Title: Avoidance Techniques
By: Kilrez
Pairings: gen
Rating: PG
A/N: I know the man of mystery thing that Jack's got going on requires, well... mystery, but I still think he's being needlessly obtuse. Who votes for tying him down and torturing him with feathers until he gives it up?
Summary: Jack's very good at avoiding questions. Consequently, his team are getting increasingly proficient at asking them.

***

'So did all the Time Agents go by "Captain"?' Gwen's tone was deceptively light.

Jack tried not to wince. They were stuck in traffic, with him at the wheel. Owen and Ianto listened silently from the back. He so didn't want to talk about this. 'I don't want to talk about this,' said Jack.

'Why not, Jack?' pursued Gwen. She had the air of one who wasn't going to give up in a hurry.

'Because it's from my past, and I'm done with it,' replied Jack. There. A nice, closed answer. He really wished they'd just leave it alone.

'Everyone's got a past,' scoffed Owen. 'That doesn't merit never talking about anything that's going to require past-tense.'

'Not like mine they don't,' retorted Jack. He tried to act like he was focusing on the driving. It would have worked, if only the traffic wasn't remaining stubbornly stationary.

'Yeah, we figured from the not being able to die thing. And the being from the future thing. And from the things your insane ex-colleague said. Does it look like it matters to us?' Gwen had dropped all pretences of a light tone. The captive situation was the perfect chance to harry him for information.

'It matters to me,' Jack told her, starting to rhythmically clench his jaw. He knew they were curious. Curiosity was a natural state of being for humans. He just really, really didn't want to go digging through his past. It was long, and it was painful, and he wasn't going to go there.

'Jack, Captain John said you were a conman.' Her voice was low and earnest.

There. Now Gwen had hit the nail on the head. Jack turned his head to look at her. Because, below the other reasons, hiding deep in his reluctance, was the fear that his team wouldn't respect him if they knew the whole truth. The things he'd done. 'I've been many things,' he replied evasively.

'Was one of them a conman?' asked Ianto from the back.

Jack let out a small laugh. Ianto's way of bluntly yet innocently phrasing questions was disarming. 'Look, who decided it was question the boss day?'

'Don't change the subject,' warned Owen, sounding almost bored.

Jack rolled his eyes. 'No, all the Time Agents didn't go by "Captain." No one really had a fixed name. Vera probably just stole his from the same person he took the uniform from.'

There were a few moments of silence. Gwen took a breath. 'You know, that doesn't answer any of our other questions.'

'One can't help feeling that the only time you tell us anything is to distract from something else you don't want us to know,' pointed out Ianto dryly.

Jack managed to smile a little. 'You know, you might be right,' he said. Ahead, the traffic started to clear. He hit the accelerator with a sense of crisis narrowly averted.

The End

***