However, whilst Jack and Ianto were reclaiming each other in London, the atmosphere in Cardiff had been far less cordial.

Gwen had been stomping around the Hub in a blazing temper. She had been in a foul mood ever since Jack had disappeared without a word, leaving only a terse note; Gwen, called away for high security UNIT meeting, back in four days. Don't try to contact me, I'll be incommunicado until I get back. Jack. No protestations of love, no "I'll miss you", nothing. Gwen had been furious. Despite Jack's strict instruction that he was not to be disturbed; she had tried calling him and had nearly combusted with fury when she found his phone charger underneath their bed. She was certain he had left it there on purpose so that his phone battery would die and she would be unable to trace him via his phone's GPS. Her fury had increased when she had logged into the mainframe to find an e-mail telling the team that, in Jack's absence, Tosh was in charge.

That little bombshell had caused a very tense and unpleasant mood in the Hub for the first couple of days, with Gwen questioning Tosh on every decision she made until Tosh had finally snapped, removed her from field duty for the day and sent her into Jack's office to make a start on his outstanding paperwork. Seeing the look of distaste on her face, Tosh had further suggested that if that was not to Gwen's taste she could easily be put on vault cleaning duty until further notice. Owen had nearly wet himself laughing as Gwen had flounced off in a huff. Stomping bad temperedly into Jack's work space; Gwen had taken one look at the towering pile of documents, snorted and settled herself down for a nap on his surprisingly comfortable sofa.

She had been disturbed a couple of hours later by Owen yelling something about he and Toshiko going out for coffee. Good, thought Gwen, they fetching coffee for me, they must finally realising how important I am. She stuck her head out of the doorway and yelled

'Bring food'.

Then she headed back to the sofa.

Her temper had not improved when she wandered out some hours later to find out what had happened to lunch to find Tosh working on a defence algorithm for the hub whilst eating an enormous apple.

'Where's lunch' demanded Gwen

Tosh looked shifty, 'sorry, we got sidetracked' she gestured vaguely in the direction of the kitchen, 'I think there's a yoghurt left in the fridge.'

'Where's Owen?'

'Out'

'I didn't hear a rift alert.'

'There wasn't one'

'Then where is he?'

With a sigh, Tosh stopped working, saved what she was doing and turned to look at her team mate, 'Owen is out. I sent him out; he won't be back today because I told him to go straight home afterwards. Jack left me in charge and Owen is obeying my orders. Something you have manifestly failed to do for the last day and a half.'

Gwen huffed with annoyance, 'I'm a member of this team and I have to know where my team members are at all times.'

Tosh stood up, thankful that her heels gave her an extra inch of height over the Welshwoman, 'no, Gwen. I have to know that because Jack left me in command. All you have to do is what you are told, but you can't even manage that can you?'

As Gwen opened her mouth to get into a real Welsh yelling match with the petite Japanese woman, Toshiko's phone bleeped. Tosh glanced at the screen, it was a message from a phone number that she didn't recognise, she held up a finger to quell Gwen's incipient outburst then bit her lip as she read the text,

"Priority One Message – Gwen Cooper to be considered level one threat. Interact only with extreme caution. No other action required at this point. Do not accept food or drink from her – KEEP MYFANWY SAFE. CJH"

Tosh erased the message, slipped her phone into the pocket of her jeans and turned back to Gwen. 'OK' she said briskly, 'I am tired of this.' Hastily she closed down her work station and gathered her belongings 'since you have done no work at all today, I've set up the rift monitor to send alarms to your mobile and laptop but I would like you to stay here in the Hub tonight, with Jack away it;s not a big ask. If there is a rift alerts and it's something small you deal with it, if you need back up call me before Owen.'

'WHAAT!' shrieked Gwen

Tosh gave a nonchalant wave as she strode through the cog-wheel door and headed up to the Tourist Information office, smiling to herself as Gwen's outraged shrieks followed her up the stairwell.

The following morning Owen Harper had woken up happy, happier than he could remember being for a very long time. Tosh had turned up at his flat the previous evening bearing Thai food and beer and wanting to discuss Jack's cryptic Priority One text. They had no doubt that the message was from the Captain, the phrase, 'Keep Myfanwy safe' confirmed it, even though the text had not come from Jack's phone. They had both agreed that they had no alternative but to obey Jack's instructions and trust that he had the situation in hand. Owen had nearly choked laughing when Tosh had described her confrontation with Gwen in the Hub that evening.

