Torchwood: Fanfic: Driving lessons

[m_findlow]

Title: Driving lessons
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Owen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 804 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for anonymous prompt "Torchwood, Jack/Ianto, as Ianto recovers from whiplash, Jack learns to drive" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack's in trouble over his driving skills.

'Ow,' Ianto cringed as Owen made him turn his head slowly from side to the other.

'Yep, definitely whiplash,' Owen confirmed.

'Sorry,' Jack said, looking sheepishly at Owen.

'Don't apologise to me, Jack. It's Ianto you should be saying sorry to.'

'He already knows I'm sorry and that I didn't mean it.'

'Well, maybe if Captain Lead Foot wasn't driving so fast he wouldn't have had to brake so hard,' Owen said.

'He wasn't driving any faster than normal,' Ianto insisted, gently rubbing the ache in his neck. It felt like his head had been knocked out of kilter with the rest of his body, and his neck muscles were bearing the brunt of keeping both bits together.

'Ianto, I appreciate your desire to defend me, but maybe Owen's right. If I had been going slower...'

'You still would have had to hit the brakes to stop.'

'Yeah, but,'

'Look, nobody got hurt. Isn't that the important thing?'

Jack felt guilty. No one but Ianto, he thought, as he watched Owen carefully remove the spinal collar from his neck.

'Nothing strenuous and no sudden movements, alright? That includes heavy lifting or any extension of your arms higher than your elbows, got it?' Owen ordered.

'Yes, Owen,' Ianto said, rolling his eyes at the overbearing treatment from their medic. He knew he meant well, but that didn't make it any less palatable.

'In fact, I'd recommend that you go home and lie on the sofa for a few hours.'

'Owen, that's really not-'

'I agree,' Jack said, ending the argument before it had started. 'Home and rest sounds good to me.'

'For Teaboy, not you,' Owen clarified.

'I know that.' He turned to his lover. 'Ianto? We'll see you tomorrow,' Jack said, effectively dismissing him.

The pair of them watched as he let out an unhappy sigh, pushing off the metal gurney and trudging up the stairs and out the door. He'd follow their orders but that didn't mean he had to like them.

'As for you,' Owen said, turning to face Jack.

'Yeah, yeah, I know. Foot off the gas.'

'I mean it. I don't wanna waste my time treating injuries that are completely preventable. Just because you're indestructible and the SUV is pretty impervious doesn't mean the rest of its occupants are.'

'Stop lecturing me.' Other bosses didn't have to put up with their employees telling them what to do. It should have been the other way around.

'No. Seriously, you need to think about this. We all know what you're like behind the wheel.'

'Oh, yeah, because you drive like such a nanna,' Jack quipped, rolling his eyes.

'Only when it's absolutely necessary. You on the other hand do it all the time.'

'I don't like stopping.'

'Well, you're going to stop from now on. Slowly and carefully. What if you'd crashed, or been hit from behind because the idiot behind you wasn't watching or expecting you to brake like that?'

Jack sighed dramatically. 'We have air bags.'

'Uh huh. And if Ianto had been more seriously hurt? Or have you already forgotten that time you wrapped the SUV around the side of a building?'

Jack cringed at the memory. At least he'd managed to smash the driver's side into the wall, saving the worst of the injuries for himself. Plus, on that occasion the accident had nothing to do with him and the way he'd been driving. They'd been clipped by a semi running the red in the driving rain. He didn't even know what had hit them.

'I promise to be more careful' he replied.

'You'd better, or I'll find a suitably painful punishment for you.'

Jack spent the afternoon feeling miserable, not helped by the sudden lack of coffee. He made his leave early on the premise that it was a slow day. Really all he wanted was to head home and check on Ianto.

'I'm fine,' Ianto said, sitting back on the sofa with cushions propped behind him, Jack making a fuss of adjusting them. He swatted Jack away as best he could.

'Just trying to help,' Jack said.

'Don't let Owen beat you up. So what if you hit the brakes a bit hard?'

'Wouldn't have if I hadn't been going so fast,' he mumbled. He wished Ianto wasn't always so forgiving.

'It's fine, honestly. You're not reckless, just a little impatient. Red lights and slow moving cars are just not your thing.'

'I'm going to make an effort to be more patient, I promise.' Ianto was precious cargo. Probably the most precious cargo. 'Perhaps you could give me a few pointers on being patient, since you're an expert.'

'Well, the first thing we need to get you is a stubborn, willful boyfriend to have to put up with.'

'Oh, no. We are so not involving Owen!'

Comments

[bk_forever]

LOL at te last line!

Poor Ianto though, Jack really does need to remember that Ianto and the others are far more easily damaged than he is. He could easily get them killed by accident.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

He just gets so excited about going fast that he sometimes forgets how much it hurts when you have to suddenly stop!