Fic: The Right Kind of Wrong (15 / ? )
Title: The Right Kind Of Wrong (15 / ? )
Characters: Owen Harper/OFC
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): none at the moment
Spoiler(s): Thru "Out of Time".
Summary: Kayla return's to the hub and finds something has changed because of someone else's mistakes.
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Torchwood and its associated characters and places and things. I wish I did, but I don't.
Author note: Thank you to pinktribechick for being my beta this time around, and to my lovely LJ family for their feedback and encouragement. I apologize for it being ages between chapters, but WIAD is kicking my ass. I promise to not let so long go between chapters again.
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
CHAPTER 15
Owen and Jack stared daggers at each other for a few moments as the awkward silence descended on the hub while the rest of the team looked on warily. Diane gave Owen a questioning look as Ianto suddenly moved forwards, pushing past them and down the stairs towards the entrance.
“Where are you going?” Tosh called after him.
“After Kayla!” he called back over his shoulder as he disappeared through the door.
Jack’s voice was icy with barely suppressed fury when he finally spoke. “Gwen, Tosh, will you please take our visitors up to the conference room? I’ll be up there shortly, Owen and I need to have a little chat first.”
Tosh quietly motioned for John and Emma to proceed her towards the stairs,, exchanging worried looks with Gwen as they followed behind. Diane backed down the stairs and stood to the side as the others passed, hesitating in following. She touched Owen’s arm lightly to get his attention. “What’s going on?” she asked in a hushed tone as he turned to her.
Owen took a deep breath, not quite meeting her eyes. “Just go with the others for now, I’ll explain everything later.” He jerked his head in the direction of the others headed up the stairs towards the boardroom. “Go on.” He turned his attention back to Jack, tensing in response to the angry light he saw in the other man’s eyes.
“If you’ll step into my office, Dr. Harper,” Jack drawled dangerously, turning and walking away.
***************************************
Ianto ran up the steps to the lift as the doors started to slide shut and slipped in between them. Glancing to his left, he found Kayla crouched in the corner, arms wrapped around her knees and body shaking from silent sobs. He reached out and pulled her to her feet, hugging her tightly.
“Hey, come on, don’t cry,” he said quietly, as he soothingly rubbed her back. “Everything will be alright.”
“How long has it been going on?” Kayla’s distraught voice was muffled with her face pressed against his shoulder.
“What do you mean?”
“How long has he been….” Kayla was unable to get the rest of the question out as her tears flowed again.
Ianto sighed as she pulled away from him to slump against the wall, head drooping dejectedly. “A couple of days, I think. They came through the rift about five days ago.”
“Came through the rift?” Kayla’s head jerked up sharply, looking at Ianto in confusion. “What do you mean, are they aliens?” She let out a bitter laugh and shook her head. “My god, I’ve been replaced by an alien, haven’t I?”
The lift jerked to a halt, doors sliding open once more, and Ianto leaned down to pick her bag up from the floor, following her out into the passageway. “No, they aren’t aliens.”
“I’ve still been replaced though,” she said sadly as she walked off towards the entrance to the tourist office, Ianto following along behind. He took her arm as they entered and steered her towards the small office behind the beaded curtain, not willing to let her leave until Jack could come talk to her. “I just want to go home Ianto.”
“I don’t think you should go anywhere just yet,” he told her, guiding her to sit in a chair and setting her bag down. He turned the electric kettle on to heat water for tea before stepping back out into the main office and picking up the phone to call down the Jack’s office. He could hear the yelling as Jack picked up. “Jack, it’s me.”
“Shut up for a moment, Owen,” he heard Jack growl on the other end. “Did you catch up with her, Ianto? Where is she?”
“I’ve got her up here in the tourist office. Do you want me to keep her here or take her home?”
“How is she?”
“Upset, of course, but she’s holding together at the moment. I was going to make her a cup of tea while we waited for you.”
