Chapter Four

He caught sight of the TARDIS again. This time, he watched it flicker into view in front of the old town hall, a building Torchwood had donated to the village about a million fucking years ago. Within a few minutes, the familiar engine noise had faded from earshot. Another year.

"What was that?" asked Saundra Boyd, soon to be Saundra Boyd-Stirling.

"Nothing at all." Owen wiped his face with his hand. "All right, are you ready? Because you know Rhona's already at the Registrar waiting for you. She's wearing that mad gorgeous dress you love, and she loves you."

Saundra chewed her lip. "You're sure it's the right thing to do?"

"I'm sure. I'll even be a witness."

She grinned and hugged him. If he held his arm out just right, she wouldn't choke him as she did. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She let Owen drag her towards the Registrar's office where her blushing bride to be would not get left at the altar today. Owen would sign the paper for them, and he would smile as they kissed, and he would go back to his damn room and shoot himself in honour of another year here before waking up tomorrow and talking Saundra into this all over again.

Toshiko said, "There's something wrong."

Owen looked up from his work. Nothing here to see, really. He'd mentally catalogued this room already, but she insisted on working here, and he'd been trying to find a way to talk with her. Nevertheless, they'd spent the last hour in silence. "What did you find?"

She stared at him. "Something's wrong with you. You're twitchy and upset." She set her scanner to one side and adopted a listening stance he knew very she well she was copying from Gwen's usual 'interrogate the witness' collection of interested poses. "What's going on with you?"

Her voice flooded with concern, but then it always did. He'd have to be blind, deaf, and stupid not to notice how she'd acted around him since the day he'd joined this mad organisation. Even his first week on, she'd covered for him. But she'd been too needy, too weak, and honestly, too willing. Anyone who could look at him and see someone worthwhile under all his well-sculpted bullshit, well, that meant they were either an idiot or dangerously perceptive. He see-sawed in his opinion of her, and held her at a contemptuous length.

"It's been a long day," he said, and rubbed his face. "A really, really long day."

She tilted her head. "You don't mean since we've been here at Torchwood House."

Dangerously perceptive. As she placed a comforting hand on his, he knew she was also dangerously kind. And he knew too that the contempt with which he held her at bay wasn't directed at her, and never had been. She was a kinder friend than he deserved, and he'd pushed her away.

"I'm caught in a time loop. I keep repeating the day over and over."

"My God. How long?"

"Years. I don't know how many."

She threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so sorry."

"You believe me? Because I've had to prove this before." Funny, though. He'd never told just Tosh before.

"I believe you." She pulled back from the hug.

"Don't tell the others? I can't live through another lecture from Jack about proper time loop etiquette."

She laughed, brushing her hair from her face. "How bad is it? Do you know what caused it?"

He shook his head. "The Doctor's stuck here, too. He's bounced in a couple of times."

She smiled softly. "I met him once. Did I tell you?"

"Yeah." And now that he knew everything he did, he wondered how much it had killed Jack not to take the space pig assignment himself, how long he'd sat listening through Tosh's comm and knowing he didn't dare interfere even after a century of waiting. Owen had only waited a few years, and he was half-mad with fear that he'd never get out of here.

"Owen?" Her face was sad, concerned.

He brushed away the terror. "Archie's ghosts are caused by a holoprojector in room seven. Gwen can make it work because she's kind of psychic. It's dull."

"All right. And no idea what's keeping you here?"

"I've been searching, Tosh. Nothing here could have done it."

She turned away, lifting her scanner and readjusting the settings. "I'll scan what we find."

Defeat sagged his shoulders. "We have already. A ton of times."

"Then we'll try again," she said with an unusual confidence.

True to her word, she didn't tell the others, not even when Jack called off the search due to the snow. "We could stay," she said to Owen, who only shrugged.

"We've stayed before," he told her. He'd meant to tell her more. Perhaps on the next loop.

Back at the village, Gwen talked Toshiko into going to the festival with her whilst Jack and Ianto made to sneak off and back to the B&B. There was a suspicious bulge in Jack's greatcoat pocket. Before they could go, Owen said, "Ianto, win him a Kewpie doll at the bloody festival."

