A loud banging abruptly woke him up early in the morning. He shook up from Jack's arms - which had been loosely lying around him the whole night - and sat up straight on the bed. The banging continued and seemed to come from the front side of the house.

"It's freaking 6 am! Who for fucks sake starts banging on someone else's door at this time of the day?" He grumpily stated. There was a slight pause, but then it continued again. So after checking if no one else had woken up from the godforsaken noise, he made his way towards the place where the noise came from. The front door. He peeked through the looking glass in the door and saw someone he hadn't expected to see this early on in front of his door. Before his hand could knock on the wooden door again he unlocked the door and flung it open. Big eyes were watching him, he was only dressed in his pyjamas after all.

"Is she here? I need to speak to her!" Owen said when he - without permission - marched into the house.

" Good morning to you too, yes I'd love a cup of coffee." He told no one at all quite sarcastically. Owen had already stormed into the living room and found a still asleep Tosh on the couch. Quickly he closed the door and locked it again.

"Couldn't you have waited for a little longer Owen?" Owen completely ignored him as he stared at the sleeping beauty in front of him and came to a halt.

" I couldn't. I'm sorry, but I can't lose her." He told him frantically.

"I was so afraid about where she went, for all I knew she could've gone back to Japan," Owen whispered into the morning air.

"We both know she wouldn't do that." He made his way towards the kitchen and started to prepare two cups of coffee. At least he could wake up a little that way. Because if he knew Owen, and he liked to think he knew his childhood friend quite well, then he knew that Owen was going to wake up Tosh pretty soon.

''What's that noise?'' A moaning Jack said as he walked into the living room. His eyes rounded in shock as he saw a frantic Owen standing before him. He rubbed his sleepy eyes a few times before he seemed certain he wasn't dreaming anymore.

" Ah Jack, you're just in time to witness it all," Ianto told him and handed him one of the finished, steaming cups of coffee. The steam was fogging his glasses when he tried to take a sip, one look at Jack showed him that he was also experiencing the same problem.

"Should I ask him?" He whispered into Jack's ear, they stood both watching a frozen Owen and waited for him to do something, just anything… at all.

"Nah, let's keep him in suspense for a little longer. Can I make you some breakfast?" He shook his head, there would be no way in hell that any food would stay in his stomach while he waited for something to happen between his friends. If it were really over between Tosh and Owen, then they were both going to have a lot of things on their hands to help them through the heartbreak. He just couldn't imagine them not being together, they'd been a couple for so long already, even before he started dating Lisa. And they all knew how that ended. Patiently he looked towards the clock hanging on the wall above Tosh's head, hopefully, he would have some time left to talk to Jack properly before his shift would start. Owen slowly started to make his way towards the couch, carefully he sat down next to Tosh's snoring body, still peacefully asleep on the couch. His right hand made its way towards her midriff and his left towards her face. Carefully he shook her awake and coaxed her with loving words. She started to mumble during her time between sleep and awake. A smile splayed across her lips when she started to wake up fully and slowly opened her eyes. Jack and he stood sneakily in the doorway of their bedroom watching the whole ordeal happening in front of their eyes. There was nothing sweeter than the love he knew his friends felt for each other.

"Hey," Owen started as soon as Tosh's eyes opened fully and registered shock at seeing him here.

"Owen. What are you doing here?" She asked quietly, probably due to the hangover she must be feeling right now. She drank way too much wine for such a petite person to consume.

"Looking for you of course, what else?"

"I don't know." Her eyes averted from his and seemed to seek them. With an encouraging smile, he let them continue their conversation.

"Shouldn't you be at Diane's?" She asked rather hatefully. He knew that Owen must've felt hurt right now, but as he was facing his back he had no idea what kind of emotion was placated on his face.

"Why for heaven's sake would I be there? I was searching for you. I thought you would come back, but then after hours of nothing but emptiness I began to get really worried, and of course, you forgot your mobile so I had no idea how to reach you." Tosh's harsh eyes turned rather sweet, a soft tint came to it, but he could still see her anger in it. She needed answers and quick, otherwise, there would be nothing to safe.

