elmo-doodle: it's here!! the next installment of Those Younger Days! it took a little while to get back in to the flow after watching the last episode of Torchwood, but i'm back to writing! YEAH!! this chapter is dedicated to hatedlane2000, who i've been PM-ing; i hope you're feeling better after Exit Wounds now!
warnings: um... well, there's no swearing, i think ... implied slash (again). romance. more fluff!
spoilers: a little spoiler for Captain Jack's first episode in Doctor Who
DISCLAIMER: if it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it - so i'm playing with the Torchwood characters at a distance
THOSE YOUNGER DAYS
PART TWO
It was the flash of light that woke Owen and Tosh up the next morning. They both grumbled a little, followed by a curse from Owen when he saw Ianto and Jack standing above them, a camera in Ianto's hand. Jack was smiling mischievously.
"Bloody hell, Jack," Owen had shouted while Jack laughed.
They were now sitting in the kitchen inside the hub, eating toast and drinking orange juice.
"Did you sleep okay?" Owen asked, after a long period of silence.
Tosh nodded. "The nightmares didn't come."
"I'm glad," Owen replied, honestly, and Tosh gave him a genuine smile. "Say, Tosh," Owen began, shifting himself around a bit so that he could face her, "after this whole thing is sorted out, what do you say we go get a drink together?"
Tosh's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"
Owen nodded. "Yeah, really," and then he added, a little more quietly, "just like old times."
Tosh visibly brightened at this. "Yes," she replied. "I'd like to."
Owen smiled at her, and saw Tosh flinch slightly as Ianto walked in to the kitchen.
"Jack says to come to the meeting room," Ianto told them, standing just inside the kitchen door so as not too scare Tosh too much. "We're going to discuss what to do."
Owen and Tosh nodded and proceeded to exit the kitchen, Owen taking hold of Tosh's hand again as she walked a distance behind Ianto. "You know there's nothing to be afraid of, right?" he whispered to her.
Tosh nodded. "I just can't help it," she whispered back, eyes downcast. "I feel so bad that Jack and Ianto have to stay away to make me feel comfortable. I know they're not going to hurt me, but it's just the way my mind was set when I was four."
Owen clasped his hand tighter around Tosh's, like how he used to do when they would go out for the night after work at Torchwood. They had never questioned each other about it- it was just part of the friendship that they had developed.
When they entered the meeting room, Tosh and Owen took the seats next to Gwen and Rose, who were sitting at the opposite end of the table from Jack, Ianto and the Doctor.
"The Doctor, Ianto and I are going to go to the warehouse and bring back part of the machine," Jack told them all. "We shouldn't be long, depending on how hard it will be to detach the data-tech core from it. When we get back, we'll see what to do about it, and the safest way to reverse the effect on Toshiko and Owen."
"What will we do in the mean time?" Gwen asked him. "Is there anything we can do here at the hub?"
"Actually," Jack began, "I was hoping that you and Rose could take the kids out in to the town."
Tosh shifted a little uncomfortably.
"But, is that okay?" Rose asked, looking worriedly over at Toshiko. "Will you be okay out there?"
Tosh nodded a little shakily, but smiled when Owen took her hand reassuringly. "I'll be fine," she said, quietly.
"I can wash your clothes from yesterday, if you want to wear them again today," Ianto offered, helpfully.
"Oh, no need to do that," the Doctor said, cheerfully. "There's a wardrobe room in the TARDIS. There's plenty of stuff in there for them to choose from."
Tosh frowned. "How can a wardrobe fit inside such a small box?" she asked, quite confidently, which surprised Owen. He was sure it was the physicist side coming out of her again.
The Doctor grinned and said, "I'll show you."
--
"Whoa." Toshiko looked up at the huge ceiling in awe. She twirled around on the spot a little, trying to take it all in at once. The TARDIS, which had looked smaller than a public photo booth, was huge and cavernous inside. At the other side of the room she was currently in she could see there was a corridor, stretching further in to the impossible reaches of reality. "How does it do this?"
"The inside of the TARDIS is in a different dimension to the outside," he explained to her. He was standing at the doorway to the TARDIS and was watching as Tosh ventured further in to the console room, Owen close by her.