“Alright, keep her up there as long as you can. I’ll be up as soon as possible.” Hanging the phone back up, Ianto locked up the tourist office and walked back through the curtain. Setting two mugs on the desk, he gave her an encouraging smile. “Chamomile or peppermint?”
***************************************
Owen slammed the office door shut behind him as Jack turned to face him. “Alright, Harkness, you wanted to talk, so talk.”
“You goddamn bastard. What the hell kind of game are you playing?”
“I’m not playing any kind of game,” Owen shot back angrily.
“Like hell you aren’t!” Jack shouted. “Walking in here like that, with Diane. Did you even stop to think for a moment about Kayla?”
“Like I even knew she was here…..”
Jack raked a hand through his hair frustratedly. “She wasn’t supposed to be back until after Christmas. But damn it, Owen, she’s been trying to call you the entire time she’s been gone. Why haven’t you been taking her calls? She was asking me that when I spoke to her. And now she comes back to find you with someone else.”
“Like she really fucking cares, Jack,” Owen said bitterly. “She left, not me, remember?” Owen made a surprised noise as Jack gripped the front of his shirt and slammed him back against the wall.
“So because she went to visit family, you screw around behind her back?”
Jerking out of the other man’s grip, he shoved Jack away. “No, because she LEFT ME, I moved on!
The phone on Jack’s desk began to ring and he snatched it up angrily.
***************************************
Kayla slowly sipped the tea Ianto insisted she drink, listening as he explained where John, Emma, and Diane had come from. “So they slipped through an accidental hole in time?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
“And there’s no way for them to go back?”
She gave a small hopeful look that Ianto couldn’t help but chuckle at. “Unfortunately, no. It’s too risky. Don’t know where they would end up, and opening the rift is too dangerous to attempt, as you know.”
“I know, I know,” she said ruefully. “I just don’t understand though.”
“Why opening the rift is dangerous? Didn’t Jack give you his famous lecture about it?” he teased her.
A small smile tugged at her lips and faded just as quickly as it appeared. “No, I don’t understand why Owen has done this. I’ve been calling him several times a day since I had to leave, but he’s not answered his phone or returned any of my calls. And now to come back and, from how it looks, find him involved with another woman…”
“Owen doesn’t always make the wisest choices when he’s angry. But you know that already.” He reached over and patted her knee reassuringly.
“But why should he be angry about me going home to visit my family? I mean, it should have been obvious from my messages and Jack telling you all about my grandmother being in the hospital, why I left as quick as I did.” The sound of Ianto choking slightly on the sip of tea he’d just taken caught her attention. “Ianto, what’s wrong?”
“What did you say?”
“About?”
“Why you went home.” Ianto held his breath, hoping he hadn’t heard her right.
“Because my grandmother was in the hospital. But Jack told all of you that.” She gave Ianto a look that begged him to tell her yes. “He did tell you, didn’t he?”
Ianto shook his head slowly. “He only said you were going home to visit family for awhile.”
Kayla let loose with a string of expletives as she stood up quickly, the cup of tea falling from her fingers to smash on the floor. She stomped past Ianto, who tried to catch hold of her, and through the beaded curtain to slam the palm of her hand against the button to open the door down to the hub.
Grabbing a small towel and tossing it over the worst of the mess, Ianto chased after, calling for her to wait as she bypassed the lift and ran down the emergency stairs towards the hub.
***************************************
Standing toe to toe and so involved in their argument, Jack and Owen hadn’t noticed Kayla coming back into the hub until the office door was thrown open with a resounding crash. They both spun to face it, surprise crossing their faces to find her standing there.
Jack noticed the look of fury on her face, her eyes bright with the emotion, as she stood there glaring at the both of them. He allowed himself a private moment of smug thought that it was directed at Owen before she snatched up a glass paperweight from the table by the door. He ducked quickly as she sent it flying at him, missing him by inches to smash into small shards against the wall behind him.
