CHAPTER EIGHT
Yet another chapter. I feel so pleased with myself.
This chapter is dedicated to EriinR, because she's amazing and she's reviewed nearly all my chapters. Oh yeah, it doesn't hurt that I'm beta-ing her COOL story, "When out of the Mist". Go and have a look at it, really!
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood. But I might in the future, once I've convinced RTD to sign over all rights to moi...
The town that Tosh and Owen walked through was silent. It felt like walking through a graveyard, just without the spooky mist and gravestones.
It was really quite strange. No cars around, other than the dead-looking, parked ones. No couples out on a romantic stroll together. No late-evening joggers with i-pods.
Owen was walking fast, head down and hands in pockets.
"Quiet, isn't it?" Tosh remarked to break the silence.
"Yeah." Owen didn't elaborate.
Tosh cast round for something to say. "So, what's wrong with Ianto, then?"
Owen shrugged, not taking his eyes off the oh-so-fascinating pavement. "Hard to tell. Probably just a stomach-bug or something."
"Will
he be OK?"
Owen snorted. "Sure. Tea-boy'll be fine with
some rest."
"Jack and rest don't really go together."
Owen smirked and gave her an amused side-ways glance.
Tosh shrugged and blushed a little. "We all know what he's like around Ianto."
"Still don't get what he sees in him. I honestly just thought they were just, y'know, part-time shag until Jack put me right," Owen commented.
"I guess we can officially label them a couple, now," Tosh agreed.
They walked on in silence. Tosh let it stay that way, content to just be with Owen.
They turned a corner and spotted a small chippie on the other side of the square.
"Finally!" Owen muttered as they stepped over the threshold and the smell of chips, fish and vinegar assaulted them.
A washed-out looking girl with straggly hair pulled back under a white cap looked up from her magazine in surprise. It was evident that she hadn't seen any customers all evening.
"Five – no, four portions of chips, please," Owen addressed her.
Tosh felt a jolt of sympathy for him. She could only imagine what it must be like to have to watch everybody else eating, drinking, breathing, sleeping...living and to know that he would never do so again.
She put a gentle hand on his arm. Owen looked around in surprise and smiled shyly at her. Tosh felt rather surprised. Owen and shy weren't two words that she would usually associate together.
You learn something new every day, she thought. The warm glow inside of her brightened, just a little.
"That'll be £11.40, please," the girl said nervously, fiddling with her white apron.
Owen handed over the money and they left the shop clutching four paper bags of hot chips.
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"Come on, Yan – eat a bit more," Jack wheedled, looking at the nearly untouched bag of chips in front of the Welshman.
Ianto shook his head. "I'm not particularly hungry," he muttered. "Somebody else can have mine."
Normally Owen would have leapt across and stole them all before anybody could say 'Weevil', but not anymore. A dead man couldn't eat.
Jack reached out and touched Ianto's cheek gently, a frown creasing his brow. "You OK?" he wanted to know.
Ianto nodded. "I'm fine, Jack, honestly. Just not hungry."
Jack looked unconvinced. With a sigh, he dropped his hand and stared morosely at the bag of chips.
Suddenly his face lit up and he snatched one of Ianto's chips, gently placing it between his teeth and offering it to Ianto.
Ianto shook his head, trying not to laugh at the way Jack had his head on one side, like a little puppy, and he had made his blue eyes big and begging.
Ianto gave in. He leaned forward and took the chip with his teeth.
Jack sat back in satisfaction as Ianto ate the chip. As soon as he had finished, he took another chip and presented it to Ianto.
Ianto shook his head, sighed, and relented.
Gwen watched them with a curious mixture of feelings. Sure, she had harboured romantic feelings for Jack, but they were long gone. She was happy with Rhys. Really.
Seeing Jack doing such an adorable act of affection for Ianto made her miss her husband. She remembered when she had explained, or rather, tried to explain to him that she was going away for a week.
"Sorry?" Rhys was looking confused, dishcloth in one hand as he dried the dishes she washed.
Gwen sighed. "It's a work thing. I won't be gone long – just a week."
"Why do you have to go? Can't Jack deal with it without you?" Rhys asked, furiously rubbing at a dish with the cloth, as if it were the dish's fault that his wife was going on a sailing trip without her husband but with a handsome Captain. For a week.
"It's a work thing. There's been something odd going on around the Channel Islands, and Jack thought he'd tie it in with a team bonding sort of...thing." Gwen put on a bright smile and shrugged, hoping Rhys would leave the matter.
No such luck.
"I don't see why I can't come along. I could help, like I did last time with that alien in the warehouse." Rhys was being stubborn.
She sighed and resisted the urge to tell her husband that he was acting like a spoilt toddler who wasn't getting the sweets that he wanted.
"Look, I'm really sorry, but..."
Gwen sighed and watched Jack feeding Ianto more chips. They were completely oblivious to the gazes of the rest of the team, and Jack was showing a tender side of him that Gwen didn't know existed.
They really were cute together, she mused. She hadn't seen it before, whenever Tosh had tried to point it out, but they really were.
She smiled.
Tosh, too, was watching them. This would be a perfect camera moment, she thought. Should she get out the camera from her handbag in her cabin?
She glanced over and realised that, to get to her cabin, she would either have to climb over Jack and Ianto, or Owen. Neither of which she was inclined to do.
The camera would have to wait. She had already given them the album, anyway. Handing them another wad of photos would seem really sad and quite pathetic, as if she had no love-life of her own so satisfied herself photographing other people's. Not that she did have a love-life of her own, but that was beside the point.
Owen just thought that Jack seemed to be trying to feed Ianto to death. He's really going overboard on that whole 'protective boyfriend' thing, he thought to himself. At least they aren't trying to stick their tongues down each others throats. Thank God for little mercies.
When he finally accepted that Ianto wasn't going to eat anything more, Jack yawned and checked his watch.
"Right, I think we'd better call it an day. We've an early start tomorrow if we want to get to the Channel Islands. By the way – can any of you sail?"
There we go. I'm leaving this chapter there because...well, for no particular reason. I just like that ending.
Another chapter will be up in due course. Just don't hold your breath!
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