"Ooo," Jack said, face suddenly lit up. "I do love Kewpie dolls." He linked his arm with Ianto's. "Did I ever tell you they're based on Turanian fertility idols?" He launched into his usual bullshit story, leading Ianto away.

"Come on," Gwen said, grabbing Owen's arm before he could object. "We'll all go. You can win us some Kewpie dolls as well."

Owen tried to beg off. He'd been to the festival once or twice on the pull and he'd not been impressed by the carnival games and pie contest, and he actively mocked the saddos who got sucked into the bachelor auction. He'd signed up one loop and been purchased by Mrs. McDaniels and Ms. Barlow, who between them were older than Jack. Never again.

Tosh smiled at him tonight and said, "It could be fun. Take your mind off things." He protested once more, but weakly, then let himself be dragged along.

As they reached the pie contest, Mrs. Pontroy waved happily. "Doctor Harper! Didn't expect to see you here!"

"Just looking at things," he said. "How's Mr. Pontroy?"

"Those tablets you gave him for his angina really cleared him up, thanks."

"Good, good."

"When did you give someone tablets?" Gwen asked, curious.

"Ah, well. I went out for the lunch orders, and ran into her." Also Mr. Thomas, who hurried up to Owen and gratefully shook his hand.

"Doctor, I can't thank you enough for what you did."

"What did you do?" Gwen asked. Tosh covered her mouth with a hand, giggling.

Owen said, "It was nothing, mate. Chew your food next time, right?"

"Nothing? You saved my life, sir. You probably hear that every day, but it means the world to me." Mr. Thomas clapped him on the shoulder. "Ladies, this is the best man I know."

When they'd wandered further off, Tosh prodded him. "Busy day?" Her eyes glittered.

"Bit." Over at the fairway, he saw faces, bodies. Joscelyn was helping her Aunt Fran Line up blokes for the bachelor auction, and over near the ducking for apples booth, he could see the pantomime of Jack trying to talk Ianto into signing them both up, an argument Owen knew for a fact Ianto won every single night. Maisie Stephens worked at a booth promoting fun activities at the library, and squealed when Owen and the girls came by.

"Doctor Harper!" she said, delighted. "Thank you for the generous donation. The trustees are going to redesign the children's section, and we'd love for you to attend the renaming ceremony after the work is completed next spring." She leaned in. "They're talking about naming it after you. But I didn't say anything."

"Owen?" Gwen asked, stunned. "What did you do?"

"It was nothing. I bought a Lotto scratchcard at lunch. Whim. I didn't need the cash."

"Gwen, I'm mad starving," Tosh said. "Could I beg you to get us some meat pies?"

"Only if Owen swears to say what's going on."

"Nothing's going on, Gwen. It's just been a long day." Together, they watched her get into the line for the pies, then Tosh dragged him around the corner of one booth. He half expected to be snogged.

"My God, Owen. How do you spend your days?" She shook her head. "Honestly? I would have expected to hear that you'd shagged half the village." Across the way, he saw Grace lead one of the kids to the pony rides. Steve carried the other kid, but then, he'd got an anonymous call this morning that he needed to step up or someone would tell his mother and his employer about his embarrassing personal problem.

She followed his gaze. "It sounds instead like you saved it."

"Maybe I did both." Another movement of people. There!

Owen grabbed Tosh's hand and dragged her over to the knife-throwing stall, ignoring her protests.

"Good evening, Doctor," he said to Eyebrows. He offered a tight smile to Clara. "Came to visit?"

"Doctor?" Tosh asked, looking between them. "Another face, another companion. You were with Rose when we first met."

"Who's Rose?" Clara asked.

"Never mind," said the Doctor.

Owen said, "Jack's right over there. I could shout and bring him over. You get us out of here yet?"

"I know very well where he is," said Eyebrows, rubbing his temple as if he had a headache. "No."

Clara took his arm. "He promised me a visit to the carnival on Galaxis Nine." She put on the current Doctor's broad brogue. "'A mile high Ferris wheel, Clara. Goldfish can win you in giant bowls!'"

"I never said anything about giant goldfish. And stop talking like that."

"You also never took me there. We're stuck in bloody Glasgow again. It's been days."

