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fic_promptly2016-05-18 06:25 am
randi2204) wrote in fic_promptly2016-05-18 06:25 am
Entry tags:
Wednesday: Truths
Welcome back! It’s Wednesday, and we’ve got a new theme to help you over your hump day. Yesterday we wallowed in lies, but today it’s all about the truth. It could be anything that’s genuine, verifiable, or something that your characters perceive as truth. It could be personal truths or even the state of reality. As long as it deals with truth, it can be a prompt for today.
Truthfully, we still have a few rules:
Please prompt using the following format:
Fandom, character or pairing, prompt.
Or, for crossovers, Fandom 1/Fandom 2, character or pairing, prompt.
Examples:
If none of today’s prompts lure your muse out of hiding, check out the lonely prompt archive on Pinboard. In addition, all of the old themes are still open for prompts.
Truthfully, we still have a few rules:
- Six prompts each per fandom per day. Author’s choice prompts are unlimited.
- One prompt per comment.
- Warn for spoilers in the subject line of your comment and leave three lines of spoiler space.
Please prompt using the following format:
Fandom, character or pairing, prompt.
Or, for crossovers, Fandom 1/Fandom 2, character or pairing, prompt.
Examples:
- Magnificent Seven, Chris/Ezra, truth is in the eye of the beholder.
- PotC, Jack/James & any, “Jack’s contact with the truth is… sporadic at best.”
- Any, any, if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. (Quote from Mark Twain)
If none of today’s prompts lure your muse out of hiding, check out the lonely prompt archive on Pinboard. In addition, all of the old themes are still open for prompts.
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"Small Animals Can Be Dangerous" (FE Fates, Kaze/F!Avatar+Midori, Kana)
"So this rabbit comes in and Kana doesn't want to step on it," Midori said.
"Two rabbits," Kana corrected her. Kana, once a sweet, well-behaved boy who wanted nothing more than to make his parents happy, helping his sister lie. Heck, Midori herself was usually much more obedient than this. Corrin tried not to groan, glancing over at her husband.
"They must have been going very fast if you almost tripped over them. Are you sure they were rabbits, and not squirrels or chipmunks?"
"Oh yeah! Chipmunks, I always get them mixed up," Kana said. Kaze coughed slightly, gesturing towards the pile.
"So you tripped over a small animal, and this happened? I don't know, Corrin, something about this isn't adding up," he said. Corrin nodded.
"I'd think a chipmunk would be too fast to trip over. Unless it was a dog?" Midori and Kana both squirmed, Midori's eyes wobbling and Kana giggling nervously.
"Maybe?"
Corrin and Kaze exchanged a look. There really was no point in explaining why they kept forgetting, because they probably knew. They were smart kids, after all, they were just being stubborn right now.
"Why don't you two try to jog your memory while you pick up the wood?" she suggested. "And if you can't remember after that, why don't you go pick the weeds in the daikon garden and see if that helps?" Midori gagged, Kana pouted, and Kaze chuckled.
"Don't worry, if you're so busy trying to remember the time will just fly by." They left the kids to their chores, and Corrin smiled.
"You don't think we were too cutesy or smarmy, do you?"
"Perhaps," Kaze said, "but the children were being too stubborn. It's only fair."
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Great prompt!
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Fill: Perceptive (FAKE: Ryo, Dee: PG)
He’s very perceptive too, which shouldn’t be surprising. Like Ryo, he’s a trained detective, which means he’s observant and good at deductive reasoning. None of that is essentially bad; it makes Dee very good at his job, but it makes him very difficult to lie to or deceive.
Ryo isn’t trying to deceive his partner, at least not consciously, but there are things about himself that he’d rather Dee didn’t know about, in part because Ryo would prefer not to be aware of them himself. Like how Dee’s amazingly long eyelashes captivate him, and how easily he can get lost in those deep green eyes, and how he really doesn’t mind at all when Dee kisses him even though he pretends to.
Sometimes, Ryo thinks that despite everything he’s trying to hide, Dee can read him like a book. It makes him feel naked and exposed, and it’s a far from comfortable experience for someone who has spent years perfecting the image he shows the world of a single and perfectly straight man.
