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donutsweeper) wrote2008-03-30 01:53 pm
Unwelcome Answers
Pairing/Warning/Rating: Jack/Ianto implied, no warnings, rated PG
Word Count: 1530
Beta:
unfeathered *hugs*Summary: Owen and Gwen interrogate Jack, but no one is prepared for the answers they receive.
Author's Note: Written for the finish-a-thon. Originally written directly after "Last of the Time Lords" aired, so somewhat AU for TW S2.
Within ten minutes of figuring out what the orange sphere was used for Owen was already insisting that they should try it out on Jack.
“We can’t!” Ianto couldn’t quite keep the horror out of his voice. “It’s a mind control device!”
“Don’t be so melodramatic,” Gwen chided. “It is not. Well, not really. Not exactly anyway.”
“It’s used in interrogations.”
“All it does is force someone to answer questions and prevents them from lying. It won’t hurt him. Come on, Ianto,” Gwen grabbed his shoulder, “don’t you want to find out what Jack’s hiding?”
“I’m sure he has reasons for his secrets.” Ianto pulled away from her.
“I’m sure he does,” Gwen shrugged, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t what to know what they are.”
Owen grabbed the device. “I am sick and tired of the mystery behind the ‘Great Captain.’ What the hell is he captain of anyway?”
“No, we can’t. It’s not right. Tosh would agree with me.”
“Well, Tosh is on holiday now, isn’t she?” Owen sneered. “We’re doing this. And no bloody tea-boy is going to stop it.” He turned around and strode into Jack’s office. Owen barely gave Jack time to look up from his desk before pressing the small button on the sphere.
A orangish haze filled the room, settling slowly over Jack before disappearing.
“Owen, no!” But Ianto was too late. Far too late. He and Gwen ran up and stood in the doorway directly behind Owen.
At first it appeared that there had been no reaction from Jack, that the device hadn’t worked, but then they realized his face was slack. He was sitting stiffly, staring straight ahead and not blinking.
Ianto pushed past Owen and slowly approached the desk. “Jack?” he asked, cautiously. When there was no reaction he leaned over and waved his hand in front of Jack’s face. No reaction. Not even a blink. “Owen, what have you done?”
“It should’ve worked.” Owen answered. “And it’s not like it could’a killed him.”
“Look at this.” Gwen pointed out seven thin bars that had lit up along the bottom of the sphere. The first one was flashing. “Maybe it’s a timer of some sort? Ask him something. Maybe it did work.”
“No.” Ianto grabbed Jack’s arm, trying to take his pulse. “We shouldn’t be doing this at all. It’s wrong. If you leave, maybe he won’t remember, won’t know-”
“Too bloody late for that.” Owen hissed. “Jack? Jack, can you hear me?”
“Yes.” Not expecting the quiet response, Ianto dropped Jack’s wrist. It crashed down onto the desk, knocking over an empty coffee. Gwen and Owen jumped at the noise, but Jack didn’t react at all.
“Jack, tell us where you’re from.” Owen sat down on the desk, crossing his arms in front of him. He waited, but this time there was no response. “Jack?”
“Why isn’t he saying anything?” Gwen leaned against the doorframe, her brow furrowed “Maybe... wait, try rewording it as a question.”
Owen pursed his lips, thinking for a moment before rephrasing it to ask, “Jack, can you tell us where you are from?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that wasn’t remotely helpful.” He sighed and tried again, “Jack, where are you from?”
Jack didn’t respond, he just continued to stare straight ahead.
“It isn’t working. You had your fun, but it’s time to stop, this is wrong!” Ianto looked at the sphere. Six bars remained.
“Stop interfering!” Owen pushed Ianto away from Jack and leaned in closer, grabbing Jack’s shirt. “Maybe he can only answer yes or no questions. Jack, are you from
“No.”
“
“No.”
“Well, this is getting us nowhere fast.” Owen pulled Jack closer, until their faces were inches apart. “Is your name Jack Harkness?”
“Yes.”
“But it can’t be!” Gwen stormed into the room, her eyes fiery. “Tosh told us all about meeting the real Captain Harkness in 1941. He’s lying!”
“No, he’s not,” Ianto said quietly. “Whatever his name was once, in the past, his name is Jack Harkness now.” He pried Jack’s shirt out of Owen’s grasp and carefully straightened the fabric, then rested his hand on Jack’s stiff shoulder, either as an apology or an attempt to give him strength.
Gwen poked Owen. “Wait, ask him about where he went when he disappeared.”
“Jack, after Abbadon, after you came back from the dead, did you leave the Hub on your own?”
“Yes.”
“Because you found your doctor?”
“Yes.”
“Did you spend more time gone than we know?”
“Yes.”
“Owen,” Gwen hissed, “what the hell are you getting at?”
“Time travel, Gwen. That’s why he’d changed so much in such a short time. And he came back right after Saxon got offed, no way that was a coincidence.” Owen turned back to Jack. “Do you know what happened on the Valiant?”
