This is a Gwen/Jack fic so if you are not a particularly keen shipper of that general persuasion to not read this, that is unless you are uncertain and venturing out into open waters with an open mind, in which case...go for it!
Thanks to bad2wolf2mcgee for her idea and permission to use this plot.
Gwen looked up from the stack of papers she was sorting through to be greeted with the amazing sight of Jack holding out a mug of steaming coffee towards her. And it wasn't just the coffee that looked amazing.
Shut up brain thought Gwen hurriedly.
"Working late?" Jack asked
Gwen nodded burying her face in the mug in the hopes that the blush arising on her cheeks could be mistaken for a reaction to the rising steam.
"Why don't you go home? I'm sure you have a lot to organise," Jack continued arms folded.
"No everything's pretty much done," Gwen replied not sounding as happy as she should considering she was talking about her wedding day.
"So when's the big day?" Jack asked casually trying not to show like he cared too much.
"Two weeks," Gwen replied staring fixedly at her computer and refusing to look at the one man who could make her change her mind.
"Go home Gwen," Jack said softly dropping his hand onto her shoulder in what he meant as a comforting gesture.
Gwen stiffened at his touch and Jack misinterpreting her response to his gesture dropped his hand hastily and walked off.
Gwen dropped her head onto the desk and banged it repeatedly whispering "stupid, stupid, stupid, how could I be so stupid?"
"Look Gwen I know you have self-esteem issues but banging it out of you is not going to help…unless you want me to do it of course." Owen's smarmy voice reached her ears.
Gwen raised her head off the desk rubbing it a bit and considering to herself that perhaps smashing her head in on the hard desk wouldn't solve her problems. Hmm, fancy that?
"Owen sod off," she said whirling her chair around to face him. She had anger issues at the moment and instead of taking them out on herself, here was an easy candidate, "I don't have time to listen to your pathetic excuse for conversation at the moment."
Owen held up his hands defensively and retorted, "Alright alright steady on! I didn't mean any harm you know I was just being myself."
"That's what I was talking about," Gwen muttered, "what do you want anyway?"
"Just wanted to see how you were doing with the big day approaching and all," he replied sitting opposite her but straddling the chair.
"Why is all anyone can talk about with me now just about my wedding?" Gwen asked exasperated.
"Nothing personal, it's just most times brides-to-be can't stop talking about their weddings," there was a pause and then Owen continued, "trust me, I know."
Gwen rolled her eyes and turned back to her computer. "I guess I'm just a bit nervous about being tied down for the rest of my life," she said.
"Well you have, what, two weeks left? Make the most of them I say," Owen grinned.
Standing up Gwen punched him lightly on the shoulder, "thanks for the advice Owen, I guess I should…just not with you. We've already tried that once before remember?"
Owen coloured but didn't respond. Gwen smiled at him before grabbing her bag and leaving. Although she regretted having the affair with Owen in the first place she was just glad that they had made it back to that place where they could be friends again and joke about it.
He was still a git though.
Jack watched from his office as Gwen joked lightly with Owen smiling and seeming happier than when he had tried his pathetic attempt at cheering her up. Why wouldn't she open up to him?
Why would she rather talk to Owen who had screwed her around too many times?
Jack sighed, he could carry on asking himself these questions for the next two weeks but by then it would be too late.
He wasn't exactly sure what it was he would be too late for he just knew that as soon as Gwen said those two words at the altar that she would never rescind her decision. Getting up from his chair he grabbed his coat and ran quickly down the steps from his office yelling, "Owen!"
"Yeah?" Came the 'enthusiastic' response.
"Where did Gwen say she was going?"
"She didn't."
"What?" Jack almost shouted.
"She didn't say where she was going, I assumed home!"
Jack knew without quite knowing how that Gwen had not gone home. She was in one of those moods where she couldn't quite face Rhys. She needed to let loose. He knew her. Maybe that's why he was nervous.
