Double Drabble: Uncaring

[bk_forever]

Title: Uncaring
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Tenth Doctor.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 618: Fragile at tw100.
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto hates how dismissive the Doctor is towards Jack’s suffering.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Double drabble.




Compared to most of the alien races he’d encountered, Daleks and Cybermen, Weevils, Hoix, and Judoon, humans appeared impossibly fragile, with their thin skins, breakable bones, and delicate internal organs. It was hardly surprising that Torchwood agents tended to have short lives.


Despite being immortal and from the future, Jack was just as easily damaged as a regular twenty-first century human. The only difference was that he was capable of recovering from injuries that would cripple or kill anyone else. Even knowing he’d be back on his feet before long didn’t make it any easier for Ianto to see him lying there dead after being savagely mauled, stepped on, or shot with an alien weapon.


Ianto didn’t understand how the Doctor could be so dismissive of Jack’s suffering. The Time Lord knew the fragility of humans, having travelled with quite a few human companions over his long life, and yet he treated Jack as though it didn’t matter if he got hurt or killed, simply because any damage would heal.


“He’ll be fine,” the Doctor said airily.


“He’s in pain,” Ianto snapped, cradling his lover tenderly. “You might not care about his suffering but I do, because I love him.”



The End

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Nice to see this address a situation that bothered me in the show. Ah, Ianto: he has the insight.

[bk_forever]

For all that the Doctor was supposed to be an advanced and wise person his treatment of Jack was just horrible. I can't imagine Ianto standing for his dismissive attitude, especially with Jack in pain.

Thank you!

[raynewton.livejournal.com]

Yes I hated how Ten treated Jack after he gave his life for him, or rather 9. and it wasn't his fault. Rose dunnit, but he didn't blame her. I actually like Ten, but have yo put this out of my mind. Maybe Ianto will make him think about it and change his attitude

[bk_forever]

I like Ten too, most of the time, but in this he was most definitely wrong, Ianto will make him understand and treat Jack better.

Thank you!

[pfyre.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that the Doctor (Nine or Ten) was hugely arrogant and dismissive of Jack even before Rose made him immortal. Rose practically destroyed the timeline in the ep where she saved her father and yet I never got the impression that the Doctor held it against her. Nine apparently felt Rose was worth saving when he sent her away from the gamestation while at the same time he fully expected Jack to sacrifice himself along with Lynda and the other humans in a futile effort to hold back the Dalek advance. Sure Nine could sacrifice himself to save Rose but Ten couldn't be bothered to wait for the newly revived Jack to rejoin the TARDIS. Instead he abandoned Jack on a dead station while Ten took the TARDIS and Rose back to Earth to recuperate from regeneration sickness. He then proceeded to lie to Rose about the situation; while later with Martha on board he tried to runaway from Jack again. Then he was fully on board with the plan that had Martha using Jack's vortex manipulator to travel the world while Jack was tortured and repeatedly murdered by the Master. Hell Ten showed more concern, consideration and caring for the Master than he ever did for Jack who had survived the year from hell filled with torture, pain and death. In a retrospective view, the Doctor has never given a damn about Jack unless Jack was needed to do something for him. I so would've loved Ianto to called the Doctor on his crappy attitude and treatment of Jack.

[bk_forever]

Exactly! The Doctor's treatment of Jack was horrendous, he was treated like a thing that was only useful for being a distraction by getting killed. Jack was brave and loyal, willing to sacrifice himself to help the Doctor, his hero, yet as far as I remember he was never thanked for his efforts, just tossed aside until the Doc had a use for him.

Ianto should have been given the opportunity on the show to give Ten a piece of his mind over his cruel and uncaring attitude.

Thank you!

[pfyre.livejournal.com]

Even when Jack was a conman trying to con the Time Agency in order to find a way to retrieve the missing two years of memories - he wasn't strictly a bad person. From all that we've witness and had told to us, he never deliberately tried to hurt innocents and honestly proved his worthiness of respect and care when he voluntarily offered his own life in an attempt to stop the bomb from hitting the Chula Ambulance in London 1941. And as is often remarked, he had no indication from the Doctor that he could be saved by the TARDIS and the Doctor. He then truly sacrificed himself for the Doctor on the gamestation but all that Doctor did was save Rose and then sacrifice himself for Rose and ignore and runaway from Jack. When placed side by side - I think history would judge Jack the better man, the better being in the short and long term.

[bk_forever]

I agree, Jack was a good, caring, compassionate (and passionate) man before he met the Doctor. He was just misjudged from the start, just because he flirts a lot. The Doctor was just so prejudiced. All Jack wanted was to make him proud. He tried so hard, but nothing. =(

[pfyre.livejournal.com]

The Doctor is severely prejudiced against males. He rarely travels only with male ccompanions - when he is with a male companion it doesn't take long before either the male leaves or a female joins the TARDIS crew. Even the female Doctor is more enamored with female companions. So the Doctor's treatment of Jack should come as little surprise. My current issue with the Doctor is that (according to heavy debate and speculation) that Jack's attempt to warn the Doctor is what starts his inevitable transformation into the Face of Boe and it was complete waste of time and effort on Jack's part since the Doctoe paid no heed to Jack's warning. The way the Doctor acts in regards to Jack even if told that his efforts to warn cause his mutation she would simply brush it aside as unimportant.

[bk_forever]

Ugh. It seems like these days Jack just exists to be ill-treated, ignored, and disregarded. Sometimes I wonder if RTD is still pulling the strings behind Who and wants Jack gone because he's still more popular than Gwen and the only one left that he hasn't been able to get rid of.