Reflections In The Mirror

by recklessl0ve

Kat and The Doctor have survived the year that never was and now they are back. But the walls between universes are breaking, the stars are going out and two people who mean something to the duo are coming back for them. Kat may have just found her way back home, but will she want to go back? Will she be able to? Kat's life is about to change completely whether she likes it or not

5. A Day In Death

Three days, that's how long it had been. Three days. Three days since I had come to Cardiff along with the Doctor, three days since I almost died, and three days since Owen had died and come back and fought death. Back when I was living on my own Earth, three days would have been nothing to me; it would have probably gone quick for me. But now they just seemed to drag out. Since the death situation, nothing had really happened and it was starting to drive me slightly insane and the Doctor was probably feeling even worse. But I still refused to leave, not until I knew Owen was okay.

I had ended up agreeing to stay at his place that night, and the night after that too. Nothing really happened; I usually ended up falling asleep on his sofa a couple of hours after I got there. It was weird, travelling with the Doctor I never really got tired that often, which is surprising. But over these past few days I had been exhausted. Probably because it was going so slowly. I had tried to keep myself awake; after all, Owen can't sleep anymore. But it was pretty much inevitable. I don't know what he done while I was asleep, but when I woke up he'd be back by my side, watching my slightly in the corner of his eyes. It made me wonder if he watched me the whole night, that would be slightly creepy, but I never really asked.

During the day, he'd try to be his usual self. Make sarcastic remarks and have that stupid little grin on his face. But there were times I would catch him, when he thought no one was looking at him, that little façade would go away and you'd see the shattered person underneath. He wasn't handling this as well as he liked to think he was. And he certainly wasn't okay yet. And I knew for a fact that what he was about to hear wasn't going to make things any better at all. In fact, it was probably going to make it worse.

"Dr Owen Harper, Torchwood Officer 565, I'm relieving you of your position." Jack said from his desk and Owen stood in front of him with me by his side, and Ianto standing a couple of metres away from us. I felt Owen tense up beside me, I knew why Jack was doing this and that kept me quiet, but it sure as hell wasn't going to keep him quiet.

"Bollocks." He said, letting out a sigh of frustration. "I'm sorry Jack, this is bollocks!"

"Hand in your weapon and your security pass." Jack continued, ignoring Owen's tiny little rant.

"Why?" Owen asked. "I'm fine." No, Owen. You're really not.

Jack's head shot up at that moment, to look at Owen, his eyes completely fixed on him. "Three days ago you died." He reminded him. "We need to examine you. We need to find out what you are." He sighed, his eyes moving down again. "We need to be certain you're okay."

"Yeah, well it almost sounds as if you care. Well done." Owen said, completely sarcastic, of course.

This made Jack's head shoot up again, and he was obviously getting tired of this. "Until I'm confident you're fit for duty, Martha Jones will replace you as Torchwood's new medical officer." He stated.

"She's doing all right out of this, isn't she?" Owen said, a little louder this time, obviously wanting Martha who was just outside with the Doctor to hear. I sighed and hit him in the arm. It was hardly her fault, the only thing she wanted to do was make sure he was okay, not have his job.

"Her and the Doctor have worked out a few tests and examinations." Jack explained. To be honest, that had been the only reason I was fine with this, knowing that Martha and the Doctor had been the ones to work the tests out. If it had been some other doctor I would have been a little sceptical. But at least I knew these tests would be safe, because I knew for a fact the last thing the Doctor or Martha would want to do would be to cause harm to anyone.

"What if I refuse?" Owen asked.

"Owen." I warned.

"You'll be confined to the cells, the tests will be done, and if the results show that you're a danger to the team, appropriate steps will be taken." Jack told him, standing up and walking over to him. Owen sent a glare his way before he moved his eyes down to the floor. "I'm asking you, Owen. Please. Let us help you. Let us make sure you're safe."

Jack's eyes moved over to me for a moment, and Owen's eyes shortly followed looking at me in desperation, like he wanted me to decide what he should do for him. I slowly nodded, knowing that was enough and he let out a sigh before nodding as well. I gave him a small smile and pulled him into a light hug, knowing full well that none of this was easy for him.

"I'm gonna need your gun." Ianto suddenly piped up. Owen suddenly pulled out of the hug, and turned around to look at the Welshman with a glare, but after a few seconds he hesitantly brought his gun out and handed it over. He looked over at me again and I nodded. "And you're security pass." Ianto added, causing Owen to glare at him again. "Please." Owen complied once again, handing his security pass over as Ianto placed both that and the gun into a clear bag with the Torchwood logo on it.

"And how long are the Doctor and Dr Jones' tests going to take?" Owen asked, spitting out the words, obviously still not too happy with the whole idea.

"As long as they need to." Jack answered simply, walking back over to his desk.

"And what the hell am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Jack shrugged, picking up his mug full of coffee and taking a sip. "We always need someone to make coffee."

"Oh, no." Both Owen, Ianto and I said at the same time, all three of us shaking our heads. That was not going to go down well.

XOXO

I sighed as I perched myself on one of the steps near the med bay, fiddling subconsciously with one of the rips in my jeans. I had chosen not to go with Ianto and Owen to Owen's little lesson of how to make good coffee. While it would most certainly have been more entertaining than just sitting on this step, I didn't really want to be there if it ended up badly, which it probably would.

I was brought out of my own thoughts as the Doctor suddenly jumped onto the steps, making me jump before he sat down on the step next to me. "Boo." He said happily, grinning widely. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't stop the smile forming on my face. "Got you this." He said holding out to me what looked like a games console. "Found this in the archives broken, thought you could use a little entertainment so I fixed it."

"Aren't you supposed to be helping Martha with Owen's tests?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as I took the console out of his hand. I was starting to slightly wonder why it was even in the alien archives, but then I caught sight of the engraving on the back. 5234. That explains it.

"Fine." The Doctor half pouted, bringing his legs to his chest as he looked away from me. "Don't thank me."