"Well what were you talking about right before you left?" He asked impatiently.
"Well I was saying how I'd like to fuck her senseless and then she kind of smiled at me and said that I was right." Owen replied looking carefully at his boss's face.
Jack stared at him wondering whether or not he was joking. It was always hard to tell with Owen.
"Seriously?" Jack deadpanned.
"Seriously" Owen nodded.
"Oh"
"Yeah"
"But…"
"Yeah I know"
There was a silence as Owen nodded thoughtfully.
Then…"are you going to after her or not?"
Jack started and stared at his employee before nodding and slipping his coat on he left the Hub to search the pubs in the closest proximity.
Gwen walked out of the tourist shop which disguised the Hub and shivered in the cold air stamping her feet and wrapping her coat further around her.
She had no idea where she was going she just needed to be alone. Well…not quite alone. Company in the form of a certain male wouldn't go amiss but she banished that thought because the male she was thinking of was not the one she was going to be bound to in two weeks time.
Walking across the square she caught sight of the bright lights and welcoming interior of a pub by the name of 'The Old Man and the Turnip'. Stifling a giggle at the ridiculous names of pubs in Britain she pushed open the door and took a seat at the bar.
The bartender was a cute guy probably a bit young for her but taking pity on her tousled exterior and obvious need for a drink he skipped past a few waiting men and asked her what he could get her.
After ordering a large JD and coke she settled back on her stool and surveyed the crowd. No I am not looking for a man she told herself. It had been so long since she had just gone home with someone from the pub that she had probably forgotten how to flirt anyway.
She was just a one man girl from here on in.
For some reason this though depressed her which coincided nicely with the arrival of her drink of which she promptly took a large gulp.
She sensed someone taking the stool next to her and glanced to her left. The bloke who had just sat down leaned over slightly to wave at the bartender and smiled at her. Obviously seeing her haggard face he asked, "Bad day at work love?"
Sliding her left hand onto her lap so her engagement ring was unnoticeable she thought back on her day. It had started with a nice chase through Cardiff after a rogue weevil and ended with her doing shitloads of paperwork and then being hit on by the guy she had had an affair with.
"Just a bit," she replied smiling back at him. So she was getting married, isn't this what people were supposed to do before they got married? Anyway this guy looked nice enough.
Settling back into the familiar rhythm of flirting with random strangers she lapsed into easy conversation with the man whilst unbeknownst to her at that very moment Jack was trying to fend off a drunken woman who insisted on trying to feel him up in a pub nearby.
"Look lady I have nothing against you. Hell if you had caught me at any other time I would have you like that," he snapped his fingers to emphasise his point, "but right now I have a rather special lady to find."
The woman giggled and pressed herself closer to Jack reaching up to kiss him lightly on the cheek.
"Oi mate, what do you think you're doing?" Yelled an angry voice behind him, "that's my girlfriend."
"Oh this is so not what I need right now," Jack mumbled before saying louder, "well you should limit her intake of alcohol then."
"Are you calling my girlfriend a slut?" The man yelled bunching his hand into a fist.
Jack rolled his eyes before gently pushing the girl off him and turning around to be faced with a rather large angry man backed by two or three friends.
"No that is not what I was saying at all," he dodged the man's feeble attempt at a punch and pushing him lightly to the ground said, "Better stop that now eh?"
The man grunted in anger and getting up picked up the nearest glass and threw it at Jack who promptly ducked so the glass hit a man standing behind him who then thinking that the man next to him had hit him with a glass punched said man and Jack walked out leaving a fully fledged bar fight in his wake.
Looking around he caught sight of another pub and started walking towards it muttering, "you better be in this one Gwen, can't be starting bar fights everywhere now can I? It's not my fault everyone wants me."
Hmmm so this turned out to be longer than I thought it would be and so will probably end up being about three chapters...but then again these things always end up longer than I think they will. However the more reviews I receive the quicker I will update!