Fandomweekly Challenge 118 - Targeted
Jul. 24th, 2022 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_findlowTitle: Targeted
'Home sweet home,' Jack said, opening the door and gently guiding his lover inside. For once the words were not just an empty platitude; Jack really was glad to be safe within the confines of the cosy place they could call their own.
He left Ianto parked on their sofa and wandered through into the kitchen calling back out "You hungry?'
'No, I had a ham sandwich just before.'
Jack pulled a face even though there was no one to see it as he flipped on the kettle. 'You're game. Salmonella poisoning from a days old ham and cheese is a quick way to extend your hospital stay if ever I heard of one.'
'It wasn't that bad,' came the weary reply. 'I paid off the nurse to go buy it from the cafe downstairs.'
'Wise move,' Jack agreed, bustling around the kitchen, fetching mugs and spoons. He wasn't going to attempt coffee, but he was on safe ground with a hot chocolate straight out of the tin, and figured they could both do with a warm, sugary hit. Once done, he carried them back out to the living room and handed a mug to Ianto before settling on the sofa next to him.
Jack didn't usually fuss like this, preferring to stay aloof in all things romantic. Ianto was often injured in the line of duty, yet this felt totally different. He wasn't even too badly hurt. More bruised and battered than anything else, with a sprained wrist strapped heavily to keep it immobile. Jack supposed that in throwing yourself from a speeding vehicle, a sprained wrist was getting off lightly. It had just been fortunate that there'd been no cars coming the other way, ready to run him over as he tumbled from the driver's side door. Even the overnight concussion watch at the hospital was precautionary. In Jack's mind, however, none of it should have happened. The chances of the brake lines on the SUV failing at the moment they were driving down one of the steepest hills in Cardiff was in the astronomical category. The more he turned it over, the more he became convinced that it hadn't been an accident. Someone had tampered with their car intentionally.
Ianto let the mug sit in his left hand for a few minutes without drinking before finally abandoning it on the coffee table and lying back on the sofa, leaning into Jack with his head nestled against Jack's upper arm. He wouldn't have had much sleep at the hospital, if any, as they monitored him for signs of head trauma. Jack was happy to play pillow to his tired lover, feeling a reciprocal weariness settle on him.
Ianto's strapped hand draped lazily over Jack's leg and Jack studied the red grazed knuckles where they'd impacted the road. If he'd been shaken the night before at their close encounter with death he didn't show it now. He seemed relaxed and at ease, brushing it off as just another one of those moments when he'd once again cheated death. Jack abandoned his own mug as his stomach began to twist in knots at the thought of their luck getting closer and closer to running out.
'I called Detective Swanson this morning,' Jack finally said.
'Did she have more questions for your official police statement?'
'No.' He'd given her a full account of what had happened last night when she'd turned up at the scene of the SUV, wrapped around a light pole and crushed up against a row of houses at the bottom of the hill. He'd had to skirt around his explanation of how he'd survived the crash, throwing himself out of the car only at the last second after he'd grabbed the wheel and pulled it hard to the right to avoid ploughing directly into someone's front living room. It was all he could do, and the rest of the car's movement was only ever going to be arrested by sheer impact against something much larger and heavier than it. 'I asked her to be put on the case.'
Ianto sat up slightly. 'Wait, you're not suggesting you're actually going to let Detective Swanson investigate this, are you? Yesterday you said maybe it was just a case of mistaken identity. Now you're saying if someone is after us that we should be involving the police?'
Jack felt taken aback. 'Why not? We both know those brake lines didn't just fail in a freak accident. Someone tampered with them.'
Ianto rubbed his free hand over his tired face. 'There's loads of idiots in Cardiff. Maybe they tried to knick the car and when that didn't work they just messed with it instead. Could've been kids, or vandals.'
'Or someone who has a grudge.' Against Torchwood. Against Jack, or most troubling, against Ianto, Jack couldn't say for certain. They'd all made enemies along the way, but Jack didn't want to spend his days having to look over his shoulder for someone who was after them, especially if the wrong person got caught up in this suspected vendetta. Had they known Ianto was behind the wheel, or was this meant as a warning to Jack? Did it even matter?
Jack felt Ianto tense a little. 'Even if that's true, is involving the police really a good idea? If you wanted to investigate it, wouldn't it be better to do it ourselves?'
'You disagree?'
'Um, because we're Torchwood and we have way better resources than they do.'
'But no time,' Jack reminded him. 'We're private citizens just like everybody else. Don't we deserve the police's help?'
'I'm not saying that. I just… you really think someone wanted me dead?'
Jack pulled him close, wrapping gently around his bruised body. 'I don't know, but I'm scared of what it means if we weren't just victims of some random act. Whatever I can do to keep you safe.'
Jack could only hope there'd been a mistake. The alternative was far too chilling to comprehend.
