[#031] What If (Torchwood)

[badly_knitted]

Theme Prompt: #031 – The Road Not Taken
Title: What If
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 998
Summary: Ianto can’t help wondering what would have happened if he’d just done things differently.



Two months since the cyberwoman’s execution, two months since all Ianto’s hopes of saving Lisa were shattered, one month since he’d been allowed to return to work, keenly aware of the scrutiny he was under and the distrust of the team. Guilt weighed on him, sometimes almost blotting out the grief entirely, but truth was he’d lost Lisa at Canary Wharf a good nine months ago. All those months of protecting her, caring for her, had only served to delay the inevitable. But what else could he have done? He’d thought she could be helped, hadn’t known she was already too far gone.

He was down in the archives again, half hiding from the team, half getting on with the task of sorting, organising, and cataloguing the archives. It was a distraction, better than doing nothing, but it still left him too much time to think. What else could he have done? He plucked the next item off the shelf, turning it over in his hands, wondering what it was.

There’d been plenty of things he could have done. He’d know something wasn’t right with the ghost shifts, everyone with any sense must have known; he should have got out before everything went to Hell. Should have taken Lisa with him.

The morning of the battle he’d almost suggested they skive off, throw the camping gear in the car, and get out of the city for a long weekend, to Hell with the consequences. The ‘ghosts’ gave him the creeps; maybe there wouldn’t be any out in the country. Why hadn’t he done that? He couldn’t remember now. His hands tightened reflexively.

Something went ‘BIP’ and he looked down at what he was holding, the bluish globe now lit from within. He couldn’t move, couldn’t look away, and then he felt like he was falling, down into the light as if it were a bottomless pit.

“Ianto? Earth to Ianto! Are you going to stand there staring into the mirror all day?” Lisa teased. “You’d better not; Mr. Gregory will have your hide.”

“Mr Gregory has delusions of importance. I could do his job far better than he does; I already do most of it.”

“So you keep telling me. Come on, hurry up or we’ll be late.”

The impulse hit him, with a sense of déjà vu, like he’d been here before but… The feeling slipped away, leaving behind a sudden conviction. “Let’s not, Lise. We can call in sick, everyone knows we were out last night celebrating your birthday; they’ll figure we’re just hungover.”

“Ianto!”

“I mean it, Lise. Everyone else does it, so why shouldn’t we?”

“I’ve been saying that for months but you’re always the one who says no.”

“Not today. We’ll throw some things in the car, get out of London, breathe fresh air.”

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to twist my arm. I’ll make the call while you change. I’ll say we’ve got food poisoning from some dodgy kebabs.”

Thirty minutes later they were off, slipping out of London with the radio on, heading towards the coast; Southampton maybe, or even as far as Bournemouth.

Barely an hour out of London an emergency news bulletin came on; Canary Wharf was under some kind of attack, metal monsters were everywhere, and it wasn’t just London.

“Oh my God! Ianto, turn around; we have to go back!”

“And do what, Lisa? Get ourselves killed along with everyone else? We’re not field agents; there’s nothing we can do! We have to keep going, find somewhere to hide out. We’ll get on the motorway, head for Torchwood Three in Cardiff. Maybe they can help. At the very least they’ll have weapons. We don’t even have our guns.”

“No, you’re right, but… Torchwood Three is too small. What we need is the army, or UNIT.”

“They’ll already be mobilising; if the news reports aren’t exaggerating, a threat of this size… My God, Lisa, it could be a full-scale invasion! Torchwood Three’s our best bet. We just need to keep away from cities until we reach Cardiff. It’ll be okay.” Ianto let go of the steering wheel to briefly squeeze her hand, shot her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Cardiff was only about three hours from London but first they had to reach the motorway, which meant following smaller roads and hitting the M4 outside Reading. Three hours’ driving saw them bypassing Bristol on their way to the Severn Bridge.

“We’re running low on petrol, we need to stop and fill up.”

“But we’re so close!”

“Fat lot of good it’ll do us if we run out halfway across the bridge. We’ll have to take the next exit and hope we can find a filling station.”

In the end, that was their downfall; so near and yet so far. The petrol station appeared deserted. Lisa made straight for the restrooms, and Ianto was just removing the car’s petrol cap when he heard her scream.

He ran, found her strapped to a metal machine, its instruments already tearing into her flesh.

“Lisa!” Ianto threw himself at the machine, tearing at the straps holding her down, desperate to free her.

Clanking footsteps sounded behind him, and a metallic voice intoned, “Delete!”

He swung around just as the robot fired its weapon…

Dazzling white light filled his vision and then he was standing in the archives, watching the light fade away inside the globe he still held in his hands.

Ianto let out a shuddering breath; so now he knew, even if they hadn’t gone to work that morning Lisa would still have suffered the same fate.

“And I’d be dead too. Would that be better or worse?”

He set the device back on the shelf, shaking his head. There probably wasn’t anything he could have done to change what happened to Lisa, and trying might only have made things worse. Sometimes there was simply no way of escaping fate.

He’d just have to accept that and move on.


The End



 

Comments

[autobotscoutriella]

Oh, I love this--poor Ianto. Sometimes knowing helps, and sometimes it just hurts.

(Your icon for this is painfully accurate.)

[badly_knitted]

At least now he knows he couldn't have changed the outcome. As much as it hurts, he no longer has to wonder.

People are lined up around the block to take their turn hugging him. ;)

Thank you!