Jack- June 20th, 2009
Oct. 24th, 2009 09:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ericadawn16Title: But Time Didn’t Stop
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Martha, Rhi, Mica, David, Johnny Jack/Ianto
Rated: PG-13 ANGST COE Spoilers
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Time for a funeral with an old friend in attendance.
Author's Note: Starts after COE.
Previous Segment: June 10th, 2009, Part Two
Masterlist: http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/63337.html
June 20th, 2009
He hadn’t wanted to look at anyone. They all held that same look of pity. It was easier to study his shoes. They were brand new and Italian. When his shoes became boring, he started looking at his hands. They contained varying wrinkles and lines, but not anything like his true age should look. He thought again of Alice and how she told him, “You embarrass us.”
Would Ianto have felt the same if he’d been given the chance to live that long? Would Ianto have grown to resent their relationship?
Not that they’d ever find that out now…
He found himself rubbing a finger on his left hand and realized it was the ring finger. He’d never married Lucia. She preferred it that way; less paperwork for someone to connect them. Alice’s real birth certificate, where she was Melissa Moretti, didn’t even list a father yet they’d figured it out anyway.
When he was trying to prove his marriage to Ianto was valid, they’d asked why neither man wore a ring. One the spot, he’d improvised an explanation about their not wanting the marriage to become public.
Now, he questioned whether he should have bought rings after all. It was stupid. It wasn’t like it was a real marriage. It was just made up after he was already dead, but maybe that had been why he took Ianto’s watch rather than buy himself a new one?
Jack closed his eyes and took a breath; not wanting to look at the brown casket even though it only contained Janet. A hand took his but it was from his right and not his left; Rhi, not Gwen. She gave him a small smile as if to say that they could make it through this.
“I haven’t had to go to one of these since dad died,” the Welshwoman complained, “What about you?”
“I’ve had to go to far too many,” he uttered and his hand was squeezed again.
“Did you…did you want to say something?” she asked and he’d thought about it, but how do you condense twenty-five years into five minutes to express how wonderful a person truly was? Twenty-five years, just twenty-five years, he was so young. If he had worked anywhere else, his sister shouldn’t have been sitting here for thirty, forty years or more. If he had worked anywhere else, Jack would have never met him.
He shook his head.
“No, I’m not saying anything either. We were good between us when he…when it happened. I mean, I did this because it’s what you’re supposed to do; the fancy funeral and casket and headstone, but who it is it for? Is it for us because we were left behind or it’s some final way of getting rid of some guilt?” she questioned and he saw Mica, beside her, taking her other hand, “Look at all these people. They didn’t even know him. We hardly knew him and these people…god, the last time they met him was probably when they were five or something. Then, they see his name in the paper…that he had something to do with the mess with the children…that he died in the ‘incident at Thames House’ and they all show up, like gawkers at a car accident. I’m glad it’s closed casket so they don’t get to see him.”
He put his left hand on top of hers that was already clutching his right and Gwen’s brown eyes next to him were shiny.
“’Incident’, that’s what they’re calling it, like it was just some government accident and not aliens killing dozens of people without warning for no reason,” she continued and Mica put her small arm across her back. He wondered how much of this was appropriate for a small child although he agreed with her about calling it an “incident.” At least what happened at Canary Wharf was referred to as a battle, but maybe it only counts as a battle if the Doctor’s involved.
“Rhi! Rhi!” hissed Johnny from a few seats down where he sat next to David. Everyone turned to look, including his wife.
“I…” he started before seeming to realize that everyone was staring at him, “I…well, you know.”
She laughed and sniffled which turned into a cough yet she was smiling. Jack was starting to like him.
When it was over, Rhi and Gwen hugged him, but he remained in his seat. He didn’t want to have to face anyone especially all those people who hadn’t really known Ianto at all. Ages passed and he thought everyone else had left. As usual, he was wrong. Waiting for him at the end of the row was Martha Milligan.
“Oh, Jack…” she uttered in her proper UNIT uniform, “I’m so sorry.”
He had been so good during the funeral. Even as Gwen and Rhi surrounded him with sobbing, he went numb; not wanting to cry in front of everyone like that. Now with Martha’s hand lying on his arm, he let go. Jack grabbed her in his arms and put his head down on her shoulder, sobbing. She didn’t feel a need to say anything and he liked that as she held him. Finally when the tears ran out, she took him by the arm and they walked towards the exit.
“I should have been here. I told them not to call us on the honeymoon, but something like this…” she spoke, shaking her head, “It was the end of the world. There must have been something I could have done.”
“There was nothing you could have done. All of us called the Doctor and left messages, even Ianto, but he…he didn’t come,” said Jack as they stepped past all the white monuments and one random dog, “You couldn’t have saved him.It was quick like…Owen…”
She’d been there so she knew.
