[It's the end of an era…]

It's a shame, we're all dying
And do you think you deserve your freedom?

There's no justice in the world
And there never was

Muse - Soldier's Poem

Exit Wounds: part 2

She'd tried everything. Winter was a competent swimmer, not the best and she certainly wouldn't win a race but she could keep herself afloat. However keeping afloat in a small area filling with water isn't quite the biggest problem on ones mind. She'd hammered against the door and wrenched the handle but it just snapped off. She'd even attacked it with her sword but the water had quickly risen above standing level. The possesions in the vault were useless, dead phones, note pads, scarves and hats and shoes. Nothing she could use. She was spurred on by invasive memories of Trina, floating in the cold waters of Cardiff bay, is that how they would find her?

Her final breath was now running out and she was terrified of the blackness around her. Her lungs grated, hoping for a taste of oxygen but there was none left. Winter felt the smooth stone wall behind her and felt her body drift to the top, bumping into the ceiling. Without her permission, her lungs pushed the air out of themselves and she realised what was to come. All that was left was water and water in the lungs was not a good thing.

As her brain began to become harder to work she began to see spots of light in the murky water. Her body felt enveloped in a warm blanket and the breath left her. Her thoughts strayed back to Jack before shutting down and her last word, though no one heard it, was, 'Please.'

TTT

Jack laid Toshiko on the slab and pushed it gently into the hole. Locking the door. He would clean her up later when the others weren't around. He put his hands in his pockets and sighed before heading to the board room to join the said others. John sat on a seat near the door. Gwen was stood with Ianto in the corner. Jack walked up to them and nodded before scanning the room. 'Where's Nemo?' he asked.

John looked up at him. His eyes widened and he sat back.

Ianto took a few steps forward. 'You said...' He looked at John, panicked. 'You told her to get out of the hub.'

'She was here,' John told them, 'Just before Gwen arrived.'

'Then she left, right?' Jack asked.

John looked terrified. 'She…she went to find the monkey.' Jack and Ianto exchanged a look and Jack pointed around them.

'Top to bottom, every inch.' They all took off through the tunnels, exhaustion forgotten. Jack pushed Gwen down the corridor towards the cells, and Ianto towards the way to the caves high above, then pointed John down towards the armoury.'

'I'll take her room.' He raced in the opposite direction, repeating 'Not her too, god not her too.' under his breath with every footfall, every heartbeat.

John careered down his corridor. The floor was getting slippery, as if it was… he stopped. It was covered in water. Water that was trickling out of a door a few meters in front.

His face fell and he tried the raced forward and pulled on the door. Nothing. He hammered on the door with his fists then examined the electric lock by the door, it was shot out but it was wireless, maybe... his arm stung as he buried his hand in his pocket and pulled out his manipulator, laying it next to the lock and fiddling with the buttons. 'Come on, come on, come on!' A tiny click informed him he had managed it and he pulled the door open.

A flood of cold water threw the door into him and pressed him against the wall as it dissipated over the corridor. Something heavy smacked against the wall opposite and he forced the door shut again. The girl with the doll like face looked more rag than china now. He pulled her towards him and rolled her over on the wet floor listening to the drips as water trickled down the walls and off his clothing onto the floor. He pushed the sopping hair out of her face, she was drenched and she wasn't breathing. He looked around wondering what to do, his hands hovering over her, shaking.

Panicking a little he took her shoulders in his hands and shook her, then slapped her face a little roughly, calling her name. It wasn't working. Oh, Jack would kill him if she died! He leant over and took a deep breath. 'I've bloody dreamt about this.' he murmured before taking a deep breath and pressing his lips over her own. She suddenly spasmed and grabbed at anything she could fling her arm at ending up with handfuls of his coat, dragging him into the kiss, more in shock than passion.

He almost laughed and pulled her up into a hug. 'At least you don't smell like sewer anymore,' he told her.

