'Till Death Do Us Part

The power plant was completely quiet, surrounded in darkness, when Tosh walked in. Pulling out a flashlight from her bag with her left hand, she raised the gun in her right above it. Light taps against polished floor was the only thing she heard, as she ventured deeper into the long, empty hallway. Her first priority was getting the power back on. The power plant wasn't safe in the darkness, especially with the possibility of more weevils running around inside. Power was crucial to stopping the meltdown.

Tap.

Her reaction was quick. Her gun pointed in the direction of the sound, a tap that shouldn't exist except for her own. She purposely made her breathing grow quiet and waited a few seconds. Hearing nothing, she continued on, feeling more cautious as ever. As she advanced a couple more steps, she froze.

A snarl.

Tosh was so startled that she dropped the flashlight on the ground.

“Shit!” She had no choice but to shoot blindly. One shot was fired, soon following the second. She heard a yelp and a thud. She scrambled to pick it up her flashlight and shone it on the weevil.

But it wasn't a weevil at all, it was Owen lying on the floor, wounded and groaning in pain.

“Owen!?”

“Fuck!” Tosh's eyes widened as she could see blood drizzling down his hand, which was pressed against the wound.

“Owen! I'm sorry! I-I thought you were a weevil!”

“There are no weevils in the building! Fuck!”

“I fired two bullets, did they...?”

“Lucky for me, you're a crap shot. The first bullet missed. The second hit my shoulder, which is way better than hitting me in the heart.” He moaned in agony again, but reciprocated quickly. He lifted his shirt, where Tosh could see portable medical supplies strapped to his belt. “I can't afford to take the bullet out right now, it would be wasting too much time.” With a quivering hand, he removed a syringe from a strap and stabbed it into his shoulder. Owen clenched his jaw as he emptied all the syringe's fluid into him.

“I had to shoot in the dark. How was I supposed to know!?” She fumed.

“Whatever. Help me up, would you?”

“Your wound...”

“This is nothing.” He bit into his other sleeve and ripped off a piece of fabric, held it to his bleeding shoulder, and tied it. “You should probably find the lights, before you kill us both.”

“You need to rest!” She cried, ignoring his remark. She reluctantly helped Owen stagger to his feet, putting his arm around her shoulder. “You're in no shape to be walking.”

“I'm already standing, so it doesn't matter.”

Tosh handed him the flashlight with pressed lips and the two continued down the hallway, Owen trudging the whole way through. With a gun held confidentially in her right hand, her left hand curiously groped the wall for the power box.

“What's gonna happen?” Owen asked. “If we don't get the power restored?”

“The containment structure will be over pressurized. The containment spray and cooling system aren't working so the fuel can't be cooled down. It's overheating.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Then there will be a meltdown and radioactive material will be released into the atmosphere.”

Suddenly there was a loud ringing noise from the device Tosh had in her purse.

“What's the matter now?” He asked desperately as he looked at the device.

“I don't want you to panic, but the reactor's already hit the critical point.”

“And we're in the eye of the storm.”

“I can't believe it....” She murmured, staring at the device. “We don't need to find the power box. It was so simple! I must have panicked or - “

“What is it!?”

“I could try and divert power from the auxiliary source back here. If it works, then we can restore the coolant system. Why didn't I think of that earlier!? I wasted too much time! I - “

“Don't beat yourself up over something like that. What matters is here and now.”

Tosh bit her lower lip and gave a sharp nod. She began pressing buttons on the device and swiping fingers across the touch screen. Then the hallway was suddenly illuminated with bright lights.

“Bloody hell!” Owen squinted his eyes.

“Oh, stop being such a baby. According to the device, the control room should be in the right hallway, along the left wall.”

“Tosh, let me help you.”

“Owen, you know I can't let you do that. You're wounded.”

“I know god damn well that I'm bloody wounded! I don't wanna feel useless! I'm a doctor and you know what they do Tosh? They help people.” He grabbed her arm and looked into her eyes. “Please.”

She searched his eyes and found his pleads. She searched deeper and found fierceness. “Alright.”

They turned right and found a line of doors. “The control room has got to be one of these doors.” Tosh removed his arm from her shoulder. “You sure you can stand on your own?”

“I'll manage.”

“I'll search these first five doors.”

“Guess I'll search the rest then.” She watched as he disappeared into one of the rooms.

“That's alright Owen.” She murmured to herself. “You don't have to search at all.” The device began beeping noisily toward the third door. “I'm sorry, but I can't have someone like you work in the control room. We need to move quickly. You will only hold me back.”

She entered the control room, filled with colorful buttons, multiple screens, and an ear-splitting alarm going off. She looked up at one of the screens and her face grew pale.

She turned on the ear piece, tapped the microphone and said, “Owen. Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.” The reply buzzed back.

“There's no way to stop the meltdown. It's too far gone.”

“There's gotta be something we can do. There's always something!”

“The only option is to vent the flow channels internally.”

