A/N: Hellooo from Australia, enjoy all of To The Last Man, which is short enough to give you in one go.
Also just to warn you in advance there is more swearing than usual in this chapter.
"Jack can I have a word?" Lucy asked the Captain quietly as she walked up from the range. It was two months since he had returned from his travels with the Doctor and she had yet to bring up the year that never was. Tomorrow they needed to wake Tommy for the day and Lucy wanted to talk to him before it got too busy and they didn't have time. It was also something she had been thinking about for a while and wanted to get it off her chest.
"Sure." Jack said, he could see it was serious so walked over to his office and Lucy followed behind him and shut the door. "What can I do for you?"
"What did I do?" Lucy got straight to the point. "In the year that never was, what did I do?"
Jack's face fell and Lucy felt bad for bringing it up, knowing that it was a sore point for her boss but she ignored it because she needed to know.
"What do you mean?"
"I did something that impressed the Doctor so much he's offering to take me on a trip in the TARDIS. The trip of a lifetime. I'd like to know what I did to earn it. Because right now it feels like a pity trip, I-can't-get-you-back-to-your-universe-so-I'll-help-you-explore-this-one kind of thing" Jack sighed and knew that he wasn't going to get out this conversation.
"You took the piss out of the Master." He said hoping to get this conversation over and done with quickly and make sure everything was sorted for tomorrow.
Lucy just stared at him, in shock. Whatever she was expecting, that wasn't it.
"I did what?"
She couldn't get her head around what Jack had just told her. If it was anyone else she would have laughed at them and would have thought that they were taking the piss but she knew that Jack wouldn't lie about this. He might not always tell the whole truth but for an ex-con Jack lied a surprisingly small amount of the time. She could also see the respect in Jack's eyes, which had been there every time he looked at her since he had returned, it had confused her as to why his respect for her had grown while he was away and she was finally getting her answer.
"You told him he was jealous of me and my immortality." Jack continued. "Said that he would never kill the Doctor because they were childhood friends, called him Koschei."
"Why the bloody hell would I do that?"
"I think because you wanted to go out with a bang, without any torture." He said honestly. "The Master had been ruling for 9 months. You and Gwen were the only members of Torchwood to survive the first wave of the Toclafane, the decimation. You were leading the British part of the revolution, pretty much the whole revolution, and Gwen was killed a month and a half before the Toclafane captured you."
Silence fell as Lucy tried to get her head around what Jack was telling her.
"So I..."
"Taunted the Master until he personally shot you. In front of myself and the Doctor. I think he feels guilty as well as impressed."
"He's got nothing to feel guilty about." Lucy said automatically. "I was the one who was stupid enough to get captured and went looking for a quick death. Taking the piss out of the Master is one of the most stupid things that I - or any version of me - has ever made. I don't think it counts as brave in anyway shape or form. More like cowardice for wanting the quick way out."
Jack didn't say anything. It was obvious that he agreed she was looking to be saved from the torture that the Master had originally planned for her by a quick death. However it was also obvious that he disagreed with her views that it was cowardice and not bravery, and that he thought it was something to be admired.
They sat in silence for almost 10 minutes, both thinking about the 'Year That Never Was' although only one of them actually had to imagine it. The atmosphere was broken by Jack's phone going off and Lucy left him too it, her mind full of images of the Master and trying to work out what led to the point where she was on the Valiant mocking the Time Lord.
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
When she got back to Tosh's flat, Tosh was rushing around the flat tiding up. Lucy grinned at the thought of her and Tommy together even though she knew it wouldn't last. Tomorrow Tommy would be woken up and things would start to go wrong and he would have to be sent back home. No more, one day dates. Poor Tosh didn't have the best luck in love.
"I figure I'll stay at a hotel for a couple of nights." She said by way of letting Tosh know she was there. "You know, give you your space for a bit. In case you want to bring anyone home..."
"Why would I want to bring anyone home?" Tosh asked confused.
"You and Tommy got along very well last year, you've picked out a beautiful dress to wear tomorrow, you're dusting that table for the third time. Any and all of the above?"
