Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Jack, Owen, Ianto

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 736 words

Content notes: none

Author notes: Written for Challenge 226 - Generosity

Summary: Owen needs time to sort himself out.


Jack was still annoyed with Owen when he walked into the hub that morning. He'd half expected Owen might tell him to get knotted and simply not turn up at all, so he supposed he should be grateful he came at all.

He still looked a mess, split lip and scratches all over his face. Idiot, Jack thought, getting in that cage with that weevil. What the hell had he been thinking? Diane wasn't worth it, whatever had happened between them. She wasn't even here. He needed to just get over it and move on. It wasn't as if they'd been together for more than a few days. Diane certainly hadn't intended on it being serious, and Owen was hardly the monogamous type, so he couldn't understand the attitude.

'He's here,' Jack heard Ianto mutter as he brought in coffee.

'Yeah,' Jack said. 'Unexpected.'

'S'pose I'd better go out there and make him coffee. He'll be rotten without it.'

'Not to mention I wanna see him in my office once he's done. Tell him that, will you?'

Ianto looked like he'd rather step into a cage with a weevil himself than tell Owen he had a date with the boss. 'Of course,' he said, making his leave.



Owen didn't look any more enthused seeing Jack now than he had when he'd arrived, pre-coffee or when Jack had visited him at the hospital yesterday.

When Owen came in he dumped a bag of grapes on Jack's desk. 'Just returning these,' he said, trying to be smart.

Jack plucked one from the bag and scoffed it. 'You really don't like grapes that much?'

'Bout as much as you.'

Jack didn't have to be a genius to know he was referring to his liking for Jack rather than Jack's preference for fruit. 'You wanna tell me what's going on with you?' Jack said, turning serious.

'Not really.'

'Please don't mistake my generosity for kindness,' Jack said. 'You continue this business of not towing the line and I will kick your arse.'

'What would you know about it?' Owen seethed. 'Not like you lost someone you cared about, is it?'

'I've lost plenty, but you don't see me trying to off myself.'

Owen scoffed out a noise, folding his arms in a defensive gesture. 'Not exactly offering a lot of consolation though, are you? Teaboy loses his girlfriend and he gets a month off work. I get chewed up and spat back out and it's back to work. Owen can just pull his shit together and get on with it.'

'I hardly think you're comparing apples with apples. And it was a suspension, not compassionate leave.' Not that there hadn't been an element of compassion in the gesture. He needed Ianto to reconcile with what had happened and what he'd done, and Jack needed to not see him until Jack himself was over the betrayal. 'You want time off?' Jack asked.

'Will I get it if I ask?'

Jack leant back in the chair, considering the request. 'Depends what you plan on doing with it, I suppose.'

'So, if I say I'll go and get pissed every day and contemplate the futility of life, you'll say no, but if I say I'll stay in bed and cry into my pillow, then that's okay?'

'You could always just punch me out like last time,' Jack replied. 'That seemed to work.' Not that he would look forward to it, but whatever it took to get Owen back on an even keel. He hadn't thought he'd have to deal with another incident like Katie.

'Who says I won't do that anyway?' Owen said, looking like he was quite keen on the idea. He couldn't understand how Jack could be so blasé about Dianne leaving. He hadn't even done anything to try and stop her. What was to say he hadn't been the one to talk her into leaving?

'Go, then,' Jack said. 'Do whatever it is you want. I need you back but I need you here with your head on. Just don't go far.' He had a bad feeling down in the pit of his stomach that something bad was on its way, and he needed the whole team to be ready to face it when it got here.

Owen rolled his eyes at him, hating the melodrama that always had to accompany anything Jack said. 'You're all fucking heart,' he said, leaving.