Ficlet: Anything For Lisa

[bk_forever]

Title: Anything For Lisa

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Ianto, mentions Lisa

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Cyberwoman.

Summary: Ianto’s exhausted, but Lisa is worth whatever he has to endure.

Word Count: 438

Written For: oneill’s prompt ‘Any, Any, waking up more exhausted than when they went to sleep’ at fic_promptly.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.

Sleep these days doesn’t mean rest, and there’s little enough of it anyway. Between working ridiculously long hours and caring for Lisa, I count myself lucky if I get five hours in bed at night. Even then, I don’t get to spend all that time asleep. Night after night, I lie awake worrying. Is Lisa okay? Did I remember to top up her pain relief before I left for what remained of the night? What if someone’s been snooping in the lower levels and found her? It’s one of my greatest fears; that while I’m not there, she’ll be discovered. I’m not stupid; I know there’s no way Harkness or his team would allow her to live. They wouldn’t understand, they’d see her as a threat, a monster, but she’s not. She’s still Lisa, my Lisa, all she needs is someone who can fix her, remove the implants and the metal; make her the way she was again.

Even when I do manage to drift off to sleep, my nights are spent tossing and turning, trapped in memories, reliving every second of that awful day. I can’t escape it, I’m back there surrounded by flames and screams and choking smoke every time I close my eyes, and I wake up sweating, shaking, expecting every second to hear those metallic voices again. Exterminate. Delete. As if humans are no more than a plague of insects, or faulty data to be expunged.

When my alarm goes off in the morning, I have to drag myself from the tattered sleeping bag I call my bed, even more exhausted than when I crawled into it a few short hours earlier. Shower, shave, dress, then it’s back to work to check on Lisa and carry out all the demeaning jobs those slobs are too lazy to do for themselves. They barely even notice my existence, which is probably a good thing. If they bothered to look at me, they might notice how tired I look, they might even start asking questions I don’t want to answer. So I keep my head down, do my best to blend into the background, to become invisible to them. Out of sight, out of mind.

The only thing that keeps me functioning these days is coffee. Well, that and my determination to save Lisa whatever the cost. I just need to keep going a little while longer, I think I’ve finally found someone who can help her and he’ll be here in a few days. When Lisa’s cured and we’re far away from Cardiff, maybe then the nightmares will fade and I’ll finally be able to sleep.

The End

Comments

[milady-dragon.livejournal.com]

Poor Ianto. I know going unnoticed was a good thing for him but it really makes me mad that no one else noticed his exhaustion. *sigh*

[bk_forever]

He hid it well. He did everything he could to keep them from noticing, and he succeeded because they didn't pay any attention to him most of the time.

Thank you!

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

Awww, poor Ianto. Running on sheer determination and caffeine at this point. He really did love Lisa.

[bk_forever]

He did, but sometimes love just isn't enough. He tried his best.

Thank you.

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

poor Ianto he tried so hard for poor Lisa.

great story, great Idea it being from Iantos point of view

[bk_forever]

One of the challenges last week at fic_promptly was to write from a POV you didn't usually use, so I decided to try writing in First Person, instead of my usual Third Person. It worked out well for this prompt.

He really tried everything, he couldn't have done more but then nothing would have saved Lisa anyway. He just didn't realise that.

Thank you.

[pecos.livejournal.com]

Woobie!

[bk_forever]

Not so much a woobie as someone suffering from exhaustion from having too much to cope with. I know how he feels.

Thank you.

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

Ooh first person - that's different. Works well though :-)
*Hugs poor Ianto*

[bk_forever]

It was one of the side-challenges during challenge week at fic_promptly, so I really had to try! (I completes all 5 side challenges and wrote fills for 8 lonely prompts in the process. Not bad for my first Challenge Week!)

Thank you. Poor Ianto needs lots of hugs.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

It wasn't until I caught that episode arc in DrWho on alternate Earth that I saw how the Cybermen were first created and then their ultimate conversion of others that I understood exactly what Ianto was going through. I still think he didn't realize just what that conversion process did to her and I don't think Jack understood, beyond the threat she represented but most of all, I felt sorry for Lisa. The two struck me as star-crossed lovers more than anything else, even more because there was no way to reverse any of the damage.

[bk_forever]

Yes, I think Ianto had no idea that the conversion process, once started, could not be stopped or reversed, that Lisa was essentially dead the moment it began. I think Jack did know that, understood how much danger even a single partially converted cyberman could be, so he knew Lisa had to die. Lisa still retained some of her personality for a while, but the cyber conversion just kept eroding it, she couldn't fight back. She was a victim as surely as those who were killed outright, it just took longer with her.

Thank you!