"No, it's fine Tommy's just a friend, I've only known him for four days."
"Or four years depending on how you think about it." Lucy grinned and grabbed some clothes. "I'll stay at the hotel anyway, give you a choice. See you and your handsome soldier at work tomorrow." She teased and dodged the cushion that came flying her way.
"You're terrible, Lucy, you know that."
"I'm sure someone's mentioned it before. Now don't forget to dust that table one more time..." Another cushion came flying. "Ok, ok, I'm going. I've got something to wear tomorrow."
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
"Ready for today?" Jack asked as Lucy walked into the hub. "Haven't you forgotten something?"Lucy thought but shook her head.
"I don't think so?"
"Tosh?"
"Oh, no. I stayed at a hotel last night. I'm booked in for tonight as well... just in case Tosh wants to... Well, she and Tommy get along really well don't they. I wouldn't want to be the only thing standing in their way" Jack laughed and turned to go back into his office "Oh and Jack."
"Yeah?"
"2.3 - To the Last Man."
"So it's today?"
"I can't confirm or deny that, just that there's an episode based around the events of today."
"Ok, thanks for letting me know. Can you make sure Gwen comes up to my office when she gets in. I need to let her know about Tommy seeing as she was on holiday this time last year"
Lucy nodded and winced slightly, Gwen had been on holiday because in the two weeks prior to them waking Tommy up her and Ianto had been suspended for hiding a cyberwoman in Torchwood. It wasn't something that they wanted to remind people, even though the team had all individually said that they'd been forgiven.
Twenty minutes later the cog door opened and Gwen walked in.
"Jack wants to see you." Lucy said glancing over from the laptop.
"Do you know what for?" Gwen asked as she took her jacket off.
"Let you know what's happening today. Torchwood had a tradition for the 20th of October and you were on holiday last year so you missed it."
"Anything interesting?"
"We resurrect a soldier from WWI" Lucy said with a straight face
"Oh ha ha. Might have believed that last year when I was the newbie but not anymore. I'll get Jack to tell me."
"Good for you." Lucy muttered returning to her work, there had been rumours on the forums that something had happened in one of the old houses on the outskirts of town. Something 'spooky', she was pretty certain that this was just pre-Halloween talk but needed to check, just in case there was more to the story. There had been alien sightings that hadn't been fully accounted for in that area.
"Owen, Lucy, you ready?" Jack called as he walked out of his office, Ianto and Gwen following. Gwen looked like she was confused.
"Nearly." Owen replied.
"You mean what you said was true?" She asked Lucy as they passed her
"Hmm... oh yeah. We are actually resurrecting a WWI soldier, Tommy. Nice dress Tosh." She said to the Japanese woman as she walked through the cog door. "Any special reason?"
"I just felt like wearing a dress, that's all."
"Oh yeah?" Owen looked up from his lab. "No reason at all?"
"No, why would there be?" Tosh said trying to stay innocent, Lucy and Owen smirked and looked at each other, perfectly willing to continue teasing and baiting Tosh.
"Where's this soldier then?" Gwen asked, stopping the teasing before it could properly start.
"He's been here for 90years" Jack explained as they reached the morgue. "Longer than any of us, any of you." He amended.
"Torchwood has been using alien cryogenics since Victorian times." Tosh said to Gwen. "They froze Tommy in 1918" Jack pulled at one of the doors, revealing the body of a young man encased in the freezing chamber.
"He's either 24 or 114." Lucy shrugged. "Which kind of gives him a youthful old fashioned nature."
"We have to wake him up every 12 months or so." Owen said as Tommy was lying on the table in the medbay, already hooked up to an IV and considerably warmer than before.
"Which pretty much means every 20th October unless the world is ending then we do it on the 21st or the 22nd." Lucy pointed out.
"Yeah, well we defrost him, one day only, then he goes back in the freezer."
"Why?" Gwen was still confused as to what this was all about.
"Check he still works." Ianto said holding a camera.