“What the hell was that for?” Jack asked her incredulously, straightening back up and looking at her in shock.
“You…..you didn’t tell….,” she barely choked out around her anger, trembling as she fought to calm herself. Grabbing a book off the table, she sent that flying at him also.
“What did I do?” he asked her, batting the book out of the air.
“How could you, Jack?” Tears were streaming down her face again as she looked at accusingly. “You didn’t tell them! This is all your fault!”
Jack flushed guiltily as Owen looked back and forth between he and Kayla. “What didn’t you tell us, Jack?”
“Why I went home,” Kayla answered, snatching up another book. “He failed to mention to you about my grandmother being in the hospital.” Jack flinched, prepared for it to fly at him. She hurled it at Owen instead, catching him on the shoulder.
“Oi! What the fuck?” He rubbed where it had hit.
“And you! Rather than being a normal human being, you’ve not answered your phone once the entire time I was gone. Did you even listen to any of the voicemails?” She looked around for something else to throw. “No, of course you didn’t, because that would mean pulling your ego swollen head out of your ass and realizing that not everything is about you.” Snatching a plaque from the wall, she hurled that at him. “If you’d answered, or listened to the messages, you would have known! Instead you jump into bed with another woman because you think I’ve run away from you again!”
Owen and Jack just stared at her, scared of how she looked…hair wild, face flushed, body trembling and gasping for breath.
Ianto came up behind her in the doorway, and speaking quietly, tried to calm her. “Stop, you’re going to make yourself sick. Calm down, and we can sit and talk about this.” He gripped her shoulders and tried to pull her out of the office.
She shrugged him off roughly, forcing him back a couple steps. Taking deep breaths, she forced herself to find control, letting an icy feeling of contempt wash over her. She gave Owen and Jack looks of loathing before turning away. “Go to hell, Captain, Dr. Harper.” Turning on her heel and shoving past Ianto, she marched back out of the hub, not noticing the audience that had gathered on the upper walkway that watched in confusion as she walked out.
Characters: Owen Harper/OFC
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): none at the moment
Spoiler(s): Thru "Out of Time".
Summary: Kayla return's to the hub and finds something has changed because of someone else's mistakes.
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Torchwood and its associated characters and places and things. I wish I did, but I don't.
Author note: Thank you to pinktribechick for being my beta this time around, and to my lovely LJ family for their feedback and encouragement. I apologize for it being ages between chapters, but WIAD is kicking my ass. I promise to not let so long go between chapters again.
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
CHAPTER 15
Owen and Jack stared daggers at each other for a few moments as the awkward silence descended on the hub while the rest of the team looked on warily. Diane gave Owen a questioning look as Ianto suddenly moved forwards, pushing past them and down the stairs towards the entrance.
“Where are you going?” Tosh called after him.
“After Kayla!” he called back over his shoulder as he disappeared through the door.
Jack’s voice was icy with barely suppressed fury when he finally spoke. “Gwen, Tosh, will you please take our visitors up to the conference room? I’ll be up there shortly, Owen and I need to have a little chat first.”
Tosh quietly motioned for John and Emma to proceed her towards the stairs,, exchanging worried looks with Gwen as they followed behind. Diane backed down the stairs and stood to the side as the others passed, hesitating in following. She touched Owen’s arm lightly to get his attention. “What’s going on?” she asked in a hushed tone as he turned to her.
Owen took a deep breath, not quite meeting her eyes. “Just go with the others for now, I’ll explain everything later.” He jerked his head in the direction of the others headed up the stairs towards the boardroom. “Go on.” He turned his attention back to Jack, tensing in response to the angry light he saw in the other man’s eyes.
“If you’ll step into my office, Dr. Harper,” Jack drawled dangerously, turning and walking away.
