Disclaimer: No matter how much I'd love it to, Torchwood does not belong to me.
A/N: Just a quick background brief. Jack's come back after his disappearance at the end of series one and it pretty much follows the first episode of series two with one or two details changed. I won't write the whole of the episode out so it's just brief moments of it. Also includes an episode from later on in the series. ;) So, I hope you enjoy. :)
Jack was standing so close to her, his eyes gazing into hers.
"What kept me fighting was the thought of coming home to you." He whispered. He ran his hand down Gwen's left arm to her hand. His fingers started to thread through hers when he found the ring on her finger. Jack frowned and lifted her hand up between them. "What's this?"
"That's an engagement ring, that is." Gwen answered, looking at it in fake surprise.
"You're getting married?" He asked. She nodded silently and he raised his eyebrows in shock. "To Rhys?" Gwen snatched her hand out of his and looked away. "Not to Rhys?"
"We should be getting back to work." Gwen said as she walked away.
Jack ran to catch up with her.
"Wait. What happened between you and Rhys? And if it's not him, who is it?" He frowned.
"Not the time Jack." Gwen told him. "We've got to get rid of this John character."
"Oh come on. Tell me. Do I know him?" He asked.
"Jack, can we please just concentrate on getting John the hell off this planet?" Gwen snapped.
The two walked out into the main area of the Hub and as they walked past the entrance to the autopsy bay, Owen walked out of it. Gwen paused to look at him and their eyes met for a brief moment before she walked up to the boardroom where Ianto and Toshiko were keeping John under guard. Jack stepped up to Owen and watched Gwen leave.
"Owen...do you know anything about what's going on with Gwen?" Jack asked.
Owen just looked at him then followed Gwen up to the boardroom. The Captain sighed as he was once again denied the answers to his questions. The team were still acting cold towards him and had made it clear that the only reason they were acknowledging him was because they had to in this instance. He couldn't blame them, after all, he did run out on them without so much as a goodbye but he hadn't expected such a cold reception when he returned.
He entered the boardroom where the team and John were waiting to start the briefing. Gwen refused to look at him as he sat beside her. When he looked around at the team, he noticed Owen watching Gwen intently and she looked up to meet his gaze. They both glanced quickly at Jack and realised he was watching causing them to look away. Gwen cleared her throat before she started the briefing.
By the end, it was agreed that they'd split off in pairs to search for the canisters John was looking for. Jack was not happy that Gwen would be going alone with John but he didn't have much choice in the matter. Just as everyone started to leave, Jack called Gwen back.
"Gwen, I need a word." He said.
Owen hovered in the doorway and his and Gwen's eyes met before he turned and walked out of the room. John, who was oblivious to all this, leant forward in excitement.
"Oh, can I watch this bit? He's going to give you all the dos and don'ts. I love it." John grinned.
"She'll be with you in a second." Jack said firmly as he pointed towards the door. John rolled his eyes and left the room as Jack turned back to Gwen. "What the hell are you doing?"
"If I can get him talking, flirt a bit, he may drop his guard. I can find out what he's really up to." Gwen explained.
"Ok, clever." Jack nodded.
"Thank you." She replied.
"But dangerous, leave it to me." He said.
"I led the team while you were away, Jack. I can handle this. He knows you too well. He'll never tell you the truth." She pointed out.
Jack saw he wasn't going to win and sighed.
"Three rules. One, don't believe anything he says. Two, always keep him in front of you. And three, under no circumstances let him kiss you." Jack warned.
"As if I would." She replied in disgust.
"Has he gone into the no kissing rule yet?" John called from the corridor. "He only invented that because he wants me all to himself."
Jack looked into Gwen's eyes and she saw a hint of sadness there. She looked away quickly and swiftly exited the room. As she neared John, she gestured in front of her.
"Keep in front." She ordered.
Jack watched them leave then hung his head as they disappeared around the corner.
As Gwen and John reached the main area of the Hub, Owen held onto her arm and pulled her to the side.
"Gwen, just...be careful ok. I don't trust anything that comes out of his mouth." He told her.
"I can look after myself." She said.
"I know you can. Anyone would have to be stupid to try and attack you. You're like a ninja with a gun." He joked. Gwen smiled and there were a few seconds of silence between them. Owen's smile faded as his expression turned serious. "Don't let your guard down, ok."
"Why is it so important to you?" She laughed.
"You know why." He answered seriously.
Gwen's smile vanished as she looked at the floor and nodded.