"What dimension is the inside in?" she asked, now gazing in wonder at the complex console.
The Doctor puffed out a breath and looked at his companion. "No-one's ever asked me that question before," he mused. "I'm not even sure of the answer myself…"
"It's magnificent," Tosh said, and for a moment, Owen could see the computer-geeky adult Tosh shining through her eyes.
"That she is," the Doctor said, stroking a nearby wall affectionately. The TARDIS hummed in contentment. "Rose, will you take Gwen, Owen and Toshiko up to the wardrobe room?"
"Yeah, sure," Rose said, laughing as she had to pull Gwen out of her daze from being inside the TARDIS. "Come on, we've got to get these two sorted."
"It's just…it's bigger on the inside…," Gwen mumbled, a little faintly.
Rose led them through several winding corridors before finally coming across a set of tall, winding stairs… and to Tosh and Owen, they looked pretty steep.
Rose and Gwen began the ascent, but Tosh and Owen looked uncertainly at each other before trying to get up the first step. After failing, Owen called out miserably, "We can't get up."
Tosh nodded. "Help us!"
Rose and Gwen turned around, and Gwen giggled. "This must be so humiliating for you, Owen," Gwen said.
Owen scowled at her. Gwen and Rose descended the few steps that they had climbed.
"Do you mind if I hold you?" Rose asked Tosh.
Tosh shook her head, and held on as Rose scooped her up in to her arms.
Gwen looked mockingly at Owen.
"I swear," he warned her, "if you tell ANYONE about this, I will kill you."
Gwen stifled a laugh and picked up Owen, resting him on her hip as she carried him up the stairs.
"How many stairs do we have to climb?" Gwen questioned and they ascended their third flight.
"This should be the last set," Rose said. "The TARDIS likes to move things around occasionally. Just last week, she rearranged the bedrooms and I ended up walking in to the library, in nothing but shorts and a vest top, where the Doctor was reading a book."
Gwen laughed. "You two seem pretty close," she commented.
Rose blushed a little. "Nah. The Doctor and I, we're just friends, is all. Things like romance is a little too domestic for him."
"You never know," Gwen told her. "Things could change."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
They had finally reached the floor which had the smaller items of clothing on it. "Right," Rose said, setting Toshiko down again. "Let's get these two sorted."
--
"You know who you and Rose remind me of?"
"Hmm?"
"Owen and Toshiko."
The Doctor put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "What makes you say that?"
"A few years ago, Owen and Toshiko had an unspoken love between them," Jack said. "They never confronted each other about it, and they never had the chance to, not after a huge fight that they had. That fight managed to tear their friendship apart."
"And how does that remind you of Rose and me?"
"I thought the 'unspoken love' part would have given it away."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Jack. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, come on, Doc," Jack said, getting slightly annoyed with the man sitting in front of him. "I've seen the way you two look at each other when you think no-one else is watching. Ever since you first took me on board the TARDIS, you were practically sending out warnings saying, 'Do not touch her. She's mine'."
The Doctor looked at him in disbelief. "I did not!"
"You did!" Jack countered. "You wouldn't even let another man look at her in that way. And you're bound to have noticed the way she gets jealous when another woman shows any interest in you."
The Doctor sighed and put a hand over his face. "It's dangerous territory, Jack," he said. "I put up so many walls, so many defences around me just to stop myself from falling in love again… but she's managed to break down every last one."
Jack grinned triumphantly. "I knew you loved her. What are you going to do?"
"What can I do?" The Doctor stared a little helplessly at his friend. "I might scare her off; she might want to go back home to her mum and stay there. I can't risk loosing her like that."
"You should tell her before its too late."
"I know, Jack. I know."
--
Jack, Ianto and the Doctor left soon after Gwen and Rose had come back with the changed Tosh and Owen. Since it was sunny and warm outside, Tosh was wearing a light pink dress with white tights and matching pink shoes. Rose had also let Tosh's hair down and put a little flowery clip in at the front to keep her fringe out of her eyes. Owen was dressed in dark-cream coloured trousers, a shirt and a denim jacket.