'All the same' he said when he had calmed down, 'I wish you hadn't discovered your assertive, commanding side just as Cooper has gone all evil-twin on us. It's typical of Jack to be so bloody cryptic but we have to be careful if she as dangerous as he says'

'I take it the fact you are back means you were able to help Jack?' asked Tosh carefully; Owen had told her his retcon plan before he had boarded the helicopter.

Owen frowned 'yeah I guess so. I don't remember but I can't imagine I'd leave him if he wasn't OK'

'I don't suppose you remember seeing Ianto at all' probed Tosh, 'when he called me he seemed to imply that he and Jack were back together.'

Owen shook his head, 'I really don't remember anything and its probably better not to push it' he warned, 'we don't know what might trigger my memory. If Cooper is that much of a threat we need to make sure we keep plausible deniability

Tosh lowered her head, 'no, sorry. I know you are right' she said softly, 'I...I just want them to be happy together. I love them both, so much.'

She looked so sad and so loving that Owen pulled her close, kissed her gently and, for the first time since they had begun their relationship, whispered, 'I do love you, so very much, Tosh.'

Tosh looked up at him, her face radiant, 'I love you too.'

Owen smiled, and stretched out in the bed. After he had lost Katie he could imagine ever wanting to say those words again but now he had a beautiful Japanese woman in his life who accepted him for what he was and saw beyond the cynical and sarcastic persona he projected. Tosh stirred in his arms.

'Morning' she smiled, 'did I dream it or did you tell me that you love me, last night

Owen laughed and kissed her, ' I was just wondering the same thing, but yes last night I said I love you and I'll tell you every day for the rest of our lives if you'll let me,' he grinned at Tosh's adorable semi-awake confusion.

'What?'

'How about we get married?' asked Owen.

It was around 10.30 when Tosh and Owen stumbled into the Hub giggling and whispering to each other to be confronted by a terminally irritable Gwen.

'So Jack's is gone for three days and this is how you act?' she snarked, 'Owen it's nothing more that I would expect from you. Your professionalism is dubious at best and your commitment to Torchwood is questionable but Tosh , you are supposed to be in command, I expected more from you and clearly Jack was fooled by your good girl demeanour into promoting you beyond your command ability.' She waved a file folder in their faces, ' While I have been stuck here waiting for you to come relieve me, I've compiled a full report for when Jack comes back and once he's read it, trust me, things will change around here.'

Owen put his arm around Tosh, 'wanna take this one, my love?'

Tosh smiled sweetly 'Ok' she moved toward Gwen who took an involuntary step backwards, Tosh brandished her hand in the other woman's face, the fire opals in her new engagement ring sparkled in the lights of the Hub 'you are right' she told her, 'things are gonna change around here. Owen and I got engaged this morning so you can keep your jealous looks and "accidental" touches of his arm or his arse to yourself from now on and you can put your tits back in those tight low cut tops of yours because Owen isn't interested and poor Jack looks like he's bored of them already. However, Jack left me in charge and that's one thing that hasn't changed; now I believe you still have Jack's paperwork to clear, so off you go'

Gwen had stormed off fuming and thrown herself down behind Jack's desk. This situation did not suit her at all. She had thought that once she had found a way to enthral, well, OK drug, Jack and make him hers, everything in her world would be right and all her problems would be over. At first things had gone so well, Rhys had been so easy to dump and it still made her laugh when she thought about how simple it had been to remove Ianto Jones, the pathetic loser. Jack clearly had no faith in the stupid boy at all. She had managed to convince herself that Jack had believed that Ianto was cheating, so quickly, because he was subconsciously looking for a way out of their whatever-it-was rather than it being due to drug she had fed him for the first time that night. That had been a stroke of genius; Gwen hugged herself as she thought about her own cleverness in working out how to use PUSH to control Jack and in keep him far more faithful to her than Ianto had ever managed to. As soon as Jack had told her what the drug did on the way back from retrieval mission, the completely formed plan popped into her head. Jack and Ianto were always having fights; all she had to do was wait for the next one and use the drug to nudge Jack in the right direction, her direction. But now, she was intensely annoyed that not only had meek and mild Toshiko Sato seemed to find a backbone but she had apparently ensnared Owen as well. Gwen didn't actually want Owen anymore, hadn't really given him a second thought after their fling had ended but she wasn't prepared to see him happy with Tosh for any length of time and the idea of the two of them getting married was just preposterous.

