Lie Back and Think of Cardiff
Jun. 27th, 2008 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laliginFandom: Torchwood (shock horror!)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 1750
Summary: The Unwritten Rule of Torchwood Three has been unwittingly fulfilled by every member Jack's ever recruited...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #11, Post Series 2 (plus new members and Jake Simmonds...)
Lie Back and Think of Cardiff
“You could have saved her!”
“I couldn’t,” Jack gasps, the truth burning its way out of his lungs, and he hates himself for having to admit it. “I really couldn’t.”
Owen stops hitting him and just lies there sobbing, and all Jack can do is pat his back uselessly and ignore the fact that he can’t breathe. Right now, he doesn’t have any right to complain.
~*~
“Is this tradition now?” Ianto asked, helping Martha to her feet and shooting Jack a disapproving glance, “or did you just feel the need?”
“I was dead,” Jack protested. “It’s not my fault. Martha, are you okay?”
Martha nodded, then winced, realising that was a bad idea. She pressed one hand to the back of her head and leant heavily against Ianto.
“Come on,” Ianto told her. “Let’s get you home. And next time he’s dying don’t bother trying CPR. It’s quicker –”
“I know,” Martha sighed. “And it doesn’t leave me open to surprise attacks. I get it, Ianto.”
“Be thankful they just knocked you out,” Ianto chided her. “It could have been a lot worse. And besides, you don’t want to give Jack the satisfaction of waking up underneath you, do you?”
“Hey,” Jack protested, still in earshot by one of the dead aliens. “I didn’t do anything…”
“I expect this to be tidied up by the time I get back,” Ianto told him, gesturing at the corpses and half-melted laser rifles scattered around the warehouse floor, “and don’t think I won’t notice if you try taking any shortcuts, either.”
Jack laughed and threw him a salute, and Ianto grinned back as Gwen came running to take Martha’s other arm and help her out.
~*~
Jack dives at Suzie just in time. The panicking soldier presses the self destruct on his little surveillance craft, and he and the whole thing quietly explode as Jack and Suzie hit the ground.
When their ears stop ringing and they register that they’re both still alive, they roll over and Suzie stares, frozen, at the destruction around them for a few seconds. Then it occurs to her that she’s lying on top of her boss, and she scrabbles to her feet without a word.
Jack waits until she’s wandered over and started going through the wreckage, her back stiff and angry, before he sighs and gets up as well.
This is the thanks he gets for saving lives.
~*~
“You’re not going anywhere,” Jack growled, edging forward and keeping his gun trained on the creature dragging Andy back with him by the throat. “Give it up and you might survive the rest of the day.”
“Come any closer and he dies,” the alien hissed, and Jack was pleased to see Andy (who must have been a, terrified and b, half choked to death) roll his eyes impatiently, despite the gun at his head.
“You’re surrounded,” Jack pointed out, as Ianto muttered over the comms, “We’ve got the exits covered. If you get Andy killed I’ll join Gwen when she stops speaking to you.”
“Guarantee me safe passage back to my planet,” the alien snarled, “and you can have him back.”
Jack shrugged. “No can do. We don’t have that kind of control over the Rift. You’re stuck here, and to be honest, you’re not really making that great a first impression. Might want to brush up on your social skills.”
The alien reached the open door, feeling the breeze on its back, and suddenly, with a roar, hurled Andy at Jack and bolted. Jack caught Andy and hit the floor hard, all the breath driven out of his lungs. Andy struggled up to his feet with alacrity, wrenching himself out of Jack’s grasp.
“What, I don’t even get a hug?” Jack asked petulantly, over the sound of gunshots from around the corner, and Andy raised both eyebrows.
“Calm down, Casanova, Ianto’ll be here in a minute. Ask him.”
“Ask me what?” Ianto asked from the doorway, glancing between the two of them suspiciously as Jack scrambled to his feet. “Gwen disarmed our friend, by the way. He’s unconscious, and Martha’s keeping him that way until we get him into a cell back at the Hub.”
“Great,” Jack said cheerfully, sweeping past Andy and taking Ianto’s arm to head back and join the girls and their captive. “And we’re fine. All good.”
Ianto glanced back at Andy, then raised an eyebrow at Jack and told him, “I have ways of making you talk.”
