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“Damnit, Jack!” Gwen shouted from across the Hub. “How is it that in all of the lifetimes you lived through you never learned how to keep things tidy?”
Jack poked his head out of his office and looked at Owen, “What did I mess up now?”
Owen laughed, but stayed focused on his work, “You’re on your own with this one mate.”
Jack walked out of the office and down to the interrogation room where Gwen was standing in the doorway, hands on her hips. It was the day after the fiasco with Suzie, and the room was a mess of papers and photos that he had left, hoping that Suzie would see something that would give her away. Of course then Gwen decided she had to go be all compassionate, and the room just never got cleaned up.
“This is what we have Ianto for you know,” he whispered, sliding behind her and slipping his arms around her waist.
“First of all, no, it’s not. Ianto is a valuable part of this team and you need to start treating him that way. Second of all, I’m mad at you, and this,” she removed the hands encircling her waist and turned around, “isn’t going to work. Not this time.”
Jack was confused. Sure, he’d left a mess, but this was Gwen. Something else was going on and he was worried that it had something to do with her almost dying.
“What are you even doing in here?” Jack asked.
Gwen sighed. “I just needed somewhere quiet and the Hub was…distracting. I thought I could come down here and be alone, but no, now I have to clean because somebody doesn’t know how to clean up after a case.”
“How is that my fault? We were slightly busy saving you, remember?”
“Yes I do remember, and thank you for yet another reminder of how badly I messed up and almost died. That’s great Jack.”
Jack looked at Gwen. She was flustered and angry- and scared. Jack had died so many times he had forgotten what it was to believe you weren’t coming back. To have lived only one life and experience the fear of having that cut short.
“Come with me,” he commanded.
“I’m fine Jack. Just go away and forget I said anything. I’ll clean it up.”
“Gwen.”
“No Jack. Seriously, just drop it.”
Jack walked to stand in front of Gwen. “You’re getting out of here. You don’t need to do this now. Let’s go get some dinner.”
Gwen put her hands on her hips. “For god’s sake Jack, I said drop it. It’s fi- JACK HARKNESS YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL SHOOT YOU!”
Jack knew that if Gwen didn’t vent her fears and deal with her emotions she’d continue down a dark path. He’d been there, and he didn’t want that for her, so he picked her up and carried her over his shoulder through the Hub to the training room. Ianto, Owen and Tosh knew better than to say anything. Whatever was going on they trusted Jack to handle it. And they all knew Gwen needed a chance to let go.
Jack put Gwen down in the middle of the practice mats. “Going to shoot me? Isn’t that getting a bit old by now? I don't even remember how many times I've been shot.”
Gwen straightened up, trying to stare Jack down. “What are we doing here?”
“You need to blow off steam. We are going to do that here, you’re going to work through this, and then you’re going to move on. Yes, you messed up, yes, you almost died. So have all of us, it’s part of the job.”
Gwen turned and started walking away, but Jack grabbed her arm. Hard.
“Let me go Jack.”
“Make me.” Gwen could hear the smirk in his voice and that just prickled at her too much to let it go. So she sighed, deflating slightly, then quickly spun and punched Jack in the jaw- or tried to. He ducked, letting go of her and taking a step back.
“That’s more like it,” Jack said, smiling. “What else have you got?”
Gwen tried again to turn around and walk away, but Jack grabbed her and spun her back.
“You really want to do this now? Fine!” Gwen said, putting her whole body into her punch towards Jack’s stomach.
Jack didn’t move out the way quite fast enough and he let out a huff as he was pushed backwards. Jack went in to grab Gwen yet again, but Gwen was getting into the game now and she dodged, staying low to try and get Jack off balance.
The two of them sparred for some time, each collecting a few bruises. Finally, Jack saw that Gwen was beginning to get tired. He was too, but as long as he knew that it was what she needed he would die of exhaustion (literally) in order to make sure she got everything out of her system.
“Almost done?” Jack asked as he straightened after throwing Gwen to the floor
“Just one more thing,” Gwen said, getting to her feet and fixing her jacket. She walked over to Jack and gave her best imitation of a death glare. “If you ever carry me through the Hub like a bloody rag doll again I will make you regret it for the rest of you long, long life Jack Harkness.”
“Oh, there are a lot of things I will regret in my life Gwen Cooper,” Jack leaned in to whisper in her ear, “Getting you all hot and bothered will never be one of them.”
Gwen laughed, and kissed Jack.
"Feeling better then?" he asked.
"Yes actually. Although I'm still not okay with what happened. Not the almost dying. Like you said, that's part of the job. But with how badly I messed up."
"Gwen, I'm going to tell you why I brought you into Torchwood: You see people. Not the aliens, not just another case. You see who the people we deal with are. The rest of us have been desensitized to that. And yes, that backfired this time. And you need to face that it probably will again. That's why we're a team. We round each other out and make up for each others' shortcomings." Jack lovingly cupped her face. "Okay?"
“Thank you. For knowing what I needed. Even if you were a right bastard about it,” Gwen responded as she turned and started back into the Hub proper. She wasn't quite ready to forgive herself, but she could forgive Jack for being- well, Jack.
“That’s my girl!” Jack ran behind Gwen and picked her up, taking them both towards a much needed (and very playful) shower instead.