( SERENDIPITY- Chapter 3/? CLICKITY HERE! xD )
So here goes the routine of Torchwood.
‘Tosh, I want you to start up the translating system- find out what we’re talking to, and what about,’ Jack commanded, watching his team scramble into their duties. ‘Gwen- we need to find out some background information; so, any sightings, witnesses, weird accidents…then Retcon them. Owen, prepare the dosages, go with Gwen, any bodies- deal with them; autopsies, whatever. Ianto…’
Jack smiled at him, fake pleadingly. ‘Some coffee magic? Please? It’s going to be a long day.’
Ianto blinked, falling out of his reverie. ‘Yes, sir’, he muttered, quietly, falling into the shadows.
He felt Jack’s glance burning on the back of his suit, singing the fibres in his body. Keep moving.
Jack watched Ianto disappear behind Tosh and Owen, and felt oddly deflated. Shaking the feeling away, the Captain turned to look at Tosh as she called him.
‘Jack’, she said, distracted by the screen. ‘I think you need to see this…’
Jack walked over to her, as the rest of the time huddled around; curiosity getting the better of them all. The screen filled with dozens of foreign symbols; unknown in identity to all but the young technician.
‘What am I looking at?’ Jack asked, looking scrutinizingly at the screen.
Tosh clicked her mouse, and an image of alien anatomy came up.
‘This is a Cideac’, Tosh said, confidently. ‘It’s what they call themselves. The name itself is very worrying.’
‘Cideacs…’ Jack muttered. Why was that name so familiar?
‘Cide’, Owen said, his rapid brain referencing data. ‘As in, like, suicide or genocide?’
‘Or homicide, yes’, Tosh said, nodding at him. ‘Jack- they’re assassins. Intergalactic assassins.’
Cideacs.
Oh.
‘Yeah…’ Jack said, jerking his head up as it finally clicked. ‘I knew I knew the name. Cideacs are, as Tosh said, intergalactic assassins. Their sole purpose is too kill- they’re trained up to be that and nothing else’.
Jack paced, as he explained. ‘They don’t exist any other way; it’s in their moral fibre to commit the crimes that others…can’t. They’re simply carrying at a mission.’
‘Then that’s a problem for us, then,’ Owen said, breaking in. ‘That means we’re just dealing with the robots, while we have no clue who programmed them.’
‘Exactly.’ Jack said. ‘I recognized them from back home…I used to have a friend, in an academy I used to go to…he used to use them, got a bit obsessed, before he realised how much more fun it was to kill your enemies yourself. Then he got obsessed with that instead.’
Gwen, Tosh and Owen blinked at him.
‘No wonder you’re the way you are,’ Owen thought, out loud.
‘They have a tag’, Jack remembered, suddenly, addressing Tosh. ‘Check the captured images for a tag…that usually tells you who the victim is. Translate it.’
Tosh frowned, enlarging snippets of the image, and was about to set the translating process when she halted, suddenly. Owen watched her freeze, and then looked at the screen.
‘Jack…’ Owen moaned, going slightly pale. ‘Who the hell did you piss off now? Aren’t we enough?’
‘What?’
‘Let me see!’ Gwen piped up, pushing Owen to a side. Jack glanced around Gwen, for the slightest of seconds. It was funny how his heart didn’t speed up, how he wasn’t surprised.
‘Me.’ Jack said, blankly. ‘The Cideacs have been sent, to assassinate me.’
‘Why?’ Tosh squeaked, bewildered. ‘Why, why would they…who…?’
‘Why, yes,’ Jack muttered. ‘Why is the tag in English?’
‘That’s the way I find it…doesn’t that mean…?’
‘Whoever wants to kill Jack,’ Gwen put together. ‘Isn’t an alien. They’re from here. And now.’
‘Great,’ Owen said, looking at Jack. ‘This is in your hands. What the bloody hell do we do?’
Jack patted his Webley in his belt holster. ‘We give them what they want. After all, whoever sent them can’t know me that well, if they don’t know I can’t die.’
Everyone went quiet. Tosh fidgeted, not wanting to argue. One more minute, and she couldn’t take it anymore.
‘Maybe they can’, Tosh blurted, putting her hands on the desk in a ‘final’ way. ‘Jack, have you thought, that they might have something we don’t?’