"One day we're gonna need him." Jack was standing at the top of the bay, looking down at Owen who was doing some final checks. Tosh was standing next to the soldier so she would be the first thing Tommy saw when he woke up.
"Right is everybody ready?" Owen checked and Tosh and Jack nodded, he injected Tommy with something and after a few seconds while there was no reaction and the machines still registering Tommy as dead, Owen grabbed the defibrillators.
"Charging 200, clear." He said for the recording and so that the others would know what he was doing. "Charging 360, clear."
This time Tommy reacted, he started breathing with a gasp and tried to push Owen away. Except this meant that the cables were getting wrapped around him and he was at risk of serious damage; to himself and others. They all jumped in to try and help calm the soldier down and remove the risk
"Tommy" Tosh said
"Leave me alone." Tommy said, he had enough energy to actually push at whoever was holding his arms down. It was Lucy. She stumbled back into the wall, Ianto automatically moved to help her up but she shied away from him, hissing quietly in pain as she used the wall as support and pushed herself up.
"Tommy! Tommy listen to me!" Tosh tried again "Tommy Brockless." Tommy stopped fighting them and stared up at Tosh, looking slightly scared but also in understanding. "It's me. Toshiko."
"Toshiko..."
"Remember?"
"Gets harder every year" Owen muttered.
"He's still got a good left hook though." Lucy said with a sigh, checking to see if her back was bleeding.
"I'll check over you once I've checked Tommy."
"I'm fine" Lucy complained. "No blood, or anything."
"You're known to lie about your health and you hit your head hard when you fell back. Don't think I didn't notice."
"Ok, so I have a bit of a headache."
"Lucy, stop complaining. You're next on the medical table." Jack said, finishing the argument. "No going out into the field or down to the range until Owen checks you over."
"Fine. I'll just sit here on the steps and stay out of the way."
Tommy pushed himself up, with a bit of help from Tosh and Owen and looked around.
"I'm in Torchwood, is it time again?" Tosh nodded. "Blimey."
"How are you feeling?" Tosh asked, there was a brief pause while Tommy thought about it.
"I could murder a cup of tea." He said eventually with a small smile. Everyone grinned, although Ianto's fell when he realised that meant he had to make Tommy a cup of tea and if he was making one, he might as well do the coffee for everyone else.
"Don't expect the best china. Visitors only." Ianto said as he poured the tea for everyone else and they started eating. He had ordered in fish and chips and Lucy slightly marvelled at Ianto's ability to find take outs that were open at all times of day. She had been cleared by Owen after a brief check up, she had some spectacular bruises and a hell of a headache but apart from that she was fine. Which was what she had already told them.
"Nice dress." Tommy said to Tosh who blushed slightly.
"Thank you."
"Got your slacks on too, is it that cold outside."
"It's the fashion this year." Ianto explained.
"Ahh," Tommy nodded, he'd seen plenty of fashions come and go. "1968, they were in miniskirts. Thought all my Christmases had come at once. Shame they haven't made a comeback."
"They wore miniskirts in Torchwood?" Lucy asked, surprised.
"Oh yeah. That was a great day."
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
"Thanks for holding the fort for me while I'm out" Tosh said to Owen and Lucy as she grabbed her bag, after Tommy had helped her put her coat on.
"No worries," Owen shrugged. "Have fun. Be Careful."
"Where are you off?" Gwen asked.
"Drink, film, maybe a pizza..." Tosh said with a small smile, Tommy just nodded, not quite sure what the done thing was in the current time.
"Nothing that sounds remotely like a date then." Lucy said slyly to Owen who coughed to try and cover up his laugh.
"What?" Tosh asked, it obviously didn't work.
"Nothing, just um, Lucy said something stupid that's all."
"Hey! I could take offence at that."
"Lucy always says stupid things." Tosh said making everyone laugh, Lucy nodded until she realised what Tosh had said.
"HEY! I'm staying in a hotel tonight, and I helped you clean yesterday."
"You shoved your stuff back into a rucksack and then I threw some cushions at you."
"Ok, well I reminded you to clean the table a third time."
