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m_findlowTitle: Filling the void
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 300 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 423 -Drop at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
drabble_zone
drabble_zoneSummary: Jack's absence from the team is starting to show. A triple drabble.
‘Sorry. Sorry,’ Ianto apologised, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to mop up the liquid about to roll off the edge of the table and into Gwen’s lap. No mugs had been broken, fortunately, but there was coffee all over the place.
‘It’s fine,’ Gwen said, doing her best to brush off the awkward moment. Ianto had never, not in all the time she’d known him, ever dropped a tray of coffees. Not carrying them up the spiral stairs, not dodging mess left by Owen as some kind of obstacle course. Not even when the tray had been five mugs and a plate of biscuits, instead of just four mugs and no biscuits.
‘Why don’t you all head downstairs and start without me,’ Ianto offered. ‘I’ll clean up here and join you when I’m done.’
They took the suggestion in the good nature it was given, but not before Gwen grabbed Tosh by the sleeve, stopping her just outside the boardroom. ‘Do you think he’s okay?’
Tosh chewed her lip, clearly sharing her concern. ‘Jack’s been gone a while now,’ she agreed. He’d been gone before and Ianto had seemed fine, but now she wasn’t so sure. Somehow knowing Jack was out there, fighting The Committee made it worse, because there was nothing they could do to help and no one knew when Jack would be back. Ianto’s brave face was starting to show cracks, not helped by his failed mission aboard the Sky Puncher. They all missed having Jack around, but for Ianto it must feel like torture.
‘I wish there was something we could do,’ Gwen said. She hated seeing Ianto trying and failing to hold it together. She could do a lot of things to run the place in Jack’s absence, but she couldn’t replace Jack’s absence.
‘Sorry. Sorry,’ Ianto apologised, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to mop up the liquid about to roll off the edge of the table and into Gwen’s lap. No mugs had been broken, fortunately, but there was coffee all over the place.
‘It’s fine,’ Gwen said, doing her best to brush off the awkward moment. Ianto had never, not in all the time she’d known him, ever dropped a tray of coffees. Not carrying them up the spiral stairs, not dodging mess left by Owen as some kind of obstacle course. Not even when the tray had been five mugs and a plate of biscuits, instead of just four mugs and no biscuits.
‘Why don’t you all head downstairs and start without me,’ Ianto offered. ‘I’ll clean up here and join you when I’m done.’
They took the suggestion in the good nature it was given, but not before Gwen grabbed Tosh by the sleeve, stopping her just outside the boardroom. ‘Do you think he’s okay?’
Tosh chewed her lip, clearly sharing her concern. ‘Jack’s been gone a while now,’ she agreed. He’d been gone before and Ianto had seemed fine, but now she wasn’t so sure. Somehow knowing Jack was out there, fighting The Committee made it worse, because there was nothing they could do to help and no one knew when Jack would be back. Ianto’s brave face was starting to show cracks, not helped by his failed mission aboard the Sky Puncher. They all missed having Jack around, but for Ianto it must feel like torture.
‘I wish there was something we could do,’ Gwen said. She hated seeing Ianto trying and failing to hold it together. She could do a lot of things to run the place in Jack’s absence, but she couldn’t replace Jack’s absence.
