Haunted

[missthingsplace]

 

Title: Haunted
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: missthingsplace
Parings/characters: Jack, Ianto (Jack/Ianto), Gwen
Rating: G
Word Count: 656
Warnings: None
Challenge/Prompt: Ficlet Zone Challenge #1 Songs by the Beatles using 'I Saw Her Standing There'
Spoilers: Cyberwoman and Countrycide
Summary: Ianto is not coping ...
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of the characters ... unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while.

 

“Anyone seen Ianto?” Jack called out to the team, jogging down the steps from his office.

 

“Nope.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

“Try the archives.”

 

Jack followed the suggestion and hurried towards the archives, stopping at the entrance to listen for a moment or two and hearing nothing but silence he continued his way in to the maze of metal shelving units.

 

“Ianto?” He called out, wondering where the young man was, a little worried about his state of mind..

 

Pausing to listen again he heard a faint sound to his right. He span in the right direction and hurried down the narrow passage between the packed shelves, spotting Ianto crouched down in the far corner and rocking back and forth on his heels.

 

“Ianto?” Jack spoke his name softly, not wanting to startle him and then slightly louder. “Ianto?”

 

Ianto stopped rocking and looked up at his boss, his eyes red from crying and an obvious look of fear upon his face.

 

Jack crouched down in front of him.

 

“Ianto, it's over,” Jack reassured him. “Your forgiven, there is nothing to be scared of.”

 

“I see her Jack, I see her everywhere. Lisa.” He admitted. “She haunting me.”

 

“She's not real Ianto, she's gone, remember?” Jack told him.

 

“I can't get her out of my head,” Ianto replied. “She's my Lisa, before she was converted but … she keeps saying it was all my fault, that I should have saved her.”

 

“No-one could have Ianto, you know that,” Jack said, getting back into a standing position and pulling the other man up with him. “She was too far gone, she was more machine than human.”

 

“But I loved her Jack, I had to try,”

 

“I know, I know,” Jack said, pulling Ianto into a tight embrace, holding him. “she's not really haunting you, your mind is playing tricks on you because you feel guilty and you have no reason to feel that way.”

 

“I should have got her out sooner.” Ianto told him and Jack could feel his body shaking as he tears came back.

 

“Ianto,” Jack said firmly. “how long has this been going on?”

 

“A couple of days,” Ianto told him. “a few days after ...”

 

“You should have told me, any of us,” Jack admonished him. “We can help.”

 

“Why would you?” Ianto gulped. “You all hate me, I brought a Cyberman into the hub, I could have got you all killed.”

 

“No-one hates you Ianto,” Jack sighed. “Sure, no-one was more pissed than me at what you'd done but if I can forgive you then so can they. They understand why you did it, they know you did it for love.”

 

“What if I can't forgive myself?”

 

“We can all do that,” Jack assured him.

 

Ianto raised his head up from Jacks shoulder and looked him in the eye, not making any attempt to remove himself from the other man's embrace. As much as he had loved Lisa he still now found himself attracted to Jack and waited a moment before he spoke.

 

“I need distractions,” Ianto said. “I need to get out of the hub more, be a bigger part of the team?”

 

“We can try that,” Jack told him. “whatever helps.”

 

“I can do more than make coffee,” Ianto replied, feeling some of the stress beginning to drain from his body.

 

“Now that I do know,” Jack told him, a smile pulling at his own lips.

 

“Jack … not yet ...”Ianto told him hesitantly. “I's too soon.”

 

The captain nodded understandingly and gave him the softest of kisses on the cheek before pulling from the embrace himself.

 

“Go freshen up,” Jack told him, “see you in 10?”

 

“yes Sir,” Ianto nodded.

 

“Jack you there?” Gwens voice rang through the archives. “new mission, 17 people gone missing in the middle of the countryside.”

 

“Right there,” Jack yelled back then speaking to Ianto. “Fancy a camping trip?”

 

“I'll get the tents.”

 

The End.