Chaos

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Torchwood and I'm not making any money from this fic. Any character you don't recognise from the show, I probably own

Summary: Set after season two. When Owen is supposedly killed for good, he finds himself in a hospital and back to living normality. The problem? His life force is bound to that of a coma patient

Warning(s): Spoilers up to and including the final episode of season two; strong violence; original characters; will contain spanking in later chapters; Alternate Universe

Pairings: Jack/Ianto; Owen/OFC... May eventually become a foursome

Author's Note: Please pay attention to the pairings and the warnings... This fic is being written to work out a kink that won't leave me alone, so if there's anything here you don't like and you read anyway, please don't complain. However, constructive criticism is more than welcome

"We're losing him." The speaker's voice was female, and sounded relatively calm – unusual for the situation. "Where's the doctor?" she demanded of someone else. "Has someone paged him yet?"

Owen felt warm lips cover his own as someone forcefully expelled breath into his mouth. He imagined he could feel his lungs inflating... But when he tried to take a breath by himself, he found he couldn't. A distant part of him noted that that was normal; at least for the way he'd been 'living' for the past few weeks... or was it months?

Though he couldn't drag the speaker's face to his mind, Owen was pretty sure he knew who was treating him.

Damn Torchwood. Why couldn't they just let him die? He tried to say something to that effect, but the words wouldn't come. He tried to open his eyes to glare at the room's occupants, but they felt almost glued shut.

"Get me the paddles." The new speaker was male, and held a note of authority. "What happened to him? Who brought him here? Does anyone know who he is?" The man was clearly acting as he spoke – pumping Owen's chest at the same time as the woman performed CPR.

As soon as Owen could speak, he'd tell them not to bother saving him – to just let him stay dead like they should have done in the first place. But it was too difficult to even move his littlest finger, let alone open his mouth and speak.

"I need a shot of adrenaline. And where are those paddles?"

A moment later – or it could have been several minutes, for all he knew – Owen felt a slight pinch in his chest. It had been a while since he'd felt pain, and the sensation was something he could have done without being reminded of.

But the slight pinch was nothing compared to the jolt he got from the paddles after they were pressed to his body. There was a beeping sound that seemed to come from far away, and it grew higher in pitch for a moment or two, before falling flat once more.

"Again."

Owen wasn't pleased with the new reminder of what pain was like. But it felt like his whole body was paralysed – though this time, when the beep grew higher-pitched, it didn't go down again.

"He's alive." The male's voice was obviously relieved. "Does anyone know how to contact his family?"

Owen tried to tell them to contact Torchwood, but he felt unconsciousness begin to claim him again. He struggled against it briefly, but it was a fight he quickly lost.

When Owen regained consciousness again, his mouth felt like sandpaper. With great effort, he rolled his head to one side; and saw that he was hooked up to a life support machine. "Oh, great. Why can't you just let me die?"

At least, that's what he tried to say. Unfortunately, because his mouth was so dry, all that came out was a series of sounds which couldn't form a coherent word, let alone a whole sentence.

"Oh... you're awake!" A nurse leaned over Owen's bed with a disgustingly cheerful look on her face. "Don't try to move yet. You've been out of it for two days, and you don't want to pull out the IV."

Owen wanted to ask if they'd contacted Torchwood yet, but he could guess the answer. After all, if they had contacted them, he was sure that Tosh and Jack – and maybe even Gwen – would be in the hospital room with him.

Did that mean they thought he was dead? Damn... That was irritating.

"I'll let the doctor know you're awake." The nurse started towards the door, and then paused. "With the amount of casualties from the bombs, we've had to put some patients in the same rooms. But don't worry – the woman in the next bed is a coma patient, and she won't disturb you." With those words, the woman walked quietly out of the room and closed the door behind her.

More curious than anything else, Owen turned his head to the other side – and his first thought was that the patient was a child, almost completely obscured by wires. But when his vision cleared, he saw that actually, it was a grown woman – just very tiny. There was a slow, steady beep from the monitor beside her.

For a few moments, Owen just watched, half-expecting the woman to open her eyes. He'd seen stranger things, after all. But she remained as still and pale as death, her chest barely moving.

When the door opened again, it took more effort to turn his head in the direction of the doctor and the nurse. He narrowed his eyes, and resisted the urge to try and sit up. It was with some relief that he saw the cup of water in the nurse's hand, and he sipped gratefully when she held it to his lips.

"We haven't managed to find any identification on you," the doctor said, stopping by Owen's bed. "Are you feeling up to answering a few questions?" he asked once the water was finished.

Owen was half-tempted to say that he would rather wait – but he supposed it was better to get any questions out of the way sooner rather than later. He cleared his throat. "Ask away." He didn't seem to have any problems speaking, but his voice was barely above a croak.

"What's your name?" the doctor questioned, as he checked the readings on the monitor.

"Owen Harper." Owen didn't expect anyone here to recognise him, but he wondered why Torchwood apparently hadn't heard anything about him being in the hospital. He would have thought that Jack had contacts here, but maybe Jack simply didn't think there was any point when he thought he knew what had happened to his team.

But maybe it was for the best anyway. After all, he was sick of dying only to be brought back to life. As soon as he was away from the watchful eyes of the doctor, he could take care of the job properly; and no one needed to know. He watched the doctor as the man continued to check the readings. "Were there any other questions? I'd rather you got them out of the way quickly so that I can go back to sleep."

"Well, we can always do this tomorrow," the doctor said. "But right now, all I need to find out from you is if there's someone who needs to be contacted – a significant other, or perhaps a sibling or parent."

"There's no one." Owen didn't look at him as he spoke. "I think you'll find that I've got an excellent medical plan, so you don't have to worry about treating yet another person just leeching off the health care." He was finding it difficult to even keep his eyes open, and he let them drift closed again, wondering why he was so tired if he'd been sleeping for two days. Then again, not much made sense about living.

Right before he slipped into unconsciousness again, Owen heard the doctor telling the nurse that his dosage needed to be changed.

Owen knew that he was dreaming, but as he looked at Jack's pale, cold form, all he could do was remember the creature which had been housed by the Rift.

Even though he knew on some level that Jack had come back, Owen couldn't let go of the feeling of guilt. Because he'd shot Jack, the captain had been weakened when the Rift had been opened... But he hadn't hesitated when it came to giving his life to protect everyone else, including those who had turned against him.

Owen heard Gwen talk and himself respond, but he didn't listen to the words. The guilt he felt was overwhelming, and it was taking everything he had not to break down then and there.

The next moment, Owen found himself in the main room of the Torchwood base, with Tosh and Ianto. Gwen was still with Jack – which Owen didn't think was healthy; but he didn't have the heart to tell her to give up. Secretly, he wished that he could have as much faith as Gwen had... But he'd seen too many bad things to have faith in the impossible.

As he rounded the corner, though, the first sign that met Owen's startled eyes was of Jack... kissing Ianto. When the captain let go of Ianto and met Owen's gaze, the first instinct he had was to run away. He didn't want this confrontation... He didn't want to face up to what he'd done.

But his feet were moving of their own accord. And as Owen moved, so did Jack; until they were close enough that one could reach out and touch the other. Owen didn't make eye contact as he stuttered, trying to apologise – but knowing that no words he could say would ever be enough.

"I forgive you."

Owen gave a soft of jerky half-nod, and then felt the tears start. Immediately, Jack pulled him into his arms, holding him as he broke down.

"What happened to you?"

Abruptly, Owen was no longer at the Torchwood base, but in his apartment. When he turned round after wiping at nonexistent tears, there was a tiny blonde woman standing behind him. "Well... This is better than the dreams I normally have." The only thing missing, of course, was them both being naked.

The woman gave a small, slightly hesitant smile. "What's Torchwood?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Torchwood is..." Owen hesitated, the need for secrecy there even while he was asleep. Shaking his head, he decided that there was no point in refusing to talk about it in his dreams. "It was an organisation created to deal with any threats of alien invasion." He gave a slightly self-mocking smile. "Work under the radar and all that... The twenty-first century is when everything changes, if you can believe what Captain Jack says."

"Was that the man you were hugging just now?" The woman moved closer to him, and reached up to twine her hands behind his neck, her lips only a few centimetres from his.

"Why should we talk about Captain Jack when there are so many other things we could be doing?" Owen let his lips brush lightly against hers and then deepened the kiss, pressing her closer to him with a hand on her back. He was going to enjoy this dream as much as possible. It had been too long since he'd been able to be with a woman... And now he planned on making the most of it before he died for good.

"If I wanted to visit this Torchwood... Where would I have to go?"

Owen looked past her at the bed. "Well, you know, why don't we talk about this later?" He pulled her over to the bed and sat down, pulling her down next to him. When she didn't resist, he rolled over, pinning her down with one hand on either side of her head as he kissed her.

Lying next to Rhys, Gwen found herself unable to sleep. She stared up at the ceiling of their room, remembering Tosh and Owen, as much as she tried to forget seeing them both dead. She was devastated by the loss, but wondered how much harder it had been for Jack. After all, he was immortal... And he had to face the fact that, sooner or later, he would see everyone he cared about die.

She could only hope that Jack would let Ianto in; and accept the comfort he was bound to be able to offer.

Rhys was asleep, and Gwen couldn't blame him. He'd done his best to comfort her, but she'd been near inconsolable. Now, she couldn't do anything other than stare at the ceiling and try not to think too much... something that was near impossible.

And a shadow passed across her vision.

Blinking, Gwen sat up slightly; and found her attention drawn to her bedroom door. For a few moments, she just stared, noticing that there seemed to be something flickering by the door. Every so often, she thought she could make out the shape of a person – but it faded before she could make out any details.

Automatically, Gwen got out of bed. She didn't think of calling Jack or Ianto – she just knew she had to do something other than just lie around feeling worse and worse.

"Where are you going?"

Gwen paused, glancing over her shoulder at Rhys. He was awake – but still looked quite tired. "You can go back to sleep, if you want. I just... I think there's somewhere I have to be." She turned back to the door in time to see the flickering go through.

"I'll come with you," Rhys said immediately, beginning to pull on his clothes.

"All right." Gwen got dressed as quickly as she could, and pulled open the door in time to see the flickering head out of the apartment. She had to run in order to keep up with it.

The thing – whatever it was – had waited for Rhys and Gwen to get in the car, and led them through the streets. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't too bad – since Gwen only just managed to keep the flickering light in sight. Rhys hadn't been able to see the light, so Gwen had had to drive, since she could just imagine the amount of accidents they might have been in if she'd attempted to direct Rhys.

And when the light finally stopped outside the hospital, Gwen couldn't help frowning. "Why are we here?" she wondered. She parked the car, and the light – its job obviously done – disappeared.

"Do you think that maybe you should call Jack now?" Rhys asked. "We don't want to walk straight into a trap."

For a few moments, Gwen just sat there. Then, she shrugged and opened the door. "No... I want to check this out on my own, without having to call Jack." She got out of the car and headed towards the entrance, without waiting to see if Rhys was following.

End of Chapter One