“Yes.”
“Were you aboard the Valiant?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?” Gwen interrupted.
“He can’t answer if you ask like that!” Owen petulantly reminded her.
“We shouldn’t be doing this...” Ianto said, eying the sphere. Only four bars were left.
“Jack,” Owen started the questions again, “were you on the Valiant for more than a week?”
“Yes.”
“More than a month?”
“Yes.”
“More than six months?”
“Yes.”
“Longer than a year?”
“No.”
“Jack,” Ianto interrupted, asking quietly, “did you want to stay on the Valiant?”
“No.”
“Jack, did someone make you stay on the Valiant?”
“Yes.”
“Ianto...” Gwen interrupted, “what are you getting at?”
“Haven’t you noticed how Jack’s been acting since he got back?”
“No,” Owen scowled, “what do you mean?”
“I’m the one asking the questions now, Owen.” Ianto, noticing the awkward way Jack’s fist was resting half in and half out of his pocket, carefully pulled it out and held it tightly in his own. “Jack, were you a prisoner on the Valiant?”
“Yes.”
“Were... were you treated humanely?” When there was no response Ianto corrected himself. “Humanely must be too subjective a word... Were you treated well?”
“No.”
“Were you killed?”
“Yes.”
“More than once?”
“Yes.”
“Many times?”
“Yes.”
Ianto’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Enough times you lost count?”
“Yes.”
Gwen gasped. “Maybe, maybe Ianto’s right, maybe we shouldn’t...”
“Jack,” Ianto continued carefully, almost as if he almost didn’t want to hear the answer, “were you tortured?”
“Yes.”
“Oh God.” Ianto knelt on the floor next to Jack. “Oh Jack, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. ”
“If he was tortured, then....” Owen cleared his throat, about to ask another question when Gwen interrupted.
“No. Owen, Ianto was right... we shouldn’t have... we shouldn’t be... this is wrong.”
Everyone fell silent, digesting Jack’s secrets. Ianto felt Jack’s fist stiffen slightly within his hands, and then shift almost imperceptibly. Two retcon pills dropped into his hand. Ianto schooled his features to hide his surprise. By all outward appearances Jack seemed the same, completely under the spell of the sphere, but obviously, he’d managed to break through the control somehow, to some extent.
“I need a drink.” Ianto walked over to Jack’s decanter, poured himself a shot and paused the bottle over the next glass. “Gwen?”
“Definitely.”
“Owen?”
“Make mine a double.”
Ianto poured a generous amount into the two glasses, carefully slipping a pill into each before passing to Owen and Gwen. “I don’t think there’s a proper toast for a situation like this.”
“Err, right.” Owen gripped his glass tightly. “Well, down the hatch then!” Both he and Gwen threw back their drinks.
Ianto sipped his. “There’s only one bar left on the device. Somehow, I have a feeling it wouldn’t be a good idea if either of you were here when he comes out of this. So go. Get out of here. Go home. Get drunk. I don’t care where you go or what you do but go.” He stepped over to rest a protective hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of Jack.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Gwen put her glass down on Jack’s desk. “Come on, Owen, I’m meeting Rhys at the pub, why don’t you join us for drinks?”
Owen looked up at Ianto, then down at Jack, but was not quite able to meet either man in the eye. “Yeah, sounds like a plan.” He plunked his glass down next to Gwen’s. “Um, see you Monday, Ianto.”
“Monday, then,” Ianto replied as he took another sip.
Gwen paused in the doorway. “Tell Jack....”
“No. I’ll leave it to you to explain your actions.” After a pause he quietly added, “our actions.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Owen grabbed Gwen’s arm, pulling her in his wake. “The pub calls.”
Ianto took another sip, draining his glass. Eventually he heard the cog door roll shut. “That’s it, they’re gone.” Ianto bent down, embracing Jack’s still overly stiff form. He leaned his forehead against Jack’s neck and whispered, “You were never actually totally and completely under the control of the device, were you?”
“No.”
“Owen and Gwen won’t remember any of this in the morning. But you know I will, right?”
“Yes.”
“You wanted me to hear those answers?”
The last bar clicked off as Jack answered, “Yes.”
Ianto hugged Jack tighter. Neither man spoke or moved for quite some time.
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It was a lovely piece. Jack's trust in letting Ianto remember, and fakiing out owen and the pills and...everything. *huggles fic* saving it to my PDA file.
I am not coherent right now. But, I did adore it. Thanks!
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Not sure if lovely is the right word for this, but it's darned good anyway.
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But yay for Jack and Ianto and retcon, and it's really heart-wrenching how Jack doesn't mind Ianto knowing, although he couldn't actually come right out and tell him on his own.
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It's an uncomfortable piece, that's why I never finished it, and why I'm still not sure it's really "right."
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But it's balanced out in the end by the fact that they'll forget, and that Jack does have someone he trusts.
The more I think about it, the better I like it. :D
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