Cathryn (formerly catslash) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
remindmeofthe) wrote2008-08-04 01:38 am
remindmeofthe) wrote2008-08-04 01:38 am
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So ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
americanleaguer and I spent the evening tormenting each other with awesome AU ideas, until finally we settled on a snippet exchange. (Pay attention, apiphile; this is gonna look familiar.) So I guess we're gonna be writing snippets at each other until we get bored? I don't know.
Anyway. Mine is a Torchwood AU where it was Jack, not Gray, who was abducted. (Oh, and Jack's name is still Jack because Gray calls him Jack in "Exit Wounds," which allows one to assume that there were coincidental matching first names and so Jack really only changed his last name and also to avoid the headache of trying to rename him. And resist the urge to name him something like Orange or Puce.)
Gray is eighteen years old when Jack comes home.
A week ago, an officer arrived with the news that they had found him - or, more accurately, that they had found Mom and Gray. They were hard to find, he explained, with the census system still in shambles after the invasion. Their men had found Jack three years ago, the only one left alive in one of the enemy camps. The officer emphasized the progress Jack had made, how remarkably strong he must be to still be alive and able to think after everything that happened.
They can both read between the lines, of course. They know what those "camps" really are. Gray will never admit it, but he's afraid to see whatever it is his big brother has become. Jack always took care of him when they were little. When something happened and Mom and Dad weren't there, Jack always was. He washed Gray's cuts and soothed his feelings and cleared away his small childish dramas with all the adeptness of an adult. And when it counted, Gray couldn't return the favor. When it counted, he let go of Jack's hand, and Jack disappeared.
Now Gray's going to have to help Mom take care of Jack. He knows this is his chance to make up for everything, and he will, if it takes him the rest of his life he swears he will, but rght now he's afraid. He doesn't want to see what his brother has been broken and shaped into because of him. Mom's told him a million times that it's not his fault. He knows that, in his head at least. He was a small boy. What could he have done? But he can still see it clear as anything. Himself lying in the sand and screaming for Jack instead of getting up on his own like he should have, and looking up in time to watch one of those things snatch Jack up off the ground and run.
Gray kind of wants to run now, but it's too late for that. The door is opening, and Mom is greeting Jack and the man who brought him home.
Gray hangs back, watching. It's not selfish, he tells himself. Mom should get her moment first. And Jack isn't going to recognize him anyway, he'll just be confused, so Gray may as well wait until Mom is done.
She holds Jack carefully, moving slow and loose-limbed like they were told to do with him. Gray can see her trembling with the effort of keeping her grip light so she doesn't alarm him. Jack tenses, leans back, looks at her hard. Gray tenses a bit himself - surely he's not dangerous, they wouldn't bring him home if he was dangerous? - but the officer is watching alertly, so he doesn't move.
Then Jack says, "Mom?" and puts his arms around her, stiffly, like he's just now starting to remember how this is supposed to work. She clutches him and starts to cry.
Jack looks around, uncertain, as though there's something in the room that will tell him what to do with a crying mother. His eyes fall on Gray and he goes very still.
They stare at each other. Jack's eyes are still vivid blue, which surprises Gray somehow. Then Jack smiles and mouths Gray's name, and then Gray is crying too as he rushes across the room to his brother.
americanleaguer and I spent the evening tormenting each other with awesome AU ideas, until finally we settled on a snippet exchange. (Pay attention, apiphile; this is gonna look familiar.) So I guess we're gonna be writing snippets at each other until we get bored? I don't know.Anyway. Mine is a Torchwood AU where it was Jack, not Gray, who was abducted. (Oh, and Jack's name is still Jack because Gray calls him Jack in "Exit Wounds," which allows one to assume that there were coincidental matching first names and so Jack really only changed his last name and also to avoid the headache of trying to rename him. And resist the urge to name him something like Orange or Puce.)
Gray is eighteen years old when Jack comes home.
A week ago, an officer arrived with the news that they had found him - or, more accurately, that they had found Mom and Gray. They were hard to find, he explained, with the census system still in shambles after the invasion. Their men had found Jack three years ago, the only one left alive in one of the enemy camps. The officer emphasized the progress Jack had made, how remarkably strong he must be to still be alive and able to think after everything that happened.
They can both read between the lines, of course. They know what those "camps" really are. Gray will never admit it, but he's afraid to see whatever it is his big brother has become. Jack always took care of him when they were little. When something happened and Mom and Dad weren't there, Jack always was. He washed Gray's cuts and soothed his feelings and cleared away his small childish dramas with all the adeptness of an adult. And when it counted, Gray couldn't return the favor. When it counted, he let go of Jack's hand, and Jack disappeared.
Now Gray's going to have to help Mom take care of Jack. He knows this is his chance to make up for everything, and he will, if it takes him the rest of his life he swears he will, but rght now he's afraid. He doesn't want to see what his brother has been broken and shaped into because of him. Mom's told him a million times that it's not his fault. He knows that, in his head at least. He was a small boy. What could he have done? But he can still see it clear as anything. Himself lying in the sand and screaming for Jack instead of getting up on his own like he should have, and looking up in time to watch one of those things snatch Jack up off the ground and run.
Gray kind of wants to run now, but it's too late for that. The door is opening, and Mom is greeting Jack and the man who brought him home.
Gray hangs back, watching. It's not selfish, he tells himself. Mom should get her moment first. And Jack isn't going to recognize him anyway, he'll just be confused, so Gray may as well wait until Mom is done.
She holds Jack carefully, moving slow and loose-limbed like they were told to do with him. Gray can see her trembling with the effort of keeping her grip light so she doesn't alarm him. Jack tenses, leans back, looks at her hard. Gray tenses a bit himself - surely he's not dangerous, they wouldn't bring him home if he was dangerous? - but the officer is watching alertly, so he doesn't move.
Then Jack says, "Mom?" and puts his arms around her, stiffly, like he's just now starting to remember how this is supposed to work. She clutches him and starts to cry.
Jack looks around, uncertain, as though there's something in the room that will tell him what to do with a crying mother. His eyes fall on Gray and he goes very still.
They stare at each other. Jack's eyes are still vivid blue, which surprises Gray somehow. Then Jack smiles and mouths Gray's name, and then Gray is crying too as he rushes across the room to his brother.
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I am so excited to get into the twisted workings of his damaged little mind.
So weird to see this Gray, though, esp. in light of the fic you just had me read, ha ha.
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- not that anyone who doesn't already know the fic in question is going to read this.
I should probably edit to explain why Jack's name is still Jack.
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