Fic: Next Of Kin
Mar. 13th, 2025 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Next Of Kin
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Jack, Ianto, Estelle.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1491
Spoilers: Cyberwoman, Small Worlds.
Summary: Estelle is gone, but her affairs still need to be put in order.
Written For: Challenge 465: Amnesty 77 at
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fan_flashworks, using Challenge 23: Secrets.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
“How did she know? I never told her, so how did she know?”
Ianto wasn’t sure why Jack was talking to him of all people, things were still a little uncertain between them since the whole Cyberwoman thing, but perhaps it was just that he was the only other person there. Besides, Ianto had lost a loved one recently too; if anyone could understand what Jack was going through right now, it would be him, no matter how different the circumstances may have been.
“I never met Ms Cole, so I can’t say for sure, but from what I’ve heard she was an intelligent woman, and very open-minded. She believed in fairies when most people these days dismiss them as mythical beings. What I don’t understand is how you could ever have expected her to believe that you were her Jack’s son, or grandson, whatever. You knew her, and she knew you, she had photographs of you. Even after so much time, she wouldn’t have been easily fooled. No one who knew you as well as Estelle must have would’ve been.”
Jack sighed heavily. “I let her down, so often and in so many ways. I promised to return to her, but I never did.” He looked at Ianto, tears glistening in his eyes. “She waited for me her entire life. She never married, never had children, had no family to speak of, and even when I blundered back into her life, she let me think she believed my lies. Why would she do that?”
“I don’t have an answer for you, Jack; I wish I did. Maybe she just thought it would be easier for you, maybe she wanted to spare you the need to explain why you never came back. Maybe she thought she was better off not knowing the truth about you, and maybe she was right. Knowing that you can’t die, that you’ll never age, would be difficult for even the most open-minded person to get their head around.”
That snapped Jack out of his grief for a moment. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “You put me in charge of the archives, I have access to everything down there, and you haven’t done a particularly good job of redaction. Your name and handwriting are all over the old files, dating back to the early nineteen hundreds. Plus, I worked for Torchwood One. Let’s just say your secret isn’t as much of a secret as you seem to think.”
“Oh.” Jack frowned. “How long have you known?”
“I’ve had my suspicions since London, there were a lot of rumours floating around, but I’ve only known for sure since Suzie shot you through the head and you just got up again. Don’t worry though, I wiped the CCTV footage. I haven’t told anyone else, if that’s what’s bothering you, and I won’t; it’s not my secret to tell. I’m sure I don’t know the whole story, but that’s fine, I don’t need to. It’s none of my business. I only mentioned it now because… Well, it seemed appropriate.”
For a long moment, Jack just stared at Ianto, seeming to assess whether he could be trusted to keep his word, then finally he nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” He thrust one hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up. “What am I gonna do?”
“I’m afraid you’ve lost me, Sir.”
“Estelle. She had no family, no close friends, or not that I could find any mention of. I was going through some of her papers, trying to find out who I should inform about her death. I found her will, and… she put me down as her next of kin, left everything to me.” Jack looked so bewildered it broke Ianto’s heart. This wasn’t the monster Ianto had vowed to watch suffer and die, this was a man who’d just lost someone he cared deeply for, and Ianto knew exactly how that felt.
“She must have loved you very much, and you obviously felt the same or you wouldn’t have kept such a close eye on her, helping her whenever you could. Who else would she have trusted to handle her affairs after she was gone?”
“I should’ve done more for her,” Jack snapped, suddenly angry. “I should’ve protected her!”
“Against the fae?” Ianto raised an eyebrow. “I very much doubt there was anything even you could’ve done against creatures as powerful as they are. I’m sorry Estelle was caught in the crossfire, she didn’t deserve that, but you did what you could. You warned her to stay inside. If she’d followed your advice, she might have been safe.”
“It wasn’t enough. She was always too trusting.” Jack wiped his eyes ineffectually with the back of his hand.
Smiling sympathetically, Ianto handed him a box of tissues. “I think you’ll find these work better, Sir.”
“Thanks.” Drying his eyes, Jack blew his nose and dropped a wad of tissues in the bin, then sank heavily into the chair behind his desk. “There’s so much to do, and I don’t think I can do it alone. I don’t even know where to start. I’ve got a funeral to arrange, a house to pack up and sell, and then there’s Moses.”
“Moses?”
“Estelle’s cat. I’ll need to find a home for him.”
“I could help, if you’d like.” The offer was tentative, but no less genuine for that.