“Promises, promises,” Jack grinned, with a wink.
~*~
“Don’t touch that,” Tosh says distractedly, from somewhere further into the mess of wiring. “If you’re not careful you’ll –”
There’s a crack and a bang, and Tosh scrambles out from the heart of the machine and stares down at Jack, who is, naturally, spreadeagled across the floor, with what would be comical wisps of smoke rising from his hair if he wasn’t fully aware he just managed to electrocute himself. Thankfully, his new technician doesn’t appear to have picked up on that, and he cracks one eye open, playing up the wince.
“Oh, thank God,” Tosh gasps, and drops to her knees, practically flinging herself on top of him. “I thought you’d – if you – you scared me!”
Jack twists an arm to pat her back, and says, “Incidentally, in the unlikely event of my death, you still get to work out your five years and go free.”
He’s startled and pleased when Tosh hugs him firmly and tells him, “That’s not what I was worried about.”
~*~
At a polite knock on the drawer door, Jack reached up and knocked back. The door swung open, and he and Kim winced at the light, even with Ianto blocking most of it.
“It’s safe now,” he told them both, arms folded. “Gwen’s locked herself in the decontamination room and Martha and Andy are in one of the unoccupied cells. I’ll just fetch them.”
“How did you know you were immune?” Jack asked curiously, tilting his head back to stare at Ianto, upside down. On top of him, Kim propped her chin on one hand with exaggerated impatience.
“Torchwood One had a similar outbreak,” Ianto said, with a very faint smile. “In any case, I’m glad you two got through it alright.”
“Oh, we’re fine,” Kim said brightly. “Mind you, I should have listened to Andy before getting stuck in one of these things with Captain Inappropriate here.”
“It was an accident,” Jack started to protest, even as Ianto snapped his fingers at him and moved aside, gesturing for him to struggle out of the drawer first, while Kim continued thoughtfully, “Which ones are the harassment forms again? You promised you’d help me fill them in, right?”
Ianto shrugged, as Jack made the last few inches of his undignified exit from the drawer and gave Kim a helping hand as she crawled out after him, smoothing down her skirt.
“It won’t do you any good. He’s the one you have to hand them in to. He’s got a scrapbook with all of mine in.”
“Happy memories,” Jack told him, grinning, and Kim shook her head, smiling despite herself.
“Anyway. Which cell are Martha and Andy in again?”
~*~
There’s a split second as his hand slips that he thinks, with far too much regret, he’s going to have to Retcon Ianto after all.
But then he doesn’t die in a spectacularly idiotic crash landing.
Instead there are gasps and arms around him and just enough presence of mind to apologise and roll them out of the way of the unconscious, falling pterodactyl. And he laughs, because he never figured on things going quite like this, but when he twists to look up, sparkling with good humour and thinking Ianto really has to be put on the payroll now, he’s even managed the unwritten law of Jack’s Recruits, everything stops.
He can’t move. And oh, but he wishes he could, because Ianto’s so very close and –
Gone.
And in the back of his mind two thoughts dance as he pulls himself together and gets to his feet.
One whines, not fair. The other dwells on the look in Ianto’s eyes and murmurs wickedly, practice run?
~*~
“This really is tradition, isn’t it?” Ianto said, hauling Jake up and dusting him down as he looked ruefully at his shoeless foot.
“No,” Jack assured him, getting up all on his own, “it’s just inevitable. Something about me just makes people want to lie on top of me. I’ve never had reason to question it.”
Jake looked between the two of them as his twisted and burnt shoe dropped out of the sky behind them.
“You mean this happens a lot?”
“Not with the airlocks and the slave ship and the rather ingenious use of Nike trainers to foil certain evil plans,” Ianto said thoughtfully. “But Jack finding devious ways of ending up underneath us all, yes. I’m giving him points for originality these days.”
“Well, you’re the best judge,” Jack purred, reaching out to grab Ianto’s arm and pull him closer. “You’re the one who keeps finding excuses to get on top of me.”
Ianto blushed. To Jake, who’d been taking everything in his stride for the past week and a half, delighted to find his conspiracy theories proved correct and his gun-club tuition coming in handy, that was far more surprising than aliens trying to kidnap him or Captain Jack Harkness trying to flirt with him.
