A/N: Okay, final chapter up for this one. Hope you all enjoy, and thanks again for the reviews! Now I need to decide which to move onto next, picking up on the Bounty Hunter story, or starting up a new one with some new OC's I've thought up. I'm sure all those who regularly review will have some say, so let me know what you think. Thanks!
Jack and Tosh stared at the monitors, hoping they'd be able to let Owen and Ianto out soon, knowing all would be safe.
"Jack." Tosh said, nudging him. "I think Ianto's remembering."
Jack's eyes flew to the monitor that showed Ianto. He was on his feet and heading for the cells when he saw the man rocking back and forth. He could only imagine the thoughts going through his mind at that moment. To remember that...
"Ianto!" Jack called as he opened the cell door and rushed into, sliding to a stop on his knees.
"I'm evil." Ianto wept into Jack's shoulder.
"No." Jack said. "It wasn't you."
"What's going on?" Owen asked.
Tosh followed just behind Jack, and watched for a moment as Jack tried to comfort Ianto. Her head jerked in Owen's direction when he spoke. Wasn't he remembering?
"Owen, what do you remember?" Tosh asked as she walked over in front of his cell.
"I remember being here at the hub..." he answered, becoming slightly annoyed at having to repeat himself.
"Do you remember anything about Gwen?" she asked nervously.
"Gwen?" he asked. He stopped to think a minute, trying desperately to bring back those memories from before he and Jack had gone looking for Tosh. Gwen hadn't been there. Where had she been?
Jack came out of the cell, supporting Ianto as he walked. Ianto barely lifted his feet as he moved along, almost falling, Jack being the only thing to keep him upright.
"She's dead." Owen said, causing another wracking sob to erupt from Ianto. "Gwen's dead...and..." he stopped, looking over at Ianto. "What the hell's going on?" he whispered.
"Kill me!" Ianto said, grabbing Jack's gun from him and stepping away.
"Ianto!" Jack cried, telling himself to stay calm. "Give me the gun."
"No." he shook his head. "How can you want to even be around me?" he sobbed. "How can you even look at me?"
"It wasn't you?" Tosh said softly, walking forward slowly. "It was that thing..."
"That thing used me." he reminded her. "It was with my hands that it killed Gwen, that it tortured you."
"Ianto, please." Jack pleaded, gaining some control over his emotions. "We all know that you would never do anything to hurt any of us."
"You're not capable of doing anything like that." Tosh put in.
"What about you, Owen?" Ianto asked, nodding to the silent man. "What do you think of me?"
"The same thing that I think of myself." he answered, his voice hoarse with emotion. "I did those things, too, remember?" he asked, looking down.
"You remember?" he asked, the gun wavering a bit.
"Bits." Owen mumbled, remembering bits and pieces as he spoke. "There was a couple..."
"Don't!" Tosh demanded. "Don't think of those things."
"How can we not?" Ianto asked, a frightening smile playing on his lips. "Those memories are a part of us now."
"We can give you Retcon..." Jack said, taking a slow, barely noticable, step towards Ianto and the gun.
"It won't change anything." Owen said as he leaned his head against the glass of the front of his cell.
"It won't bring those people back." Ianto added, shoulders slumping.
"It will make you forget." Jack said, moving closer once again, biding his time.
"Does Rhys know what I've done?" Ianto asked.
"He knows she's gone." Tosh said, swallowing hard as she said the words. "We haven't told anyone..."
"What will you tell the police?" Owen asked. "I assume they want to catch the sick bastards who did this."
"We can think of something." Jack said. "I won't let anything happen to either of you."
"You'll protect two murderers?" Ianto scoffed. "Are you going to Retcon yourself and Tosh?"
"We both know that it wasn't you." Tosh said, desperately wanting to get through.
"Ianto, please, let me help you." Jack said, quickly moving forward and grabbing the gun from Ianto's hand.
"No!" Ianto screamed. Jack grabbed ahold of Ianto and sank to the floor with him.
Tosh turned around to see Owen sitting on the bed in his cell. Walking over she knelt down, wincing in pain as she did so, and stared at him.
"Owen?" she said. "Please, let us help you."
Owen just stared at Tosh for a minute before turning away, looking instead at the blank wall.
"Help me get Ianto upstairs." Jack said, standing up. "I'll come back for Owen while you keep an eye on Ianto."
Tosh just nodded as she slung Ianto's free arm around her shoulder and helped Jack carry the weight, Ianto not wanting to move his feet at all. They settled him at teh desk in the conference room and Jack left Tosh so he could retrieve Owen.