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Kathy Swanson
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 118 - Mistaken identity at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly
fandomweeklySummary: Jack and Ianto are faced with coming to terms with an attempt on their lives.
'Home sweet home,' Jack said, opening the door and gently guiding his lover inside. For once the words were not just an empty platitude; Jack really was glad to be safe within the confines of the cosy place they could call their own.
He left Ianto parked on their sofa and wandered through into the kitchen calling back out "You hungry?'
'No, I had a ham sandwich just before.'
Jack pulled a face even though there was no one to see it as he flipped on the kettle. 'You're game. Salmonella poisoning from a days old ham and cheese is a quick way to extend your hospital stay if ever I heard of one.'
'It wasn't that bad,' came the weary reply. 'I paid off the nurse to go buy it from the cafe downstairs.'
'Wise move,' Jack agreed, bustling around the kitchen, fetching mugs and spoons. He wasn't going to attempt coffee, but he was on safe ground with a hot chocolate straight out of the tin, and figured they could both do with a warm, sugary hit. Once done, he carried them back out to the living room and handed a mug to Ianto before settling on the sofa next to him.
Jack didn't usually fuss like this, preferring to stay aloof in all things romantic. Ianto was often injured in the line of duty, yet this felt totally different. He wasn't even too badly hurt. More bruised and battered than anything else, with a sprained wrist strapped heavily to keep it immobile. Jack supposed that in throwing yourself from a speeding vehicle, a sprained wrist was getting off lightly. It had just been fortunate that there'd been no cars coming the other way, ready to run him over as he tumbled from the driver's side door. Even the overnight concussion watch at the hospital was precautionary. In Jack's mind, however, none of it should have happened. The chances of the brake lines on the SUV failing at the moment they were driving down one of the steepest hills in Cardiff was in the astronomical category. The more he turned it over, the more he became convinced that it hadn't been an accident. Someone had tampered with their car intentionally.
Ianto let the mug sit in his left hand for a few minutes without drinking before finally abandoning it on the coffee table and lying back on the sofa, leaning into Jack with his head nestled against Jack's upper arm. He wouldn't have had much sleep at the hospital, if any, as they monitored him for signs of head trauma. Jack was happy to play pillow to his tired lover, feeling a reciprocal weariness settle on him.
Ianto's strapped hand draped lazily over Jack's leg and Jack studied the red grazed knuckles where they'd impacted the road. If he'd been shaken the night before at their close encounter with death he didn't show it now. He seemed relaxed and at ease, brushing it off as just another one of those moments when he'd once again cheated death. Jack abandoned his own mug as his stomach began to twist in knots at the thought of their luck getting closer and closer to running out.
'I called Detective Swanson this morning,' Jack finally said.
'Did she have more questions for your official police statement?'
'No.' He'd given her a full account of what had happened last night when she'd turned up at the scene of the SUV, wrapped around a light pole and crushed up against a row of houses at the bottom of the hill. He'd had to skirt around his explanation of how he'd survived the crash, throwing himself out of the car only at the last second after he'd grabbed the wheel and pulled it hard to the right to avoid ploughing directly into someone's front living room. It was all he could do, and the rest of the car's movement was only ever going to be arrested by sheer impact against something much larger and heavier than it. 'I asked her to be put on the case.'
Ianto sat up slightly. 'Wait, you're not suggesting you're actually going to let Detective Swanson investigate this, are you? Yesterday you said maybe it was just a case of mistaken identity. Now you're saying if someone is after us that we should be involving the police?'
Jack felt taken aback. 'Why not? We both know those brake lines didn't just fail in a freak accident. Someone tampered with them.'
Ianto rubbed his free hand over his tired face. 'There's loads of idiots in Cardiff. Maybe they tried to knick the car and when that didn't work they just messed with it instead. Could've been kids, or vandals.'
'Or someone who has a grudge.' Against Torchwood. Against Jack, or most troubling, against Ianto, Jack couldn't say for certain. They'd all made enemies along the way, but Jack didn't want to spend his days having to look over his shoulder for someone who was after them, especially if the wrong person got caught up in this suspected vendetta. Had they known Ianto was behind the wheel, or was this meant as a warning to Jack? Did it even matter?
Jack felt Ianto tense a little. 'Even if that's true, is involving the police really a good idea? If you wanted to investigate it, wouldn't it be better to do it ourselves?'
'You disagree?'
'Um, because we're Torchwood and we have way better resources than they do.'
'But no time,' Jack reminded him. 'We're private citizens just like everybody else. Don't we deserve the police's help?'
'I'm not saying that. I just… you really think someone wanted me dead?'
Jack pulled him close, wrapping gently around his bruised body. 'I don't know, but I'm scared of what it means if we weren't just victims of some random act. Whatever I can do to keep you safe.'
Jack could only hope there'd been a mistake. The alternative was far too chilling to comprehend.