“Really? You’d help me after… everything I did, everything I said, everything YOU said? I seem to recall…”
Ianto cut him off before he could finish, a faint blush colouring his cheeks. “I was angry and hurt, Jack; so were you. We both said a lot of things in the heat of the moment, things I wish I could take back, but yes, I’ll help. Organisation isn’t exactly your strong point. I’ve seen the archives.”
Jack gave a weak laugh. “You’ve got me there.”
“You should finish going through Estelle’s private papers, see if there’s anything about what kind of funeral she wanted, and then we can contact a funeral director. That should be the priority. In the meantime, I’ll sort out all the bills for the property, get them switched into your name so that you can make any payments necessary, keep the electricity on and the water supply running.”
“Why bother with all that?”
Ianto perched on the corner of Jack’s desk. “Because you’ll have to deal with everything in whatever time you can spare from work. The Rift isn’t going to stop just because you have other things you need to do.”
“I guess not.”
“Besides, packing up Estelle’s life is going to be hard for you, and I don’t think you should rush it; if you do, you’ll only regret it later. There are going to be things you want to keep, photos, letters, personal items, and you might decide you don’t want to sell the house right away. Maybe you’ll even choose to keep it, somewhere you can stay if you want to get away from the Hub, or a place to serve as a safe house. If the bills are being paid, you can take your time. I can set aside one of the rooms I’ve emptied in the archives for anything you want to keep, or just so you can bring boxes to the Hub and sort things here, in private.”
“Right, I wouldn’t have thought of any of that. I guess I should make a start while things are quiet. Uh, are you busy right now?”
“Not so you’d notice. It’s too late to call the water board and the electricity company tonight, but I could at least collect all the relevant documentation while you go through Ms Cole’s other papers. We should check on Moses anyway, he’ll need to be fed. The poor thing is probably wondering where his owner is.”
“Maybe I could bring him back here.”
“I wouldn’t, Myfanwy might not react well, but… If you’d like, I could take him back to my flat, just until you decide what to do about him. Then you can visit him whenever you want, and he won’t be so lonely.” Ianto decided not to add that he’d rather like having a cat around the place; it would be pleasant to have the companionship of another living creature helping to chase the ghosts away during the long, often sleepless nights.
Jack nodded. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Alright then, I’ll get our coats, and we can head over to the house and make a start.” Ianto smiled reassuringly. “I know it’ll be hard, but you can do this; it’s what Estelle wanted.”
Drawing a deep breath, Jack nodded. “You’re right. I can’t bring her back, but I can take care of everything that was important to her, see to it that she can rest in peace. It’s far less than she deserved from me, but it’s all I can do for her now.”
The End
Ianto wasn’t sure why Jack was talking to him of all people, things were still a little uncertain between them since the whole Cyberwoman thing, but perhaps it was just that he was the only other person there. Besides, Ianto had lost a loved one recently too; if anyone could understand what Jack was going through right now, it would be him, no matter how different the circumstances may have been.
“I never met Ms Cole, so I can’t say for sure, but from what I’ve heard she was an intelligent woman, and very open-minded. She believed in fairies when most people these days dismiss them as mythical beings. What I don’t understand is how you could ever have expected her to believe that you were her Jack’s son, or grandson, whatever. You knew her, and she knew you, she had photographs of you. Even after so much time, she wouldn’t have been easily fooled. No one who knew you as well as Estelle must have would’ve been.”
Jack sighed heavily. “I let her down, so often and in so many ways. I promised to return to her, but I never did.” He looked at Ianto, tears glistening in his eyes. “She waited for me her entire life. She never married, never had children, had no family to speak of, and even when I blundered back into her life, she let me think she believed my lies. Why would she do that?”
“I don’t have an answer for you, Jack; I wish I did. Maybe she just thought it would be easier for you, maybe she wanted to spare you the need to explain why you never came back. Maybe she thought she was better off not knowing the truth about you, and maybe she was right. Knowing that you can’t die, that you’ll never age, would be difficult for even the most open-minded person to get their head around.”
That snapped Jack out of his grief for a moment. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “You put me in charge of the archives, I have access to everything down there, and you haven’t done a particularly good job of redaction. Your name and handwriting are all over the old files, dating back to the early nineteen hundreds. Plus, I worked for Torchwood One. Let’s just say your secret isn’t as much of a secret as you seem to think.”
“Oh.” Jack frowned. “How long have you known?”
“I’ve had my suspicions since London, there were a lot of rumours floating around, but I’ve only known for sure since Suzie shot you through the head and you just got up again. Don’t worry though, I wiped the CCTV footage. I haven’t told anyone else, if that’s what’s bothering you, and I won’t; it’s not my secret to tell. I’m sure I don’t know the whole story, but that’s fine, I don’t need to. It’s none of my business. I only mentioned it now because… Well, it seemed appropriate.”