***************************************
Ianto ran up the steps to the lift as the doors started to slide shut and slipped in between them. Glancing to his left, he found Kayla crouched in the corner, arms wrapped around her knees and body shaking from silent sobs. He reached out and pulled her to her feet, hugging her tightly.
“Hey, come on, don’t cry,” he said quietly, as he soothingly rubbed her back. “Everything will be alright.”
“How long has it been going on?” Kayla’s distraught voice was muffled with her face pressed against his shoulder.
“What do you mean?”
“How long has he been….” Kayla was unable to get the rest of the question out as her tears flowed again.
Ianto sighed as she pulled away from him to slump against the wall, head drooping dejectedly. “A couple of days, I think. They came through the rift about five days ago.”
“Came through the rift?” Kayla’s head jerked up sharply, looking at Ianto in confusion. “What do you mean, are they aliens?” She let out a bitter laugh and shook her head. “My god, I’ve been replaced by an alien, haven’t I?”
The lift jerked to a halt, doors sliding open once more, and Ianto leaned down to pick her bag up from the floor, following her out into the passageway. “No, they aren’t aliens.”
“I’ve still been replaced though,” she said sadly as she walked off towards the entrance to the tourist office, Ianto following along behind. He took her arm as they entered and steered her towards the small office behind the beaded curtain, not willing to let her leave until Jack could come talk to her. “I just want to go home Ianto.”
“I don’t think you should go anywhere just yet,” he told her, guiding her to sit in a chair and setting her bag down. He turned the electric kettle on to heat water for tea before stepping back out into the main office and picking up the phone to call down the Jack’s office. He could hear the yelling as Jack picked up. “Jack, it’s me.”
“Shut up for a moment, Owen,” he heard Jack growl on the other end. “Did you catch up with her, Ianto? Where is she?”
“I’ve got her up here in the tourist office. Do you want me to keep her here or take her home?”
“How is she?”
“Upset, of course, but she’s holding together at the moment. I was going to make her a cup of tea while we waited for you.”
“Alright, keep her up there as long as you can. I’ll be up as soon as possible.” Hanging the phone back up, Ianto locked up the tourist office and walked back through the curtain. Setting two mugs on the desk, he gave her an encouraging smile. “Chamomile or peppermint?”
***************************************
Owen slammed the office door shut behind him as Jack turned to face him. “Alright, Harkness, you wanted to talk, so talk.”
“You goddamn bastard. What the hell kind of game are you playing?”
“I’m not playing any kind of game,” Owen shot back angrily.
“Like hell you aren’t!” Jack shouted. “Walking in here like that, with Diane. Did you even stop to think for a moment about Kayla?”
“Like I even knew she was here…..”
Jack raked a hand through his hair frustratedly. “She wasn’t supposed to be back until after Christmas. But damn it, Owen, she’s been trying to call you the entire time she’s been gone. Why haven’t you been taking her calls? She was asking me that when I spoke to her. And now she comes back to find you with someone else.”
“Like she really fucking cares, Jack,” Owen said bitterly. “She left, not me, remember?” Owen made a surprised noise as Jack gripped the front of his shirt and slammed him back against the wall.
“So because she went to visit family, you screw around behind her back?”
Jerking out of the other man’s grip, he shoved Jack away. “No, because she LEFT ME, I moved on!
The phone on Jack’s desk began to ring and he snatched it up angrily.
***************************************
Kayla slowly sipped the tea Ianto insisted she drink, listening as he explained where John, Emma, and Diane had come from. “So they slipped through an accidental hole in time?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
“And there’s no way for them to go back?”
She gave a small hopeful look that Ianto couldn’t help but chuckle at. “Unfortunately, no. It’s too risky. Don’t know where they would end up, and opening the rift is too dangerous to attempt, as you know.”
“I know, I know,” she said ruefully. “I just don’t understand though.”
“Why opening the rift is dangerous? Didn’t Jack give you his famous lecture about it?” he teased her.
