Literally the slowest ever story in the history of fan fic. Maybe one day it will be finished, but until then it will always be a work in progress when I fancy writing a couple of lines now and again. It's got a plan and everything, it's just life getting in the way!
When they came too, they were in a strange room as always, but this one was stranger. There was a lot of dark glassy material about, and metal fittings. It was dim, lit by a couple of small electric lights.
Remus looked around, but decided the alien surroundings were of less pressing concern than Sirius, who lay still out cold.
'Are you alright?' he asked gently.
Sirius moaned and opened his eyes hesitantly, before closing them again.
'They were all dead, Re,' he said. 'What if that was my world?'
'Surely not,' Remus said, shaking his head. 'He couldn't have moved that fast, could he?'
'Maybe it distorts time as well as place,' Sirius said.
'No – remember when we arrived in the one where – where I got a new wand,' Remus said, deciding tactfully to steer clear of allusions to his alter ego and Severus Snape. 'They said you'd only died a couple of days ago. That's right, isn't it? So time must be right.'
Remus sounded far surer than he felt, and he had the ability to convince Sirius as his own lover could.
'You're right,' said Sirius, reopening his eyes. 'Though still – another world, like our own, but – it could happen in my world, and yours.'
'It could,' said Remus, 'but there's nothing we can do there, at the moment, and there was nothing we could do in that world. We would have died without making any difference.'
Sirius nodded. 'I know, I suppose. You're always right, Remus.'
Remus laughed. 'A trait I hope all the other Remuses share,' he said archly, and got to his feet.
'This is a strange room,' Sirius said dubiously.
'I know,' Remus agreed.
Remus was just good-humouredly hauling Sirius up off the floor when the doors burst open.
Remus whirled around, his wand at the ready, and Sirius leapt to his feet and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, but no curses flew at them.
Instead, 'Who are you?' shouted one of the intruders in an American accent.
There were four of them standing there; the American, one tall man and one shorter, and one woman.
'I,' said Sirius, his heart beating fast, 'was about to ask you the same question.'
'I'm Captain Jack Harkness,' said the American, 'and you're in my building.'
'You – you're the Minister for Magic? No way,' Sirius said.
'No way is right,' said the Captain, and grinned.
'Then – where are we?'
'This is Torchwood.'
'Torchwood?' Sirius repeated. 'What, was that some crazed sort of rebrand?'
'No,' said the woman suddenly. 'We're not a ministry for magic. I've never heard of that.'
'What, are you muggles?' Sirius asked incredulously. 'What the hell is the Veil doing at some muggle building?'
'What's a muggle?' asked the taller man in a Welsh accent.
'A non-magic person; someone who is neither a witch nor wizard,' Remus replied, speaking for the first time.
The suited Welsh man's eyes were wide, but he looked at Remus and nodded.
'Then we are muggles,' he said.
'Blimey,' Sirius said and smiled. 'We're not muggles – we're both wizards.'
'Yeah right,' the shorter man said. 'This is some prank isn't it? How did you get in?'
'We came through the Veil,' Sirius said, gesturing behind him and looking slightly annoyed.
'I see,' the American said slowly. 'Where did you come from?'
'Some other world,' Sirius told him. 'That's how the Veil works. When you step through it you end up in another world.'
'What, another planet?'
'No, no, a world like ours, only a bit different every time.'
'What, different sorts of the same reality? Earth every time, but with certain events changed?' the woman asked eagerly. 'Is that heard of, Jack? I suppose in theory it's possible…'
'I've never heard of it like this,' the American said. 'What were our monitors picking up?'
'Lots of generalised Rift energy,' the woman responded, 'and then a spike, not huge, but very strange. I'd never seen anything like it.'
'A portal through space-time,' the Welsh man said wonderingly. 'Wow. Quantum Leap.'
The American laughed. 'What are your names?'
'I'm Sirius,' said Sirius.
'Remus.'
'Like I say, I'm Jack Harkness; please, call me Jack. This,' he gestured to his left, 'is Toshiko Sato, this is Owen Harper, and this,' at the tall Welshman, 'is Ianto Jones.'
The team all nodded gravely at Remus and Sirius.
'If you are wizards,' Owen, the shorter and more belligerent one began, 'let's see your wands then.'
