Tosh sat in a hospital room, dressed in a set of scrubs that a nurse saw fit to provide her. She wince, the sharp pain radiating from her hip barely dulled by the cocktail of pain killers that they had given her. A part of her knew that she should be sound asleep, laying in a hospital bed, or even her own bed, recovering from her injuries. Yet here she was, sitting in between two hospital beds, each one containing a man that she held dear. Despite persistent argument from the nursing staff, her Torchwood clearance had gotten Jack and Ianto in the same hospital room, as well as permission for her to stay with them. She gazed once more at the patient charts in her lap, focusing through the fog of pain killers in an attempt to understand the words on the page,
"Unidentifiable physical trauma." Was written on Ianto's chart, in the same place as "Gunshot wound to heart" On Jack's. Thankfully the Captain had survived the wound, sparing Tosh the task of explaining his resurrection. However, something had happened to Ianto, and she couldn't pinpoint what. Her only hope was the Owen could identify what had happened. Tosh leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes, before squinting at the clock. It had been two hours since Owen had been contacted, and she hadn't heard anything from him. A part of her knew that he was probably still operating on Fall, trying to save the poor thing, but an irrational part of her was jealous. She had been hurt, and Owen wasn't here to take care of her. No, that's not right. He has a job to do, you are not a priority. Still, she couldn't help but wonder. The sound of sneakers squeaking through the hall, and shouting came found its way from into the room. She could faintly hear a man shouting, and then the door burst open, a very rumpled looking Owen standing in the doorway. Before she could react, he was on his knees in front of her, his arms wrapped around her shoulders.
"Blimey Tosh, I had thought I'd lost you." The technician smiled to herself, curling her hands around him and burying her head in his shoulder. They sat there like that, before a slight cough shook them from the moment. Owen rolled back on his heels, keeping a hand placed gently on her arm as he spoke.
"Are you alright? I mean, have they taken good care of you? Given you any pain killers, been polite?" Tosh could tell the doctor was stalling, trying to cover for his lapse of character in front of Gwen.
"Well I feel like I've been shot twice, but other than that I'm fine. It's these two I'm worried about." She hooked her thumbs to either side, indicating the two men in the room. If the doctor could have blushed, he would have. He had been so concerned with whether or not Tosh was ok, he had nearly forgotten about the Tea-boy and his Captain.
"Err, well, what did these idiots say was wrong with 'em?" Tosh handed the dead man the charts. Well Jack was, quite obviously, shot. They chart says in the hart, but it missed his heart by 1/4th of an inch. Ripped through an artery though. By the time that they got in to look at it, it was nearly halfway healed, but that indicates a severe level of damage." The doctor nodded, an d flipped through Ianto's chart.
"Unknown physical trauma?" Tosh shrugged.
"He collapsed as soon as Jack did, and now they are in the same state, almost exactly. I have a theory, mind you, but it isn't a very good one." The doctor shrugged, setting the two charts down and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Let's hear it then." The technician bit her lip.
"I think that Jack did die, just for a second, his heart stopped, before starting itself again. Much to quickly for his brain to actually die again, but enough for it to go into shock." Owen nodded, the point was plausible. "I think that his near-death was enough for their bond to feel it." The doctor glanced over at Gwen, who just nodded.
"They told me earlier." Owen nodded, and then thought about it.
"So what you're saying is that, when Jack's body shut down, so did Ianto's?" The technician nodded.
"The issue with that is, Ianto has been injured and drugged since this whole thing began, and so has Jack. Neither of them have shared any physical symptoms of the others condition at all." Owen leaned against the edge of Ianto's bed, pondering the point.
"Jack tried to sever his bond with Ianto, and he got very physically ill. Maybe that's what happened, maybe the bond broke, and this is the result." Tosh sighed.
"If that's the case then we can't do anything. We just have to wait for one of them to wake up." Owen nodded once more, and rubbed his hand down his face.
"Until then, we might as well all go home. They aren't going to get any better overnight, and it's been a while since we've gotten any rest." Tosh agreed, but she was still reluctant to leave the Welshman and the immortal.
"Don't look like that Tosh, someone will be here for them when they wake up." Gwen said softly, seeing how the technician reacted.
"You're right of course. Besides, I'm anxious to check on Glib and Fall." The doctor frowned.
"That'll have to wait Tosh. I'm taking you home." The technician pouted, not wanting to give up seeing her friends.
"Come on, just a quick trip to the HUB?" but the dead man was having none of that.
"No. As your doctor I'm saying that at the very least you'll be spending tomorrow at home, and, oh bloody hell." The dead man looked over Tosh once more, and noticed, for the first time, that she was wheelchair bound.
"You can't go to your flat, you'll never make it up the steps." The technician looked down at herself, and grimaced.
"I forgot about that. How long till I can be on crutches?" Owen shook his head.
"If I got my way? Three, maybe four weeks. Since you are you? Maybe a week tops." She nodded, rolling her wheelchair forward.
"Looks like it's your flat for now." Owen his his smile. Not for the first time he was thankful for his wheelchair-accessible apartment. Neither person noticed Gwen's soft smile, and the slight shake of her head. She had not doubts about their relationship, and knew that Tosh would be very comfortable there.
"I'll go back to the HUB tonight and check on Glib and Fall. I figure I'm the only one of us that hasn't spent the night there in a long time." Owen nodded, and went to Ianto and Jack. A quick cursory check of their vitals and a list of commands to the nursing staff, and he was out the door, pushing Tosh along with him. Gwen stayed behind for a moment, looking over the figures of her boss and his lover, before dimming the lights and leaving the room. Gwen nearly made it to the parking lot before her phone started ringing. It was Owen.
"Gwen, err, we only have the SUV here." The Welshwoman shook her head.
"I'll be down there in a moment, go ahead and get Tosh in the car. No sense in her catching a chill from the garage." There was a rustling and the sound of soft speaking. Tosh's voice came across the line.
"That won't happen. This idiot forgot his keys. We'll have to wait on you." Gwen smiled to herself.
"Like it told Owen, I'm almost there." She rounded the corner, to see Owen standing over Tosh, a look of annoyance and concern on his face.
"Alright then." The line went dead and Gwen saw Tosh chuck the phone at Owen, who fumbled with caching it. She clicked the keys, unlocking the SUV and scaring Owen in the process.
"Bloody hell! You're going to give me a heart attack, sneaking up on me like that." Tosh frowned and Gwen laughed.
"I could only give you a heart attack if your heart was still beating you idiot." The dead man wanted to comment, but she was right.
"As much as I enjoy listening to you two bicker. I can't get into this car by myself." A if to make her point, she pushed herself up in the wheelchair, attempting to balance on her good leg, and then collapsing back into the chair with a huff.
"OH, gees, sorry Tosh." Gwen murmured. She opened the door to the SUV, letting Owen lift the technician in his arms and set her on the seat. He fastened her in, and expertly collapsed the Wheelchair. The two uninjured team members climbed into the SUV, and drove into the glare of the day.