That’s the person Ryo thinks he wants to be, normal, straight, and with no doubts about his sexuality. But more and more he feels that mask slipping as Dee strips away all his pretences, making no secret of the fact that not only is he very attracted to Ryo, but that he will keep trying to seduce him unless Ryo manages to convince him that he’s genuinely not interested. Which is not going to happen, because try as he might, Ryo can’t even entirely convince himself that he doesn’t want Dee, and he’s had a lot of practice at being in denial.
“I know you want me,” Dee says with that same simple honesty. “Why d’you keep on fightin’ me?”
It’s a question Ryo has no answer too, or at least no answer that would make any kind of sense to someone as sure and comfortable in his sexuality as Dee is. The fact is, Ryo knows Dee is right, and yet he can’t stop himself from pushing the infuriating man away and denying what he feels. It’s too scary to accept, and he’s not as good at being honest as Dee is.
But perhaps if Dee doesn’t give up on him as a waste of time and effort, then given time Ryo might eventually learn to open up and not be so afraid to be who he is.
The End
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Fill: Quite A Sight (Torchwood: Ianto, Jack, Owen, Tosh, Gwen: PG)
The Hub looked like a tornado had passed through, with paperwork and other items scattered across the floor. From where he was standing, Ianto could see a broken mug, several pens and pencils, the contents of the rubbish bin, a couple of his chocolate-covered coffee beans, and several cookies that looked like they’d been trampled underfoot. There also seemed to be quite a bit of loose change, which had probably fallen out of Owen and Jack’s trouser pockets.
“I was only gone for half an hour!” he exclaimed in an aggrieved tone. “What did you do?”
There was a deafening hush as the four miscreants shifted from foot to foot, glancing at each other, all of them waiting for one of the others to speak first. Owen raised his hand, but as Ianto turned to look at him, he saw that the team’s medic was just taking a bite out of a doughnut he had rather perilously impaled on one of his scalpels. Ianto strode towards him, snatched it off him, confiscated the scalpel, for safety’s sake, and returned the doughnut. Owen pouted, but took another bite anyway.
Setting the scalpel down on the nearest workstation, which happened to be Gwen’s, Ianto folded him arms across his chest. “Well?” Further silence ensued. “If someone doesn't tell me the truth about what happened in the next two minutes, I'll...” He faltered; just what would constitute an effective punishment in this case? “I’ll lock the lot of you in the cells overnight without dinner. In the dark.”
“You wouldn’t…” Gwen paled and she bit her lip, voice quavering slightly.
He glared back at her. “Try me.”
“We were playing Indians and Indians,” Jack said quickly. At Ianto’s raised eyebrow, he shrugged and explained. “Nobody wanted to be a cowboy. I’m the Indian chief. See?” He pointed at his head. “I have a headdress. We were battling aliens.” The others nodded agreement.
Aliens. Well, at least that much was business as usual.
“And before you decided to swap clothes and play at being Indians, what were you all doing? Because as I recall, when I left to pick up the dry cleaning, Owen was writing up his latest autopsy report, Gwen was on the phone to Rhys to tell him she’d be a bit late tonight, Jack, you and Tosh were examining the artefact we picked up this morning…”
Ianto trailed off, looking around for said object, which resembled a purple onion, studded with a series of small buttons on one side and with three short legs underneath for it to stand on. It was lying on its side on Tosh’s desk, a small tool protruding from a slot that ran along below the buttons. Crossing the intervening distance in a few quick strides, Ianto snatched the thing up and yanked the tool free. The artefact gave a muted click and a hum, then went quiet again. Ianto glanced back at the team.
Owen was staring at the half a doughnut clutched in his hand as if he’d never seen it before and couldn’t work out where it had come from. Gwen and Tosh were blushing furiously, trying not to look at Jack while searching for their clothes, a futile task since Owen had on Tosh’s skirt and Gwen’s t-shirt, while Jack had Gwen’s undies.
Jack seemed completely unfazed by being naked, grinning at Ianto and asking, “Back so soon? You only just left!”
“I’ve been gone half an hour,” Ianto corrected.
“You have? Doesn’t seem that long.”
