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m_findlowTitle: Surplus to requirements
Fandom: Torchwood
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, OCs
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 135 - Out of sorts at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly
fandomweeklySummary: An organisational change in structure has left Jack feeling a bit like a third wheel.
Jack wandered around the nearly empty hub. Everyone had gone home and now he finally had a moment to reflect on why he felt so out of sorts. Even the hub didn't feel like home anymore. No longer being in charge of it all had dented his pride more than he liked to admit. The day had just been one string of disappointments.
'I've got the costings for that proposed research outpost,' Gwen had announced after lunch, stepping into his office. Jack reached out to take them when Ianto called across and said "I'll grab those. Thanks." There was a slight tilt of Gwen's head as she looked at Jack and then he nodded, giving her silent and unnecessary permission to hand them over to their new executive leader.
Jack had decided to use it as a segue to ask how the final budget figures were going when Ianto's mobile rang, interrupting the question before Jack had even voiced it.
Ianto stood up from his desk and walked out. Jack's eyes followed him as he moved past the desks of his co-workers, continuing up the spiral staircase and sealing himself inside the boardroom where the call carried on.
It was a strange feeling, watching him go like that. Jack appreciated that they shared an office space with no real partition or privacy, but he'd never left to take a call before. Jack supposed that when an important phone call came for him, he'd never really noticed the way Ianto would silently vacate the space and close the door behind him, leaving Jack in private to have sensitive discussions. It underscored for Jack the idea that there was going to be a part of Torchwood he was no longer privy to. Not that he didn't think Ianto wouldn't tell him if he asked, but it was like being kicked out of the inner circle he'd belonged to for so long he couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been inside it.
Even this morning's briefing had been weird. Jack still assumed his spot at the head of the table, but before he could say "okay, so what have we got to report?" the meeting had taken off without him. In front of him, along with his coffee was a printed agenda. He'd never bothered with agendas before, but now there was a specific order to proceedings, and his contribution to the running sheet was blank.
'How was your day?' Ianto asked, breaking Jack from his reverie. He was still the last one here apart from Jack, so at least that hadn't changed.
Jack leaned back against the railing and let his gaze drift up towards the roof many floors above, staring at nothing in particular. 'Weird.'
'It's just one of those days,' Ianto replied, coming to lean against the railing next to him. 'It seems like you're not the only one struggling to get to grips with things.'
Jack's eyebrows knitted together as he lowered his gaze. 'What do you mean?'
'Today was weird for me too. I mean, for us every day is weird,' he said, qualifying the fact that no two days at Torchwood were ever the same, let alone anywhere close to normal, but this was a different kind of weird. 'Like…' he paused, trying to find the right way to describe it. 'Like the phone call that came from the Home Office while you were out. Usually it's fifteen minutes on the phone with Bridget trying to make up new excuses as to why you're too busy to talk to Frobisher. After that, we usually spend the requisite five minutes asking about nieces and nephews and the weather and that's it. Today, no chit chat whatsoever; just put me straight through to Frobisher without preamble. Seems they got our memo about my appointment. He wanted to run through every report you'd lodged for the last twelve months, which took three hours. I think he thought I wouldn't be across it, and by the end of it, he thanked me. Actually said thank you and that he was quite happy.'
Jack's forehead raised in surprise. 'As in h-a-p-p-y?'
'Like a kid at Barry Island with a stick of candy floss bigger than his head happy.'
'Wow. Bound to happen eventually though, I suppose. I think we all knew he'd be happier dealing with someone more diplomatic than me.'
'It's not just that,' Ianto continued on, 'it was like when that rift alert came through. I checked it, analysed it and reported it to the team, and then by the time I'd walked back to my desk and pulled my gun out from the drawer, you'd already left. I'd completely forgotten that going out with the team and checking rift alerts wasn't part of my job anymore. It made me feel like…'
'Like you weren't needed,' Jack finished for him.
He sighed. 'Yeah. That's crazy, isn't it?'
'No crazier than feeling like you're Captain of nothing anymore.'
'Now that is crazy. You're still our Captain, still the brave hero of Cardiff, saving the world every other day. You just don't have to do the paperwork for it anymore.'
Jack laughed. 'Why do you think I gave it up?' His smile dropped away and he looked earnestly into his husband's eyes. 'We could reverse the decision, I guess. Put everything back to how it was before.'
'Sounds a bit like giving up, doesn't it? We've only been at it two days.'
'I suppose we should give it some time to settle in.' Jack rubbed his face, feeling tired and wrung out. 'Any chance of a coffee?'
Ianto's warm smile was almost enough to make up for it. 'Of course. I'm always going to make the coffee, that part is never going to change, whether I'm the lowly cleaner, the archivist or the leader of Torchwood's global operations.'