I let out a small laugh and nudged him lightly with my elbow, which made him turn his head back to look at me again. "Thank you." He smiled, rather smugly and I rolled my eyes as I switched the game on. "It's the Super Mario Brothers." I said as the two rather familiar Italian men dressed in red and green appeared on the screen, along with the damsel in the distress known as Princess Peach. I turned my head back up to the look at the Doctor with one eyebrow raised. "You do know that we have Super Mario Brothers here, right?"

The Doctor simply nodded. "Yeah, of course. But this is 53rd century Mario Brothers." He said, as if that would just end the discussion. "Much better."

I shook my head as my eyes moved back to the screen. He was right, it was better, in certain aspects. Especially the effects. But then it is a future video game, of course the effects are going to be better. But 53rd century or not, the story line never seemed to change. There I was once again, for about the 20th time in my life already, helping Mario save Princess Peach in a hope that she'd fall in love with him. Of at least, that's what I had always gathered from the game.

Martha and Jack had appeared not too much later, and by the looks of things they were discussing the tests that Owen would have to go through in a short amount of time. But I didn't really listen, what they were saying would probably be too complicated for me to understand, and I had decided with the three of them already that I'd only be there as Owen's moral support and that was if he even wanted me there. And, I was already far to engrossed in this stupid game. It doesn't matter if it's the same story line, Mario Brothers will always get addictive sooner or later. And for me it was sooner.

The sound of the cups rattling and a few of them shattering made me look up, however. I looked over to see Owen standing by the coffee machine, looking slightly embarrassed and annoyed with himself as he looked over at all of us as we all looked at him. I sighed, thinking about going over to him when I felt someone lightly grab hold of my arm. It was the Doctor, of course, who gave me a slightly sad look as he tried to lead me away.

"Come on." He said as he tried to move me to the right. I went to protest but he got there before I even managed to get a single syllable out. "Listen, listen, listen." He stopped all of sudden, holding my by my shoulders and he looked at me in the eyes. "He'll be fine. Just give him some time, okay?" I nodded. "Okay, now come on. You can help us get everything ready."

I sighed, simply nodding again in agreement as the Doctor lead me over to wherever they had got the tests put in place. My eyes glancing over just once to where the coffee machine was where Owen was now just standing there, talking to Ianto as he tried to clear everything up.

XOXO

Owen ran on the treadmill, his eyes fixed forward like he was in concentration. I sat on a table just next to it, my eyes fixed back onto the games console as I tried to get my way through level 3, which was a lot harder than I had expected. Martha and the Doctor stood not too far away, staring at screens with the Doctor wearing his brainy specs as he did so. A beeping suddenly came from the treadmill signalling that Owen was finished, and I quickly slapped down the button before Owen could even reach it, stopping it.

"So, you're choosing me over the boyfriend?" Owen asked Martha. I looked up to see the smirk on his face before rolling my eyes and looking back down again. Here we go. I thought to myself. He's in the sarcastic mood now.

Martha rolled her eyes as well. "Yeah, that's it." She said sarcastically as well as she moved over to the treadmill. "You really don't need to worry, you know, I don't want your job."

"Yes, I know." Owen replied as he moved over the weights and began lifting them. "You just find me irresistible." He smirked and nodded over to me. "Katherine knows all about that."

I saw the Doctor roll his eyes as he continued messing around on the computer. He had learnt over the past three days that no matter how many glares you shot Owen's way, he wasn't going to stop, simply because he knew it got to him. I rolled my eyes as well and looked up at Owen with a glare.

"You can keep me out of this." I said, but it only caused his smirk to grow even wider.

"That's it." Martha said again sarcastically. "Every morning me and Kathy have been discussing ways to get you here like this." Slowly she moved over to the computer, looking at the results. "There's no sign of any muscle decay. You're in great shape, as ever."

"No use coming onto me, Jones. I'm a changed man." I simply snorted at that comment, changed man my ass.

"And, erm, no stiffening anywhere?" Martha asked, as the Doctor handed me one of those scanner things as I walked over to Owen.

"Well…" I stopped short, sending him another glare as I whacked him in the arm, but he only just smirked.

"Just answer the question." The Doctor said in his warning tone, looking over slightly and giving Owen the look that he normally only ever gives Jack.

"No, no signs of rigor mortis." He finally answered, bending down and placing the weights down on the floor before he stood back up again and stood still, ready for me to scan him. "So if I keep up the exercise, I won't atrophy."

"Yep." Martha said simply as she continued looking at the readings. "And bonus, definitely looks like you're not going to age either."

"There's no further signs on cell mutation." The Doctor said, slightly mumbled that we were just only about here it. "You're 100% human."

"100% Owen." I added, flashing him a cheesy smile which caused a smile of his own to appear on his face, which seemed like the first time in a long time. The smile however, disappeared when Gwen's lovely Welsh accent came out of the intercom and filled the room.

"Hi guys, meeting in the boardroom. Can you three come down?"

The Doctor and Martha instantly headed out of the room and made their way for the boardroom. But I stood there for a moment, just staring up at Owen with a slight sad look, kind of hesitant to leave him again.

"You better go, Katherine." He finally spoke up, his voice quiet.

"What about you?" I sighed.

He was quiet for a short moment before a small smirk appeared on his face and he nodded. "Hot chocolate with loads of marshmallows."

"What?" I asked, slightly confused as a small laugh escaped from my lips.

"It's what you drink isn't it?"

I sighed before finally nodding. I looked back up at Owen once more, to see the smile had gone again like I had expected. It was obvious he was hating this, being tested, having to make everyone drinks and not being able to do any of the fun stuff. I pulled him into a tight hug, which he slowly returned, burying his head into the crook of my neck before I finally pulled away. Grabbing the games console off one of the tables, I made my way to the boardroom at a fast pace, not wanting to be too late.