Jack regarded her. ‘What do you mean, Tosh?’
‘We know that there’s nothing on Earth that can kill you’, Tosh started, looking uncharacteristically worried. ‘But what if they have…something, anything…that can kill you? Like Abaddon?’
‘Then I’ll come back, Toshiko,’ Jack said, softly pulling at her chin. ‘Nothing ever kills me. I’ve never been that completely blessed.
Owen registered Gwen freezing, ever so slightly, next to him.
‘But you said a human made you this way’, Tosh argued, looking up at her boss. ‘How do you know that a human couldn’t take you away from us? Again?’
Jack bristled, regretting letting on that bit of information.
But something was different. Something was worrying Toshiko Sato, and he couldn’t place it.
‘I’m going to be fine’.
‘They have a 99% success rate, from what it says here’.
‘They haven’t met me!’
‘Jack, Tosh may have a point, mate…’
‘I’m not saying she doesn’t, Owen!’
‘But Jack, Tosh says, and Owen says-‘
‘ENOUGH!’
Jack looked at his team, bewildered. ‘What’s wrong with all of you today? Out of everything we do, everyday, why are you all so…caught up…today?’
He looked at Tosh, still sitting in her chair, looking down. ‘And what’s up with you today? You never argue.’
The Japanese woman fidgeted helplessly, before pleading: ‘Jack, really! Listen to me- There’s something going on here…I don’t need a computer to feel it. The assassins are ones available throughout space, and yet someone from EARTH sends them, the tags in English, but they haven’t been sent from anywhere I can trace. Is it wrong that I sense a trap?’
The team were silent as they stared at Tosh, her words still stinging the air they breathed. Ianto appeared from beneath, with coffee.
Jack paused before speaking, his eyes never leaving Tosh. ‘Okay then…Team…Change in plan,’ He stared pointedly at Tosh, who looked down. ‘This better be worth it. I’m sending Owen, Gwen and Ianto to trace the Cideac, and to contain it-‘
‘Thank you’, Tosh muttered. Jack put a finger to her lips, softly.
‘But’, he said. ‘We’re going to be here, me and Tosh, monitoring you. Everyone understand?’
Owen and Gwen nodded, gobsmacked: Toshiko had, effectively, just changed Jack’s mind.
That NEVER happens.
Ianto frowned at the coffee in his hands, wishing he could drown in the delicious, smooth liquid. Jack walked up to him, without warning, swiping it out of his hands.
Ianto flinched- not that Jack noticed.
‘Hmm’, Jack breathed. ‘Perfect as always. Sure you’re okay with this arrangement, Ianto?’
The way I’m okay with every other arrangement. It’s not like I have a choice. Just a teaboy…
‘Yes, sir’ Ianto said, avoiding Jack’s glance.
The Welshman moved past Jack, to follow Gwen and Owen out, missing Jack’s frown.
‘Hey!’
Ianto watched Gwen and Owen walk out of the cog door, with calls of ‘Hurry up!’, as they left him to it. Tosh carried on typing, busily.
Ianto turned to face Jack. ‘You called, sir?’
Jack stopped in front of him, his chest inches from Ianto’s, and their noses almost touching.
‘Come back here, tonight,’ Jack said, almost breathlessly. ‘Unless you don’t want the company?’
Ianto bit his lip, wanting badly to say no.
Say it.
‘Erm,’ Ianto muttered, realising that this was the third night he had denied Jack. ‘I thought I’d just clear up and go home tonight…’
Jack looked at him intently, the blue eyes piercing Ianto mercilessly. Before he could move, Ianto felt a warm hand being placed on the small of his back, as the other hand stroked Ianto’s arm.
‘Won’t you tell me what’s wrong?’ Jack whispered, as he leaned closer to Ianto, noticing Ianto’s retreating moves. ‘Why do you…’
Ianto registered that he couldn’t hear Tosh typing anymore. ‘Why do I do what, sir?’
‘Stop it with the sir. I’m Jack’.
‘I know you are, sir’.
Jack held back a retort, beginning to realise that something, somewhere, had gone wrong. This wasn’t what he planned to have, after he came back from the Doctor.
‘Ianto,’ Jack started, putting a hand on Ianto’s cheek, cupping it tight. ‘You and I….after you get back…we’re going to talk. Is that okay?’