Almost as surprising as Ianto’s smile as he muttered, “You need someone to shove you out of harm’s way every now and again. And you know we don’t mind that.”
“Me either,” Jack agreed softly, wrapping both arms around him, and Jake decided now would be a good time to go and help the others reassure the rest of the rescued slaves.
~*~
It’s only when he hits the ground with Gwen on top of him that he realises how good it feels to be saved. These creatures may have killed Estelle, but letting himself get killed by them isn’t going to help anybody, and there are lives at stake here.
His among them.
He pulls himself together and gets back up and goes to put a stop to this chaos.
~*~
“Comfortable?”
“Very,” Ianto muttered, with Jack’s hands stroking his back and Jack’s heartbeat steady and comforting beneath his ear.
“This is one tradition,” Jack told him, and he could hear the smile in his voice, “you’ve really mastered.”
Ianto smiled and kept his eyes closed, and yawned, “Practice makes perfect.”
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 1750
Summary: The Unwritten Rule of Torchwood Three has been unwittingly fulfilled by every member Jack's ever recruited...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #11, Post Series 2 (plus new members and Jake Simmonds...)
Lie Back and Think of Cardiff
“You could have saved her!”
“I couldn’t,” Jack gasps, the truth burning its way out of his lungs, and he hates himself for having to admit it. “I really couldn’t.”
Owen stops hitting him and just lies there sobbing, and all Jack can do is pat his back uselessly and ignore the fact that he can’t breathe. Right now, he doesn’t have any right to complain.
“Is this tradition now?” Ianto asked, helping Martha to her feet and shooting Jack a disapproving glance, “or did you just feel the need?”
“I was dead,” Jack protested. “It’s not my fault. Martha, are you okay?”
Martha nodded, then winced, realising that was a bad idea. She pressed one hand to the back of her head and leant heavily against Ianto.
“Come on,” Ianto told her. “Let’s get you home. And next time he’s dying don’t bother trying CPR. It’s quicker –”
“I know,” Martha sighed. “And it doesn’t leave me open to surprise attacks. I get it, Ianto.”
“Be thankful they just knocked you out,” Ianto chided her. “It could have been a lot worse. And besides, you don’t want to give Jack the satisfaction of waking up underneath you, do you?”
“Hey,” Jack protested, still in earshot by one of the dead aliens. “I didn’t do anything…”
“I expect this to be tidied up by the time I get back,” Ianto told him, gesturing at the corpses and half-melted laser rifles scattered around the warehouse floor, “and don’t think I won’t notice if you try taking any shortcuts, either.”
Jack laughed and threw him a salute, and Ianto grinned back as Gwen came running to take Martha’s other arm and help her out.
Jack dives at Suzie just in time. The panicking soldier presses the self destruct on his little surveillance craft, and he and the whole thing quietly explode as Jack and Suzie hit the ground.
When their ears stop ringing and they register that they’re both still alive, they roll over and Suzie stares, frozen, at the destruction around them for a few seconds. Then it occurs to her that she’s lying on top of her boss, and she scrabbles to her feet without a word.
Jack waits until she’s wandered over and started going through the wreckage, her back stiff and angry, before he sighs and gets up as well.
This is the thanks he gets for saving lives.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Jack growled, edging forward and keeping his gun trained on the creature dragging Andy back with him by the throat. “Give it up and you might survive the rest of the day.”
“Come any closer and he dies,” the alien hissed, and Jack was pleased to see Andy (who must have been a, terrified and b, half choked to death) roll his eyes impatiently, despite the gun at his head.
“You’re surrounded,” Jack pointed out, as Ianto muttered over the comms, “We’ve got the exits covered. If you get Andy killed I’ll join Gwen when she stops speaking to you.”
“Guarantee me safe passage back to my planet,” the alien snarled, “and you can have him back.”
Jack shrugged. “No can do. We don’t have that kind of control over the Rift. You’re stuck here, and to be honest, you’re not really making that great a first impression. Might want to brush up on your social skills.”
The alien reached the open door, feeling the breeze on its back, and suddenly, with a roar, hurled Andy at Jack and bolted. Jack caught Andy and hit the floor hard, all the breath driven out of his lungs. Andy struggled up to his feet with alacrity, wrenching himself out of Jack’s grasp.