The American, Jack, smirked. 'Owen, I didn't think you were interested in that sort of thing.'
The others laughed, and Sirius raised his eyebrows. He removed his wand from his back pocket and held it up. Owen put out his hand for it, but Sirius withdrew his hand.
'I can show you,' he said instead.
The muggles were immediately watchful.
Sirius looked around, but seeing nothing except walls and cameras, he felt in his pockets and found a knut. He held it on an outstretched palm, flicked his wand lazily and Transfigured the knut into a tiny white mouse. One of the muggles let out an audible gasp.
'Very neat trick,' Captain Jack said. 'What else can you do?'
'Lots of stuff,' said Sirius simply. He thought for a second and then concentrated hard. 'Expecto patronum.'
From the end of his wand burst a shimmering streak of silver that resolved itself into a huge shaggy dog, a silver Padfoot, which galloped around the room.
'That's beautiful,' breathed Toshiko. 'What does it do?'
'It protects you,' said Sirius shortly.
'So…' Captain Jack said, and they could see his face relaxing, losing some of its wariness. 'How did you two end up here? Why did you go through that Veil?'
'A long story,' said Remus. He suddenly felt very tired, and yawned. 'We're both looking for something. Sirius fell through into my world by accident, and I decided to join him.'
'Come upstairs,' Jack said. 'You can have some coffee and tell us everything.'
They trooped out of the dark room and into bright corridors, Remus and Sirius following the others as they led the way out.
Jack paused at the top of the stairs into a huge, high-ceilinged room and turned to Ianto. 'Could you make us some coffee, Yan? We'll be in the seminar room.'
Ianto, the man in the suit, looked at him and nodded.
Moments later they were in another dark room. Remus took the seat next to Sirius, who took his hand reassuringly.
'So, you're wizards, you came through that Veil, and you're jumping between worlds. Why? How did you come to fall through, Sirius?'
'I was in a fight at the Ministry,' Sirius said. 'There's an enemy we're fighting – he had lured my godson Harry into danger. I went there with others to rescue him. I wasn't looking where I was going.'
'And now you're trying to return home, correct?'
'Yes.'
'But – I'm right in thinking, it's hit and miss?'
'We go where the Veil takes us.'
'And you, Remus?'
'I'm -,' Remus blushed again, 'I was unhappy in my world.'
'So where are you looking to go?'
'I really don't know… look, I'm sorry we were so defensive when you came in,' he said, changing the subject abruptly. 'It's just – the last world wasn't very nice.'
'It's fine. What was wrong with the last world?'
'Well – in Sirius's world, and in mine, we – magic people – are fighting a great enemy. In the world we were just in, that enemy had won.'
'I see,' the Captain said. 'What was this enemy's name?'
'Lord Voldemort,' said Remus.
No reaction. 'We can't have him here,' said Ianto, coming in with coffees. 'I've never heard of him.'
'You're a muggle. Muggles don't know about him.'
'I might be a muggle,' ironic grin, 'but I know about matters paranormal.'
'What?'
'This – Torchwood – is for finding aliens. Cardiff – that's where you are, by the way – sits on a rift in space and time. Things from other planets ends up here. Alien artefacts, the aliens themselves.'
It was Remus's turn to be amazed. 'Surely you know it's not real, that it's just magic stuff covered up by governments.'
'Oh,' Ianto laughed, 'it's real.'
'Have you – have you seen aliens then?'
'Yup.'
'Great Hecate,' Remus said absent-mindedly. 'Definitely aliens? Not – hinkypunks or something?'
'Definitely aliens.'
'If there were magic in this world, we'd definitely know about it. We know about fairies, at any rate,' Jack said.
Remus shuddered.
'So what do you plan to do?' Ianto asked as he gave Remus his coffee.
'Carry on going,' said Sirius matter-of-factly.
'Will you let us do a few tests first?' asked Owen.
'What sort of tests?'
'Just heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen saturation, some bloods, that sort of thing.'
'I don't see why not,' said Sirius, looking at Remus.
'I'll order food,' Ianto said.
And so they found themselves in a sunken bay with a hospital bed. The others were ranged around the gallery at the top, watching as Owen expertly extracted blood from Sirius.
