Toshiko Sato looked in the mirror and twirled, the long skirt swirling against her skin. She had a lacey top on that accentuated her thin frame, the Frederick's of Hollywood push up brassiere that she bought off the web was doing its best to enhance her bust. She tugged on the strap, making the cups on the brassiere push together to give her deeper cleavage.
She had a date that evening. Well, not really a date. It was more of an ambush, if she were being honest with herself. She leaned closer to the mirror to check her makeup. Definitely needed more lipstick, she decided. She picked up the Luscious Lips Ruby Red and applied it liberally to her lips. Her mother would have told her to blot, but she wasn't feeling very ladylike this evening. She stepped back and looked at herself before tugging on the top, making it ride lower so that her breasts showed more prominently. She spiked her hair up into a clip and shook her head. Perfect.
Grabbing a tiny purse with a gold chain for a strap, she slipped into her heels and twirled one last time, feeling very feminine. That didn't happen too often with the job she had, so she was planning on enjoying herself for once.
She ran down the stairs of her building and out the door. An unseasonably warm summer breeze blew off the water and ruffled her hair. She walked down the street, heading for the bar district. There were people walking, heading for a night out on the town, but she was oblivious to the admiring glances from some of the men that she passed. She thought only of one man. All others paled by comparison.
She reached her destination and paused on the steps leading up to the bar. She looked at her reflection in the glass to make sure everything was as she wanted it. She was looking a little windswept, but it would have to do. She could see him inside, one foot on the bar rail as he leaned against the counter, looking at the dancing couples with a jaded expression. She opened the door and pushed through the crowd.
"Tosh! Finally!" Owen said. He had on coal black jeans, a jumper and his trusty leather jacket. He slapped some money on the bar and nodded to the barman as he ordered another lager. "What the hell Jack wants to do in a place like this is anyone's guess," he said in disgust. "Probably just wants to scope out his next shag." He peered around her, not noticing that she was all dolled up. "Where is he?"
"Who?" She asked, wide-eyed and breathless.
"Who else? Captain Jack 'I'll shag the world if it stays still long enough' Harkness," Owen said with a curled lip. "Thought you said he was coming with you."
Toshiko belatedly remembered her story. "Oh, he was right behind me," she said. She made a show of peering behind her. There was no sign of Jack. Of course, there wouldn't be. She turned and smiled at Owen. "I guess something came up," she said brightly.
"Most likely his dick," Owen drawled as he turned back to the bar and picked up his glass.
"So, what do you think?" Toshiko asked with a smile. Owen was still looking around.
"Think of what?" He asked, his eyes scanning the crowd. Toshiko had said that Jack wanted to check out this particular bar because of some odd activity going on there. Owen was keeping a careful eye out for anything odd, but didn't see anything outside of the normal wankers posing around the dance floor. Bloody useless, too, in Owen's opinion. The local girls weren't much better. Too orange for his taste with their spray on tans that didn't even go past their faces. They looked like those things from that movie. What was it? Owen mused. He snapped his fingers. "That's right!"
"What's right?" Tosh asked, looking about to see what he had noticed.
"Oompa Loompas," Owen said. He pointed towards a girl standing under the garish lights. There was a definite line at the edge of her chin where the color went from a reddish-orange to a pale white. "That's what they look like!" He took a pull from his glass, pleased with himself. He glanced at her. "What was it you were asking?"
She twirled around. "What do you think?" He stared at her blankly.
"About what?" He asked. She smiled tentatively at him and held out her arms, turning around again. He looked down at her.
"What's that, a new skirt?" He asked, his tone disinterested. "Nice. Not very practical for work, though." Her smile faltered as he turned away and looked at his watch. "Come on, Jack, don't have all night to waste," he muttered.
"Look Owen, maybe we need to go out onto the dance floor. Perhaps that way we can see if there is anything going on," Toshiko suggested. She was dying to dance. The music had a sultry beat that made her feet twitch.
Owen downed the rest of his lager. "Might as well, since we're certainly not seeing anything from here." He pushed past her out onto the dance floor and she had to trot to keep up with him. Owen shoved his way out into the middle of the floor and turned. He started moving to the music, but he didn't look at her. He just scanned the crowd around him, looking for anything that didn't seem to fit. "I wish he'd told us what he was looking for," Owen muttered.
Toshiko closed her eyes and wrapped the edge of his jacket in her hand to hold him close. She started swaying to the music, pretending that she and Owen were really on a date together and that he had asked her to dance. Owen grabbed her hand and spun her around, using her as a disguise while he scoped the place out. Their movements brought their bodies close to one another and Toshiko felt herself flush as she felt the heat of his body coming in contact with hers. She was grateful for the dim lighting since it hid her reaction.
