Silence filled the empty hospital foyer as the grey cloud condensed, shrouding the single occupant of the room in the heavy smoke. It was so thick that – if he had been able to breathe – it would surely have choked him. It reminded him of a fire that had run through his school when he was younger – smoke so thick that it was impossible to see any further than a few meters ahead, so strong in smell that the odour alone would make one feel like their windpipe had closed off in self-defence.
On the other side of the room, Jack and Gwen stood back and stared on in amazement as, suddenly, a bright light burst out of the cloud. Shielding their eyes, they turned away, temporarily blinded by the whiteness of the light. Even though they couldn't really see what was going on, the one person who could describe it said it looked like the Light and Death were locked in a fierce battle, though neither possessed any physical form. The Light suddenly turned and shot into his body, leaving Death standing in its wake, shrouding him in a faint glow. Then, as soon as it had come, it disappeared, along with the dark cloud that had been Death.
Everyone in the room was silent, reeling from the events that had just occurred in front of them. The door beeped and swung open and Tosh walked in, face carefully blank.
Then, everything erupted into chaos.
As Jack, Gwen and Tosh approached, they all gasped as the fourth figure dropped limply to the floor, completely still. The team rushed over, and Jack fell to his knees beside the prone form, hastily turning him over onto his back; eyes desperately searching for any signs of life.
"Jack, there's some sort of blip on the scanner: it says that there's some crazy biological electrical activity going on-" Tosh's voice trailed off as she followed the scanner's directions to the source of the activity: the lifeless body before them.
Wasting no time, Jack tore open Owen's shirt, barely pausing when he saw the open hole, instead clasping his hands together and pounding his chest in a steady, rehearsed rhythm.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four; he repeated the mantra in his head until he reached thirty. Bending down, he locked his lips onto Owen's, breathing air into his lungs. It spoke a lot for the situation that Jack didn't even make any comments about the impromptu kiss. After two breaths, he resumed the compressions.
One, two, three, four – don't you dare give up on me now, Owen Harper.
One, two, three, four – not after all I went through to get you back.
One, two, three, four – please, don't give up.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two–
Another two breaths; Gwen arrived at his side with a defibrillator, no doubt sourced from behind the reception desk over by the door. Attaching the pads, she put a hand on Jack's shoulder, silently telling him to stop as the machine charged up. Jack reluctantly took his hands off, unable to look as the shock was delivered. As soon as he heard the mechanical voice say "Resume CPR", he turned back around and continued his previous routine.
One, two, three, four – come back, please.
One, two, three, four – I can't lose you again.
One, two, three, four – please, Owen.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three–
Jack was beginning to give up hope when he felt a stutter of a heartbeat beneath his hands. Pausing in his compressions, he held his own breath. Not taking his eyes off the bare chest in front him, he watched, astonished as the gun-shot wound healed miraculously before his eyes. A quiet gasp and a muffled sob from behind vaguely reminded him of Gwen and Tosh's lingering presence.
"Jack? What's going on over there?" Ianto's voice sounded crackly over the static of the comms. Gwen stood back and answered him, her reply muffled to the buzzing in Jack's ears. Another heartbeat beneath his hands brought his attention back to his patient. A third beat, stronger this time, pounded beneath the skin. Then Jack heard someone coughing.
Wait, coughing?
Seemingly on auto-pilot, Jack braced Owen's shoulders as he turned him on his side, rubbing his other hand up and down the doctor's arm. Gwen was talking in her rapid Welsh tones to Ianto over the comms, a relieved toothy smile on her face. A wide grin was plastered on Jack's own face as he helped Owen sit up, the smaller man still taking deep, gasping breaths.
Leaning back against Jack's knee, Owen wearily opened his eyes and raised his head to look at Jack.
"'Lo Jack" he panted, not quite caught up on oxygen.
A relieved, almost sobbing laugh broke from Jack's throat as he wrapped his arms around Owen, pulling him into his chest. The sheer strength of the hug took him completely by surprise, but what surprised him more was the second body that threw herself on him from behind. A familiar, woodsy perfume told him that it was Tosh, and the wetness on his neck told him that she was crying.
Raising a lead weighted arm from the ground, Owen wordlessly invited her into the hug and Tosh fell into his side, her sobs increasing. Closing his eyes, utterly exhausted, Owen sighed, ignoring the burning in his chest (probably from the broken ribs, he thought dryly, CPR will do that) and then realised what he had just thought.
"Wait, I thought I was dead? How am I alive?" he asked, raising his head and glancing at Jack, who shrugged.
"Don't get me wrong, it's great and everything, but it's still impossible" he continued.
Jack said nothing. Owen guessed that he had no idea either, but he supposed that he – like Owen himself at that moment – was immensely grateful for the impossible things.
Gwen walked back over to them at that moment, grinning even wider when she met Owen's gaze, and addressed the huddle on the ground.
"Ianto's coming in. He's taken Martha back to the Hub – she's fine, by the way – and he said that Martha wants us back at the Hub as soon as possible" her voice was shaky with emotion and relief.
Jack nodded and turned his gaze down to Owen, who was still pressed against his chest.
"Think you can stand up? Or do I have to carry you out, bridal style?" he smirked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at the last part.
Owen rolled his eyes tiredly, a smile of his own creeping onto his face.
"Now, you know I would never deprive you of that Jack, but I think I can manage" he replied, chuckling at the fake pout Jack sent his way.
With some difficulty, they managed to remove the defibrillator pads, and after storing the machine back in its rightful place (with brand new pads attached), Tosh and Jack each put a hand under his arms as Gwen walked around to support him from the back. Taking a deep breath – still marvelling that he could – he waited as Gwen counted out loud.
"On three: one, two, three."
Shakily, he pushed himself up onto his feet, momentarily dazed by the spinning of his head and the blurring of his vision. A few slow breaths and everything came back into focus.
"You okay?" Gwen asked from behind, her hands still gentle on his back.
Nodding slowly, Owen took a tentative step forward, relieved that the dizziness didn't worsen, and then allowed himself to be led out of the hospital to the SUV. Ianto, waiting patiently as ever, straightened as he spied the approaching party. Smiling politely, his relief showing only in his eyes, Ianto turned and opened the front passenger's door and stood back.
"Look at that, didn't even have to call shotgun. I could get used to this" Owen commented cheekily, and was rewarded by a playful cuff on the back of the head from Jack.
"We could always make you walk back" Ianto replied mildly, knowing full well that none of them would do such a thing at that moment.
His reply was a smirk as Owen settled himself into the seat, reaching over his shoulder to pull on his seatbelt. Pushing the door closed, the rest of the team clambered into the SUV – Jack was driving – and left the hospital to head back to the Hub.
TBC….
So, this little fic was inspired by reading a fic on here called 'Owen Stalking' by Dru (it's really good, go read it…now!), which mentions Owen being brought back to life by Jack. I wanted to put my own spin on this popular AU, and this was the result. There will be one other chapter after this, set when the team gets back to the Hub. Feel free to leave a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter.