"Gwen! Oh my God, you're drenched!" squealed Tosh, rushing towards Gwen as she entered the Hub.
"Here." Ianto appeared from nowhere, always prepared, he handed Gwen a towel before asking, "Where's Jack?"
Wow, that didn't take long, Gwen thought to herself: she'd only been back a few seconds.
"He's errm … just seeing to the Weevil." Gwen flashed them one of her big smiles, hoping to hide the truth behind it and accepted the towel from Ianto. She wrapped the towel around her hair to squeeze the water out and wandering over to the sofa, flung her jacket over the arm, once again revealing her curvaceous figure.
Ruffling her hair as she untied the towel, Gwen noticed Owen bent over the banister above, clearly enjoying himself too much: even without blood running through him!
"That's a good look; you should try it more often." Owen smirked, admiring Gwen.
"Sod off!" grumbled Gwen, avoiding eye contact, though still smiling.
Owen made his way down the stairs to her, collecting up her jacket and towel and draping it over his arm. He continued, "We're going to have to get you out of those clothes." He grinned with that cheeky glint in his eyes: he had far too much charm for a dead person!
"Oh hey, you've got a massive bruise on your face," observed Owen: leaning in, he raised his hand to examine her injury. "Yep, that's a beauty." Gwen jerked her head back when Owen's fingers touched her jaw, beginning to sense some déjà vu.
"You want some ice for it?"
"NO! I do not want some bloody ice for it!" snapped Gwen, "Seriously, what is it with you men tonight?!"
"Uh ... what?" snorted Owen, watching Gwen storm away from him. All he got in response was Gwen flapping her arm behind her back, gesturing at him to leave her alone.
She paused at the base of the water tower, immediately regretting the way she'd just treated Owen: it was hardly his fault.
Suddenley, Gwen felt a hand on her shoulder and she froze, turning her head slowly to face whoever it was.
"Oh!" Gwen breathed a sight of relief; "Ianto! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." Why was she so on edge tonight?
He smiled sympathetically. "I've found you something to change into. I'm afraid it's only one of Jack's shirts but at least it's dry and warm." Ianto offered Gwen a neatly folded navy blue shirt.
Good old faithful, Ianto, thought Gwen; little did he know that wearing one of Jack's shirts was the last thing she wanted right now.
Nevertheless, she nodded; smiling gratefully at Ianto as he beckoned for her to lead the way upstairs to the boardroom where she could change out of view of the others.
"Pizza's here!" cried Tosh, from the lower floor.
"Ah lovely, haven't had that for a while." Ianto rolled his eyes sarcastically, "it's going to be a long night."
Gwen nodded: ordering in food this late meant they'd be working 'til the very early hours of the morning. "Save me some!" Gwen called after Ianto as he left her to change.
Jack's shirt was lovely and dry, although did smell very much of him. She slowly began to do the buttons up but couldn't help imagine Jack in this shirt, undoing the buttons, ripping it off. Would that have happened earlier, if she hadn't freaked out? 'Perhaps,' Gwen thought but she was scared, so scared.
"No, stop it. It can't happen," she muttered to herself, rolling up the sleeves of the shirt which were a couple of inches too long. Fortunately, the shirt nearly reached her knees so she decided it acceptable to remove her jeans too, which had become very uncomfortable since they insisted on holding on to every drop of water.
Running her fingers through her hair once more in an attempt to give it a bit of volume, Gwen left the Boardroom and headed down to the settee where she joined Tosh and Ianto, stuffing themselves with pizza. Owen on-the-other-hand was sat with his feet on the table, blocking his view of the pizza boxes and making an effort not to look bothered but clearly sulking that he couldn't enjoy the food.
As soon as Gwen had slouched down next to Owen and finally relaxed for the first time all night, the familiar siren whirred and the door rolled across. The dread of seeing Jack again and of how he would react hit Gwen like a train; so she kept her eyes firmly fixed on the slice of pizza in her hand.
The other three looked up to see the silhouette of a man close the cage around the main door and walk stiffly through the dimly lit Hub. He wasn't wearing his usual coat, instead looked like he was carrying it, odd considering it was pissing it down outside. Also, there was something strange about his left arm; it looked distorted, out of place.
