Fic: The Sea After a Storm (21/?)
Title: The Sea After a Storm, Chapter 21
Rating: R
Warnings: None really, just don’t feel like changing the rating :)
Spoilers: Season Two thru Sleeper (2x02)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to James Moran for situations borrowed from Sleeper. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which Jack starts getting better…
Notes: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Sorry for the late posting - especially to my non-state-side readers who weren't distracted by copious amounts of turkey and pie yesterday. :) Sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks to my amazing beta and wonderful friend thrace_adams for all the help and support; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Twenty-One
Bit by bit, Jack began to push past the nightmares of his experience on the Valiant, but it took time. That first night with Ianto, neither of them slept for more than twenty minutes at a time. Ianto swore he wasn't afraid of sleeping next to Jack and he truly believed it, but nonetheless, every time Jack shifted on the bed or made a noise, Ianto woke up. Neither of them was in any shape to work the following day, despite Jack's protests to the contrary. Ianto decided he needed reinforcements and rang Owen while Jack was finishing his shower.
“Bollocks,” Owen said emphatically as soon as Ianto explained. “I've been trying to force a medical leave on him for days but the bugger just ignored me. You've got him there so keep him there. Me and the girls'll keep an eye on things."
"Thanks, Owen," Ianto breathed gratefully.
"No worries. How…" Owen cleared his throat. "How'd things go last night?" he asked gruffly.
"Fine. Good, actually. Neither of us slept much, like I said, but it was a start."
"No, er, incidents, then?"
"No. It was fine," Ianto said flatly. Not exactly true, but close enough, he thought. He heard the water turn off in the bath. "You want to tell him or shall I?"
Owen chuckled. "Put me on speaker."
Ianto laughed softly and did as he asked. Jack opened the door to the bath and stepped into the room, dressed in trousers and a t-shirt, the thin white fabric clinging to his damp skin as he towelled off his hair.
"Jack?" Ianto said. "Owen has something he'd like to say." He held the mobile out on the palm of his hand.
Jack reached for the phone, but before he could grab it, Owen started talking, making Jack jump.
"I'm revoking your medical clearance starting now, Captain. You're off official duty until I say you're back on."
Jack's brows shot together in a frown. "You can't - "
"Oh, yes I bloody well can! You come within fifty feet of the Hub and I'll trip the decontamination sequence and lock it down tighter than a fish's arsehole, got it?"
Jack glared at Ianto who merely bit the inside of his lip to keep from smiling. "Fine," he ground out. "But if anything happens…" He let the threat fade off, perhaps hoping the vagueness would worry Owen more than anything specific.
Owen's snort was loud and clear over the small speaker on the mobile. "Yeah, yeah. Anything comes out of the rift that we can't handle and we'll ring you. Until then? Just get some rest."
"Fine," Jack repeated, sounding slightly mollified. He snatched the mobile out of Ianto's hand and hit 'end' before Owen could say anything else. He tossed the phone on the bed and then turned back to Ianto. Without speaking, he reached for Ianto, running his hands softly over a new set of bruises on Ianto's upper arms. "You okay?" he murmured.
Ianto nodded. "It's not your fault," he said earnestly.
"Yeah, you keep saying that. Doesn't make it true," Jack replied with a bleak smile. He let go of Ianto and grabbed his shirt and boots from the chair by the bed. "I've… I'll be back," he muttered and hurried from the room.
A few seconds later Ianto heard the front door slam. He sighed and crawled back into bed. He buried his face in the pillow Jack had used, too tired to wonder where Jack had gone or if he'd really come back. He fell asleep almost instantly. When he woke a few hours later, Ianto reached out automatically but his hand found only empty space where Jack should have been lying next to him. Disappointed but unsurprised, Ianto pulled himself up and went to take a shower.
