m_findlow

Title: Understated genius
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Tosh, Jack
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 117 - Mind at anythingdrabble
Summary: Tosh has no idea how clever she is.

A hesitant knock at Jack's door drew him away from the email he was penning. He was glad to see his favourite employee, even if she was his only one. He wasn't quite ready to hire a second operative just yet.

'What can I do for you, Tosh?'

Tosh stepped inside, carrying a slim file in her arms and walking it across to his desk. 'I was wondering if you might take a look over my calculations. I'm pretty comfortable I've got all the variables and the rate of energy flow correct but it never hurts to get a second opinion, right?'

Jack tentatively took the file from Tosh's hand and flipping it open. Inside were dozens of pages of printed numbers and mathematical symbols all in tiny print and running in such numerous lines that they all began to blur together the longer he stared at them. They reminded him of those magic eye pictures and he half expected something to come jumping out at him any moment now.

He chuckled as he threw the file down on his desk leaving the pages to flutter slightly as they impacted the hardwood surface. 'Oh, Tosh,' he said.

Tosh's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. 'I got them completely wrong, didn't I?'

Jack leant back in his chair. 'Honestly, I have no idea. I could probably tell you if you accidentally carried the four, but that's about it.'

Tosh frowned at him. 'I don't get it.'

Jack just shook his head at her. 'Sometimes I forget just how truly brilliant you are, but there are times when I'm convinced that you genuinely have no idea just what an incredible mind you have. This,' he said, pointing at her calculations, 'is so far over the heads of everyone on this planet.'

'But you said you knew how the device works.'

'I know what it does and how it works in the conceptual sense,' Jack replied. 'The actual technical how of it all is way beyond me.'

'Oh,' Tosh said, sounding surprised and a little disappointed. 'So,' she said, flipping over a couple of pages to some of the more fundamental calculations she'd extrapolated. 'Not even this bit?'

'Tosh, I haven't done complex math since my academy days.'

'I guess they didn't have much use for quantum mechanics in the Air Force, huh?' Tosh replied, sounding sheepish.

Jack almost asked her what she meant before realising she must have assumed he'd been talking about the Air Force Academy and not the Time Agency Academy. It was a rare slip up on his part which he quickly covered. 'Yeah. We learnt just enough to prevent ourselves from crashing.'

'Well,' Tosh said, gathering back her papers and shutting the file. 'I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers and hope I got it right.'

'No finger crossing necessary, Tosh,' Jack said, full of confidence. 'I know you've got this, and even if you don't get it perfect first time around, I know you'll figure it out.'