Turning Point - 47/64
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-Seven
Jack shrugged on a T-shirt and shuddered, trying to put the nightmare behind him. It was images like that that stopped him trying to sleep more often than he did. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was sure his brain would send him mad if he had no sleep at all, he would never even try.
It wasn’t like he generally needed the sleep physically. He’d noticed that he could cope on less and less sleep every year since he had landed back on Earth, and he could function for days on end with no sleep at all. But sometimes he missed it. He wasn’t sure he remembered the last time he’d been able to sleep properly - undisturbed - on a regular basis.
He hadn’t particularly intended on actually falling asleep that night, but after the last three days of running madcap around Cardiff after small fuzzy alien creatures - not dangerous but not something they could have left to roam free - he had crashed almost as soon as his head had hit the pillow.
Only to be woken a few hours later by… he shivered again. He hadn’t dreamt of that incident for so long; he didn’t know what had brought it back up now.
Knowing that - even as tired as he still was - he wouldn’t sleep any more that night, he climbed up the ladder to his office. He might as well get a little work done.
The single petal sitting in the middle of his desk chilled him to the core. He was rooted to the spot, barely able to breathe, until he noticed a movement in the main Hub.
A few seconds later and the dark shape materialised into Ianto. Jack blinked deliberately, making sure that it was actually Ianto and not just his imagination.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.
Ianto looked up quickly from the folder he was carrying, clearly startled. Recognition dawned in his eyes a moment later and he relaxed. “Couldn’t sleep,” he shrugged. “Thought I might as well work.”
On any normal night, Jack might not have questioned that any further. Everyone on his team was prone to occasional bouts of insomnia; that was just one of the wonderful things working for Torchwood did for you.
But tonight, he hadn’t expected that to be a problem. Given that he had all but collapsed at the brink of exhaustion, he had assumed the same would be true for his team. Ianto had certainly seemed tired enough when he and the others had eventually moved for their respective homes early in the afternoon.
If Ianto was having difficulty sleeping after that, something was clearly not right.
He took a step closer to the younger man. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Ianto shook his head. “It’s nothing, I’m okay. Fine.”
Jack didn’t believe that for an instant. “If you were okay you would be at home, asleep.”
Ianto’s internal struggle was visible on his face. “I… it’s just…”
Taking his arm gently, Jack guided him to the sofa, sitting down beside him. “Remember what I said all those months ago?” he asked quietly. “It’s still true, I’m here if you need to talk. Even in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep.”
Ianto sighed and closed his eyes. “Tomorrow - no, well, today, technically - would have been mine and Lisa’s fifth anniversary.” When he opened his eyes again his expression was bleak.
Jack swallowed and wished he could just take Ianto into his arms and comfort him properly. “I’m sorry.”
Ianto chuckled mirthlessly. “I know when I met her I could never have imagined this, losing her so soon. Of course, when I met her I couldn’t even imagine she would be interested in me, but…”
“Tell me about it,” Jack said suddenly, impulsively, out of any other ideas on ways he might help. “Tell me how you met, you and Lisa.” He hoped the story would bring a smile to Ianto’s face; he hated feeling helpless like this when Ianto was upset.
Jack wasn’t sure if it was to avoid having to make eye contact while he told the story, or if Ianto was looking for the comfort of contact, but Ianto leant into him slightly, his head resting gently on Jack’s shoulder.
“I had just started Sixth Form College,” he started a little falteringly. “I… I told you before about ending up in a young offenders’ institute, didn’t I?”
Jack nodded against the top of Ianto’s head. “Yeah.”
“Well, I got out right before my GCSEs, and it turns out that two months isn’t really enough to make up for skipping school for the best part of two years. I scraped past a few of them, but the only way the local sixth form would accept me for A-levels was if I re-sat at least some of my GCSEs that Christmas.”
Jack could feel him shifting to get comfortable. “I studied most of the summer, trying to catch up on coursework I’d missed. My uncle said I should take some time off, go have fun, but… the only friends I had at that point were the ones I’d gotten into trouble with. Seemed safer to stick with the books.”
Jack wanted to say something, but he had no idea what would be appropriate. It didn’t seem to matter to Ianto, who ploughed ahead with his story.
“I was doing okay until I started college. Starting A-levels and trying to do the GCSEs too was getting a bit much after a few weeks and I was falling behind, so my uncle got in touch with a service the university were coordinating; he got me a tutor.”
Jack’s mind ran ahead with the story and leapt to a conclusion. “Lisa?”
Ianto straightened up beside him, finally turning back to meet Jack’s eyes. He looked wistful, but the sadness was dissipating. “Lisa.” His smile was fond. “She had an… unusual… tutoring style, but it worked. Or at least, I passed all the GCSEs.”
Jack shuffled round, twisting so he could face Ianto for the rest of the tale. “And then you started dating?” he asked, although almost as soon as he said it he was adding the numbers in his head and realising they didn’t quite fit.
Ianto shook his head. “No. Although, I wouldn’t have complained; I pretty much had a crush on her from the word go. But I never thought she was interested.”
Jack tilted his head, trying to imagine Ianto as a sixteen year old; trying to imagine what he’d have thought of sixteen year old Ianto if he’d met him as a teenager himself, as Lisa had. He really couldn’t see how she could have not been interested. “So, what changed?”
Ianto smiled, shrugging one shoulder. “I finished school.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Also, check out First Date for a continuation of Ianto's story - from 17 year old Ianto's viewpoint!
