"Oh, come on, Tosh. There's no way you could've anticipated that power spike. Besides, you've had… my back so many times in the past. Right from the moment I joined."

"Your second week I had to cover for you, pretend I was a medic, because you were hung over and unreachable."

"What was it? Space Pig?"

"Space Pig."


"Yeah."

"We never did get that date, did we, you and me? We sort of, er, missed each other. It was my fault. I didn't... didn't notice until it was too late. I'm sorry."


"Me too."

"It's starting. " The machines were bleeping all around him now.

"Owen..."


"It's all right. Really, Tosh. It's all right."

center***/center

And it was all right.

It hadn't been at first, not when he first realized he was going to die today…truly die. Instinct had told him to be angry, to panic. He was a doctor; he knew what this wasn't going to be a quick painless death. He had yelled and screamed at the unfairness of it all -that he was going to have to die again. He'd just finally started to adjust to life as the walking dead; now it was over and not even Torchwood could fix it this time.

And it was all right.

In those brief seconds talking to Tosh after they realized what was happening, he'd come to terms with it all. His life, his death, his coming back, this death. Right now he was okay with it all. He'd done more in his short life than most people did if they lived to be ninety. He was even going to die saving the world. No one would know, of course - no one outside of Torchwood, anyway - but it didn't change the facts. He'd also get to be with Katie again. In those brief seconds he realized that he almost welcomed death.

The lights on the computer flashed again.

And it was all right.