XOXO

I sat in my chair next to the Doctor, knees brought up to the chest with my arms wrapped around then as we all looked up at an old, black and white picture of a man shown up on the screen with a load of information displayed on the right-hand side of it.

"Henry John Parker." Jack began explaining as he sat down in the chair right at the front of the long desk that occupied the boardroom. "Used to be a looker, now he's 80 off and even I have my limits." The Doctor raised his eyebrows, slightly disbelievingly while I just smirked at the comment, only just noticing Owen enter the room with a tray full of coffee mugs. "Your basic millionaire collector of alien hoo-hah."

"Didn't we file him in the 'mostly harmless' category?" Owen piped up as he went around the table, placing down coffee mugs.

"So what's the problem?" Martha asked with her brows furrowed in confusion, mine as well. After all if this guy was mostly harmless then why had we been called up here in the first place?

"I detected this at 5:17 this morning." Tosh told us, pressing a button which brought up a map which then zoomed into a specific spot. "Parker's house. There's an energy spike coming from it. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Okay. So, the big question is, what's our Mr Parker gone and found this time?" Gwen asked as she looked over at Owen who now currently had his back turned to all of us after handing out the drinks and then quickly switched her mug over with Ianto's.

"Why?" The Doctor asked, leaning back in his chair as he took a sip of tea from his mug. "Do you think he's a threat?"

"Well, he hasn't been up until now. He's a bit Howard Hughes." Gwen explained as she handed sheets of paper around. "We know he's there, we know he's not a threat, but, as the story goes, he hasn't left the house since his wife died. Nobody's seen him since 1986."

"We've been monitoring Park for ages. There's nothing to be sacred of, is there?" Owen piped up again as he took a seat at the very end of the table.

There was a small moment of an awkward silence before Ianto finally spoke up. "Unlike, say, Tintin?" I raised my eyebrows at that, moving my head around to look at Owen who simply shrugged.

"Okay, I never liked Tintin." Slowly, we all began to smirk trying to stifle the laughs that were threatening to escape. "What, he's weird. Funny face. And his hair is just… it's horrible."

Ianto shrugged. "I always loved Tintin."

"Yeah, well, you would. And he never had a girlfriend did he, just the dog." I simply rolled my eyes, taking a sip from my mug as Jack did the same smirking. "So I reckon he was actually shagging the dog." Owen said with a slightly laugh, making my nearly choke on my drink. My head shot around to look at him with a slightly disgusted look, Ianto doing the same.

"Okay, and back to the actual problem here. Alien energy pulse." The Doctor said, clearly feeling just as uncomfortable with the topic as I did.

Gwen nodded. "We've got to check this Parker out, okay?" she said, looking at Jack who just nodded. "Tosh, can you get me complete schematic of the house? Ianto find out exactly what he's got. Get me an inventory of everything that he's bough over the last 10 years. Martha, can you get hold of his medical history?"

Martha nodded. "Sure."

"Doctor, you know more about this stuff than anyone else, can you take a look at the energy pulse and try and make sense of it."

"Got it."

"Okay, let's get to it, guys."

And with that everyone stood up. I hesitated for a moment seeing the look on Owen's face again, but the Doctor grabbed hold of my hand practically dragging me out of my chair as we all left the room, leaving Owen on his own.

"Hey, Gwen any news on Banana Boat?" Jack asked. I frowned again at the name. I had learnt over the past few days that Banana Boat was the name of Rhys' friend who was going to be best man at their wedding.

"Can you believe it?" Gwen sighed. "Best man arrested in Lanzarote."

I raised my eyebrows at that. "What was he arrested for?"

"Ah, dodgy CDs." She replied waving it off.

I nodded and shrugged, taking one last look at Owen who was still sat in the boardroom, before following the Doctor and Martha down to the computers.

XOXO

"We know you are." Both me and Martha said at the same time, as Owen went on for the one hundredth time on how he was a brilliant doctor. I didn't take my eyes of the screen of the games console, as Martha also didn't take her eyes off of the computer she was working on. Owen was sitting down on the metal table, tossing a scalpel up in the air and catching it repeatedly.

"So why are you doing my job?" Owen asked, the question directed at Martha, but I was the first one to answer it.

"Because Gwen asked her to." I said, putting the game on pause and placing it down as I looked up at him.

"That's not what I mean." He said, and I caught Martha smirking in the corner of my eyes as she continued working.

"Because you died." I said simply. "And because you need help. That's not a bad thing… Well, it is a bad thing that you died, of course. I mean you died and now you're dead and of course that's bad. But it's not a bad thing that you need help." I sighed, knowing that maybe I had gone on a bit too much and moved my eyes down to look at my boots. "If you know what I mean."

"You know, you're kind of cute when you babble." Owen smirked.

My eyes moved up to look at him again. "Yeah. And you're kind of cute when you're not chucking a scalpel about." I said as I looked at the metal equipment in his hand. "Seriously, stop it."

Owen sighed, as he stopped chucking it around. "But I'm making the sodding coffee!" He complained as he hopped of the table and moved over to the stairs. I sighed, rolling my eyes as I ran a hand through my hair. "I mean, come on, Martha, won't your bloke be missing you?" He paused for a moment his eyes lighting up slightly as he thought of something. "How about Jack? Has he seen Jack? They always get jealous when they meet Jack."

"Owen, I don't want your job, I just want to do mine." Martha snapped as she turned to look at him.

"Okay, I am dead, but I am 100% human." He said. "I'm fine."

I looked down at his hand wide eyed as I saw a few flecks on blood start to trickle down, frowning; slightly surprised he hadn't felt it. "You've just sliced your hand open."

XOXO

Owen was sat back down on the metal table, with me sitting in the free space on it next to him, watching closely as Martha slowly began to stich Owen's hand back together. "The wound's not going to heal, so, you're going to have to re-stitch it every week or so." She told him as she looked up at him for a moment. "At least you don't need anaesthetic."

