Torchwood: Fanfic: Winter wonderland

[m_findlow]

Title: Winter wonderland
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Gwen, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 325 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for juliet316's prompt "Any, any, a moment of wonder" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack is fascinated by the seemingly mundane

Gwen sighed as she saw the state of her poor little car, left parked outside on Bute Street last night rather than down in the underground car park beneath the Millennium Center. She shouldn't have been so lazy, but she hadn't expected such extreme weather, shoving her hands deep inside her jacket pocket for warmth.

Jack saw it too. 'Isn't it beautiful?' he asked, smiling and his eyes shining as he took it in.

'Yeah, wonderful,' she replied, inspecting the thick layer of ice that had accumulated on it overnight. It was going to take ages to scrape enough of it off to be able to see out through the windows. She half wondered if the engine would even start. If it wasn't below zero, it was very close.

'Come on, Gwen,' Jack said, not looking the least bit cold, wrapped up in his great coat. 'Just look at the way that early morning sunlight makes the ice crystals glitter. It's gorgeous.'

She turned to look at him. 'How is it that after all the years you've lived and all the things you've seen, that you can still have such a childlike wonder at ice on a car?'

'It's because of all the years I've lived and things I've seen, Gwen. That's what makes you really appreciate the beautiful simplicity of life. Just think, once upon a time there was nothing, and then atoms combined to form stars and planets, and somehow, just somehow, those particles formed life. Wonderful, extraordinary life. We're the only ones in the whole universe who can look at those icicles and see them for the marvel they are. If we don't appreciate the miracle of existence, then who?'

'Yeah, alright then,' she replied, popping open the door and leaning in to the glovebox. 'If you want to marvel at the miracle of the universe you can get up nice and close to it by shaving it off the front windscreen.'