Title: Understanding
Author: Outside Edge
Pairing: gen
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters merely borrow them from time to time.
Summary: Jack reflects on Gwens talent for seeing his true self.

***

How Gwen had known, he still didn't know himself. At first he thought it was a lucky guess, but no, she had known. Had he been so transparent, was his guard slipping?

Known that it wasn't his father in the picture on Estelle's mantelpiece.
Known that he, Captain Jack Harkness, had been Estelle's wartime beau.
Accepted, his explanation of the incident in the railway carriage without question, without any doubts, showing an absolute trust and faith in him.

Somehow she had a way of reaching him, of chipping away at the carefully constructed walls he had built around his true self. She was reaching out, helping him cross the bridges he had burnt.

He wasn't afraid of the truth anymore, or of the lies that he kept hidden in his soul. His past was giving up its secrets and he wasn't frightened to show Gwen who he truly was. No longer would he be ashamed of his life nor of the faults he had.

She understood.

***