m_findlow

Title: Beneath the surface
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Gwen, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 521 - Lie to me at slashthedrabble
Summary: Ianto was more right than he knew when he said he'd barely scratched the surface.

Ianto punched the keys on the keyboard far harder than necessary, setting a program to cross-reference facial recognition software with the live video feed from Thames House. He wanted every person who was involved in this scandal identified and made to face justice over what was happening. He was incensed that so many people could be complicit in this, but that wasn't what had him really angry. Another match was made by the Torchwood systems, logging the man as an aide to the British consulate, and he rammed the key down, saving the result.

He could see Gwen watching him from the corner of his eye. 'You okay?' she asked.

He bit down on his response, refraining from using the word "fine". 'Bloody Jack,' he muttered instead. He turned around in his swivel chair to face her. 'Did you know Jack had a daughter?'

'What?' Gwen's eyebrows flew up and disappeared into her long fringe. 'A daughter?'

'And a grandson,' Ianto added, his voice full of mirth. 'Apparently this is not a new development.'

'He...' Gwen trailed off, chewing on the end of her thumbnail. 'Wow.'

'Oh, and the reason he took off earlier is because John Frobisher had them locked up somewhere and he's using them as leverage to get Jack to back down. Sorry, probably should have mentioned that.'

'Oh my God. Are they okay? Do we know?'

Ianto shook his head. He could only assume they were. Frobisher might be cunning enough to want Torchwood dead but Ianto didn't think he had the guts to harm innocent people.

'Four years and not a word,' Ianto began. 'You think you know a person, and...' "I tell you everything." Even now the words stuck in his throat. It was lucky Jack wasn't here. He didn't think he'd know what to do with him if he was. Now wasn't the time for personal issues, but it felt impossible to ignore. Why? Why did you stand there and lie to me all this time? That was what he wanted to know. And why tell me now? Clearly lying was the path of least resistance.

All those times he'd moaned to Jack about his annoying sister, and all the grief he'd gone through when his mum had been sick, and how he never knew what to do when it came to his niece and nephew and how to be a good uncle. All those moments when Jack could have come clean and fessed up to his past. It seemed almost impossible to imagine Jack wouldn't have accidentally let little clues slip here and there. How could you keep something that big a secret?

Gwen reached across and set a gentle hand on his knee. 'I'm sure he meant to tell you when the time was right.'

Ianto wished he could believe that but he knew deep down that Jack had held back so much more than Ianto could ever have imagined. Perhaps it would have been better if he'd just kept lying.