“What, I don’t even get a hug?” Jack asked petulantly, over the sound of gunshots from around the corner, and Andy raised both eyebrows.
“Calm down, Casanova, Ianto’ll be here in a minute. Ask him.”
“Ask me what?” Ianto asked from the doorway, glancing between the two of them suspiciously as Jack scrambled to his feet. “Gwen disarmed our friend, by the way. He’s unconscious, and Martha’s keeping him that way until we get him into a cell back at the Hub.”
“Great,” Jack said cheerfully, sweeping past Andy and taking Ianto’s arm to head back and join the girls and their captive. “And we’re fine. All good.”
Ianto glanced back at Andy, then raised an eyebrow at Jack and told him, “I have ways of making you talk.”
“Promises, promises,” Jack grinned, with a wink.
“Don’t touch that,” Tosh says distractedly, from somewhere further into the mess of wiring. “If you’re not careful you’ll –”
There’s a crack and a bang, and Tosh scrambles out from the heart of the machine and stares down at Jack, who is, naturally, spreadeagled across the floor, with what would be comical wisps of smoke rising from his hair if he wasn’t fully aware he just managed to electrocute himself. Thankfully, his new technician doesn’t appear to have picked up on that, and he cracks one eye open, playing up the wince.
“Oh, thank God,” Tosh gasps, and drops to her knees, practically flinging herself on top of him. “I thought you’d – if you – you scared me!”
Jack twists an arm to pat her back, and says, “Incidentally, in the unlikely event of my death, you still get to work out your five years and go free.”
He’s startled and pleased when Tosh hugs him firmly and tells him, “That’s not what I was worried about.”
At a polite knock on the drawer door, Jack reached up and knocked back. The door swung open, and he and Kim winced at the light, even with Ianto blocking most of it.
“It’s safe now,” he told them both, arms folded. “Gwen’s locked herself in the decontamination room and Martha and Andy are in one of the unoccupied cells. I’ll just fetch them.”
“How did you know you were immune?” Jack asked curiously, tilting his head back to stare at Ianto, upside down. On top of him, Kim propped her chin on one hand with exaggerated impatience.
“Torchwood One had a similar outbreak,” Ianto said, with a very faint smile. “In any case, I’m glad you two got through it alright.”
“Oh, we’re fine,” Kim said brightly. “Mind you, I should have listened to Andy before getting stuck in one of these things with Captain Inappropriate here.”
“It was an accident,” Jack started to protest, even as Ianto snapped his fingers at him and moved aside, gesturing for him to struggle out of the drawer first, while Kim continued thoughtfully, “Which ones are the harassment forms again? You promised you’d help me fill them in, right?”
Ianto shrugged, as Jack made the last few inches of his undignified exit from the drawer and gave Kim a helping hand as she crawled out after him, smoothing down her skirt.
“It won’t do you any good. He’s the one you have to hand them in to. He’s got a scrapbook with all of mine in.”
“Happy memories,” Jack told him, grinning, and Kim shook her head, smiling despite herself.
“Anyway. Which cell are Martha and Andy in again?”
There’s a split second as his hand slips that he thinks, with far too much regret, he’s going to have to Retcon Ianto after all.
But then he doesn’t die in a spectacularly idiotic crash landing.
Instead there are gasps and arms around him and just enough presence of mind to apologise and roll them out of the way of the unconscious, falling pterodactyl. And he laughs, because he never figured on things going quite like this, but when he twists to look up, sparkling with good humour and thinking Ianto really has to be put on the payroll now, he’s even managed the unwritten law of Jack’s Recruits, everything stops.
He can’t move. And oh, but he wishes he could, because Ianto’s so very close and –
Gone.
And in the back of his mind two thoughts dance as he pulls himself together and gets to his feet.
One whines, not fair. The other dwells on the look in Ianto’s eyes and murmurs wickedly, practice run?
“This really is tradition, isn’t it?” Ianto said, hauling Jake up and dusting him down as he looked ruefully at his shoeless foot.
“No,” Jack assured him, getting up all on his own, “it’s just inevitable. Something about me just makes people want to lie on top of me. I’ve never had reason to question it.”
Jake looked between the two of them as his twisted and burnt shoe dropped out of the sky behind them.
“You mean this happens a lot?”
