Tomorrow is Another Day
Feb. 3rd, 2011 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aviv_b_artworkTitle: Tomorrow is Another Day
Words: 1615
Rating: G/PG
Characters: Owen, Myfanwy, Ianto, Jack
Disclaimer: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
Summary: Some days are harder than others.
A/N: This started out as a nice little journey down CrackFic Lane but suddenly turned left at Angst Avenue. I think I've officially entered the winter doldrums.
A small reference to A Pterrible Pteranodon Pthanksgiving, but you don't have to have read this first:http://aviv-livejournal.com/74713.html,
“Yeah, I know I was a right bastard at that Thanksgiving dinner, but it was fun at first.”
Owen took another drink from the fifth of Jameson he had brought with him.
“Sure it was stupid, but I hate that we celebrate that holiday, it isn’t British or Welsh. Captain Jack being American and all that rot. I mean, its not like Boeshane is a suburb of Detroit, is it?”
“Squawk. Squawk” (They celebrate it in Canada)
“I’m sure if you could talk you’d tell me that they celebrate it in Canada, but it’s not even on the same date.”
“Squawk.”
“What? You want some? After the chocolate pumpkin pie, I don’t know if I should let you have any. I don’t want to be cleaning up after you again, OK?”
“Squaaaaaaawk! Mnurffff” (Not my fault. Wanker!)
“Yeah, alright have a bit,” Owen said as he put a large splash in her half empty food dish. She expertly maneuvered the remaining mutton to absorb the liquid before eating it. Owen took another pull from the bottle.
“You know I wasn’t always this way. Had a fiancée even. An alien got into her head.” Owen sighed. “Captain Jack killed her. And I don’t think he ever gave it a second thought.”
“Squawk, squawk.” (He has a habit of doing that, doesn’t he?)
“Ya know Myfanwy, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you actually understood me,” Owen said as he poured some more whiskey into her food bowl.
“Squawk.” (I do.)
“I brought you a present,” he said unwrapping a chocolate sponge cake.
“Grrrrrr.” (Better not be spiked.)
Owen broke off some of the sponge cake and put it in Myfanwy’s food bowl. He watched in fascination as the cake quickly absorbed the liquor.
“Oi! That worked pretty well, think I’ll try that myself.” Owen took a small piece of cake and poured some liquor on it, spilling some in the process.
“Squawk,squawk.” (No mess in my nest!)
“Yeah, sorry. Figures you’d be a neat freak like Ianto.”
Myfanwy snapped her beak at Owen, squawked and made a low gurgling noise in her throat. (Watch it! No cracks about my Ianto!)
Owen took another long pull on the bottle. “So that’s the whole sad story. Katie and I got engaged mid-November and by Christmas she was dead. I hate the holidays. All I can think about is how unfair life is.”
Myfanwy continued to listen as Owen rambled on. She thought about her own family and wondered if any of the Torchwoods realized that she had a mate and pterlings she left behind. Even Captain Jack seemed unaware of how lost she felt in this alien space and time. She clacked at Owen and then her food dish until Owen understood that she wanted more to drink.
“Don’t be getting drunk on me, Ianto will kill me.”
“Squawk, squawk, hic!” (Not drunk, no worries.)
“So Myfanwy, how about you and me make a peace treaty. You stop picking on me and I’ll bring you a splash of Irish whiskey once or twice a week.”
Myfanwy squawked and tapped her beak against the almost empty bottle.
“A fifth? You want an entire bottle every week? I don’t think I should do that.”
“Squawk, grrrrr,” (No deal then) Myfanwy said as she turned her back on Owen and began to preen her feathers.
“Ok, ok, a fifth once a week. I’m not climbing up here every night mind you, so you better be able to ration it yourself.”
Owen climbed down the ladder from her nest, slipping near the bottom and falling the last few rungs.
“Caw, caw.” (Funny, funny.)
“Yeah, go ahead and laugh, but just remember our deal,” Owen admonished.
******
Ianto noticed immediately that something had changed in the relationship between Owen and Myfanwy. Over the next few weeks, he observed that she watched Owen with an intensity that made Ianto think that Owen was hiding some chocolate on his person in order to tease her.
He sighed as he grabbed a large plastic bin liner and began to pick up the garbage spread around Owen’s work area. He heard a whooshing sound and looking up saw Myfanwy flying lazy circles around the Hub. This was new. He wondered if she was bored. Maybe he needed to get some new toys for her. Or perhaps make more time to teach her some new tricks.
WHOOSH! Myfanwy streaked by flying upside-down.
Ianto shook his head in disbelief. Something very strange was going on but he couldn’t figure out what it was. His mood was not improved when he went outside to deposit the now full bag in the large bin at the side of the car park. There were several broken bottles of liquor by the side of the bin. “Great, now I’ll have to clean this up as well.”
He went back into the tourist office and grabbed a broom and dustpan and headed back outside. “If I catch whoever did this, they are going to be very sorry,” Ianto vowed silently.
Up in her nest Myfanwy lay on her back looking through the roof opening at the sky above. The stars were spinning around and around.