Tosh and Owen followed behind Gwen and Rose as they left the hub. It was a beautiful day to be outside and the sun was shining brightly overhead. A cool breeze swept over them as they exited the tourist office and stepped outside. Owen immediately took hold of Tosh's hand once she saw all the people crossing the Millennium centre.
"You okay?" Owen asked her as they stood behind Gwen and Rose.
"I think so," Tosh replied, her eyes travelling over the many people that were about. "I keep reminding myself that I'm safe now, so I should be fine." As she said this, she visibly flinched as a man walked just past them.
Owen sighed and tugged her hand gently so that they followed behind Gwen and Rose. "Don't worry," Owen told her as they headed towards the shopping centre, "I won't let go of your hand, so no one will be able to hurt you without me knowing."
Tosh smiled gratefully at Owen and moved to walk a bit closer to him, though not because she was frightened.
--
Jack, Ianto and the Doctor carefully entered the warehouse and Jack directed them on which side of the building they should walk on, so they could avoid being in range of the machine.
"What are the chances of your plan working, Doc?" Jack asked as they slowly made their way along the wall.
"It's a pretty accurate plan," the Doctor replied. "Reversing the polarity won't be a problem. So, in theory, it should work."
"'In theory'?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at the older man.
"Well, I've never done something like this before," the Doctor said in defence.
"So," Ianto began, as they moved away from the wall at Jack's command, "the future of Tosh and Owen depends on an untested theory?"
The Doctor sighed and moved around to the back of the machine. "I'm going to try the best that I can," he said as he sonicked the back panel off.
"We know, Doc," Jack said, moving up beside him. Together they hauled the back panel off the rest of the machine and the Doctor began poking around inside. "Do you know what the data-tech core will look like?"
"Roughly," the Doctor replied. "Most machines have similar cores in them; some haven't got any cores in them at all! Those are the hardest ones to work with- I remember one time Rose and I were on a planet that was made from metal and we were told that one of the machines which kept the planet running had a bug in it and we were asked to find that machine and terminate the bug. Well, since the whole planet was made of machines you can imagine-"
"Doctor!" Jack said, interrupting him. The Doctor looked up at Jack with confusion. "You were rambling again."
"Ah, quite right, sorry," the Doctor said, and he returned to pulling at bits of machinery.
Ianto looked over to Jack and quirked his eyebrows at him. Jack grinned back.
"Found it!" The Doctor began pulling something out of the machine with great effort. "Blimey, it's tricky." He heaved it out for a few seconds more before tumbling back with the force as he pulled the core free. Jack hurriedly went to help him get back on to his feet, and the Doctor dusted himself down.
"You got it?" Jack asked, looking expectantly for a large piece of technology.
"Yup," the Doctor replied, popping the 'p'. "Here," he held up a small, circular ball, no bigger than a marble, composed of metal with intricate and complicated designs written over it.
"…that's it?" Ianto asked. Jack's frown showed he agreed with him.
"Oi, don't knock it! Size isn't everything you know- and that," the Doctor said, pointed a finger at the grinning Jack Harkness, "is not an invitation for an innuendo."
"Doc, you take all the fun out of life," Jack said, feigning hurt.
"Whatever it takes to keep your mind clean," the Doctor said as he began to exit the warehouse.
"Not possible," Ianto said, following behind.
--
Gwen, Rose, Owen and Tosh were in one of the local parks, about 20 minutes away from the hub. It was a nice, secluded area with only other mothers and children about. Tosh had immediately felt relaxed when she saw that there were no grown men around her, and she had boldly let go of Owen's hand (something he had secretly pouted over) and began to wander on the grass. Owen followed her at a distance, unsure if she would want him invading her space right now.
Gwen and Rose sat on a nearby bench, chatting with each other. They had taken Tosh and Owen on a walk around the town, and had stopped to get lunch in one of the local restaurants. Rose had suggested that maybe it would be good for Tosh and Owen to play in the park for a while, among other children. Gwen, agreeing, had led them there. Now, they were sat watching carefully over the two.
"I never knew Owen was such an adorable kid," Gwen said, watching Owen hover uncertainly behind Tosh. It was very cute, actually, seeing him being so nervous around Tosh instead of his usual cocky self. "And neither of them had mentioned that they used to be really close." She frowned. "I thought I knew everything about her. We're good friends and we talk to each other about everything, but… to know now that she had this big secret hidden away in her life… it makes me wonder how many secrets everyone else has."