"Years," said Owen. Tosh squeezed his hand.

"Look," she said. "We're all caught here. May as well make the best of it, even if some of us won't remember in the morning." She laughed, catching his eye. "Typical day, then."

"Yeah."

Tosh's handbag began beeping. She stared at it. Owen stared at it.

"What's that?" Clara asked, as she pulled her scanner out.

"I left the scan running." She turned until the beep became a whine. "It's picked up something."

"Give me that," said the Doctor, but Owen grabbed it faster.

"This way," he said, out of breath and terrified. He ran, Tosh beside him and the other two at their heels. They passed Gwen, who held three meat pies in her hands.

"What's going on?" he heard her ask before she fell into the run with them. They followed the signal to the games booths at the fairway. As Owen watched, a ring flew into the air and neatly circled a milk bottle.

"Three," said Ianto, a bit smugly. He nodded to the boy behind the table. That would be James Paulk, Jimmy to his friends, a good kid if he'd stop hanging out with those hoodlums from the school. "That'll be one doll."

"The other one," Jack said, as Jimmy's hand went to grab one of several identically ugly dolls. Jimmy took the one Jack indicated.

Just before they reached the booth, the Doctor suddenly acted very casual, as though he were uninterested in the proceedings. He tilted his head obviously to Clara to look away. Gwen stared at the two of them curiously.

"Who..."

Owen cleared his throat and held up the scanner. "Give me that Kewpie doll, Jimmy."

"Sure thing, Doctor Harper."

"I just won that," Ianto said. Owen ignored him. The signal came from inside the toy.

"You are fucking kidding me."

Jack turned. "Where did these come from?"

Jimmy, surprised by the scrutiny, backed away. "Ms. Black found them, packed away in the back of the hall." He cleared his throat. "Hey, grandpa. Win a doll for your friend there? It's for charity."

Eyebrows continued his casual bystander act. Surprised, he said, "What? Us? Oh no."

Clara snickered, and in a terrible Scottish accent, she said, "Yeah, grandpa. Win me a Kewpie doll."

He took her arm and turned her away from the others.

Owen was thinking it all through. "Jimmy," said Owen. "You don't mean the old hall? The one on third street, with the bad pipes?" Jimmy nodded.

Jack followed his train of thought. "Torchwood Two used to own a building on Third Street. They sold it in the eighties."

Toshiko said, "They must have left some things behind. The Kewpie dolls."

"They're alien?" Gwen asked, a bit incredulous.

"That's what they look like," Jack said. "Earth toymakers got the idea when a couple of Turanian idols got loose."

He played with the doll, making it bounce. This being Captain Jack, even a dancing ugly toy seemed lascivious. Behind him, the Doctor waved a glowy wand, whilst placing his finger to his lips. The wand beeped, and he stuck it behind his back before Jack turned to see what the noise was.

Clara turned away. "Grandpa, silence your ring tone." She kept the bad accent. Eyebrows glared. She smiled sweetly back at him.

Gwen stared between the two of them until Toshiko tapped her own the shoulder. For Gwen and Ianto's sakes, she mimed with startling clarity that this was the Doctor, and that if they didn't want their boss fucking off again into outer space or destroying all of space and time, it was in everyone's best interests not to let on.

"Bloody hell, Tosh," said Owen. "Next time we do charades, I'm on your team."

Ianto put on a fake smile and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, turning him back to face the booth and away from You Know Who.

"Let me see that scanner," Jack said. Owen handed it to him, sticking his body in the line of sight between him and the two time travellers. It didn't help that Eyebrows was about three feet taller than he was. It did help that Jack didn't often go for geezers.

"This is weird," Jack said.

"It's been altered," said the Doctor in a harsh whisper. "Time lock." He covered his mouth and turned away again.

Toshiko piped up, "What about a time lock? Could it be causing the time loop?"

"What time loop?" Jack asked. Tosh grabbed the scanner back.

Ianto said, "We'd like to see the rest of those dolls."

Jimmy stood back, but a quick look from Owen got him to take the set out of the box and place them in front of the team.

"These are normal," Tosh said. "I think."

Jack nodded. "For Turanian idols. Low level arousal field. Great party toy."