Ianto came back into the Hub and started to shut the lights for the night. Today had been a tough day; they had had no choice but to kill the little alien once it tried to bite the child that was tormenting it with a stick. They all knew it was only trying to defend itself, but the kid was screaming bloody murder, his mother was even worse and the public had to be reassured.
“Just a frightened squirrel,” Ianto had told the crowd, as Owen had stuffed its body into a bag and thrown it in the SUV. “It will be analyzed for rabies or any other diseases, but no one got bit, so let’s all just stay calm.”
Jack had taken one look at the alien, pronounced it perfectly harmless which only made incinerating the body even worse. Jack had gone off a while later; Ianto was certain he was up on some roof brooding. By the time Ianto had finished dealing with the press and the police Owen was just heading out, as he put it, to get shitfaced drunk. Gwen and Tosh had left some time before refusing to get involved in what they called ‘a cold-blooded murder.’
So it was just him and Myfanwy tonight. He thought about climbing up to her aerie but was just too tired. He called her for her evening treat but she didn’t respond. Concerned, he began to climb up the ladder to her nest when he heard an unusual sound.
“Snoooooooorg, Snooooorg.”
Ianto realized that Myfanwy was snoring. He smiled at the irony of having a snoring alien above him, an incinerated alien in the lower levels and his alien boss off somewhere in the city.
“Damn you Jack, I could use a friend, a little support tonight, but you don’t even care.” Ianto knew he was being unfair but why was he the one always left to clean up everyone else’s shite.
“Wish I could get a good night’s sleep. Shooting that poor little alien is going to give me nightmares. I should have gone with Owen…” And then he remembered that Owen usually kept some liquor hidden in the medical bay. He reckoned he could have a couple of shots and no one would be the wiser.
Down in the bay he opened the cabinet where Owen usually stashed a bottle. He was surprised to find two unopened fifths of Jameson. “Hell, I hope Owen doesn’t notice one missing,” he thought as he took a bottle over to the sofa. He kicked off his shoes, loosened his tie and opened the bottle. Taking a gulp he moaned at the slight burn of the whiskey in his throat. He took another swig. “Duw, after today, I’m beginning to understand why Owen drinks so much.”
Ianto continued to drink until he could barely keep his eyes open. As he went to put the bottle down, he was surprised to see almost half of it was gone. “Job’s turning me into an alcoholic,” he mumbled as he nearly spilled the bottle on the floor.
“Woah, got it.” Jack had come back just in time to grab the bottle before it tipped over completely.
“Go ‘way, ’m sleeping.”
“Yes, I see that,” Jack said smiling. He put the bottle safely on the floor and went to take a quick look around the Hub finding that everything had been properly locked down for the night. As he stood in the middle of the Hub he could hear Ianto and Myfanwy both snoring away.
“Its like dueling foghorns in here,” Jack chuckled as he headed down to his room. “I wonder who will have the biggest hangover tomorrow…Ianto, Myfanwy, or Owen.”
Jack often wished that he could still get drunk. He never could get fully intoxicated and it never lasted very long, so he couldn’t really see the point.
“My poor broken teammates. Owen so bitter about Katie, Ianto taking care of everyone whether they like it or not and then resenting it afterwards and even Myfanwy, lost forever from her home and family. Tosh, dear goddess, three more years until she can see her mother and even Gwen so frightened of what the rift throws out that she covers it up with recklessness and bravado.”
He knew all the hurts and anxieties of his team, but had no way to fix them. Or himself for that matter. Jack sighed. Another day in an endless succession of days would be starting soon.
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Date: 2011-02-04 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-02-04 04:55 pm (UTC)love the way you write Myfanwy. :) always need more fics for her. lol.
...poor little alien.
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Date: 2011-02-04 05:58 pm (UTC)I agree about Myfanwy. More Fic!!
The scope of the problems.
Date: 2011-02-04 07:15 pm (UTC)Re: The scope of the problems.
Date: 2011-02-04 07:52 pm (UTC)Periscope up INDEED.
Date: 2011-02-04 10:41 pm (UTC)Re: Periscope up INDEED.
Date: 2011-02-04 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-02-06 09:58 am (UTC)No one truley realises how much Jack knows and cares about how much his team hurts.
Great story.
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Date: 2011-02-06 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-03-27 12:46 am (UTC)I love how well Myfanwy understands what Owen's saying, even though she can't reply in a way that he understands. She does manage to persuade him to share his whiskey though - I guess the drunker he gets, the better he understands her!
I want to hug Ianto, feeling so put-upon and unappreciated that he gets himself drunk. I hope he and Myfanwy aren't too hung over in the morning.
I also feel sad for the poor little alien that was killed for trying to defend itself - Torchwood have to do horrible things sometimes just to keep the peace.
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Date: 2011-03-27 04:32 am (UTC)Myfanwy understands a lot of what's going on. I've written a couple other Myfanwy stories - if you haven't read, you might want to check them out.
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Date: 2011-03-27 10:24 am (UTC)Now I have an image in my head of Myfanwy and Nosy watching the rest of the team in exasperation at their antics! "Squawk?" "Hummmm."