This was wonderful. Okay, it's probably not the way the actual show will play out, but I completely believe every bit of this, believe that, yeah, this could happen.
I love Gwen in this. I'm not sure I can express this very well, but I love that Gwen is bitter and angry, knows she's bitter and angry, and in fact has damn good reason to be bitter and angry. You show how well she knows herself, and yet she's still unable to keep her life from spiraling down. You also show her as not giving up, and most of all, not giving in to the temptation to run off with Jack. She won't do what Jack did to make her hate him so much. She's also capable of changing things for herself, of healing and moving on and trying to repair things, while Jack seems to be stuck in the same mindset he had at the beginning of the story. I have no idea if any of that made sense, but the short version is that I loved your take on Gwen. :)
Speaking of Jack, the Jack/Gwen dynamic was perfect. You showed how much Gwen wanted it, but at the same time she knew that to run off with Jack would be to give up, not to mention the conflict of hating him even as she wanted him to free her from everything that was going wrong. I also enjoyed the nicely unexpected UST between Gwen and Ianto. I found it very telling that it seemed less that Gwen wasn't willing to cheat on Rhys, and more than Ianto couldn't separate himself from Jack, couldn't, it seemed, think of himself as being a person apart from Jack.
I liked that you didn't shirk from the idea that everyone at Torchwood was damaged. They're all incredibly complex, and you did a masterful job in conveying that complexity in this story. Even the detail of Owen's windows said so much, and I'm really impressed that you managed to show so many different facets of all the characters, both good and bad.
Jack's wish to take Harriet--and Mica and David--into Torchwood absolutely chilled me. By showing how Gwen reacted, you left me wondering what on earth happened to make David and Mica join, what Jack said to Rhiannon and Johnny and how they feel about it.
Gwen's relationship with Rhys was such a heartbreaker, more so because there was that sign of mending at the end. I hate to think of them breaking up, but again, you managed to convince me that it could happen and make it believable and poignant.
This story was so well-done, start to finish. Thanks so much for sharing it.
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I love Gwen in this. I'm not sure I can express this very well, but I love that Gwen is bitter and angry, knows she's bitter and angry, and in fact has damn good reason to be bitter and angry. You show how well she knows herself, and yet she's still unable to keep her life from spiraling down. You also show her as not giving up, and most of all, not giving in to the temptation to run off with Jack. She won't do what Jack did to make her hate him so much. She's also capable of changing things for herself, of healing and moving on and trying to repair things, while Jack seems to be stuck in the same mindset he had at the beginning of the story. I have no idea if any of that made sense, but the short version is that I loved your take on Gwen. :)
Speaking of Jack, the Jack/Gwen dynamic was perfect. You showed how much Gwen wanted it, but at the same time she knew that to run off with Jack would be to give up, not to mention the conflict of hating him even as she wanted him to free her from everything that was going wrong. I also enjoyed the nicely unexpected UST between Gwen and Ianto. I found it very telling that it seemed less that Gwen wasn't willing to cheat on Rhys, and more than Ianto couldn't separate himself from Jack, couldn't, it seemed, think of himself as being a person apart from Jack.
I liked that you didn't shirk from the idea that everyone at Torchwood was damaged. They're all incredibly complex, and you did a masterful job in conveying that complexity in this story. Even the detail of Owen's windows said so much, and I'm really impressed that you managed to show so many different facets of all the characters, both good and bad.
Jack's wish to take Harriet--and Mica and David--into Torchwood absolutely chilled me. By showing how Gwen reacted, you left me wondering what on earth happened to make David and Mica join, what Jack said to Rhiannon and Johnny and how they feel about it.
Gwen's relationship with Rhys was such a heartbreaker, more so because there was that sign of mending at the end. I hate to think of them breaking up, but again, you managed to convince me that it could happen and make it believable and poignant.
This story was so well-done, start to finish. Thanks so much for sharing it.