The hot water helped loosen muscles he hadn't even known were stiff. He stretched and twisted carefully, feeling the tension from the long night slowly fading away. He hissed softly as he rubbed the washcloth over his arm. As the soap rinsed away, he glanced down at the marks that adorned his bicep, one for each of Jack's fingers. He sighed and washed the other arm, careful of the matching set of bruises he knew was there as well. Jack had been thrashing around in the bed, clearly fighting some invisible foe when Ianto had tried to wake him by calling his name and shaking his shoulder as they'd agreed. It went fine, at first. Jack had stopped moving, opened his eyes and looked right at Ianto. He'd nodded when Ianto had said his name but then, before Ianto could lie back down, Jack had grabbed his arms and pulled him close…
“Why are you doing this?” Jack asked, his voice ragged.
“Jack, wake up,” Ianto ordered.
“Give me some water... please?” Jack's voice broke. “Don't make me beg. Don't do this.”
Ianto fought against his instinct to struggle, to try to pull away from Jack's iron hold. He tried to stay relaxed as Jack's fingers dug into his arms. “Jack,” he said, more loudly this time. “Jack, it's not real. Wake up!”
“Please?” Jack whimpered.
“Jack, you're hurting me,” Ianto gasped.
Somehow, those words managed to pierce through the nightmare and Jack blinked hard a few times.
“Ianto?” he asked, bewildered.
“It's me, Jack. You were dreaming.”
“I - oh, God, I'm sorry!” Jack said as he released Ianto from his grip and immediately covered his face. “I'm sorry,” he whispered.
Ianto had pulled Jack's hands away from his face and then pulled Jack into his arms. Jack clung to him, muttering apologies until he finally fell asleep again. Ianto had lain awake for some time, just holding his Captain close.
Ianto finished his shower and dried off, his mind still dwelling on the night before. He wondered if it was wrong to feel good that Jack needed him, to take pleasure in sheltering him from the dark as Jack had done so many times for him. He tried to shake off the nagging guilt as he pulled on a pair of jeans and t-shirt, but he really only succeeding in tamping it down a bit. When he left the bedroom, he was surprised to find Jack, crashed out on the sofa.
“Jack?” he asked quietly, not wanting to wake his Captain if the man was asleep.
Jack opened his eyes and smiled at Ianto from the sofa where he was reclining. “Hey,” he answered just as quietly. “Did you get some sleep?”
Ianto nodded and stepped over to the sofa. Jack shifted to make some room for Ianto to sit, moving to rest his head on Ianto's thigh after he was settled. Jack sighed deeply.
“How about you?” Ianto asked. He rubbed his hand gently over Jack's back. “Where did you go this morning?”
Jack nodded and yawned. “I napped a bit after I got back. Didn't want to disturb you again so I just stayed out here.”
“I woke up missing you,” Ianto admitted. “I was afraid you'd gone back to the Hub.”
“No,” Jack chuckled. “Wouldn't dare. I took a walk." Jack rolled onto his back, his hand drifting up to trace Ianto's features with a gentle finger as he talked. "Went through the playing fields, crossed the river at Pontcanna Bridge and came down through Bute Park. Went to the Castle."
"The Castle?" Ianto asked with a raised eyebrow.
Jack nodded. "Wanted to see it again. The M-" Jack bit his lip and then continued. "He destroyed Cardiff when he found out that's where I lived, worked, that you were here. He said he wanted to widen the Bristol Channel, made me watch while he levelled the city…" Jack's hand fell away and his eyes closed, but not before Ianto could see the pain shining in their blue depths. "He drew a line on the map from Swansea to Newport and obliterated everything below it."
Ianto bit back his cry and stroked his hand through Jack's thick hair, offering his sympathy without interrupting.
"I… I just wanted to see it, to touch it. Why is it so hard to believe that it's still there?"
"It'll get easier," Ianto promised. It has too, he thought with a touch of desperation. Or I really will lose him forever.
Jack made a non-committal noise, halfway between a sigh and groan. He shifted on the sofa, turning so his face was nestled against Ianto's belly, tucking his hand under his chin in a boyish gesture that left Ianto breathless. Ianto was dying for a cup of coffee, but he wouldn't have moved right at that second for the world. He dropped his hands to Jack, one sliding over his shoulder, the other softly stroking his hair. He leant his head back and drifted along with Jack, hoping his touch would keep the nightmares at bay for awhile.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Ianto found, much to everyone's relief, that he'd been right. It did get easier for Jack over the next few weeks which were fortuitously quiet around the Hub. Slowly but surely, the nightmares began to recede, making it possible for Jack to get some rest. He spent most of his nights with Ianto, whether it was in Jack's quarters or Ianto's flat, drawing comfort and reassurance from Ianto's presence.
