Title: Tears of the Weevil

Summary: Gwen meets the last hope for the cure.

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Don't own Torchwood, the characters or anything related to the show.

Rhys opened his door to reveal his dead ex-girlfriend standing in front of him. "I suppose you better come in." He shrugged in a very Rhys-like way. His lack of shock told her two things. Owen had told him they'd brought her from the past and he knew about Torchwood.

Owen appeared in the hallway before she could enter the living room. "You shouldn't be here." His tone was not of a lover's.

"Why are you?" Gwen demanded to know. "You're supposed to be getting a sample of my blood, not visiting my ex." He looked from her to Rhys and back again. "The only other way to get my DNA is if I had a kid…a son?"

Owen shook his head. Gwen sighed; she had no idea what was going on anymore. "A daughter." He choked out. He led Gwen in to the living room where Sarah sat with her two year old son playing with toy cars. Beside her was a nine-month-old baby girl in her cot. Gwen held her breath as she looked down at the girl. She was the double of Gwen but she had her father's nose and smile, including his naturally pointed teeth.

"She's beautiful." She smiled, already feeling a natural bond with the young child. "What's her name?"

"Anne." Owen answered, standing beside her, looking down at his gurgling daughter.

"She's ours." Gwen held her tiny hand and stroked her thick dark hair.

"I need to get some of her blood and then we're leaving." His emotionless tone had returned. He was preparing himself for leaving his daughter. Again.

"So let me get this straight. I died and you just gave our daughter away!" She hissed, not wanting to shout in front of the quiet child.

"No." Rhys stood up for the man who had stolen his girlfriend. "It was your choice Gwen. Owen tried to take her back twice."

"Why would I give up my baby?" Gwen was shocked by the revelation.

"It was safer. We couldn't keep her, not with the risks of working for Torchwood." Owen explained her reasoning. "Rhys and Sarah can give her a better life than we ever could. You knew that. You still do." Gwen nodded as she stared down at the happy, innocent face of her baby girl.

"Doesn't make it any easier though."

Lacey sat beside Gwen as she started absently at nothing. "Your daughter's going to be ok." She comforted the disturbed woman. "Rhys and Sarah are good people…and their son Danny, he'll be a great older brother." Gwen nodded.

"Rhys is a good man. I always thought he'd make a great dad."

"What about Owen?"

"Owen…the Owen I know, he's a tosser. I wouldn't trust him with a teenager never mind a toddler…but this Owen, your Owen, he's different. If he wasn't so bitter I'd say he'd be a great dad."

"He's got a lot to be bitter about." Lacey pointed out, her voice laced with just as much bitterness. "In the last year alone he's lost his daughter, Ianto, and you. We are all bitter Gwen. We just deal with it in different ways."

"How do you cope?" Gwen was close to cracking up and she'd been there less than a week. Lacey had been living with the world in the state it was for two years. As she looked at the young blonde, considering the question that she'd been asked, she realised just how young she really looked. Barely in her twenties and the dark circles under her eyes looked as heavy as the burden in them.

"I can't afford not to." She answered simply. Honestly. "If I stop coping…Tosh needs me."

"You're just a child." Gwen's dark gaze turned to one of pity and she tried to wrap her arms around the younger woman.

The blonde pulled away and shook her head, as if burnt by the touch or the word. "I had a happy childhood. But I haven't been in a child in a long time. So do not treat me as one."