Title: Learning Curve

Fandom: Torchwood

Rating: T for now, might go up later on

Pairings: Tosh/Mary, Tosh/OC, Owen/Diane, Tosh/Owen, minor Jack/Ianto

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of its characters, they belong to the BBC and Russell T. Davies. I do own Chris, though.

Summary: Post "Greeks Bearing Gifts" Tosh is sick of waiting for love to find her (or Owen to notice her) and decides to take matters into her own hands.

Author's Note: This was originally meant to be a drabble, but the idea stuck with her and has since been expanded to become a short chaptered story. I kept chapter 1 as it was when it was still only a drabble, so it's rather short, the next chapters are at least twice as long. Chapter 2 is currently with my beta (Thanks for all your work, by the way, Sophie.) and chapter 3 is done on paper with the last scene waiting to be typed up. So I should manage to update fairly regularly, say once a week, at first.

Chapter 1

Tosh watched Jack walk away until she couldn't see him anymore, then she turned to gaze out over the bay. So here she was again, at the end of the day, alone.

Sure, Jack had been there, but he didn't really understand what she was going through. Jack didn't do relationships, he didn't get attached. Privately she thought he must have gotten badly burned in the past, must have been hurt by someone he loved and was now hiding behind his flirty smile and devil-may-care attitude to never have to go through that much pain again. She herself, on the other hand, couldn't imagine having a one-night stand, not even to save herself from the pain that always followed. She always got attached, it was just the way she was.

Her brief talk with Owen and Gwen hadn't helped either. Instead, she had had to listen to Gwen tell her that she wouldn't stop sleeping with Owen and Owen's blunt words and easy dismissal had torn open wounds that had slowly healed ever since she had met Mary.

And then there was Ianto. Ianto who was still suffering from losing Lisa, but had nevertheless tried to help her. Maybe she should have taken him up on his offer to listen while she talked. Now that she was alone, having time to sort through her thoughts wasn't as appealing anymore as it had been when she had talked to Ianto.

She rummaged through her bag, intent on finding her phone, when someone sat down next to her. Surprised she looked up and came face to face with none other than Ianto Jones.

"Ianto, what…?"

"I don't care what you say, Tosh, you shouldn't be alone. Not tonight," he said with quiet intensity. "If you don't want to talk that's fine, but I won't let you go through this by yourself."

"Actually," Tosh said, a shy smile spreading across her face, "I was just about to call you. Having you here for company doesn't sound so bad after all."

Ianto returned her smile and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence. Tosh went back to staring at the water, oddly comforted by the knowledge that Ianto was sitting just a few feet away from her. She didn't notice her tears starting to fall again and if Ianto did, he didn't say anything. Instead, she felt him taking her hand and squeezing gently, all the while watching small waves ripple across the otherwise still water of the bay. Tosh squeezed back, but made no move to wipe away her tears.

They were still sitting in that very same spot when the sun rose the next morning, neither having noticed how much time had passed.