The wet windows of Gwen's blue honda distorted the reality outside making it into a blurred painting distorted(try using another verb here, repetition doesn't really work well here) only by the ripples formed by falling raindrops and strong wind.
"I can't see a bloody thing!" Rhys said leaning over the driving wheel to make something out of the blurred road before him. Even the fast moving wipers were no match for the torrent of pouring rain.
"You could've let somebody else drive," Ianto noted deadpan.
"Hey, who put you in charge, eh? Pretty-boy?" Rhys said annoyed. "I may not be one of your bloody Torchwood team but that doesn't mean I can't drive my child to the bloody hospital!"
"Stop it! Both of you!" Gwen shushed them from the backseat. Just as Ianto thought she might really want them to make up she added: "You'll wake him up!"
"It's always like this, let them join Torchwood and they get all high and mighty!" Rhys complained. "What happened to you Ianto? You were so polite when you stayed at ours and suddenly this!"
Maybe I don't enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night, Ianto thought.
"It's that bloody Torchwood! Everything is about Torchwood these days isn't it?" Rhys continued.
"You're the one who came to me on the first sign of trouble," Ianto retorted.
"Cause everything started with Torchwood! First Torchwood ruins my wedding now there're(not a word. Split it into there are) problems with my kid. It's all because of this bloody Torchwood!"
Before he could continue a weep came from the backseat. A weep which quickly turned into a loud cry.
"See what you've done?" Gwen hissed. She picked the baby up and started soothing it. "Don't worry little one. Daddy and uncle Ianto are just having a tiny argument but they'll make up soon."
"Yeah, sweetheart, nothing to do with you, everything will be all fine," Rhys added in a cheerful voice.
They finally made it to the clinic after having constant crying accompany the last bit of their journey. Ianto left first and opened the door to Gwen who after getting out reached out for the baby-cart. Having covered it with the rain foil she took it out and rushed to the entrance. Ianto followed and Rhys only appeared inside the building after having parked the car.
"Do you have an appointment?" the lady at the reception asked.
"Er, no," Gwen said with a troubled smile.
"Actually I phoned in earlier," Ianto interrupted. "It's under the name Cooper."
"You did? When did you manage to do that," Gwen said amazed at her coworker's organisation skills. She could've sworn they had been together the whole time and yet he still managed to surprise her.
"There it is," the receptionist said. "Take a seat and Doctor Wilkins will see you in a bit," she added pointing at the waiting area.
There were two other people waiting: a mother with a toddler who was constantly rushing about. But they didn't have to endure the noise for long. The kid was called up almost immediately after Gwen and the two men sat down on the comfy black leather seats. While Gwen and Rhys occupied themselves with settling Alex down Ianto tried desperately hard to remember where he had heard the name Wilkins before. He knew it was quite recently but it wasn't until the Doctor came out of her room to call for them did he remember.
The woman was hard to mistake with her pretty blond hair and smooth facial features. Doctor Wilkins was Doctor Shannon Wilkins - the woman he had met in the Poppy cafe barely a week ago. For some reason he felt embarrassed being seen in this place.
"Ianto," she said with both surprise and disbelief.
"Shannon," he replied unsure of what to say. He could feel the awkward tension in the air. He felt as if his girlfriend had walked on him while he was with another girl - not that it had ever happened (or did(had) it?) but he felt he could relate it to a situation like that.
"What are you doing here?" the doctor asked. He was too old to go to the pediatrician and he had said nothing about having a child.
"Oh, I'm-" for some reason the words hardly came to his lips. He felt guilty of doing something he hadn't done.
Thankfully Gwen came to his rescue.
"Doctor Wilkins? Hi," she said. "Gwen Cooper, Alex's mother?"
"Right I'm sorry," Shannon said. "Come this way," she guided Gwen and Rhys to the check-up room.
Ianto felt it wasn't his place to go in as well. Instead he waited wondering why he had felt so guilty and ashamed at being seen in such a place by Shannon; no, Doctor Wilkins. He shouldn't get attached. He had enough problems with Torchwood he didn't need them with other people.
Meanwhile, Alex went through a thorough check-up by Doctor Wilkins.
"I don't see anything wrong with him," she said handing the baby back to Rhys. "A healthy eight-months-old baby. What did you say you thought was wrong with him?"
Gwen blinked. "Eight months?" she asked. "Alex is not eight months old."
"Well I meant it as an approximation. This size usually indicates eight months of age," the doctor explained herself.
"No, even approximately this is all wrong," Gwen said her eyes wide in fear. "Alex is almost two months old. He was born this March. The 16th of March. It's May now. No matter how you look at it he couldn't be approximately eight months old!"
