wanda1969

Title: “Rebecca”
Author: wanda1969
Prompt: “Rebecca”
Pairing(s): Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: PG
Warnings: very occasional expletive. ALSO, SOMEONE HAD TO BE MRS DANVERS...
Spoilers: More for “Rebecca” (mainly the Hitchcock movie) rather than Torchwood
Disclaimer: I have created no characters here: I have merely borrowed the Torchwood characters from the BBC & their creators. I have also borrowed the plot and some characters from Daphne Du Maurier and Hitchcock (and his scriptwriters). No copyright infringement is intended. In fact, I know this film so well, it was really hard for me not to completely ‘quote’ it...I hope I have paraphrased where necessary.
Author's Notes: Torchwood characters shoehorned into “Rebecca”. This is closer to the Hitchcock film than the book. I’ve also added an Epilogue which is a bit like one of the first chapters of the book, but at the end- THE EPILOGUE IS THE ONE TO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO STOP WHERE THE FILM DID. I’ve deviated from the book by (mainly) not writing in the first person, and also by allowing the “second Mrs De Winter” to have a ‘name’.

My aim was for romantic drama/suspense in the 1930s film/book stylee with a bit of modern fanfiction (this is set in the modern day).

Many, many, many thanks to the very lovely and patient janiemc for both beta-ing and putting up with me...I am painfully pedantic (if only that would translate to tidying up...).

Chapter 4

The next two weeks rolled by with Ianto increasingly feeling that he didn’t belong at Manderley. He wondered if he was beginning to feel paranoid: every time he looked at the servants, in particular Mrs Cooper, he felt they were mocking him. He was glad that Owen was around; the Estate Manager was the only person, apart from the Jack, that he interacted with as an equal. Frith and Robert and most of the rest of the staff were friendly- but only to a certain point of professionalism. Sometimes he had the feeling that even Jack was distancing himself from him; he understood that Jack had business to attend to, but even so...

He had, however, found a companion in Myfanwy; on discovering that Ianto provided occasional treats of chocolate, the spaniel had taken to following the young man around, even sitting with him on the sofa as he read, or happily going for walks around the gardens.

***

One night, he and Jack sat in the library after dinner. They had finally downloaded their photographs from France and copied them onto a disc. Jack had poured them both a drink and they’d settled on the sofa. They had only just started look at the pictures on the television, when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Jack called.

It was Frith looking a little worried. “Sorry to disturb you, Sir, but there’s been a- well, a little unpleasantness between Mrs Cooper and Robert...”

“A little unpleasantness? What on earth do you mean Frith?”

“One of the Sèvres figurines from the Morning Room is missing. Robert was the last person Mrs Cooper had seen in there before she noticed it was missing, and, well...she’s accused him of stealing it, Sir”

“What absolute rubbish! I’ve known Robert since I was a boy. There’s no way he’d do anything like that!”

“No, Sir.”

“Frith- go and get Mrs Cooper. Tell her I want to speak to her now.”

“Yes, Sir,” Frith said backing out of the room and closing the door as he left.

Ianto had been nervous since he’d heard mention of the ornament. In all honesty, he’d meant to mention that he’d broken it, but it had slipped his mind, what with meeting Jack’s sister, and trying to settle into life at Manderley. There was no way he could allow Robert to be accused of theft- he had to confess.

He turned to Jack. “Jack. Robert didn’t steal the Sèvres. It was me- I knocked it off the desk. I meant to tell you but it was Toshiko and Rhys were arriving for lunch as it happened. I completely forgot about it...I’m sorry...”

“Did you throw away the pieces? Perhaps we could repair it?”

“I just put them in the desk drawer without thinking, Mrs Cooper was coming to tell me Toshiko was arriving ...but no, we can’t repair it- it was completely shattered...”

“Ah well, Mrs Cooper will just have to deal with it, however closely she guards the Morning Room but, Ianto, you really are gonna have to start behaving as the master of this house- I know Mrs Cooper can be a bit threatening but I think you’re letting her dictate to you a bit too much. You can’t let her think she’s got the upper hand- now she’s gonna think you hid all of this on purpose, knowing her.”

Jack was right, and Ianto was about to say as much, but there was another knock at the door and it opened to reveal Frith with Mrs Cooper close behind.

“Mrs Cooper, you can rest assured that Robert is no thief. Ianto’s just told me he broke the figurine accidentally. He forgot all about it. I’d be grateful if you could go and apologise to Robert.”

Mrs Cooper raised her eyebrows as her eyes opened wide. She shifted her gaze from Jack to Ianto and spoke, “Very well, Sir. But perhaps, in the future, if Mr Harkness has any more ‘accidents’, he would be kind enough to tell me, and perhaps such misunderstandings could be avoided.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs Cooper, it completely slipped my mind at the time. It won’t happen again.” Ianto said looking away.

“Of course, Mr Harkness.” She looked back towards Jack. “If you’ll excuse me, Sir, I’ll have to go and speak to Robert, now.”

She rolled her eyes as she turned to leave the room, Frith hot on her heels.

The door closed behind them, and Jack turned back to the Welshman. “Ianto, I told you, you have to make sure the staff know their place. You can’t be scared of them and you certainly can’t behave like an upstairs maid, or a valet, around them. They’ll all be gossiping away about this tomorrow- Manderley is their life. There’s not much else to talk about ‘round here. And before you know it, they’ll be prattling about it at home and in the town, too. ”

By now the young man was both mortified and humiliated. He spoke defensively and not a little sarcastically, “What a disappointment to them all I must be. And to you...”

“I should never have brought you here,” Jack said sharply and then sighed. “I did a very selfish thing marrying you and then bringing you to Manderley. Perhaps I should never have done it...I’m too difficult to live with, too set in my ways. And this place doesn’t lend itself to new things or new people.”

Ianto’s eyes widened, he bit down on his lip before speaking. “Yes. Of course. Jack, If you’re not happy I think you should tell me now...” He’d meant to be more assertive but found his voice trailing away, unable to continue.

“Happiness? Happiness is something I know so little about...”

Ianto gnawed his bottom lip; he wasn’t one to cry, to be teary, but he was starting to wonder if he really had made the right decision when Jack had swept him off his feet in Monaco. Maybe such fairytales didn’t happen in real life. In the background the slide show of the pair, happy, continued.

Jack looked at the screen wistfully. “If only things could have stayed like this.”

***

Chapter List: http://wanda1969.dreamwidth.org/17042.html