One Too Many Times
A Torchwood One-Shot
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TORCHWOOD. END OF STORY.
One too many times. He'd given her the wrong look, he'd smiled at her in a way that almost told her "I'm not interested in your type". No, he only liked the ones that swooned over him. Stared at him and drooled. The ones in the skimpy dresses that barely covered the essentials that he picked up at the bar sometimes at night. He didn't like classy, smart girls like her.
One too many times. Toshiko Sato lost count of how many times Owen Harper had denied her. She'd never really talked to him about this fact, her broken heart being thrown and shattered one too many times. She'd never approached him and told him how deeply in love with him she was. A girl like her couldn't afford to do that. Because if she did, Owen would be weirded out. She was a Japanese study girl that barely had a life outside of Torchwood, let along a social life. Her mind circled around her job. What else could she do the help Jack and the others not get killed each passing day? Well, maybe not Jack. Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood's "leader" of sorts, could just come back to life when he died. Everyone else was in danger each passing day. Well, everyone else except for Owen Harper.
One too many times. When Owen had been shot in the heart, Toshiko had thought her life would soon meet it's end. The moment the words "he's gone" rung out in the air, Toshiko felt her heart snap. They would have been going on a "date" of sorts later. They would have been bonding, together, at last. When he'd agreed to go out with her, to wherever they were going - she couldn't for the life of her recall where it was their were going now - she had thought her heart would burst with joy. Now it was bursting all right. Bursting with a dark sadness that she couldn't seem to shake from her figure.
It seemed, now, that she was gasping for air. Martha Jones, that girl that somehow knew Jack, was diagnosing his death. They'd placed him, naked - to a degree - on the autopsy table. His unnaturally pale skin almost blended with the shine of the metal bed. Florescent lights from above glimmered off his lifeless skin. Oh, Toshiko wished that Jack was here. At least it wouldn't be so bad to see the man that she had loved for as long as she'd known him with Jack standing by her side. Comforting her. Telling her that it would be okay.
But no. Jack had gone, somewhere, and no one knew how to bring him back. He usually had a cell phone, but this time when he left, he left it behind. This signaled that Jack wanted to be left alone. Did Jack miss Owen like Toshiko did?
A slow, deep breath. One too many times. He heart, cracked, now snapped. One too many times. Please, God, if you're real, bring my Owen back to me. Owen was my everything. Even though he didn't look at me. Not a glance. It was like he didn't know I was there. I may be invisible, but not to that account. He hurt me so many times, and yet I carried on. The pain Toshiko felt was unbearable. And now he's gone, and I cannot possibly advance.
Gwen saw Toshiko looking down. Worried, she walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Gwen was saddened by Owen's death, but not to the measure that Toshiko was.
Toshiko looked up. Teary eyes. She smiled. Or at least tried to.
"C'mon guys," Toshiko heard. It sounded like Martha.
When Jack's old friend began talking, all Toshiko heard was Owen's name. "Owen Harper". One too many times that name brought tears to my eyes. Now, he can never break my heart again.
That was the beauty of it. The horror. The reality that set in quite quickly. He'd never be there anymore to give her a wrong look or smile a wrong smile. He'd never be able to crush her heart like a cracked mirror and bring her seven years of bad luck. She could never gaze at him and wish for something she knew was impossible.
One too many times he broke my heart. And now he can never hurt me again.
I want him to hurt me.
The daze, the silence, was broken. It was shattered, like the mirror, when Jack came running in, a metal object in his hands. Everything happened to damn fast that Toshiko's head whirled when she tried to comprehend what was happening. Before she knew it, Jack was sprawled back and Owen was alive.
One too many times he broke my heart.
And now he can again.