They stayed for three songs before Owen got bored and left the floor midway through the fourth song with a muttered "bollucks." Toshiko stopped dancing. She looked around, but no one had seemed to notice that he had walked away from her mid dance. She left the floor and scanned the room, seeing him heading into the mens. She moved in that direction and leaned against the jukebox, pretending to look at the songs. She ignored the line growing behind her of people who wanted to pick songs so they could dance. She walked away from it when Owen returned.
"Anything?" Owen asked, tucking his shirt into his jeans. Toshiko shook her head. "Damn Harkness! This is supposed to be my night off! What kind of shit is this?" He said in annoyance. He did one last glance around the club and shook his head. "Screw this." He headed towards the door, Toshiko trotting after him in her high heels.
"Owen!" She called as he passed out the door. "Where are you going?"
"Home," he muttered. "Or maybe to club that plays better music than that shit," he continued. He paused as he realized that he had stepped in some gum that was stuck to the sidewalk. "Great. Just what I needed." He tried to scrape his shoe against the curb but didn't have much luck removing the sticky mess from the bottom of his shoe. "Lovely."
Toshiko stood off to the side and watched him. "Well, at least we had fun," she said with a little smile. He just gave her a look. "I had fun, anyway."
"Oh yeah, barrels," Owen said in disgust. "Just the way I want to spend my evening. Looking at Oompa Loompas with my co-worker. Maybe Jack is right, and they are aliens." He reached for his comm. and cursed when he realized he didn't have it on him. He actually had had it, but Toshiko had taken it when he had been on the dance floor with her. "That's it. I'm out of here. Jack can do his own damn work for once. See you tomorrow, Tosh." He started walking away, his hands shoved into jacket.
"Owen!" She called. "Wait!" He paused and turned to look at her. She hurried over to where he was standing.
"What is it, Tosh?" He said with a bored tone to his voice.
"Well, I was thinking that perhaps maybe you'd…" she started, looking down shyly.
"Spit it out Tosh," he told her with a tired sigh.
"Well, maybe you'd like to go get a bite?" She asked softly. She looked up through her lashes. "You know, perhaps a pizza? Fish and chips? Curry?"
He looked at her as he thought about it. "All right. Why not? My evening is shot to hell anyhow. What's it going to be? Curry?"
"Curry's good," she said eagerly. He nodded once and turned to scan the street. "I think there's a good place not too far from here. " It was why she had picked that particular bar. She knew that Owen loved curry, so had counted on him wanting some if he didn't want to stay in the club. "I think it's this way," she said. He strode off in the direction she indicated and she had to take two steps for every one he took. She hurried along beside him and finally reached out for his hand. "Owen, hold up! I can't walk that fast."
"What? Oh, sorry," he muttered. He looked down at their clasped hands. "What's this for?"
"Well, I thought that since Jack said that the thing seemed to go for couples that we should act like we are one," she explained. The feeling of his warm skin against her own made her tingle. "It may not be in the club, but lurking in the area," she continued. He looked around suspiciously at the people passing by. Nodding, he slowed down.
"All right, let's get all loved up then," he said. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She trembled. "Are you cold?"
"A little," she said as a way of explanation. The night was actually warm. They continued walking down the street, but at a slower pace than before.
"Well, put something else on next time," he muttered with a disinterested look down at her top. "You're practically hanging out of that."
"Oh, but I thought it looked nice," she told him, smiling up at him. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"That's the problem with women, Tosh," he told her as they walked along the street, looking like any of the other couples walking together on a date. "You don't dress practically. I mean really. A top like that? And those shoes!" He said, pointing down with his free hand at her feet. "What if you had to run?"
Toshiko shrugged. "I never get to dress up," she said in a voice so soft he had to lean in to hear her. A PC standing nearby smiled at what looked like a romantic couple. She smiled at him as they passed.
"Well, think about it," Owen said as they turned the corner. Out of habit he turned his head to see if something was following them, but didn't see anything odd. "Look at what we do. Weevil hunting, cannibals, gas monsters. Not really conducive to dressing up, is it?"
"I suppose you're right," she acknowledged. They had reached the restaurant. Owen opened the door and walked through, leaving her to follow. She sighed and stopped the door from closing in her face. The interior was dark and she peered around, finally seeing Owen standing at the desk. She hurried up to him right as the host nodded to him and led him to a seat. The host handed them menus and then complimented Toshiko on her outfit. She blushed and thanked him while Owen looked on with a sardonic expression. She opened the menu and looked down to have something to do. He did the same, then closed it after a few moments and pushed it to the edge of the table.