For a long moment, Jack just stared at Ianto, seeming to assess whether he could be trusted to keep his word, then finally he nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” He thrust one hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up. “What am I gonna do?”
“I’m afraid you’ve lost me, Sir.”
“Estelle. She had no family, no close friends, or not that I could find any mention of. I was going through some of her papers, trying to find out who I should inform about her death. I found her will, and… she put me down as her next of kin, left everything to me.” Jack looked so bewildered it broke Ianto’s heart. This wasn’t the monster Ianto had vowed to watch suffer and die, this was a man who’d just lost someone he cared deeply for, and Ianto knew exactly how that felt.
“She must have loved you very much, and you obviously felt the same or you wouldn’t have kept such a close eye on her, helping her whenever you could. Who else would she have trusted to handle her affairs after she was gone?”
“I should’ve done more for her,” Jack snapped, suddenly angry. “I should’ve protected her!”
“Against the fae?” Ianto raised an eyebrow. “I very much doubt there was anything even you could’ve done against creatures as powerful as they are. I’m sorry Estelle was caught in the crossfire, she didn’t deserve that, but you did what you could. You warned her to stay inside. If she’d followed your advice, she might have been safe.”
“It wasn’t enough. She was always too trusting.” Jack wiped his eyes ineffectually with the back of his hand.
Smiling sympathetically, Ianto handed him a box of tissues. “I think you’ll find these work better, Sir.”
“Thanks.” Drying his eyes, Jack blew his nose and dropped a wad of tissues in the bin, then sank heavily into the chair behind his desk. “There’s so much to do, and I don’t think I can do it alone. I don’t even know where to start. I’ve got a funeral to arrange, a house to pack up and sell, and then there’s Moses.”
“Moses?”
“Estelle’s cat. I’ll need to find a home for him.”
“I could help, if you’d like.” The offer was tentative, but no less genuine for that.
“Really? You’d help me after… everything I did, everything I said, everything YOU said? I seem to recall…”
Ianto cut him off before he could finish, a faint blush colouring his cheeks. “I was angry and hurt, Jack; so were you. We both said a lot of things in the heat of the moment, things I wish I could take back, but yes, I’ll help. Organisation isn’t exactly your strong point. I’ve seen the archives.”
Jack gave a weak laugh. “You’ve got me there.”
“You should finish going through Estelle’s private papers, see if there’s anything about what kind of funeral she wanted, and then we can contact a funeral director. That should be the priority. In the meantime, I’ll sort out all the bills for the property, get them switched into your name so that you can make any payments necessary, keep the electricity on and the water supply running.”
“Why bother with all that?”
Ianto perched on the corner of Jack’s desk. “Because you’ll have to deal with everything in whatever time you can spare from work. The Rift isn’t going to stop just because you have other things you need to do.”
“I guess not.”
“Besides, packing up Estelle’s life is going to be hard for you, and I don’t think you should rush it; if you do, you’ll only regret it later. There are going to be things you want to keep, photos, letters, personal items, and you might decide you don’t want to sell the house right away. Maybe you’ll even choose to keep it, somewhere you can stay if you want to get away from the Hub, or a place to serve as a safe house. If the bills are being paid, you can take your time. I can set aside one of the rooms I’ve emptied in the archives for anything you want to keep, or just so you can bring boxes to the Hub and sort things here, in private.”
“Right, I wouldn’t have thought of any of that. I guess I should make a start while things are quiet. Uh, are you busy right now?”
“Not so you’d notice. It’s too late to call the water board and the electricity company tonight, but I could at least collect all the relevant documentation while you go through Ms Cole’s other papers. We should check on Moses anyway, he’ll need to be fed. The poor thing is probably wondering where his owner is.”
“Maybe I could bring him back here.”
“I wouldn’t, Myfanwy might not react well, but… If you’d like, I could take him back to my flat, just until you decide what to do about him. Then you can visit him whenever you want, and he won’t be so lonely.” Ianto decided not to add that he’d rather like having a cat around the place; it would be pleasant to have the companionship of another living creature helping to chase the ghosts away during the long, often sleepless nights.
Jack nodded. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Alright then, I’ll get our coats, and we can head over to the house and make a start.” Ianto smiled reassuringly. “I know it’ll be hard, but you can do this; it’s what Estelle wanted.”
Drawing a deep breath, Jack nodded. “You’re right. I can’t bring her back, but I can take care of everything that was important to her, see to it that she can rest in peace. It’s far less than she deserved from me, but it’s all I can do for her now.”
The End
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Date: 2025-03-14 12:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-03-14 10:46 am (UTC)Thank you!