"Yeah, can't feel anything." Owen said his voice only just above a whisper. "I can't feel the needle or thread. I can't feel your hands on mine. Yet I can touch things. I can hold them." I felt him grab hold on my hand as he looked down at it. "I know they're there but… I just can't feel anything. I'm numb."

"Do you see why Jack's worried? Why we're all worried?" I asked him, my eyes fixed on him again as I tried to get my point across. "If you get a bruise it's not going to heal, if you break a bone it's not going to mend. You're… fragile."

"Yeah, well, I'd better get used to doing things myself." Letting go of my hand, Owen took the needle and thread out of Martha's as he slowly began to finish the rest of the stiches himself. I sighed, giving him a small smile as I hopped off of the table and made my way, knowing that he probably didn't want us there right now.

XOXO

I was leaning up against the wall, looking down to the floor and I began to play around with the sleeve of my jumper. It took me a moment to actually realize that Martha was by my side, looking at me in concern and Jack had come over, doing the exact same thing.

"Are you okay?" Martha asked quietly.

"Yeah." I answered with a small nod. Staring into space for a short moment before I finally gave in and shook my head. "No." I sighed, finally looked up at her. "He was stitching his own hand together, and he couldn't feel anything. And I wanted to help him, but I have no idea how."

"You care about him?" Jack asked. I merely shrugged in response, my eyes diverting down to the floor. "You do. You can't deny that." I let out a deep sigh, my eyes moving back up him, knowing that the look on my face would say all he needed to know. Jack nodded once, taking hold of my hands and dragging me past the Doctor who was messing around on one of the computers and onto the sofa nearby, forcing me to sit down as Martha followed.

"I know." He said simply, his hands still on mine as he squeezed them lightly. "And you know what? It's okay. There's nothing wrong with caring about him, and maybe feeling… other things too." I gave him the look again and he nodded. "I get it. I do. You don't want to forget… you know who."

"You make it sounds like he's Voldemort." I commented, looking at Jack, sceptically.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Point is, everyone has to move from these things on sooner or later. It's been what? A year in linear time. Two years for you if you count the year that never was. How long are you gonna wait, Kitty?" My eyes moved down from him to the floor, knowing that he was right, but not wanting to admit it yet.

"You can't keep thinking 'what if he hasn't moved on yet?', because you'll never know." Martha added. "He could have moved on already. Or he might do in the future. But he will have to, just like you have to. And if it feels right, right now, then you shouldn't even think about pushing it away."

I nodded once. "Yeah." My eyes moved back up to my two friends and gave them a small smile.

"Go see him." Jack said, stepping up and moving over to the chair at the computer desk next to the Doctor. He grabbed my jacket that had been laying there, chucking it over to me. "I wouldn't want to know what Owen will do when he's left to his own devices. And while he thought the games console was a good idea to keep you occupied." He nudged the Doctor lightly, forcing him into the conversation. "I don't want you getting square eyes."

"Oi." The Doctor whined. He mumbled something incoherently, although I guessed it was probably about Jack as his eyes moved over to me.

"So basically you're making me his personal body guard of sorts?" I questioned Jack, arching one eyebrow up at him and shrugged the jacket onto my shoulders.

Jack nodded once, his authority figure suddenly coming out to play. "Yes, I am." He walked back over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders as he slowly guided me down to the steps towards the cog shaped door. "Now, go and do your job." He pushed me forward one step, his hand slapping me on the bum lightly.

I jumped around, glaring at him playfully before giving him a mock salute. "Yes, sir." I looked over at both Martha and the Doctor, giving them a small wave and then turned my attention fully onto the Doctor. "Don't you dare think about playing my game and messing it up, because if you do, I will hurt you."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, holding his hands up in surrender. "I won't." He said, turning his attention back to the computer.

"Good." I smiled, looking at the three of them before dashing off towards the exit.

XOXO

The walk to Owen's apartment was a long one. I had taken several wrong turns but had managed to realize them before I had gotten too deep in the wrong path that I would have been truly lost. The cold wind whipped at my loose curls and nipped at my face, making me wish that I had begged the Doctor to use the TARDIS or Jack to use his vortex manipulator so I could have gotten there without having to go through this.

Finally reaching his apartment, I bounded up the stairs, stopping short halfway up when I heard a commotion going on, on the other side of the door. There were two voices, each of them shouting at the other. One was Owen; the other was a woman that sounded like Tosh. I frowned, stepping quietly up the last few steps and up to the door. Opening it cautiously so it didn't creek, I stepped inside, going completely unnoticed by the arguing duo that was in fact Owen and Tosh.

"Stop it! What's wrong with you?!" Tosh cried, standing on one side of the kitchen counter while Owen stood on the opposite side, the one closest to me.

"I'm broken Tosh!" Owen snapped. "I don't work. I've got to heartbeat, no feelings, no tears. I've got nothing to give anyone! Do you understand that? Maybe that's what you want, maybe you want somebody who's as screwed up as you are. Who's twisted and screwed up like you are. Well, do you want to see broken? Do you want to see broken?"

"Owen! Stop it! What are you doing?" Tosh screeched as Owen bent his finger backwards, a crunching noise filling the room as his bones broke underneath his forceful touch, his facial expression not changing during that time, showing no feelings of pain. I gasped, and Owen's head snapped round to me, noticing me for the first time. His eyes moved to the floor before back up to me, and then he took off, running and leaving me and Tosh standing in the room.

I looked over to Tosh who was standing in the same spot, unsure of what to do. I looked over at her sympathetically. "You couldn't lock up, could you?" I asked and she nodded once in response. "Thanks." And with that I took off as well, trying to catch up with Owen before he done something stupid. Jack was right; he shouldn't be left to his own devices.

"Owen!" I shouted out as I reached the bottom on the building with him already running down the street. No response. I sighed, running as fast as I could to catch up with him. He was fast and already a good few feet in front of me, but after travelling with the Doctor, I was the better runner and was soon slowly starting to catch up with him.