“Go and put some clothes on,” Ianto said with a sigh. “Preferably your own. And give Gwen her underwear back.”
“What?”
“On your head.”
“Oh.” Jack reached up with his empty hand and tugged the garment off his head. “Ooooh, nice colour!”
Gwen, barefoot and wearing Jack’s trousers, stomped across and snatched the panties and matching bra from Jack’s fingers, before following Tosh, who’d made a dash for the stairs to the locker room, clad only in her bra and Owen’s boxers.
Owen followed the girls with his eyes, frowning in confusion, then looked down at himself, eyes going wide as he realised he was wearing a skirt. “Fuck!” Snatching his shirt from where it was hanging over one of Tosh’s monitors, he scuttled after the girls, yelling, “Who’s got my trousers?”
“Watch where you put your feet,” Ianto called after him. “You don’t want to cut yourself.” He turned back to Jack, who’d barely moved. “Jack? Weren’t you going to get dressed?”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes. And wash your face while you’re at it.” As Jack shambled off to do as he was told, Ianto muttered to himself, “Not sure I want to know where they got all the feathers. Probably a bald pigeon somewhere about.”
He set the weird object back down on Tosh’s desk; it was either some sort hypnosis device, or it had regressed the team back to childhood. Could even be both. Whatever; it was going in the secure archives as soon as possible, but first he’d better sweep up a bit before someone cut themselves on the broken crockery, and then collect the paperwork; that was going to take a bit of sorting, and some of it would probably have to be re-done. He also wanted to find out whether any of his chocolate-covered coffee beans had survived; he’d thought they were well hidden, but apparently not. He’d have to find a better hiding place for his decadent treats.
At least the rest of the team seemed to be more or less back to normal. That was Torchwood for you though; turn your back for a few minutes and anything could happen. He just hoped the CCTV had caught it all; from what he’d seen on his return, the preceding events should make very entertaining viewing.
The End
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Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Tosh, Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,507 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "Any, any, truth hurts" at fic_promptly
Summary: Tosh learns that some things are better left unsaid.
Tosh couldn't get over the fact that she'd just watched Jack send Mary up in a blaze of light, to be burnt up inside the sun. It seemed cruel and harsh, no matter how many people she'd killed, to have to die like that.
'Tosh, with me please,' Jack said. 'Ianto, you too.'
Gwen and Owen both gave perplexed looks at the pair of them. Ianto looked equally confused. They could understand why Jack wanted to speak to Tosh, given everything that had happened, but what was Ianto's involvement? Had he known about the pendant as well?
Tosh reluctantly followed Jack and was surprised by the fact that he didn't stop in his office, but kept going out the other side, across the hub, up the spiral stairs and straight into the board room. Behind her she could hear the quiet footfalls of Ianto following them. Perhaps this was treason, what she'd done, and they were taking her away to deal with her. She ripped the pendant from her neck before she could hear any of their innermost thoughts. She didn't want to know what came next.
As the boardroom door clicked shut, she set the pendant down on the table top and looked up at Jack.
'Sit,' he said, though not in an unkind way.
'We need to debrief, Toshiko. Everything that happened. From the beginning.'
She felt like Jack surely already knew everything he needed to know. He'd been the one to figure out the alien stapler was a prison transport vessel. Owen had figured out that someone in the area had been murdering victims the same way for over a hundred years. Two and two together, really. Prison transport, serial killer. Just a pity she'd been too blind to see it; she who should have had the advantage.
'Ianto, why don't you run this one?' Jack asked.
'Sorry?'
'Run the debrief with Tosh. You know what do to, right?'
'Right,' he mumbled, thinking how he'd been on the receiving end on unpleasant debriefings more times than he cared to remember. Seeing the look on Tosh's face now made him feel sorry for her, sitting there where he'd sat so many times.
'Come find me when you're done,' Jack said, before leaving the room.
Ianto looked around, waiting to see if Jack was kidding, before slowly settling into the chair next to Tosh.
'I feel so stupid,' Tosh blurted out. Suddenly there were tears welling up in her eyes and an overwhelming desire to just let them fall.