“It’s just so…wrong though. Our Welsh ambassador…” she started and couldn’t finish. Memories of their time in Switzerland ran through his mind and he wanted a distraction. He nodded at her head.
“I’ve never seen you in uniform before. You’re even wearing a cap,” Jack pointed out and she tried to smile.
“I almost never wear it, but I thought I would today…for him,” she explained and her brown eyes didn’t meet his blue ones, “How did he look in it?”
His mind was his biggest enemy these days and it easily came up with the memory of the second anniversary of their meeting. Ianto was wearing only the cap as they ate fruit in bed before work and he picked up a strawberry…Jack focused on the green leaves of the tree above them before he could remember anymore.
“He could look good in anything, even nothing,” he replied but neither of them smiled. The silence that followed was pierced by the giggling of a child. They looked to see two girls laughing dwn the sidewalk.
“I’m glad both of you were able to attend my wedding,” she spoke, “I can’t believe it’s only been three weeks.”
“It feels like an entire lifetime ago,” the man uttered and she let go of him.
“Jack, do you need me to stay? I can,” Martha suggested before smoothing out his lapels. It was a tempting offer. They’d been through everything together: the Master, Toclafane, Daleks, Owen’s death, Tosh’s funeral, implications of TinTin and beastiality, the Master’s singing. Things felt not quite so bad with her around, but she was married and they had no medical issues. It wouldn’t be right. He shook his head.
“If you ever do, if you ever need anything, if you ever just want to talk, call me,” Martha told him prior to a hug and a kiss to the left cheek, “I love you.”
If he couldn’t say it to Ianto, he couldn’t say it to her.
“Thanks,” he whispered and after a moment, they went their separate ways.
June 29th, 2009
edf
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Martha, Rhi, Mica, David, Johnny Jack/Ianto
Rated: PG-13 ANGST COE Spoilers
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Time for a funeral with an old friend in attendance.
Author's Note: Starts after COE.
Previous Segment: June 10th, 2009, Part Two
Masterlist: http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/63337.html
June 20th, 2009
He hadn’t wanted to look at anyone. They all held that same look of pity. It was easier to study his shoes. They were brand new and Italian. When his shoes became boring, he started looking at his hands. They contained varying wrinkles and lines, but not anything like his true age should look. He thought again of Alice and how she told him, “You embarrass us.”
Would Ianto have felt the same if he’d been given the chance to live that long? Would Ianto have grown to resent their relationship?
Not that they’d ever find that out now…
He found himself rubbing a finger on his left hand and realized it was the ring finger. He’d never married Lucia. She preferred it that way; less paperwork for someone to connect them. Alice’s real birth certificate, where she was Melissa Moretti, didn’t even list a father yet they’d figured it out anyway.
When he was trying to prove his marriage to Ianto was valid, they’d asked why neither man wore a ring. One the spot, he’d improvised an explanation about their not wanting the marriage to become public.
Now, he questioned whether he should have bought rings after all. It was stupid. It wasn’t like it was a real marriage. It was just made up after he was already dead, but maybe that had been why he took Ianto’s watch rather than buy himself a new one?
Jack closed his eyes and took a breath; not wanting to look at the brown casket even though it only contained Janet. A hand took his but it was from his right and not his left; Rhi, not Gwen. She gave him a small smile as if to say that they could make it through this.
“I haven’t had to go to one of these since dad died,” the Welshwoman complained, “What about you?”
“I’ve had to go to far too many,” he uttered and his hand was squeezed again.
“Did you…did you want to say something?” she asked and he’d thought about it, but how do you condense twenty-five years into five minutes to express how wonderful a person truly was? Twenty-five years, just twenty-five years, he was so young. If he had worked anywhere else, his sister shouldn’t have been sitting here for thirty, forty years or more. If he had worked anywhere else, Jack would have never met him.
He shook his head.
“No, I’m not saying anything either. We were good between us when he…when it happened. I mean, I did this because it’s what you’re supposed to do; the fancy funeral and casket and headstone, but who it is it for? Is it for us because we were left behind or it’s some final way of getting rid of some guilt?” she questioned and he saw Mica, beside her, taking her other hand, “Look at all these people. They didn’t even know him. We hardly knew him and these people…god, the last time they met him was probably when they were five or something. Then, they see his name in the paper…that he had something to do with the mess with the children…that he died in the ‘incident at Thames House’ and they all show up, like gawkers at a car accident. I’m glad it’s closed casket so they don’t get to see him.”
He put his left hand on top of hers that was already clutching his right and Gwen’s brown eyes next to him were shiny.
