?” he replied and drank some down.
Her look was genuinely worried as she argued, “They could kill you.”
Jack ran his hands down his coat, slouching a bit and retorted, “I’m already dead.”
A sharp kick struck his shin and Rhi was glaring at him.
“I know Ianto wouldn’t want you to talk like that. I’ve only just met you and I don’t want to hear it,” she spat as though talking to a child. Perhaps, that’s what he deserved.
“It’s not as though we’re that secret anymore. You knew we deal with the odd and if you ask anyone in Cardiff, they can point out where our base is…was. Everyone knows that aliens exist now which was kind of the whole point of secrecy…no one was supposed to know that, might cause a panic,” he repeated what so many others had told him over the years, “but Gwen told her husband. I was upset about it…but it’s turned out for the best.”
The waitress interrupted the conversation with their entrees and they acted as though it a simple, pleasant meeting; no revealing of national secrets or the death of their mutual loved one. Then, she was gone and the ruse was dropped.
“Honestly, at this moment, I don’t care anymore what the government thinks…I’m not even sure how much I care about…” he started and couldn’t finish that last word, Torchwood. Maybe once they started excavating and rebuilding, he’d find his love for it. He’d been excited when he and Gwen were seeing what was left, but as time passed, he wondered what the point was? UNIT could easily do what they do and they had a higher survival rate. Jack shook his head a bit to get himself back on track to the real point of telling her.
“Most importantly, I think you deserve to know how he lived and how he died. The real story before the government comes in and spins their version of what happened to him,” he spoke and saw her nod yet made no move to put the pasta she kept spinning on her fork to her mouth.
“Through the rift, anything can come through from any universe, planet, time or place you can think of and millions more you can’t and we had to protect Cardiff from it,” he explained and cut up his steak.
“The explosions last fall in Cardiff? Did you have something to do with that?”
Setting down his cutlery, he poured sauce over the meat. It was a little too much since he was trying to avoid the question.
“Jack?”
He put the bottle back and faced her.
“We tried to stop them, but we were too late. I lost two friends that day,” the man spoke and she put down her fork.
“Tosh and Owen, he did tell me that, wouldn’t tell me how, just that it was some workplace incident. I thought maybe it was a mad gunmen or something but there was never anything on the news,” Rhi said and shook her head.
“Something like that,” he confirmed without elaborating that it was his own brother. He could barely speak about Grey with Ianto.
“But about the Pterodactyl…” she prompted and and cut a bit of chicken.
“Yes, we named her Myfanwy, we really met because of her…”
“I assumed you met when you hired him,” Rhi interrupted and he had to smile.
“Except I never wanted to hire him,” Jack revealed and enjoyed the consternation on her face, “I didn’t think I needed anyone else and he came on too strong. He kept bugging me for a job when he wasn’t the type I usually hire…”
“He never attended university, you mean?” she asked in clarification and he could tell it was a sore spot, but partially the truth without revealing Torchwood One.
“Right, drifting from job to job wasn’t a big plus either and his average school career…”
“He never liked school, found it boring,” she defended and he grinned at her love for him. It was wonderful.
“Until one night, he stood in the middle of the road, right in front of the SUV…the one he drove to your place and got nicked,” Jack told her and found himself making hand motions, “So, anyways, he’s standing right in the middle of the road. I’m sick and tired of his coming ‘round for a job and I tell him that if he doesn’t move, I’m going to keep going and run him over. He doesn’t flinch, doesn’t move, just replies, ‘So, you’re not going to help me with the Pterodactyl then?’ We arrive at this old warehouse and it’s flying around. Ianto’s baiting it with dark chocolate and I’m trying to inject it with a tranq until it picks me up in her claws. I did it but that means that I have to get down before the Pterodactyl does. I drop, Ianto tries to catch my fall and I land right on top of him, right on his chest…our faces were centimeters apart…”
Rhi was in rapt attention but he almost didn’t notice. He was wrapped up in the memory.
“I wanted to kiss him…I wanted to kiss him right then, but he stood up and was walking away. I didn’t want him to. There was just something about him. I knew I’d been wrong and he was special. I offered him a job before he could leave,” Jack continued, remembering, “He’d been wearing a suit, too. The other times, he hadn’t been wearing one and he…he always looked good in one.”
