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Torchwood: Fanfic: Long days, longer nights
Title: Long days, longer nights
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Lisa, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 776 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any,snuggled on the couch at the end of a long day" at fic_promptly
Summary: The best part of the day is when it's all over.
'I’m so shattered,' Lisa said, flopping on the sofa, not caring that she’d practically fallen on top of Ianto in the process. He didn’t even bother to respond to her. She couldn’t tell if he was fixated on the television or just staring straight through it, off with the fairies.
She loved her job and all her mates, but there were times when it was brutal as well. There was always something happening, whether it involved her directly or not. Most of the time it might have felt mundane, doing reports and preparing analyses, but it paid well and that was the main thing.
Today however, it wasn’t the difficulty of the work, only the time that it had taken her to complete it. The problem was less her ability to get things done and more the interruptions that had prevented her from getting it done. Were it not for these constant alarms and evacuations that kept happening, she might get everything done in half the time. Today had been an absolute screamer. The alarms had gone off without warning just before lunch.
Cherie next to her groaned. 'Not again,' she said. 'That’s the third time in a fortnight.'
'Always right before a lunch break as well, haven’t you noticed?' Steve from the pod across the way said, popping his head up. 'Never straight after lunch or first thing in the morning. I swear they do it on purpose.'
And so began the long descent down the fire escape - all fifteen floors to the ground. Lately it felt like she spent more time traipsing up and down the stairwell than she did getting any work done. Then it had been over an hour milling about out the front of the building until they got the official all clear to return to work. No one ever told them exactly what happened when these alarms went off. There were all kinds of wild speculations about alien viruses and rogue robots. No one ever knew more that a tiny of fragment of what related strictly to their own job, but congregating outside with everyone else certainly sent the rumour mill into a tizz.
For most people, having a break from work would have been a bonus, but after you'd done it a few times, it got old. The only benefactor was the tiny coffee shop down in the plaza that went into meltdown every time there was an evacuation. If you weren't quick, they'd have sold out of everything before you even made it to the ground floor. Damn those lowly clerks who worked on levels three and four. She should have had Ianto pick her up something. He was somewhere down there and only came to the fourteenth floor cafeteria because Lisa was there.
No, what really sucked was that all that work she'd have gotten done whilst they'd been stuck outside was all still due before she went home. She'd skipped lunch, and the mid afternoon coffee break, then suddenly it was eight o'clock. Who needed these reports done before she went home was unclear. No one else seemed to be here to read them. All she knew was that they should be uploaded to the server, and if they weren't, there'd be an email in her inbox tomorrow morning demanding to know why they weren't done.
Late nights were beginning to become a habit. Even worse was that Ianto was already home when she'd tumbled through the door, practically dropping the keys in her weariness. He'd made dinner and everything and she hadn't so much as texted him to say she'd be late. Usually he was the one who stayed back to put in extra hours, but tonight on the one night he hadn't, she'd gone and let him down. Bless him for not being mad at her. Especially since she was too tired to even be bothered reheating the leftovers.
She leant back against his body, feeling how warm it was and noticing for the first time that it had been freezing outside. The walk from the tube station to their flat was short, but it was icy out there. She shivered involuntarily. Ianto grabbed the throw off the top of the sofa and wordlessly pulled it over her as she snuggled up. She found a cushion and nestled it between her and his lap, settling her head against it. She heard the television turned down low and she closed her eyes as a warm arm wrapped around her. She didn't care if she fell asleep right here on the sofa. Days were long, but she prayed that nights like these were longer still.
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