"As you can see Alex already has his baby teeth," Shannon opened the babies lips. "Babies don't develop teeth until they're three months old. Also a baby this size cannot be two months old!"
"Told you he was growing too fast," Rhys said.
"Not now Rhys!" Gwen reprimanded him annoyed.
"Are you sure-" the doctor started.
"Of course I'm bloody sure he's two months old! I gave birth to him!"
"It's not just the size, it's also the teeth, the moving. This is definitely not a two month old child."
"Can you just wait a moment?" Gwen said her voice a bit too sweet.
"Phoning Jack?" Rhys asked seeing his wife take out her cellphone.
"He's the only one who could have an idea how all this happened. And if he can't tell us then I will bloody kill him. Hey Jack," she said, her voice suddenly turned from angry to sweet. "Am I enjoying my holiday? To be honest not really Jack. No, really... I'm at the child clinic right now- What happened? Well it seems that Alex has grown four times as fast as he should have. Yes, I'm serious. Now, explain to me Jack how the hell is that possible? How could my baby grow four times as fast as normal children, eh, Jack?" She hissed the question with as much anger as she could put into it. Her face changed from sweet to anger back to sweet but filled with irritation. "You don't know? Well- Jack? Wait a second, don't-!" she lowered the phone. "He hung up, said he had work to do."
"Don't tell me..."
"Yes, we'll have to deal with this on our own with only Ianto to help us," Gwen said her voice no more brimming with irritation. She paused an idea popping to her head. She turned to Doctor Wilkins. "You! Can you operate medical equipment?" she asked.
"Depends on the type," Wilkins replied. "Are you talking about an Ultrasound scanner or an MRI?"
"Oh, I don't know! Something along those lines probably."
"Then I think so," the Doctor said oblivious to her immediate future.
"Perfect, you're coming with us then," Gwen said.
"Wait, Gwen!" Rhys interrupted them. "Alex! I think he's trying to say his first word!"
They all surrounded the baby waiting expectantly at the first "mommy" or "daddy" or "story" or "milk" or "candy". But after a moment of some inarticulate baby-sounds what came out of the Alex's lips was unexpectedly different from what they have anticipated.
"Toychood!" Alex said giggling after he did so.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god, Rhys," Gwen said acting a bit as if she was hyperventilating. "Where did we go wrong?"
o*o*o
Doctor Jonas Marinus was not the man he used to be. Not exciting or adventurous or handsome for that matter. His life was not as spontaneous as it used to be, now filled with almost nothing but simple routine. Wake up, shower, coffee, check up the projects, lunch, return to projects, write case files, dinner, read (he read exactly thirty pages every day - no more, no less), sleep.
Today was a little different than usual. Time had finally caught up with him. He felt pressure on his chest, asphyxiation almost. The premonition that something bad was going to happen didn't leave him since last night. The relaxing routine helped him escape this feeling for a while but you can only run away for so long. The not-so-distant past finally caught up with him and the walls of his tiny world of solace crumbled. His breathing quickened, became shallow and his head desperately tried to remove the memory of past events from his chain of thoughts. He rushed to the kitchen and opened the medicine drawer. Finally two white pills calmed him down enough to make him think properly.
It had all started a few weeks ago when he accepted a side job. It was his employer asking so he agreed, but it was illegal and made him feel so self-conscious and worried. His work had never followed the law to the letter but all of his patients - as he liked to call them - agreed to the transplants and operations. This time he had had to perform the operation on a patient who did not even know anything happened. Stealing him from the maternity ward was not hard but not easy either. Yes, the patient was a little boy. That made him feel even worse. But the experiment would not have worked if he chose somebody other than a newborn. And his employers wanted that particular child.
Marinus took out a bottle of wine from the wine cellar and returned to the kitchen. Everything in his house was pristine, ordered and cleaned. He hated it so much but at the same time feared disorganisation even more. In fact, he feared life. He was existing but not living. Being stuck in that routine world of his was the only way he could avoid making another mistake like the one he had made by doing an experiment with .
The wine pouring from the bottle made vibrant shapes before calming down to become smooth and flat as the last drop mixed itself with the rest of the crimson red alcohol. This was the fourth glass he poured. He took all the glasses and put them on the coffee table; one before each of the two armchairs and the last two in front of the two-person sofa. He himself sat in one of the comfy chairs and reached out for the wine glass. It looked as if the table was made out for other guests. But there was nobody expected. The glasses did serve their purpose though. Marinus never liked drinking alone.
He drank the wine slowly, one sip at a time, both savoring the liquor and putting away what was inevitable. He couldn't run away. He had to call his employer some day and finish this agonizing leave of absence.