"Third time?" Jack asked teasingly, "what was wrong with the first two?"
"Nothing." Tosh blushed slightly "Anyway, I'll be on the mobile if you need me." She said turning and walking away before they could continue to tease her.
"Have a lovely time"
"Bye."
"Have fun."
"See ya."
"He's a frozen solider from 1918." Gwen muttered, in slight shock, once Tosh was out of hearing distance.
"Nobody's perfect" Lucy said with a shrug as she span round in Tosh's chair. "Technically I don't exist."
"Ah well we can all dream."
"Stop it you two." Jack said before Lucy could reply, "Gwen can you go and check out the hospital? Make sure it's not this slice of the future."
"Sure."
Once Jack was sure that Gwen had gone, he called over the rest of the team.
"Right, Owen I want you looking at the scanner that's reading the rift. I need to know everything that's happening. Lucy let slip that it's today."
"I did not 'let slip' anything, I simply mentioned that I knew about Tommy before last year, that's all." Lucy said pretending as though it wasn't important and she hadn't helped them get ahead of the game.
"Yeah, like I said, Lucy let slip that it's today." Jack repeated. "So we need to be on top of our game. That means I want someone looking at the readings from the rift at all times. Owen if you go off to pee you'd better let someone know so they can take over. I'm going to look at those sealed orders from 1914, see if they're open yet, they're not going out of my sight until they do open. Ianto you need to go searching through the archives, see if there is something in there that can help us."
"But we don't know what's going on." Ianto complained. At least, if anyone else had said it it would have sounded like a complaint but from Ianto it just sounded like a minor issue.
"Then use your imagination, they had to take Tommy from their time but he returned and died a few months later on the front line again. he has to end up going back home so this has to be something to do with time, we know there are ghosts from the future in 1914 after all."
"I'll see what I can do sir, Lucy, any hints?"
"Um, something round, maybe." Lucy said feeling slightly awkward but unable to give him much more simply because she couldn't remember, as well as the fact that even if she did remember she wouldn't be able to tell him much.
"Something round. Maybe." Ianto said sarcastically, his accent coming to the forefront as he raised an eyebrow. "Well I'll see what I can do."
"It's not much but we're ahead of the game. Lucy, do we need weapons? If so get them, If not..."
"I could just hide downstairs until Gwen returns and you have to call Tosh and Tommy back." Lucy said, Jack just gave her a look that said he wasn't very impressed with the idea "That way I can't give anything away." She continued.
"Fine," Jack sighed. "You go hide downstairs and I'll call you up again later. I'd better see proof of work being done though, no sign of any computer game."
"Agreed." Lucy said and slipped off before he could change her mind. She had to look over the paperwork from the recent UNIT cover up that happened on Barry Island.
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
Lucy tried not to notice that Ianto came down to give her some coffee, it had been two months since she had broken up with him and although it wasn't awkward when they were working as part of the team anymore, when it was just the two of them it was different. It didn't help that she still completely loved Ianto and she was the one who had broken up with him. She also had no idea if he was sleeping with Jack yet, everytime Tosh tried to bring up the idea of her returning home and going back to Ianto, Lucy would just say that she'd be happy to move into a hotel. The team had started to drop hints that they should get back together but they were both ignoring it, Lucy thought she was doing what was best for Ianto and Ianto was trying to hold onto some of his pride by acting as though everything was fine. What actually happened was the team watched as the pair of them both watched each other when they thought no one was looking. Owen could be heard talking about 'teenage angst' and how much fun the entertainment at work had become.
"Um... thanks Ianto. How are you?" She asked, knowing that she had to say something.
"Not bad, Rhiannon and the kids are doing fine, I went to go see them recently."
"Well that's good isn't it." The awkward silence returned and Lucy was desperate to fill it. Silences with Ianto had never been awkward before and it seemed wrong to be so know. "You're target shooting scores have been improving recently. I'm looking forward to Owen seeing you're close to beating him"
"Been spending a lot of spare time down in the range."
"Ahhh.." Lucy tried not to act as though she hadn't been watching on the CCTV, she knew she shouldn't but it was hard to resist and she didn't want to. "I should um... I should probably get back to work. Got a few files to look over, Tosh wants more money to run some experiments and Flat Holm has had some more guests recently..."
"I'll leave you to it." Ianto said quickly.
"Thanks Ianto." Lucy said with a small genuine smile, he turned and looked at her confused. "For the coffee I mean. I hadn't realised I needed it."
"That's fine. I think Jack's going to call a meeting soon. He went to join Gwen at the hospital, we had a rift spike earlier." And with that he left and Lucy sagged in her seat. It had been two months, it shouldn't be that difficult to have a conversation with him.
He had also been right, Jack did call down for her so they could discuss what was happening.
(*_*) (*_*)(*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
"Demolishing the hospital is what triggers the time shift." Jack explained as they all sat round the table in the conference room.
"So don't demolish it." Owen said with a shrug.
"Too late. It's already started?"
"What happens next?" Gwen asked
"Things start to go wrong."
"Yes thank you Lucy." Jack said wit a pointed look. "Two different times should never exist simultaneously. You want to be in 1918 or now, now both."
"So when 1918 becomes fully manifest..." Tosh trailed off as she tried to understand the implications of what Jack was telling them.
"It's really going to screw us up." Owen said
"I don't see how that's different from what I said." Lucy pointed out but quickly hid her smirk behind her coffee mug.
"OK. Linear time." Jack picked up a piece of paper and holding it up to show the team. "This is screwed up time." He scrunched it into a ball and threw it at Owen. "Imagine your life as a straight line from birth to death. Now try drawing that line on the paper without straightening it out."
"Well actually..." Lucy knew that she should stay quiet and not say anything, saying something was a bad idea. But this was a perfect moment, there would be no moment more perfect than to use her favourite quote, besides everyone else was already looking at her. "People think time is a strict progression of cause to effect." She started, deciding that she would never forgive herself if she didn't say anything. "When actually it's more like a big ball of timey-wimey... stuff."
"Timey-wimey stuff?" Jack repeated the phrase and just stared at her. "This is serious Lucy."
"I know, it's just well... your description of time was wrong. It's not a straight line, it's a ball..."
"A ball of timey-wimey stuff?" Tommy looked confused. "Am I the only one here who doesn't understand what she's saying?"
"No" Tosh answered. "No, none of us have any clue what Lucy means, although that happens more often than you would think."
"And where did your knowledge of timey-wimey stuff come from and why is my explanation wrong?" Jack asked, trying to stay calm.
"Ok so the sentence got away from me." Lucy as quite glad she could add that bit of the quote in as well. "But I think you'll find it was a word perfect quote and there are 17 DVDs out there that have that as part of an Easter Egg."
"You found it on 17 DVDs?"
"Well no. I don't even know what those DVDs are. But I'm sure if I was to type 'the angels have the phone box' into google. I'd find the relevant forums where they discuss it. I should probably do that. I never got myself a t-shirt."
"Lucy what the hell are you on about?" Owen asked.
"Nothing, except... that's an episode that we could all watch without fear of learning anything you shouldn't or destroying the time lines or anything."
"We can watch an episode of Torchwood?" Gwen asked, she had been asking (begging) Jack for ages for him to ask Lucy to let them watch what happened. He continued to turn her down saying she should give it up.
"It's an episode of Doctor Who, not Torchwood. Frankly it's one of the best episodes out there."
"Ok, Lucy I'll discuss this with you properly later" Jack said taking control of the situation before it got out of hand. "But first we need to make sure that 1918 and 2008 don't merge together and completely destroy time and your chances of watching the DVD in the first place."
"We'd probably be able to watch the whole disk, it's with Martha - you could invite her over to watch it first if you want Jack." Lucy offered
"I will think about it later. Right now we have to deal with Tommy. We have a situation going on that we need to stop."
He walked out of the room and the rest of the team followed him after looking at each other, Tommy was the last to get out of his seat.
"Ianto!" Jack called. "Is that box doing anything yet?"
