Just Imagine...

Cold Shoulder

No one would talk to Jack. Well, no one but Ianto. And Sam. Gwen had been working alone in the boardroom and was soon joined by Owen and Tosh. They sat in silence for a long time, none of them really knowing what to say.
"That was fucked up." Owen said finally. Tosh and Gwen both knew he meant what Jack had done with the little girl, Jasmine.
"Yes," Gwen replied, "very. I can't believe he would do that to a child."
"Makes you wonder what he might do to us." Tosh murmured. Owen and Gwen shot her startled looks. "You're both thinking it," Tosh said matter-of-factly, "Jack never opens up or reveals his true self until we're in a situation like today. What if it had been one of us instead of Jasmine? Would he sacrifice us?"
"He would never do that."
The three of them jumped and turned around to see Sam standing at the entrance to the boardroom, a dark scowl on her face.
"And how would you know?" Owen demanded.
"Because I know my son," Sam hissed, "he's not the monster you three are making him out to be. Far from it."
Owen scoffed. "You're just defending him cuz you're his mother."
"RENTHER." Sam corrected sternly.
"It doesn't matter that he's your son, Sam! He sacrificed a child!" Gwen exclaimed, "an innocent little girl hardly any older than your daughters!"
"This is SO not the black and white issue you're pretending it is!" Sam barked, "there is WAY MORE to it than that and you know it! Jack didn't wanna do what he did, but he had to, for the sake of other people! It was let Jasmine go with those fucked-up sparklebitches or let said fucked-up sparklebitches continue their death-by-flowers rampage across the entire world!"
"What makes you think you know right from wrong here?" Tosh asked.
"I don't," Sam said, "but I know that Jack is heartbroken from not only losing Estelle, but for making one of the hardest decisions a human being could possibly make! I think it's time you three stopped acting like moody children and started respecting Jack for what he goes through."
"But he never tell us what he goes through!" Gwen protested.
"That doesn't mean it's not real for him," Sam growled, "real hard. Real exhausting. Real painful."
She was met with disapproving gazes and she shook her head with a snarl in her throat.
"Fine," she muttered, "be that way then. Just know this; Jack would die a million times over for every single one of you, and sometimes I wonder if the rest of you would even suffer a paper cut for him." Then she turned and stormed out, sneakers stomping loudly on the floor.
Tosh, Owen, and Gwen sat in silence again. There was nothing else to say.

Jack was alone in his office, and the rest of the team had gone off to other parts of the hub (thankfully out of earshot), so that meant it was time to let it all out. Jack had been biting his tongue on the way back in the SUV, blinking away the tears in his eyes before anyone else saw. Thankfully, Sam was in the passenger seat, and she didn't seem to be mad at him. Sam was someone who was always outright with her anger; if she was mad at you, she'd tell you, to your face, and probably by screaming a lot.
Glancing around to make sure he was really alone, Jack sat down behind his desk, pulled his knees into his chest, and began to cry. He hated crying but once he'd started there was no stopping him. The quiet sniffles soon became sobs, and Jack couldn't breathe suddenly, it was like someone was stepping on his chest.
"Jack?" Ianto's voice said somewhere nearby.
Jack wanted to tell Ianto to go away, to leave him alone, but instead all that came out when he opened his mouth was a strangled "help me!"
Ianto was at his side in an instant.
"Jack, what's wrong?" He demanded, a light of fear in his sapphire blue eyes. Their color began to soothe Jack and he managed to get his breath back a little.
"Think... I'm having... a panic attack..." Jack gasped.
"Well it's okay, just breathe-!" Ianto began.
"IF I COULD BREATHE... WOULDN'T BE... HAVING THIS CONVERSATION!" Jack wheezed.
"Well what do I do?!" Ianto demanded, distraught.
"Just... keep talking to me." Jack panted, already feeling himself calm down more.
"About what?"
"Anything!"
"Uhhh... o-okay. God, I'm horrible at small talk, Jack! I'm horrible at talking in general! You should see me at family reunions, I'm a bloody mess. And y'know, besides the fact that I'm pretty sure no one wants me there. But I don't wanna be there either, so I don't know why I go. Nostalgia, I guess. And to see my sister. She's pregnant with her second child now. Her first child's name is David, and she thinks this one's gonna be a girl and she won't stop badgering me about contributing to the whole name-picking thing. I don't know why she bothers, I'm terrible with kids, so I'll probably never meet her. But I did say... I did say I like the name Gabrielle. It's not Welsh but-"
"Gabrielle?" Jack interrupted.
"Don't laugh, okay?" Ianto said, blushing.
"No, I wasn't going to!" Jack protested, "I like Gabrielle, it's a pretty name. You could call her Gabby."
"Or Gabz." Ianto added with a tiny smile.
"You like children, don't you?"
"Yeah. But I can't handle them, I know that, from the one time I held David in my arms and he started screaming."
"Could just be a fussy baby."
They both looked up at Sam's voice. She had appeared in the door to Jack's office watching them both with a cavalier smile.
"How long have you been there?" Jack asked.
"Not long." Sam responded, shrugging and sitting down on the floor in front of them. 
Ianto seemed to realize he had his arms wrapped tightly around Jack and made to move away from him, then seemed to rethink it and shuffled closer to him again. Jack gave an internal sigh of relief. He didn't want Ianto to leave him, not yet.
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Sam asked, reaching out to wipe his tears away with her knuckle.
"Somewhat." Jack answered, voice breaking.
"He had a panic attack." Ianto murmured.
"What?" Sam exclaimed, eyes wide. Jack really wished Ianto hadn't said that.
"I'm fine," he insisted, "I just had a hard time catching my breath for a moment."
"That was a panic attack," Ianto argued, "believe me, I'd know-"
He broke off as Jack looked at him sharply. They shared a quiet moment of understanding before quietly averting their eyes. Sam's lip curled into a smirk that she quickly squashed.
"Are you alright now, Jacksie?" She asked.
"Don't call me that." Jack grumbled, trying not to smile.
"Why not? I like it," Sam murmured, "and it makes you giggle, I like that too, Jacksie." She scooted across the floor so she was next to him and gave him a playful bump. Jack couldn't repress a tiny laugh. "Yeah, like that!" Sam said.
"You're not mad at me then?" Jack asked.
"Of course not," Sam murmured, rubbing his arm, "I'm mad at those googly-eyed sparklefucks who think they can just take children!" 
"Googly-eyed sparklefucks??" Ianto echoed, practically roaring with laughter. Jack had never heard Ianto laugh like this before and he felt his heart skip a beat inexplicably.
"Yeah, y'know, the fairies?" Sam said, "the creepy-ass twig people? Never was a fan of fairies anyway, too much like insects. I'm just glad they only play with white children, so my babies? They're safe."
"Sam!" Ianto exclaimed, still laughing.
Jack listened to them with a smile as they kept talking and laughing, his heart rate finally slowing to a normal pace.
The others would forgive him in time, he knew that. But for now, if all he had was Sam and Ianto, he was content with that