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-Seven
Jack shrugged on a T-shirt and shuddered, trying to put the nightmare behind him. It was images like that that stopped him trying to sleep more often than he did. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was sure his brain would send him mad if he had no sleep at all, he would never even try.
It wasn’t like he generally needed the sleep physically. He’d noticed that he could cope on less and less sleep every year since he had landed back on Earth, and he could function for days on end with no sleep at all. But sometimes he missed it. He wasn’t sure he remembered the last time he’d been able to sleep properly - undisturbed - on a regular basis.
He hadn’t particularly intended on actually falling asleep that night, but after the last three days of running madcap around Cardiff after small fuzzy alien creatures - not dangerous but not something they could have left to roam free - he had crashed almost as soon as his head had hit the pillow.
Only to be woken a few hours later by… he shivered again. He hadn’t dreamt of that incident for so long; he didn’t know what had brought it back up now.
Knowing that - even as tired as he still was - he wouldn’t sleep any more that night, he climbed up the ladder to his office. He might as well get a little work done.
The single petal sitting in the middle of his desk chilled him to the core. He was rooted to the spot, barely able to breathe, until he noticed a movement in the main Hub.
A few seconds later and the dark shape materialised into Ianto. Jack blinked deliberately, making sure that it was actually Ianto and not just his imagination.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.
Ianto looked up quickly from the folder he was carrying, clearly startled. Recognition dawned in his eyes a moment later and he relaxed. “Couldn’t sleep,” he shrugged. “Thought I might as well work.”
On any normal night, Jack might not have questioned that any further. Everyone on his team was prone to occasional bouts of insomnia; that was just one of the wonderful things working for Torchwood did for you.
But tonight, he hadn’t expected that to be a problem. Given that he had all but collapsed at the brink of exhaustion, he had assumed the same would be true for his team. Ianto had certainly seemed tired enough when he and the others had eventually moved for their respective homes early in the afternoon.
If Ianto was having difficulty sleeping after that, something was clearly not right.
He took a step closer to the younger man. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Ianto shook his head. “It’s nothing, I’m okay. Fine.”
Jack didn’t believe that for an instant. “If you were okay you would be at home, asleep.”
Ianto’s internal struggle was visible on his face. “I… it’s just…”
Taking his arm gently, Jack guided him to the sofa, sitting down beside him. “Remember what I said all those months ago?” he asked quietly. “It’s still true, I’m here if you need to talk. Even in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep.”
Ianto sighed and closed his eyes. “Tomorrow - no, well, today, technically - would have been mine and Lisa’s fifth anniversary.” When he opened his eyes again his expression was bleak.
Jack swallowed and wished he could just take Ianto into his arms and comfort him properly. “I’m sorry.”
Ianto chuckled mirthlessly. “I know when I met her I could never have imagined this, losing her so soon. Of course, when I met her I couldn’t even imagine she would be interested in me, but…”
“Tell me about it,” Jack said suddenly, impulsively, out of any other ideas on ways he might help. “Tell me how you met, you and Lisa.” He hoped the story would bring a smile to Ianto’s face; he hated feeling helpless like this when Ianto was upset.
Jack wasn’t sure if it was to avoid having to make eye contact while he told the story, or if Ianto was looking for the comfort of contact, but Ianto leant into him slightly, his head resting gently on Jack’s shoulder.
“I had just started Sixth Form College,” he started a little falteringly. “I… I told you before about ending up in a young offenders’ institute, didn’t I?”
Jack nodded against the top of Ianto’s head. “Yeah.”
“Well, I got out right before my GCSEs, and it turns out that two months isn’t really enough to make up for skipping school for the best part of two years. I scraped past a few of them, but the only way the local sixth form would accept me for A-levels was if I re-sat at least some of my GCSEs that Christmas.”
Jack could feel him shifting to get comfortable. “I studied most of the summer, trying to catch up on coursework I’d missed. My uncle said I should take some time off, go have fun, but… the only friends I had at that point were the ones I’d gotten into trouble with. Seemed safer to stick with the books.”
Jack wanted to say something, but he had no idea what would be appropriate. It didn’t seem to matter to Ianto, who ploughed ahead with his story.
“I was doing okay until I started college. Starting A-levels and trying to do the GCSEs too was getting a bit much after a few weeks and I was falling behind, so my uncle got in touch with a service the university were coordinating; he got me a tutor.”
Jack’s mind ran ahead with the story and leapt to a conclusion. “Lisa?”
Ianto straightened up beside him, finally turning back to meet Jack’s eyes. He looked wistful, but the sadness was dissipating. “Lisa.” His smile was fond. “She had an… unusual… tutoring style, but it worked. Or at least, I passed all the GCSEs.”
Jack shuffled round, twisting so he could face Ianto for the rest of the tale. “And then you started dating?” he asked, although almost as soon as he said it he was adding the numbers in his head and realising they didn’t quite fit.
Ianto shook his head. “No. Although, I wouldn’t have complained; I pretty much had a crush on her from the word go. But I never thought she was interested.”
Jack tilted his head, trying to imagine Ianto as a sixteen year old; trying to imagine what he’d have thought of sixteen year old Ianto if he’d met him as a teenager himself, as Lisa had. He really couldn’t see how she could have not been interested. “So, what changed?”
Ianto smiled, shrugging one shoulder. “I finished school.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Also, check out First Date for a continuation of Ianto's story - from 17 year old Ianto's viewpoint!
Comments and concrit are loved!