"Still locked." Ianto replied, walking out of Jack's office with it in his hands.
"Ok, we need to find out how fast the time shift is happening, get some idea when it's going to complete. Tosh, Owen, go to the hospital we need readings. Cover the place in rift monitors. Gwen, Lucy, go through the files, see if there is anything we missed." Jack ordered. Tommy stood, out of place, in the middle of their well practised motions watching as they followed orders without question.
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
"In 12 hours they'll be a brief moment when both times exist," Jack said as they all sat round the conference table again. The sealed orders had opened. "before the time shift completes, when Tommy can be here now and in 1918. He needs to be in the hospital ready to step from one time to another."
"So he'll be right inside the time shift."
"He can close the fracture behind it, yeah." He nodded at Gwen.
"And when the fracture is closed?" Tommy asked, everyone already knew the answer but it was up to Jack as the Captain to explain it.
"1918 will be back where it belongs."
"So will I." It wasn't a question but Jack nodded. "For good?"
"Yeah. You're the only one who can do this." Jack continued, trying to convince Tommy to do it. "We brought you from 1918 to now and when you go back to 1918, your life will be like a thread, stitching time back together again."
"A stitch in time." Tommy attempted, and failed, to smile.
"How?" Tosh said accusingly and Jack picked up something.
"This is a rift manipulator."
"Round and metal." Lucy interrupted him, glad that she had remembered that correctly.
"Yes, the round metal thing Ianto went on a wild goose chase for. It's basically a key, once you're inside the time shift you can close the door behind you."
"And that's it." Tommy said. "I'm gone."
"You'd be back home again." Lucy pointed out, thinking out what she had left on the other side of the rift. "I'd go in a split second if I had that opportunity. You've got people waiting for you back home. Surely that's better than here where you get one day a year?" She tried to ignore the looks that Tosh and Ianto were both giving her, although for different reasons.
"I like my one day. It's a good day."
"I'm sorry but you don't have a choice." Jack said, "We need you to do this. Tommy, stay with Gwen. Tosh, with me." He left the room and Tosh followed him. Lucy left a few seconds later and Ianto followed her. Owen caught Gwen's eye and nodded his head at them, it seemed the argument they had all been waiting for was about to happen.
"You'd leave in a split second?" Ianto said, causing Lucy to stop in her tracks and turn around.
"Course I would. I had a life there Ianto."
"And you'd give up this one where you have friends, a family, a good job... for somewhere where you have none of that?"
"I've got family Ianto." She didn't deny the other things.
"A dad who you hate and a sister who got taken away from you."
Lucy froze, almost shaking with anger at what Ianto had just said. It took a while for her to be able to control herself enough to speak. The rest of the team watched with a perverse interest, they knew they shouldn't be watching but couldn't actually bring themselves to look away.
"Oh and you're so much better. How often do you see your sister? Whenever you feel guilty? Or three weeks after the kids birthdays, the ones you've missed because you forgot about them. You want to talk about sisters and fathers? I bet you're so proud of your father – the master tailor who deigned to work in BHS. Or the sister who tries to reach out to you but you still push her away at every opportunity, using work as an excuse. Becky depends on me and I have fuck all for me here."
"You had me!"
"AND YOU'RE ALREADY FUCKING JACK! IT'S ONLY BEEN TWO MONTHS" Lucy shouted, it was what she had wanted Ianto to do, the whole reason she had broken up with him and yet it still hurt to know that he had moved on so quickly. "DON'T THINK I HAVEN'T SEEN THE WAY YOU LOOK AT EACH OTHER."
"YOU DUMPED ME SO I COULD BE WITH JACK."
("This is better than TV" Owen whispered and Gwen hit him, but she still didn't look away)
"It's hardly been easy for me either!" Lucy said loudly although she was no longer shouting
"Oh so I should be feeling sorry for you? You who have been so noble in giving me an opportunity to be with the man I've always secretly been in love with!?"
"No!" She said then took a deep breath. "No. I'm not saying that, I'm just saying... I might have been the one to break up with you Ianto but it's been difficult for me too. So yes, I'd got back to my world in a heart beat. I've got nothing left for me here apart from the job. Between that or Becky – it's no contest."
