Author's Note: thank you to those who managed to review the past two chapters despite having Fan-Fiction breaking down on all of us. Sorry if I had not replied to them since at the time review replies were not available.
Tosh was happy.
She was also dressed up and practically glowing. A woman in love Gwen would say. It turns out Tosh had a frozen love interest, his name was Thomas Reginald Brockless better known as Tommy, a 24 year old soldier that had been frozen by the Torchwood staff in 1918. Once a year he would be defrosted, spend the day of freedom before being put back in the freezer as Owen said it. To Ianto's amusement after the struggle of waking Tommy up the young soldier had immediately punched Owen before politely asking for a cup of tea. Despite his politeness towards Tommy neither Gwen nor Ianto couldn't help noticing his jealousness but voted to not comment until Tosh and Tommy left the Hub. After all there was no need for Owen to explode in front of guests.
"St. Teilo's Hospital, 1918. There was a time-shift. A fracture in the rift means that two slices of time were erupting into each other" Jack started explaining to Gwen while Ianto poured out more coffee for the three of them.
"A slice of 1918, and ...?" Gwen asked.
"Nobody knows" Ianto said in a vague mysterious voice causing both Gwen and Jack to roll their eyes.
"A slice of the future" Jack said as if Ianto never spoke. "But we don't know exactly what slice. It could be tomorrow, it could be in a hundred years' time"
"What will happen?" Gwen asked worriedly.
"Chunks of 1918 will start to appear at the hospital. A few at first, then more and more. When the time-shift is complete, it'll start a chain reaction" Ianto explained as Jack got up from his chair and went towards his cabinets. "Unless we stop it, time-shifts will start happening all over the country, then all over the world"
Jack unlocked his cabinet while Gwen looked at the picture of Tommy; Ianto moved over and tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear while taking in a bit of her scent.
"But how does Tommy fit in?" Gwen asked softly.
"He helps to stop it somehow" Jack said pulling out a canister and passing it to Gwen. "Torchwood 1918 left us sealed orders"
Gwen read the label out loud. "Eyes-only documents. FAO Torchwood, commander overseeing case 1918 TB. T ... Tommy Brockless?" she asked her eyes widening; both Jack and Ianto nodded and Gwen attempted to open the canister. "Okay. It's stuck" she mumbled.
"No, it's locked" Ianto corrected, his lips twitching slightly in amusement at Gwen's obvious frustration. She had always been able to open her own jars and this was probably a blow to her feministic ego.
"Okay, where's the key?" Gwen asked glaring at Ianto, catching that slight twitch.
"It's a temporal lock tied in with the rift frequencies at the hospital" Jack explained, Gwen rolled her eyes and huffed slightly. "When the rift nears completion, the box will open and we'll find out exactly what Tommy does"
"But why would they keep us in the dark, Jack?"
"I guess we'll find that out, too"
Just then Tommy and Tosh walked into the office. Tommy was wearing normal street clothing. Looking like an average everyday person.
"Ta-dah!" Tosh exclaimed dramatically widening her arms to show him off.
"Seriously, what do you think?" Tommy asked nervously.
"You look like a film star" Gwen said sincerely while Ianto mumbled his approval.
"Who? Charlie Chaplin?" Tommy asked causing Gwen to giggle and the others to look rather amused.
"Come on" Tosh said gently leading Tommy out of the office, the others following quickly to say goodbye.
"Jack? Have you got any more of those pretty boys in the freezer?" Gwen asked teasingly as they watched Tommy help Tosh put her coat on.
"Hands off, missy. Tosh got there first" Jack teased back while glancing at Ianto who appeared unbothered. Tosh looked up at everyone.
"Thanks for holding the fort while I'm out" she said beaming.
"No worries. Have fun. Be careful" Owen said trying to sound pleasant but there was an edge to his voice.
"Where are you off?" Gwen asked.
"A drink, film? Maybe a pizza" Tosh said thoughtfully.
"Aw, very nice" Gwen, Ianto and Jack chimed together.
"I'll be on the mobile if you need me"
"Have a lovely time" Gwen said determined that Tosh wouldn't have to work when she should be on this date.
"Keep warm" Ianto said mildly.
"Bye!" Jack said waving.
They watched Tosh and Tommy head out. "He's a frozen soldier from 1918" Gwen murmured.
"Nobody's perfect" Jack said shrugging.
"You would know sir" Ianto said cheekily.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Gwen and Ianto sat together going through the slides of Torchwood 1918 together hoping to pick up some clues that the many members before them hadn't been able to find. They paused on a photo of a handsome man and a pretty woman standing side by side.
"He's a bit of all right" Gwen commented.
"He's the boss"
"Nothing changes" Gwen muttered, the pair glanced at each other and laughed both thinking about Jack. Ianto wrapped an arm round her shoulder.
"She's all right, too. Harriet Derbyshire" Ianto said looking at the woman without much interest.
"I wonder what happened to her"
"She died the year after that was taken. Twenty-six years old" Ianto said sadly.
"So young" Gwen sighed.
"They all were" Ianto said picking up a slide with five people in it. "Nothing changes" Gwen picking up on Ianto's depression turned round and pecked him lightly on the lips.
"Some things might" she whispered before heading out of the office.
"Where are you going?" Ianto called after her.
"St. Teilo's Hospital. And bloody cheer up, will you? I don't need a mopey fiancée when we discuss wedding plans tonight" Gwen said winking. "Mam saw a dress that she thinks is perfect for me"
Ianto grinned happily; one thing he loved to talk about recently was the wedding plans. He enjoyed arranging such a happy moment instead of where to drop of the latest body.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
A few hours later, Gwen, Owen, Jack, Tommy and Tosh rushed into the Hub while Ianto was cleaning in Jack's office. From the window Ianto noticed immediately how pale and terrified looking Gwen was and bit his lip to keep him from running towards her demanding what's wrong.
"Ianto! Is that box doing anything yet?" Jack shouted.
Ianto stepped out of the office. "Still locked" he said calmly.
"Okay. We need to find out how fast the time-shift is happening. Get some idea when it's going to complete" Jack said hurriedly though calmly. "Tosh, Owen, go to the hospital. We need readings. Cover the place with rift monitors. Gwen, go through the files, see if there's anything we missed" Jack ordered.
Tosh and Owen immediately got their jackets while Gwen rushed to her workstation. When Jack rushed back to his office and started to examine the canister and Tommy glumly looked down at his shoes after Tosh and Owen left, Ianto took his chance to hug Gwen.
"Are you ok love?" he whispered in her ear.
Gwen nodded. "Just a bit of a fright. Seeing all those people from 1918 was like seeing ghosts. Most didn't notice me but one...a nurse told me to stop bothering her and the others" she gulped. "Having the lights flickering on and off didn't help either"
Ianto squeezed her waist. "Don't worry we'll get this solved before the day is out. Then I'll order some Chinese and we'll have a night in and discuss the wedding"
Gwen smiled. "I'll like that"
Ianto then leaned over and tapped rapidly into the keyboard bringing up the CCTV, Gwen watched silently as he quickly deleted all footage of them together and tried to squash the guilty sensation that was building up in her chest.