"Was Tosh happy when you were with her, y'know, before she changed in to a kid?" Rose asked her.
"Well… yes. It strikes me odd that she doesn't have any emotional scars from her childhood existing in her adult life."
They watched as Owen carefully moved closer to Tosh, who bent down to pick something up from the grass.
"Maybe Owen helped her to heal," Rose said, looking over at Gwen.
"Maybe," Gwen answered back. She sighed. "When I first came to Torchwood, I couldn't see any relationship between them. Although they did have a sort of understanding of each other, and occasionally they would finish each other's sentences, or would be able to word what the other is trying to say."
They watched as Owen finally approached Tosh, who turned around when she sensed his presence. They saw Tosh say something to Owen and hand a small flower to him. Owen took it and, before she turned away, Tosh stood up on her tip-toes and planted a light kiss on Owen's cheek. Rose grinned as she watched Toshiko giggle and scamper away, and Gwen laughed a little in amusement as she saw Owen smile and follow after Tosh.
"This transformation seems to be making them reconnect," Gwen said as she watched them play. "I'm happy for them- Tosh especially deserves someone special in her life."
"Do you have someone like that?" Rose asked her.
Gwen sighed and smiled. "I have Rhys," she told Rose. "He knows what my work at Torchwood is and I've put him through all the crap that I've had to go through, yet he still stays with me."
Rose smiled knowingly at her. "You love him," she said, slightly teasingly.
Gwen smiled back at her. "Very much so. You love the Doctor."
It wasn't a question, but Gwen still got an answer when Rose blushed.
"It's just… difficult," Rose told her.
"How?"
"Well, he's a Time Lord. He could live for hundreds more years, while I'll be lucky if I even reach a tenth of his age now! I'll get old and wither, and he'll still be living on."
Gwen paused as she watched Rose close her eyes. "Is he worth it?"
Rose's eyes snapped open as she looked at Gwen. "Oh, god, yes!"
Gwen laughed and Rose soon joined her.
"Ooh, Rose, you have to tell me," Gwen suddenly said. "Do you have any good stories about Jack?"
Rose smiled, her eyes shining with mischief. "Depends what you mean by stories."
"Well, gossip, preferably," Gwen admitted.
Rose giggled and moved so that she was slightly facing Gwen. "When I first met him," she began, and Gwen listened intently, "he tried to con me while he flirted with me."
Gwen laughed. "Nothing new there."
"Hmm, what else? Oh! One time, Jack hit on a princess of some planet that was completely green, and he managed to get us all arrested for high treason!"
Rose laughed at Gwen's confused look.
"How did he manage that?!" she asked, bewildered.
"I don't know," Rose said, still giggling. "But where there's a Jack, there's a way!"
Rose and Gwen continued to share stories about their Captain while Owen and Tosh chased around each other.
"Tosh, slow down!" Owen called out to her as she ran several paces ahead of him. "You're going way to fast for someone your size!"
Tosh's laughter floated back to him. "Don't blame me just because you can't run fast enough!"
Owen watched Tosh's movements as she ran and he began to move diagonally to the left. Just as he had expected, Tosh took a left turn and Owen was finally able to catch up with her.
"Gotcha!" he called as he wrapped his arms around her. Tosh squealed in surprise as they both fell towards the ground. Owen, having anticipated the fall, made sure that he landed on the ground. He was therefore left with a giggling Tosh lying face-down on his chest while he laughed from underneath her.
"I'm glad to see you two are having fun."
Owen and Tosh looked up to see Jack standing above them, his eyebrows raised as he observed the children lying on the grass. Owen and Tosh immediately scrambled to their feet, brushing themselves down and looking slightly embarrassed.
"Ah, the 'I've-just-been-caught-with-my-hand-in-the-cookie-jar' expression," Jack said as he smiled at the two, who were purposefully avoiding his gaze. "You two are so cute together that I might just keep you this way."
Owen's eyes snapped up to lock with Jack's. "Why are you here?" he asked. "Aren't you supposed to be at the warehouse?"
