BTBD Challenge 173 - Small sacrifices

[m_findlow]

Title: Small sacrifices
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Gwen, mentions Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 971 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 173 - Side at beattheblackdog
Summary: Jack has some sacrifices to make if he wants to keep all the people in his life happy.

'Please, Gwen? Puh-lease? I need you in my corner here,' Jack begged, almost on his knees in front of her at her desk. It was pitiful seeing a man who could take down the worst of the universe's aliens groveling so. He truly had no shame whatsoever.

'No. I told you already Jack. I'm not taking sides.'

'But you have to!'

Have to? Now that was cheap, she thought. There were really only three of them and Jack was asking her to pick a side? As if that wasn't going to be fraught with peril. No matter which way she went, she was going to upset someone, and the repercussions for her were not worth whatever she earned in return for her undivided loyalty. 'You are a grown man, Jack, in an adult relationship. If you can't sort out your own problems, then I'm sorry, but I can't help you.'

'Ianto is being totally unreasonable!' Jack insisted, sounding as completely desperate as the situation actually wasn't. They both knew full well that Ianto was not the unreasonable sort, and that if anything, his bargaining was typically very concessionary. Even from a position of strength, Ianto wasn't going to go for the jugular. A bruised ego was the most common form of punishment exacted, and even that had its educational uses. All of them could do with occasionally being made to eat their own pride. Now seemed a good time to remind Jack of that.

'Which is a precisely what he said to me about you this morning,' Gwen said, 'only he didn't ask me to back him up.' Ianto didn't sink to those levels. If he was unhappy with Jack, he let it be known in his own way, leaving the rest of them to draw their own conclusions about who was in the right.

Jack snorted and turned defensive. 'Oh, I'll bet he did that whole nicey nicey bit that makes you want to sympathise with him anyway.'

'I already told, you, this is between you and him. Don't drag the rest of us into it.' She wasn't sure who else there was, but when Jack needed someone on his side, he wouldn't stop until he had the upper hand.

'I'll give you a pay rise,' Jack offered.

'No.'

'Weeks vacation in Paris?'

'No.'

'Chocolate? Come on, I know you love chocolate. That expensive stuff with the peppermint crisps.'  

'Jack!' Gwen sighed. All this fuss just because they couldn't agree to share five am dogwalking duties. She didn't want to remind Jack that technically it was his dog, and that Ianto was being quite generous in looking after it, always feeding it, giving it baths and also taking it for walks. After having had to live witness consciousness trapped in Jack's body for three weeks, she wouldn't blame Ianto if he wanted to take it straight to an animal shelter and be done with it.

It had been less than happy about sharing Jack with him, but for what reason none of them could say. It just didn't like Ianto full stop. It had mellowed of course, since it had figured out that anything that made Ianto happy, made Jack happy. It wasn't what you'd call house trained, not yet, and not for a lack of trying on Ianto's part, since Jack could no longer bear to give it up, adopting it. That didn't mean that it wouldn't cause trouble the minute Jack had his back turned. She'd heard Ianto's annoyed mutterings on more than one occasion, which usually took the form of "bloody stupid thing" or "stick them both out in the bloody doghouse".

'You just remember all those times Ianto has looked after you,' Gwen warned him. 'And now he's looking after your new pet now as well.'

Jack folded his arms. 'Oh, so you have taken his side!'

'I am not taking sides! I'm just saying that Ianto always looks after everyone ahead of himself. Might it not be nice just for once that we put him first? Getting  up an extra hour early every day when he's usually the last one to finish work every night isn't exactly doing him any favours.'

Jack sighed. 'You're right. I suppose it is a little unfair. I just thought it might be good for them to spend some time together bonding. They haven't exactly gotten off on the right foot, if you know what I mean.'

'He had to handcuff your human body to the bedhead at night to stop it from wandering off, and got growled at every morning for having to share the bed with the both of you,' Gwen replied. 'Is it any wonder?'

'I'm not always there in the mornings,' Jack argued. 'The rift-'

'Don't make excuses, Jack Harkness,' Gwen scolded. 'When you are there, you can make an effort. You wanted to keep him, now you've got to make sure that you don't lose the other. 'She was pretty sure she knew which one Jack would be more devastated if he lost.

'Alright. Suppose that means I have to go an apologise now, does it?' He couldn't have sounded more browbeaten if he'd tried.

'I've got a better idea. Tomorrow, you make sure you're there and take the dog, letting Ianto sleep in. Then the next day, you agree to go together. After that, I'm sure you'll be able to agree of fair terms.'

If accruing brownie points with Ianto wasn't in Jack's best interest, followed up by a perfectly good excuse for them to spend some time together outside of work, she didn't know what was. Dealing with the things that came through the rift was by far the easier part of her job these days. Being a relationship counselor had definitely not been part of her job description when she'd signed up.