This chapter's a bit longer than the usual but I'm sure you'll all manage fine.
Thanks to:
PassionPoet - thanks for the review, glad you're enjoying it!
MythStar BlackDragon - trust me, I want to make Jack happy too!
Pandora of Ithilien - yeah I know, I've had my fair share of those lol. Thanks for the review
HarriHobbit - thanks so much for your encouraging review, I hope you enjoyed the alternative chapter, feel free to review that as well! lol (wow that was shameless sorry)
crazedchick - thanks so much!
bad2wolf2mcgee - thanks for that I needed the encouragement that it's ok to have it a little dark because with this plot I'm finding it hard to keep the humour in.
WhoKnows909 - I think I already sent you a pm saying to send me your e-mail add but if you do I'll send you the alternate chapter. thanks for the review!
Kizzy - thanks so much, your review made me smile :)
Gwen sat at home curled up on the couch and clutching her wedding dress. She had had the last fitting that afternoon and it was all ready and fitted perfectly. Only six days until I'm officially off the market. At this thought her stomach decided to jump up into her throat and she coughed uneasily trying to throw off the queasy feeling.
She heard a key turn in the lock and the door open and she jumped up attempting to stuff the dress behind the couch without creasing it.
"Gwen?" Rhys inquired as he stepped through the door.
"Err…don't come in yet!" She yelled desperately making sure the dress couldn't be seen before saying, "alright you can come in now."
"What were you doing?" He asked curiously as he kissed her hello.
"Just admiring my dress," she smiled, "and you can't see it yet!"
He smiled back before his expression slipped into one of bland innocence, "so how was work today?"
Gwen sighed; she had been expecting this question. Rhys had asked it everyday for the past week, a last attempt to find out exactly what she did before he became eternally bound to her.
"Same as every other day," she replied as she had every other time.
"You're spending a lot of time there recently," he said again as if he didn't really care but she knew he was only feigning the indifference.
"It's just an outlet for all the stress," she said slowly, wondering if this was an answer Rhys would accept.
"Stress?" He said shortly, apparently not, "well if you're getting too stressed out about the wedding maybe we shouldn't be getting married."
She ignored the stab of pain this thought caused her and said quickly, "every bride gets stressed about her wedding Rhys!" She reached out to hold his hand, "don't worry, it's normal. It is the most important day of my life after all." She leaned in to kiss him but he turned his face away.
"How can I be sure you'll even show up?" He half muttered.
She frowned, "what are you talking about?"
He finally turned to face her looking her straight in the eyes and Gwen swallowed, perhaps that wasn't much better than him facing away. "I'm talking about the fact that you hardly even seem to know if you'll be home in the evenings half the time. This special ops has got you running around whenever the time, how do you know they'll let you off for your own wedding?!"
Gwen flushed, "so this is what you've been moody about lately. Well I can tell you for sure that they are not going to interrupt our wedding. Okay?"
Rhys didn't reply, instead he let her hand go and wandered over to the small kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge.
"Okay?" Gwen reiterated.
"Yes, yeah ok fine whatever," Rhys mumbled, taking a swig of beer and belching.
Gwen turned away wrinkling up her nose. Usually Rhys's dirty habits wouldn't have annoyed her but lately they were starting to get to her. The way he chewed with his mouth open and wandered around the flat naked and belched horribly and…the list could go on but instead of dwelling upon it Gwen made sure Rhys was immersed in a leftover takeaway before gathering up her dress and taking it into the bedroom. She hardly slept that night instead she listened to Rhys snoring and thought about her life to come.
The next morning at the Hub Jack was sitting in his office looking at his watch. It was 7:30 and Gwen was still not in. Ianto had been perfectly punctual as usual and Tosh and Owen had ambled in at their usual time whilst the person he had been looking forward to seeing most was late.
"Where's Gwen?" He said in general to the three people gathered below.
"I don't know," replied Ianto, "but she half an hour later than she usually is."
"I can't get a hold of her on her mobile," Tosh said hanging up her phone.
Jack frowned, when someone was late to a normal job it would have just meant a word of warning from the boss but when someone was late when they worked at Torchwood…well that was a completely different story.
"Keep trying her phone", he said to Tosh who nodded and picked her phone up again, "Owen scan local frequencies to see if there have been any odd sightings around Gwen's area."