'You're done,' he said with a grin. 'Your turn,' to Remus.
He went through all the motions, did all the tests, before coming to take blood.
'What will you be checking for?' asked Remus.
'Things like viruses and bacteria. Also, I'll run it through a DNA testing program, should get us some sort of result within the hour.'
'You ought to know then,' said Remus softly, 'I have a – sort of an infection.'
'What is it? Hep B, hep C, HIV, CMV, EBV?' rattled off Owen.
'It's not a – I don't know what it is, exactly, but you should know. I'm a werewolf.'
Sirius started up as Owen took a step back.
'You don't need to be scared,' Remus told him miserably. 'I'm not contagious.'
Sirius had opened his mouth to start haranguing Owen when Ianto unexpectedly spoke up.
'I knew a werewolf,' he said. 'Nice chap.'
It was enough. Owen took Remus's blood (somewhat gingerly), and as Remus held the cotton wool ball down once he had finished, he glanced up Ianto and found him looking at him. He looked down again immediately.
'Can I go outside for a cigarette please?' he asked meekly.
Jack nodded. 'Ianto, go with him.'
Remus noticed the look on Ianto's face at being ordered about like this.
'I'll not being trying to escape,' he said quickly. 'If we're prisoners, I mean. I wouldn't leave without Sirius anyway, and we need to get back to the Veil.'
'I don't mind,' Ianto said, and led Remus out the back way until they stood under a sky bruise-purple with light pollution.
'So we're prisoners?'
'Oh no, no – not exactly. Not for long, I'm sure.'
Remus bit his nails pensively.
'Are you eager to get away?' Ianto asked.
'I suppose,' Remus said, 'though I want to sleep and eat first. Sirius is more eager than me, I'll wager.'
He pulled out his packet of cigarettes, offered one politely which was accepted, and lit up and inhaled.
'After all, we can't carry on like this if we're going to be going for a long time,' he said.
'Do you think you will? When will you know which world to stay in?'
'I really don't know,' Remus said, and chuckled hollowly. 'You know what I thought I was looking for? A Sirius without a Remus. Isn't that ridiculous? As if I could go up to my old school friend in a different world and say "hello, it's me. Do you want to be my boyfriend?"'
'It's not ridiculous,' Ianto said gently. 'What happened to your Sirius?'
'He was imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, and – executed.'
'How awful. I'm so sorry.'
'Don't be sorry,' Remus said with a shrug and another drag on his cigarette. 'But – I just don't know if that's what I want anymore.'
'Do you regret leaving your world?'
'No – though I had a partner there, and a bookshop. But I wanted to escape.'
Ianto's eyes were blue and sympathetic.
'What about you then? How come you work at hunting aliens?'
'I got recruited from university,' Ianto said.
'…And do you like it?'
'I suppose so. It's just – the hours are really antisocial. You can't tell anyone what you do or see. It gets hard.'
'I can imagine.'
'Would you mind me asking – what's it like? Being a werewolf, I mean.'
'I thought that you had a friend who was one?'
'No,' Ianto said thoughtfully. 'I told Owen that to stop him being an idiot. It was your face – well, you looked like you hated yourself. And I trusted you. So I lied.'
Remus was glad that he had a cigarette to occupy his attention.
'I didn't mean to offend you.'
'You didn't. Thank you. But in answer to your question – it could be worse. It's predictable. I can stop myself being able to bite anyone - I mean, where I choose to transform, by finding a secure place.'
'Does it hurt? When you change?'
'Yes.'
'How long have you been one? Were you born like that?'
'No… I was bitten when I was very small, five years old. My parents were muggles - non-magic. They didn't know. A pair of witches turned up to the hospital I'd been taken to and told them. A bit of a shock, I should think - your kid's a wizard, and a werewolf.'
Ianto nodded thoughtfully. 'And I assume there's no cure?'
'No.'
There was silence. The stars shone above, the same ones as Remus had learned in his astronomy lessons at school, making it hard to believe he wasn't in his old familiar world.
'I - I understand, you know. About leaving, and going looking for someone. I think - well, maybe if I knew - maybe if I didn't have people to leave behind…'
'You lost someone too.'
'Yeah.'
'And maybe - found someone else?'
Ianto was silent.