His voice was hoarse and his eyes were threatening to tear up. Rhi’s brown ones were watery as well and she held out her hand, squeezing his.
“He always looked smart in a suit but he refused to wear them until he got that job in London, HC Clements, they required the men to wear them there,” she spoke and he nodded. He’d never thought about it before how he fought so hard to rebel against Torchwood one yet had ended up encouraging Ianto to wear the same clothes they’d required. Her chicken and pasta lay almost untouched like his steak dinner. His fingers rubbed the comforting metal of Ianto’s watch.
“Tell me…tell me,” she begged as though working up the courage as she squeezed his hand again, “Tell me how he d…died.”
Jack braced himself, closed his eyes, inhaled and then exhaled.
“There were these aliens, the 456, and they wanted children. I didn’t know what we could do, but Ianto wanted us to try…for Mica and David. We drove to London where we met with the 456 and told them that they couldn’t have the children, that we would fight them. They accepted out declaration of war and they…retaliated,” he told her and reminded himself that tightening in his chest wasn’t real, “They sent out an alien virus. It killed everyone in the building. There was no time to get out.”
Next Segment:
June 7th, Part Four
edf
Characters: Jack,Rhi Jack/Ianto
Rated: PG-13 ANGST COE Spoilers
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Rhi learns about Torchwood.
Author's Note: Starts after COE.
Previous Segment: June 7th, 2009, Part Two http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/63337.html
June 7th, Part Three
Rhi was playing with her glass.
“Not much, just that whenever something out of the ordinary happens, they show up…never seen them myself…” Rhi started and gasped, “You don’t mean to tell me that you and Ianto…Torchwood?”
She was smart…and if Rhys was fine with knowing everything…
“I run Torchwood here in Cardiff and Ianto was my right hand man. He could do anything from tracking down license plates to keeping us fed to saving my ass,” he explained and his hand gripped the cold glass.
“He never said much about what he did except that he was in charge of tea and coffee…I thought he was just a teaboy, but he seemed happier than any other job he had. This and that place he worked at in London were the first jobs he’d kept for more than nine months…but aliens? You blokes captured aliens together?” she asked and took a large gulp.
“Aliens, a Roman soldier or two, a girl from the future, a Pterodactyl…”
“A Pterodactyl, like a dinosaur? But how does that work?” Rhi inquired and her brown eyes were quizzical.
“First of all, I should tell you that everyone employed by Torchwood has to sign the National Secrets Act. I was more lenient than I was supposed to be, but Ianto…he always took it seriously, that’s why he wouldn’t have been more specific about his job,” said Jack and hated how easily he had started using the past-tense, “Cardiff sits right in the middle of a rift in time and space.”
He paused to see what her response would be. Scooting closer, she asked, “You’re not afraid of treason?”
“After this week, what more could they do to me?” he replied and drank some down.
Her look was genuinely worried as she argued, “They could kill you.”
Jack ran his hands down his coat, slouching a bit and retorted, “I’m already dead.”
A sharp kick struck his shin and Rhi was glaring at him.
“I know Ianto wouldn’t want you to talk like that. I’ve only just met you and I don’t want to hear it,” she spat as though talking to a child. Perhaps, that’s what he deserved.
“It’s not as though we’re that secret anymore. You knew we deal with the odd and if you ask anyone in Cardiff, they can point out where our base is…was. Everyone knows that aliens exist now which was kind of the whole point of secrecy…no one was supposed to know that, might cause a panic,” he repeated what so many others had told him over the years, “but Gwen told her husband. I was upset about it…but it’s turned out for the best.”
The waitress interrupted the conversation with their entrees and they acted as though it a simple, pleasant meeting; no revealing of national secrets or the death of their mutual loved one. Then, she was gone and the ruse was dropped.
“Honestly, at this moment, I don’t care anymore what the government thinks…I’m not even sure how much I care about…” he started and couldn’t finish that last word, Torchwood. Maybe once they started excavating and rebuilding, he’d find his love for it. He’d been excited when he and Gwen were seeing what was left, but as time passed, he wondered what the point was? UNIT could easily do what they do and they had a higher survival rate. Jack shook his head a bit to get himself back on track to the real point of telling her.