" Then where do you go every time? Where do you disappear to, when you're off?" She sat up properly now and stared him into the eyes. When Tosh wanted to know something she would always get her way. No one could get away from those angry eyes.

"I…" Owen looked back, a plea of help clearly written on his face. But as he and Jack knew nothing about the circumstances they left him to his fate.

"You're talking to me, Owen. So where did you go? If you don't want to tell me just say so, but I won't be able to get back with you. I need some honesty in my life. And if you're not willing to give me that then I'm not the person for you." How she did it, he had no idea. But Owen let out a sigh of defeat and looked her straight in the face.

"It was supposed to be a surprise." He said before he stood up from the couch and dropped on one knee. Her hands flew to her mouth as surprise took over her body.

"Quick, give me your phone." He whispered towards Jack, who obligingly gave him his phone. Without asking he started to record the scene in front of him, he knew Tosh would want to see this back later on.

" I was taking extra shifts to safe for a ring. I was going to ask you to marry me… but since it's out of the bag now anyway. Toshiko Sato, do you want to marry plain, old me? I don't have a ring now, but I'll get one as soon as I can if you agree." He asked with a gigantic, hopeful smile on his face.

"Of course, yes, why would you even doubt that?" She threw herself in his arms in joy, her arms around his neck as her face found its way on his shoulder.

"You're only a few months older you stupid." She told him a bit too loud.

"I know." He mumbled into her neck. He looked at Jack, who even though he didn't know them for that long, was smiling like a buffoon at the pair of them. All that fuss for nothing.

"Congratulations guys." He said, he put his mug on the table and made his way towards the happy couple.

" Now that that's done, maybe we could make some breakfast? Oh and congrats, would've been a shame to see you guys break up." Jack said, his stomach started to grumble at the thought of food and made him all the more noticeable of his hunger on the early morning, not like last night's dinner had been much of a supper compared to other nights.

"Yes, breakfast. Sorry for waking you up so early. It's just… you know." Owen tried to explain, he knew what he tried to say without words and waved all of it away without a word. What were friends for?

-0O0-

After Tosh and Owen left mere hours later an awkward silence hung in the air and kept them from talking. Neither dared to talk about what had transpired before they had been interrupted the day before. If he was honest with himself, he didn't really know what to say. He'd already let it be known that he loved him. As did Jack. What would there be left to say? Yes, they would need to talk about how they were going to do it. As same-sex relationships still weren't that accepted, even though other countries had already legalised same-sex marriages. It was a strange world. Quietly he packed his bag, put on some decent clothes, and made his way towards the hospital. Gwen would be waiting there for him to take over his shift. The Welsh woman had quickly become his friend after they had to share many shifts at the hospital together. One did not simply stay acquaintances after having worked closely together for years. He put a fake smile on his face that hid the worries he felt towards Jack and his recent behaviour. It wasn't very difficult today to fake it as he had some joyous news to share with her.

"Afternoon. How was your shift?" He asked her politely when he made his way towards the changing rooms, With his freshly fetched uniform in hand. It was a rule that no one took his uniform home but instead handed it in after the shift to get it professionally cleaned. At your next shift, you could just take another uniform from the collection of freshly cleaned uniforms. The crocks might not be the most comfortable or the latest fashion of footwear, but they were certainly easy to keep clean.

"Tiring, Maddie's condition got worse, the heart surgeon had to come in and perform an emergency operation. She's fine now, back in her incubator. And remember Lois? She just had her baby girl. She's in her room, some other nurses are fussing over her, I would say 'Hi' when they're done. She was completely expecting to see you there hours ago." Gwen told him while she followed him towards the changing rooms.