“’Incident’, that’s what they’re calling it, like it was just some government accident and not aliens killing dozens of people without warning for no reason,” she continued and Mica put her small arm across her back. He wondered how much of this was appropriate for a small child although he agreed with her about calling it an “incident.” At least what happened at Canary Wharf was referred to as a battle, but maybe it only counts as a battle if the Doctor’s involved.
“Rhi! Rhi!” hissed Johnny from a few seats down where he sat next to David. Everyone turned to look, including his wife.
“I…” he started before seeming to realize that everyone was staring at him, “I…well, you know.”
She laughed and sniffled which turned into a cough yet she was smiling. Jack was starting to like him.
When it was over, Rhi and Gwen hugged him, but he remained in his seat. He didn’t want to have to face anyone especially all those people who hadn’t really known Ianto at all. Ages passed and he thought everyone else had left. As usual, he was wrong. Waiting for him at the end of the row was Martha Milligan.
“Oh, Jack…” she uttered in her proper UNIT uniform, “I’m so sorry.”
He had been so good during the funeral. Even as Gwen and Rhi surrounded him with sobbing, he went numb; not wanting to cry in front of everyone like that. Now with Martha’s hand lying on his arm, he let go. Jack grabbed her in his arms and put his head down on her shoulder, sobbing. She didn’t feel a need to say anything and he liked that as she held him. Finally when the tears ran out, she took him by the arm and they walked towards the exit.
“I should have been here. I told them not to call us on the honeymoon, but something like this…” she spoke, shaking her head, “It was the end of the world. There must have been something I could have done.”
“There was nothing you could have done. All of us called the Doctor and left messages, even Ianto, but he…he didn’t come,” said Jack as they stepped past all the white monuments and one random dog, “You couldn’t have saved him.It was quick like…Owen…”
She’d been there so she knew.
“It’s just so…wrong though. Our Welsh ambassador…” she started and couldn’t finish. Memories of their time in Switzerland ran through his mind and he wanted a distraction. He nodded at her head.
“I’ve never seen you in uniform before. You’re even wearing a cap,” Jack pointed out and she tried to smile.
“I almost never wear it, but I thought I would today…for him,” she explained and her brown eyes didn’t meet his blue ones, “How did he look in it?”
His mind was his biggest enemy these days and it easily came up with the memory of the second anniversary of their meeting. Ianto was wearing only the cap as they ate fruit in bed before work and he picked up a strawberry…Jack focused on the green leaves of the tree above them before he could remember anymore.
“He could look good in anything, even nothing,” he replied but neither of them smiled. The silence that followed was pierced by the giggling of a child. They looked to see two girls laughing dwn the sidewalk.
“I’m glad both of you were able to attend my wedding,” she spoke, “I can’t believe it’s only been three weeks.”
“It feels like an entire lifetime ago,” the man uttered and she let go of him.
“Jack, do you need me to stay? I can,” Martha suggested before smoothing out his lapels. It was a tempting offer. They’d been through everything together: the Master, Toclafane, Daleks, Owen’s death, Tosh’s funeral, implications of TinTin and beastiality, the Master’s singing. Things felt not quite so bad with her around, but she was married and they had no medical issues. It wouldn’t be right. He shook his head.
“If you ever do, if you ever need anything, if you ever just want to talk, call me,” Martha told him prior to a hug and a kiss to the left cheek, “I love you.”
If he couldn’t say it to Ianto, he couldn’t say it to her.
“Thanks,” he whispered and after a moment, they went their separate ways.
June 29th, 2009
edf
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 04:11 pm (UTC)Great update!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 09:15 pm (UTC)I agree that when it first happened, I thought about writing a story and when almost every post-COE story seemed to have Ianto not being dead somehow by the end...I wanted something that was more realistic or at least within Rusty "I'm not bringing him back ever" Davie's parameters. So, it's been cathartic for me, too.
I also really wanted to know for myself even if it becomes AU in a few months or a year...how do we go from Jack going out those double doors to Jack leaving Gwen and the Earth behind in those last five minutes? What happens? What was his reasoning? What happened during those travels?
Most likely, we may never know, but it's interesting to think about.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-26 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 09:17 pm (UTC)(hugs)
Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 03:33 pm (UTC)Going numb during the funeral, but breaking down with Martha feels absolutely right for Jack.
Now I need to go watch the funny pictures of Gareth riding the sheep at Hub3 to calm down!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 09:19 pm (UTC)Gareth rode a sheep? Dang, I need to find that and when he and Kai kissed.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 09:43 pm (UTC)Have fun!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 09:20 pm (UTC)Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-27 12:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-06 03:33 am (UTC)So, did you cry?
I haven't. I don't know, it was sad but it wasn't like...well, Ianto dying.
Thank You
no subject
Date: 2010-01-07 04:39 am (UTC)I did, but then 11 popped in. I'm excited and I hope he makes it his own. One can only hope.