"Tell me about the cybermen." Why did he have to lumbered with her, the newbie? Always asking questions in her oh-so-Welsh accent that buried itself in his ears.
"You don't want to know." He tried to fob her off, send her running to precious Jack and ask him all the difficult questions. Or better still, he could shove her onto Ianto and get him to remember exactly what they did.
"Well funnily enough, I just asked." It was true though, she didn't really want to know. She just needed something else to think of because at the moment, her thoughts were tainted by Owen. The desperation in his frantic kisses, the way his fingertips had pressed against the back of her neck. The mere thought of it caused a pooling in her stomach, something that shouldn't have been there, just like his lips shouldn't have been on hers.
Owen sighed, and grabbed his keys. "Come on." His voice was hoarse after the events of the day, but who could blame him. He watched through the steel on the walls how she followed him blindly, head cocked as she struggled to take him all in. He was this anomaly, this danger zone and it should put her off but it only serves to intrigue her. She climbs into his car without a second thought, staring straight ahead as she fastens her seatbelt. She leaves her hand there a second too long, and as he reaches for the handbrake, his fingers brush over hers. She gasps inertly, and her blood pools once again. Her cheeks flush a brazen red and he pretends not to notice.
"Where are we going?" She finally finds a voice to speak, looking at him for the first time during the journey. It's dark outside and she can only really see his silhouette, but she doesn't mind. In fact, she prefers it because his eyes invade her privacy in ways she cannot stop.
"You'll see." There he goes again, with his mysterious ways and cryptic answers. She sighs sharply, but Owen merely smirks. It amuses him greatly that he has such a power over her, but he needs to be careful, because she has a hold over him too.
The car stops some twenty minutes later. He climbs out but she waits behind, thoughts racing through her head as he begins a walk down a darkened alley, sidelined with trees.
"Are you planning to murder me?" she calls as she clambers on after him, trying to inject a bit of humour to dissipate her fear, "'Cause if you are, I'd rather be drowned if it's all the same with you."
She can hear his laugh a few metres off and speeds up just enough to catch him up, without seeming desperate. He passes her a torch and fumbles around for one of his own, settling for phone-light when he realises he's left in the car.
"How much further?" She's beginning to worry again so he does all he can think of and reaches blindly for her hand, cupping his fingers tightly around her wrist. The pulse in his thumbs vibrates on her arm and she can't even try to ignore how it beats in time with her heart. Eventually they stop and he lets go of her arm, much to her irrepressible disappointment.
"That's all you need to know," he tells her, taking her torch and shining it over the patch of earth in front of them, adorned with half built gravestones and dying flowers.
"They're cybermen?" Gwen asks foolishly, blushing in the darkness but he doesn't even see.
"No, their victims." He tells it as it is, but it's so harsh upon her ears. She drops slowly to her knees and just feels the earth beneath them, her hand pulsating with the adrenaline from the day. "The cybermen were people once; their brains taken from their bodies and glued to a metal skeleton. In a sense, they were all victims."
He almost sounds sorry and it makes her want to cry. Her lip trembles and she bites it to stop herself crying, but ends up bleeding where the concentration becomes too much. She stays silent as she processes all this information, until her heart jumps when a warm hand lands on her neck. She turns and sees Owen standing above her, an odd smile on his face. Helping her up, he walks he back to the car. She notices he keeps his hands to himself again and she should be impressed but she feels somewhat let down. She fastens her belt once again, moving her hands quicker so as to not to falter at his touch. It's futile though, because as he climbs in and she makes the mistake of looking at him, before she realises what's happening his hand has moved towards her. His thumb swoops quickly across her bottom lip, wiping away a trickle of blood Gwen hadn't even noticed. He wipes it on his jeans absently and starts the car, watching as she stares ahead, her fingers dancing over her lips as she reflects upon his touch.
When he drops her home she squeezes his hand before silently getting out the car. He clears his throat at the unexpected gesture and nods as Rhys greets her at the door. He shouldn't be jealous but something inside him burns, so off he drives with a metallic thrum embedded in his brain. Closing his eyes as he hits the pillow, he awakes the next morning with his hand on his heart and Gwen's name on his lips.