"Yeah, I do." She said. "I promise I'll be careful."
"Good." Owen replied.
When she looked back up at him, she found him staring at her with tenderness in his eyes. Her mouth turned dry and she ran her tongue across her lips. Just as she started to lean in towards him, John appeared between them and she jumped away quickly.
"Are we going to find these canisters or not?" John demanded.
"Yes." Gwen snapped. "Alright, I'm coming." John rolled his eyes and walked away as Gwen turned back to Owen. They both smiled nervously at each other as silence fell between them. "I'll...see you later."
"Yeah." Owen nodded. After a few more moments of silence, Owen hit her arm playfully. "See you."
Gwen raised an eyebrow before she joined John and pushed him in front of her. John and Gwen went to investigate the shipyard which was one of the locations the rift monitor had detected a minor surge.
"Nothing." John muttered impatiently as he closed one container and opened another one. "Are you sure this is the right spot?"
Gwen was a few containers down from him, shining her torch into each one she passed.
"Yeah but containers get shifted all the time." She told him.
"This could take days." He complained.
She had to bite her tongue and she ignored his impatient tone as she continued to search the shipyard. The silence was starting to make her feel nervous. Though she kept John in front of her and in her sight, she thought the silence would give him chance to plot an attack or something. John had mentioned a beautiful woman and the way he'd spoken about her gave Gwen the impression John had had feelings for her. It was this woman's dying wish for him to find these canisters – or so he said. Maybe if she got him talking about that, although it would probably be painful, it might take his mind off any plans to attack her.
"So that woman, the one with the canister, how did you get to know her again?" She asked.
"We were in love." John answered.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Did they catch the person who shot her?" She enquired.
"Do we have to talk about this?" John asked.
Gwen wanted to keep him talking. His quietness made her jumpy and nervous. But then she realised, she was out here on her own with a potentially dangerous man. If she said anything to upset him or pushed the wrong buttons, there was nothing to stop him from hurting her.
"No, of course not." Gwen answered.
The two carried on searching in silence until John stopped suddenly in front of her and spun around.
"I know what's going, you know." He smirked.
"What's going on where?" She frowned.
"Between you and the doctor." John answered.
"Owen? Don't know what you mean. There's nothing going on." She shrugged.
"Oh come on, I had it all worked out in seconds." He told her.
"Really?" Gwen laughed. "Oh I'd love to hear your insane ideas but we have a job to do."
She pushed past him to look in another container.
"So you're not screwing him then?" John asked with an amused smile on his face.
Gwen whipped around to glare at him and pointed her finger in his face.
"You don't understand half of what's going on." She spat.
"Oh don't I?" He replied as he glanced down and back up at her face. Gwen's eyes widened and she quickly turned away as if to get on with the job they'd originally come to do. "You haven't told Jack have you?"
"It's not of his business and it's none of yours." She answered.
"I'm not surprised, I wouldn't tell him anything either. Not exactly trustworthy as you found out." He said.
"I trust him just fine, thank you." Gwen replied.
"Once a con man, always a con man." He told her.
"What do you mean by that?" She frowned.
"Look, just don't rely on him, Gwen. There's a lot about him you don't know." John said. Before she could question him about it, he stepped over to one of the containers and pointed to the door. "Fancy a peek?" When he opened the door, Gwen shone her torch inside and stepped in. The light fell on a small metal cylinder right at the back. "Aha!"
"Is that it?" Gwen asked as she walked over to it. John followed swiftly behind her and as she picked up the canister, he slammed her against the wall of the container. "What are you doing?" He crushed his lips onto hers and she struggled to push him away. "Get off me."
"Celebrating, that's all." John laughed. Gwen was finding it hard to breath. Her legs started to feel weak and she fell to the floor. "God, the twenty-first century is so frigid."
She knew there was something wrong. She was losing feeling in her feet and it was slowly spreading up her legs. Her whole body started to feel heavy as she looked up at him, her eyes wide with fright.
"What have you done?" She gasped as she tried to stand up.
"Don't get up. I mean, you can't anyway. Paralysing lip gloss. I think it might have even been Jack taught me that trick. Just one problem, if you're not found in two hours, your major organs will go into shut down." He told her. He reached into her jacket pocket, took her phone out of it and dangled it in front of her face. "Thanks." He shoved her to the floor and left the container. "You going to be ok in here without me?" John stopped in the doorway and called back to her. "He won't stay with you. He and I shared something."