"So," she said with a little smile. "Here we are."
"Yeah," Owen said as he looked around. "Not too much of a dump. Hope the curry is good."
"I heard it is," she said. She rested her chin on her hand and looked at him through her lashes. What was it about him that attracted her? It was something she had asked herself countless times and which she never found an answer. He wasn't classically handsome like Jack, nor charming like Ianto, but there was something about him that drew her in. He had this intense look to him that she liked. That hint of the bad boy that her mother always warned her about. Maybe that was it. Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the waiter.
Owen ordered his usual curry and she picked something at random on the menu. She really wasn't hungry but had to eat something since they were there. The waiter nodded and walked away after pouring them tea to drink. Owen grimaced as he drank, clearly wanting something stronger. He looked around for the waiter, but the place was empty except for them.
"Happening place," he said in a sarcastic tone. She nodded as he leaned back in the booth and rested his arm along the back. Music played in the background, filling in the silence. His glance swept over her and he finally noticed the top she had on. He blinked. Toshiko smiled at him, wondering what he was thinking.
"You really went all out for this alien, didn't you?" He observed, noting the makeup and jewelry. "Not hoping to pick up another girlfriend, are you Tosh?" He teased her.
"No," she said. "Definitely not." She was hoping to pick someone up, but at the moment he seemed oblivious to that fact. She sighed. Owen tapped the table impatiently. She thought it was a good time to distract him. "So, what would you normally be doing on a night like this?" He looked at her. "You know, if we didn't have to work?"
"Might be out on the pull," he said. "Lord knows that place wouldn't be one I'd go to, though."
She watched him. "No? Not your type of place?" Owen laughed harshly.
"Hardly," he said. "That place was a dump. Not that dumps are bad, mind you, but that definitely wasn't my type of place. Anyplace that has frou frou drinks with umbrellas is one I normally avoid," he said with a sneer. "They water them down in places like that. Can't get properly pissed drinking in a place like that."
"I don't think the people were there to drink," Toshiko observed as she sipped her tea. Owen just shrugged and looked around. He snapped his fingers to get the attention of the host and ordered a drink.
"You want anything?" He asked with a glance towards her. Toshiko shook her head. "All right mate, just for me, then." The host nodded and went off to make his drink. "No, the places I like to go have better looking women, for one thing." He shuddered when he thought of the women in that club.
Their food arrived and Owen dug in with relish. "Damn, this is good," he said as he shoveled another bite into his mouth. Toshiko picked at her Passanda, the nuts and kashmiri spices smelled terrific, but she didn't have much of an appetite now that she was sitting down with Owen and eating.
Owen practically inhaled his meal, and when he was done he started picking at hers, since she had pushed the plate away. "Damn, this is pretty good," he acknowledged. While they ate he had been talking to her about one of his pet research projects. She listened, just happy to have him focused on her for once, though in all honesty she knew that he would talk anyone's ear off about his research when he wanted to. But it was nice to see him animated.
"Come on, have a drink," he urged as he gestured for another drink for himself. She finally caved in to getting a glass of wine, and once the drinks arrived she used the glass to make circles on the table.
"So Tosh, what would you be doing on a night like this if you weren't working?" Owen asked after finally running out of things to talk about. She glanced up at him, but he did seem to be interested in what she had to say.
"Oh, I don't know," she said in her soft voice. He leaned across the table to hear her and she pretended to herself that it was for something other than to just hear her talk. She imagined what it would be like to lean across the table and kiss him, and she nearly knocked her glass over as her hand trembled. She resolutely changed the direction of her thoughts and thought about his question. "If I didn't take work home," she started and saw that he grimaced,"I'd probably catch up on movies I had missed or something."
"What, no friends to call and chat with?" He asked. She shook her head. "Yeah, suppose not. Not much you can talk about, is there?"
"No, not really," she admitted. Owen nodded, and then looked around for their waiter. "Let's get out of here."
"All right," she said with a smile.
He tossed some money down for the bill before the waiter even brought it and stood up. "That should cover it. Thanks, mate," Owen said as he glanced at the bill and dropped it on the table next to the money. "Let's go."
This time he held the door for her as she passed and she gave him a smile before waiting for him to join her. They started walking. She had planned this so that in order for Owen to get home he would have to walk past her flat to get to his, so they started heading in that direction. Owen strode along the sidewalk, no longer in a hurry now that there was nothing else to do. It was too late for him to go out, and the food had made him feel a bit sluggish. Toshiko walked by his side and occasionally looked in their reflections in the windows of the shops as they passed. They looked like any other couple out together and she allowed the fantasy to continue in her head that this was a real date.
