Title: Intervention
By: karaokegal
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Jack/Gwen, (implied Jack/Suzie)
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 450
Notes: Truce? No curtains, but no whining either. No beta for the time being.

“Jack, you’ve got to tell him.”

“I can’t.”

Jack and Gwen were returning from a mission. It was long past midnight and apparently they’d both forgotten that the SUV was always monitored, specifically by him.

“It’s not fair.”

“Why not? He’s getting what he wants out of it.”

“I mean to you. Or any of us, for that matter.”

Jack sighed. Ianto knew that sigh. It wasn’t exasperation. It was Jack leaning back and relaxing. Gwen must be driving, and Ianto could imagine Jack reaching out to casually stroke her hair, and the little smile that would play over her face at the contact. It didn’t matter if they’d just made love, or were on the verge or if it never happened at all. Gwen was clearly allowed to poke into corners of Jack’s heart and mind that Ianto had found tightly cordoned off with brightly coloured warning signs.

“He’ll take it badly.”

“He’s a big strong Welsh lad. He’ll get over it, although he is quite convinced. You said you loved him.”

“I meant it. I always mean it. When I say it.”

“Right after Lisa?”

“That’s when he needed to hear it.”

“And you needed to make him believe it. Now you need to tell him the truth. Nothing lasts forever, except you. Before I met Rhys there was another bloke. I thought he was the one, but he wasn’t. Telling him was painful, but it was the right thing to do.”

“Maybe you’re better at that then I am.”

“You? Jack Harkness? With everything you’ve lived through? You’ve probably done it thousands of time.”

“Usually somebody died or I left before it came to that. This being in one place…it’s different.”

“Then this is something you need to learn. I can help you.”

Jack didn’t seem inclined to bring up what they all knew about Gwen’s “truth-telling” technique, at least when it came to Rhys.

“You don’t understand. I had a thing with Suzie.”

“So what else is new? I’m surprised you didn’t have a daisy-chain with the whole team going on the first night I arrived.”

“Suzie and I had fun for awhile and then I tried the ‘letting her down gently’ approach. I don’t think it worked very well.”

“You’re telling me everything she did was because of you saying you’d gotten bored of shagging her? That’s a pretty big stretch, even for you. She’d have to be half-mad already…oh dear.”

Ianto imagined the look that was coming over Gwen’s face as she thought about what Ianto had done to protect Lisa

“Trust me; it’s better this way. Honesty is over-rated.”

Ianto couldn’t have agreed more. Jack didn’t need to tell him anything.

He already knew.