FIC: YOU LIED.
Title: You Lied.
Author: zorell
Rating: PG
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Pairings: Jack/Ianto.
Summary: Jack confronts Ianto about his father.
Disclaimer: Torchwood belongs to BBC and RTD.
A/N: Just a one shot that came to mind when I should have been doing something else!
Ianto sat down, opposite Jack, in the guest chair in his office. They had returned half an hour earlier from visiting Rhiannon, and Ianto had hoped that Jack’s mood would have lifted; however he seemed just as distant and shut off as he had been since leaving Ianto’s sisters home. Ianto had sensed a change in his lover as soon as he had re-entered the living room after leaving Jack and his sister talking, while he had gone out to throw a rugby ball around with David in the garden. Ianto wasn’t sure what had happened but he had sensed a change in Jack immediately. Oh he was still his charming self and had Rhiannon eating out of his hand, but something was wrong. The trip back had been awkward, and the atmosphere still hadn’t improved. Ianto had had enough, and decided that if he was the cause of Jack’s mood he would at least like to know what he was supposed to have done. So here he was sitting opposite the man he loved wondering the best way to broach the subject. The decision was taken out of his hands, as Jack looked at him and simply said,
“ You lied.”
“ Sorry ?” Ianto wondered what Jack was referring to.
“ You lied.” Jack repeated.
“ About ?” Ianto needed a bit more information before he could reply to Jack’s statement.
“ Your father.” Jack’s gaze didn’t waver, looking for any sign of discomfort or deceit in his lovers eyes.
Of course. Jack had been speaking with Rhiannon, and the family album had been on the table when he had rejoined them in the living room.
“ I didn’t lie.” Ianto held Jack’s gaze.
“ Don’t treat me like a fool, Ianto ! I spent the best part of the afternoon with your sister. She showed me pictures of your family, she told me stories about them. Your father wasn’t a Master Tailor, he worked in Debenhams.” Jack’s voice had taken on an angry edge, before becoming hurt as he reiterated, “ You lied.”
“ No. I didn’t.” Ianto’s calmness seemed to only increase Jack’s pain at his lovers lie. “My father was a Master Tailor...”
“ Ianto.”
“... Rhiannon’s worked in Debenhams.”
There was silence for a few moments as the implication of Ianto’s words registered with Jack. As a look of understanding began to cross the Captain’s face Ianto continued.
“ Rhi doesn’t know.” Ianto paused for a minute, preparing himself to tell the man he loved something he had never told anyone else before. “ I found out when I was 12. I came home early from school, Mam was sitting at the kitchen table crying her eyes out. The newspaper was open in front of her, showing a report of the hit and run death of a local tailor. She kept running her fingers over the picture of the victim, and was mumbling in between the sobs. I couldn’t make out more than a few words, but it was clear the victim meant something to her. Then it seemed she suddenly realised I was there, and she just grabbed hold of me and hugged me like there was no tomorrow. She finally started to calm down, but kept saying the same things over and over. When I tried asking her about what was going on, she said I had a right to know, and that’s when it all came out. Mam told me that she and Tad had had to get married when she found out she was pregnant...”
“ Rhiannon.” Jack assumed.
“...No, no they lost the baby. Rhi was born just over a year later. She was the apple of Tads eye, but Mam found it hard. She’d spend hours walking around, sitting in cafes. One day she meet Ifan Davies, a Master Tailor with his own shop. They started meeting for coffee, then walks, then it became more as she fell in love with him. Mam ended it when she realised she was pregnant. I think Tad always suspected I wasn’t his. It would explain how he was with me. Anyway it turned out that Ifan had kept track of Mam and me. He’d guessed I was his, and a few weeks after his death Mam received a visit from a solicitor. Ifan had known he couldn’t leave her much without questions being asked,but he did leave her an embroidered silk scarf, and me a pocket watch that had belonged to his grandfather. When Tad found the scarf he burnt it in front of Mam. On top of everything else, that was the last straw. She had a breakdown and was taken to Providence Park. Tad didn’t visit her, and banned Rhi and I from going too, not that I paid attention. I went as often as I could until she died. When she was gone I had no reason to stay around. Tad didn’t care less about me, Rhi was starting her own life with Johnny, so I left....”
Ianto paused, pulling himself back to the present from the memories of all those years ago, still holding Jack’s gaze he reiterated,
“ I didn’t lie.”