The Broken Bride
It was a sad day. Probably the saddest of her life. Gwen kneeled in the mud, her once beautiful, clean, white gown now covered in blood and dirt as she cried for the man in front of her. How a day she had been looking forward to became a day of loss she didn't have the strength to reflect on.
The Torchwood team continued running around chasing after the lethal aliens who had crashed her wedding. No matter what she did Torchwood somehow always collided with her life and Rhys had paid the price. Blood drained from him though he was long gone now for awhile. She had cried and screamed as he took his last dying breaths in her arms. She wasn't aware as to how long she was there but her eyes never left his face. She was numb and the world of life, different life and aliens just seemed to collapse around her.
This time there was no rift that could be opened. No future warning. He was really gone this time. A man whom she had loved. Sure there were those feelings for Jack, but she could stop that because it was an impossible relationship. But Rhys was her rock. She had pulled him into Torchwood, made him apart of the world, continued to love him all the same and had every intention to marry him with full faith on this very day. Only there was no wedding because before the ceremony could truly start they attacked and now here she was. Alive whilst broken and hurting all over.
"Gwen."
She ignored his voice. She couldn't deal with him right now. For crying out loud he didn't even want to be there and the only reason he showed up was because the Hub computers traced the alien attack to her wedding.
He placed his hand on her shoulder. She let out a breath she had been holding in for she didn't know how long. Thunder cracked and the rain poured down mercilessly. All she could do was welcome it. No one else was hurt. Everyone had fled and she was left alone with her dead man.
"Gwen," Jack spoke softer.
Ianto and Owen brought over a stretcher and slowly removed the dead body from her arms. She didn't object. She was too numb and hurt to say anything. Her gown was stained with the permanence of Rhys' blood, but she didn't care. She couldn't care. She didn't fight back either as Jack and Toshiko lifted her to her feet and guided her slowly towards the SUV in the soaking rain. She didn't respond to any questions or ask any questions. She was silent and cold and there was only one universal truth running through her mind. Rhys was dead.
Jack kept glancing at her using the mirror, but she didn't lift her head. She could only stare at her blood spattered hands and try not to throttle the nearest person sitting next to her. The rest of the team was quiet. They had nothing to say. What was there to say? It was nothing she hadn't heard before and the last thing she wanted was to hear it now.
The SUV pulled to a stop and Ianto and Tosh pulled Gwen out. She was barely walking. Barely living. Jack helped Owen with the stretcher, but looked back as Gwen walked with Tosh and Ianto. Her pain hit him like a slap across the face and all he could do was feel sorry. As much as he tried to pull her from his world she was always forcibly thrown back in.
Tosh helped Gwen out her blood stained things in the ladies room into her extra clothes she kept in her locker. She washed Gwen's face and hands and fixed her hair into a side ponytail until it could be properly washed. Through the whole of it Gwen stared into nothingness and didn't try to resist. Tosh then walked her out, sat her on the sofa and kissed her on the forehead as a friendly and comforting gesture.
Gwen sat for what seemed like moments until she looked up to see Ianto standing with a hot cuppa tea instead of the usual coffee.
"Gwen," he started.
It had been nothing, but an icy silence since they had left and to be honest she didn't want to hear anything, but the sound of her breathing, but Ianto's words brought her back.
"I'm sorry."
She could see the pain in his eyes. He had lost someone too not long ago. They all had. Gwen patted the seat next to her and he sat down placing the cuppa tea on the table. Gwen lay down and placed her head on his lap as he absent mindedly stroked her hair.
Tosh who had been working at her computer with a heavy heart glanced at the sofa and saw Gwen and Ianto. She grinned a sad grin and for the first time in a long time shut down her computer and walked over to them. Tosh sat next to Ianto and put her head on his shoulder whilst taking Gwen's hand in hers stroking it with her thumb. Another comforting gesture.
Owen came up from the autopsy lab after just finishing with Rhys. Gwen would want to give him a proper funeral and he had every right to have one. He wasn't official Torchwood after all. He looked up from the file he was holding in his hand and noticed the three huddled together. Normally he would make some snarky comment, but at that moment, after everything he just wanted to be a part of it. Owen placed his file down and took off his white jacket. He walked over to them and sat on the floor next Gwen resting his head against the sofa and taking Gwen's other hand in his.
They all sat there in a silence exchanging their thoughts with their minds. They not only comforted Gwen, but rather they comforted each other. The things they have seen after working for Torchwood, the actions of regret they had taken, the people they had encountered had touched them all.
Jack sat in his office filling out the paperwork because he wasn't about to let Gwen write out the report on her dead fiancé now was he? He looked up and saw his team huddled together like a family. Since he left they had become close, but he was never really a part of it. It was better that way. Eventually he would watch them leave him and he'd only wind up hurt if he allowed himself to become too close. But it was too late wasn't it. Seeing them all together like that brought out more hurt then seeing them die individually.
He let out a deep breath as a tear shed from his eye for his beloved team. Tosh and her ingenious mind now hurting for her friends and memories. Ianto and his cold exterior, soft and willing to lay down his life for Jack and the team. Owen and his old arrogant ways, changed and wiser then most. An equal amount of love for all of them.
And then there was Gwen. The new girl. The one who always seemed to be in the most amount of danger, but she was the closest to Jack. There was love there, but both refused to allow it to bloom. She lay there in one of the most horrible stages of her life and he wanted so to be there with them all.
She'll be fine he kept telling himself. She'll be fine…
By the end of the day she always did come out beaten and hurt. She could be tortured and weakened. Suffering and dying. She would always be broken. Broken, but stronger…