He ran through the park people moving out of the way while I had to push past them in attempt to not lose the grasp that I almost had on him. We ran through the city centre, right past the TARDIS which was still parked where we had left it days ago, past the hub and towards the bay. When he reached the edge he jumped, into the water. I stopped at the edge, looking down, and waiting for him to come up. But when he didn't, I didn't hesitate for a second before jumping in, swimming down to I was facing for him.

He was almost down at the bottom. But he was fine; his eyes were open, staring at me. I frowned for a moment, but it was then that I realized he had no breath. He didn't need it. He could stay in this water for as long as he liked and wouldn't die. However, I couldn't and it wasn't too long before I started to find it hard to stay under water for much longer. I looked over at Owen, but it looked like he wouldn't be leaving any time soon. I looked at him sadly, before quickly swimming up to the edge, coughing badly as I finally reached the surface, trying to regain my breath. I felt two pairs of strong hands lift me out of the water and a heavy coat was placed over me. I looked down to see I was wearing the Doctor's trench coat and then looked up to see the Doctor bending down beside me and Jack looking down at him.

"I'm relieving you of your post as body guard." Jack said as his eyes moved down to the water.

"Why?" I asked, wrapping the brown coat round me further.

"Are you kidding me?" Jack said turning to look at me. "You stayed down there until the very last minute, it's freezing out here. Body guard means you watch out for him, not jump in the water after him."

I sighed, looking down to the floor, knowing he was right. It was a stupid decision and I was regretting it now as the cold Cardiff air felt even colder against my wet skin. I shivered and felt a pair of arms wrap around me bringing me closer into a warm hug.

"Are you okay?" The Doctor asked.

I nodded once. "Cold, though."

"We should get you inside."

I shook my head. "Not until he's back up and out of the water too."

The Doctor sighed, but he never protested. He just kept his arms wrapped around me in attempt to keep me as warm as possible as I pulled his coat even tighter against me. We waited for a good twenty minutes, but there was still no sign and eventually the Doctor gave up on waiting and began dragging me towards the hub. I didn't try and struggle, just wanting to be in the warm again when there was a loud thud of a body hitting the decking. My head snapped round to see Owen, soaked to the bone, lying on the decking.

"Thirty six minutes." Jack said, looking down at his vortex manipulator. "Not bad."

"You were watching?" Owen asked, looking between Jack and the Doctor, who still had a hold of me.

"Skinny guy in tight jeans runs into water? Beautiful young girl follows? I was taking pictures." I rolled my eyes, knowing that he probably did as well. Jack shrugged, walking across the decking towards us, taking a hold of me as well before turning back to Owen who clambered up to his feet. "How long is this gonna go on for, Owen?"

XOXO

I sat in the conference room along with the Doctor, Jack, Gwen, Martha and Ianto. Several towels were wrapped around me as I dried off in the warmth of the hub, and a cup of coffee which Ianto had made especially for me was steaming away in my hands.

"Ianto, what have you found out about Parker?" Gwen asked as he stood at the front of the table, looking at all of us.

"I've identified some of the things he's purchased over the past year." The Welshman answered as he looked through his little notepad of things he had jotted down. "We've got a Dogan eye. A pair of Myakian wings, some meteorites. An Arcateenian translation of James Herbert's The Fog. But there are a few things we've never seen before."

"So one of these is causing the energy spikes?" Gwen asked.

"Looks like it." Ianto confirmed.

"And they're getting bigger." The Doctor added. "Much bigger. Dangerously big."

"Right, okay, we need to get in there." Gwen said simply, her eyes moving to Jack as she did so. She grabbed hold of a brown chunky folder, passing it across the table to Ianto. "Parker employs a Mr Phillip Farrington to run security. There's at least six guards, CCTV everywhere. All of which we can bring down by taking out the generator. But then there's these." She pressed a button bringing up an image of the house and image of a device flashing up on it. "Heat sensors."

"As in body heat?" Martha asked.

"Yep. Solar powered." Gwen answered. "There's one in every doorway, every window."

"So, how are we going to get past those?" I asked, my eyes moving around the table to look at everyone with one brow raised.

"Sounds likes you need a dead man." Owen's voice came from behind me. All the eyes in the room moved to him to see him standing in the door way, a towel hanging over his shoulders. "Someone with no body heat." He walked further into the room. His eyes were completely fixed on Jack. "What have you got to lose?"

All eyes moved to Jack as we watched him try to make a decision in his head. After only a short while he looked over to Ianto, pointing to Owen and nodding once. Ianto then stood up, pulling a gun out and placing it in Owen's hand along with his security pass that had been kept.

It was then we heard the sound of heels clipping on the floor, stopping just outside the room. I looked over, seeing Tosh staring silently at Owen, clearly not sure what to say to him after his sudden outburst earlier. Her eyes glanced over to me, examining me for a brief movement before looking back at Owen again.

"Tosh."

"I turned your telly off." She said bluntly to him, passing his keys over to him and then walked away.

XOXO

I leaned against the black SUV that was parked just outside Mr Henry Parker's house, watching as Owen prepared to go in, Martha standing in front of him as she went through a little warning speech. "If you hurt yourself you will not recover. It's like I said, any bruises you get, they're not gonna heal. Do not engage in physical combat. One punch, you're gone. Be careful."

"I understand." Owen said. "I'm made of glass." He turned around and began to walk off and I suddenly found myself pushing myself off the SUV, taking a few steps towards him.

"Owen." He stopped turning to look at me expectantly. I stood there for a moment lost for words before I smiled at him softly. "Just, be careful." He smiled once and nodded about to take off again when Jack called out to him.

"Oh, and you'll need this." He threw a white shirt at him, and I had to try and to stop myself from laughing at what was printed on it. Owen didn't seem to notice it yet however as he just stuffed it into his back and set off. I sighed moving back to lean against the car again, turning the comm I had been given on so I could listen in, and make sure everything was okay.

"Owen." Tosh's voice came down the comms after a few minutes.

