It was Friday night and instead of going out with Rhys or getting drunk with her girlfriends, Gwen Cooper was sitting in the Hub with a tub of triple chocolate ice cream between her and Ianto. The paperwork was finally done, Owen buggered off hours ago and Tosh was practically kicked out at eight o'clock allowing the pair of them to have a relaxed chat.
"So go on" Gwen said scooping some ice cream off the edge. "Be honest...is your Dad really a tailor?"
"No...He worked at Debenhams" Ianto admitted. "Me and my Dad...we didn't get on well. I can't really say why but I felt some sort of resentment towards him..."
"What about your Mum?" Gwen asked.
"She...she died, when I was a child. Cancer" Ianto said sadly staring down at the ice cream.
"I'm sorry" Gwen said sympathetically. "Must have been hard for you"
"Yeah...it was...what about you?"
"Nothing much to talk about, both Mum and Dad are alive, happily married for thirty odd years both come from Cardiff families. I'm from one of the oldest families around" Gwen said scrunching her nose as she tried to think of something else to say. "No siblings, the odd pet then and there...but just been me and my parents all my life. Never left Cardiff not even for holidays until I started working for here"
"I went to London after Dad died, couldn't stand staying here" Ianto said staring up at the ceiling. "went to Uni, got recruited at Torchwood One straight out due to my grades and the fact...well lets just say I had an encounter with a book-obsessed alien in the library. Met Lisa and everything was great and then..."
"Canary Wharf" Gwen supplied knowing that the incident was still too hard for Ianto to discuss about. The fact Lisa was half alive for so many months only to be killed by Jack...
"yeah...i was a mess...couldn't stay in London any longer so I went and crashed at my sisters place, searched for the Torchwood here and tried my best to preserve Lisa" Ianto said, Gwen winced at the tragic puppy dog eyes that he had, how he looked like a puppy being tortured. She decided to quickly change the subject.
"So you have a sister?"
"Yes Rhiannon, she stayed in Cardiff, got married, has two kids, live on an estate" Ianto said quickly, he glanced at the ice cream and sighed, it was getting late and he didn't want to talk anymore about his family, he hated talking about his family but Gwen had a horrible talent of getting people to confess their sins, this woman should have been a priest or remained as a police officer he thought sulkily to himself. "I think we should go home"
"Tired?"
"Yes, also I can't eat another bite of this. We should leave it out for Mwyfanny she loves chocolate"
"Ok...Yan?"
"Yes Gwen?"
"You take care of yourself"
"Of course"
"And I'll see you tomorrow"
"As always...goodnight Gwen"
"Good night Yan"
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Gwen quietly snuck into the flat, the lights were out which meant Rhys was already in bed, she quietly locked the door and tip-toed towards the bedroom when suddenly the lamp snapped on. Rhys sat there in the armchair in his terry-clothed dressing robe, arms crossed and a furious look on his face.
"What time do you call this?" he asked sounding a lot like her father.
"Erm...quarter to two?" Gwen said nervously.
"Don't give me cheek young lady! I've been worried about you, each night you get home later and later and yes I know you're being overworked because your boss has done a runner, you said but-"
"Rhys, I'm tired can we please deal with this tomorrow?" Gwen asked, really not wanting to get into another fight. They've been fighting regularly since Gwen has not only taken to doing all of Jack's work as well as her own but to staying afterwards to keep Ianto Company. "We can have a nice breakfast and talk things over and come u-"
"Did you remember that tonight was our anniversary?" Rhys interrupted.
Gwen was silent for a moment.
"Shit"
"Yeah I thought so" Rhys said sighing heavily. "I love you Gwen, I really but I know that this won't be the last time you forget something so important and I know you'll try to make up for it but work will get in the way. It always does"
Gwen said nothing as she stared down at the floor. She felt horribly guilty but there was nothing she could do. Yeah she could probably stop spending so much time with Ianto but she couldn't, it went against her policy towards her friends. Ianto needed someone to talk to and she wanted to be there for him.
Rhys placed his hands on her shoulders and she looked up. "Lets go to bed" he said warmly. "Get some sleep and in the morning we'll go to a posh cafe for breakfast to make up for tonight"
Gwen smiled weakly and nodded. She went to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth before stripping, shoving a baggy shirt that belonged to Rhys on she climbed into bed and snuggled up to Rhys. Rhys fell asleep quickly and began to snore in Gwen's ear. Usually it was rather comforting but tonight it made it difficult for Gwen to fall asleep.
In the end, Gwen got very little sleep as her conscience kept her up all night, nagging at something that she couldn't place her finger on.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Gwen came in late.
When she did Tosh smiled and called out a good morning, Owen shouted a rude comment and got a stapler thrown at his head and Ianto sighed in relief. He had been worried that something happened to Gwen when she was walking home, he should have known that she just slept in or something.
"Morning Ianto" Gwen called out to him, smiling at him and giving him a wave.
"Morning Ma'am" Ianto said holding his coffee mug up at her in respect.
"Gwen" she corrected. "We're friends Ianto and you called me Gwen before"
"Of course...Ma'am" Ianto said grinning.
"Oh you cheeky man, I'm docking your pay check" Gwen said laughingly as she headed to her workstation. "So what have I missed?"
"Nothing much" Tosh said reassuringly.
Ianto headed towards the kitchen to make Gwen her favourite coffee, he smiled feeling content that he had Gwen to brighten up the day.
