I have chewed through this series over the last couple of days, get to the end of the existing material, and you leave me DANGLING!! Evil, EVIL person, you!
Personally, I thought you did a wonderful job of showing why the team would lose faith in Jack so completely. As you pointed out, it's not as if they haven't misjudged him before (and then he went and disappeared to, from their perspective, God knows where to go Doctor-chasing). Had they been in their own element, say, safe in a hidden Torchwood base somewhere that even Jack didn't know about, watching everything unfold, then certainly Ianto, Tosh, or even Gwen would have seen the tiny cues that no one can truly suppress that something was just not right. But they were there, on the Valiant, watching people disappear from the cells and come back bloody and broken, or not at all. Under constant threat of abuse and torture themselves, it's entirely possible, even probable, that they would all buy into the fiction Jack was forced to sell them. Some would hold out longer than others, but eventually...
While I am a staunch Jack/Ianto supporter, the Jack/Tosh here doesn't bother me at all. Jack/Gwen would, putting those two together just plain ruins all that lovely tension. But in your (masterful!) tale, it's clear to everyone involved that Tosh is a companion of comfort and security in a time of recovery from unimaginable trauma. Even Tosh knows that the best she can realistically expect is the now. That one's got a habit of emotionally latching onto fantasy partners who are unavailable, emotionally or otherwise. For one of those fantasies to play out for her, even in the most temporary fashion, and the one who originally rescued her no less? Nirvana! She's not stupid, she knows it can't last, but she loves him enough to take what she can get while she can get it, knowing that in the end his heart belongs to someone else, and being okay with that.
One other thing... Owen's moment of "oh, holy s*** I have well and truly effed up" was absolutely beautiful. I admit it, I crowed. I have wanted to see that smug bastard get his for a very very long time, and sorry, but disintegrating over a thousand years buried in a nuclear meltdown? *yawn*
Author's Response: Thank you, and I am sorry for the long delay. After something of a hiatus I am now back working on the story. The next chapter will be uploaded very soon.
I wanted Owen to have an epiphany and I\'m glad that it worked.
I\'m also pleased that it was believable that the team would buy in to Jack\'s apparent betrayal.
Thank you for your comment. I really do appreciate them.
Hello! This is actually a pretty clever story, but... I have problems with it. I can't help but feel that at least Ianto, Tosh, and the Doctor are all acting... out of character during the first story of this series. Gwen and Owen are fine - they're no where NEAR as observant as they think they are - but Ianto especially... if he really trusts Jack, which I'd suspect he does given how he says he loves him, then it'd take hell and personal, physical pain to convince him otherwise. Look at how he dealt with Lisa - he couldn't kill her himself, because he loved her too much. And when the others killed her, he was devastated. So I can't really see him falling so easily for the Master's tricks. Oh, he'd hurt after seeing the video with Jack shagging the Master, but... I'd still suspect a trick somehow. Especially since it was VIDEO TAPED.
And then the Doctor not suspecting anything. Seriously? The Master is evil and manipulative. Stress on the manipulative.
And as for the Tosh/Jack... sorry, I'm a VERY firm Jack/Ianto fan. It's hard to accept a Tosh/Jack at all.
Still, I think your idea is brilliant. Really. Other than the OOC and Tosh/Jack problems I have, I think your stories are very creative.
Author's Response: Oops, just spotted this review and it\'s been there for ages. Sorry for being so slow to answer.
I\'m glad you like some aspects of the story, if not all. I guess I was aware that I was making Ianto and Tosh more dense and unobservant than they are in the series. I needed them to be for the plot to work. I did have them, particularly Ianto, hold out for a sign from Jack that it was all a trick. But they did eventually go along with believing that Jack was working for the Master.
I always liked Tosh and think she could be good for Jack. But I know that a lot of people don\'t go for that relationship. The story will eventually include Jack/Ianto though.
As for the Doctor, I\'ve always had a low opinion of how he treats Jack so it was easy for me to think the worst of him, and have him believe the worst of Jack. If you have read any of my othere stories you\'ll know that the Doctor doesn\'t come across as nice in any of them.
I hope you\'ll continue to read as I (very slowly) update. And thank you for commenting.