'When I left, I barely even thought about it - I mean, Sirius, turning up like that, all I could think was how I remembered him. But travelling with him… it's made me realise how little I know him now. We've missed out on so many years. How could I think that I could find a new version of him in some strange world and things would just pick up where we left them? It's too different. And I can't stop remembering what they did to him in my own world.'
'I don't think you have to make up your mind too quickly,' Ianto told him, staring at his cigarette. 'Of course you can't stop thinking about it, but there's no rush. I think you'll know when the time to make your decision comes.'
'You've taken all this very calmly,' Remus told him.
'You should see some of the stuff that turns up here. Two more-or-less humans from a different world is nothing.'
Remus cracked a smile. 'I suppose not,' he said.
'Let's go,' Ianto said. Remus pulled out his wand and Vanished the butt and remaining smoke with a little difficulty; he was still accustoming himself to his new wand.
'Handy,' Ianto commented approvingly, and they walked back inside together.
Sirius was sitting in the main hall of the Torchwood headquarters with the rest of the team. A pterodactyl swooped and screeched above them, and Remus jumped.
'Good grief, that's not a - this place is amazing!' he told Ianto, who grinned.
'Hey Re,' Sirius shouted, and Remus waved at him as they made their way down some sweeping silver stairs. 'You wouldn't believe what happens here,' he continued as they got closer. 'All sorts of weird shit comes through this rift thing.'
'So I hear. I gather we're nothing very exciting.'
'We've never had magicians before,' Tosh told him. 'Go on, do a bit more magic.'
Sirius transfigured her empty cup into a silver goblet, which he presented to her with a flourish.
'Sirius,' Remus said in a low voice. 'We should probably leave.'
Sirius nodded.
Ianto had apparently overheard. 'It's full moon in a couple of nights,' he said. 'Don't you want to stay?'
Sirius and Remus looked at each other.
'That's a good idea,' said Remus finally. 'Thanks.'
Owen was visibly gleeful. 'We'll set up some cameras and mikes in one of the rooms in the vaults, then we can watch!'
'If that's okay,' Ianto added in a warning sort of voice.
'It's the least I can do in return for your hospitality,' Remus told him with a smile.
The leader of this team, Captain Jack the handsome American, had attempted in short order to seduce both Sirius and Remus, and had been politely but firmly knocked back, and so when Ianto went to make coffee later that evening, Remus went in after him to the kitchen.
'Need any help?' he asked, and was rewarded with a fleeting grin from the Welshman.
'Not much to help with. You like your coffee strong?'
'Oh, yes please.'
Ianto turned back to his task, pressing a button to grind beans and making a delicious fresh coffee scent drift tantalising outwards. Remus sniffed eagerly, then reddened as he saw Ianto's eyes on him.
'I just like the smell.'
'No werewolf special senses?'
'Sadly not - at least, none that I've ever noticed. But I was little anyway, so I wouldn't notice a difference.'
Ianto looked away as he carefully tipped beans into a shining complicated-looking machine and then pulled a lever. As coffee began to drip slowly into a waiting pot, he asked, 'Milk? Sugar?'
'Sugar please, two. Sirius will have his milky without sugar I think.'
'Sweet tooth. I ought to tell you off. My coffee doesn't need anything else in it.'
'So it's a speciality of the house?'
'That's why the boss keeps me around.'
'I'd actually thought it was for, er, other reasons.'
Ianto raised an eyebrow and Remus began to babble before he was interrupted by laughter.
'He hit on you, didn't he?'
'Er… yes.'
'I'm assuming you managed to resist his charms? Yes? Then I'll tell you that Jack's type is a good-looking sentient creature with a pulse, home planet irrelevant.'
Remus chuckled. 'I'm relieved. I was worried he'd be offended.'
'Nothing offends Jack,' Ianto said dryly. 'Though he gets a little upset sometimes when he feels like he's being left out.
'So you and he aren't…?'
'No,' Ianto said definitely and turned back to his beloved coffee machine.
Remus stared at his back for a few moments before retrieving milk and sugar, and then they were busy with coffee-making.
When they came out there was a tower of pizza boxes and the others were already tearing into slices.