Jack kept to the shadows; he didn't want anyone to see him like this. He avoided eye contact with all of them as he limped past but they all caught a glimpse of him when he passed through the light.
The back of his white tee hanging down his back, revealing 4 deep teeth marks over Jack's shoulder, or what was left of it. His normally pale blue shirt, now a deep red was knotted around Jack's neck forming a make shift sling to support his limp arm. He paused in the darkness.
"Jack?" Ianto stood up from the sofa, concerned for his captain.
"Ianto …" The coffee boy froze upon hearing the tone of Jack's voice. "I want this sorted." And he dumped his great coat down on a bench in two pieces, before continuing on his way.
"Jack?" Tosh repeated more forcefully, but was ignored.
"It's bloody great to see you too!" Owen shouted; irritated by the way Jack had treated them.
There was a low growl from the direction in which Jack has stormed off and then the sound of footsteps grew louder until the man himself stepped into the light.
"OK, here's the thing …" Jack spoke, his voice cold like the rain covering his skin, disregarding the wide-eyed stares he was receiving from three of his team.
"How about you try getting abandoned in the pissing rain, getting mauled by Weevils and bleeding to death before having to walk home because someone drove off in your fucking car!"
He took a breath as he tried and failed to control his anger, "So, sorry Owen but if you think for even one second …" pointing his right arm menacingly at the stunned doctor, he caught sight of Gwen: huddled on the edge of the sofa, wearing only a navy blue shirt – cosy and warm and … concentrating unnaturally hard on the piece of pizza in her hand.
In the sudden silence, curiosity gained the better of Gwen and she dragged her eyes across the floor until she found Jack's boots only meters away. She raised her head, conscious that Jack was watching her. Up to his waist everything was OK, if sopping wet, but then his appearance deteriorated dramatically.
There was very little remaining of his once white t-shirt, which looked to have taken as much of a beating as Jack. Two circles of blood stained the right of the shirt below his ribs. The collar of the shirt hung across his torso, exposing a toned but clawed chest below the sling.
However, none of this was worth noting at all by the time Gwen saw the horrific state of Jack's arm. His bicep muscle was on full display, the skin torn away completely. Further up the arm the injury worsened: squinting at his shoulder Gwen could have sworn there was some bone visible.
Gwen could hardly bare to look at his face for fear of it not being there at all. In fact that may have been better: the way Jack was looking at her was heart-wrenching. He fixed her with such a penetrating stare she felt like he could see right inside her.
It didn't take much for Gwen to realise he blamed her for his condition and everything that he'd suffered and Jack couldn't have made her feel worse if he tried. Her eyes faltered from his and she looked away, dropping her head.
The muscles in Jack's jaw tightened, swallowing back the words he desperately needed to say. Deciding against further conflict he walked off, struggling to haul himself up the stairs to his office.
After a couple of minutes of silence and absent-minded pizza eating, Gwen looked up to see the other three watching her.
"What?!" Gwen asked with a mouthful of food, glancing at each of her friends sat next to her.
Owen spoke first: "Oh, come on Gwen! We're not stupid!"
"What?" she repeated, still feigning innocence.
"Didn't you see the way he way he was looking at you?" persisted Tosh.
"Oh … that." Gwen conceded: she couldn't pretend to be ignorant of that.
"So?"
At first Gwen couldn't speak but giggled nervously, hoping she could get away with just a shrug. The others still glared at her, wanting answers.
"Oh OK! It was my fault! Jack wasn't sorting out the Weevil; I abandoned him in the street and drove off in the SUV. I didn't realise he'd get attacked; I certainly didn't mean for him to die!"
Judging by the stunned looks on Ianto, Owen and Tosh's faces this wasn't exactly the answer they'd expected.
"I think you need to talk to him," Ianto said quietly. "Go on, go to him."
Gwen searched the others eyes' looking for support, but it was clear they agreed with Ianto.
"Yeh OK I'm going!" Gwen grumbled, nudged off the settee by Owen and she dashed up the stairs to find Jack.
Doesn't take a genius to work out what happens next :P I have no idea how this chapter ended up being so long but there you go! Hope it's ok. I'm trying massively hard to keep everyone in character but not sure if i have :S
Also realised that in both my stories so far Gwen has ended up wearing Jack's clothes. Honestly a complete coincidence!
Anyway R&R you lovely people :D