19
Rhys sat by her bed with his head in his hands, trying to make sense of what the hell was going on.
"The corn?" he asked.
"Yeah, she helped prepare it and breathed it in as she peeled the ears. That's the theory. We are hoping that it might wear off, since it was a small dose" Owen assured Rhys without really meaning it, glancing at the still sedated woman and grimacing as he went to join the general discussion with the others about what to do. For real.
He was in agreement with Ianto.
She was toast.
.
.
"But can we take that chance?" Toshiko demanded angrily "She might kill a child next or something."
"And she might snap out of it" Jack countered with that calm look that drove her mad "Gwen might wake up totally fine."
"I couldn't hold my tongue, sorry" Ianto interjected as he slapped the table "Once turned… forever turned. I have not seen a single Ugly get normalized again."
"Come on Ianto, how can you be sure. You run from them, kill them and when did you last spend time just watching one?" Loretta asked, her long blonde locks flicking around her face as she looked around the table. Ianto did not even know this woman and was annoyed that she had a seat at the table when it should be Torchwood talking. "Seems to me that you have a knee jerk reaction to killing them, what if they can be reasoned with?"
He could see that this would go nowhere if Jack didn't get control of the meeting.
.
.
Gwen woke, her eyes travelling around the room to rest on the man sat by her bed, his head in his hands like he was praying for her. Maybe he was.
She grunted, moving in the sheets and he sat up to look at her "Gwen?"
She gave a sob, her bottom lip extending and he rushed to comfort her "It's OK. Oh sweetie, it's OK."
She buried her face in his neck, her shoulders shaking as she cried and he rocked her, his relief raw. Gwen. This was Gwen, her soft kisses to his neck as she loved him back all he needed to know with his hands going to the restraints as he crooned and promised it would all be OK. Finally, she was free and she brought her arms up to hug him back, the two of them in a loving embrace.
Rhys felt the relief as he felt her lip kiss his cheek before she sank back against him with a shuddery sigh.
She was going to be OK.
.
.
"And if she gets loose and kills a few people, you still want to give her a chance?" Ianto finally asked "Because from where I came from, there was no second chances. Only death and anger."
"That's the bias we do not need here" Loretta pointed at him, turning to Jack "We need some cohesive agreements on how best to move forward. For all we know she is sitting up and eating something right about now!"
"That's what I am worried about" Ianto said softly, sitting back as he now saw that nothing was going to get sorted and then he rose, "I will go check on her."
.
.
Rhys had calmed her down and she was like a dead weight, her arms tight around him as he continued to croon softly, telling her how much he loved her and it was going to be OK. He drew back a little to look into her eyes, hoping to see some remorse and said softly "Gwennie, do you remember what happened love?"
Her eyes were red from crying, her mouth turned down in that childish way he always hated and as he went to speak again she smiled.
IT was a soft, quick up turn at the corners that had him hesitating and smiling back with relief "There you are darling."
The savage bite to his shoulder as she latched on near his collar bone was a surprise and he yelped as he instinctively tried to pull away, dragging her from the bed to land on top of him, her hands now seeking purchase around his throat as she snarled in his face, the teeth covered with blood. With horror Rhys knew it was his blood, she had bitten deep enough to puncture the skin.
"Oh god… fuck me… Gwen… oh god…" Rhys was trying to get her off, her grip tightening until he could not speak anymore and with that cold fear that makes your innards twist, he punched her in the head.
Her grip tightened and he could feel her fingernails digging into his flesh, her lips peeled back as she snarled. A wild animal, something fierce and incontrollable like a fucking lioness or something, her teeth gnashing as she writhed along with him, clearly intent on killing him.
Rhys felt his strength starting to wane, the punches to her head less and less effective, not that they helped much in the first place and he knew he was gonna die now.
Then a flash of something red flew past his vision and then … blissfully… she was gone.
Ianto stood over her prone body with the fire extinguisher in his hand, the pin flicked off and he aimed it at her as she started to stir, giving her a full hit of the gas.
Rhys crawled towards the door, gasping and choking as he struggled to breathe, his throat not wanting to open for him.
Gwen rose through the plumes of extinguishing gas, her eyes wide and her mouth open like it was an elixir. With a tribal scream she ran towards Ianto' her hands in front with her fingernails like claws coming at him.
Ianto adjusted his grip and swung again, this time really meaning it.
When in doubt, aim for the head.
Right?