Ianto handed her a handkerchief from his pocket, impeccably clean and pressed as she unfolded it gratefully.
'Thanks.'
Ianto didn't say anything further, waiting for her to settle her emotions.
'I made such a mess of things, Ianto.'
'I'm sure you didn't.'
'I believed everything she said. Even when I was wearing the pendant, I could hear all her thoughts and I was sure she couldn't possibly have been lying to me. It showed me things. People's thoughts, on the inside.'
She rambled for a while about all the things she'd heard whilst Ianto pressed her with seemingly innocuous questions. Some of the things people said on the streets were shocking, but some of it was also very funny, though she struggled to see the funny side now. He asked about Mary, what kind of questions she'd asked about the team and about Torchwood. Strangely she couldn't remember much of use at all. All she remembered were the little moments they'd spent together, the giggling over coffee, or the tender touches she'd received, and the feeling of the whole bed being warm instead of just the tiny space she usually occupied. If had been nice feeling loved and wanted, especially when everyone else seemed not to care about her at all.
Then she told him how Mary had insisted the pendant could do good, and how she'd followed the man home who'd been planning on murdering his family.
'That was a very brave thing to do,' Ianto said.
'It wasn't really. The stuff he was saying just kind of freaked me out.'
'Sounds like you saved a lot of lives using that pendant.'
'It's not what you think, Ianto. It's evil. You'd think it would be nice to know what people were thinking all the time but it's not. There's so much stuff we shouldn't know, things that people are thinking that are awful. Owen and Gwen are...' she trailed off.
'Sleeping together,' Ianto finished for her.
'How did you know?'
He gave a noncommittal shrug as if he preferred not to say.
She sighed. 'Just goes to show you don't need an alien mind reading device if you actually open your eyes.'
'Oh no, I accidentally spotted them in the car park yesterday morning. It wasn't pretty.'
Tosh laughed despite herself. 'I thought it would be so brilliant, knowing what people really thought, but it was just...' She could feel herself getting teary again. 'Everyone hates me.'
Ianto reached across as more tears began to fall. 'No one hates you, Tosh. Everyone loves you.'
'Not Owen. Or Gwen,' she replied. 'Jack was just a blank, I couldn't hear anything, and you...'
His mouth tightened slightly. 'What about me?'
'I'm sorry,' Tosh apologised. 'Those thoughts were private. I had no right. I'm really sorry. I wish I'd never been given that stupid pendant. I hate myself for falling into such a stupid trap.'
Ianto felt for her. How many times had he wondered what was on Jack's mind, or what was really going on with the people that worked around him. It turned out there were a lot of things that really were better left unsaid. It was just a shame that any of them had to learn that the hard way.
'I'm sure we probably all think things in our heads that we don't really mean,' he said. 'There are whole days when I picture wanting to inflict bodily harm on someone. Doesn't mean I'd do it. It's nice to be fanciful sometimes.'
'I don't think the things I heard were flights of fancy,' she replied. All she could think of were the sideways insults Owen had said, and the way Gwen looked down her nose at her. With Jack there'd been nothing, as if he didn't have a single thought to spare for her, and Ianto was so wrapped up in his own pain that he couldn't think of anything else. It made her feel about as low as she possibly could.
'I really though maybe Mary and I... How could I be so stupid to think she liked me? She just wanted to use me to get into Torchwood. All the power to hear people's thoughts and she still hid everything from me.'
'Well,' Ianto said, leaning forward. 'Maybe she wasn't the only one.'
'What do you mean?'
'Maybe what you heard from the rest of us wasn't the full story either. You say you heard hurtful things, but underneath all of that maybe there's a lot more hidden away. I can't speak for everyone, but I know I have nothing but respect for you, and so does Jack. I'm sure Gwen and Owen feel the same way, even if they don't show it.'
She wanted to believe him, truly, but everything from the past few days had eaten away at her resolve to believe anyone cared about anyone anymore. 'I don't think I can make this right,' she said, bowing her head and sniffling into Ianto's handkerchief. 'I can't take back the things I heard.'