Ianto closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds, finding the fingers lingering on his cheek oddly reassuring.
It’s been so long…
How easy it would be just to let go.
‘Yes, sir’, Ianto muttered, quietly. Then he walked, away to the cog door.
Jack watched him go, before turning to Tosh. She didn’t pretend that she hadn’t seen the closeness.
But she couldn’t mention she didn’t see Ianto’s hesitance, too.
‘Give him time, Jack’, she said, quietly. ‘Maybe its just…maybe you’re just moving to fast.’
Then she turned back to the computer, feeling her face glow bright red, as the Captain stared at her.
How come Tosh understands what I’m trying to say, but Ianto can’t? What is it about me that scares him so much?
Maybe Ianto didn’t want to hear.
‘John?’ Ianto called, softly, the minute he was outside the tourist office. He watched Gwen and Owen mount into the SUV. ‘John, where are you?’
What is it, sweet cheeks?
Ianto bucked back, shocked. He looked around. No one. ‘Where are you, John? I can’t see you…’
Ah. I was meaning to explain that- don’t really like all the sciency stuff. You see, when you used to see me, in front of you, I wasn’t really there.
‘No kidding.’
Don’t mock me, eye candy. You’re not just a pretty face then?
‘Shut up, John. Where are you? I need to talk to you.’
I thought you would.
‘Where. Are. You?’
I…erm…You see, the device you picked up, when you found me…It’s called a Mind Manipulator. And don’t do that with your eyes! Its not what you-‘
‘-It’s a WHAT? So you’re-‘
Projecting from your brain, yes. But that’s all it means, honestly. Trust me, its safer this way. Anyways, you should be thanking me. I just made your job so much easier.
Ianto almost stumbled. ‘What?’
The Cideacs. Honestly, Jack does just choose you all if you’re pretty.
Ianto stood still, blotting Gwen and Owen from his mind. His veins blocked up, ice forming over his chest. ‘What do you mean? How do you know about the…’
-The Cideacs? Come on, Earth isn’t that attractive…I sent them here.
‘WHAT?’
Calm down, eye candy. You don’t look so good when you’re all flustered.
Ianto tried not to give in to the urge to punch himself, in hopes that it would hurt John.
I thought you wanted to get Jack back! This makes your job so much easier…
‘No, John. This isn’t what I meant. You can’t do this.’
I should have known you’d forget it all so easily. I don’t know how you do it, because I can’t forget. Remember, eye candy, he isn’t who he pretends to be.
Ianto clenched his muscles, trying not to scream, panic.
This may be your one shot to show him that you’re not just a cute guy in a suit, Ianto.
Suddenly, Ianto felt a warm rush around his brain, unclenching his muscles, and almost dimming out the insecurities, bringing back the resentment- the anger.
It’ll all be okay, eye candy. Let’s just get rid of Jack…Life will be so much easier…
Ianto swayed on the spot. ‘Yes…Life will be…so…much…easier…’
With that he walked to the SUV, ignoring the looks that Owen and Gwen were giving him.
The night before Tommy Brockless is sent back to 1918, in Ianto’s mind:
I can feel Jack touching my face, his large, rough hands doing all the right things, even though it’s been so long; too, too long. Warmth surrounds me like hot coffee, the liquid genius eradicating any other worry. How I love to be so close, feel so warm, know I’m wanted…
‘…and know that I’ve met those I have, come to love those I do…and I wouldn’t change that for the world…’
Jack cares about me, loves me, in his own secretive way. He says those ways, and everything is the past; the Doctor, the months alone, the unsaid explanations- they no longer matter. All that matters is that Jacks here, and that he’s with me, he still needs me.
And that we’re not just a novelty.
But then it changes, I can feel it…all the warmth disappears, and instead all I can feel is ice, lots and lots of ice, so cold…
…Then I look into Jacks eyes, I see him leer at me, and I just know, I just know…
His eyes go dark, and he looks at me in that way that I know…
…And Jack Harkness is still just after that One Thing, and he hasn’t changed.
Location: A rural area near Splott.
‘IANTO, MOVE!’
That’s not how that memory goes…
‘IANTO, YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT, MOVE!’
Ianto dodged the lethal creature in front of him, registering nothing back the long, black cloth that seemed to illuminate his anger with them, with Jack, the World.