He could have sworn he saw a twitch of a smile as he pulled his manipulator up to his mouth. 'Everyone get back to the conference room. I found her.' She coughed heavily and he sat back on his heels. 'Think you can walk or do I have to play the hero.'

Winter rolled over and tried to get up, she managed half the corridor with his help before she collapsed to her knees. As she hit the floor he thought he heard a strange sound, like a clanging echoing through the hall and when her knees and hands made contact with the ground he could have sworn he saw sparks ripple out like stardust. He ducked down to her and grabbed her chin to make her look at him, pulling back in shock. Her eyes were swirling with gold and as she coughed and breathed slight flecks of gold flashed as though she was expelling them. She blinked and it was gone but he knew what he saw.

'Sorry, John,' she coughed out, 'Should have, should have listened.'

He frowned and pulled her up, swinging her up into his arms. She shivered, curling closer into his body heat.

'I'll remember that next time,' he grunted as he carried her down the corridor.

She gripped his coat and laid her head on his shoulder. 'Who's gone?'

He paused momentarily but kept on. 'Toshiko...and Owen.' He felt her nod.

'I think I felt it.'

'It?'

'Them, gone.'

'I'm… I'm sorry.'

She snorted. 'Really?'

He stiffened as he walked and she sighed, tired and impossibly sad. Then in a small, child like whimper she said, 'Please, don't leave me.'

He looked down when she went limp and this time he was certain, there was gold seeping from her mouth and nose. He adjusted his hold on her and grimaced.

'Listen Doll. If you want to keep this hush hush you might need to stop bleeding fairy dust while we're with your friends.' He shook her gently and her eyes rolled open.

Slowly, drunkenly, she nodded her head and curled back into him. He managed to get her up to the conference room where everyone was already gathered.

Jack and Ianto soared across the room but John backed up and rounded the table settling with her on his lap. The last thing she needed was them fawning over her. Oh, dear god, he was going native. Gwen put a hand on his shoulder and smoothed her hair slightly before nodding to Jack who relaxed and crossed his arms watching John like a hawk. Winter murmured and shifted closer into John, shivering.

'Where was she?' Ianto asked.

''Round the corner from your armoury. Storage room or something.'

'She's soaked through.' Ianto said, rifling through a box on the floor for a blanket.

The room was a bit of a swimming pool.'

'And?'

John looked up at Jack. 'Why does there have to be an 'and"

All three awake Torchwood members glared at him.

'Alright, alright, she was kind of dead when I got there.'

'What!' Jack yelled.

'That's a pretty big 'and" Gwen commented.

'Well, she's fine now so what's the problem.'

'The problem? I don't remember you knowing much about resuscitation.' Jack replied.

'I might have learnt.'

'You never saved anyone in your life before us. Now talk.'

John sighed grumpily. 'I have seen people being saved you know, I'm a quick learner.'

Jack's frown left and was replaced by a look of relief. 'So she's not…'

'Not what?'

'She's not like me?'

John snorted. 'If you mean could I push her off a multi-story building only to have her saunter in a few hours later, then no. She's just lucky.' He looked down at her secretly hoping they dropped the subject. No need to tell them about the gold, or that he never got so far as actually breathing the air into her lungs.

TTT

Winter waited patiently on the step outside the hub. She knew he'd come here. Something told her he would.

'I found something that I think belongs to you.'

She smiled and turned around, laughing with delight when Peregrine jumped off John's shoulder and onto her own.

John smiled and shifted on the spot. 'Listen about the other two, I'm…'

She shook her head. 'I think you've said that enough to me to last your lifetime.'

He nodded.

'I'm going to miss them.' She stated.

'Don't you want to be down there, they're packing the things away.'

'I can't, I just…can't.'

John nodded and then straightened up. 'Anyway, I'll be off now.'

She nodded and gave him a slight smile. 'About the whole...'

He leaned over and kissed her cheek, whispering into her ear, 'Secret's safe with me... well, safe enough. See you around Doll Face.' He turned and disappeared before her.

