Jack - Christmas

[logan_echolls]

(continued from here)

Sitting in the boarding area, Logan looked out one of the large windows, watching as planes took off and landed. In a way leaving London felt wrong- As though he was taking a time out from serving his sentence. Though working for Torchwood often felt the same way. He'd given up so much when he'd left America, convinced that it was for the greater good, and now- Now it seemed as though it had all been for nothing. Just one more fuck up in a long line of fuck ups.

He took solace in the idea that at least with Torchwood he stood more of a chance accomplishing what he'd come here to do, but that didn't really make it easier.

Glancing over at Jack, he hesitated slightly before speaking up. "What happens if there's no answers. No solutions?" he asked quietly.

Comments

[im_torchwood]

"It really is. And it never gets old," he said. "There's just something about sunset. I don't know...whatever," he shrugged. Then he turned to look at Logan.

"Huh. I'm overdressed for this party."

[logan_echolls]

Logan looked down at himself, then smiled. "I did say I was getting ready for bed," he shrugged. "Also, if this is a party we need to get you out more."

[im_torchwood]

"What, you think I don't know how to party?" Jack asked. "I bet you're quite a hit at your Navy shindigs, huh?"

[logan_echolls]

"Not really," Logan admitted with a laugh. "I had a pretty bad reputation when I signed up. I think I was always busy trying to prove myself to them, even after they'd all accepted me."

[im_torchwood]

"What about now? Still trying to impress?" he asked.

[logan_echolls]

"Maybe. I guess in some ways I'll always be fighting to get away from my past, and struggling out of my dad's shadow," Logan said honestly. "But being aware of that is half the battle or whatever. At least that's what my therapist would say."

[im_torchwood]

"Sounds healthy, it's probably right," Jack agreed with a nod. "You've changed a lot since seventeen."

[logan_echolls]

"I'm certainly not the douchebag the tabloids wrote me up as, but- Yeah, I guess. I mean I bet you're nothing like the way you were ten or twenty years ago."

[im_torchwood]

Jack nodded and gave a shrug.

"I had a moustache, he confessed. "It was a dark time with y2k and all that."

[logan_echolls]

Logan laughed, wrinkling his nose. "I couldn't even grow one yet."

[im_torchwood]

Jack laughed at the thought.

"Have you ever grown one?" Jack asked.

[logan_echolls]

"Briefly. Never again," Logan added with a snort, shaking his head and looking up at the darkening sky.

[im_torchwood]

"I'd do it again," Jack said. "Maybe after the new year."

He paused.

"Pretty sunset. Don't get this sort of sunset in London."

[logan_echolls]

"Don't grow one, please," Logan pleaded with a laugh, pulling his gaze away from the sky to look at Jack.

"It is nice out here though. Clear sky, and the stars coming out... It's beautiful," he replied.

[im_torchwood]

"It really is." He paused, and before he could think better of it...he just kept talking.

"I used to live on an island. Tropical. Great beaches. It was...unbelievable. I made friends. Fell in love. Had a family. It's like a whole other life."

[logan_echolls]

"Sounds like a nice life," Logan replied, putting his feet up.

"You must miss it. ...I get that," he added softly.

[im_torchwood]

"It was a long time ago," he said with a slow nod. "Hundreds of years. But...it was..."

He wasn't sure what he could say that wouldn't shatter the moment.

"My husband, there, then...loving him was...epic. Spanning years and continents. Bloodshed. You know. Epic," he explained, eyes resting heavy on Logan's every expression.

[logan_echolls]

Logan recoiled slightly at hearing his own words, tension obvious in his shoulders- Before a flash of anger.

"Fuck you," he said quietly, getting to his feet and heading for the cabin. He didn't know what kind of game Jack was playing with him, but he wasn't about to sit and let it continue.

[im_torchwood]

"Logan...no, wait," he said, bouncing to follow along. "Let me explain."

It was all going to have to come out, he knew. He didn't like it, but in this one small corner of his life, he didn't want to base it on lies.

"Logan, listen please," he added, stepping down so he could follow Logan to the bunk.

[logan_echolls]

"Listen to what?" Logan snapped, that anger that still bubbled beneath the surface rising to the top. He'd gotten so good at fighting it and hiding it, but there it was. That same fire born from hurt and pain was still there after all these years.

"I don't know what game you're playing, Jack, but I'm not okay with it. This isn't okay."

For a moment it looked like he might take a swing at the other man, but those years of careful control kicked in and his fist made contact with the door frame instead.

[im_torchwood]

Jack saw it coming and didn't even flinch. It had been so long since he'd taken one on the chin. He was genuinely surprised when Logan his the wall.

"If I tell you, I don't think you'll believe me...but I'm not playing with you, Logan. I swear I'm not."

[logan_echolls]

"You're full of shit," Logan snapped.

[im_torchwood]

"I'm really not. Look, you've seen so many impossible things at Torchwood. Would it be so hard to believe that you and I are connected?" Jack asked.

[logan_echolls]

"Connected how, Jack? What are you even implying here?" Logan asked, forcing his anger back under control as he held the other man's gaze.

[im_torchwood]

Jack wet his lips, then took a slow breath.

"You don't remember. You may never remember. Once, a long time ago for me, there was this tropical island. And you and I were together. I swore to you once I would always find you. Took forever. But now you're here."