m_findlow

Title: Not so bright idea
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Tosh, Jack
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Amnesty and Challenge 72 - Drain at anythingdrabble
Summary: Jack's decorations have had some unintended consequences.

Tosh knocked on the door and didn't even bother to wait for Jack to tell her it was okay to come in. Nobody else ever waited for an engraved invitation so why should she? Especially when she had a problem.

'You'd better watch where you stand, Tosh,' Jack warned her. 'I've got mistletoe hung up all over the place just waiting for someone to make a misstep.' He grinned as he said it, like it was cunningly planned that way. No doubt within a few days Ianto would have placed markers on the floor, indicating which specific spots were safe to stand. How Jack had never noticed them year after year was anybody's guess.

She gave a surreptitious glance upwards before proceeding forward, taking her chances and hoping that the serious look on her face would be enough to make Jack think twice about trying to sneak an early Christmas snog out of her. 'Jack, we have to talk about all these decorations around the hub,' she began.

He beamed at her, decked out in a very untraditional red and white snowflake patterned jumper, covering his usual blue shirt and braces. 'I know, aren't they great? I think this year we've really outdone ourselves. This is the most we've ever had.'

She avoided getting into an argument about the use of the term "we", since decorating the hub was Jack's remit, only pausing to let them be involved in holding the base of ladders as he reached up to string even more lights and tinsel.

'It's about all the lights, Jack.' She quickly continued before he could get another breath in about how marvelously twinkly the were. 'They're making a massive drain on our power reserves.' No one could deny the weren't beautiful and added joy to the usually drab and dark hub, but the amount of power they were using concerned her deeply. By rights they shouldn't even be using that much power, but there were just so many of them.

'Hold on,' Jack said, pausing and frowning at her. 'Are you telling me that a few fairy lights is eating up our power?'

'Be fair, Jack. It's more than a few.'

'Did Ianto forget to pay our power bill, then?'

'I very much doubt it. But if we keep draining this much power from the national grid, someone is going to notice and start asking questions.'

'What happened to "outside the government and beyond the police"?'

'I don't think Christmas lights is what they had in mind for a top secret organisation.' It was half a wonder they couldn't be seen from space, or that Jack didn't have them wrapped all the way up the water tower -at least not the part that was visible on the Plass above.

Jack folded his arms and gave her a displeased look. 'If I didn't know better Tosh, I'd say you were the Grinch, coming to ruin Christmas.'

'Please,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'Everyone knows that title belongs to Owen.'