Jack said he wouldn’t change the world, that night. Because he still had us, me…
Cideacs. Owen pulled his gun out, shooting into thin air.
It didn’t end like that!
Yes it did, Ianto. It’s your memories.
But Jack cares about me, John!
Your mind knows he doesn’t, Ianto. Sorry.
‘Oi! Cloaky!’ Owen yelled, distracting the creature as it stood in front of Ianto. ‘Come here!’
And like a gust of wind, the Cideac went after Owen. Gwen grabbed Ianto’s arm, pulling him.
‘God, Ianto!’ she breathed, impatiently. ‘What’s wrong with you? Do you want to bloody die?’
I have to get them to Jack. Get rid of Jack…
Gwen ran to a wall, disappearing behind it, leaving Ianto to fend for himself. He saw Owen and the first Cideac. The other…
‘Oh, fuck,’ Ianto turned around, putting his hands around the gun in his pocket. Then he remembered.
The Cideac lingered around him, almost evaluating Ianto’s figure. Ianto dropped the gun, and held his arms out, hoping to god that it was a universal gesture.
‘Wait! Don’t…’Ianto swallowed. He didn’t want to do this. He really didn’t.
Yes, you do, eye candy.
‘Wait,’ Ianto said, to the Cideac. ‘I can…I can help you…Listen to me, please…’
‘IANTO!’
Ianto felt Owen and Gwen stop in their stances, to stare at Ianto. The Cideac in front of him seemed to know what he was about to say, and stood still, in its dark cloaked glory.
‘I…I can show you to Jack Harkness.’ Ianto said, swallowing. ‘I know what you want.’
Location: The Hub.
‘What on EARTH is Ianto doing?’ Tosh screamed into the computer, attaching her comm. ‘He’s trying to lead them right here!’
Jack stood next to her, swaying. Toshiko cracked away at her computer, livid, so scared.
Jack felt his heart thumping beneath his ribs, his eyes going blood shot.
Why would Ianto want me dead?
‘Jack, do something!’ Tosh screamed, standing up to shake him/ ‘Don’t you understand? Something’s wrong with Ianto!’
Please not again. Not now, not when it’s so late.
Don’t betray me now, Yan.
Jack picked up his comm. ‘Owen….yes…’ Jack said, his words rough, and definite. ‘Shoot them. Now. Don’t argue with me, SHOOT!’
Tosh stared at him, as Jack’s face contorted, his anger and confusion clearly visible.
‘You can’t just…kill the creatures…’ Tosh muttered. Suddenly, she had two loud BANG noises in her comm., and Gwen’s protests.
Silence. ‘He killed them.’
No words.
‘You made Owen kill two creatures. That weren’t at fault.’
Silence.
‘Speak to me, Jack.’ Tosh said, softly. She flinched as Jack turned to look at her, his eyes red with fury and-
‘What am I supposed to do?’ Jack hissed at her, grabbing her by the arms. Tosh tried to wriggle out, shocked at Jack’s sudden move. She felt his hot breath, coming faster and faster, his body clenching up; ready for battle.
Jack let go of the woman.
‘You told me to save myself, Tosh’ Jack said, quietly, yet dangerously. ‘Don’t ever tell me, again.’
He tapped his comm. ‘Owen? Bring Ianto and Gwen back to the Hub. And tell Gwen i really don’t want to hear her speeches today.’
After Jack left for the Doctor, in Ianto’s mind:
I feel so alone. So, so alone.
The dust is the only thing among my midst, and I can’t think. I can’t stand it anymore, this isolation. Everything reminds me of him.
I walk into Jack’s office, and I see more dust- I feel my face crumble.
I couldn’t take care of him, so he left me, left us. For whatever it is. Tosh looked at the CCTV, and she reckons that MAN has taken him. That ALIEN. The Doctor, the one Torchwood London told us was a monster- the one Torchwood Cardiff taught me was harmless. In some way, the Time Lord became a monster to me anyways.
Because he took Jack from me. He made Jack forget me.
And now I’m alone, with all his things that I’ve left to dust. I can smell him on his chair, as I sit on it. His laughs still vibrate within the walls of this office, this silent, SILENT office.
Someone help me, help me now. I feel so small, so…alone. And I can’t get out of it; I’m falling into a dark abyss.