He wished that he could have taken them back for her, and made her forget whatever it was she'd heard that had her so upset. Retcon wouldn't make things right, though. He couldn't even begin to imagine what thoughts of his she might have been privy to. He didn't think he'd had time for thoughts of his own, always busy doing something. Though he could imagine Gwen and Owen having an internal monologue of tactless thoughts. They so very often said the wrong thing aloud at the best of times. Inside their heads it must be bedlam.
'I really don't think there's anything else to cover off on,' Ianto said, setting down his clipboard though he hadn't jotted a single note on it. 'I think it's safe to say Mary would have done anything to get into Torchwood. She could have tried to befriend any one of us.'
'Instead she picked me because I'm pathetic and an easy target,' Tosh replied, blowing her nose and looking miserable.
He hated seeing Tosh so defeated. Jack was much better at this than he was. Jack would have known the right thing to say.
'We stopped a serial killer. That's good, isn't it?'
'I suppose,' she replied, though without any enthusiasm.
'Go home and take care of yourself, yeah? Have a bath, get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day.'
'Yeah,' she said, nodding and sniffing again. Just her and her own thoughts. They were more than enough to have to deal with.
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Mag7, OW, any, truth at the bottom of a bottle
H-hey, now, I don’t think you need anymore…
He paused when he needed to take a breath, when the rawness of his throat made his eyes tear, when the rawness of his throat forced him to.
Here now, give me that. You worse than a cowboy in town after a month on the range.
He’d drunk just to get drunk many times; he knew that drinking this way was the way to bypass being drunk altogether, and just fall into a stupor as soon as possible.
Hey, hold up there, hoss… don’t you think maybe you’ve had enough?
Normally, he would be content to just sip, surrounded by his friends, but tonight… tonight a black need (blacker than usual) drove him.
You about ready to sleep it off?
Because there was a truth in the bottom of this bottle, and he was going to find it, even if he had to drink every drop of whiskey in it.
Knowing that truth would let him understand the evil in the world, why it took men the way it did.
Knowing the truth would set him free.
***
June 10, 2016
Re: Mag7, OW, any, truth at the bottom of a bottle
Great post! Thanks!! YEA!!
Re: Mag7, OW, any, truth at the bottom of a bottle
Re: Mag7, OW, any, truth at the bottom of a bottle
Fantastic job!
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Re: Mag7, OW, any, truth at the bottom of a bottle
Of course, there's also the other interpretation, of evil taking hold of men, which would fit Josiah more. Chris would be more likely to just accept that some people are just downright evil and not think more on it.
Then again, if not for the part about him drinking a lot in the past, I'd think it was Vin, because that's the kind of question that would sneak up on him.
Definitely Josiah (grin).
Thanks for taking up that prompt, and for sharing.
Re: Mag7, OW, any, truth at the bottom of a bottle
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"Miss (im)Perfect" (Hey Arnold!, Olda Pataki)
I don't blame you for hating me, sister.
They go out to dinner that night, at the fanciest restaurant in town to celebrate yet another semester of straight A's. Helga slurps her soda and makes rude noises while she eats, Olga takes tiny bites and smiles sweetly.
Just once, I wish I could stuff my face so freely.
She plays the piano for them, Helga flopped onto the couch reading a comic and chewing away at a wad of bubblegum. Their parents completely ignore the younger girl, only having eyes for Olga and her melodies, and Olga thanks them politely for their loving praise.
Why do I always have to play the piano? Why can't we just play cards for once, or watch a movie on TV?
Her fingers hurt when she goes to bed that night, but she pretends they don't.
Helga gobbles her breakfast and rushes off to play with her friends, not bothering to say goodbye. Olga pretends to study while she looks out the window, watching her sister laughing and slapping a boy on the back as they talk about something or other.
She may not always speak kindly of her friends or get along with them, but they always end up having fun together.
She can't remember the last time she had even one friend like that. The other children admired her, but never asked her to play or sit with them. Untouchable Olga, too perfect for this world.
Olga closes her book and goes to the kitchen. Helga will probably be hungry when she comes in, and she'll probably bring her friends.
Such a good girl, we can always count on you. So obedient, so thoughtful, so smart.
She picks up the knife and begins to chop up the lettuce, tiny frustrated noises escaping her throat now and then.