'Come sit here!' Jack said to Remus, who caught Ianto's eye roll and smirked. He took a chair near the man and accepted a slice of margherita, and patiently answered the string of questions Jack asked him about the Veil and magic and Voldemort and werewolves.
By the time the pizza had gone and a crate of beer had been drunk, the two wizards were almost asleep. Ianto showed them to a couple of comfortable sofas and grinned when Remus Transfigured them into beds and a pair of cushions into blankets, then left them to their rest.
The time spent in the Torchwood Hub went fast. The team had work to do, and Sirius and Remus spent much of their time sleeping and eating vast quantities of take-away food, and the rest of the time chatting about alien phenomena with the cheerful and friendly team of muggles who did such bizarre work. Their magic skills were much in demand, and Remus quickly grew accustomed to his new wand.
Remus was napping, overtaken by tiredness on the evening of the full moon, when he was woken by Ianto.
'I don't know when exactly things happen,' Ianto said to Remus in a low voice, 'but I thought I'd better make sure you had enough time.'
Remus stretched and looked at the clock on the wall.
'I ought to go down,' he said. 'I've got maybe half an hour.'
He looked up at Sirius, who was reading a newspaper, and he understood instantly and rose to his feet.
Ianto nodded briskly. 'Follow me.'
Jack, Owen and Tosh were putting the finishing touches to the room where Remus would become a werewolf and then a man again. They had padded the walls and floor, fixed up cameras and sound recording equipment and enhanced the locks and bars. There was also a large cushion in the corner.
'I don't know if werewolves sleep,' Ianto said, a slightly embarrassed grin on his face, 'but if you want to…'
'Thanks,' Remus said. 'Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for sorting all this out for me.'
'Don't thank us too much,' Jack laughed. 'Owen can't wait to study a bona fide werewolf transformation.'
Owen looked up. 'I wish I had some devices I could use to monitor your vital signs, but I shouldn't think anything we've got is tough enough to last.'
The team doctor's brusque manner didn't faze Remus. 'I wouldn't have thought so,' he said.
'Hello Remus,' Tosh said. 'I hope you're all ready.'
'Yes.'
Owen quickly tested the werewolf's physiology and scribbled a few notes.
'That's me done,' he said. 'I'll leave you to it.'
Tosh stopped fiddling with the cameras and followed him out, turning to wish Remus good luck before she too left.
Jack glanced from Remus to Sirius. 'I'll be off too,' he said. 'We'll be watching you the whole time, so try not to worry. One of us will be down to let you out as soon as you're finished. You alright with the locks?' This last to Ianto.
'Fine, sir.'
'See you tomorrow morning,' Jack said, and walked out of the cell.
Ianto looked down as his feet. 'I thought probably you'd ruin your clothes if you stayed in them, so I've got you a sort of hospital gown to change into, and I'll look after your things.'
'Thank you,' Remus said. 'I'll get changed then.'
Ianto nodded, and he and Sirius left the room for Remus to undress. Remus flashed a look at the cameras. I wonder if they're watching this? he thought, and then laughed at himself for worrying. They'll see much worse.
He padded out into the corridor on bare feet, shivering as he wrapped the flimsy cotton gown closer to himself. He could feel the barest warning signs of the change coming, and he wanted to be locked up safely as soon as possible.
He handed the pile of clothes to the waiting Sirius, still warm from his body.
'You'd better lock me in. It's nearly time.'
Sirius wrapped him in a bear hug, and planted a fraternal kiss on his cheek.
'I can join you if you'd like,' he murmured into Remus's ear.
'No, no - it's okay,' Remus whispered back.
They both felt, though it was difficult to put into words, that such a step was too intimate. Despite their familiarity with each other's alter egos, it seemed as though it was too early and too strange to share the closeness and vulnerability of Remus's transformation.
Sirius stepped back, paused a moment then nodded.
Ianto followed Remus wordlessly into the room.
'Please, you have to go,' Remus said urgently. He was trembling – whether from cold or anticipation he wasn't sure.
'Good luck,' Ianto told him softly before slipping out of the room.
The door closed and Remus could hear the bolts sliding across, padlocks snapping closed. He sat down on the cushion, arms wrapped round his bent legs, and waited, staring at a camera in the opposite corner of the room.
