Chapter Thirty-Five

I was getting bored of the hospital, so I figured somebody needed to take control… as a result, this chapter is quite pro-Gwen. - sorry, Gwen-bashers! :-P

Disclaimer: Me no own. I just like playing with them…

"Right," Gwen said determinedly, "I think we need to get down to business."

"What do you mean?" Toshiko asked.

"I mean that we need to work on catching and dealing with these aliens," the Welshwoman replied, unusually practical. "We can't expect Jack to do so, not at the moment."

"So how do you want us to set about doing that?" Owen narrowed his eyes. "Because if you're suggesting we all go out there and start asking the locals about sightings of whales recently, you can go and find somebody else."

Gwen shook her head. "I don't mean that. I was thinking that we could run some scans, try and find a pattern. Cross-reference."

"Cross-referencing?" Toshiko slipped a hand into her pocket and drew out her upgraded PDA. "I can do that."

"What about me?" Owen demanded short-temperedly.

Gwen met his gaze. "Can you go through the medical records, try to narrow down how many people these aliens have killed? I'd like to know how long they've been here, and what they've been up to."

"Okay…" Owen said slowly, getting out his own PDA. "How will we know whether it was the aliens or just ordinary leukaemia?"

Gwen hesitated. She hadn't thought that far ahead. "I don't know," she admitted, "but we can cross that bridge when we come to it."

Owen nodded, a grudging respect entering his eyes. "That sounds as good a plan as any."

"What are you going to do?" Tosh asked her.

Gwen tipped her head towards the swing-doors, shoving her hands into the back-pockets of her jeans. "I'm going to go and talk to Julia, try and get more information about what happened."

"What more is there to know? Girl started chatting to aliens, aliens got pissed off, girl died. End of story." Owen grimaced. "Cheery tale, that."

"Thankyou for sharing your enlightened reasoning, Owen," Gwen replied, trying hard to rein in her temper, "but there's plenty more to it than that. For instance, Clara might have given her mother a description of the aliens – that could help us stop them."

"We know that they live in water," Toshiko said, "and they must be fairly technologically advanced to phone us from the bottom of the ocean."

"Not to mention giving people leukaemia," Owen added. "That's pretty impressive."

"See?" Gwen said. "There's never such a thing as too much information."

"Okay, then, let's get down to work," Owen said. "Meet you back here in an hour?"

"An hour," Gwen confirmed, already pushing open the doors.

-T-

Blue Dancer was lit up warmly, a comforting beacon of welcome in the dark evening.

Gwen paused, unsure of how welcome she would be, intruding like this without warning.

She would just use the excuse of wanting to tell Julia about how Ianto was doing, she decided. Then she would casually slip Clara into the conversation, somehow.

Gwen rapped on the side of the boat, wincing as her knuckles smarted.

For a moment, she thought that there was nobody at home, that they had just left the lights on by accident, but then Julia Applegate's head had popped out from the hatch.

"Sorry for calling by this late—"

"Nonsense, m'dear. Come on in." Julia stepped back, letting Gwen down into the boat. The main cabin was much smaller than the one on Skookumchuck, with a low, curved ceiling and portholes speckled with green algae. The woodwork was a lighter honey-colour that glowed in the warm light, bestowing on the cabin an air of cosy hominess. "We're just starting supper – do you want any?"

"Oh, no thanks," Gwen said quickly, blushing. "I was just wondering if I could talk to you."

"Of course." Julia smiled. "Anything in particular you want to talk about? How's Mr Jones?"

"Ianto's… okay." Gwen bit her lip. "He had to go into surgery the other day."

"Why's that?"

"Internal bleeding." Gwen sat down gingerly next to Julia's husband. "Hi - Gwen Cooper."

"George," he said in return, holding out a hand. "You're a journalist, right?"

Gwen froze. What? Then she remembered, and managed a tight smile. "Yeah. Nothing big, just a small holiday magazine."

"Which one?" George's hazel eyes were impossible to read.

Gwen frowned slightly at his interest. "It's really small – I doubt you'll have heard of it."

"What's it called?"

"Uh…" Gwen cast around, "'Teithio'."