Straight A's, angelic singing voice, so good with children. She'll make a fine wife someday, a true breadwinner.
As she's slicing the tomatoes, she feels a sting of pain across her hand. She looks down, and for the briefest moment she's fascinated by the line of blood beginning to trickle down her skin.
I bleed and feel pain just like anyone else. They'll never know because they'll never care, they only want their perfect wind-up doll, not a living breathing person. Why do I ever come home? Why do I try to reach out to people, why bother when no one wants to know if there's more to me than grades and music?
Because it's still easier to pretend than it would be to lose their love. And that scares her.
This is all I know.
She washes her hand, wraps a bandage around it and gets back to work. Helga comes racing through the door with her friends, Olga sets out a platter of sandwiches and smiles sweetly.
No one asks what happened to her hand. Olga doesn't care.
Re: "Miss (im)Perfect" (Hey Arnold!, Olda Pataki)
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"Overcast"
But lately, the smile seemed more of a defense than anything else.
Riley was insecure. Everyone knew that, she wore it without shame and could easily be cheered up with a little reassurance and an opportunity to help someone with their own problems. Then the text-bullying incident happened and something changed. Even after Riley reclaimed Rileytown, Maya could just sense something was off.
Riley smiled through everything, kept believing. Even when she got her first F. Even when The Triangle got to be too much, even after she and Lucas decided to just stay friends. Even when she lost her bear, or thought she was going to move to London.
It's real, but somehow it isn't. Every time I ask if she's okay, she says yes but she's not and I wish she'd just talk to me.
The bay window was where all the secrets come out. Riley joined the poetry club, and the meetings ran a little late sometimes, so Maya let herself in and waited patiently in their spot, Riley barely batting an eyelash when she comes in.
"Hey."
"Sit." Maya patted the space next to her. Riley obeyed, giving her a funny look.
"Is something wrong?"
"You tell me." Maya squeezed her hand, and Riley tensed.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"Riley." Maya squeezed harder. "For the past year it's been awfully overcast in Rileytown, and there were never any clouds before," she said. "I thought you were okay after you confronted her, but...you're not, are you?" Riley froze, her smile fading completely.
"...it's stupid. It was just some girl sending me a bunch of texts I could've just ignored, right?" She shook her head. "It's fine, Maya, I just-"
"Will you just tell me the truth for once?" Maya cut her off. "Stop hiding behind that smile, okay? It's okay to-"
"I can't! If I stop smiling that means she was right, I'm only doing what she wanted and I...I can't let her take that from me, remember?" Her voice was shaking, and so were her shoulders. "It was humiliating, needing everyone to save me. Why do you think I didn't tell Mom?"
"And yet she found out anyway," Maya said. "Lawyers have magic powers, honey, especially lawyers who are also moms."
"She threatened to sue the girl's parents. Dad had to talk her out of it." Riley swallowed. "I'm the one who's supposed to take care of everyone, Maya. Remember the Spirit Award in seventh grade?" She covered her face with her free hand. "I almost let someone take that from me. After that...I vowed never to cry or need rescuing like that again."
She was so close to tears but even now she wouldn't let them fall, and Maya's heart ached. She let go of Riley's hand and reclined against the closed side window, pulling Riley with her. Riley slowly began to relax, her head resting on Maya's shoulder, Maya stroking her fingers through Riley's hair.
"It's okay not to be fine, Riley," she whispered. "You can't be Little Miss Spirit all the time. Sometimes the rescuer needs rescuing."
"I know," Riley mumbled, sniffling even though she still wasn't crying. "It's not that I don't think anyone will, either. I just don't like feeling like I need it."
"Well, deal with it, cause the Riley Matthews Protection Squad isn't going anywhere," Maya said with a little smile. Riley groaned.
"You're gonna tell everyone else, aren't you?"
"No. You're going to confide in them and let them comfort you for once," Maya insisted. "And no shoving ice cream in anyone's face, either."
"You're never gonna let that go, are you." But to Maya's relief, that did get a little smile out of Riley. A real one. "I guess you're right, though."