She sighed and walked back around to the visitor's entrance. Ianto was at Tosh's computer when she got down to the hub, Jack in his office and Gwen packing things into a box. She flashed back to Suzie's storage room. Their whole lives, shoved in boxes. Never to be seen again.

She would never see Owen roll across the platform to chuck a file in Jack's office because he couldn't be arsed to get up. She would never see Tosh stick the frame of her glasses in her mouth when she was working on a particularly hard problem. Never hear Owen make another sarcastic comment, Never hear Tosh… wait, what was that.

She turned to Ianto who was staring at the screen. Tosh had appeared on it. She was talking to him! Jack and Gwen came up behind them and watched as she spoke with tear in their eyes.

'Ok, so. If you're seeing this, I guess it means I'm, well, dead. Hope it was impressive, not crossing the road or an incident with a toaster.'

Jack laughed and Winter took Ianto's hand.

'I just wanted to say. It's Ok, it really is. Jack, you saved me, you showed me all the wonders of the universe and all those possibilities, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Thank you. And Owen,'

Winter's breath caught in her throat and her free hand shot up to stop a sob escaping, 'you never knew, I love you.'

The screen became blurry and she wanted it to stop, wanted Tosh to stop baring her soul because the more she told them the more painful it felt.

'All of you and, I hope I did good.' Toshiko Sato smiled back at them, beautiful Toshiko, the only one who had taken the time to sit with her and talk through things that most people knew, the only one who didn't mind when she messed up the paper stacks because it meant not having to go home to an empty flat. Toshiko who had died, essentially, alone.

'Now we carry on.' Jack told them

'I don't think I can, not after this.' Gwen whispered hoarsely.

Jack reached around hugging Gwen and Ianto, Pip climbed down into Winter's arms like a stuffed toy bringing comfort to a child.

'You can,' Jack told her. 'We all can.'

Winter looked up at the Hub. There was something empty about it. Hollow. Like the heart had been ripped clean out. Just for a second she wished John hadn't saved her. Death might have been better than this pain but she looked back at the small huddle and knew she was wrong. Jack, Ianto and Gwen. They needed her, just as much as she needed them. Torchwood had been broken but so had she, and she managed to fix herself.

This was not the end.

'Sonotalady': Winter hears you but chooses not to comment. In fact she's sulking I'll try and coax her out with Peregrine later. I'm glad you liked the cliffhanger, it was rather mean. Don't get too comfy with that particular little spoiler, you don't know the evil inner workings of my mind yet.

'The Small But Powerful One': Don't worry I just walked 2 miles in the rain just to get my hands on a copy of doctor who magazine I'm pretty sure I'm almost as crazy as people come :) no normal people here.

Rachy Babes': Ha! Bribery beats asking politely any day. Sorry to hear about your ankle. A girl fell down some stairs at my school a few days ago. All the teachers were crowding around her and one of them put his jacket over her. it was so aww. Anyway, I hope this update comes soon enough for you.

Zaziness': Don't worry about it just makes your reviews even more special. Trust me I understand about school work. I've just finished some entrance exams for university. Painfull. I Love Muse, so they had to get a look in on one of the last two eps and Knights Of Cydonia is so epic that I really think it fits the mood I was heading towards. (*blushes*) aww, I don't know if it was perfect but thank you :) John and Winter was always something I wanted to explore because I think she intreaged him early on. now she's somehow slipped under his skin. I get the feeling that if he didn't think Jack would shoot him, he's probably ask her out. Not that he does that sort of thing. I think the bomb thing pretty much shows how desperate he is to get her out. That he's willing to come up with the stupidest, but quickest' code possible just to warn her. No one wants it to happen but happen it must, however I won't make you cry. Not this chapter at least. I wanted it to end on more of a to be continued note than an everyone's dead note. I doubt our little monkeys will hate each other, Pip can be quite naughty when he's in a bad temper. If I had time I'd write them their own show. Maybe soon, after this story possibly.