Cold And Lonely- A Torchwood Fanfic

[nothing_rhymes_with_ianto]

Title: Cold And Lonely
Author: qafkinnetic
Rating(s): PG-13
Pairing(s): Jack/Ianto, Tosh/Tommy, Owen/Katie, Owen/Diane
Warning(s): Spoilers for Meat, Fragments, To The Last Man and Out of Time
Summary: This is the fic version of a rant I had on Tumblr about how much Gwen's line in 'Meat' pissed me off. She said "You all think it's cold and lonely out there. But it isn't for me, because I have him." And she said it without thinking about what the rest of her team had loved and lost and how much they'd been through. It was selfish of her and insensitive. The rant is here: A Rant About Gwen's Line In Meat Anyway, here's a little tiny fraction of my great big hatred of Gwen.

Owen stared after Gwen as the cog door rolled closed. Ianto sighed, leaning against the pillar as Tosh gazed off into middle distance. Suddenly, Owen's hands smacked the top of his desk. Tosh jumped.

"Owen, what—"

"I cannot believe she said that. Who does she think she is?"

"Said what?"

"That we all think it's cold and lonely out there. It's bollocks. What does she know? I had Diane…I had her and it wasn't cold and lonely. And you, Tosh, you had Tommy. And Ianto had Lisa. But we all had them. We lost them. What's she ever lost from this job? Fuckin' nothing. This job, it's our life. We are all we have, and she says that."

Tosh sighed. "This job, it's twenty four-seven, but—"

"But nothing. And what about Jack? What has he got? He lives here, in the Hub. Did you know that? I found out when I came in late one night. Who's he got? No one, I bet, like the rest of us. We're his family."

"And he has to send us out into the field every day." Ianto's voice was soft. He glanced towards Jack's office.

"Exactly. And we could die any time. He can't. It sucked seeing Diane leave. But fuckin' imagine feeling like that every day."

Ianto stared at the cog door, remembering back when he'd lost Lisa, how much he'd wanted Jack to just shoot him then and there, all because his girlfriend was no longer human.

Owen's eyes wandered around the Hub, avoiding looking at anyone as he recalled the moment of peace he'd felt in the cage with the Weevil, knowing that if he died, anything would be better than the ache of loss that he was feeling.

"I wonder if that's what it's like for Jack…" Tosh murmured to the floor. "How long has he lived, I wonder."

"I don't know," Ianto answered. "I don't know if I want to know."

"But we're here, together. We gotta stick together, you know? It's not like she's lost Rhys or anyone. It was shit for her to say that to Jack. To all of us."

"So what now?"

"Hell if I know. We go back to work as usual, resenting her a little bit more for having what we don't? It's not like we can do anything."

Ianto pushed off the wall. "I'm gonna go talk to Jack."

Owen nodded, for once serious and sympathetic. They'd all loved and lost, and Gwen had been incredibly out of line saying what she did. It had hurt them all, but they all had a feeling that it had hurt Jack most of all.

Comments

[charie-caphine.livejournal.com]

Oh, surprise surprise, Gwen said something insensitive. =)

I liked this. Although I don't think Owen would go citing examples, but I can see him snapping here and voicing what they all must be thinking.

[stone42.livejournal.com]

There should be a sequel where the confront her the next day, it's not right she got to say all that and have no one speak back. It basically says she was right and she need's to know that she's not.

Anyways, I really liked this and you caught the characters voice's perfectly.

[blucougar.livejournal.com]

I loved this, and now I desperately want to see follow-up! If not in fanfic, then where else can we see Gwen get what she deserves?

[wanda1969.livejournal.com]

Just reread this again and I so think Owen would eventually crack with Gwen (after all he cracked and commented where Ianto's concerned)- especially after his break-up with her in s1...
Love it, and second (or is it third?) the request for follow-ups...!!

[qafkinnetic.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...everyone's asking for a follow-up. I wanna do one but I need to get a good idea. I just wrote this after being extremely pissed off at Gwen because I watched 4 or 5 episodes in a row, and by 'Meat' I was fed up with her selfishness and stupidity.

I'll think about doing a follow-up. Should it be Owen confronting Gwen, or Jack confronting Gwen, or the team except Jack confronting Gwen? What would you guys like?

[stlscape.livejournal.com]

I've read at least a couple of stories where Jack confronts Gwen, so having someone else do it (preferably the team as she could easily ignore just one person) would be great.

I really enjoyed this story, and would love to see a sequel, no matter who does the confronting.

[gaylordnine.livejournal.com]

Hello. I just wanted to say that I really liked this. I think I would really like to request a sequel too, please. My favourite bit about this is the fact that it's a team fic, with everyone actually protective of Jack, for a change. It doesn't happen often enough. Don't suppose you might be able and willing to rec a few other fics like this?

[qafkinnetic.livejournal.com]

Since everyone's clamoring for a sequel, I guess I should write one!
I've not come across many like this, so I can't think of any recs of the top of my head. I just wrote this one in a wave of anger at Gwen. Maybe check the LJ comm antigwenallies? I dunno.

[jsks.livejournal.com]

I think Tosh with gentle but firm style would be the best one to burst Gwen's bubble of self centered naff.