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fandomweekly2022-07-24 11:51 am
m_findlow) wrote in fandomweekly2022-07-24 11:51 am
Entry tags:
[#144] FATAL FLAW (TORCHWOOD)
Theme Prompt: #144 Invincible
Title: Fatal flaw
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG. Miracle Day AU
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Jack struggles to come to terms with his new limitations.
Jack slowly pulled off his shirt, wincing as his muscles stretched painfully from the motion.
‘That’s going to smart for a while,’ Ianto murmured from behind as they both paused to study the heavy bruising all over Jack’s body in the bedroom mirror.
There was a knock at the door. ‘Jack?’ Gwen's voice called.
‘Just a minute,’ he replied, but Gwen didn’t wait to let herself in, stopping as she saw his reflection, and then the real thing as he instinctively spun towards her.
‘Jack, what the hell?’
Gwen’s words alerted Rex and Esther, coming to stand in the doorway behind her.
'Oh my god,’ Esther whispered in shocked awe.
Rex was less sympathetic. ‘Jesus what the hell happened to you?’
‘Zip it, Rex,’ Gwen said, arms becoming folded tightly across her chest. ‘Well? Care to explain yourself?’
‘I paid a visit to Oswald Danes,’ Jack said, grabbing for his shirt and slipping his arms into the sleeves as he exited the bedroom, squeezing past the three of them.
‘Don’t you walk away from me, Jack Harkness!’ Gwen shouted.
‘Can you two have your domestic someplace else?’ Rex complained.
‘Bugger off,’ Gwen snapped at him. ‘It's your fault we're in this bloody mess to begin with.’
‘Hey, I saved your sorry asses. You should be thanking me.’
‘Rex…’ Jack's warning tone cut through their antagonistic exchange and he withdrew. Jack heard the words “goddamn married couple” muttered under his breath as he ushered Esther out the door along with him. If Jack thought that it would quell Gwen's temper, he was sorely mistaken.
Gwen rounded on him, her face thunderous with a rage that Jack knew only too well. ‘What the bloody hell were you thinking, going off like that?’ Her eyes traced a line down his open shirt front, taking in each of the brand new purpling bruises that decorated him from the neck down. He’d been a big proponent of the new rules that you didn’t go for the face. The rest he might have kept hidden, though that plan hadn’t worked out nearly so well as he’d intended.
‘Danes has something to do with this,’ Jack insisted.
‘Oh, as if you believe that! He was just the poor bastard who went noticed first.’ From the way she said it he could tell that there was no sympathy for the man who had been halfway through the lethal injection when the world turned itself inside out. His suffering was more than deserved for the poor girl he'd murdered.
Jack’s whole body tensed defensively. ‘The media shouldn’t care about him, yet they do. They’re publicising him like he’s the messiah. Doesn't that tell you something?’
‘Only that the press are pathetic and will try to turn anything into a story.’ Gwen’s judicious gaze turned back to his injuries. ‘Danes did all that to you? Didn’t you fight back?
‘It was his PhiCorp goons,’ Jack replied. ‘Every celebrity’s gotta have protection these days.’
‘Especially the kind that like to murder for fun,’ Ianto muttered from the corner of the room where he’d stood in silence, not coming to Jack’s defence at all. Not that he probably could, Jack realised, what with not actually being there.
Gwen’s eyes rolled and she shook her head as he turned away from him, staring out through the beach shack window at the peaceful scene, sun shining and people going about their lives as if nothing at all was wrong with the world. They had their surfboards and their rollerblades and their bikinis. For them, the Miracle just meant even more days of being able to hit the beach. ‘You're just Jack bloody Harkness. Mr Invincible who has no known weaknesses. Well, newsflash for you, Jack. You're not invincible. Not anymore.’
‘You seriously think I don't know that?’
‘Well, the bruises all over you would suggest otherwise.’ She blew out a long breath and ran a hand through her hair. ‘You can't just take off on your own anymore. You need someone with you, backup…’
‘I-’
‘Don't,’ Ianto said in a tone that brooked no argument. ‘You want her to think you're having a complete mental breakdown?’
Jack's jaw clenched as he was forced to simultaneously backtrack with Gwen and also refrain from replying to Ianto. He'd already fallen into a dangerous habit of talking to him like he was right there in the room with them. Gods only knew what Gwen would think if he told her he was imagining ghosts of long dead lovers.
‘You’re mortal now, Jack,’ Gwen reminded him. ‘What you thought was your greatest strength is gone. Now it's your greatest weakness, because just when we really need you, you’re a liability.’
Jack’s words got caught in his throat, strangling him momentarily. ‘A liability?’
‘If you can’t understand why, then you’d better stay here until you do.’ She walked towards the door and let it shut loudly behind her as she left him alone in the house .
‘Well, that went well,’ Ianto murmured. ‘Nice to see some things never change.’
Jack sighed heavily. ‘She's right, you know. I do have a weakness.’
‘Well, admission is the first step to recovery, they say. I get it, though. You've been immortal for so long you don't remember that things like this can get you killed. That dying is meant to be something to be afraid of. That there's no afterwards, no do-over. One life, Jack.’
‘It's you,’ Jack said, forcing himself to make eye contact. ‘You're my weakness. I loved you so much and I never said it. I never even showed you what you-’
Ianto held up two fingers close to Jack's lips, silencing him with their ghostly proximity. ‘I knew.’
‘I should have kept you safe,’ Jack apologised. ‘You had one life and now it's gone.’
