fandomweekly | [#051] A Star Is Born (Torchwood)

Theme Prompt: #051 – Audition
Title: A Star Is Born
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: It’s just supposed to be a simple Rift retrieval, but Jack gets a little sidetracked…

Torchwood was short-staffed at present. Gwen and Rhys were in Greece on a week’s holiday, Owen was in London for a UNIT symposium on alien medicine, while Tosh’s sprained ankle put her strictly on Hub duty. With only two team members present and healthy enough, Jack and Ianto were doing solo Rift retrievals unless absolutely necessary.

When the alarms went off yet again, Jack emerged from his office already donning his coat. “My turn I think. What’ve we got, Tosh?”

Fingers flying over her keyboards, Tosh brought the relevant data up on her screens.

“It’s inanimate, small, no bigger than an apple… Coordinates put it in the new Cardiff Community Theatre building.”

“Excellent. Should be easy enough to handle by myself! See you kids in a bit. If this doesn’t take too long I’ll pick up lunch on my way back.” With that, Jack headed for Torchwood’s underground garage and the SUV.

“Call if you need me!” Ianto shouted to Jack’s retreating back, getting a casual wave in response.

Fifteen minutes later Jack stepped into the theatre, casting around with his scanner for any Rift energy readings. Anything coming through the Rift was always saturated with a very distinctive but harmless form of radiation.

“Hello!” a voice said behind him. “Are you here for the open auditions? You’re a little late.”

Jack spun around, quickly shoving his scanner in his coat pocket. Ianto had been encouraging him recently to be more discreet about Torchwood’s activities where possible.

“Auditions? Yes, of course.”

The plump, middle-aged woman looked him up and down. “Well, you certainly look the part. We’ve had a couple of other hopefuls show up in costume but yours is the best. That coat could be the real thing.”

“It is. It was my… grandfather’s. He was a pilot during the war. I grew up listening to his stories.”

“Perfect! As you know, the play is a wartime romance between a pilot and his girl. On a bombing raid he gets shot down over France. He’s nursed back to health by a young French girl and they fall in love, but then the village they’re in is overrun by German soldiers and he’s taken prisoner. He escapes and joins the Resistance, eventually makes it back to England, but he can’t forget the girl and when the war is over he goes back to France hoping to find her. It’s based on a true story.” The woman looked at him dubiously. “Of course, the pilot was Scottish rather than American.”

“Not a problem.” Silently thanking all his conversations with Archie at Torchwood Two over the years, Jack slipped effortlessly into a Scottish accent. “My parents emigrated to America when I was a boy. Always been able to switch between accents.”

The woman actually clapped her hands. “Splendid! Come with me and I’ll get you a copy of the audition pages. You’ll have time to learn the lines while the director is auditioning for the role of Louisa.”

“Thank you, um…”

“Oh! How rude of me! I‘m Hillary Short, Mr Campbell’s assistant. He’s the director.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Hillary.” Jack offered his hand. “Jack Harkness.”

“Delighted. If you’ll follow me?”

Jack trailed eagerly after Hillary, his reason for being at the theatre in the first place completely forgotten as he was shown to a seat and given the script pages with the lines he was to memorise.

“You’ll be reading for Andrew MacDonald.”

“Och, I c’n do that, lassie, with both ma hands tied behind ma back!”

Hillary giggled. “The casting director is going to love you!”

Jack beamed back at her and winked. “Everybody does.”

Hilary bustled away, still giggling.

Hardly any time seemed to have passed before Jack was called up to read with the three hopefuls for the role of Louisa. He was introduced to the director, the casting director, and the writer, shaking hands with them in turn.

“Now, Jack… May we call you Jack?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Now, this is the scene where the Germans are invading the village. Andrew is trying to persuade Louisa to go with him and try to escape. Begin with the line: ‘I can’t stay here, lassie, but my heart’s breaking to think of leaving you.”

“Got it.”

“Right, places everybody!”

Jack moved to his position beside the first of the short-listed Louisas.

“And…scene.”

Three hours later Jack breezed back into the Hub looking on top of the world. Ianto raised an eyebrow.

“What kept you? I thought you’d be back hours ago.” He was miffed as he’d ended up fetching lunch himself; he usually did anyway but it would’ve been nice if someone else did it for once. “Did you get it?”

“Yep!” Jack’s smile was positively dazzling. “You’re looking at the leading man in the community theatre’s production of ‘We’ll Meet Again’. I can see the posters now: Starring Jack Harkness as Captain Andrew MacDonald and Bridget Hughes as Louisa Caron.”

Ianto facepalmed so hard he wondered if he’d leave a handprint on his face. “The thing that came through the Rift, Jack! The thing you left here over three hours ago to retrieve!”

Jack’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Oh… oops? I might have sort of forgotten about that. You know, with all the auditioning.”

“Of course you did.” Ianto gave a resigned sigh. “I suppose that means I’ll have to go to the theatre myself.”

“I think they’re still auditioning for the smaller roles. You’d be great as Gaston! You can borrow my script if you want,” Jack said helpfully. “But I’ll need it back; rehearsals start next week and I want to be ready.”

“Tosh, is there any chance whatever came through the Rift has done… THIS to Jack?”

“There’s no way of knowing until I take a look at it,” Tosh said apologetically.

“Figures. Guess I’m headed for the theatre.”

“Break a leg!” Jack shouted after him.

“I might break your bloody neck,” Ianto muttered. “I just hope this play won’t have a long run!”

The End

[#051] A Star Is Born (Torchwood)

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