But I believe Jack’s coming back. He’s coming back for me. One day, I don’t know when or how, he will.
He always promised that he never forgot anyone who truly cared.
I pick up a whisky glass of his, and lean it against my cheek. So cold, but so pure. A memento. Almost, of him.
….Then I look out of the office, to the quiet of the empty Hub…
…HE ISN’T COMING BACK.
He won’t come back. He won’t come back. Not for me. For Gwen. Or the Doctor. Someone else.
Just not for me.
Never for me. I’m never going to see Jack again…
‘I want everyone out now!’ Jack yelled, leaving Owen, Tosh and Gwen confused.
Gwen put a hand on her hip. ‘Don’t think you can just get rid of us like that, Jack! We need to understand! What happened with Ianto-‘
‘Get out’, Jack said, quietly. Tosh walked, fast, over to Gwen, putting an arm around Gwen’s.
‘Really,’ Tosh hissed in her ear. ‘Lets go. Trust me, just leave him…’
‘No!’ Gwen yelled at her. ‘Jack! Ianto, he just tried to bail out on all of us! I want to know what’s GOING ON!’
‘Jack!’ Owen bellowed, above Gwen. ‘The Cideacs-‘
Jack had had enough. ‘SHUT UP!’
Quiet.
‘I want you all out’, Jack said, measurably. ‘Go home, drink wine, go out on the pull, go shopping. Just leave it to me.’
‘But, Jack!’
‘GWEN! GO! NOW!’
A few mumbles followed, as the team scrambled out from the cog door, leaving Jack breathing hard, and fast.
Giving himself seconds- minutes- to calm down, hold back the emotions, Jack walked down to the kitchenette.
Ianto stood, shaking as he washed out cup after cup. His hands glowed red under the hot water, the liquid splashing on the sleeves of his suit.
‘Something’s wrong with me. It hurts. Help me.’
Nothing’s wrong, eye candy! I can’t believe this…
‘I can’t do it. I won’t do it. Jack…he’s just so…’
I can’t believe he has you this mesmerised. He can’t be that good in bed. Well. He is, but-
‘Can you hear me? I WON’T DO IT. My memories…all my memories, why are they so…?’
Dark? Wrong? Maybe because they’re finally documenting the truth, sweetheart.
‘What are you doing to me, John?’
Who says I’m doing anything?
‘Because those aren’t my memories, John. You’re changing me.’
Eye candy-
‘Leave me alone. Please. For a bit’.
But-
‘PLEASE.’
‘Who are you talking to, Ianto?’
SMASH.
Ianto looked down at the floor, jumping as he saw Jack approaching behind him. Shards of ceramics cluttered around him, from where he had dropped the cup, in shock.
‘Shit’, Ianto said, loudly, before kneeling down, his hands slick with water.
Jack regarded him, as Ianto found himself staring at Jack’s boots. Jack took his hands out from his pockets, and crossed them.
‘Taken to talking to yourself, eh?’ Jack said, softly.
‘Maybe, sir.’ Ianto muttered, unable to look Jack in the eyes. He saw Jacks boots move away from front of him, and being walking around him.
The heat of Jacks glaze scorched him, burnt him beyond repair; Ianto wanted to scream at Jack to go away.
Jack stopped. His face almost panicked. ‘Talk to me’.
Ianto halted, his face pale, as he looked at the shards. ‘What, sir?’
A flurry of shirt, and suddenly, Jack was kneeling right in front of him, the older man’s hand on Ianto’s chin.
Ianto found himself compelled to look at his Captain, his dashing lover.
‘Talk to me, Yan’, Jack pleaded, no longer hiding. He bent down further, to look deep into Ianto’s eyes. ‘Something…something’s been different, recently. I can feel it. I don’t like it.’
Ianto didn’t look away. ‘Life is unfair, Sir. You won’t always get things your way- elementary rule of living in the 21st century; you should know it by now.’
Jack felt his hands empty as Ianto moved away from him, trying to pick up the broken shards with his bare hands.
‘Ianto’, Jack said, looking at the pieces. ‘You’ll cut yourself.’
Tears rimmed Ianto’s eyes; he refused to let them fall. He didn’t understand anything anymore, his whole reason for being a total lie; without caution, Ianto found that he didn’t care if Jack saw him cr. He didn’t care if he punched Jack in the face, right now, and left him to pick up the pieces.