“Not with the airlocks and the slave ship and the rather ingenious use of Nike trainers to foil certain evil plans,” Ianto said thoughtfully. “But Jack finding devious ways of ending up underneath us all, yes. I’m giving him points for originality these days.”
“Well, you’re the best judge,” Jack purred, reaching out to grab Ianto’s arm and pull him closer. “You’re the one who keeps finding excuses to get on top of me.”
Ianto blushed. To Jake, who’d been taking everything in his stride for the past week and a half, delighted to find his conspiracy theories proved correct and his gun-club tuition coming in handy, that was far more surprising than aliens trying to kidnap him or Captain Jack Harkness trying to flirt with him.
Almost as surprising as Ianto’s smile as he muttered, “You need someone to shove you out of harm’s way every now and again. And you know we don’t mind that.”
“Me either,” Jack agreed softly, wrapping both arms around him, and Jake decided now would be a good time to go and help the others reassure the rest of the rescued slaves.
It’s only when he hits the ground with Gwen on top of him that he realises how good it feels to be saved. These creatures may have killed Estelle, but letting himself get killed by them isn’t going to help anybody, and there are lives at stake here.
His among them.
He pulls himself together and gets back up and goes to put a stop to this chaos.
“Comfortable?”
“Very,” Ianto muttered, with Jack’s hands stroking his back and Jack’s heartbeat steady and comforting beneath his ear.
“This is one tradition,” Jack told him, and he could hear the smile in his voice, “you’ve really mastered.”
Ianto smiled and kept his eyes closed, and yawned, “Practice makes perfect.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 12:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:19 pm (UTC)(Also, very randomly, we seem to have used the same kind of alternating format for our challenge fics! Great minds think alike, eh? ^_^)
(no subject)
From:Boeshane tradition?
Date: 2008-06-28 12:40 am (UTC)Re: Boeshane tradition?
Date: 2008-06-28 01:20 pm (UTC)Thanke for reading! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 12:43 am (UTC)“It won’t do you any good. He’s the one you have to hand them in to. He’s got a scrapbook with all of mine in.”
“Happy memories,”
And for completely different reasons;
The other dwells on the look in Ianto’s eyes and murmurs wickedly, practice run?
Bad, bad man.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:22 pm (UTC)Thank you kindly. ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 12:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 04:29 am (UTC)i love you, have i mentioned this before?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 04:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 01:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 05:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 02:03 pm (UTC)Aheh. I'm very glad, thank you kindly. ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 06:44 am (UTC)Apparently, it IS a Torchwood Three tradition.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 02:48 pm (UTC)It is indeed. Jack's very glad he instated it. ;)
Glad you like, thanke for reading!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 07:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 02:49 pm (UTC)I'm very glad indeed you like it, thank you kindly! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 08:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 02:57 pm (UTC)And I shall go crosspost now. *salutes*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 08:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 02:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 03:02 pm (UTC)Glad you liked, thanke kindly!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 03:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 03:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 04:07 pm (UTC)Also, A++++++++ for the inclusion of Jake.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 04:26 pm (UTC)I'm very glad indeed that you enjoyed it, thank you. ^_^ (As for perfect - don't tell him that, or he'll try and take over again... ;) )
Hee. I had a longer idea that included Jake for this challenge, so that may turn up again. If so, I shall crosspost to
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 04:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 04:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 05:03 pm (UTC)“It won’t do you any good. He’s the one you have to hand them in to. He’s got a scrapbook with all of mine in.”
“Happy memories,” Jack told him, grinning
omg that made me laugh so much! I bet he decorated it with glitter and everything. may I friend you please?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 05:05 pm (UTC)And yes, certainly you may! Thank you for asking. Now I know to add you back. ;)
Glad you liked it!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 07:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-16 11:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-28 10:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-16 11:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 04:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-16 11:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-04 07:12 pm (UTC)Thanks for writing, love the sexual harrassment one, thanks for writing all the IC (drabbles??) and can't wait to read more!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-16 11:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-27 12:47 am (UTC)“It won’t do you any good. He’s the one you have to hand them in to. He’s got a scrapbook with all of mine in.”
“Happy memories,” Jack told him, grinning
I honestly laughed out loud at this exchange! The entire story was witty and very in character. Great job!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-31 09:46 pm (UTC)