Torchwood: Divergence
Book One: Dychwelyd

Chapter 8

Gwen snuggled close to Rhys beneath the covers, one finger drawing little circles on his chest.

"So, how's Ianto getting on?" Williams smiled; well aware of the changes in his wife's mood and confidence since she'd reopened Torchwood and especially since her two closest co-workers had reappeared.

"Still a little fuzzy and easy to tire," the raven-haired woman beside him murmured. "But getting back to his old self bit by bit. The test results are still baffling Martha. She still can't identify the alien substance laced through his cells, and is sure she's missing something in the tiny details. She's itching to question him about what was done while he was missing, but he's just too panicky about the memories. He's tried to describe some of it... horrible things... and every time he starts to get more and more scattered. If he pushes too hard, he hyperventilates and ends up in convulsions."

"Rough," Rhys grimaced. "It's great that he's back and all, amazing really. But if you have to get filleted alive for a year or more to manage it, maybe coming back from the dead isn't such a good thing in the end."

"He did it to be with Jack again," Gwen breathed, blinking several times to clear the gruesome mental pictures her husband's words had conjured. "He says if he'd had to endure it another day he'd've snapped, but somehow I don't think so. Not if it meant he'd be at Jack's side again when it was done. He's so much stronger and braver than any of us ever gave him credit for. Sweet, quiet little Ianto. We never really looked past the butler routine to see how many times he wrangled Weevils single handed, or all the deadly aliens he took care of in the cells, or how scary good of a shot he was with any weapon you handed him, or what he must've faced and had to do to survive the fall of Torchwood One in London let alone getting his half-converted girlfriend out and all the way to Cardiff. I still didn't see it even after watching him face off with a Dalek in the Hub, fighting the Already Dead under the Black House with Xilobytes eating him alive, taking on a warehouse of Black-Market thugs by himself to get the antidote to the Kagawa Virus for Jack and me. Just being so much in love with Jack all that time before, even though we were all sure he was just another short-term shag for our infamously promiscuous leader."

"I knew he had guts," Rhys stated sagely, drawing a disbelieving look from his wife. "Knowing the kind of folk gathered, he still danced with Jack at our wedding right in front of the lot. And I could tell that he would've done, whether they were all getting Retconned or not. That takes a brave soul."

After a moment's contemplation, Gwen had to agree. She smiled and was about to comment, when a sudden unrelated thought came to mind.

"Bollocks..." she hissed, lightly banging her forehead against her spouse's shoulder. "That sodding belt slipped off under the bonnet again just as I got home tonight. I meant to have you fix it, but what you cooked for tea smelled so good when I came in that I forgot all about it."

"So, I'll just pop you by the Hub on my way to work in the morning and have Daf come replace the belt on his lunch break," Williams offered with a grin. "Let Eb get a look at her mad 'Uncle' Jack, yeah?"

"I married a genius," Gwen breathed with wide-eyed sincerity, then giggled and moved in for a kiss.

"Too bloody right," Rhys chuckled, pulling the petite woman into his arms.

The couple disappeared under the covers, very glad that their daughter was sleeping through the night in her own room across the hall now. The bedside clock changed to display 10:36 pm, and the alarm was set for 5:00 am... plenty of time for sleeping later.

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AN: So… no clue when I'll get my laptop back, which means I'll be posting several chapters to keep you all entertained while I'm out of touch. Enjoy.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM