Slashthedrabble Challenge 443 - Out of time

[m_findlow]

Title: Out of time
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 443 - Timing at slashthedrabble
Summary: Ianto needs more time to show Jack how much he cares

It was selfish to think about himself right now, what with the entire planet's fate hanging in the balance, but he wanted to hit his head against a brick wall.

'Where's Jack?' Gwen asked.

'Gone,' Ianto replied, not looking up from the laptop.

Gwen pulled a face. 'Where? Why?'

They were good questions. Instead he just said, 'It's Jack,' as if that explained everything.

'Bloody hell,' he heard her mutter and she wandered off in search of Rhys.

Bloody hell, indeed.

In his head he was still reeling from the revelation that Jack had a daughter and a grandson, and that they were both in danger because of him and everything that was happening. In his heart though he was despondent that even after so long, he and Jack just couldn't find a way through the mire that was their lives.

They were victims of time, two people who should never have met, and yet had. They were together, but never quite together in the right way. Their timing had always been terrible. Ianto, sneaking his way into Torchwood, and into Jack's heart, all the while plotting to save his girlfriend and disappear. Ianto finally coming to terms with how he felt about Jack, only to have him snatched away, trapped in 1941, and then to run off with the Doctor. Jack, finally realising that he wanted Ianto and no one else, only to have his ex-lover coming bursting through the doors, trying to atone for the past, and bringing down death and destruction on them in the form of Jack's long lost brother. Trying to pick up the pieces after they'd both lost so many people they loved, and they'd only just been starting to get things back on track.

Now the 456 had arrived, the government trying to kill them, and the world about to end. When they should have stood steadfast and resolute, Jack had thrown up another wall between them, the secrets of his past coming to haunt them both, tearing them apart as Ianto realised he really didn't know Jack at all, and more to the point, that Jack hadn't wanted him to know, not now, maybe not ever.

They were like two ships in a vast, roiling ocean, trying to dock but never quite in synch enough to manage it.

The more Ianto tried to fight it, the more time tried to slip through his fingers. He wanted to fight for them, no matter how many obstacles were thrown in their path, but how did you reach out to someone who was drowning in an invisible sea?

When Jack came back, if he came back, Ianto corrected himself, he was going to put it all out on the table for him. If Jack still wanted him, he could keep his secrets, but Ianto wouldn't hold anything back now. He loved Jack. If the world was about to end, he was going to make sure Jack knew exactly how he felt before it was too late.

Comments

[jo02]

This was very powerful.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. This one took almost no time to write at all, ironically.

[bk_forever]

*sniffle* This is just so heartbreaking! Ianto did what he promised himself he'd do, but it was already too late, time ran out for them way too soon =(

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

He tried to find the right moment a couple of times, but as always he had to put his duty first. At least he did get a chance to finally say it, despite the awful circumstances.

[bk_forever]

And then Jack managed to save him at the last second... Oops, no, sorry, that was one of mine ;)