"Nothing could make you stay?" He wasn't shouting now either but the rest of the team could still all hear. "Nothing?"
Lucy knew what he wanted her to say, he was close enough now that she could just lean forward and kiss him. She wanted to just lean forward and kiss him. She took a step back.
"I can't go home anyway, so it's all academic. I'm going back to the hotel. See you tomorrow morning bright and early." She grabbed her coat and walked out, Ianto still stood in the centre of the main hub before going over to his coffee machine. The rest of the team shuffled uncomfortably but went back to their own conversations and duties, trying to forget the looks on the faces of their youngest members.
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
The next morning everyone wisely decided not to mention the argument between Ianto and Lucy, both actually felt better after finally shouting at each other and the car journey wasn't awkward between the pair of them.
They raced into the hospital, with as much rift reading equipment as possible, Tommy was in his 1918 pyjamas and jacket, the rift manipulator in his hand.
"You know we can't be here when it happens." Jack warned Tommy who nodded, he might want the support but it simply wasn't feasible.
The alarms that Tosh and Owen placed the day before started going off and Tommy took a few steps forward with his hand to his head, separating himself from the rest of the team. Tosh followed him a few seconds later.
"Come on." She said calmly reminding him of his duty.
They walked through the corridors and Tommy stopped them when he heard singing. An old fashioned nurse holding an oil lamp walked in front of them, unseeing.
"We're safe." Lucy said softly. "It's fine Tommy, she's just a ghost of the past."
He watched as she walked in front of them and ran after her into a large room that obviously used to be a ward. Tommy stared at something that they couldn't see, remembering something that they could only guess at.
"Tommy?" Tosh pulled him out of his flashback.
"NO" He shouted "NO I WON'T DO IT." The soldier brought out of his time for this moment ran out of the ward and down one of the many corridors.
"Stay here." Jack ordered the rest of them as he and Tosh ran after him.
"Weeeeeell... this is awkward." Lucy said as they looked at each other. "What do we do if Tommy refuses to do it? I mean I'm not going to say it was his destiny or fate..."
"Because you never believe in pre-destination and not spoiling the known future." Ianto joked, only slightly seriously
"Time between the worlds runs differently. If I ever get back it could be fifty years, a day, hours or no time at all."
"Still wishing you could go back then?"
"What do you want to know?" She asked rolling her eyes
"The truth."
"Ok, Tommy does what he's supposed to, after some prompting from Tosh he goes back but it's not enough. Tosh gets projected into his mind and tells him that he has to do it because he's her big brave dashing hero or something else annoyingly romantic. That leads shell-shocked Tommy to turn the key and stop all of time from splintering or being destroyed which means that the reapers aren't going to come and kill us all to cleanse the wound. Oh and the next episode I know involves a giant space whale. Pre-destination, fate destiny and all that bollocks sucks. Because if it happens like I said is it because I said it therefore giving Owen the idea to project a mental image back to Tommy or did I say it because it was always going to happen?"
"I project a mental image?" Owen asked interested.
"Yeah, but I don't know how, all I remember is that it's Tosh who goes and she says that pukey romantic line which was obviously going to happen the second he told her he'd do anything when they were in the pub lunchtime."
"You said you didn't really remember this one." Gwen accused.
"Turns out living it spikes my memory. Who could have guessed that? Now have you go anything else to accuse me with or should we actually pick up the equipment that we've brought but haven't used and leave this place before things potentially go wrong and it goes boom."
"Good idea." Owen said grabbing his box all the while trying to work out how to make a mental connection with Tommy in the past and project Tosh into his mind.
While walking quickly back through the hospital corridors they met up with Jack and later Tosh who shouted at them to run.
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
All the alarms were blazing as the cog door rolled open and they entered the hub.
"What's happening?" Gwen asked
"He's not turned the cog." Lucy said. "Didn't we already have this discussion he's shell-shocked!"
