Everyday Martha Jones would arrive to work and be greeted by an enthusiastic Jack saying,
"Martha Jones, voice of a Nightingale. How are you?"
Martha would smile and reply,
"Fine, Jack. How are you?"
"Great!" He would beam.
Ianto would be more shy and would ask softly,
"How are you doing today, Martha? Would you like something to drink?"
After her reply, Ianto would walk off to make drinks for everyone.
Gwen would say happily,
"Hey Martha. Are you ok today?"
"Fine, yeah. What about you?" Martha would ask nicely
"Great, thanks."
Later, Donna would arrive, and say jokingly,
"Hey Martha. Not got bored of the job, yet?"
"How could I? With Jack saying the usual, 'Martha Jones, voice of a Nightingale.', Ianto's sweet greeting and a coffee. And you and Gwen saying hello so cheerfully."
Today, however, was slightly different. When Martha arrived at 8am, as usual, Jack was sat in his office away from the rest of the team. Ianto was with him and Gwen was sitting silently at her desk, looking through… a photo album, by the looks of it. Donna hadn't arrived yet; she only came in at 9am.
Gwen was looking tearfully at the pages of a photo album. She stared absent-mindedly and longingly at a particular picture, of Owen and Toshiko. They looked so happy.
"It's two years today that they died." She replied sadly, as Martha approached her.
"Gwen, I'm sorry, I know you miss them." Martha replied, placing a gentle hand on Gwen's shoulder.
"It's not fair." Gwen mumbled, tears falling. "Why did it have to be them?"
"I know it's not, Gwen, nothing is in life." Martha soothed gently.
"I want them… back!" Gwen sobbed slightly.
"I know you do, Gwen, but we don't always get what we want just because we want it." Martha stated gently.
"I wish… I… had a… time… machine!" Gwen continued to sob.
"Trust me, you don't."
Gwen didn't notice the tone in Martha's voice.
"I do."
"You don't, Gwen. Trust me and Jack on that one."
"But did it have to be them? Why did they have to die?"
"Gwen, they died saving innocent people…"
"Exactly, innocent people who never knew, never knew how close they were to death, never knew that people died saving them and some of those people aren't even innocent. Some of those people could be murderers or rapists that haven't been caught yet. Two innocent people died to save some innocent people and most not-so-innocent people…"
"Gwen, that's what our job entails. We can't change that and unfortunately we can't bring back Owen and Tosh, but what we can do is not let them die for nothing. We carry on, because that's all we can do." Martha replied, knowing that not even a time machine could set things right.
"Yeah, I know but it's not fair!" Gwen replied sadly.
"I know it's not, believe me I do."
"Dammit!" A voice shouted.
"Jack, please, just…" Martha asked softly, looking towards Gwen.
Jack walked slowly over to them, "Martha, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout. Are you two ok?"
"Yeah, don't worry I understand, Jack." Martha replied with a soft smile.
Gwen just smiled sadly.
Jack hugged Martha and Gwen tightly, causing them to struggle out of his grasp.
"What? Do you not like hugs anymore?" Jack pouted.
"Course, when we can breathe." Martha replied sarcastically, before grinning at Jack.
"Look, why don't I go out and go get us all coffee and brownies."
Gwen sat back down, looking at the album once more.
"There something wrong with my coffee?" Ianto asked, a smile forming.
"Ok then. Just brownies." Martha smiled.
"Sure." Jack replied, giving her a wink and a smile.
Chapter 1 redone . Hope everyone enjoys it xxxx