"Ianto?" Tosh asked. "How about a cup of coffee?"
Ianto turned away from her, rather like a child pouting, and said nothing. Jack walked in, his hand on a slightly less reluctant Owen's shoulder.
"Good idea." Jack said, forcing Owen into another seat. "I'll go make some." he added before leaving again.
Tosh stood staring at both men, not knowing what to say. Nothing she said seemed to make much difference, other than to annoy them somehow. She wished she had the magic words to make all of their horrible, guilt-inducing memories disappear. But, she knew she didn't. No one did.
"Coffee." Jack called out after a five minutes of uncomfortable silence between Tosh and the others. "Drink up." he said as he placed a cup in front of each man.
He took a seat in his usual spot and watched in silence as they drank down their coffee, Ianto pouring himself a second cup. Tosh noticed how intently Jack watched them and wanted to ask why. When she sent him a questioning look, he gave a slight shake of his head which she took as a request for her to be quiet. She understood why when Ianto's eyes became heavy and his head began to sway with sleepiness.
"Jack." he grumbled. "Please, tell me you didn't..."
"I'm sorry." Jack said, leaning forward and setting his cup down on the polished wood table. "You and Owen were going to have to live with all of this...it would be torture." he added in a soothing tone, almost as if willing the two men to fall asleep. "I can't let that happen to you."
"Bastard." Owen groggily hissed as his head fell onto the table with a thud, followed closely by Ianto's.
"Jack." Tosh said. "You drugged them..."
"Would you prefer for them to go around knowing what they'd done?" Jack asked, clearing away the cups. "This is better. We can tell them some story to explain the lost time, and they don't have to live with the guilt that would come of reliving all of this."
"What are we going to tell the police?that." Tosh asked, adjusting Ianto's head so that he hopefully wouldn't wake from the Retcon with a kink in his neck.
"I'll handle all of that." he said as he left the room, leaving Tosh to stare after him. Knowing there was no arguing with Jack when he had that tone to his voice, she headed down to find some pillows and blankets for them. No reason to have them too uncomfortable, she thought.
Jack, Ianto, Owen and Tosh stood along side the open grave listening to the priest's words as they stared with teary eyes at the coffin that held Gwen's body. Rhys stood on the other side, a man and a woman on each side of him, his mother and father, so they were told. Rhys rested his head on his father's shoulder as he wept.
Jack and Tosh exchanged a look, each telling the other in that simple glance how uncomfortable they were in having lied to Rhys when telling him that Gwen had been killed by an alien, which was a truth of sorts, but that they had destroyed it. They hadn't destroyed anything. It had destroyed itself leaving Ianto and Owen to pick up the pieces and live with the guilt. That, of course, they knew could never be known.
As the casket lowered into the ground, more and more sobs escaped people all around. Each of the team members let themselves cry freely. Other than Owen. He refused to let others see him cry. He didn't know why, but when Jack, Ianto and Tosh all sat around sobbing, or simply sniffling, he forced himself to keep it all in. He had decided that was something that could happen in the privacy of his flat. Not around other people.
Ianto waited until Rhys stood by himself as his parents and Gwen's parents went to get the car. He slowly walked forward, nervous and not sure of what to say, or how to say it.
"Rhys." he said softly.
"Ianto." Rhys nodded, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
"There were some things," Ianto sighed, holding out a package. "Gwen left them behind at work. Things from her desk, the kitchen, her locker..." he swallowed back more tears. "I thought you might want them."
Rhys stared at the package for a minute before finally taking it from Ianto. Jaw trembling, hands shaking, he nodded.
"Thanks." he just got out.
"I'm so sorry." Ianto said, feeling as though he more than anyone else, should apologize, but not sure why. "She was a wonderful person."
"Yeah," Rhys nodded, a sad smile playing on his lips. "She was."
"Son," Rhys's father said as he walked over and put his arm around his son. "Are you ready?"
"Definitely." Rhys nodded emphatically. "Thank you, Ianto." he repeated as he walked away, leaning on his father once again for support.
"Ianto." Jack said softly, coming to stand next to him. "We'd better leave. It's starting to rain."
Ianto simply nodded and moved off, looking back once more at Gwen's grave.
"I'm sorry." he whispered before turning his attention back to whatever it was Jack had been saying as they waited for Owen to bring his car around to take them all back to the hub.
Without Gwen.