Listlessly Gwen gathered up some of the files from Jack's desk, preparing to take them down to the archives, why can't things go the way I want them to she thought to herself moodily, it's not much to ask. No-one considers me at all. Then she smiled as another example of her own brilliance stuck her. The vial labelled Phenyl-uraniate-suxameth-hexethalene that she had carefully stored in the secure archive a few months ago contained nothing but tap water, she had decanted the drug into an old water bottle and had hidden most in the flat she shared with Jack and concealed the rest in the archives in case she need it at work. It would be simple, she mused, to slip some PUSH into Owen and Toshiko's coffee and then "suggest" to them that their engagement was rash and foolish and that they should break up. Better yet, she would apologise to them both and offer her congratulations on their engagement then suggest that they go out for a drink to celebrate; Jack would be back tomorrow so she could kill three birds with one stone, get Jack back in line, teach that bitch Sato a lesson and keep Owen keen in case she wanted a bit of a change from Jack who, quite frankly, was disappointing her more and more these days. Although the sex in the early days and weeks had been as spectacular as she had always imagined it would be, recently Jack's enthusiasm and attention to detail seemed to be waning. He called out Ianto's name in his sleep and he thought she didn't know that went he wanked in the shower it wasn't her name but the Teaboy's he cried out when he came. She would put a stop to that behaviour as soon as she got him home, of that she was certain. Feeling happier now she had a plan Gwen almost skipped down to the archives. So wrapped up was she in her own machinations she was unaware that Owen and Tosh were watching her with sombre faces.

'She's plotting something' whispered Owen

'Yeah' agreed Tosh, 'what do we do?'

'What does the rift predictor say?'

Tosh moved over to her work station and tapped a few keys, 'quiet for the next three days then a small spike, nothing major'

'Then I say we keep out of her way for the rest of today and let Jack deal with her when he's back tomorrow.'

'Will he though?' worried Tosh, 'she seems to have him well and truly under her thumb. Although when I spoke to Ianto he implied that he and Jack had somehow found each other again, so maybe...'

Owen frowned, 'I think Jack was trying to fight his way out of his relationship with Gwen even before he ran out on us, if Teaboy is back on the scene, especially if he and Jack are fucking again, Cooper may find her control of Jack weakening'

Tosh slipped her hand into Owen's 'let's hope so'

After a couple of hours, Gwen appeared from the archives with a sycophantic smile on her face. Tosh was still furiously typing at her work station and Owen had just entered the Hub carrying two pizza boxes.

'Good timing' he said brandishing the boxes, 'lunch is here'

Gwen followed Tosh and Owen over to the sofa, 'Thanks Owen, that's really kind of you. I'm starving.' She helped herself to a slice and continued hesitantly, 'I'm sorry about earlier, I'm delighted for you both and I know Jack will be too. I take it we are still expecting him back tomorrow?' She looked quizzically at her colleagues

'Haven't heard anything to make me think he has changed his plans' said Tosh

Gwen smiled, 'how about you both come to us for dinner tomorrow night, then?'

Owen looked at Tosh who nodded, 'Thanks Gwen, that would be lovely' he said

Gwen laughed a bit nastily, 'look at you, socialising as a couple. Tosh really has you tamed hasn't she?'

Tosh swallowed her pizza, wiped her mouth daintily and spoke up, 'Gwen, you were here all night and now you have a dinner party to plan. The rift predictor says everything is going to be quiet for a while. Why don't you take the rest of the day off? We'll all make sure that we are in by 8.30 tomorrow since we don't know what time Jack is planning to arrive back.'

Gwen smiled, 'Thanks Tosh, I won't say no' she jumped to her feet, grabbed her coat and bag from her desk and headed quickly towards the cog wheel door so that she could hide her expression of complete derision for the stupidity of her colleagues.

Once the door had rolled closed Owen and Tosh sat hand in hand in silence for a few minutes then burst out laughing.

'God. You could almost hear her brain working couldn't you?'

Tosh nodded, 'one moment she is looking at us as if she would like to see us dead then we are double dating with her and Jack? How simple minded does she think we are?'

Owen lifted their linked hands and brushed a kiss over Tosh's knuckles, 'Still I'm glad she's gone,' he said, 'It's not like Jack to get twitchy, sending Priority One messages. I'm happier without her around.'

Tosh nodded, 'me too – still I wish Jack was here.'

Owen tried to look offended at Tosh's perceived lack of faith in him but, thinking about how Cooper had looked at them both, especially Toshiko, he couldn't help but nod, 'yeah, me too'