"We've already been and got what we needed," Jack told them. "So, I traced Gwen's phone to see where she was, and since the park was on the route back to the hub we decided to stop here."
Tosh looked over and saw Ianto and the Doctor approaching Gwen and Rose. The Doctor greeted Rose with a hug, which she enthusiastically returned, and Gwen watched the knowingly. So did Ianto, who raised his eyebrows and turned to smile at Gwen.
"Come on," Jack said to Owen and Tosh. "The sooner we get back to the hub, the sooner we can get the two of you fixed."
--
When the team had returned to the hub, Jack and the Doctor had wandered off to fiddle about with the data-tech core, Gwen and Rose had gone to the lounge to chat, and Ianto was busying himself with making coffee.
Which left Owen and Tosh free to their own devices. Tosh had taken that chance to go on to her computer, although she did have to stand on the chair to be able to reach the keyboard and see what she was doing. Owen was sitting on the chair next to her, watching warily in case Tosh lost her balance. She had put her glasses on, and was continuously having to push them back up to the bridge of her nose.
"What are you doing?" Owen finally asked after the boredom became too much.
"I'm updating the rift monitor programme," Tosh replied, not taking her eyes off the computer screen.
Owen almost fell off his chair in shock. "Why?!"
"Because I'm bored, Owen!" she said. She gave a frustrated sigh, and turned to look at him. "This transformation has left us incapable to do anything, and unlike you, I'm not adapted to lying about being completely useless!"
Owen tried not to flinch at her words, but his hurt showed in his face. "You really think I'm useless?"
Tosh sighed and took her glasses off. She bent down to sit on the chair and turned to face Owen. "No," she said softly. "I don't think you're useless. I'm sorry, Owen, it was wrong of me to say that. I just hate that I feel this defenceless and frightened. I didn't mean what I said." She reached out and put a hand on Owen's knee. "Can you forgive me?" she asked, pouting a little. "Please?"
Owen knew she hadn't intended to be mean; everyone knew that a frustrated Tosh could say harsh, false things that wouldn't even cross her mind when she was stress-free. Still, Owen sighed dramatically and replied, "Yeah, Tosh, I forgive you."
Tosh giggled and Owen smiled back at her. "Still bored?" he asked.
Tosh nodded, and Owen jumped down off the chair. He took her hand and gently coaxed her off her own seat. "C'mon," he said. "I've got an idea." He pulled her over towards the direction of the invisible lift.
--
Gwen and Rose came up from the lounge a while later, carrying their coffee mugs with them. After a lot of talking with each other, they became curious as to what everyone else was up to. They headed down in to the medical bay to see how Jack and the Doctor were doing. They stood at the railings just above them, so as not to disturb their work too much.
Ianto had soon joined the other men after having finished his coffee rounds, and they were all working on reversing the effect of the data-tech core. The Doctor called out instructions to Jack, who obeyed them, and Ianto was fetching bits of equipment that were continuously needed. The Doctor had long discarded his long coat and his jacket and now his sleeves were rolled up, with his tie hanging loosely around his neck. Jack had just rolled up his sleeves, while Ianto had taken off his suit jacket, tie, and almost half of his upper buttons had been undone.
Gwen and Rose watched silently as the men, who had not noticed their presence, worked on.
"Three very attractive men," Gwen whispered, so as not to disturb them.
"Mm," Rose responded, giggling softly. "I can feel the heat from here."
"I bet that Jack's trying so hard not to suggest a euphemistic scenario."
"I wouldn't actually mind seeing something like that… it would be really… mmm!"
Gwen and Rose dissolved in to silent fits of laughter, and Gwen had to cover her mouth with her hand. They had looked back long enough to see Jack wink and place his hand on Ianto's behind, which just caused them to giggle out loud.
The three men, finally noticing that they were there all reacted differently. Jack glared at them for interrupting; Ianto blushed from embarrassment at being seen; and the Doctor beamed in delight at their presence.
"Hello!" he called up to them. "Finally stopped gossiping about me?"
"You are so big-headed," Rose called back, leaning over the bars again. "We're not always thinking about you!"
"Yeah, but I'm always the first thought on your mind," the Doctor said, winking at Rose.
Rose felt herself blush and she grinned back. Gwen giggled from beside her.
