Snowed In
Title: Snowed In
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen Harper, Jack Harkness, vague hints of Owen/Gwen
Spoilers: Set just before Out of Time
Summary: A blizzard strands Owen at the Hub.
Notes: Written for mistletw promptathon for galacticconman Their prompt was: Characters/Pairing: Owen, any of the others, but Owen as the main please.
Genre: Het/Gen/Slash/Fluff
Festive Theme: Tinsel (and other decorations), eggnog and the awful weather Cardiff has been getting at the moment. Hope this fits your expectations ^^
Word Count: 1533
“This is all Gwen's fault,” Owen decided, staring at the unadorned tree, the decorations still in boxes that he'd been sent out to buy. Why the hell the Hub needed a bleeding Christmas tree, he didn't know, but Gwen insisted in that way of hers that gets Jack to agree to almost anything as long as she'll leave him alone. How he ended being the one sent out to get it and the proper decorations, the medic was still trying to piece together. Probably Gwen. Ok, it was Gwen. She just had that way about her.
So here he was, alone in the Hub, with the tree and decorations, stranded. It would be today of all days that there would be a bloody blizzard that practically shut down Cardiff. He had barely made it back to Hub from the shops in the mess, he wasn't about to even attempt driving again until the snow actually stopped falling. Which the weather reports all said wouldn't be until the next morning at the earliest. There was left overs in the fridge, some booze, and a sofa. He'd live, but he was going to make sure everyone knew how pissed off he was with this.
“Didn't I send you home hours ago?”
Owen jumped, and though he would deny it if anyone asked, might have let out a startled, slightly girlish yelp. “Christ, Jack,” he said, sounding slightly out of breath from the scare, “what the hell are you still doing here?”
“I believe I asked you first.”
“By the time I got back with Gwen's tree and the decorations, it was snowing too hard to attempt driving back to the flat, especially at night.” He sat down on the sofa. “It was bad enough just making it back here in one piece. I must have passed five wrecks between the shop and here. Almost got into one myself. And no comments about my driving,” he gave Jack a look. “Yours is worse. Anyways, figured it was safer to stay here until the morning when it stops snowing.”
“If it stops tomorrow morning,” Jack said, motioning for the younger man to follow him to Tosh's work station. “This isn't just a normal blizzard.”
“No, of course not, because a normal blizzard would be too convenient,” Owen muttered, looking at the screen. “So, what are we looking at? Several weeks of snow to the point where we're looking at each other as the next meal?”
“No, nothing that bad, but we're probably going to be here for a few days. Saw this coming, hence me sending you all home, I didn't think you would actually get the tree today.”
“Well, you know Gwen. So how long are we stuck here?”
“Well, not much longer than seventy two hours before they can dug us out and you can go home. Until then,” He chuckled, “looks like it's just the two of us.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Owen muttered.
“Language.” He clapped Owen on the shoulder. “It won't be that bad. We can kill the time decorating the tree, and I'm pretty sure Ianto has some eggnog in the fridge. We've got leftovers to feed an army.”
“The only way I like eggnog is if there is heavy amounts of rum in it,” Owen said, though the way Jack was making it sound, it wouldn't be all that bad.
“I think we can arrange that.”
Two hours later, and Jack was shaking his head, laughing. “You know, I think this is why they generally tell you not to try to decorate drunk.”
Owen just looked up from the tangled lights that had somehow gotten wrapped around him, a scowl on his face. “I'm not drunk, I tripped over that box of ornaments. Now do you think you could help or are you going to stand there laughing?”
Jack walked over to Owen, grabbed one end of the lights and started to unwrap them. “Yet you managed to get those lights wrapped around you five times, and is that tinsel in your hair?”
“What? How is there Tinsel? I didn't even get tinsel. I hate tinsel. It gets everywhere. I even hate the damned tinsel garland,” Owen reached up and sure enough there was a bit of the glittery crap on his head. He looked around and groaned. The tacky star topper he'd found cause it was the only one left was covered in it and he must have gotten some on him when he was trying to put the damn thing up. “How did I let myself get talked into this?”
“Gwen.”
“Right,” Owen said as the last of the tangled lights fell away. Of course, he was off balance and ended up falling down next to the tree. “Have I mentioned how much I hate decorating?”
“About sixty times in the last two hours.”
“Only you would keep track of that Jack.” He stood up, dusting the tinsel crap out of his hair before grabbing the offending string of lights and putting them back on the tree.
It was another hour of Owen's drunken decorating followed by a half hour of Jack's repairing the mess that Owen called finish before they stood back to take in the work. Several lights were now draped over the bannisters for the stairs leading to the upper levels, and the tree looked like something off a Christmas card. “Not bad,” Jack said, looking over at Owen who now had an ice pack on his head from yet another fall he'd taken, while still insisting he was sober.