"Yeah, hi, Tosh." Was Owen's reply.

"Okay, the power in the house is supplied from one private electrical generator. There's a backup unit but take the main one down and you've got one minute 20 of blackout time."

"You can only get rid of one of the blokes, yeah?"

"Might look a bit suspicious if there were two phone calls." Ianto replied.

"Try and make it the big one, okay?"

I giggled at that, pressing a button on the comm so I could speak down it. "Wimp." I commented, smirking slightly.

"Shut up, you." Owen whispered. "You're not even supposed to have one of these."

I looked over to Jack who was smirking and shrugged. "I'm persuasive, and Jack loves me so…"

It was quite for a few short moments until Owen cursed down the comms. "Arse."

"Not the big one?" I asked, wincing slightly at the thought now. One punch and he could be gone, let alone getting flattened by a big, bulky man.

"Not the big one." He confirmed.

The comms went silent after that for a very long while, and I guessed that Owen was making his way in. My fingers drummed nervously against my leg as I waited impatiently for Owen to speak again, telling us that he made it. I felt someone take hold on my hand, stopping me from drumming the tune that I had been and squeezed it. I looked up at the Doctor and smiled, thankful for the reassurance.

"Okay guys, I'm here." Owen said. I could hear the sound of a metal door creaking open and he got to the generator. It was then I heard a deep voice that didn't belong to Owen, warning him off but then there was a thud and it all went silent. I was just hoping it was the guard knocked out and not Owen. My hopes were confirmed true when Owen spoke sarcastically down the line. "Yeah, okay guys. Very funny." I giggled as he finally noticed the printing of TinTin on the t-shirt. "Bet it was your idea, Katherine."

"Janto's actually." I corrected.

"Janto?" Ianto interrupted, sounding confused.

"Yeah, you and Jack. Jack and Ianto. Janto." I looked over to Jack who raised an eyebrow at me. "No?" He shook his head. "Fine. I won't say it again." My eyes moved over to look at the house, seeing through the windows that the lights were flickering before they all suddenly went out, signalling that Owen had taken out the generator.

"One minute 20 until the backup generator comes online." Tosh told him. But the message that I managed to catch come from the Farrington comms told us something completely different.

"Farrington to all units. The backup generator will be running in 45 seconds. Stay at your posts, please. Mr Parker's personal generator is unaffected."

"Sorry, Owen." Tosh apologised. "They've obviously had some work done."

Owen was quiet for a short while after that, and I squeezed the Doctor's hand as I waited anxiously. It sucked having to have it be like this. Waiting a good distance from the house, only knowing he got through if he confirmed it, not being able to see anything. It sucked big time and I was mentally curing the heat sensors for it repeatedly.

"Heat sensors." Owen finally said, although he was mumbling to himself. "I am literally too cool for school." I scoffed at that. But hearing the small playful warning growl from Owen, I decided to not make any official comment on it and just leaned back, waiting for him to speak again, or anyone to speak again. "Right, I'm in." He finally confirmed.

"Okay, the energy reading seems to be coming from the first floor. A room at the back of the house." The Doctor spoke, having worked on the energy spike with Tosh throughout most of the day. He didn't have his own comm, but he was standing close enough next to me that he would be able to be heard.

"Can you guys give me anything else?" Owen asked hopefully.

There was a short pause before Tosh answered. "No. The energy source is playing havoc with the system. Sorry."

"No worried. I'm getting used to being in the dark." I winced and smiled sadly at that, knowing that he meant that it many more ways than just one.

"Hold it there." Came another deep voice, which I guessed was another security guard. I froze, momentarily worried for Owen as I crossed my fingers, hoping that the guard wouldn't do anything rash to hurt him.

"Evening." Owen said. "Nice place you've got here. Love what you've done with the pictures." I shook my head slightly. Trust Owen Harper to be so casual when he was probably being held at gun point right now.

"Who are you?" The guard asked. "Why aren't the sensors picking you up? Okay, stop! Stop or I'll shoot."

"No, you won't. You're a security guard. That gun's just for show, isn't it?" Owen said. His voiced sounded taunting and I shivered slightly. "Do you know what a bullet does to a living person? It's not like a knife through butter. No, no, no, no. It rotates, tears into the flesh and the gooey stuff behind. Rips into the organs, oh, it's not nice." I winced, feeling sick to my stomach for a moment just thinking that he had had to go through that sort of pain. "But, anyway. I haven't got any body heat; you must know what that means. You can't kill a dead man."

"What are you?" The guard asked, clearly getting scared at Owen's taunting words.

"I'm wrong."

"What are you?"

"I'm broken." Owen said. "I'm Dr Owen Harper. And I'm having one hell of a day." There was a loud thud as Owen clobbered the security guard and he fell to the floor.

I smiled for a short moment, knowing that he had probably got through everything by now, but the worry was still there for a moment. And I kept my ears open. It was completely silent, no loud thuds or gun shots. And I tried to take this as a good thing, that he was okay and that he was just searching for the place the energy spike was coming from. I looked over at Martha, who was staring at the ground, obviously waiting for some sort of reassurance that he was still okay too.

"Yes?" Came a voice that seemed to belong to an elderly man. I guessed instantly that Owen had found Henry Parker and possibly the thing creating the energy spike and a small bit of relief washed over me.

"It's okay, mate. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a doctor." Owen reassured him.

"You're a very violent doctor, I've been watching you."

"Henry Parker, yeah?" Owen asked.

"You're Torchwood, yeah?" Henry asked, and my eyebrows shot up. "Did the American send you?"

"Yeah, he sent me. How do you know so much about us?" Owen asked.

"They could have sent that Japanese girl. I liked her." Henry said, sounding clearly disappointed that he had in fact got Owen instead of Tosh.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry, you got me."

"Is she on your phone thing? The earpiece?" Henry asked before he suddenly called out to Tosh. "Hello! Just to say that you've got very lovely legs. You should show them off more." There was a sudden large amount of coughing coming from Henry and I frowned slightly. The man was ill. I guess it was to be expected. He is in his eighties after all.