"No shit, Maddie was doing so good." He mumbled to himself before disappearing inside, a few minutes later he walked out in his usual work outfit. Now it was time to care for the babies on their baby ward. Normally babies like Maddie, who were born premature and/or needed special attention were redirected towards the neonatal intensive care unit, otherwise known as the NICU, they don't stay at the maternity ward. But sometimes the nurses would check up on mother and child and go by, or they would be rostered at the NICU. On a slow day, around 8 babies could be born at the ward. But when things got busy there could be an average of 14 babies born. And sometimes you really didn't want to come near women in pain, they could turn into monsters, demanding some kind of pain reliever. But then there were the special cases when a woman stayed her usual self, but then in pain, and kept being nice about the whole ordeal. In short, it was never a boring day at the maternity ward, the hospital staff would keep you busy otherwise.

"So I've got some interesting news for you. I'm going to jinx myself by telling you this, but Tosh and Owen just got engaged in our living room. Quite the spectacle." He told her. Her eyes turned big as she heard the news, he averted his eyes as he got busy trying to put candy in his inner pocket. He always had some with him for when a couple had to take their other kid with them. It would keep the child occupied for a few minutes while they checked upon the woman in labour.

"Are you for real?" She asked him a little too loud. He shook his head in reassurance. A smile had been plastered on his face ever since he came in.

" I'm sure they'll call you as soon as you're home, so please act surprised." He pleaded with her, her shift was almost done and soon he would need to take over from her. He really had to clear his head as his patients, no matter how little, didn't deserve to have their nurse distracted by personal problems.

"Wow, I hadn't seen that coming."

"Well so didn't Tosh, you'll have to ask her for the whole story. I can't tell you too much." Apologetically, he made his way towards the counter and asked after Lois. She was in ward three, currently in pain after just giving birth to her baby girl, funniest of all, even though he couldn't admit that out loud, was that her husband of a year had fainted at seeing all the blood and gore. Many men acted like that, how, he would never know.

"How suits married life you? Mrs Williams?" He tried to be teasing, but he didn't really think he'd succeeded as Gwen's expression turned rather sour.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He immediately asked, he could feel the eyes of their college's burning in his back, so he steered her away from them towards a quiet corner. It was the most privacy they would get right now.

" I just found out I'm pregnant." Tears started to stream from her eyes, so he took her into his arms and tried to calm her. His hand rubbed circles on her back.

" Isn't that fantastic?"

"I.. I do- don't know." She told him through her sobbing. She and Rhys had been married for about two years now, they eloped as both their parents had been against the marriage. And as far as he knew they'd been trying for a baby ever since January last year when they'd decided that yes, they did want kids in their life. And yes, it would be alright if that happened now. She'd told him they hadn't really tried that desperately, but they'd been hoping for those magic words ever since. And now it happened, and she was describing her doubt to him.

" You know Rhys would be ecstatic."

"I know."

"Then what is the problem? Explain it to me, maybe I can help." He asked her. He knew something was wrong, but in order for him to understand, she had to explain it clearly to him.

" It's just our parents. As much as I love them, they don't shut up about our ill-matched marriage and how I could've chosen a much better profession than a nurse. They don't get it that this is my life, not theirs." Her sobs hadn't quietened throughout it all, possibly even gotten worse.

"Fuck them, if they don't want to accept you then they shouldn't have the privilege to be part of your life." She looked up with her tearstained puppy dog eyes at him and a slight smile on her face.

"How is it that you always manage to find the right thing to say?"

"I have no idea, but this is your and Rhys's life, live it to the fullest. From the moment he's home you're telling him the news otherwise I'll personally tell him." As much as he loved his friend, he didn't think Rhys would appreciate it to be told one of the most important things in his life's through one of his wife's best friends. Somehow throughout time, he, Tosh, Owen, Gwen, Rhys and eventually Jack, had become a close group of friends. He didn't think he would be able to enjoy life without them.

"Alright, so now you're going to go to that beautiful husband of yours and tell him I said 'Hi'. And I'm going to check on Mrs Jansen to see how far she's been dilated, those twins aren't going to be born by themselves."

A/N: Hope you like it and please leave a review.

XXXFredAndGeorgeForever