Andy watched as the area was quickly cleared of police officers, them being forced back beyond their own cordons in favour of special ops. He gave a wan smile to his partner, who as usual was running late, but as she was carrying coffee this time he didn't mind as much. She seemed to find the whole special ops thing fascinating, and he was surprised that she hadn't stumbled across them already with the amount of time she had been in the force.
He supposed that he shouldn't be too surprised though, Torchwood were after all a secret organisation, regardless of the fact that they had their SUV. He turned to say something to Gwen, only to find that she had disappeared, something that he was becoming used to. The other woman was always running off somewhere, chasing up some essential lead that she never thought to share with him.
He walked back to his car, with only one last fleeting glance in the direction of the special ops team; he wondered how long they would be out there in the rain standing over a corpse doing whatever it was that they were doing. Andy put it out of his mind, he was almost finished his shift, half an hour more and he could go home, have a long soak in the bath, order some takeout and wait for his lover to get home.
Andy smiled at the thought of his lover, wondering how late the other man would be that night, his work hours were ridiculous at times, but he could tell that his lover loved his job, no matter how much he complained about it. Being a Doctor was something that was immensely rewarding, even if he didn't always work on live patients, when he did he was exceptional, and he knew that his lover was also working on a lot of ground-breaking research.
Andy was just getting out the bath when he heard the front door open, so he dried himself off quickly and pulled on a pair of boxers before going to greet his partner. Owen was standing in the lounge his leather jacket slung over the back of a chair, his boots under it, the rest of his clothing being dropped into a pile beside him to be scooped up and put in the washing machine. Andy greeted him with a quick kiss, before stealing a deeper kiss and pushing Owen towards the bathroom. As soon as the clothes were in the machine ready to be washed the next day with his own clothing, also soaked from hours stood in the rain, he headed to the phone and dialled a number from memory.
A few minutes later their order for dinner placed he made his way into the kitchen to make some coffee, knowing that Owen was probably as cold now, even after his shower, as he had been before Gwen had brought him coffee. When he entered the bathroom it was to the sight of Owen slumped against the wall, just letting the water wash over him. The other man must have been exhausted, Andy vaguely remembered the other man slipping out of bed and leaving for work around four that morning, now just past eleven he was sure that his lover was running on empty.
Once Andy had helped Owen out of the shower and into a warm pair of sweats he insisted that the other man lay down in bed, so he could at least rest his body while he warmed up. When their food arrived it was eaten in bed, empty cartons scattered on the floor beside the bed once they were finished. Curling himself around Owen in an attempt to keep the other man warm, they went to sleep, neither really having the energy or the need to take the comforting embrace and attempt to turn it into something more passionate.
It was around five am that Andy felt Owen detangle himself from his limbs, placing a chaste kiss on his lips before getting out of the bed and heading to the bathroom. When he didn't return a few minutes later and the shower turned on Andy let out a groan, Owen obviously had to go into work early. Andy had been hoping that they would have been able to at least get breakfast together this morning, but that was not to be, instead he dragged himself out of the bed and went to join his lover in the shower.
Believe it or not he had gotten used to this lifestyle, he'd go to work and often come back to an empty flat, it was often empty when he left as well, Owen's work hours being completely unpredictable. There were times when they could go for days maybe even weeks without seeing each other, but Andy had become used to it in the last year or so. It was almost a year anyway, at times he still didn't believe that they had almost been together a year, having thought near the beginning that they wouldn't be able to match up their conflicting schedules, but they had made it work. The first couple of months were difficult, with them firing off texts to each other when they were free and attempting to meet up for some time together before one or the other had to rush off to work. After being together three months they had made the decision to move in together, while it may have seemed that it was too quick to consider living together it worked for them. It meant that they were both living in the same space and had more chance of having time together.
Andy knew that Owen's job was demanding, the man was special ops, but he didn't ask about what the other man did all day. He knew that Owen was trained as a Doctor and while he thought it odd that a special ops team needed a Doctor he could agree that it would be handy. He never pressed about what Owen did though, he knew that the majority of his work was classified and that his lover would probably be breaking the official secrets act or something if he told him anything.
That didn't mean that he didn't care or listen when Owen chose to talk about his work, he was a very good listener and was a great sounding board. The other man had spoken to him about his colleagues, telling him little things like how Jack was an incorrigible flirt who he thought was trying to hit on the newest hire, a man who made amazing coffee that Owen was still unsure of, but was thinking about kidnapping and tying him up in the kitchen to provide his daily coffee fix. He spoke about Suzie who he had once had a thing with, a thing that stopped as soon as he met Andy, but how the other woman seemed to still want him. And of sweet Toshiko, and he had called her that, who was crushing on him something terrible, who he didn't know how to let down gently so he tended to ignore her looks and just get on with his work, often throwing out harsh comments in the hopes that he could kill the crush that had formed.
Owen may often come off as cruel and abrasive, the polar opposite to Andy who was as nice as someone could be, but he did have a heart and he cared about the people that he worked with, which was more than some people could say. Andy was unsure as to what it was that had drawn Owen to him as he seemed to be the opposite of the people that the man usually met with, but for some reason they just fit. They balanced each other out and Owen was certainly satisfying in bed, even if he wasn't the most amazing man in the kitchen.
Early mornings and late nights were something that he had become used to in his time with Owen, he had to be up in a few hours anyway to go to work, there was no reason really to stay in bed when Owen wasn't there and he was already awake, he may as well join his lover and they could both enjoy their shower before they both went off to strenuous days at work.
Owen stumbled into their flat sometime after ten carrying pizza. He dumped the food on the table before stripping down to his boxers and taking up his usual position on the couch next to Andy, taking the beer that his lover handed him.
"How was your day dear?" He snarked, knowing that his lover would recognise the snark for what it was, a by-product of a rough day.
"Smacked about a bit in a bar fight, not as badly as Gwen though, I had to take her to hospital." He snorted as he thought of the other officer. "She then took off with the car leaving me to walk in the rain. She was by the water tower ranting on and on about Torchwood. She is really interested in your lot, you need to be careful."
"Yeah," Owen muttered, "She found us tonight; the pizza was her idea. It was what she used as her ruse to sneak into the Hub, as if we normally let delivery people into our headquarters."
Andy chuckled, that sounded like Gwen's style. "So how did it go? I can't imagine it was the best of meetings, was she trying to take a moral high ground?"
"Jack's dealing with her, don't be surprised if she doesn't remember anything about us in the morning." Owen replied around a mouthful of pizza.
Andy just nodded, having heard similar things about those who had learnt too much about Torchwood. It was one of the reasons he never really asked about his lover's work, he didn't want to be made to forget in case they made him forget Owen as well. Leaning towards Owen he stole a bite of his pizza. "What time do you start tomorrow?"
"About sevenish." Owen answered. "Unless I get called in earlier."
"Let's hope you don't get called in then." Andy spoke before placing a small kiss on the side of Owen's lips. Standing he continued to speak as he walked out of the room, "Finish your pizza and beer, I'll get the shower ready for us."
Owen didn't think he had finished a meal as quickly as he did that pizza, the idea of his lover naked and wet in the shower spurring him into action. He loved showering with Andy, it was always a fun experience, sometimes it was the only time that they got to spend together, so they made it count. By the sound of it though Andy had plans for them, plans that Owen was sure he would love and didn't want to delay.
Owen stripped out of his boxers on the way to the bathroom leaving them on the floor knowing how much it annoyed Andy that he never picked things up. He supposed that in a way he was looking for his lover to punish him for his untidiness.