Torchwood: Fanfic: Fair play

[m_findlow]

Title: Fair play
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Tosh, Suzie, Owen, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 795 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Juliet316's prompt "Any, any, all work and no play" at fic_promptly
Summary: Even brilliant minds are allowed a little down time

She wasn't a workaholic, really she wasn't, it was just that work was far more interesting than anything all those other people were doing. How many other people could say that they were tinkering with a power source that was developed on a world a million light years from here, that needed nothing more that melted marshmallows to keep it going? Surely that had to be more interesting that sipping cocktails at the bar and hoping you weren't just there as a piece of meat on display for any man who thought he might take an interest.

Then again, she'd never been interested in doing any of that stuff before she'd joined Torchwood either, back when she'd been working that mindlessly boring job at the Ministry of Defence. What had been her excuse then?

She wasn't pretty or popular, that was her excuse. Even if she'd been at the bar with all the cool people, she'd never really be one of them. She'd always be the clever one, but never the lucky one. She didn't have a boyfriend or a pet, or anything waiting for her at home. She didn't even really have any friends. Not outside of work, anyway.

Well, lucky was all in the eye of the beholder, wasn't it? Secret organisations, aliens that fell through a rift in time, cool gadgets, fast cars and dashing heroes. Who wouldn't want a piece of that action? She worked for Torchwood, that made her automatically cool, didn't it?

She looked over at Owen and Suzie who were packing up for the day. To be fair, they'd been packing up for about three hours, just waiting for the green light from Jack to take off for the day. They didn't love their job in quite the same way she did. That made them the cool ones.

'Coming Tosh?' Suzie asked, slipping her jacket on.

'Not bloody likely,' Owen replied.

Tosh shut her mouth. She'd been about to say she wouldn't mind going out, just for one drink anyway, but Owen's comments stopped her dead in her tracks. Truth was, they didn't really want her there, it was just a common courtesy to invite her. A sympathy invite, if you will, to which the correct response was to politely decline.

'No, that's okay,' she said, playing her part perfectly. 'I've got a lot of stuff to finish up here.'

'All work and no play, Tosh, you know what they say,' Suzie mused.

'I know. I promise I won't stay late.'

And with that they disappeared out the door. They wouldn't spare her another thought.

'Well, looks like it's just you and me,' she said to her computer monitor, adjusting her chair for a long night in.

'And me,' came the voice.

'Jack. Why are you still here? Aren't you going for a drink with the others?'

'Someone's gotta stay here and keep an eye on the rift,' he said.

'All work and no play, Jack,' she said, repeating Suzie's earlier comments. She was under no illusion that Jack did plenty of playing, but there was also an invisible weight of responsibility sitting on those shoulders that she didn't envy.

'I know,' he smiled. 'But since you're here, it's hardly like work.'

She blushed for the compliment, even if Jack was only saying it to be nice, though it had the ring of sincerity.

'Should be a quiet one, though,' he said, hands shoved deeply in his pockets. 'Unless the weevils are planning on painting the town red tonight.'

'Hopefully not.'

Jack looked at her and she wondered what he was thinking.

'If you're not too busy with work this evening I wouldn't mind the company.'

Was that an invitation? Did he really prefer her company over being on his own?

'What did you have in mind?'

'Oh, I don't know. Pizza, maybe. I've got a box of scrabble in my office.'

'Scrabble?'

'No one else will play with me. Owen can't spell, and Suzie says I cheat.'

'You do cheat,' Tosh joked. 'I still remember when I first started here, and we used to play I spy in the car. You'd change your mind every time I got the answer.'

'Be that as it may, I can't think of anyone I'd rather play with.'

She looked at him and for once she didn't feel like the completely uncool one. Whatever worked she'd been planning on doing could always wait until tomorrow.

'Promise not to cheat?'

'Scouts honour,' he said, saluting. 'I only cheat at twister these days, and then only the naked kind.'

'Well, we won't be playing that!'

'You say that now,' he joked back. 'After I've beaten you at scrabble six times, you'll be begging for a chance to out twist me on the floor.'

Comments

[jo02]

Ahaha - so cute!

[bk_forever]

Heee! Yes, Jack would cheat at naked Twister, he'd lick or bite whatever was nearest and make the other person fall down!

I love the way he makes Tosh feel valued and wanted when the other two make her feel left out.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

Tosh will always be special to Jack as his first ever recruit. I like writing fics with just the two of them, they make such a good pair.

[bk_forever]

But was Tosh his first recruit? I always figured Suzie was already there when Jack bought Tosh in.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

An interesting quandry! I like to think she was the first so that he could do the dashing fieldwork whilst she stayed at hub as support and technical genius, and that once Jack had decided that would work, that he could expand the team further to give him more help out in the field. Plus I already kind of wrote it that way, so I guess I'm biased. Suzie dropped into his lap uunexpectedly one day.
The joys of being able to come up with your own pre and post canon! The only perk of them not continuing the show was that we get to make up the rest! :)

[bk_forever]

So true, we each have a free rein with both pre- and post-canon events, and we can choose which bits of canon to keep and which to disregard too.

I've always written it as Suzie being the first, so I guess between us we cover all the bases, LOL!

I like your theory, but I'll leave writing it that way around to you, it would be too disconcerting for me to try to turn it around in my head.