When they got to the turnoff for her street she paused and looked at Owen. "Would you like to come up for a cup of coffee?" She asked him. She was hoping he would say yes, but knew he wouldn't. She had to try, though.
"Aren't we all talked out?" He asked. He was looking at his watch and she schooled the expression on her face to something that wouldn't show her disappointment when he said no.
"It was a thought," she replied. "After all, it's that or go home, right?"
"Yeah, well." He seemed to consider it, then shook his head. "No, better not. Early day tomorrow and all."
"All right then," she said as she stifled a sigh. "I guess I'll see you in the morning." In a way she was actually pleased that he had even considered it before rejecting it completely. "Good night."
"Night Tosh. See you in the morning," he said. He stuck his hands into his jacket pockets and hunched his shoulders as he walked away. She stood there watching him until he turned the corner. Once he was gone from sight she turned down her street and walked to her flat. She was smiling to herself as she swung her handbag from one wrist. All in all, it was a good night.
*
The next morning she entered the Tourist Centre and smiled at Ianto, who was standing at his usual place behind the counter.
"Good morning," she said brightly as she placed a coffee for him on the desk in front of him.
"Good morning," Ianto smiled. "Thank you," he said with a nod as he acknowledged the coffee. "You didn't have to. Did you have a good evening last night?"
"Yes, I do believe I did," she said with a smile. "I went out with Owen."
"Oh?" He arched an eyebrow. "That must have been interesting." She nodded and looked down at the cup in her hands. "Hope you had fun."
"Yeah, I did," she said with a tiny smile. She was about to say something else when the door opened and Owen stepped through.
"Good morning," she said brightly. Owen was scowling and took off the sunglasses he had on.
"Morning," he said. "Not sure what exactly is good about it, though." He looked past her to Ianto. "Where were you two last night? We waited for ages for you."
"Pardon?" A frown furrowed Ianto's brow as he tried to figure out what Owen was talking about.
"You know," Toshiko said quickly. "You were supposed to meet us at that club where Jack thought there was some alien activity." She had her back to Owen and was able to give Ianto a pleading look.
"Oh, right," Ianto said with a nod. "Sorry about that. Something came up and I had to help Jack here at the Hub. Did you see anything?" He opened his coffee and took a sip, noticing the grateful expression on Toshiko's face.
" Not a thing, unless being a wanker is a sign of alien activity," Owen said sourly. "Should give Jack a piece of my mind, making us show up on our nights off and then there being nothing there." Ianto could see that Toshiko was looking alarmed by the idea.
"It's not Jack's fault," Ianto said. "I waylaid with this last minute report for the PM. Had to get done. I guess if you didn't find anything we'll just keep a monitor on it for now. Nothing you need to bother Jack about."
"Yeah well," Owen said with a sigh. "Next time don't bother." He turned towards the access door to the Hub and Ianto buzzed the door opened. "No alien would bother hanging out with Oompa Loompas." He walked through the door as soon as it was opened, leaving Toshiko and Ianto alone.
"Thank you," Toshiko said softly. She had a faint blush on her face at having been caught out.
"You're quite welcome," Ianto said with a sympathetic smile. "Did you at least enjoy yourself?"
"I did," she said with a smile. "We danced and went out for dinner afterwards."
"Good," Ianto said. He buzzed the door open again for her. "That's all that matters, then. " She walked towards the door with a little nod. "Maybe next time I can help you out." She turned and looked at him, startled by the idea. He smiled at her. "You know, find a better location. Maybe you'd have to stay the weekend somewhere or something like that." Toshiko brightened at the idea.
"Oh, that wouldn't be very nice of me to do," she said after a moment of thinking about it.
"No?" Ianto asked. "Why not? Get you both out of the Hub and away together. Maybe have some time to really talk and get to know one another. Then maybe he'll get it through that thick skull of his that he's missing a wonderful opportunity." He saw that he was making her blush. "Think about it."
"Thank you, I will," she said with a shy nod. She walked through the opening before it began to close again. As she walked down the hall to the lift she thought about what he said and she smiled. Ianto had the best ideas. And he'd be willing to help her out. Maybe she'd get a second date with Owen after all.
Swinging her handbag lightly, she stepped into the lift and smiled at her reflection in the metal doors as they closed. Another date with Owen. She liked the sound of that!