[Torchwood] (PG-13)
Author's Note: Written for Author's choice, author's choice, baby boom Implied Gwen/Rhys. Part of the "Never Doing That Again" series
Gwen thought it was just the fact that she had been doubling for Jack as team leader in the field: she had been more tired than usual; and given the kind of messy, gory and just plain gross things they had to handle, that could explain the bouts of nausea and vomiting.
To be on the safe side, she ran the bioscanner, just to see what was bothering her insides.
And to her surprise, in the midst of the blue green shape that indicated her form, she found a small red mass that certainly had not been there a week or two ago. A red mass that she had seen in a fellow team member several months before, one that had seemed utterly out of place on him, but which she had hardly expected to see in herself. At least not now. Not so soon. She had not planned for this: someday, she had said, when she and Rhys were ready, when they felt more settled in their new house, when Jack and Ianto's child had been born. Fate had other ideas, it seemed.
"What's behind all this, something in the water?" Owen asked, looking her up and down. "I'd better be careful not to drink it. Or let Tosh drink it, either."
"We would have to be doing a bit more than seeing each other," Toshiko said, snippily.
Owen ignored her. "Just wonderful, just what we need at a time: now our executive team leader and acting head field agent is up the duff," he said, with a harassed noise. Darting a look to Jack, seated behind his desk, he added, "Do I want to know if you had a part in this?"
Jack looked up from the paperwork he had been filling out. "If I did, Rhys would have my little Captain and his two lieutenants," he said, grumpily. Then looking down at himself and how he had to sit a foot further back from the desk, he added, "And I'd have to be capable of the act for that to happen."
"I don't think he meant *that*," Gwen snarled, looking from Jack to Owen as if she would smack either of them. Or both, but particularly Owen, since she would never strike a pregnant personage as a matter of principle.
"Maybe those pheromones of yours affected Gwen's cycle," Ianto muttered, his ears going pink from embarrassment and his eyes downcast, discomforted.
"Not impossible," Owen said. "Put a near-pubertal female mammal near a mature male of the same species, and the female will grow up faster. Wonder what your pheromones 'll do to any females in your orbit, Jack."
"This is not a matter of mammals or pheromones," Gwen cut in, with an irritated sigh. "And there's no one to blame, least of all Jack." Maybe it was, indirectly: maybe she had quietly envied Jack for this event, this thing that happened between him and Ianto and she had wanted it for her and Rhys.
Jack got up from his desk and hobbled to Gwen's side, putting an arm about her. "At least in a couple of months, one of us won't be a foot deeper in the belt than usual," he said, affectionately. "I'll take up the slack you've been holding for months and take it up double."
"At least the little ones will have a friend?" Toshiko piped up.
Gwen chuckled, the tension finally breaking. "One big family, having a baby boom," she murmured.
"Atta girl," Jack grinned, squeezing her gently before letting her go.
Gwen thought it was just the fact that she had been doubling for Jack as team leader in the field: she had been more tired than usual; and given the kind of messy, gory and just plain gross things they had to handle, that could explain the bouts of nausea and vomiting.
To be on the safe side, she ran the bioscanner, just to see what was bothering her insides.
And to her surprise, in the midst of the blue green shape that indicated her form, she found a small red mass that certainly had not been there a week or two ago. A red mass that she had seen in a fellow team member several months before, one that had seemed utterly out of place on him, but which she had hardly expected to see in herself. At least not now. Not so soon. She had not planned for this: someday, she had said, when she and Rhys were ready, when they felt more settled in their new house, when Jack and Ianto's child had been born. Fate had other ideas, it seemed.
"What's behind all this, something in the water?" Owen asked, looking her up and down. "I'd better be careful not to drink it. Or let Tosh drink it, either."
"We would have to be doing a bit more than seeing each other," Toshiko said, snippily.
Owen ignored her. "Just wonderful, just what we need at a time: now our executive team leader and acting head field agent is up the duff," he said, with a harassed noise. Darting a look to Jack, seated behind his desk, he added, "Do I want to know if you had a part in this?"
Jack looked up from the paperwork he had been filling out. "If I did, Rhys would have my little Captain and his two lieutenants," he said, grumpily. Then looking down at himself and how he had to sit a foot further back from the desk, he added, "And I'd have to be capable of the act for that to happen."
"I don't think he meant *that*," Gwen snarled, looking from Jack to Owen as if she would smack either of them. Or both, but particularly Owen, since she would never strike a pregnant personage as a matter of principle.
"Maybe those pheromones of yours affected Gwen's cycle," Ianto muttered, his ears going pink from embarrassment and his eyes downcast, discomforted.
"Not impossible," Owen said. "Put a near-pubertal female mammal near a mature male of the same species, and the female will grow up faster. Wonder what your pheromones 'll do to any females in your orbit, Jack."
"This is not a matter of mammals or pheromones," Gwen cut in, with an irritated sigh. "And there's no one to blame, least of all Jack." Maybe it was, indirectly: maybe she had quietly envied Jack for this event, this thing that happened between him and Ianto and she had wanted it for her and Rhys.
Jack got up from his desk and hobbled to Gwen's side, putting an arm about her. "At least in a couple of months, one of us won't be a foot deeper in the belt than usual," he said, affectionately. "I'll take up the slack you've been holding for months and take it up double."
"At least the little ones will have a friend?" Toshiko piped up.
Gwen chuckled, the tension finally breaking. "One big family, having a baby boom," she murmured.
"Atta girl," Jack grinned, squeezing her gently before letting her go.