AN: How are you?
Please review x
"Here. Drink this." Ianto said handing Owen a hot chocolate he'd made using a jar of questionable age that he'd found in the cupboard. Owen had jumped in the shower when they'd arrived and was now padding around the apartment in a tshirt and a pair of pyjama trousers. His hair remained wet, but this time from the warm shower as opposed to the cold river.
"Really?" Owen asked.
"I don't think coffee is the way to go. You need to sleep." Ianto said concerned.
"I have beer for that." Owen pointed out as he sipped at the drink.
"Humour me." Ianto replied.
"Thanks." Owen said with a smile.
"Are you okay? And none of this bull you feed to Jack." Ianto asked as Owen slid onto a stool by the breakfast bar.
"I just... I hate dead people. I know I spend my days in that bay doing autopsies but to be fair they are mainly on dead aliens." He explained. "I guess I wish I could have done more." He said as he drank his chocolate.
"Like you said, the river was really cold and he was pretty old Owen. He didn't stand a chance." Ianto replied.
Owen nodded. "I know."
"But..." Ianto coaxed.
"Nothing." Owen shook his head. "So what was that copper moaning about? And not the bull you fed to Jack." He smirked.
"He was wondering precisely what we were doing in the park this late. I mentioned we were Torchwood and I got the only officer in Cardiff who didn't know who we were. I got a lengthy lecture on inappropriate personal conduct. I think if you hadn't done the hero thing and pulled the guy out we'd both have been arrested." Ianto explained.
Owen sniggered. "Good job Jack didn't hear."
Ianto nodded but didn't speak.
"You okay?" Owen asked.
"Yep." Ianto said simply.
"So are you going home or... you know...?" Owen asked with a smirk.
"I need a shower... some clean clothes..." Ianto began.
Owen nodded. "Fair enough." He said looking a little disappointed.
"But you have hot water... and I can always nip home in the morning." Ianto finished with a grin.
Owen smiled. "Come on then... let me give you a hand in the... I mean with the shower." He said jumping down off the stool and leading Ianto towards the bathroom.
TORCHWOOD
"We got the autopsy results fast tracked. The coroner is ruling that he died of drowning as a result of the amount of water they found in his lungs. I suspect that his age and the temperature played a factor too." Jack finished off his.
The entire team were back in the meeting later that morning going over the facts from the mission. Ianto was back in his trademark suits having popped home early to change. The facial hair remained however which Owen smirked at every time he looked at the Welshman.
"Do you want to do your own autopsy?" Jack asked looking at Owen, his face and tone indicating that it wasn't the first time he'd asked that question.
Owen shook his head. "He clearly drowned Jack. And like you said, that water was really cold."
Jack nodded. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. No hypothermia." Owen replied, causing Ianto to roll his eyes.
"So is that it then? Are we assuming that all the missing people just leapt into the river?" Tosh asked.
"It was pretty fast flowing so they could have drifted down to the bay, in which case they're out in the sea somewhere." Owen pointed out.
"How many missing are we talking about?" Ianto asked.
Jack checked his notes. "25 this month. 16 last."
"That's a lot of suicides." Ianto remarked.
"It's cold. Winters coming. It's a tough time of year if you're on the streets." Jack offered as reasoning.
"But 41 in a couple of months? Surely if they'd all jumped any bodies would have been found. They couldn't all pass down the river to the bay without being spotted or washing up somewhere." Ianto said.
"What are you suggesting?" Jack asked. "You wanna spend more time in the park?" He smirked.
"Not especially." Ianto replied. "But seeing as though we spent two nights there, and we were there yesterday evening too, don't you find it odd that we saw no rough sleepers? Not one?"
"You saw nobody?" Jack asked in surprise.
"Remember the comment about it being me, Owen and a lot of trees?" Ianto reminded.
"Okay let's get this guys body into the Hub and do our own tests." Jack ordered. "Gwen can you talk to the police and see if they've noticed the numbers of homeless reducing. Tosh can you tap into records for the shelters in the city and see what their intake numbers are. Owen I'm going to need you to go to the hospital and pick up the body, bring him back here and run tests for anything suspicious. Ianto can you go through your report and make sure everything is there. Let's go."