"What's wrong with you?" Owen asked.

"Three heart attacks and a failed bypass." Henry answered and I winced slightly, surprised he had survived all of that. "But I'm fine because I have this. It's called The Pulse."

"You know what it is?"

"I named it." Henry told him. "It's keeping me alive. No! You're not taking it."

"It could be dangerous." Owen argued. "We've been detecting massive energy readings."

"I don't care. All I know is that it works."

"Well, I'm sorry." Owen said. "But it doesn't."

"What?"

"The energy isn't going into you." Owen explained as I heard the continuous beeps from the scanner as he took readings of it. "The power's just building up inside that thing. That's what we've been detecting but it isn't actually doing anything for you."

"You're wrong. I can feel it." Henry tried to argue. "No. No. I'm not going to die."

"Listen, please, listen to me." Owen said as he tried to calm the old man down. "There are loads of people's lives at risk. If that thing explodes, then we don't know what the fall-out will be."

"You're young, you don't understand what dying feels like." Henry snapped.

"Believe me, I do. I really do."

"There's nothing there."

"Where?" Owen asked.

"On the other side, nothing, I'm dying." Henry said. "Take away my Pulse and I'm gone. My body decomposing."

"You can't stop it Mr Parker." Owen said softly. "I'm sorry but it's going to happen one day.

"It'll be dark and I'll be alone."

"Where are you now?" Owen asked, but didn't even give Henry and seconds chance to even try and answer. "It's dark and you're all alone. So what's the difference?"

"I don't understand what's keeping me here." There was another burst of coughing from Henry, which soon calmed down probably thanks to Owen as he tried to calm down his breathing.

"It's hope. That thing, it's just hope. Do you really think all this is better than death?" Owen asked him, his voice completely serious now.

"It's got to be. It is better!" Henry replied.

"You're just scared of the darkness." Owen countered. "Join the club. Trust me; I know how shit everything can be."

"Don't you sit there pontificating. You're just a boy." Henry sneered. "What do you know about anything?"

I sighed and shook my head, and I spoke down the comm, hoping that Henry would be able to hear. "Trust me Mr Parker, sir. You have no idea what he's been through. He understands everything a lot more than you think."

There was a short pause before Henry spoke, directing his question to Owen. "Is that the new brunette I've seen you with?" He asked. There wasn't a worded response, but from what I guessed, Owen had nodded. I just raised my eyebrow wondering how he even noticed that I had been at Torchwood the past few days. "She's very loyal to you."

"Yeah, yeah she is." Owen agreed his voice barely above a whisper.

"I mean it. You keep her. You always need people like that around you." Henry spoke, almost like he was Owen's father, giving him some sort of life lesson. The old man sighed. "I've travelled the world. I fought in the war. Started my own business. I made a fortune! Married. Widowed. My collection, all of it, I've done so much. And this is where I end up, alone, lying in my own piss. And do you know what I want?"

"Clean sheets?" Owen suggested. He was being half serious; the other half was just trying to bring some light to the situation.

"I want a steak." Henry corrected. "Medium rare. Black pepper sauce. Look at me. Fed through a tube. I might as well be dead already." The elderly man stopped as he realized what he had just said. "I might as well be dead… Why don't you take it? Take it." It was silent for a moment as the exchange of the Pulse went on, and then Owen turned his attention back to him.

"Well?"

"Oh, Christ, it's dark." Henry replied. The fear was clear in his voice, and I felt my heart go out for him. "I'm alone, I'm so alone."

"It's alright. I'm here with you." Owen said, trying to reassure him again.

"I'm still stuck here though. I'm this bed. In the dark." Henry sighed.

"You know what?" Owen asked. "I'm going to come back. You and me, we're going to face all of this together. I'm going to help you."

"Torchwood!" Henry said, his voice suddenly turning from tired to being full of excitement. "If you come back, you can tell me all about it. Tell me what it's like. I want to hear about the aliens and everything! I need to know there's not out there. That this isn't all there is." There was a short pause. Owen was hesitating. "Oh, come on, I'm dying. Who am I going to tell? The Angel Gabriel?... If you come back, I won't tell that brunette girl that you're still holding my hand." I smirked, letting out a small laugh that went through down the comms and into Owen's ear.

"Well, maybe." Owen said, seeming to laugh as well.

There was a sudden gasp for breath and my body froze. It was most definitely Henry. He was dying. I said nothing, staying silent, just hoping that Owen could do something. It was only when the heart monitor flat-lined that I felt the horrible feeling rise in my stomach again. He truly was gone. I heard Owen, trying to work in the background, CPR I guessed, not realizing the obvious. But it wasn't long before he did.

"I'm so sorry." I heard Owen whisper to Henry, hitting something in frustration. "I'm so sorry." He let out a yell, hitting the bed again.

"Owen. Listen to me, just calm down." I said softly, knowing that this was the only comfort I could give him at the moment. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this. It wasn't your fault."

"Owen. Owen, can you hear me?" Tosh called out. "Owen, come in!"

"Yes. Yeah, I'm here." His voice sounded shaky, and I was becoming unsure if he was actually crying or not.

"The device? Is it doing anything?" Tosh asked. "Because the energy readings coming from it are…" She stopped short for a moment. "Owen? It's going off the screen. It's going to explode!"

I froze dead on the spot, my chest tightening finding it hard to breath. I squeezed the Doctor's hand which was still in mine hard as my head snapped around to look at Jack. "Tosh, what can we do?" he asked.

"Nothing! There's nothing!"

"It's okay." Owen said quietly. "I'm going to hold it."

"Owen what are you doing?" Jack hissed.

"See if I can absorb it." Owen continued.

"Owen the energy reading is off the scale. You won't survive." Tosh warned.

"Yeah, well, that's okay. These things happen."

"There must be something we can do." Martha said desperately, her eyes moving down to the floor in thought.