"That's unusual," Julia said. "Welsh, is it? I've got a friend who lives in Swansea – she moved there a few years back. Haven't seen her for ages…"

Gwen nodded, happy to just tune out now that the attention was off her. Too late, she realised that Julia had asked her a question. "Hmm? Sorry – wool gathering."

Julia chuckled. "I was wondering if you have any children back home."

Gwen blushed, shaking her head furiously. "Oh, no – my husband wants a couple, but I'm not sure that I'm ready."

"It's quite a commitment," Julia said sagely, doling out mashed potato onto plates. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"I'm fine, thanks. So, did you want children?"

The older woman smiled sadly. "When I was your age, I didn't, no." She sat down opposite them. "Then suddenly I thought I was too old, that I had missed my chance. When that happened, all I wanted was a child."

"She wouldn't shut up about it," George put in, shovelling a forkful of beans into his mouth. "Bugged me about it, day and night."

"Then we got Clara." Julia smiled, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Like I said, she was rather the surprise baby."

"I'm sorry." Gwen nearly reached across the table to touch her hand, but restrained herself at the last moment. She was practically a stranger to them. "It must be awful, losing a child."

Julia froze. "It is," she said in a low voice. Her eyes were dark, her face stony.

"Do we have to talk about this?" her husband asked defensively, frowning at Gwen. She was reminded vividly of her maths teacher at school, who always went around with a disapproving scowl on his face.

"No, no, of course not," Gwen said, holding up her hands in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"I don't mean to be rude," Julia said apologetically, "it's just a sore matter still."

"I'm sorry," Gwen repeated. "I was just curious." She bit her lip, unsure of how much to tell them. "It's… Ianto's just been diagnosed with leukaemia."

Julia seemed to sag in her seat, all the pretence at joviality dissipating. "You want to know what to expect," she said.

"I guess so. It's more for Jack than me, though." Gwen twisted the ring around her finger, uncomfortable in her position.

Julia frowned. "Why would— oh. They're together, then?"

Relieved that she had picked up on it so fast, Gwen nodded. "I want him to be as prepared as possible if…" she trailed off, aware that she was treading on delicate ground here. "I just don't want him to hurt."

Julia reached across the table and grasped her hand. Her eyes were sympathetic. "I don't know how serious those two are, but I do know that it's going to hurt. There's no way it wouldn't. Losing anybody you care about hurts more than anything else."

Gwen swallowed, realising how difficult it must be for Jack, to live out all the ages whilst watching his loved ones die. "I know."

"I'll try to talk to him, if you want," Julia offered. She gave a weak smile. "It'll help if he has somebody to talk to about this, who understands."

"Thankyou," Gwen said. For once, it came straight from the heart. She cared about all her teammates, and seeing Jack so distraught and Ianto so damaged hurt her more than she liked to admit. "I really appreciate it."

Julia smiled. "No problem, my dear. Now, you'd better get back to those friends of yours before they start worrying."

Gwen checked her watch and swore softly under her breath when she saw that she had been longer than an hour. "Damn – I'm late already. Thanks for the talk, Mrs Applegate, and I hope to see you around soon."

"Take care," Julia replied.

Gwen flashed them another quick smile, before scampering up the steep steps into the cockpit.

She stopped for a moment, breathing in the cold air. She pulled up the zip on her jacket further, blowing out a long puff of air from her lungs and shivering slightly at the biting chill that nipped at her face.

Gwen swung herself back over the side onto the pontoon, which dipped slightly as she dropped onto it, and wished that she had brought a torch. The weak light from a streetlamp up on the road sent shuddering, dancing reflections across the black water.

A clump of seaweed was drifting closer and closer to the pontoon, the strands waving gently with the swell of the water. Gwen wrinkled her nose at it – no doubt it was full of icky creatures – and started off towards the exit ramp.

There was a sucking sound as a fish came to the surface of the water and slurped at the air with a round, pink mouth. Gwen gave it a cursory glance, busy trying to think of how to get Jack to talk to Julia.

She didn't see the tangle of seaweed change direction, going against the pull of the water, or the calculating yellow eye of the fish as it watched her go.

There we are – a bit more plottiness! ;-) Reviews are loved, cuddled and fed chocolate-chip biscuits, and reviewers get… uh… my gratitude and… -thinks and counts money in purse- …chocolate-covered Janto! :-P