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Pairing: Tosh/Tommy, others mentioned
Rating: PG
Length: 240 words
Warnings: none
Spoilers: Episode 2.3 To The Last Man
Disclaimer: Torchwood owned by the BBC, RTD etc.
Summary: "Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" - Alfred Lord Tennyson
At Torchwood, nothing lasts forever. Everyone dies, or leaves, or explodes. I have come to understand this and I accept it now. Owen didn’t want me to get attached because he remembers Diane. I remember Diane and Lisa and the real Captain Jack Harkness, and because of them I know nothing ever lasts. Gwen tries with Rhys but that’s not going to work in the long term, you can’t have proper relationships with this job. Ianto and Jack try, but Ianto is going to have to see Jack die hundreds of times over and Jack with have to live the rest of eternity without Ianto.
That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it before it ends, because that’s all there is ever going to be. It doesn’t make the hurt any less when it’s over but the only thing that can counter that pain is the memories of the happiness that you did share. Tommy went back to his death but he would have been dead by now anyway, whether by firing squad, Germans, old age or being run over by a bus. I could get killed tomorrow, in fact working for Torchwood the odds are fairly high, and I want to know that I enjoyed the time I had. I hope that thanks to me Tommy went back just a little bit happier too. That’s what I fight for, so people like me and him can live and sometimes love.