"Martha?" Owen called out.

"Owen!" Martha answered.

"If it destroys me, they're going to need a new doctor." Owen told her. "You've got all the credentials. I'd be honoured if you took it." Martha said nothing, just smiled sadly as she looked to the floor. "Jack? If you even attempt to bring me back again… Gwen, Ianto. It was fun. Mostly. Tosh, I'm sorry about earlier. And thank you to all three of you." He paused, for a moment taking a deep breath. "Katherine." I said nothing, staying silent, not really having to power to say anything. "Katherine, come on, you were there before, answer me."

I took a shaky breath before I answered. "Owen."

"I'm sorry for all my shit you've taken these past few days." His voice broke at the end and my heart sunk, just wishing I could be there to hug him.

"Don't even apologise." I sighed, wiping a few tears that had fallen down my cheek away with the sleeve of my jumper. "See you when you get out of this, yeah?" I refused to even think of him dying as a possibility. He was going to come out of this alive.

However, he never responded to that. "Doctor, you keep on looking after her, okay?" The Doctor just nodded, knowing that he didn't even really need to answer to that. It was then all eerily silent for a moment, and the Doctor wrapped me into a comforting hug as Owen absorbed all the energy, still hoping he would survive, not wanting the outcome to be any different.

XOXO

He'd survived, and I couldn't have felt any more relieved in my life. Of course he got a slap from me when he got back, although it was useless as he couldn't feel it. The Pulse was packed safely into the backpack as we all travelled back in the SUV to the water power. Waiting for us as we arrived there was Gwen, Ianto and Tosh. Owen was the first to clamber out of the car, opening the door for me and Martha so that we could both do the same.

"Well, I'm sorry, Dr Jones. No vacancies in Cardiff just yet." Owen said to Martha and flashed a small smirk.

"That's okay. I reckon you're…" She stopped, a smile forming on her face. "I was going to say fine, but we all know you're a hell of a lot more than that." The two of them grinned as they hugged each other before Martha went way to say goodbye to everyone else, and then Owen's attention turned on me.

"Guess you're leaving now then?" He asked.

I simply nodded. Martha was leaving, and both me and the Doctor both came to an agreement that we should probably leave as well. "Don't think you've seen the last of me, though. I'll pop back to Earth for a visit sooner or later." I shrugged, a playful smirk appearing on my face. "We're time travellers, who knows? I could even be back tomorrow."

Owen laughed, giving one small nod as if holding me to that. Then his face became serious. "Thank you. For everything."

I simply smiled at him and grabbed him, pulling him into a rib crushing hug which he instantly returned. I buried my face into his shoulder for a moment just enjoying the embrace when I felt him place a gentle kiss on my cheek.

"Oi." I heard both Jack and the Doctor call at once.

I shook my head pulling out of the hug and smiled at Owen again. "It's what I'm here for." I reached into my pocket, pulling out a small piece of paper with a few numbers written on it, handing it over to him. "Keep this. You ever need me. Just ring." Owen nodded. "Goodbye." I gave him one more, quick hug before I left him. Making my way around Gwen, Tosh, Ianto and Martha giving them all hugs and saying my goodbyes before I finally turned to Jack. "Well, this little escapade has certainly been interesting."

"Oh, it's been fun." Jack said, his eyes switching between both me and the Doctor. "You know it has."

I grinned at him, outstretching my arms for a hug and he complied, picking me up slightly as he did so, so that I was at his height. After a little while he placed me down, cupping my face lightly with one of his hands. "You can so come back any time, Kitty."

"Maybe I will." I said, my eyes moving to look at the Doctor for a moment and then back to Jack again. "One day."

The four of us; Me, The Doctor, Jack and Martha all gave our little salutes once more. And with that he all set off in our separate directions. Martha, off back to England while me and the Doctor took a few steps into the TARDIS. "You lot will like this bit." The Doctor said as he stopped at the door, grinning at the Torchwood team before he finally stepped inside.

I flopped down onto the pilot seat, looking back on the last crazy few days that I had, had in Cardiff a smile growing on my face as I then thought of the other crazy adventures that were awaiting us. I looked up at the Doctor who was looking at me expectantly.

"Ready?" He asked.

I nodded once, grinning. "Ready."

The Doctor grinned once and flipped a leaver. And with that we were off once again. Off out in a tiny blue box to explore the universe.

XOXO

Okay, here comes my really long and probably pathetic explanation of why this has come so late. School has been getting unbelievably stressful, I can't even explain. I've also moved house during this time as well. I don't deal well with stress so let's just say the time I've had to myself I've been spending watching Doctor Who and crying into my pillow and roleplaying my emotions out on tumblr.

This chapter was also a little bit of a challenge to write. Because the episode is rather Owen based. And while I wanted Katherine to be there, I didn't want her to be following Owen around all the time. So I had to come up with some of my own scenes which being the perfectionist I am had to be great against the rest of it. So I spent ages doing that, trying to think and write up scenes as good as I could.

But, while I was thinking of those scenes, I have written bit's up for Partners in Crime, so hopefully I can get that up quicker than I got this one up. I'm not promising anything though. But I will just say I'm not giving up on this story.

Also, in recent lights, I've decided to make a Tubmlr blog dedicated to these stories, mainly so I can update you on when roughly I think I'll be able to get a next chapter up instead of leaving you to wait in the dark like this. The url is the thekatstewartseries, hope you can all view it. :}

It's been officially a year today since I started this series as well! I wrote the first chapter "Smith Jones and Stewart" in "Black Stone Turned Into Dust" on the 5/5/12 and now it's a whole year later. Seriously, I wasn't even expecting to get this far 'cause I wasn't expecting the response I got. So thank you so much.

What's everyone thinking of the second part of series 7 of Doctor Who anyway? Any good theories on who Clara is?

I shall now end this long authors note. Please review and whatever. Next chapter shall be Partners in Crime when Katherine will meet one of our favourite gingers.