“Most importantly, I think you deserve to know how he lived and how he died. The real story before the government comes in and spins their version of what happened to him,” he spoke and saw her nod yet made no move to put the pasta she kept spinning on her fork to her mouth.
“Through the rift, anything can come through from any universe, planet, time or place you can think of and millions more you can’t and we had to protect Cardiff from it,” he explained and cut up his steak.
“The explosions last fall in Cardiff? Did you have something to do with that?”
Setting down his cutlery, he poured sauce over the meat. It was a little too much since he was trying to avoid the question.
“Jack?”
He put the bottle back and faced her.
“We tried to stop them, but we were too late. I lost two friends that day,” the man spoke and she put down her fork.
“Tosh and Owen, he did tell me that, wouldn’t tell me how, just that it was some workplace incident. I thought maybe it was a mad gunmen or something but there was never anything on the news,” Rhi said and shook her head.
“Something like that,” he confirmed without elaborating that it was his own brother. He could barely speak about Grey with Ianto.
“But about the Pterodactyl…” she prompted and and cut a bit of chicken.
“Yes, we named her Myfanwy, we really met because of her…”
“I assumed you met when you hired him,” Rhi interrupted and he had to smile.
“Except I never wanted to hire him,” Jack revealed and enjoyed the consternation on her face, “I didn’t think I needed anyone else and he came on too strong. He kept bugging me for a job when he wasn’t the type I usually hire…”
“He never attended university, you mean?” she asked in clarification and he could tell it was a sore spot, but partially the truth without revealing Torchwood One.
“Right, drifting from job to job wasn’t a big plus either and his average school career…”
“He never liked school, found it boring,” she defended and he grinned at her love for him. It was wonderful.
“Until one night, he stood in the middle of the road, right in front of the SUV…the one he drove to your place and got nicked,” Jack told her and found himself making hand motions, “So, anyways, he’s standing right in the middle of the road. I’m sick and tired of his coming ‘round for a job and I tell him that if he doesn’t move, I’m going to keep going and run him over. He doesn’t flinch, doesn’t move, just replies, ‘So, you’re not going to help me with the Pterodactyl then?’ We arrive at this old warehouse and it’s flying around. Ianto’s baiting it with dark chocolate and I’m trying to inject it with a tranq until it picks me up in her claws. I did it but that means that I have to get down before the Pterodactyl does. I drop, Ianto tries to catch my fall and I land right on top of him, right on his chest…our faces were centimeters apart…”
Rhi was in rapt attention but he almost didn’t notice. He was wrapped up in the memory.
“I wanted to kiss him…I wanted to kiss him right then, but he stood up and was walking away. I didn’t want him to. There was just something about him. I knew I’d been wrong and he was special. I offered him a job before he could leave,” Jack continued, remembering, “He’d been wearing a suit, too. The other times, he hadn’t been wearing one and he…he always looked good in one.”
His voice was hoarse and his eyes were threatening to tear up. Rhi’s brown ones were watery as well and she held out her hand, squeezing his.
“He always looked smart in a suit but he refused to wear them until he got that job in London, HC Clements, they required the men to wear them there,” she spoke and he nodded. He’d never thought about it before how he fought so hard to rebel against Torchwood one yet had ended up encouraging Ianto to wear the same clothes they’d required. Her chicken and pasta lay almost untouched like his steak dinner. His fingers rubbed the comforting metal of Ianto’s watch.
“Tell me…tell me,” she begged as though working up the courage as she squeezed his hand again, “Tell me how he d…died.”
Jack braced himself, closed his eyes, inhaled and then exhaled.
“There were these aliens, the 456, and they wanted children. I didn’t know what we could do, but Ianto wanted us to try…for Mica and David. We drove to London where we met with the 456 and told them that they couldn’t have the children, that we would fight them. They accepted out declaration of war and they…retaliated,” he told her and reminded himself that tightening in his chest wasn’t real, “They sent out an alien virus. It killed everyone in the building. There was no time to get out.”
Next Segment:
June 7th, Part Four
edf