A small smile tugged at her lips and faded just as quickly as it appeared. “No, I don’t understand why Owen has done this. I’ve been calling him several times a day since I had to leave, but he’s not answered his phone or returned any of my calls. And now to come back and, from how it looks, find him involved with another woman…”
“Owen doesn’t always make the wisest choices when he’s angry. But you know that already.” He reached over and patted her knee reassuringly.
“But why should he be angry about me going home to visit my family? I mean, it should have been obvious from my messages and Jack telling you all about my grandmother being in the hospital, why I left as quick as I did.” The sound of Ianto choking slightly on the sip of tea he’d just taken caught her attention. “Ianto, what’s wrong?”
“What did you say?”
“About?”
“Why you went home.” Ianto held his breath, hoping he hadn’t heard her right.
“Because my grandmother was in the hospital. But Jack told all of you that.” She gave Ianto a look that begged him to tell her yes. “He did tell you, didn’t he?”
Ianto shook his head slowly. “He only said you were going home to visit family for awhile.”
Kayla let loose with a string of expletives as she stood up quickly, the cup of tea falling from her fingers to smash on the floor. She stomped past Ianto, who tried to catch hold of her, and through the beaded curtain to slam the palm of her hand against the button to open the door down to the hub.
Grabbing a small towel and tossing it over the worst of the mess, Ianto chased after, calling for her to wait as she bypassed the lift and ran down the emergency stairs towards the hub.
***************************************
Standing toe to toe and so involved in their argument, Jack and Owen hadn’t noticed Kayla coming back into the hub until the office door was thrown open with a resounding crash. They both spun to face it, surprise crossing their faces to find her standing there.
Jack noticed the look of fury on her face, her eyes bright with the emotion, as she stood there glaring at the both of them. He allowed himself a private moment of smug thought that it was directed at Owen before she snatched up a glass paperweight from the table by the door. He ducked quickly as she sent it flying at him, missing him by inches to smash into small shards against the wall behind him.
“What the hell was that for?” Jack asked her incredulously, straightening back up and looking at her in shock.
“You…..you didn’t tell….,” she barely choked out around her anger, trembling as she fought to calm herself. Grabbing a book off the table, she sent that flying at him also.
“What did I do?” he asked her, batting the book out of the air.
“How could you, Jack?” Tears were streaming down her face again as she looked at accusingly. “You didn’t tell them! This is all your fault!”
Jack flushed guiltily as Owen looked back and forth between he and Kayla. “What didn’t you tell us, Jack?”
“Why I went home,” Kayla answered, snatching up another book. “He failed to mention to you about my grandmother being in the hospital.” Jack flinched, prepared for it to fly at him. She hurled it at Owen instead, catching him on the shoulder.
“Oi! What the fuck?” He rubbed where it had hit.
“And you! Rather than being a normal human being, you’ve not answered your phone once the entire time I was gone. Did you even listen to any of the voicemails?” She looked around for something else to throw. “No, of course you didn’t, because that would mean pulling your ego swollen head out of your ass and realizing that not everything is about you.” Snatching a plaque from the wall, she hurled that at him. “If you’d answered, or listened to the messages, you would have known! Instead you jump into bed with another woman because you think I’ve run away from you again!”
Owen and Jack just stared at her, scared of how she looked…hair wild, face flushed, body trembling and gasping for breath.
Ianto came up behind her in the doorway, and speaking quietly, tried to calm her. “Stop, you’re going to make yourself sick. Calm down, and we can sit and talk about this.” He gripped her shoulders and tried to pull her out of the office.
She shrugged him off roughly, forcing him back a couple steps. Taking deep breaths, she forced herself to find control, letting an icy feeling of contempt wash over her. She gave Owen and Jack looks of loathing before turning away. “Go to hell, Captain, Dr. Harper.” Turning on her heel and shoving past Ianto, she marched back out of the hub, not noticing the audience that had gathered on the upper walkway that watched in confusion as she walked out.