5. Beer
"I can't believe he gave her away!" Gwen exclaimed yet again. Tosh glanced away and Owen ignored the Welshwoman in favor of finishing his pint and starting on the next. They were sitting at a bar not far from the Hub, tucked into a corner with a large number of drinks on the table already. Owen had insisted on several at once, as he was determined to get drunk fast and hard. He wanted to forget he'd ever seen a fairy, or that a young girl had flow off with them, but it seemed Gwen couldn't stop railing about it.
"Ianto's right, Jack's a monster sometimes," she continued, oblivious to their reaction. "He doesn't think about anything, does he? Not the victims, not their loved ones, not us, not the rest of the world. He just cares about the job."
Tosh frowned and met Owen's eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking and shrugged. If she wanted to get into it with Gwen, the more power to her. Owen worked on his next pint and half listened.
"I don't think that's true," Tosh said quietly, staring into her glass. Gwen actually snorted, which made Tosh look up, her eyes flashing before she looked away again. "He does care, Gwen. Trust me, we've known him longer than you have, and he cares. But he also knows that sometimes he's got to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, no matter how hard it is."
"Sending a child off to die is never right!" Gwen insisted. "He should have found a way."
"I don't think there was any other way," Tosh said quietly. "Jack knows more about the things we face than anyone, and if he says there was no other way to defeat the fairies, then I believe him." She finished her drink and reached for another. Owen winked and then grinned when she blushed. "That doesn't mean I like it, but I trust him."
Gwen stared at the other woman liked she'd grown a second head, then turned to Owen. "What do you think?" she demanded. "Do you believe him? Trust him?"
Owen calmly finished his pint and stood to get them all another two rounds. "Yes, I do. And like Tosh said, that doesn't mean I like it either. But I get it. We make the hard calls here, the big sacrifices, and if you can't handle it, find another job."
She jumped up and stared at him. "No! I'm here to change that, to remind you what you're fighting for."
"You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart," he replied, offering a tight grin. "You're here because you have a nice set of tits and arse."
"Fuck you!" she shouted, and shoved him. Tosh jumped up as if to separate them, but didn't move to stop them. As much as Owen wanted to push back, to let out his own frustrations with the case, he didn't. Hurting Gwen wasn't the answer, and he still remembered that kiss in the medical bay. He'd shag her eventually. Besides, he got it, he really did. He understood her anger, how many times had he felt it himself? He'd just had years to understand, to accept it. To learn how to drink and shag it away.
"Fuck Torchwood," he offered instead. "Fuck the Rift. Fuck aliens and fairies and killer robots. Because that's the problem, not Jack. And if you think you can stop the Rift from spitting shit at us, or keep aliens off our arse with your bloody compassion, good luck to you. I'll be here, saving the world with Jack and a few more pints."
He turned and went back to the bar, more determined than ever to put this one behind him