"Lucy shut up and let me think." Jack said as Gwen brought up the screen showing a map of the city and south Wales where more and more dots kept appearing to try show where the history was interacting with the modern world.
Owen had been working on the puzzle that Lucy had set him on the way back. He raced into his medbay and started pulling out Tommy's blood samples.
"We have to send someone through." Jack said, coming to the only conclusion he could see possible, and it would have to be him, he'd be the only one to survive it although it would be a long way home.
"Jack wait, you'd be stuck in 1918. I've got an idea." Owen called up forcing the others to all join him. "The time shifts are forcing the rift open. If we're quick we can use it to our advantage." He picked up a needle he'd just filled with blood, Tommy's blood. "We know Tommy's exact location in time."
"And space." Lucy added. "That spot he stared at in the hospital, I bet that was where he was taken from."
"Yeah, anyway we can send an image of someone through to him."
"I can go into Tommy's mind." Jack said catching on to the whole idea.
"As a psychic projection, yes."
"Let me do it." Everyone apart from Jack, was waiting for Tosh to speak up. Jack looked at his team wondering why he and Tosh were the only ones surprised not only by Owen's genius idea but by Tosh's request.
"He trusts me." Tosh continued
"Ok." Jack said.
"Ianto can you grab that thing there for me." Owen said pointing at something in one of his cupboards, once it was handed over he put it on Tosh's head as she sat down on the bed.
"How long have I got?" Tosh asked
"Minutes." Owen replied.
"You've got one shot, Tosh. That's all." Jack said patting her arm. "You can do this."
"I'd whoop cheer and form a cheerleading squad but we've not got time." Lucy said and Tosh couldn't help herself and smiled.
"You know I wouldn't mind seeing that." Jack said musingly.
"Get you're head out of the gutter Captain. You heard Owen we've not got time. Ready?"
Tosh nodded and Owen injected the blood into her and grabbed her wrist, feeling for a pulse as her eyes shut and her head lolled backwards a bit.
"Tommy... Tommy... It's me. Toshiko... I'm here to help you... No, do you know what it is?"
It was weird hearing one half of the conversation, almost like listening to someone on the phone but Tosh's facial expressions were all muted too, as though she only had a vague connection to her body.
"Tommy. It's a key, you have to use it... It's alright... No you are not... For the future. For me... Because you're my brave, handsome hero. Tommy use the key... Thank you."
She gasped and her whole body jerked as the alarms stopped going off.
"You alright?" Owen asked
"He did it." Tosh said. "He did it."
(*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*) (*_*)
"Hey." Lucy said, leaning against the door frame as Tosh folded up the clothes that Tommy had worn the day before and placed them gently back into the suitcase
Tosh looked up at her and Lucy gave her a small smile.
"What?"
"Come back to the hotel with me tonight, don't go back home not yet."
"You inviting me back to yours?" Tosh asked with a slight teasing note in her voice, although the effort that took was obvious.
"Well I've been at yours long enough." Lucy shrugged, "I just don't want you to be alone. Not yet, I've got another night all paid for so we may as well use it"
"Maybe." Tosh said, "Maybe."
"Well the offer is there if you want it." She passed over the hotel key. "It's room 412, come and join me when you're ready."
A/N: Hope your all having a good day/had a good day/about to have a good day.
I just want to quickly answer an anoymous review from the last chapter who said "I don't particually like where ur taking Lucy with this. She's becoming someone who isn't particually likeable, and I don't think this is who she was initially portrayed as. I assume you have a reason for this?" I think in this chapter it's understandable why you think Lucy isn't likable is she's acting quite dark towards Beth 'the morally undecided cop'. But she's also in a weird place mentally with the whole Ianto thing. I think it's toned down a bit in this chapter even though she had Ianto finally have the argument that people have been waiting for. I hope that you liked her more in this chapter, if not can you please let me know what you didn't like. Thanks - Rea
As for everyone else, thanks as always for the amazing reviews, I never thought I would have so many, I'm nearly at 150 which is just ridiculous and I'll see you next week for the first half of Meat (which is definitely in 2 parts)
Rea