The door to the container closed and Gwen's eyes were wide as they stared into the darkness. Her body was almost completely paralysed. The biggest movement she could make was a twitch of her fingers. Her heart was pounding against her chest as she prayed that someone would find her before she stopped feeling it altogether. She could still breath but with every passing minute, she felt her lungs start to slow down. If she could cry, tears would be streaming down her face. Not now. Why did it have to happen now?
After being shot in the leg by John, Owen couldn't imagine the night getting any worse until Ianto ran into the warehouse and told them Gwen was missing. His head spun as he knew John had done something to her. He clutched at his chest as he staggered forward to get to the car and find Gwen.
When Tosh, Ianto and Owen reached the shipyard, Owen's heart sank as he realised just how hard it was going to be to find her, especially if she was injured and couldn't shout out to them. No matter how long it took, he was going to scour every inch of the shipyard until he found her.
Ignoring the pain in his leg, Owen walked from container to container and yanked open the doors to search inside. Tosh and Ianto went ahead to search a different section and it was Ianto who found Gwen's mobile phone smashed to pieces on the floor. The discovery of the mobile phone made the three of them snap into action and they began to search the area quicker than before.
Gwen's vision was almost gone, not that she could tell being stuck in the dark but she was sure if it was light, everything would just be blurred shapes fading into darkness. Every sound she heard sounded so far away and as if she were under water. She felt groggy and it was getting harder to remember what was going on and even who she was.
Light suddenly streamed in from behind her and she wondered if she was finally heading to the golden gates in the sky. The next thing she knew, she was being moved and dark figures with strange voices loomed over her.
"Gwen, it's alright. We're here with you." Tosh told her as Tosh, Ianto and Owen knelt beside her. "What happened? What's he done to her?"
Owen quickly checked her breathing and pressed his fingers to her pulse point.
"She's still breathing. No discernible injuries. Tosh, let's get this thing started. Ianto, take a swab." Owen ordered, Tosh fired up her laptop as Ianto did as Owen asked. "Right, pupils dilating, she's still conscious. Stay with us, darling."
Tosh ran the swab Ianto took through her laptop and turned it towards Owen.
"He's poisoned her." She told him.
"Anti-toxin kit. Now." Owen shouted to Ianto. The Welshman got up and ran back out of the container to the car to fetch the kit. Owen leant over Gwen and tried to remain calm. "Gwen, hold on." As soon as Ianto returned with the kit, Owen set about administering an antidote. Vital minutes ticked by and he just prayed they'd got to her in time. Once he was finished, he held Gwen's face in his hand and waited. "Come on, work."
Everything was coming back to her, her vision, her hearing and the need to draw more air into her lungs. She suddenly lurched up, gasping for air. Strong arms held her as she tried to get her bearings and she gripped tightly onto whoever it was.
Once her breathing had calmed down, she looked up to see the arms belonged to Owen.
"Owen." She whispered. "He poisoned me. Is everything ok? What about -"
"I don't know." He answered. "I'll have to do a proper examination when this is all over. We were lucky enough to find you on time, let's just hope that luck lasts."
She nodded and glanced at his leg.
"Oh my God. What happened?" She gasped.
"John Hart's what happened." He muttered. "Bastard shot me in the leg."
"Are you alright?" She demanded.
"I'm fine." He told her. "Especially now I know you are."
"Well...we don't know that yet." She mumbled. Their eyes met for a few moments before she looked away and around at the others. "Are you both ok? Did he hurt any of you?"
"He hit me but other than that, I'm fine." Tosh told her.
"Me too." Ianto nodded. "But we need to find Jack."
"Jack will be fine, nothing can stop Jack. It's John we have to find." Owen told them. "Let's get back to the Hub and we can try tracking him down from there."
It turned out they didn't have to track him down as he was already at the Hub. He was lurking around the autopsy bay with his back to the entrance. The team slowly and silently spread out along the balcony with their guns trained on him.
Jack returned minutes later and John's real intentions were soon revealed. It was then revealed that the woman John had murdered had played a trick on him. An explosive device attached itself to John and he handcuffed himself to Gwen, giving them no choice but to try and stop the device. When Gwen told the team she was going to throw herself and John into the rift to save the city, Owen shook his head and pleaded with his eyes. She refused to look at him and before he could stop her, she'd dragged John out of the Hub, Tosh and Ianto following hastily behind her. Jack went to follow but Owen caught his arm and pulled him down to the autopsy bay.
