Addict for Dramatics
Chapter Two
Gwen watches sadly as her captain walks away, dark coat swaying in the wind. For some reason this time the coat isn’t swaying dramatically, it sways in a melancholic, solemn way representing the man perfectly. She thinks that this might be the first time in over a year of knowing him she actually thinks of him as a man. A lonely, broken man.
Her hazel eyes look down, scanning the thick head of dark hair, the closed eyelids, his neck. She catches a glimpse of something silver reflected off of the streetlamp not too far off. She reaches down to observe it, noticing it’s a silver necklace. Ianto hadn’t seemed the type for a necklace. On second thought, he didn’t seem the type to be shagging his boss either. Was it really just shagging anymore? Over the past few months, before Tosh and Owen, she could see this cheerfulness between the two men. They seemed content and at peace, not just with each other but the people and city around them. The younger man had a snarky side to him that no one was aware of before. He seemed so happy. How cruel a world it is that he had to die like this.
She feels something beneath her hand and it wasn’t the necklace. It’s something else, something faint, barely there but noticeable. It’s a pulse. Ianto Jones is alive.
“Ianto? Ianto! Ianto, wake up!” she shakes the younger man maybe a bit too forcefully.
“Cnych! Ianto, please.”
His body remains unresponsive, not even a quiver of an eyelid. Gwen glances at the car park, the SUV still there. Good, at least Jack was on foot. She stands up and hauls the young Welshman, lifting him by his underarms. She manages to make it to the SUV and places him carefully inside. She searches the back for anything that might be able to help him before remembering about the Cortellian, or what was left of it, in a pool of it’s own blood. She ventures back and manages to clean up the scene as good as she can. She can’t help the tiny voice in the back of heard saying that Ianto would’ve done it better. After all, he did everything better than her.
The final thought remains in her mind after she gets behind the wheel and heads off to the hospital. Ianto was amazing in everything. Attractive, intelligent, brilliant coffee, Jack was smitten with him. He was everything she wanted and everything, absolutely everything, she wanted to be. Maybe this was what she wanted. Ianto was in a coma, he could die any moment, no use worrying Jack about it. She can keep it a secret. Monitor his progress and if he doesn’t wake up after a few months she’d have the plug pulled and maybe Jack would finally notice her as something more.
She pulls into the emergency entrance to the hospital and decides what her next course of action will be. She’s going to hide Ianto Jones.
***
Gwen returned to the Hub an hour before she heard the cog door open. Before Tosh and Owen, she’d never noticed just how loud it was. Now the sound was likely to give her a heart attack one of these days. Her own jumpiness might also be due to the fact that the only person walking through that door at that moment is Jack, the man who’s boyfriend is alive, unconscious but alive, and he still thought he was dead and she wasn’t going to tell him.
He stumbled in, tossing his greatcoat on the bare desk that used to contain all of Toshiko Sato’s knick-knacks she’d accumulated over the five years she’d claimed it as her own. He stepped in and saw Gwen emerge from the Morgue.
“S’done then?” he managed to slur out. If she was a few feet closer she could smell the booze off him, intoxicating.
She simply nodded, looking down at her muddied trainers. Ianto would have chastised her about it by now.
“Fuck…” he choked out and clutched the nearest wall for support.
Gwen was there beside him in a flash -well- more of a blur in his state. She wrapped him into a hug as he sobbed into her shoulder.
“He can’t be…Oh fuck, I can’t. I-”
“I know, it’s going to be alright.”
Jack threw his bottle of liquor across the pathway only to watch it crash into the opposite wall.
“It’s not going to be alright. Nothing is. After…After being buried away for so long I didn’t even feel human anymore. He was there for me. He was so, so fucking patient with me. Knew whatever anyone needed an’ he’s fucking…fucking dead,” Jack whimpered, clenching his fist as Gwen hugged him tighter.
“It’ll get easier.”
Jack looked at her coldly. “You’ve got no idea what it feels like to loose a lover, little girl.”
“I lost Rhys!”
“Don’t kid yourself,” he hiccupped. “You lost him way before Bilis. You two barely spoke. You’ve got no fucking clue what it’s like to loose someone like Ianto. Someone you lo-” he clutched his head and clenched his teeth, wanting to say it but vowing to never say it again except to a conscious and very alive Ianto Jones.
“I’m still here, Jack. I still care,” she tilted her head a bit to get a better look at him, making sure their lips were barely a centimetre apart.
Jack shut his pained eyes and stepped away from her embrace, pushing her back. “Go home, Gwen. Just….fuck, just go home. I need to be alone.”
Gwen stepped back, walking over to the old and fairly underused coat rack and pulled on her jacket. “I think that after everything, that’s the last thing you need to be,” she managed to spit out before stepping out of the Hub.
