[Not quite Janto, more of the trio!friendship. Hope you like it!]
a time for family
The thing was, Christmas had always been an excuse for her entire extended family to get together. Christmas had always been full of laughter and camaraderie, all the things that Toshiko sorely missed in the rest of her life. Christmas meant pretending she was a normal person, someone who could become friends with her colleagues, who was important to them, who had people who cared about her.
Christmas made her able to survive the rest of the year, so having her family Christmases taken from her had been worse than anything else UNIT had done.
The first time had very nearly killed her. She’d spent hours sobbing in bed before she’d gotten a call from Jack, and had been forced to go out to round up some Weevils. At least it had gotten her mind off the fact that she wasn’t with her family.
She didn’t cry, the subsequent Christmases, but they never got easier. This year, Toshiko thought, might be the worst of all. She only had another year to go and then her case would be reviewed by UNIT and – and then maybe, maybe, she’d get to see her family again at last.
The hope was almost unbearable.
Someone rang her doorbell.
Toshiko nearly fell off the couch, where she’d been curled up in a thoroughly miserable little ball. She was just pondering the merits of ignoring the bell – surely it was someone having gotten the wrong place, or a salesman, even if it was Christmas – when it rang again.
She got up and padded over to the door, peered through the peep-hole, took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Hi, Jack, Ianto,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t hear my phone – has something happened?”
“Nope,” Jack said cheerfully.
“We brought turkey,” Ianto said, holding up a cloth bag that looked crammed with Tupperware containers. “My next-door neighbour, she likes to feed me.”
“And potatoes, and mince pies,” Jack added. “She gave us enough to feed an army.”
“Plus, pudding and eggnog,” Ianto said. “Both courtesy of Jack.”
“I can cook,” Jack said, nodding seriously.
Toshiko tried to fight back a grin at the bantering tone the two men had adopted. “And how do I figure into this?” she asked, letting them in and closing the door.
“Well, we couldn’t have Christmas dinner without our sister, could we?” Ianto said reasonably.
“Your –” Toshiko said, and then inexplicably burst into tears.
“Oh,” Jack said, and wrapped his arms around Toshiko, hushing her quietly and rocking her like her mother had done whenever she’d had a bad dream, which just made Toshiko cry all the more. Ianto patted her back awkwardly, looking like he didn’t quite know what to do. Don’t worry, Toshiko wanted to tell him, but she was crying too hard – don’t worry, it’s just that I’m happy.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 02:35 pm (UTC)a time for family
The thing was, Christmas had always been an excuse for her entire extended family to get together. Christmas had always been full of laughter and camaraderie, all the things that Toshiko sorely missed in the rest of her life. Christmas meant pretending she was a normal person, someone who could become friends with her colleagues, who was important to them, who had people who cared about her.
Christmas made her able to survive the rest of the year, so having her family Christmases taken from her had been worse than anything else UNIT had done.
The first time had very nearly killed her. She’d spent hours sobbing in bed before she’d gotten a call from Jack, and had been forced to go out to round up some Weevils. At least it had gotten her mind off the fact that she wasn’t with her family.
She didn’t cry, the subsequent Christmases, but they never got easier. This year, Toshiko thought, might be the worst of all. She only had another year to go and then her case would be reviewed by UNIT and – and then maybe, maybe, she’d get to see her family again at last.
The hope was almost unbearable.
Someone rang her doorbell.
Toshiko nearly fell off the couch, where she’d been curled up in a thoroughly miserable little ball. She was just pondering the merits of ignoring the bell – surely it was someone having gotten the wrong place, or a salesman, even if it was Christmas – when it rang again.
She got up and padded over to the door, peered through the peep-hole, took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Hi, Jack, Ianto,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t hear my phone – has something happened?”
“Nope,” Jack said cheerfully.
“We brought turkey,” Ianto said, holding up a cloth bag that looked crammed with Tupperware containers. “My next-door neighbour, she likes to feed me.”
“And potatoes, and mince pies,” Jack added. “She gave us enough to feed an army.”
“Plus, pudding and eggnog,” Ianto said. “Both courtesy of Jack.”
“I can cook,” Jack said, nodding seriously.
Toshiko tried to fight back a grin at the bantering tone the two men had adopted. “And how do I figure into this?” she asked, letting them in and closing the door.
“Well, we couldn’t have Christmas dinner without our sister, could we?” Ianto said reasonably.
“Your –” Toshiko said, and then inexplicably burst into tears.
“Oh,” Jack said, and wrapped his arms around Toshiko, hushing her quietly and rocking her like her mother had done whenever she’d had a bad dream, which just made Toshiko cry all the more. Ianto patted her back awkwardly, looking like he didn’t quite know what to do. Don’t worry, Toshiko wanted to tell him, but she was crying too hard – don’t worry, it’s just that I’m happy.