Because Jack had left Ianto in this abyss, for far too long. It was unbearable.
Ianto continued to pick up the ceramic pieces, ignoring Jack’s protests. Suddenly, Ianto found his hands – full of broken ceramic- covered back Jack’s own hands.
‘Stop it,’ Jack said, his voice low and racked. ‘I want to know what I did wrong. Why does it hurt you to look at me?’
In the end of the day, they all had their struggles; they all hated Jack some point…
And then Jack was in a corner of his office, all alone.
Ianto found himself squeezing Jack’s hands, the ceramics cutting into their skin. Jack didn’t cry out; neither did Ianto. The bleeding wasn’t enough.
‘I can’t do this anymore, Jack’, Ianto said, thickly. ‘Stop trying to understand me.’
‘Yan, look at me’, Ianto automatically obeyed his boss. Jack’s blue eyes seem too intense. ‘If I did that, then how would you understand me?’
Ianto gulped, feeling hot and shaking. ‘I don’t want to understand you. Then you’ll be human, and then it’ll be too hard.’
‘What will be too hard?’
Ianto felt a sharp pain in his hands, as Jack let go of it- scarlet liquid poured thinly; their blood moving in between the union. Ianto walked to the sink, and ran the cold tap; he closed his eyes, willing for peace.
Just a little peace of mind. This hurts too much.
He felt a pair of strong arms wind around his waist; he saw the bloodied hands on his suit…
….And he didn’t care.
‘Please let me help you’, Jack whispered deep into the whorls of Ianto’s ear. Ianto shivered as shots of pleasance ran through his body at the sound. ‘Don’t…do this. Just don’t hate me.’
Just don’t hate me.
Hate me.
Me.
Jack.
Without knowing what he was doing, Ianto quickly dipped Jacks hands into the cold water; Jack gasped at the sudden rush, and then turned around to pull Jack close. Ianto’s bloodied suit, their wet hands covering each others faces; the coldness of the water contrasting with the warmth of their rapid breaths and beating hearts.
Jack quickly reciprocated, winding his arm around Ianto’s shoulder, pulling at the back of Ianto’s head.
‘It hurts, Jack’, Ianto whimpered, quietly into Jack’s collar. ‘These memories…I’ve got memories that aren’t mine…they’re stealing you from me…’
Jack’s widened as he pulled away, brushing his lips along Ianto’s jaw quickly.
‘Then I’ll have to stop them from changing.’ Jack said, slowly. ‘Let me help you.’
Ianto looked at Jack, desperately wanting him, and wanting to explain. The harsh lines of the man that he had seen in the 51st century peeled away from this Jack Harkness, from his Jack Harkness. Now he saw the centre of a man who really did care.
‘Jack, there’s a lot I haven’t told you…’
‘Shh’, Jack said, covering Ianto’s mouth. ‘It can wait.’
They stood in silence, listening to the water gushing out of the tap, and myfanwy’s squeaking from above them, in another world from them.
‘I haven’t feed her yet’. Ianto mumbled. Jack smiled slightly, before thinking hard, putting his hand on the nape of Ianto’s neck, and looking at him.
He smiled sadly. ‘Why do I feel like I’m losing you, Yan?’ he said, softly, stroking Ianto’s ear.
Ianto gulped again. ‘My memories…they’re all wrong…’ he began.
Staring at the Welshman for the briefest of seconds, Jack slipped his hands to Ianto’s fingers, tugging slightly.
Ianto allowed himself to be lead, not leaving Jacks warm, liquid eyes. Too comforting.
‘Where are we going, Jack?’
Jack smiled at him, reassuringly.
‘To make new memories, Yan. It will do, for now’.
So what do you think? I feel sorry for people that read this series- I’ve just realised there’s hardly any good fluff in it, so I offered a bit of angsty fluff. Please remember I’ve just gotten over writer’s block here, and don’t be too hard on me! Also, I have a question…would anyone like a little smut in this series? Because the next chapter is going to be some of Ianto’s memories with Jack (which should take long), so I can put up a smutty spin off chapter with it, if anyone wants…it would be my first smut piece. Anyways, I’ll shut up, but people please comment!
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2nd_toshikoWord Count: 1,715 words
