m_findlow | Anythingdrabble Challenge 28

Title: Making the best
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Torchwood team
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 28 - Ideal at anythingdrabble
Summary: Jack knows his latest decision is not going to be popular.

'Is this the part where you sit down and tell us all how we ended up with a plus one?' Owen asked, easing into the chair around the boardroom table.

'More or less,' Jack replied, sitting himself down. 'Saves me having to answer the same questions three times.'

'So, why is he here?' Suzie asked, cutting to the chase. She had one eye fixed firmly out the windows, watching the young man in the suit potter around, ostensibly tidying up the place.

'You did notice our latest addition, didn't you?' Jack asked, referring to the pterodactyl now perched high up on a ledge near the roof. Strangely, she seemed to like it up there.

'And since when do we recruit bystanders?'

'He worked for Torchwood. I think we can safely say he's a bit more than a bystander.'

'We don't need anyone else. The four of us can a mange just fine,' Suzie insisted.

He'd expected resistance from the team at bringing in someone new. He was still in two minds about the decision himself. 'He hasn't got anywhere else to go.'

'Told you that, did he?' Owen asked, looking skeptical.

No, he hadn't, but Jack had surmised as much. Welsh accent, working in London, but had come straight home to petition him for a job. A million opportunities in London, but nothing that was keeping him there. His girlfriend was probably the only anchor he'd had. That told Jack all he needed to know.

'My only alternative was to retcon him, and even then, we take a few days of memories, so what? He still knows we're here.'

'So, take them all,' Suzie suggested.

Jack cringed at the idea. It was cold, taking him all the way back to his pre-Torchwood days. His own experience at having lost two years of his memories still rankled. He couldn't do it to someone else, even for security reasons. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

'He found me,' Jack replied. 'Chances are he'd only try again.' Nothing he'd done so far had put Ianto off, despite his best efforts. The man was tenacious, and part of Jack liked that. 'Besides, he handled himself okay.'

'You're not suggesting he's going to be a field agent, are you?' Suzie exclaimed, her face saying exactly how she felt.

'I'd like to see how you would have gone trying to catch a dinosaur,' Jack quippped. 'But, no. He'll stay here for now, learn the ropes, how we operate, and we'll take it from there.'

'He's ex-Torchwood One,' Owen grumbled. 'Can we trust him?'

'He seems nice,' Tosh said, adding to the conversation for the first time.

'You think everyone's nice, Tosh.'

'And not everyone is an arsehole like you, Owen,' Suzie replied.

'Look, I know it's not ideal,' Jack said, 'but I'm giving him a chance to prove himself. He wants to be here. If it doesn't work out, we'll let him go.' How he did that would all depend on what happened next.

Anythingdrabble Challenge 28 - Making the best

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