Turning Point - 41/64
Title: Turning Point
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: budding Jack/Ianto, references to past Ianto/Lisa
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: If I was the one who owned Torchwood, you think I'd admit it now?
Spoilers: Some information and events from s1,2. NONE for s3.
Summary: In the aftermath of Lisa's death, Ianto is struggling to cope - and new surprises don't help matters much. Can his friends on the team at Torchwood help him carry on?
Author's Note: Sequel to Guilt.
Thanks to: My beta cazmalfoy, angelzbabe1989 for idea bouncing, and morbid_sparks for cheerleading even when she doesn'tdidn't know what happens.
Previous chapters at master list
Chapter Forty-One
Tosh tilted her head back and took a deep breath as she stepped though the cog door. The air in the Hub was lovely and cool.
For the past two days, the temperature had soared across Cardiff - across most of Britain, actually - and being outside for long was almost unbearable. She wasn’t used to those sorts of temperatures any more. The underground location of the Hub meant that it was perennially cool and fresh - not so appealing in the winter, but a haven on the rare occasions when summer days grew hot.
Shrugging her shoulder bag off, she sat down and logged onto her workstation. Waiting for her were the usual compiled report of the night’s Rift monitor readings, the results of a translation algorithm she’d left running overnight - still not right, dammit - and… an email. The email was unusual. There was very little that usually landed in her inbox that wasn’t an internal message from one of the others on the team.
Curiously, she clicked to open up her inbox, pausing when she noticed the subject line and the sender’s address.
20-Jul-06 10:35am n.tanizaki@okinsawa.jp Re: Request for research assistance
Her breath caught in her throat and she pushed away from her desk.
It had been months since she and Ianto had sent that email. With everything that had happened since, she’d almost forgotten they had ever sent it at all.
She didn’t know if she should open it or not. She reached out her hand towards the mouse and then withdrew it again. Part of her wanted to delete it without even reading it; delete it, forget it had ever arrived, and keep it to herself.
But she shouldn’t, should she?
As she leant back, staring uncertainly at the screen, Jack walked past behind her and effectively took the decision out of her hands.
“Hey, Tosh. Is something wrong?”
Unable to bring herself to verbalise the issue, she simply pointed at the screen. Jack leant past her to read it, and she could tell the exact moment when the significance of what he was reading hit him. His whole body tensed up, his fingers tightening into fists.
“Have you read it?” he asked a long minute later, his voice tight.
Tosh shook her head. “No. I…” She took a breath. “I couldn’t decide if I should - or if I wanted to. If he says…”
She couldn’t go on, but she knew Jack understood what she meant. If there was a possibility that Dr Tanizaki could, and would, have helped…
There was an awkward pause.
Jack slowly stood up, breathing deeply. “Before we do anything,” he started deliberately. “We… we need to tell Ianto.”
Unable to sleep in the oppressively sticky heat of his flat, Ianto had made his way to the Hub in the very early hours of that morning. The archives were blessedly cool, and he quickly found his rhythm, sorting through a stack of jumbled papers dating from a period spanning several decades.
He startled as Jack’s voice sounded behind him - close behind him. He had been so lost in the work that he hadn’t even heard him approaching.
He glanced down at his watch and realised that several hours had passed since he’d arrived and that Tosh, at least, would probably have arrived.
He twisted around and looked up at Jack. “Coffee?” He couldn’t think of any other reason Jack would have sought him out down here. While Jack didn’t avoid the archives completely like the others did, he was a rare presence there.
Jack shook his head and held out his hand. “No. Well, it wouldn’t be unwelcome, but… that’s not why I’m here.”
Ianto swallowed hard, the pained look in Jack’s eyes worrying him. “Then what…?”
Jack shook his head and pulled him to his feet. “I’ll tell you when we get back up to the Hub.”
On the walk back, Ianto couldn’t help but let terrible scenario after terrible scenario flood through his brain. Was Tosh gravely injured? Or Owen? Or Gwen? Had there been some surprise attack and he’d somehow missed it? Was the whole Earth in danger?
He was relieved - but confused - when they reached the Hub and there didn’t seem to be any sort of panic - and Tosh was sitting, looking as fine as usual, at her workstation.
Although, as he looked closer, perhaps ‘fine’ wasn’t quite right. She didn’t look injured, but she was pale and shared the same pained and worried expression he’d seen on Jack’s face.
“Okay, what is it?” he asked them when they reached Tosh’s side. “You’re worrying me now.”
“Well, I…” Tosh started. “The thing is…”
Jack simply put an arm around his shoulders and turned him so he was looking at the rightmost of Tosh’s monitors.
It was open on her email inbox, which seemed unusual to Ianto. The only one of them who regularly got any email from outside the internal system was Jack, and those were usually from Whitehall or the Royal Offices.
Leaning closer, he read the subject of the unread message, assuming that was what he had been summoned for.
His heart dropped into his boots as he recognised the name. “Did he…? Has he…?”
“We haven’t read it yet,” Tosh said quietly. “We were waiting for you before we decided if we should or not.”
Ianto opened his mouth to call them ridiculous for considering the idea of not reading it and then realised that he wasn’t quite sure if he really wanted to know either.
Which would be worse? If he’d written something that indicated he might have helped, or if he turned them down flat?
While neither eventuality could change the outcome - not now, not all these months later - would it hurt or help to know?
Chapter Forty-Two
Comments and concrit are loved!