It was at this moment that the cog shaped door rolled open and Gwen ran in dragging her bag and a jumper behind her.
"Sorry I'm late," she panted. Her hair hadn't looked as if it had been brushed and her cheeks were flushed from the cold and the running and there were large dark bags under her eyes giving away how tired she was.
"Where were you?" Owen asked incredulously, "you look like you got put in a car wash by accident."
Tosh elbowed Owen and gave him a disapproving look. "What?" He asked, unaware that he really done anything wrong.
Tosh sighed and shook her head before giving Ianto a meaning look and between the two of them they dragged Owen off completely oblivious to anything leaving Jack and Gwen alone.
"What happened?" Jack asked once he was sure the others were out of hearing.
"Nothing, I just overslept," Gwen replied but Jack had known her long enough now and had paid enough attention to her character to know when she was lying or avoiding something.
"That's not everything," he said prompting her.
"Don't bother Jack," she said shortly before sitting herself down before her computer and logging in.
"Gwen if whatever it is that is bothering you is going to impede your work you need to either let me know so I can help or leave." He said bluntly, he needed her to open up to him.
Her reaction wasn't exactly what he was expecting, however, as she stood up abruptly and said, "Fine, I'll leave."
He gaped at her before sputtering out, "but you can't! That was just a ploy to get you to tell me what was going on!"
Gwen laughed shortly before clamping her mouth shut and shaking her head, "I can't…I can't…"
Jack quickly closed the distance between them and drew her into a tight hug as the tears started spilling down her cheeks.
"Shh…" he whispered soothingly as she clutched to him. Inhaling to familiar scent of Jack soon calmed her nerves but she didn't want to let go and giggled to herself as she realised she had left a damp patch on his shirt.
"It doesn't matter," he said when he realised what she was laughing at, "I have plenty of others."
"You must, you practically wear the same thing everyday, does your whole wardrobe consist of suspenders and blue shirts?" She snorted into his shirt and Jack gave her an incredulous look, letting the jibe against his dress sense go just because it was making her laugh.
"Hey watch it," he said softly.
She looked up into his eyes and smiled saying, "thanks Jack I needed a laugh."
He didn't reply though because both of them at the same time noticed how close they were and he couldn't think.
All he could think of doing was closing the distance between them pressing his lips softly against hers. For a second they just stayed like that touching but then Gwen responded and moved against him, opening her lips slightly and tilting her head.
She moaned slightly as he slipped his tongue into her mouth and deepened the kiss. His hands wrapped around her waist drawing her flush against him and he could feel every inch of her against his body. Her hands moved to his back and his dipped lower as the kiss grew more frantic both of them trying to be as close as possible, even more than they already were. Jack's mind had gone blank and all he could think of was Gwen, her scent, her touch.
They drew apart for a split second as the need to breathe became an urgent problem and Gwen stared into his eyes before seeming to reach a decision and she pushed him back against the nearest desk. She pressed her lips against his again not breaking the kiss while she manoeuvred herself so she was sitting on the desk and Jack standing between her legs.
His hands were everywhere stopping her brain from working; he tugged at the bottom of her jumper and drew it over her head leaving her in just a tank top. His touch on her skin set her on fire, she hadn't felt this aroused in a long time. She drew him closer to her breathing in his smell and not breaking the kiss she dipped her hands lower until she was close to a certain area of Jack she had been curious about for a long time.
He gasped as she caressed him and broke the kiss for an instant. It was in this tiny window of opportunity that Gwen's phone starting ringing.
"Bloody hell I've really got to start putting that thing on silent," she said in a frustrated voice.
Jack just looked at her and then stepped away with an odd expression on his face, "we shouldn't have done that."
Gwen nodded and gathered up her bag saying, "I'll…I'll be off for the next week then" before walking out of the Hub without another word and back to Rhys.
Sorry if you were expecting humour, I'm finding it a bit hard to keep that in. However if the character don't decide to interfere I'm 99.9 sure that the next chapter will be the wedding, or at least the beginning. But then again I may completely change my mind while writing it. You never know!
Hope you enjoyed the little bit of smut there lol ;)
Please review, it really means a lot to know that people actually enjoy reading what I write.