The SUV screeched to a halt in the location John had first appeared and Gwen leapt out, dragging John behind her. He was babbling about last minute rescues but she kept walking determinedly. She stopped suddenly and turned to Tosh and Ianto.
"Tell Owen I'm sorry." She said. "And tell Jack...tell Jack I -"
She was cut off by the squeal of tires as Owen's car sped over to them. Jack jumped out of the car and ran towards them.
"What's he doing?" John asked as Jack showed no signs of stopping. The Captain tackled John to the floor which sent Gwen flying too. Jack stabbed a needle into John and injected him with a thick, red liquid. "Get off me."
John struggled to get Jack off him but the Captain didn't let go until the syringe was empty. He stood back and waited for something to happen.
"Owen, it's not working." Jack shouted.
"Fifteen seconds." Ianto announced as he consulted his stopwatch.
"What are you doing?" Gwen asked.
"Trying to confuse the disk." Owen answered.
"Why hasn't it worked?" The Captain demanded.
"I don't know." He shouted back.
"Twelve seconds." Ianto told them.
"Jack, do something." Tosh cried.
Gwen grabbed John by his shirt and yanked him up. She looked back at Jack, her face set in a resolute expression.
"I've got to go, Jack." She told him.
Jack reluctantly reached down to grab John and help her with him. When they pulled John to his feet, the disk clattered to the floor.
"Five...four..." Ianto counted down. Jack grabbed the disk and ran towards the rift opening. "Three..." Owen grabbed Tosh and pushed her back toward the cars. "Two..." Jack hurled the disk towards the opening and it slipped through. "One. Go."
The disk exploded, throwing Jack, Gwen and John to the floor. They pulled themselves up to discover that the day had turned into night. Jack explained what had happened and Owen went on to explain how they'd managed to confuse the disk. When John removed the handcuffs and disappeared back through the rift, the team headed back to the cars. Jack went to climb into Owen's car but the younger man stopped him.
"Jack, why don't you go back in the SUV with Tosh and Ianto. I'll go with Gwen." Owen suggested.
"You can't drive with that leg." Jack argued.
"I'll drive." Gwen reassured him.
Jack looked between them before he turned to get into the SUV with the others.
"Seriously, what's going on around here?" Jack asked Tosh and Ianto.
The two just looked at each other and got into the car silently.
Gwen and Owen watched them drive away before they got into Owen's car and followed.
"What were you thinking of, sacrificing yourself like that?" Owen demanded.
"I had no choice." Gwen argued. "It was die and take the whole city with me, or die and save everyone. We do this job to save lives and protect people, Owen, and that's what I was doing. You're not telling me you wouldn't have done the same."
"Yeah, well...that's different." He mumbled. "I'm not -"
"Yes, thank you, Owen." She interrupted. "You don't have to remind me. Anyway, we don't even know for sure if..."
Her voice trailed off and he saw her gazing out of the window sadly.
"Like I said, I'll take a proper look when we get back to the Hub. I'm sure everything will be fine." He told her.
"But you don't know for certain." Gwen replied as she turned to look at him. He shook his head and turned to look out of the window. "Maybe we'd be better off if it wasn't -"
"Don't you dare say that." Owen interrupted. He looked back at her with anger in his eyes. "Don't you dare. You know you don't mean that."
"Don't I?" Gwen laughed bitterly. "It's what got us into this mess in the first place. I wish it never happened."
"You're only saying that because you're scared of what we might find." Owen told her. "You know what you're saying isn't true."
She stared out of the windscreen, tears building up in the corners of her eyes.
When they got back to the Hub, Jack frowned as they ignored everyone and disappeared down into the autopsy bay. Minutes later, they came back out and they both seemed to have relieved smiles on their faces. Gwen wiped away a few stray tears before heading over to her workstation.
"So what was all that about?" Jack asked as he walked over to her.
Gwen looked up at him and she tried to figure out what she was going to tell him.
"It's..." She said. "Jack, I -"
"Gwen." Owen interrupted. "I'm going to go home, Ianto's driving. Do you want a lift?"
"No. Thanks." Gwen smiled. "I'm just going to finish off here then I'll be on my way."
"Ok." He nodded. Owen stood awkwardly in front of her and she smiled nervously. "I'll...see you in a bit...then."
"Yeah." She replied.
He waited for a few moments before quickly leaning in to peck her on the lips.
"Owen!" Jack burst out. "You're engaged to Owen?"