Maybe five minutes passed. The inner battle had begun, and he knew that he would lose, he always lost, but he could never willingly succumb. Sure enough, he stood up and paced about, his body still human but his mind almost entirely wolf, and then the pain began.
Upstairs, the team and Sirius were clustered around a screen showing the various views of the cameras in the room. They were silent, but the screams coming from the microphones filled the Hub.
It felt like hours, but in reality was less than five minutes, before the screaming and howling stopped. Everyone's face was white.
'I didn't realise it was that bad,' Owen said eventually.
'Poor Remus,' Tosh murmured. 'How does he put up with that, every month? It's so – relentless.'
Sirius said nothing. His eyes were fixed on the screen, watching the wolf prowling around the room, sniffing everything. Then it sat on its haunches and unleashed a fearsome howl. He could stand it no longer, and abruptly walked away, trying and failing to erase the memory of Remus's face as he sat looking directly into the camera and waited, and the frenzied attack he had subjected himself to as he changed.
It was a long and lonely night. Tosh and Owen had gone home, and Jack had gone to bed once Ianto had offered to stay and take care of Sirius, and watch Remus to make sure he came to no avoidable harm.
He was fascinated by the werewolf in its cage. It had stopped pacing and howling at about two in the morning, and had laid itself down on the cushion which was now bloody. Ianto was deeply absurdly pleased by that.
'So werewolves do nap,' he said aloud, and laughed.
It had laid its head on its paws, yawned and peacefully drifted off. Ianto had yawned in sympathy, then watched to make sure it really had gone to sleep before getting up to make himself and Sirius a cup of coffee.
It was about six and Sirius had nodded off when the wolf woke. It inclined its head and whined softly, and Ianto sat forward in his chair, rubbing his eyes to try to wake himself up.
The transformation the other way seemed much less painful. Before his eyes, Ianto saw the thick fur disappear into the wolf's skin, its head shrink and become rounder, fingers and toes sprout from the metamorphosing limbs, and there was Remus again, out cold, lying naked on the floor.
Ianto stood up and gently shook Sirius awake.
'He's back,' he said, and Sirius leapt to his feet and raced down to the cell. He fumbled with the locks and bolts, cursing as his sleep-clumsy fingers slipped, until finally the door swung open.
Remus looked up groggily and managed a weak smile.
'Good morning,' he croaked.
Sirius dropped to his knees at Remus's side and took his hand, dropped a kiss on his forehead.
'I'll get you up to the treatment bay,' Ianto said. He had followed Sirius downstairs and stood framed in the doorway, holding a blanket. 'Owen should be in soon and he'll see to you.'
'I'm okay,' Remus said shakily and indeed his legs were getting stronger by the minute. 'Bit naked though.'
His gown was torn to bloody shreds.
Sirius wrapped the blanket round Remus before he and Ianto gently lifted him, and took to the bed in the autopsy room, lying him down and covering him with sheets and blankets.
'How are you feeling?' Sirius asked gently, dragging over a chair and sitting by the supine man.
'Not so bad,' Remus told him. 'You look awful. Have you been up all night?'
'Not quite. You're a fine one to be criticising someone's appearance.'
Remus chuckled. 'Touché. So how was it?' he asked Ianto. 'Watching, I mean.'
'It was…' Ianto's face darkened. 'Educational.'
Remus's forehead creased into lines of concern. 'I'm sure it's worse to watch than to go through.'
Ianto shook his head and turned away.
Sirius reached a hand under the blankets, and took hold of Remus's.
'All finished for another month,' he murmured. His grey eyes glistened as he thought of his own lover, left in his world to face his transformation alone.
Sirius stayed with Remus as Ianto gently cleaned his wounds, sticking plasters over scrapes and pulling the edges of deeper scratches together with some sort of muggle glue. Remus or Sirius could have healed those superficial cuts with ease, but somehow Ianto's silent work soothed them both. He finished off by handing over a little cup with several tablets in it ('Painkillers,') and stood over Remus until he swallowed them all. Then he took his temperature, tutted a little, and left them alone.
By the time the other members of Torchwood arrived at work, Ianto was asleep in a chair with a full cup of coffee still held carefully in his hand and Sirius and Remus were sharing the narrow bed, both fast asleep.
