I'm so sorry I haven't updated sooner! But I've been busy-its been christmas!-and I finally managed to eat the last of my christmas chocolate and get a move on with writing this!
Tosh tried not to tremble as she stirred the soup. Owen-no, not Owen but Owen's clone, she reminded herself- watched her. She tried to ignore him, to forget that he was there…but somehow his eyes-Owen's eyes-drew her attention to him.
"Are-are you…hungry?" she asked weakly. He looked surprised, before he sneered again.
"This body needs to eat. But why would I want your food Toshiko? Why would I want to eat what you've touched?"
"Shut up…" she whispered. "Just shut up, Owen-"
"Owen?" he-it-said, grinning evilly.
"No! Not Owen-not, not Owen, you're not Owen you're his clone-"
"And what's a clone but a perfect copy, Tosh?" he asked gently, coming closer, still sneering at her.
"Owen, no-"
She didn't deny it anymore, that this was Owen. So as he came closer and closer and she could smell his breath, it was Owen's name she called out pleadingly, asking him to stop, wanting Jack to save her, or anyone, please…
…and it was Owen who heard her call his name. He and Ianto jumped up, panicking. They had been trying to think of a plan but their spirits were down, it was cold out here and the whole task seemed impossible.
"Tosh!" he yelled, scared for her. "Tosh, are you okay?"
"Tosh!" Ianto bellowed beside him. "Tosh!"
"What's the matter?" a voice came from behind them.
"Jack!" Ianto gasped, relieved. "There's…ugh…" he tried to find the words to explain it but found he couldn't say it. "Owen's in there with Tosh…" he muttered weakly, before falling into Owen's arms.
"Rest there…" Owen encouraged. He looked straight at Jack. "Thank god you're here Jack, we're in trouble. There's…a block…can't say it...sorry."
"Right…" Jack drawled. "Ianto said you were in there but you're out here? So, what, there's a copy of you in there? Like Ianto? That's what the matter with him was?" He started pacing up and down as he worked it out. "So, what's the problem?"
"Tosh is in there!" Owen exclaimed.
"Like I said. What's the problem?" Jack said, still smiling that little half smile, the one Owen had never been quite sure what it meant.
"Oh…" Owen realised as Jack came closer and closer, still smiling…and then he wasn't only there anymore. He wasn't lying on the ground outside the Hub clutching Ianto, he was everywhere in all of time and he was screaming and screaming and he could hear Jack's cruel, cruel laughter…
Kiki ran through the streets, clutching at the tiny slip of cardboard she had been given and wondering about the strange man who had given it to her. What he had said, what he had meant-and his eyes…
She shuddered, partly from the cold, partly from remembering him. It wasn't that he had been bad, she was sure of it. It was more like…he was so powerful…
Shaking her head from this nonsense she turned the corner and stood outside Joni's house. She was about to knock when she withdrew her hands from the door knocker. A hand had touched her on the shoulder, lightly. She turned, panic rising in her throat.
"Hello," said a pleasant welsh voice. She only had a few seconds to study the handsome young Welshman, to see the odd way he stood in his suit, as if he wasn't used to it, before he held something to her nose and she took a breath to shout for help…and found herself falling…
He smiled at the smallness of Cardiff as he walked along. He and Ianto helping two girls, the girls connected, the men connected…
His boss at the time agency had told him, once, when he was young and cocky that 'everyone is connected'. It had been in effort to stop the young Jack using people for his own advantage, to try and teach him that he'd get what was coming for him…
"Fuck that." Jack muttered under his breath, scowling at the memory. He'd been punished in life, that was true, and heaven knows he'd done enough bad things in his life…he didn't even know what he might have done in those two years…
Maybe this was all a punishment for that time. Maybe what he'd done was so bad-and it could have been-that all of this, becoming immortal, meeting the Doctor then being discarded for what he had become was all punishment? Then what about the good times, Jack? He thought despairingly. Your team. Your friends. All the lovers and all the laughs over the years…there's been quite a few, hasn't there? And there's so much more to come…
So go and help them, Jack! The voice hissed and Jack jumped in surprise as he realised that his friends were in danger. He started to run, angry with himself for not going to them straight away…and hoping that it wasn't too late.
"I mean, clones are so hard to deal with, you don't know who you've got…" he muttered as he ran. "At least when it's green dinosaurs you know what you're aiming at…!"
"I beg your pardon?" called a man. Jack looked over at grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry! Didn't realise I was talking out loud! I'm, er, writing a book!" he called, and carried on.
"Bloody writers…" the man grumbled. "Bloody writers with their bloody green dinosaurs…!"
Again, I'm sorry for taking so long! I've been in Wales (again.) I love wales, reminds me of Torchwood...X