Owen had helped Tosh into his flat, embarrassed by the state of disarray that the place had fallen into.
"Err, I know it ain't the Ritz but-" The woman laughed softly, wheeling herself to the edge o h his couch and removing the litter from it.
"Owen, I don't care about the cleanliness of your flat. I'm just glad to be here instead of the hospital." She snorted.
"I'm glad to be anywhere really. Those UNIT soldiers were under orders to kill me." Owen could imagine the hair on the back of his neck stand. He hadn't realized just how close he had come to losing her.
"Well, you're not dead. Thankfully. It isn't as fun as you might think." Tosh smiled, despite herself. She knew that Owen was trying to make her feel better.
"Still wish that they weren't so accurate at disabling." She wince, shifting her leg awkwardly in the wheelchair. "I can't wait until I'm out of this thing. Do you know how hard it's going to be to get into the HUB? I'm going to have to take the freight entrance." Owen held back a laugh. He knew how much it was bugging Tosh to be out of action, and how bad she was feeling.
"You know, field work aside, it isn't that different from normal. I mean, you spend most of your day in a wheelie chair in front of a desk. Now you'll just spend it in a wheelchair." The technician picked a stray t-shirt from the couch, and chucked it at Owen with a laugh.
"Keep up with comments like that, zombie man, and I'll-" The doctor smirked, leaning against the couch in front of Tosh.
"You'll what gimpy? Kill me?" Tosh schooled her face with her most somber expression.
"I'll delete your music playlist." Owen's eyes widened in horror.
"You wouldn't dare." Tosh smiled softly, her eyes warm behind her glasses.
"I would too dare. One quick virus and your entire music library is gone, irretrievable like that." She snapped her fingers for effect." Owen simply nodded, knowing that not only did she have that power, but she was cruel enough to use it.
"Alright, alright. I give. Gosh, leave it to you to find something to threaten the dead with." The woman smirked, and then laughed softly.
"Did you see what I had to do to Jack and Ianto? Or well, their door and reputations." The dead man frowned, and shook his head.
"No, I didn't pay attention to that one, I was more worried with everyone's health." Tosh giggled slightly.
"I married 'em." Owen stood, open mouthed, and Tosh fell into a fit of giggles. "I had to. It was the only way that I could guarantee them a room together, without having to pull all that Torchwood stuff. Besides, It'll be fun to see their faces when they find out." She sobered instantly, snapping from humorous to solemn like a rubber band.
"Owen, do you think that they'll pull through? I mean, I know Jack will, he always has. But what about Ianto?" The doctor went to chew his already split lip.
"I really don't know. There isn't much knowledge about psychic empathy, and I'm almost certain that that is the cause. He may wake up tomorrow morning, fully functioning. Then again he could wake up and not remember who any of us are, or he could have reverted to an infantile state, or he may never wake up at all. The odds are all over the place. And to top it all off, I still don't know what sort of things UNIT did to him while they had him, that the hospital may have missed." Tosh nodded, and yawned.
"I hope that he is ok. I want to say that it's for Jack, because I think Ianto's death will be unbearable for him. But, honestly. I think that it'll be harder on Torchwood. HE keeps everything running, you know? We really don't appreciate him, but he does do a hell of a lot of things." Owen nodded, stepping behind Tosh.
"Your right. Now, though, isn't the time to worry about Tea-boy's survival. You need to get to bed, and take another dosage of those pain killers." Tosh nodded, and let Owen wheel her into the bathroom. She blushed when he went to help her out of her clothes.
"Toshiko, are you seriously embarrassed?" The reproach in his tone was nearly eclipsed by his humor.
"Yes, I mean we aren't going to, you know, and I look dreadful, and I've been running a lot and-" Owen's laughter drowned out any further excuses.
"Tosh, I've seen you with out clothing plenty of times. Naked hide and seek that one night we all got smashed, every physical and exam for the past three years, a few nights ago." Tosh nodded, blushing further at the memory of that night. "As for the rest of that. You look like rubbish and you smell terrible, but you were also running for your life and gunned down by some UNIT soldiers, so I say it's understandable." Tosh smiled at that.
"Fine, but at least let me get some clothes to sleep in, all right?" Owen nodded, helping Tosh out of her clothes and trying to laugh as she covered herself. He sighed at her wound dressings, seeing that blood was already seeping through.
"I'll have to redress those before you can get dressed." He ran a warm bath, much to the surprise of Tosh.
"You may as well clean yourself up. No point in you being miserable just because you got shot." She smiled, trying not to react when he undid the bandages on her hip and thigh, and helped her into the warm water. It soothed her aches and bruises, alleviating the tension of the day and letting her slip into a euphoric semi consciousness, aided by the painkillers that Owen had given her. She was barely aware, when someone laughed, and cool hands went to work washing her skin and body. She cared little when those hands helped her up and held her, drying her off with a warm towel. She shivered involuntarily when she and the towel were placed in a chair, and the same cool hands cleaned and dressed her wounds. Then she was moving, swiftly or slowly she didn't know. She drew to a stop, warm cloth surrounding her once more as the dead man dressed her. He laid her between the sheets of the bed, the technician falling fast asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Hours passed as the sun slipped below the horizon. Tosh slept fitfully under the watchful gaze of the dead man. He sat over her now, stroking her hair as she whimpered softly in her sleep. He leaned down, his lips brushing her forehead. She smiled softly, her body stilling as her dreams became more at peace.
"Shh. Sleep well Tosh." The woman sighed, and Owen stood, walking over to the window and leaning his arm against it. Part of him gazed over Cardiff watching the comings and goings of a sleeping city. The other part of him watched Tosh in the reflection of the glass. The doctor was still shaken from the near loss of the woman behind him. He laughed bitterly to himself. That statement was the truest in the world. She had always been there, supporting him, or Torchwood. All those years she had watched him destroying himself with booze and women. She had suffered through his round with Gwen, watched him through himself at a woman out of his time. She had stood bye him, and helped him after he had died and found himself alive again. She had stood behind him this entire time. Now she cannot stand. The dead man walked from the room, not wanting to wake her. He needed something to clear his head of these thoughts, but drowning himself in drink was not an option. Just the thought of what happened last time brought imaginary bile into his throat. He flopped onto the couch turning himself upside once more.