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[hanuueshe.livejournal.com]

Title: Hourglass
Author: Lazuli Kat
Genre: Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Death is not the only form of loss.
Status: Complete
Length: Very long
Warning: Mental illness, character death
Comment: What if John Hart were exactly the sort of man everyone thought he was when he first appeared? What if Grey somehow got free in the Hub? What if after being buried alive, Jack came back with something? And how, on top of recovering from Tosh and Owen's death's, would Gwen and Ianto cope?

This is an AU after Series Two ended, and there is a very strong sense of "the end is where we start from" throughout this fic- the sense that despite all of Torchwood's losses, they'll somehow be able to recover. There is a plot, but most of the action centers around Jack and Ianto, and I think you'll find it a very satisfying read.
Except from Fic:
Of course, Ianto was anxious to know if this was normal, if Jack was reacting to the tragic loss of his colleagues – half his team – in the way he usually reacted, and…wasn’t it was soul-destroying to think of any man having a ‘usual reaction’ to something so terrible. How did Ianto discover the answer without asking direct questions that might be too painful for either of them to handle?

The subject had been tentatively skirted around, just the once and purely by accident: Jack’s response gave Ianto the impression that he wasn’t aware of how he was acting. So, slowing down – shutting down – or forgetting what day/month/year it was, could have been completely normal for Jack under these circumstances, but Jack might never have noticed he was doing it; post-mourning, he might have found it too difficult to look back and scrutinise his behaviour.

Nothing of which helped Ianto, who stroked Jack’s hair and tried not to feel as if he was watching his beloved captain slip away.