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: budding Jack/Ianto, references to past Ianto/Lisa
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: If I was the one who owned Torchwood, you think I'd admit it now?
Spoilers: Some information and events from s1,2. NONE for s3.
Summary: In the aftermath of Lisa's death, Ianto is struggling to cope - and new surprises don't help matters much. Can his friends on the team at Torchwood help him carry on?
Author's Note: Sequel to Guilt.
Thanks to: My beta cazmalfoy, angelzbabe1989 for idea bouncing, and morbid_sparks for cheerleading even when she doesn'tdidn't know what happens.
Previous chapters at master list
Chapter Forty-One
Tosh tilted her head back and took a deep breath as she stepped though the cog door. The air in the Hub was lovely and cool.
For the past two days, the temperature had soared across Cardiff - across most of Britain, actually - and being outside for long was almost unbearable. She wasn’t used to those sorts of temperatures any more. The underground location of the Hub meant that it was perennially cool and fresh - not so appealing in the winter, but a haven on the rare occasions when summer days grew hot.
Shrugging her shoulder bag off, she sat down and logged onto her workstation. Waiting for her were the usual compiled report of the night’s Rift monitor readings, the results of a translation algorithm she’d left running overnight - still not right, dammit - and… an email. The email was unusual. There was very little that usually landed in her inbox that wasn’t an internal message from one of the others on the team.
Curiously, she clicked to open up her inbox, pausing when she noticed the subject line and the sender’s address.
20-Jul-06 10:35am n.tanizaki@okinsawa.jp Re: Request for research assistance
Her breath caught in her throat and she pushed away from her desk.
It had been months since she and Ianto had sent that email. With everything that had happened since, she’d almost forgotten they had ever sent it at all.
She didn’t know if she should open it or not. She reached out her hand towards the mouse and then withdrew it again. Part of her wanted to delete it without even reading it; delete it, forget it had ever arrived, and keep it to herself.
But she shouldn’t, should she?
As she leant back, staring uncertainly at the screen, Jack walked past behind her and effectively took the decision out of her hands.
“Hey, Tosh. Is something wrong?”
Unable to bring herself to verbalise the issue, she simply pointed at the screen. Jack leant past her to read it, and she could tell the exact moment when the significance of what he was reading hit him. His whole body tensed up, his fingers tightening into fists.
“Have you read it?” he asked a long minute later, his voice tight.
Tosh shook her head. “No. I…” She took a breath. “I couldn’t decide if I should - or if I wanted to. If he says…”
She couldn’t go on, but she knew Jack understood what she meant. If there was a possibility that Dr Tanizaki could, and would, have helped…
There was an awkward pause.
Jack slowly stood up, breathing deeply. “Before we do anything,” he started deliberately. “We… we need to tell Ianto.”
Unable to sleep in the oppressively sticky heat of his flat, Ianto had made his way to the Hub in the very early hours of that morning. The archives were blessedly cool, and he quickly found his rhythm, sorting through a stack of jumbled papers dating from a period spanning several decades.
He startled as Jack’s voice sounded behind him - close behind him. He had been so lost in the work that he hadn’t even heard him approaching.
He glanced down at his watch and realised that several hours had passed since he’d arrived and that Tosh, at least, would probably have arrived.
He twisted around and looked up at Jack. “Coffee?” He couldn’t think of any other reason Jack would have sought him out down here. While Jack didn’t avoid the archives completely like the others did, he was a rare presence there.
Jack shook his head and held out his hand. “No. Well, it wouldn’t be unwelcome, but… that’s not why I’m here.”
Ianto swallowed hard, the pained look in Jack’s eyes worrying him. “Then what…?”
Jack shook his head and pulled him to his feet. “I’ll tell you when we get back up to the Hub.”
On the walk back, Ianto couldn’t help but let terrible scenario after terrible scenario flood through his brain. Was Tosh gravely injured? Or Owen? Or Gwen? Had there been some surprise attack and he’d somehow missed it? Was the whole Earth in danger?
He was relieved - but confused - when they reached the Hub and there didn’t seem to be any sort of panic - and Tosh was sitting, looking as fine as usual, at her workstation.
Although, as he looked closer, perhaps ‘fine’ wasn’t quite right. She didn’t look injured, but she was pale and shared the same pained and worried expression he’d seen on Jack’s face.
“Okay, what is it?” he asked them when they reached Tosh’s side. “You’re worrying me now.”
“Well, I…” Tosh started. “The thing is…”
Jack simply put an arm around his shoulders and turned him so he was looking at the rightmost of Tosh’s monitors.
It was open on her email inbox, which seemed unusual to Ianto. The only one of them who regularly got any email from outside the internal system was Jack, and those were usually from Whitehall or the Royal Offices.
Leaning closer, he read the subject of the unread message, assuming that was what he had been summoned for.
His heart dropped into his boots as he recognised the name. “Did he…? Has he…?”
“We haven’t read it yet,” Tosh said quietly. “We were waiting for you before we decided if we should or not.”
Ianto opened his mouth to call them ridiculous for considering the idea of not reading it and then realised that he wasn’t quite sure if he really wanted to know either.
Which would be worse? If he’d written something that indicated he might have helped, or if he turned them down flat?
While neither eventuality could change the outcome - not now, not all these months later - would it hurt or help to know?
Chapter Forty-Two
Comments and concrit are loved!