Remus slept a lot of the day. Whenever he awoke, someone was there to give him more analgesia, or hold a cup of water to his dry lips, or even just hold his hand or stroke his hair. When he finally came to fully, he realised he felt better than he had for many years on the day after his transformation.
When he said that to Sirius in a sleepy moment, he was enveloped in a warm hug and kissed on the top of his head.
'As long as we're together I'll look after you,' Sirius told him and as comforting as that was, Remus felt a tinge of guilt at the thought of the other Remus, the other him, who would be suffering alone that month.
It was evening before Remus felt well enough to get up. Wrapped in a blanket, he shuffled past Sirius sleeping in an armchair and over to where the team sat conversing in the main part of the Hub.
'Good morning!' Jack greeted him with a dazzling smile. 'Or rather, good night. How're you feeling?'
'Alright,' Remus said hoarsely.
'You shouldn't be up,' scolded Owen. 'Honestly, the state you were in this morning…'
'It's fine. It's normal. I'm used to it.'
He missed the sympathetic glances between Tosh and Ianto.
'Is there any food? I'm ravenous!'
'Of course. Let me get you something. Toast alright?'
At Remus's smiling nod, Ianto went into the kitchen, and Remus sat himself down on a comfortable chair.
'I hope you learned something,' he said politely to Owen, who looked uncomfortable.
'Yes, I did, but… I never thought it would be so…'
'Oh, I'm sure it's bad to watch,' Remus said awkwardly. 'In my world there's not a lot of research into werewolves, we're rather, ah, looked down on, but they do say we have a faster metabolism. Did you find that?'
'There was some evidence of it, yes,' Owen began, and launched into a speech peppered with incomprehensible muggle medicine language as Remus munched on toast and Marmite and tried to follow.
Sirius wandered in in the middle of Owen's monologue and nicked a piece of toast from Remus's plate. He raised questioning eyebrows at Remus, who smiled at him, and then plopped himself down on a sofa.
'…so in actual fact, although your core body temperature's higher than the norm, your BP and heart rate are both normal. Your leukocytes are morphologically normal, though you have a slight basophilia but that may be coincidental, and your Hb is a little high but then you're a smoker. Platelets fine. No evidence of bacteria under light microscopy but cultures will take a bit longer. Your renal function appears normal too, urea and creatinine're low, and your electrolytes are fine, but your transaminases are -'
'Put a sock in it, Owen,' said Jack lazily.
Owen scowled and went back to poring over papers which Remus assumed were his test results.
'Okay?' Sirius asked him.
'Yep, fine, feeling pretty good actually!'
'Excellent,' Jack said. He stood up and stretched, and Remus could not help but notice Ianto's eyes on his boss, his mouth slightly open. He looked away quickly and drank more tea.
'Do you think you'll be okay to go on soon then, Re?' said Sirius.
'Oh yes, I feel ready, only a few aches and pains. What about early tomorrow, does that sound alright?'
Sirius's face lit up. 'Sounds great.'
'Oh, we'll miss you,' said Tosh. 'Will you be gone before we get here tomorrow?'
'Yes, we should really aim to get on before there are too many people around - assuming the Veil's in another Ministry of Magic when we get to the other side,' Sirius told her, and Remus nodded.
'I'll say goodbye now then,' she said and hugged both men. Owen shook hands with them and the two departed together.
Remus picked up some cups and followed Ianto into the kitchen once more where he cleaned all the crockery with a swipe of his wand.
'I could get used to having you around,' Ianto told him.
'I've enjoyed being here,' Remus said honestly. 'Er - will you forgive me if I give you a piece of advice?'
'Go on…'
'Your boss, Jack, well - I think you ought to let him know if you ever thought - well, if you're interested. You know. I think he leaves you alone because he's your boss - that's to say, I think you'd have to make the first move.'
'Advice accepted,' Ianto said with his back to Remus, fiddling with his coffee machine.
'Good, well - will you be about first thing?'
'Yes, and I'm sure Jack will want to see you off too.'
'Alright then. Good night Ianto. See you tomorrow.'
A/N: obviously I don't own Torchwood but sometimes I like to play with it and make believe that Ianto and the others are still with us. Sorry RTD, hope you don't mind too much.
