Title: Frosted Glass
Author:
laurab1Rating: PG
Pairings/Characters: Jack/Ianto, Gwen, Owen, Tosh
Length: 350 words
Summary: Jack’s eyes give everything away.
Spoilers: 2.3 To The Last Man
Disclaimer: alas, none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved & appreciated :) Enjoy!
Frosted Glass
by Laura
There are only three things Jack’s team really know for sure about him: he quite often drives them crazy, he’s a soldier - it’s his mindset, it’s in his blood, and he’s from some other time.
The rest of what they discover is in that which he doesn’t quite tell them.
His eyes, though, give everything away.
***
Gwen watches Jack in the abandoned military hospital; suggesting the building itself could be in pain, hand on the floor, concentrating, telling her about Paschendale and the Somme. She did them in history at school. She had to read Dulce Et Decorum Est for English.
Then he tells her he was there, in those muddy trenches, in that hell.
Never mind the general how, all she can think about is how many friends he lost and how many times he died.
***
Tosh watches and listens to Jack as he details Tommy’s fate, telling her about shell-shocked soldiers being shot for cowardice. He’s clearly angry about what they’re sending Tommy back to.
But his eyes dart all over the place; classic PTSD signs.
All Tosh can consider is how many people Jack’s seen destroyed by war, and how broken he himself has been.
***
Owen watches Jack as he quite readily prepares to get stuck in 1918.
All he can wonder is who the hell taught Jack about sacrifice?
He suspects, at least. But what happened to the two of them? And when?
***
Ianto watches Jack, as his captain for all intents and purposes says he loves him.
At the look in his eyes, the only thing Ianto can do is kiss Jack, because he feels the same way.
***
Actually, change that to four things Jack’s team know for sure about him.
Because they do love him, despite his faults.
And they’d like to think that he loves them, despite their faults.
But they don’t really want to consider how many Torchwood personnel, also swept up in him, have come before the four of them, and will come after them.
They’re his current people, though, which is the only thing that matters, in the end.
-end-
crosspost:
torch_wood*
torchwood_fic*
dwfiction*
galactic_conman*
Teaspoon