Fic: Responsibilty
Jan. 16th, 2008 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aibhinn_ficsTitle: Responsibility
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aibhinn
Character(s): Jack, slight Ianto
Word Count: About 500
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood. Though if Jack were free, I'd be happy to borrow him for a night….
Rating: G
Summary: At least here, he did some good. At least here, he was needed.
Author's Note: Written before watching Torchwood 2.01, "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" so no spoilers. Probably a bit AU now.
He sat on his bed and stared, unseeing, at the candles burning on his bedside table, his back against the wall, his knees pulled to his chest. In his fist, the edges of the TARDIS key dug painfully into his flesh.
Is that all I can feel now? Pain?
He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, letting his head tilt back to rest against the stone behind him. Come with me, the Doctor had said. Travel with me. And oh, how he'd wanted it. How he'd wanted to give it all up, forget Torchwood and the Valiant and a hundred years of solitude and step back into that amazing, mind-bending ship that was still 'home', even after all this time. But he couldn't.
Responsibility. It dogged him constantly. Even as a con man, he'd had enough sense of responsibility to make sure the Chula ship didn't land on anything alive—to be sure it harmed no one. And when he discovered that it had, after all, harmed so, so many, he'd been ready to give up his own life to save others.
What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he be selfish for once? Just a little bit. Owen and Gwen and Tosh and Ianto could handle things without him—had done so perfectly well while he'd been gone. Why couldn't he let himself have that happiness? Because there was no happiness here. No chance at it, not for him. The Lone Immortal could never let himself get that close to a normal human, not even Ianto.
But if he went with the Doctor, travelled with him, how would that make anything better? There would be adventure and laughter and exploration, true, but that elephant between them—the Doctor's abandonment on Satellite Five and the all-too-casual way he ignored Jack's desire for him—would get in the way.
No. No, he was better off here. At least here, he did some good. At least here, he was needed.
"Jack?"
He lifted his head to see Ianto's face through the manhole entrance to his quarters. "The Prime Minister of Australia is on the phone. There's been some activity in the Rift outside of Perth, apparently, and he wants to know if any of our people can come take care of it."
"Did you tell him about Torchwood Sydney?" Jack asked, lowering his legs and shifting forward to sit on the edge of his bed.
"No, sir. I left that to you."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Ianto," he said dryly. "Always fun to explain to a head of state that there's a quasi-military organisation within his borders but outside his jurisdiction."
"My pleasure, sir. Line one."
Ianto's face disappeared, and Jack sighed, opening his hand to look at the TARDIS key again. Maybe some day he'd be ready to get back into that blue box and start again. But for now, there was work to be done.
Tucking the key back under his shirt, he pulled his waistcoat on, buttoned it up properly, and climbed up the ladder to his office.
Author:
aibhinnCharacter(s): Jack, slight Ianto
Word Count: About 500
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood. Though if Jack were free, I'd be happy to borrow him for a night….
Rating: G
Summary: At least here, he did some good. At least here, he was needed.
Author's Note: Written before watching Torchwood 2.01, "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" so no spoilers. Probably a bit AU now.
He sat on his bed and stared, unseeing, at the candles burning on his bedside table, his back against the wall, his knees pulled to his chest. In his fist, the edges of the TARDIS key dug painfully into his flesh.
Is that all I can feel now? Pain?
He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, letting his head tilt back to rest against the stone behind him. Come with me, the Doctor had said. Travel with me. And oh, how he'd wanted it. How he'd wanted to give it all up, forget Torchwood and the Valiant and a hundred years of solitude and step back into that amazing, mind-bending ship that was still 'home', even after all this time. But he couldn't.
Responsibility. It dogged him constantly. Even as a con man, he'd had enough sense of responsibility to make sure the Chula ship didn't land on anything alive—to be sure it harmed no one. And when he discovered that it had, after all, harmed so, so many, he'd been ready to give up his own life to save others.
What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he be selfish for once? Just a little bit. Owen and Gwen and Tosh and Ianto could handle things without him—had done so perfectly well while he'd been gone. Why couldn't he let himself have that happiness? Because there was no happiness here. No chance at it, not for him. The Lone Immortal could never let himself get that close to a normal human, not even Ianto.
But if he went with the Doctor, travelled with him, how would that make anything better? There would be adventure and laughter and exploration, true, but that elephant between them—the Doctor's abandonment on Satellite Five and the all-too-casual way he ignored Jack's desire for him—would get in the way.
No. No, he was better off here. At least here, he did some good. At least here, he was needed.
"Jack?"
He lifted his head to see Ianto's face through the manhole entrance to his quarters. "The Prime Minister of Australia is on the phone. There's been some activity in the Rift outside of Perth, apparently, and he wants to know if any of our people can come take care of it."
"Did you tell him about Torchwood Sydney?" Jack asked, lowering his legs and shifting forward to sit on the edge of his bed.
"No, sir. I left that to you."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Ianto," he said dryly. "Always fun to explain to a head of state that there's a quasi-military organisation within his borders but outside his jurisdiction."
"My pleasure, sir. Line one."
Ianto's face disappeared, and Jack sighed, opening his hand to look at the TARDIS key again. Maybe some day he'd be ready to get back into that blue box and start again. But for now, there was work to be done.
Tucking the key back under his shirt, he pulled his waistcoat on, buttoned it up properly, and climbed up the ladder to his office.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 07:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 01:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 08:32 am (UTC)Loved the fic. Am sad now.
"No, sir. I left that to you." *grins* I adore Ianto when he's being evil in that polite, understated way of his.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 01:54 pm (UTC)Poor sad Jack.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-20 07:59 pm (UTC)