"You know I'm right. I don't wanna see anymore gray clouds over Rileytown, okay? And if they ever come, we'll chase them away." It almost scared Maya how Riley-ish she sounded right now, but it was working. Riley curled closer to her, entwining their legs, her breath warm against Maya's neck.
"I think they're starting to fade."
Maya kissed Riley's forehead.
"Good."
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Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, OCs
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 854 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for withasmile87's prompt "Any, any, Telling the truth was harder than telling a lie" at fic_promptly and Fffc May Special Daily Challenge - May 1st - He held her close in his arms when he told her the terrible news.
Summary: For Jack and Ianto, it's time to say goodbye to a dear friend.
He held her close in his arms when he told her the terrible news. It was all Jack could do not to burst into tears again.
'Why are you sad, Daddy?'
He stroked his daughter's hair, that same light brown that matched his own. Somewhere in another room, Ianto was doing the same thing as him with their other two children. Perhaps they should have done it together, as Ianto had suggested. Jack didn't think he could. One look at the devastated expression on his husband's face and he'd have fallen apart. It was easier this way. He could be strong for the kids, just not for Ianto.
He supposed they'd always known this day would have to come eventually. He just didn't expect it would be today. Their dog, Buddy had been a faithful companion for so many years, even before the kids had come along. He'd always been a character, getting into more scrapes than even Jack, but they'd both grown to love him all the same. He was much more subdued these days, being an old dog, though still capable of running around and causing trouble when it suited him. More often than not though, he was a lapdog, or more correctly a sofa dog, curling up with them to watch TV. His old legs were getting arthritic and he often stayed downstairs, no longer keen on clambering up the stairs to the second floor unless it was a particularly cold night and he wanted to snuggle in someone's bed for the night. Usually it was their bed, since they at least were strong enough to pick him up and put him on the end of the bed, saving him from having jump up onto the bed himself.
What he'd been doing upstairs this morning Jack had no idea. Perhaps he'd been wanting to hang out with Ianto in their study, whilst Jack was downstairs making phone calls, both of them working from home. He heard the series of thuds just as he was hanging up the phone.
'Ianto? Is that you?' he said, coming to the base of the stairs, only to find a pile of black fur crumpled at the bottom of them.
Buddy didn't get, up and let out only the most pathetic of whines. Before he knew what was happening, Jack was yelling for Ianto. The yelp and howl Buddy gave him when he scooped him up into his arms was so awful that Jack nearly dropped him right there and then.
They'd rushed their beloved pet to the vet, but it was all bad news. The arthritis was no longer arthritis, but cancer that was riddled through the old bones. The vet surmised that the weakening bones had lead to the fall down the stairs. There were several broken bones and he was in a lot of pain. The vet broke the news to them that the only humane thing left to do would be to put him to sleep.
They'd wanted to wait until they could pick up the kids from school. It felt wrong not to let them have a chance to say goodbye, but Buddy was in so much pain that neither could they let him suffer any longer than was absolutely necessary. The whole thing was just such a shock that it was impossible to process.
Ianto played with his floppy ears, tears falling thick and fast as the vet administered the drugs that would finally ease his pain. He just kept repeating the words "good boy" over and over again, long after Buddy would have been able to hear them. Jack himself was speechless, strolling the thick black fur, unable to believe this was happening.
Even now Jack couldn't believe he was gone. It had been the right thing to do, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
'Baby,' he began, 'Buddy had a fall down the stairs today and he was very badly hurt. We took him to the vet but they said he was very sick and in a lot of pain, so the vet had to put him to sleep. '
'When's he waking up?'
He wanted to lie and tell her everything was fine. Lying was so much easier than it was to have to face the truth. Kids were good at believing lies, but they were also very receptive to the truth. Much more than adults were.
'He's not waking up, sweetie. He's up in heaven now.' Just saying it made him want to cry again. Instead he squeezed her tight against his body, so she couldn't see how upset he was. Buddy had been just as much a part of the family as anyone.
When he raised his head, he saw Ianto standing in the doorway, one child in each hand, all of them looking miserable. Both kids came over to add their own hugs, and he found Ianto leaning over him to place a kiss in his hair. He let his own tears fall, knowing that there was a time to be brave and a time when it was okay to let go.
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