“Vent them where?”

“The control room.”

“Which I still haven't found yet.” He grumbled.

“Keep looking.” She encouraged.

“What happens if I find the control room?”

“I will give you the codes to set up a time delayed program. It'll channel the fuel into that bunker and instigate permanent lock down. The lock down will be contained in that room. Obviously, you need to be out by then.”

“I think I can remember that bit.” He chuckled.

“Once you find the room, I'll open the system protocol. You just need to enter the time frame and authorize it.” As she said this, Tosh was entering the codes for the time delayed program. The “Alarm Message Display” screen in the room read, “System protocols initiated.” She pressed a few more buttons and the message screen changed to, “Flow channels diverted.” She grinned, feeling proud of herself. Now she could leave and tell Owen she found the control room and set in the delayed program. He wouldn't know that she had purposely sent him searching elsewhere.

The alarm in the room, that had stopped as soon as she put in the delayed program, began to ring again. Confused, Tosh, looked up at the screen and her expression changed into pure terror.

“It can't be.” She murmured.

The meters on the panel began to move vigorously. The message on the screen now read, “Emergency lock down procedure.”

“Tosh, I've searched all the rooms and I couldn't find the control room.” She heard Owen call from outside. “Have you found it?”

She looked up at the alarm blaring, red lights flashing in the room. She knew she couldn't stand around for more than a second as she darted for the metal door. Owen, who was now back in the hallway, saw the metal door closest to him, beginning to close. As the door was closing, he saw Tosh through the remaining crack. In realization, he himself ran to the door. Before he could reach her, the door slammed shut with the image of Tosh's terrified eyes in his head.

“Tosh!” Owen began to bang on the steel door. “Toshiko, are you alright!?”

Tosh, who was trapped inside of the room, fell to her knees in shock. She continued to hear Owen bellow her name from outside the door, barely audible, and his desperate pounds. Finally she uttered in the ear piece, “I'm....I'm fine.”

“Quick Tosh! Tell me how to get you out of here!”

“You...You can't.” The alarm had stopped blaring as soon as the door had closed.

“What?”

“You know how I told you that you need to vent the flow channels internally? I-I found the control room and I set up the time delayed program.” She could barely speak clearly anymore. “But...there was a power surge in the system. I-I couldn't anticipate it. It triggered an emergency lock down.” Owen's eyes widened. “I....I couldn't make it.”

“Tosh! We need to get you out of there!” He clicked another button on the ear piece. “Jack! Ianto! Gwen! Somebody help!” He waited and heard nothing. “Anyone! Help! SOMEBODY BLOODY FUCKING ANSWER ME!” He continued to scream, spitting out profanity in the process.

Tosh was now on the ground, leaning against the door. Her eyes began to grow wet with tears as Owen's screams began to grow louder, more desperate. “Owen, listen to me. You can't. I'm trapped inside.”

“But that means...”

“I'll die. Yeah, I know.”

“What's gonna happen to you?” He whimpered.

“The containment chamber will be flooded with irradiant coolant. This particular power plant held a very dangerous substance to humans. Human skin is very sensitive to it. The radioactive material will have my body decomposed in less in than two minutes.”

“No. No. No. No!” Owen slammed his head against the metal door. He felt his hands shaking with rage. The new pain from the blood trickling down his forehead and the wound in his shoulder was barely a feel anymore. “It's all my fault!” He roared, kicking the door. “It's all my fucking fault!”

“Owen, it is not your fault.”

“I couldn't protect you Tosh!”

“Owen, I put this all on myself.” She wiped away her tears, but they continued to form. “I lied to you. I knew exactly where the control room was and I sent you to the other rooms because of your injury. You couldn't work fast with a bullet wound. I put myself in danger.” She began to sob quietly. “I'm sorry I didn't have enough faith in you.”

“I don't care about that anymore. You don't deserve to die! Especially...especially like this.

All of a sudden, Owen started to scream. He just couldn't bear the fact that Tosh had her fate sealed. She was gonna fall apart literally and the only thing stopping him from helping her was a few inches of steel. There wouldn't even be a body to bury.

“Owen, please stop.”

“Why should I!? Give me one good bloody reason why I should stop screaming!”

“Because you're breaking my heart.” She sobbed, loud enough for Owen to realize he wasn't making the situation any better.

“I'm sorry.” He murmured, surrendering to his wobbly knees.

“Owen. I'm so scared.” Her sobs began to grow softer. “I'm scared of dying like this.”

“Don't worry. I'm here for you.” He whispered. He sat in silence, head leaning against the door, listening to Tosh's small cries. “Tosh, you've saved me so many times, ever since I've joined. But I...I couldn't do anything for you.”

“Yes you did.” She sniffed. “You saved me from that weevil.”

“That was barely anything.”

“You stood up against those pack of weevils. It was the bravest thing I've ever witnessed.”

“I've been called names like twat and dickhead, but never brave.” He managed the tiniest of smiles.