Jack slid down the wall and sobbed himself sober.
___
Getting darker, eh?
Comments really do help me post faster.
I'm talking to you, six other readers who didn't last time. lol
Her hazel eyes look down, scanning the thick head of dark hair, the closed eyelids, his neck. She catches a glimpse of something silver reflected off of the streetlamp not too far off. She reaches down to observe it, noticing it’s a silver necklace. Ianto hadn’t seemed the type for a necklace. On second thought, he didn’t seem the type to be shagging his boss either. Was it really just shagging anymore? Over the past few months, before Tosh and Owen, she could see this cheerfulness between the two men. They seemed content and at peace, not just with each other but the people and city around them. The younger man had a snarky side to him that no one was aware of before. He seemed so happy. How cruel a world it is that he had to die like this.
She feels something beneath her hand and it wasn’t the necklace. It’s something else, something faint, barely there but noticeable. It’s a pulse. Ianto Jones is alive.
“Ianto? Ianto! Ianto, wake up!” she shakes the younger man maybe a bit too forcefully.
“Cnych! Ianto, please.”
His body remains unresponsive, not even a quiver of an eyelid. Gwen glances at the car park, the SUV still there. Good, at least Jack was on foot. She stands up and hauls the young Welshman, lifting him by his underarms. She manages to make it to the SUV and places him carefully inside. She searches the back for anything that might be able to help him before remembering about the Cortellian, or what was left of it, in a pool of it’s own blood. She ventures back and manages to clean up the scene as good as she can. She can’t help the tiny voice in the back of heard saying that Ianto would’ve done it better. After all, he did everything better than her.
The final thought remains in her mind after she gets behind the wheel and heads off to the hospital. Ianto was amazing in everything. Attractive, intelligent, brilliant coffee, Jack was smitten with him. He was everything she wanted and everything, absolutely everything, she wanted to be. Maybe this was what she wanted. Ianto was in a coma, he could die any moment, no use worrying Jack about it. She can keep it a secret. Monitor his progress and if he doesn’t wake up after a few months she’d have the plug pulled and maybe Jack would finally notice her as something more.
She pulls into the emergency entrance to the hospital and decides what her next course of action will be. She’s going to hide Ianto Jones.
***
Gwen returned to the Hub an hour before she heard the cog door open. Before Tosh and Owen, she’d never noticed just how loud it was. Now the sound was likely to give her a heart attack one of these days. Her own jumpiness might also be due to the fact that the only person walking through that door at that moment is Jack, the man who’s boyfriend is alive, unconscious but alive, and he still thought he was dead and she wasn’t going to tell him.
He stumbled in, tossing his greatcoat on the bare desk that used to contain all of Toshiko Sato’s knick-knacks she’d accumulated over the five years she’d claimed it as her own. He stepped in and saw Gwen emerge from the Morgue.
“S’done then?” he managed to slur out. If she was a few feet closer she could smell the booze off him, intoxicating.
She simply nodded, looking down at her muddied trainers. Ianto would have chastised her about it by now.
“Fuck…” he choked out and clutched the nearest wall for support.
Gwen was there beside him in a flash -well- more of a blur in his state. She wrapped him into a hug as he sobbed into her shoulder.
“He can’t be…Oh fuck, I can’t. I-”
“I know, it’s going to be alright.”
Jack threw his bottle of liquor across the pathway only to watch it crash into the opposite wall.
“It’s not going to be alright. Nothing is. After…After being buried away for so long I didn’t even feel human anymore. He was there for me. He was so, so fucking patient with me. Knew whatever anyone needed an’ he’s fucking…fucking dead,” Jack whimpered, clenching his fist as Gwen hugged him tighter.
“It’ll get easier.”
Jack looked at her coldly. “You’ve got no idea what it feels like to loose a lover, little girl.”
“I lost Rhys!”
“Don’t kid yourself,” he hiccupped. “You lost him way before Bilis. You two barely spoke. You’ve got no fucking clue what it’s like to loose someone like Ianto. Someone you lo-” he clutched his head and clenched his teeth, wanting to say it but vowing to never say it again except to a conscious and very alive Ianto Jones.
“I’m still here, Jack. I still care,” she tilted her head a bit to get a better look at him, making sure their lips were barely a centimetre apart.
Jack shut his pained eyes and stepped away from her embrace, pushing her back. “Go home, Gwen. Just….fuck, just go home. I need to be alone.”
Gwen stepped back, walking over to the old and fairly underused coat rack and pulled on her jacket. “I think that after everything, that’s the last thing you need to be,” she managed to spit out before stepping out of the Hub.
Jack slid down the wall and sobbed himself sober.
___
Getting darker, eh?
Comments really do help me post faster.
I'm talking to you, six other readers who didn't last time. lol