Owen just nodded, a slight glare at Jack but the man didn't notice it. “Yeah, well, it's up, and she better be happy with it cause that's all she's getting.” He wandered over to the kitchenette and the fridge. “Oh good, we still have some pizza left over. I am really not in the mood for Chinese.” He grabbed the box, double checking to make sure it was in fact pizza still and that it hadn't gotten a horrible growth on it. He tossed the box onto the coffee table, before dropping onto the sofa. “Ok, so how, exactly is this blizzard not a normal blizzard.”
Jack grabbed a slice from the box before sitting down next to Owen. “It's alien snow.”
“Alien...snow?”
“Yep, Tosh was tracking an increase in Rift energy over the entire city, turns out that debris, displaced people and aliens aren't the only thing that get dropped on us. Problem is this snow keeps falling for about twenty four hours, and it won't clear out for another forty eight, no matter how hot it gets.”
“Why is that?”
“Planet's about ten times hotter than Earth, so even an extraordinarily warm winter day would be below the freezing level on the planet this snow is from. Could be worse. The snow from it's sister planet is slightly sentient and very carnivorous. All those people stranded in their cars would make might fine meals for it. That being said, we're not entirely sure it's not the snow from it's sister planet. Good thing you made it back to the Hub, Owen.”
Owen looked at Jack like he had grown a second head. “You are joking.”
“Actually yeah, I am. Snow's normal earth snow,” he said, taking a bite from the pizza, “but the recent Rift activity is messing with the local weather patterns. The weathermen are never right, hence they say it stops in the morning, I'm leaning more towards late afternoon or the day after that.”
“You are a bastard, Harkness.”
“Had you going there for a minute. Carnivorous snow, seriously, I can't believe you almost fell for it.”
“Oh, shove off.”
Jack was pretty much on the mark, and it was three days later that Gwen, Tosh and Ianto were able to make it back into the Hub. Jack was sitting at one of the workstations, looking at the computer screen. It didn't surprise them to see him there already. Jack was always there after they left and before they got in. Gwen often joked that he had to sleep there, which Ianto would just smile knowingly and change the subject. They weren't however expecting to see Owen curled up on the sofa.
Owen had woken up when he heard the cog wheel turn, sleepily turning as the rest of the team joined them. “Roads finally cleared then?” Gwen nodded. “Thank Christ, I can finally go home.”
“Have you been trapped here this whole time?”
“Yep, with mister man eating snow over there. By the way, Gwen, you're tree is decorated. I'm going home and sleeping on a real bed and not that sofa.” Owen said, getting up and grabbing his coat.
“Don't let the snow get you. And I expect you in first thing tomorrow.”
“Bite me, Harkness.”
Gwen watched Owen leave the Hub before turning to Jack. “Man eating snow?”
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen Harper, Jack Harkness, vague hints of Owen/Gwen
Spoilers: Set just before Out of Time
Summary: A blizzard strands Owen at the Hub.
Notes: Written for mistletw promptathon for galacticconman Their prompt was: Characters/Pairing: Owen, any of the others, but Owen as the main please.
Genre: Het/Gen/Slash/Fluff
Festive Theme: Tinsel (and other decorations), eggnog and the awful weather Cardiff has been getting at the moment. Hope this fits your expectations ^^
Word Count: 1533
“This is all Gwen's fault,” Owen decided, staring at the unadorned tree, the decorations still in boxes that he'd been sent out to buy. Why the hell the Hub needed a bleeding Christmas tree, he didn't know, but Gwen insisted in that way of hers that gets Jack to agree to almost anything as long as she'll leave him alone. How he ended being the one sent out to get it and the proper decorations, the medic was still trying to piece together. Probably Gwen. Ok, it was Gwen. She just had that way about her.
So here he was, alone in the Hub, with the tree and decorations, stranded. It would be today of all days that there would be a bloody blizzard that practically shut down Cardiff. He had barely made it back to Hub from the shops in the mess, he wasn't about to even attempt driving again until the snow actually stopped falling. Which the weather reports all said wouldn't be until the next morning at the earliest. There was left overs in the fridge, some booze, and a sofa. He'd live, but he was going to make sure everyone knew how pissed off he was with this.
“Didn't I send you home hours ago?”
Owen jumped, and though he would deny it if anyone asked, might have let out a startled, slightly girlish yelp. “Christ, Jack,” he said, sounding slightly out of breath from the scare, “what the hell are you still doing here?”
“I believe I asked you first.”
“By the time I got back with Gwen's tree and the decorations, it was snowing too hard to attempt driving back to the flat, especially at night.” He sat down on the sofa. “It was bad enough just making it back here in one piece. I must have passed five wrecks between the shop and here. Almost got into one myself. And no comments about my driving,” he gave Jack a look. “Yours is worse. Anyways, figured it was safer to stay here until the morning when it stops snowing.”
“If it stops tomorrow morning,” Jack said, motioning for the younger man to follow him to Tosh's work station. “This isn't just a normal blizzard.”
“No, of course not, because a normal blizzard would be too convenient,” Owen muttered, looking at the screen. “So, what are we looking at? Several weeks of snow to the point where we're looking at each other as the next meal?”
“No, nothing that bad, but we're probably going to be here for a few days. Saw this coming, hence me sending you all home, I didn't think you would actually get the tree today.”