Tosh managed a smile herself. “Tell me something, Owen. Did I...did I matter? Did my life matter?”

“Of course! You are brilliant. Without you, Torchwood would be - !”

“No...did I...matter in your life?”

“What?”

“I just want to know if I was important to you...as a person, not just a co-worker.”

“Yes Tosh. You mattered.” He said this with all the sincerity he had. There was not a stutter or lie in her voice.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I'm so glad.” Her smile grew a tiny bit bigger. “That makes me so happy.”

“I'm sorry that we won't get that date. You were looking forward to it, but -”

“It's fine. I'm starting to feel peaceful, talking to you like this.” There was brief silence between the two before Tosh spoke up again. This time, there wasn't a single hesitation in her voice. “Owen. I love you.”

He was quiet for a few seconds before replying, “I know.”

“How did you...?”

“No decent person would ask out a twat like me.”

“You're not a twat. You're great.” Tosh was now smiling all the way. She only wished Owen could see it.

“Hey Tosh?” He spoke up.

“Yeah?”

“I.....” Owen took a huge breath. “W-Well....I...” The alarm began to abruptly go off again. “Tosh? Tosh!”

“It's starting...” He heard her mumble.

“No! Tosh! Tosh!” He started pounding on the door, even though he knew it was useless. Back in the control room, she could see the screen started to get flooded with radiation. Once filled with words, the screen was now filled with yellow liquid.

“Owen, it's alright. Really.” Her voice was surprisingly calm and he couldn't figure out why.

Over the ear piece, he heard slight background noises, but he knew very well what it was. The gasses being sprayed from throughout the room. Then the screams came in.

He wanted to throw the ear piece across the room, he wanted to destroy it because he couldn't bear to hear the screams. The screams of excruciating pain. Her screams. “Tosh, can you still hear me?” There were now tears streaming down his face and he just couldn't stop. Her screams continued to sound as he began to picture the radiation gas melting away at her limbs. “Tosh....I love you. I know it sounds ridiculous coming from someone like me, but I love you. Please believe me when I say I'm not saying this out of grief. I hid those feelings because - !”

Memories. It all started to come at once.

Owen had a fiance name Katie. She was a beautiful woman. Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, fair skin, the personality of a brave heroine. And he loved her with all his heart. However, his happiness did not last long because he found out Katie had a rare case of Alzheimer’s. Every doctor, including him, could not figure out why she had it at such a young age.

Soon, she couldn't even remember his name.

The day of the operation, he heard screams from the room, after praying that everything would be alright. He had burst through the door and found all the staff sprawled on the ground, dead. Katie was lying motionless on the steel table, her head cut open and her brain exposed. And on her brain was a creature he had not seen before.

Captain Jack had walked through the door and told him it was an alien parasite that had lived in her head. The moment of the operation, the parasite lashed out and killed everyone, including Katie himself. The worst day of Owen's life was the same day he got recruited. He had to come face to face with aliens, after they had murdered his beautiful fiancee. He simply joined Torchwood to watch all the aliens die. But no matter how many had died, they couldn't satisfy him. They couldn't take away his loss. His greatest loss.

Then he met, Toshiko Sato. She wasn't a replacement. She wasn't even close to being similar as Katie. But there was something about her, that made him fall for her. There was something comforting about her smile and something sexy about her intelligence. She was beautiful too, no doubt. He was envious of how happy she seemed and how nothing was holding her back from that very happiness. She was dead weird, but that didn't seem to bother her. And for those reasons, he didn't want to lose her too.

“I was afraid of falling in love again.” He admitted.

Her screams had been long gone and Owen was surrounded in silence. He wasn't sure if Tosh had even heard him. All he could think about was how the radiation probably melted her ears off. He wiped away his tears and got to his feet, swaying a bit. The pain in his shoulder was coming back, but it didn't concern him. It didn't even concern him that he could hear growls down the hallway.

“Owen!” The ear piece came alive again. This time it wasn't Tosh's voice. It was Jack's. “Are you all right?”

“Tad bit too late, are ya?”

“Somebody blocked the ear piece communications. Did you stop the meltdown?”

“At the cost of Tosh's life.” He pulled out his gun and clenched it. “She was a hero, you know?”

“Owen...”

“The weevils. They got in the building.”

“Owen, do not try and take them on. Ianto, Gwen, and I are on our way.”

“That won't be necessary.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don't worry about it Cap'n.” He threw the ear piece across the floor and cocked his gun. He was low on ammunition, when he decided to take on the pack of weevils, but he didn't care.

The growls and claws scraping against the floor began to grow closer. He could probably guess that there was another pack of weevils out to get him and this time, Owen was completely helpless.

“I'm not scared of you lot.” He said bravely. He aimed as the first weevil came into sight. Then another. And another. This time, without warning, they began to charge. Claws stretched and fangs bared. He smiled ruthlessly, but it was a dead smile.

Then he began to fire.