"Once you two are finished flirting," Jack asked, and Gwen rolled her eyes, "would you like to bring the kids down here? This thing's almost ready."
Gwen and Rose's eyes went wide. They looked at each other and then back at the men. "We thought you were watching them," Gwen said.
"How could we watch them?" Jack said, moving up the stairs. "We were busy fixing the machine core."
"So they are unsupervised?" Ianto asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Oh…" Gwen said.
"Hey, what's the worst that could happen?" the Doctor asked, joining them at the top of the stairs. "They can't get up to that much trouble, can they?"
Gwen, Jack and Ianto looked at each other before bolting off to the nearest computer.
"Gwen, pull up the CCTV footage of the past two hours and track their movements. Ianto, check the security system and see if any of the doors hade been activated since we arrived back."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "What's all the worry about?"
"Doc, they may have adult memories," Jack said, "but right now, they're kids. If an adult Toshiko and Owen are mischievous, I dread to think what toddler versions of them could get up to!"
--
"Owen!!"
Owen snickered and ran behind the water fountain as an angry Tosh got back to her feet and headed for him. She continued to chase him around until she finally got tired and collapsed in to the surrounding water.
"Given up?" Owen asked, sitting down beside her. "I thought you were faster than me," he teased.
"Yes, on ground," Tosh said, panting a little. "You've got longer legs so you can move faster in the water." She pouted. "Unfair."
They had been playing in the fountain for the past 45 minutes. The sun was still blazing up above them, so they hadn't minded about getting wet. They were sitting in the shallow end of the fountain, completely drenched from head to foot, but very entertained. Several people had 'aw-ed' at them as they past by, while others had attempted to ask them where their parents were.
"Do you think they're noticed that we're gone?" Tosh asked, leaning slightly against Owen.
"Nah. They're too absorbed in everything else to pay attention."
Tosh giggled. "What will they do when we come back all wet?"
Owen was about to reply when a voice spoke behind them.
"Oh, I can think of a few things."
Tosh and Owen froze, and slowly turned around to look up in to the face of Jack.
"Uh-oh," they both said.
"Yeah," Jack responded, smiling. "Uh-oh."
--
"What were you two thinking?" Jack asked as they were gathered in the medical bay.
Tosh and Owen were sitting on the table, still in their wet clothes and wrapped up in towels. They looked at each other momentarily before Owen replied, "We…got bored."
"So you decided to play in the fountain?"
Owen shrugged.
Jack sighed. "Anything could have happened up there. You could have been hurt. You could have attracted unwanted attention. You could have been kidnapped."
Owen glared at Jack as Tosh shuddered slightly.
"We were fine," Owen said defensively. "It's not like you were overly concerned about us- you just left us alone in hub; a lot more dangerous than leaving us outside."
Tosh nodded. "Yes."
Jack scowled and looked behind him. "Doc, is that machine ready yet? I'd like to have these two changed back so I don't get arrested for child abuse while I throttle them."
"Yup," the Doctor said, connecting one last wire and the machine started to glow blue. "Finito! Right, everyone get behind me; I doubt any of you will want to be transformed. Plus, with the polarity reversed, who knows what age you might end up as."
Everyone rushed to stand behind the Doctor in case they were caught by the unpredictable machinery.
"Okay, you shouldn't feel a thing," the Doctor assured Tosh and Owen. They both nodded, and Tosh reached out for Owen's hand.
"Okay, here we go. Three, two, one…"
A blue light erupted from the machine and encased Tosh and Owen in it. Everyone had to shield their eyes against the glare, and a few seconds later, it had stopped.
"Bloody hell," Owen said, as he got off the medical table, back to his correct age. "It's a good thing that worked- I was getting annoyed with the lack of activity." He frowned slightly as he saw that everyone was looking at something beside him.
"It didn't completely work," Ianto said, when no-one else spoke up.
Owen looked to were everyone else's attention was focused. "Ah," he admonished.
There on the table sat Toshiko, looking around in confusion.
She hadn't changed back.
--
well, what do you think? after realising that this story wouldn't fit in to one part, i decided to make it two. now, i'm just going to admit that this could very well last until a fourth part, hehe. it just expands!!
please leave me a review :D