Jack slipped his arms around Ianto's waist and pulled him close. 'Well then, Ianto Jones, I think we're gonna be okay after all.'
Jack wandered around the nearly empty hub. Everyone had gone home and now he finally had a moment to reflect on why he felt so out of sorts. Even the hub didn't feel like home anymore. No longer being in charge of it all had dented his pride more than he liked to admit. The day had just been one string of disappointments.
'I've got the costings for that proposed research outpost,' Gwen had announced after lunch, stepping into his office. Jack reached out to take them when Ianto called across and said "I'll grab those. Thanks." There was a slight tilt of Gwen's head as she looked at Jack and then he nodded, giving her silent and unnecessary permission to hand them over to their new executive leader.
Jack had decided to use it as a segue to ask how the final budget figures were going when Ianto's mobile rang, interrupting the question before Jack had even voiced it.
Ianto stood up from his desk and walked out. Jack's eyes followed him as he moved past the desks of his co-workers, continuing up the spiral staircase and sealing himself inside the boardroom where the call carried on.
It was a strange feeling, watching him go like that. Jack appreciated that they shared an office space with no real partition or privacy, but he'd never left to take a call before. Jack supposed that when an important phone call came for him, he'd never really noticed the way Ianto would silently vacate the space and close the door behind him, leaving Jack in private to have sensitive discussions. It underscored for Jack the idea that there was going to be a part of Torchwood he was no longer privy to. Not that he didn't think Ianto wouldn't tell him if he asked, but it was like being kicked out of the inner circle he'd belonged to for so long he couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been inside it.
Even this morning's briefing had been weird. Jack still assumed his spot at the head of the table, but before he could say "okay, so what have we got to report?" the meeting had taken off without him. In front of him, along with his coffee was a printed agenda. He'd never bothered with agendas before, but now there was a specific order to proceedings, and his contribution to the running sheet was blank.
'How was your day?' Ianto asked, breaking Jack from his reverie. He was still the last one here apart from Jack, so at least that hadn't changed.
Jack leaned back against the railing and let his gaze drift up towards the roof many floors above, staring at nothing in particular. 'Weird.'
'It's just one of those days,' Ianto replied, coming to lean against the railing next to him. 'It seems like you're not the only one struggling to get to grips with things.'
Jack's eyebrows knitted together as he lowered his gaze. 'What do you mean?'
'Today was weird for me too. I mean, for us every day is weird,' he said, qualifying the fact that no two days at Torchwood were ever the same, let alone anywhere close to normal, but this was a different kind of weird. 'Like…' he paused, trying to find the right way to describe it. 'Like the phone call that came from the Home Office while you were out. Usually it's fifteen minutes on the phone with Bridget trying to make up new excuses as to why you're too busy to talk to Frobisher. After that, we usually spend the requisite five minutes asking about nieces and nephews and the weather and that's it. Today, no chit chat whatsoever; just put me straight through to Frobisher without preamble. Seems they got our memo about my appointment. He wanted to run through every report you'd lodged for the last twelve months, which took three hours. I think he thought I wouldn't be across it, and by the end of it, he thanked me. Actually said thank you and that he was quite happy.'
Jack's forehead raised in surprise. 'As in h-a-p-p-y?'
'Like a kid at Barry Island with a stick of candy floss bigger than his head happy.'
'Wow. Bound to happen eventually though, I suppose. I think we all knew he'd be happier dealing with someone more diplomatic than me.'
'It's not just that,' Ianto continued on, 'it was like when that rift alert came through. I checked it, analysed it and reported it to the team, and then by the time I'd walked back to my desk and pulled my gun out from the drawer, you'd already left. I'd completely forgotten that going out with the team and checking rift alerts wasn't part of my job anymore. It made me feel like…'
'Like you weren't needed,' Jack finished for him.
He sighed. 'Yeah. That's crazy, isn't it?'
'No crazier than feeling like you're Captain of nothing anymore.'
'Now that is crazy. You're still our Captain, still the brave hero of Cardiff, saving the world every other day. You just don't have to do the paperwork for it anymore.'
Jack laughed. 'Why do you think I gave it up?' His smile dropped away and he looked earnestly into his husband's eyes. 'We could reverse the decision, I guess. Put everything back to how it was before.'
'Sounds a bit like giving up, doesn't it? We've only been at it two days.'
'I suppose we should give it some time to settle in.' Jack rubbed his face, feeling tired and wrung out. 'Any chance of a coffee?'
Ianto's warm smile was almost enough to make up for it. 'Of course. I'm always going to make the coffee, that part is never going to change, whether I'm the lowly cleaner, the archivist or the leader of Torchwood's global operations.'
Jack slipped his arms around Ianto's waist and pulled him close. 'Well then, Ianto Jones, I think we're gonna be okay after all.'