They were at the Hub one night, celebrating Jack's third uninterrupted night of sleep. Jack was at his desk, Ianto on his lap, both fully dressed and snogging each other senseless. Ianto was just reaching the point where he started to wonder why they weren't shagging again yet when the phone rang.
Jack groaned and let it ring twice more before answering.
"Yeah?" he said brusquely, his mouth returning to Ianto's as soon as he'd barked out the greeting.
Ianto could hear the other person on the line, female and agitated, but couldn't make out the words. He pulled back from the kiss when Jack's eyebrows lowered. He sighed. Duty calls.
"We'll be there as soon as we can," Jack said and snapped the mobile closed.
"Should I call the others back?" Ianto asked.
Jack frowned and nodded. Ianto slipped from his lap and pulled his own phone out of his pocket. He rang the rest of the team, glancing at his watch when he realized that he was waking most of them up. It was just after midnight.
"They're on their way in," Ianto said as he flipped his phone closed. "What's going on?"
"Burglary gone very, very wrong for the burglars. Detective Swanson asked if we'd take a look. Stay here and see what you can find on a Mike and Beth Halloran, 114 Brodsky Gardens?" Jack requested as he pulled his coat on after straightening his clothes a bit.
Ianto nodded as he did the same, buttoning up his red shirt and retying his tie. Jack groaned and pulled him close.
"Wrong way," he muttered and captured Ianto's lips in a dizzying kiss that might have lasted hours for all Ianto could tell.
"Work to do, Captain," Ianto murmured when his mouth was free and his brain engaged once again. As if on cue, Ianto's mobile rang.
"We're all bloody up here," Owen grumbled.
"Jack's on his way," Ianto promised. He tossed the SUV keys to Jack as he left the office. Ianto stood for a moment, just watching as Jack strode across the Hub, coat billowing around him. He smiled happily.
Torchwood was back in business.
TBC in Chapter Twenty-Two
Rating: R
Warnings: None really, just don’t feel like changing the rating :)
Spoilers: Season Two thru Sleeper (2x02)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to James Moran for situations borrowed from Sleeper. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which Jack starts getting better…
Notes: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Sorry for the late posting - especially to my non-state-side readers who weren't distracted by copious amounts of turkey and pie yesterday. :) Sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks to my amazing beta and wonderful friend thrace_adams for all the help and support; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Twenty-One
Bit by bit, Jack began to push past the nightmares of his experience on the Valiant, but it took time. That first night with Ianto, neither of them slept for more than twenty minutes at a time. Ianto swore he wasn't afraid of sleeping next to Jack and he truly believed it, but nonetheless, every time Jack shifted on the bed or made a noise, Ianto woke up. Neither of them was in any shape to work the following day, despite Jack's protests to the contrary. Ianto decided he needed reinforcements and rang Owen while Jack was finishing his shower.
“Bollocks,” Owen said emphatically as soon as Ianto explained. “I've been trying to force a medical leave on him for days but the bugger just ignored me. You've got him there so keep him there. Me and the girls'll keep an eye on things."
"Thanks, Owen," Ianto breathed gratefully.
"No worries. How…" Owen cleared his throat. "How'd things go last night?" he asked gruffly.
"Fine. Good, actually. Neither of us slept much, like I said, but it was a start."
"No, er, incidents, then?"
"No. It was fine," Ianto said flatly. Not exactly true, but close enough, he thought. He heard the water turn off in the bath. "You want to tell him or shall I?"
Owen chuckled. "Put me on speaker."
Ianto laughed softly and did as he asked. Jack opened the door to the bath and stepped into the room, dressed in trousers and a t-shirt, the thin white fabric clinging to his damp skin as he towelled off his hair.
"Jack?" Ianto said. "Owen has something he'd like to say." He held the mobile out on the palm of his hand.
Jack reached for the phone, but before he could grab it, Owen started talking, making Jack jump.
"I'm revoking your medical clearance starting now, Captain. You're off official duty until I say you're back on."
