Fandom Torchwood

Series: Owen/Ianto unnamed story 3/5?

Pairing: Ianto/Owen with appearances from other Torchwood characters, no Jack!

Spoilers: none. It's AU set after 1x13

Rated: 18 for swearing, and some mild violence.

Plot: Ianto has been retconned (is now called Gareth) but continued to live his life in Cardiff. It wasn't long before he came into contact with another Torchwood member; Owen Harper. In this part Ianto's past comes out, but what does that mean for Owen and Ianto's altered relationship? Owen's POV with small snippet from Tosh.

PS: Having just read my own work I can now tell you there is some unintentional Gwen-bashing going on.

3. Your Taste Still Haunts Me

Owen arrived back at the Hub less than an hour later well aware that he'd been gone a long time considering Starbucks was a ten minute walk from the Hub's invisible lift entrance; and that was if you were walking slow.

"Where've you been?" Gwen asked in her lilting Welsh accent as he put her coffee in front of her. He suddenly realised that her voice was very annoying, it hadn't been when they first met or when they were shagging, or even just a few weeks ago but suddenly it sounded entirely too… feminine.

"Getting coffee. Tosh your piss-taker of a coffee is here!" he yelled.

"Where's yours?" The irritatingly observant Tosh said as she appeared from the kitchenette - what used to be solely Ianto's domain.

"Drank it." Owen answered shortly.

"Got any change?" Gwen asked. It had been her day to pay and she'd given him a tenner to get their drinks.

"Nah. Think the guy over charged us." Owen said. £12:50 for two coffees and a fucking cup of froth? He really should stop sleeping with coffee shop staff Owen reflected wryly.

There was a quiet lull of alien activity during which paperwork and tidying up was done, and Owen also managed to make an army of origami soldiers using a website on paper folding. At exactly 7:15pm Gwen yelled up "We've got a case! Everyone gear up." And the three of them ran to the SUV.

By the time they reached their destination the alien in question had already left leaving behind a very shaken and bruised Ianto.

"Hello? I'm Gwen Cooper, from Torchwood. We're special ops. Are you alright?" She asked softly, her body language was uncomfortable though, having to talk to Ianto like he was a stranger, and the risk of him remembering. Owen wanted to tell her that if Gareth hadn't remembered he was Ianto after meeting Owen, or after their encounter in the coffee shop, then he wasn't going to remember by being questioned by Gwen! But of course he didn't. He'd have to admit it then.

Ianto/Gareth slowly raised his head, his steady blue eyes meeting Gwen's empathetic ones.

"Yes." He said.

"Can you tell me what happened here?" She asked, sitting next to him on the ground outside the Starbucks Owen had visited earlier.

Instead of answering, Ianto turned to Gwen and said bleakly, "this isn't the first time something like this has happened to me is it?" It almost wasn't a question but still Gwen didn't know how to answer him (did Jack really hire her for her 'people skills'? Owen thought sceptically).

Owen finally approached, not much else he could do, inside there was a corpse and another person who'd been taken to the emergency room at St David's. Owen made sure his medical equipment was visible hoping not to freak Gareth/Ianto out any more than he had to.

"I need to check you out." He said, almost mumbling.

"Thought you already had." Ianto answered without thinking. His eyes snapped up to meet Owen's and suddenly there was a flare of recognition full of anger and pain and something indescribable (the same nameless thing he'd seen before) and his eyes lit up just as his fist propelled Owen backwards to the ground.

"Ow." Wanker had punched him - and Owen wasn't totally unsure it was undeserved. Taking a deep breath he stood up and tried to approach again, carefully. This time Ianto let him, and Owen discovered that apart from having mild concussion and a few bruises the only real damage was metal, not physical. But he'd need someone to stay with him for the night.

"We could call a friend for you?" Gwen offered - all heart, no brains Owen thought meanly.

"I'll take care of him." Owen announced to Gwen surprise. Ianto however, just gave him this very old, very wary, very Ianto-look that said 'I know what you're thinking but I won't tell anyone, not even you.' Of course that could just be Owen's paranoia.

"But… I mean there must be someone? What about Tosh?" Gwen said.

"Tosh is going to have enough work creating a cover story for this and I have medical training. It makes sense." Owen told her firmly.

"But-" Gwen began, only to be cut off abruptly by Ianto/Gareth.

"I'm going with him."

TOSH - inside the coffee shop.

She stared around the wreckage. The smell of coffee was overwhelming except for the tangy sent of blood. Two victims, one was already being driven to a hospital whereas the other now belonged to Torchwood. One Bethan Lloyd, a twenty-eight year old mother trying to supplement the family income in order to provide for her two year old son and seven year old twins. Her body was… definitely a close casket affair, Tosh couldn't help but think morbidly.

Then she stopped seeing it through Torchwood's black tinted specs and opened her eyes as if she was an actual functioning human being who didn't see death every day - and she cried. All this pain and despair and blood, Ianto's younger self had witnessed all this. They had tried to keep him away and still the carnage came. He hadn't been this young during his first blood bath, and the fact that in his second chance he only came face to face with this earlier was enough to make even the most stern hearted wretches cry. A nearby officer noticed and came over.

"You alright, miss? Is it the blood, it can have that affect." He said, his voice full of concern but Tosh knew he wasn't really affected by what he saw - he too saw death too often.

"It's not this. It's… life." She said feeling stupid as he cocked an eyebrow and turned away. Oh God, Ianto's life. She thought privately.

OWEN

"Are you gonna fuck me again?" Ianto asked drowsily as Owen manhandled him into his apartment. Owen rolled his eyes.

"Why is it always about sex with you?" Owen asked, recognising the irony of the situation.

"Dunno." Ianto said, sounding as if he'd thought long and hard about it. Afte a pause he continued. "I don't think it was before."

"Before what?" Owen asked, scared Ianto was going to say something like 'before I met you'. That would be too warped, even for him.

"Before I forgot." He finished, eyes boring holes into Owen's head as he helped Ianto remove his clothing and clime into bed.

"You know you sound crazy right now." Owen tried to shrug it off.

Ianto half smiled in his sleep. "About as crazy as an agency that chases aliens…" and then he's asleep and Owen's alone, looking at the contrast of youth and the innocence of sleep when behind those baby blue eyes was hidden layers of darkness.

OK, please comment! Comments air. I like air. It keeps me alive.

Promise of smut in next part if you comment (now there's incentive!)