Title: Tears of the Weevil(working title)

Summary: The truth about how the weevil got free surprises everyone.

Rating: PG

Gwen, Owen and Jack sat in stunned silence as the security footage showed them what had happened. Ten minutes after falling asleep at his desk Owen had stood up, his eyes still closed, and navigated his way through the building down to the cells where he had opened the weevil's cage. The cut on his head had been caused from the weevil shoving him in to the wall as it stormed past him in search of Gwen. "I swear I don't remember any of that!" Owen objected. Jack silently re-watched the footage, ignoring his team mates.

"Well you said the Weevils were telepathic, maybe he told you to do it-"

"They're only low level telepaths." Owen and Jack both pointed out. Frowning Gwen thought about the possibilities. "Well you were asleep, maybe it's easier for it to get in to your mind..." She trailed off at their sceptic glances. "At least I'm trying!"

Huffing at them both she grabbed hold of Owen's arm and dragged him over to the autopsy room where the medical supplies lay. Shoving him down on the autopsy table she glared as he took hold of her wrists, stopping her from moving away. "Easy Cooper. Didn't realize you liked it rough." She pulled away from him, storming over to where he kept the antiseptic. Pouring a generous amount on to a ball of cotton wool she slapped it over his cut. He grunted but let out no cries of pain. "Nice bed-side manner." She ignored his grumbling and wiped the small cut above his eye. He was lucky it wouldn't need stitches. She didn't trust herself with sharp objects around Owen Harper.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" He grinned as he lifted his T-shirt off over his head.
"You tell me?" He'd expected a reaction. Maybe for her eyes to dart hungrily over his toned body, but not for them to go wide and her mouth to hang open. Had he suddenly grown a third nipple he didn't know about? "I know it's a much better sight than Rhys but -"

"Jack!" Gwen screamed for their leader and fountain of knowledge, who came running at hearing his employee scream for the second time that night. She tilted Owen's head to the side so that Jack could see what she had noticed moments earlier.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Owen repeated, unaware of what the panic was about. "What the hell do you mean uh-oh?"

Staring in to the mirror Owen noticed for the first time that the bite-mark from the Weevil wasn't just a mix of angry purple and blue bruising, it held a disguised rash.

"It's probably just MRSA!" He argued as Jack ordered him to run various medical tests on himself and refused to leave him alone until they found out what it was.

"Owen, you're one of the few people in history to have survived a weevil attack, and now said weevil is getting you to set it loose. We have no idea what its bite could do to humans, or what kind of control it could have over you!"

Gwen left them to it and returned to the cell that housed Harper. Standing in front of the alien that had formed a strange connection with her she sighed.

"Is Owen going to be all right?" It looked at her with its large docile eyes, the way it always looked at her. She knew she would get no answers from the weevil, but she continued to question it anyway. "What do you want? Why go to so much trouble to get let out and just walk back in there because I said so? What's so special about me." She shuddered as a slow grin spread over the weevil's face. It held an all knowing look, which mixed with it's toothy grin, disturbed her more than watching it tear a man's throat apart.

Owen and Jack found nothing wrong with him. He was in tip top condition besides the cut above his eye and the rash and the bruising. Owen dismissed it as a simple rash and put it down to changing his aftershave. After telling Ianto and Tosh about the previous night's occurrence over a fresh cup of Ianto's morning coffee they eventually forgot about the rash, and the weevil as they moved on to the day's cases that needed attention. Gwen avoided visiting the weevil, she refused to refer to it by the name she had given it any more, and gradually life went on.

It wasn't until a weak later that things erupted again. While at the wheel of the SUV, Owen began to feel light headed and dizzy. He blinked trying to clear his vision of blurry white dots. He was about to mention to the others that he didn't feel fit to drive when they're collective screams jolted his attention to what they all saw. A large old tree that was drawing closer. What was a tree doing in the middle of the road? Realization dawned on Owen too late as they hurtled down the hill towards the impending impact with the tree's thick bark. He wasn't on the road any more.

"Bugger."

Owen woke to the sound of the monotonous beeping and humming of machines. His entire body felt stiff and cold. Except for his hand. He felt a comforting warm weight on it. Forcing his eyes to open fully he looked down to where Gwen Cooper lay with her head on his hospital bed, sleeping peacefully with her hand covering his.

Guilt tore at him as he remembered why he was in a hospital bed with annoying machines beeping around him. Gwen's eyes fluttered open as he shifted his weight on the bed. "Morning gorgeous." He managed to choke out from his dry throat. She smiled, the sort of dazed, not all with it smile she often wore when she woke up beside him. She usually lost it pretty quickly after the guilt set in. This time however, it remained fixed in place.

"Not quite." Her watch flashed four AM. "How you feeling?"

"Like I went head first in to a tree."

"Well funnily enough..." She yawned half way through her sentence. "Sorry, haven't slept much. You've been out almost three days." Owen could see she was exhausted and was willing to bet she'd barely left his side in those three days. He wasn't feeling overly energetic either.

"It's bloody freezing in here." He grumbled. The mischievous twinkle returned to his eye. "How about keeping me warm?" He'd expected her to frown or blush, but she was obviously cold herself sitting in the hospital room wearing only a T-shirt. Slipping off her shoes she slipped under the covers beside him, careful not to press against him, for fear of hurting him. She was being oddly nice to him.

"Must be my lucky night." He teased, placing a protective arm around her waist, pulling her in tightly against him. "How about we work on your bedside manner?"

"Watch it Harper!" He smirked. Same old Gwen.

When he regained conciousness again the midday sun was streaming through the window beside his bed, forcing him to squint. Someone in the room shuffled about and the blinds were drawn over, allowing some light in the room but keeping the sun's glare out of his eyes. "How are you feeling?" Tosh's voice suddenly caused him to be wide awake. His head jerked from the empty space of bed beside him to the equally empty chair on the opposite side of where Tosh sat. "She's just gone home to get a change of clothes and a shower." Toshiko explained, knowing full well who he was looking for. She'd been the one to wake Gwen up a few minutes before Jack had entered the room.

Owen settled back down, rubbing at his tired eyes. "So what's the damage?" Tosh sat cradling her broken wrist.

"Ianto's got a few cuts and bruises, Jack hasn't got a scratch on him, I've broke my wrist and Gwen's fine. She passed out after the crash, you got her out before you blacked out too. You've been unconscious three days, you don't seem to be hurt though, just some bruising." He winced as he pulled himself up in to a sitting position. He was pretty sure Gwen had been lying on the bruising Tosh had mentioned. "What happened Owen?"

He shrugged, grimacing as pain shot through his bruised side. "I dunno. One minute I was fine, the next I had the hangover from hell...and no I hadn't been drinking." his eyes darkened as he thought back to the events in the car. Toshiko noticed the change in him.

"Owen?"

"I heard it." His voice was low and close to a growl. "It was calling to me, telling me to take her to it-"

"Take who were?"

His attention snapped to his co-worker, his eyes wide with with terror. "The weevil. The weevil was telling me to take Gwen to it."