Jack's brows shot together in a frown. "You can't - "
"Oh, yes I bloody well can! You come within fifty feet of the Hub and I'll trip the decontamination sequence and lock it down tighter than a fish's arsehole, got it?"
Jack glared at Ianto who merely bit the inside of his lip to keep from smiling. "Fine," he ground out. "But if anything happens…" He let the threat fade off, perhaps hoping the vagueness would worry Owen more than anything specific.
Owen's snort was loud and clear over the small speaker on the mobile. "Yeah, yeah. Anything comes out of the rift that we can't handle and we'll ring you. Until then? Just get some rest."
"Fine," Jack repeated, sounding slightly mollified. He snatched the mobile out of Ianto's hand and hit 'end' before Owen could say anything else. He tossed the phone on the bed and then turned back to Ianto. Without speaking, he reached for Ianto, running his hands softly over a new set of bruises on Ianto's upper arms. "You okay?" he murmured.
Ianto nodded. "It's not your fault," he said earnestly.
"Yeah, you keep saying that. Doesn't make it true," Jack replied with a bleak smile. He let go of Ianto and grabbed his shirt and boots from the chair by the bed. "I've… I'll be back," he muttered and hurried from the room.
A few seconds later Ianto heard the front door slam. He sighed and crawled back into bed. He buried his face in the pillow Jack had used, too tired to wonder where Jack had gone or if he'd really come back. He fell asleep almost instantly. When he woke a few hours later, Ianto reached out automatically but his hand found only empty space where Jack should have been lying next to him. Disappointed but unsurprised, Ianto pulled himself up and went to take a shower.
The hot water helped loosen muscles he hadn't even known were stiff. He stretched and twisted carefully, feeling the tension from the long night slowly fading away. He hissed softly as he rubbed the washcloth over his arm. As the soap rinsed away, he glanced down at the marks that adorned his bicep, one for each of Jack's fingers. He sighed and washed the other arm, careful of the matching set of bruises he knew was there as well. Jack had been thrashing around in the bed, clearly fighting some invisible foe when Ianto had tried to wake him by calling his name and shaking his shoulder as they'd agreed. It went fine, at first. Jack had stopped moving, opened his eyes and looked right at Ianto. He'd nodded when Ianto had said his name but then, before Ianto could lie back down, Jack had grabbed his arms and pulled him close…
“Why are you doing this?” Jack asked, his voice ragged.
“Jack, wake up,” Ianto ordered.
“Give me some water... please?” Jack's voice broke. “Don't make me beg. Don't do this.”
Ianto fought against his instinct to struggle, to try to pull away from Jack's iron hold. He tried to stay relaxed as Jack's fingers dug into his arms. “Jack,” he said, more loudly this time. “Jack, it's not real. Wake up!”
“Please?” Jack whimpered.
“Jack, you're hurting me,” Ianto gasped.
Somehow, those words managed to pierce through the nightmare and Jack blinked hard a few times.
“Ianto?” he asked, bewildered.
“It's me, Jack. You were dreaming.”
“I - oh, God, I'm sorry!” Jack said as he released Ianto from his grip and immediately covered his face. “I'm sorry,” he whispered.
Ianto had pulled Jack's hands away from his face and then pulled Jack into his arms. Jack clung to him, muttering apologies until he finally fell asleep again. Ianto had lain awake for some time, just holding his Captain close.
Ianto finished his shower and dried off, his mind still dwelling on the night before. He wondered if it was wrong to feel good that Jack needed him, to take pleasure in sheltering him from the dark as Jack had done so many times for him. He tried to shake off the nagging guilt as he pulled on a pair of jeans and t-shirt, but he really only succeeding in tamping it down a bit. When he left the bedroom, he was surprised to find Jack, crashed out on the sofa.
“Jack?” he asked quietly, not wanting to wake his Captain if the man was asleep.
Jack opened his eyes and smiled at Ianto from the sofa where he was reclining. “Hey,” he answered just as quietly. “Did you get some sleep?”
Ianto nodded and stepped over to the sofa. Jack shifted to make some room for Ianto to sit, moving to rest his head on Ianto's thigh after he was settled. Jack sighed deeply.
“How about you?” Ianto asked. He rubbed his hand gently over Jack's back. “Where did you go this morning?”
Jack nodded and yawned. “I napped a bit after I got back. Didn't want to disturb you again so I just stayed out here.”
“I woke up missing you,” Ianto admitted. “I was afraid you'd gone back to the Hub.”
“No,” Jack chuckled. “Wouldn't dare. I took a walk." Jack rolled onto his back, his hand drifting up to trace Ianto's features with a gentle finger as he talked. "Went through the playing fields, crossed the river at Pontcanna Bridge and came down through Bute Park. Went to the Castle."
"The Castle?" Ianto asked with a raised eyebrow.
Jack nodded. "Wanted to see it again. The M-" Jack bit his lip and then continued. "He destroyed Cardiff when he found out that's where I lived, worked, that you were here. He said he wanted to widen the Bristol Channel, made me watch while he levelled the city…" Jack's hand fell away and his eyes closed, but not before Ianto could see the pain shining in their blue depths. "He drew a line on the map from Swansea to Newport and obliterated everything below it."
Ianto bit back his cry and stroked his hand through Jack's thick hair, offering his sympathy without interrupting.
"I… I just wanted to see it, to touch it. Why is it so hard to believe that it's still there?"
"It'll get easier," Ianto promised. It has too, he thought with a touch of desperation. Or I really will lose him forever.
Jack made a non-committal noise, halfway between a sigh and groan. He shifted on the sofa, turning so his face was nestled against Ianto's belly, tucking his hand under his chin in a boyish gesture that left Ianto breathless. Ianto was dying for a cup of coffee, but he wouldn't have moved right at that second for the world. He dropped his hands to Jack, one sliding over his shoulder, the other softly stroking his hair. He leant his head back and drifted along with Jack, hoping his touch would keep the nightmares at bay for awhile.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Ianto found, much to everyone's relief, that he'd been right. It did get easier for Jack over the next few weeks which were fortuitously quiet around the Hub. Slowly but surely, the nightmares began to recede, making it possible for Jack to get some rest. He spent most of his nights with Ianto, whether it was in Jack's quarters or Ianto's flat, drawing comfort and reassurance from Ianto's presence.
They were at the Hub one night, celebrating Jack's third uninterrupted night of sleep. Jack was at his desk, Ianto on his lap, both fully dressed and snogging each other senseless. Ianto was just reaching the point where he started to wonder why they weren't shagging again yet when the phone rang.
Jack groaned and let it ring twice more before answering.
"Yeah?" he said brusquely, his mouth returning to Ianto's as soon as he'd barked out the greeting.
Ianto could hear the other person on the line, female and agitated, but couldn't make out the words. He pulled back from the kiss when Jack's eyebrows lowered. He sighed. Duty calls.
"We'll be there as soon as we can," Jack said and snapped the mobile closed.
"Should I call the others back?" Ianto asked.
Jack frowned and nodded. Ianto slipped from his lap and pulled his own phone out of his pocket. He rang the rest of the team, glancing at his watch when he realized that he was waking most of them up. It was just after midnight.
"They're on their way in," Ianto said as he flipped his phone closed. "What's going on?"
"Burglary gone very, very wrong for the burglars. Detective Swanson asked if we'd take a look. Stay here and see what you can find on a Mike and Beth Halloran, 114 Brodsky Gardens?" Jack requested as he pulled his coat on after straightening his clothes a bit.
Ianto nodded as he did the same, buttoning up his red shirt and retying his tie. Jack groaned and pulled him close.
"Wrong way," he muttered and captured Ianto's lips in a dizzying kiss that might have lasted hours for all Ianto could tell.
"Work to do, Captain," Ianto murmured when his mouth was free and his brain engaged once again. As if on cue, Ianto's mobile rang.
"We're all bloody up here," Owen grumbled.
"Jack's on his way," Ianto promised. He tossed the SUV keys to Jack as he left the office. Ianto stood for a moment, just watching as Jack strode across the Hub, coat billowing around him. He smiled happily.
Torchwood was back in business.
TBC in Chapter Twenty-Two