“Well, you know Gwen. So how long are we stuck here?”
“Well, not much longer than seventy two hours before they can dug us out and you can go home. Until then,” He chuckled, “looks like it's just the two of us.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Owen muttered.
“Language.” He clapped Owen on the shoulder. “It won't be that bad. We can kill the time decorating the tree, and I'm pretty sure Ianto has some eggnog in the fridge. We've got leftovers to feed an army.”
“The only way I like eggnog is if there is heavy amounts of rum in it,” Owen said, though the way Jack was making it sound, it wouldn't be all that bad.
“I think we can arrange that.”
Two hours later, and Jack was shaking his head, laughing. “You know, I think this is why they generally tell you not to try to decorate drunk.”
Owen just looked up from the tangled lights that had somehow gotten wrapped around him, a scowl on his face. “I'm not drunk, I tripped over that box of ornaments. Now do you think you could help or are you going to stand there laughing?”
Jack walked over to Owen, grabbed one end of the lights and started to unwrap them. “Yet you managed to get those lights wrapped around you five times, and is that tinsel in your hair?”
“What? How is there Tinsel? I didn't even get tinsel. I hate tinsel. It gets everywhere. I even hate the damned tinsel garland,” Owen reached up and sure enough there was a bit of the glittery crap on his head. He looked around and groaned. The tacky star topper he'd found cause it was the only one left was covered in it and he must have gotten some on him when he was trying to put the damn thing up. “How did I let myself get talked into this?”
“Gwen.”
“Right,” Owen said as the last of the tangled lights fell away. Of course, he was off balance and ended up falling down next to the tree. “Have I mentioned how much I hate decorating?”
“About sixty times in the last two hours.”
“Only you would keep track of that Jack.” He stood up, dusting the tinsel crap out of his hair before grabbing the offending string of lights and putting them back on the tree.
It was another hour of Owen's drunken decorating followed by a half hour of Jack's repairing the mess that Owen called finish before they stood back to take in the work. Several lights were now draped over the bannisters for the stairs leading to the upper levels, and the tree looked like something off a Christmas card. “Not bad,” Jack said, looking over at Owen who now had an ice pack on his head from yet another fall he'd taken, while still insisting he was sober.
Owen just nodded, a slight glare at Jack but the man didn't notice it. “Yeah, well, it's up, and she better be happy with it cause that's all she's getting.” He wandered over to the kitchenette and the fridge. “Oh good, we still have some pizza left over. I am really not in the mood for Chinese.” He grabbed the box, double checking to make sure it was in fact pizza still and that it hadn't gotten a horrible growth on it. He tossed the box onto the coffee table, before dropping onto the sofa. “Ok, so how, exactly is this blizzard not a normal blizzard.”
Jack grabbed a slice from the box before sitting down next to Owen. “It's alien snow.”
“Alien...snow?”
“Yep, Tosh was tracking an increase in Rift energy over the entire city, turns out that debris, displaced people and aliens aren't the only thing that get dropped on us. Problem is this snow keeps falling for about twenty four hours, and it won't clear out for another forty eight, no matter how hot it gets.”
“Why is that?”
“Planet's about ten times hotter than Earth, so even an extraordinarily warm winter day would be below the freezing level on the planet this snow is from. Could be worse. The snow from it's sister planet is slightly sentient and very carnivorous. All those people stranded in their cars would make might fine meals for it. That being said, we're not entirely sure it's not the snow from it's sister planet. Good thing you made it back to the Hub, Owen.”
Owen looked at Jack like he had grown a second head. “You are joking.”
“Actually yeah, I am. Snow's normal earth snow,” he said, taking a bite from the pizza, “but the recent Rift activity is messing with the local weather patterns. The weathermen are never right, hence they say it stops in the morning, I'm leaning more towards late afternoon or the day after that.”
“You are a bastard, Harkness.”
“Had you going there for a minute. Carnivorous snow, seriously, I can't believe you almost fell for it.”
“Oh, shove off.”
Jack was pretty much on the mark, and it was three days later that Gwen, Tosh and Ianto were able to make it back into the Hub. Jack was sitting at one of the workstations, looking at the computer screen. It didn't surprise them to see him there already. Jack was always there after they left and before they got in. Gwen often joked that he had to sleep there, which Ianto would just smile knowingly and change the subject. They weren't however expecting to see Owen curled up on the sofa.
Owen had woken up when he heard the cog wheel turn, sleepily turning as the rest of the team joined them. “Roads finally cleared then?” Gwen nodded. “Thank Christ, I can finally go home.”
“Have you been trapped here this whole time?”
“Yep, with mister man eating snow over there. By the way, Gwen, you're tree is decorated. I'm going home and sleeping on a real bed and not that sofa.” Owen said, getting up and grabbing his coat.
“Don't let the snow get you. And I expect you in first thing tomorrow.”
“Bite me, Harkness.”
Gwen watched Owen leave the Hub before turning to Jack. “Man eating snow?”