‘That’s why I'm here. Remember how fragile my life was and maybe you’ll see just how fragile and precious yours is now. Don’t throw it away. Not unless you’re sure it’ll end the Miracle.’
Title: Fatal flaw
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG. Miracle Day AU
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Jack struggles to come to terms with his new limitations.
Jack slowly pulled off his shirt, wincing as his muscles stretched painfully from the motion.
‘That’s going to smart for a while,’ Ianto murmured from behind as they both paused to study the heavy bruising all over Jack’s body in the bedroom mirror.
There was a knock at the door. ‘Jack?’ Gwen's voice called.
‘Just a minute,’ he replied, but Gwen didn’t wait to let herself in, stopping as she saw his reflection, and then the real thing as he instinctively spun towards her.
‘Jack, what the hell?’
Gwen’s words alerted Rex and Esther, coming to stand in the doorway behind her.
'Oh my god,’ Esther whispered in shocked awe.
Rex was less sympathetic. ‘Jesus what the hell happened to you?’
‘Zip it, Rex,’ Gwen said, arms becoming folded tightly across her chest. ‘Well? Care to explain yourself?’
‘I paid a visit to Oswald Danes,’ Jack said, grabbing for his shirt and slipping his arms into the sleeves as he exited the bedroom, squeezing past the three of them.
‘Don’t you walk away from me, Jack Harkness!’ Gwen shouted.
‘Can you two have your domestic someplace else?’ Rex complained.
‘Bugger off,’ Gwen snapped at him. ‘It's your fault we're in this bloody mess to begin with.’
‘Hey, I saved your sorry asses. You should be thanking me.’
‘Rex…’ Jack's warning tone cut through their antagonistic exchange and he withdrew. Jack heard the words “goddamn married couple” muttered under his breath as he ushered Esther out the door along with him. If Jack thought that it would quell Gwen's temper, he was sorely mistaken.
Gwen rounded on him, her face thunderous with a rage that Jack knew only too well. ‘What the bloody hell were you thinking, going off like that?’ Her eyes traced a line down his open shirt front, taking in each of the brand new purpling bruises that decorated him from the neck down. He’d been a big proponent of the new rules that you didn’t go for the face. The rest he might have kept hidden, though that plan hadn’t worked out nearly so well as he’d intended.
‘Danes has something to do with this,’ Jack insisted.
‘Oh, as if you believe that! He was just the poor bastard who went noticed first.’ From the way she said it he could tell that there was no sympathy for the man who had been halfway through the lethal injection when the world turned itself inside out. His suffering was more than deserved for the poor girl he'd murdered.
Jack’s whole body tensed defensively. ‘The media shouldn’t care about him, yet they do. They’re publicising him like he’s the messiah. Doesn't that tell you something?’
‘Only that the press are pathetic and will try to turn anything into a story.’ Gwen’s judicious gaze turned back to his injuries. ‘Danes did all that to you? Didn’t you fight back?
‘It was his PhiCorp goons,’ Jack replied. ‘Every celebrity’s gotta have protection these days.’
‘Especially the kind that like to murder for fun,’ Ianto muttered from the corner of the room where he’d stood in silence, not coming to Jack’s defence at all. Not that he probably could, Jack realised, what with not actually being there.
Gwen’s eyes rolled and she shook her head as he turned away from him, staring out through the beach shack window at the peaceful scene, sun shining and people going about their lives as if nothing at all was wrong with the world. They had their surfboards and their rollerblades and their bikinis. For them, the Miracle just meant even more days of being able to hit the beach. ‘You're just Jack bloody Harkness. Mr Invincible who has no known weaknesses. Well, newsflash for you, Jack. You're not invincible. Not anymore.’
‘You seriously think I don't know that?’
‘Well, the bruises all over you would suggest otherwise.’ She blew out a long breath and ran a hand through her hair. ‘You can't just take off on your own anymore. You need someone with you, backup…’
‘I-’
‘Don't,’ Ianto said in a tone that brooked no argument. ‘You want her to think you're having a complete mental breakdown?’
Jack's jaw clenched as he was forced to simultaneously backtrack with Gwen and also refrain from replying to Ianto. He'd already fallen into a dangerous habit of talking to him like he was right there in the room with them. Gods only knew what Gwen would think if he told her he was imagining ghosts of long dead lovers.
‘You’re mortal now, Jack,’ Gwen reminded him. ‘What you thought was your greatest strength is gone. Now it's your greatest weakness, because just when we really need you, you’re a liability.’
Jack’s words got caught in his throat, strangling him momentarily. ‘A liability?’
‘If you can’t understand why, then you’d better stay here until you do.’ She walked towards the door and let it shut loudly behind her as she left him alone in the house .
‘Well, that went well,’ Ianto murmured. ‘Nice to see some things never change.’
Jack sighed heavily. ‘She's right, you know. I do have a weakness.’
‘Well, admission is the first step to recovery, they say. I get it, though. You've been immortal for so long you don't remember that things like this can get you killed. That dying is meant to be something to be afraid of. That there's no afterwards, no do-over. One life, Jack.’
‘It's you,’ Jack said, forcing himself to make eye contact. ‘You're my weakness. I loved you so much and I never said it. I never even showed you what you-’
Ianto held up two fingers close to Jack's lips, silencing him with their ghostly proximity. ‘I knew.’
‘I should have kept you safe,’ Jack apologised. ‘You had one life and now it's gone.’
‘That’s why I'm here. Remember how fragile my life was and maybe you’ll see just how fragile and precious yours is now. Don’t throw it away. Not unless you’re sure it’ll end the Miracle.’