"For God's sake," came a quiet and exasperated voice from behind Owen.

"What's this one doing?" Gwen asked, pointing at the signal from the one Ianto had won.

"Looks like it was reprogrammed," Jack said. "If I'm reading this right, it's trying to start a time lock." He frowned. "Invasion technique. Lock the planet, take over at your leisure. It's malfunctioned, though. See?" He turned it around, showing the innards on the scanner's screen. "Whoever made this must have built the device as a trap. Looks like Torchwood Two got hold of the lot first."

"And forgot about the box," Ianto said.

Tosh said, "Owen, did you do something to the doll?"

He thought back. His first day here was lost in a sea of memories, sex, and suicides. Someone else could have won it, though, and bumped into him, and he'd never have noticed.

"Right," said Owen, who grabbed the doll. "Gwen, I saw you swipe that disintegrator. Still got it?"

Gwen shrugged and pulled an alien gun from her own handbag. Silently, she handed the weapon over to Owen.

"Wait," said Jack. "If we destroy the Turanian idol, we might set off the trap. We could freeze time on Earth."

"Could be," Owen said, and tossed the doll into the air, vaporising it.

He waited. Around them, the lights and sounds of the carnival went on.

"Didn't freeze the world," Owen said. He also didn't reset or feel different or anything.

"That was very stupid," Jack said.

Owen shrugged, a little disappointed. "I've been stuck in a time loop for four years. It was worth trying."

"You what?"

Ianto turned back to the booth, where Jimmy stood astounded at what he'd just witnessed. He placed another five quid on the table. "Three more rings, please."

Gwen offered Owen one of the meat pies, which had just started to get cold. Behind them, Clara informed Eyebrows he owed her a ride on the Ferris wheel.

"It could be worse," Tosh said a bit later. Gwen had gone off to heckle the bachelor auction, where Clara had put up Eyebrows for a night's rental. Jack and Ianto had disappeared shortly after the acquisition of four Turanian fertility idols from Jimmy's booth. "Jack's told me a little about that time loop with Captain Lunkhead. They died a lot. It was pretty terrible. You're here with us. That's got to be better."

"Yeah," said Owen. Around them, people milled and went on enjoying this same bright moment of their little lives that they'd relived for years on end. One good day ticked over and over in the gently falling snow, the lights of Glasgow proper hanging in an orange glow over their heads, and no one would ever grow old, ever get sick, ever die. They'd be here forever like figures in a snow globe. The whole world would, maybe. No more wars. No more death. No more growing up. No more growing old with someone.

"Tosh?"

She turned to look at him. The falling snow hit her hair in just the right way, made her lovely in a way she wasn't often. Or maybe he'd finally started noticing.

The words finally came. "You deserve a better man than I am. You deserve better everything than me." He closed his eyes. "That's why. When you wonder why, that's why. Because I'm not a good person, and you deserve the best. You won't remember this tomorrow, but you should know it."

Her cheeks flushed, and she took his arm again, walking with him through the crowd of faces he knew too well. As they walked, people waved, and shouted their thanks, or laughed merrily in his direction.

"You're a better man than you think you are," she said after a long time. "And some of us already knew it. Want to ride the Ferris wheel?"

She came back to his room after, and that was a bit weird as he cleared off a space for her to sit. The carpet was clean, but he could see the ghosts of the torn up papers on the floor, could read the invisible letters he'd scrawled on the wallpaper.

From the room next door, he heard laughter. He'd given Gwen his mobile after her battery died and he'd told her to call Rhys. Maybe they'd have phone sex. Maybe they would just enjoy each other's voices. He couldn't hear a thing from the next room over, and he was very, very glad.

"Talk to me," Tosh said. "Let's wait out the loop. Tell me all the things you did today." She scooted back on his bed, resting on one of the pillows. After a moment, he climbed in on the other side and rested.

"Well, I try to get you lot fed before I start, but usually I duck out first for a little shit named Louis Mayhew. He was there tonight."

"His mother was the one who kissed you on the cheek?"

"That's her."

"Tell me more."

"So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really really wanna zigazig ha"

Owen lay there listening, and buried his face in the pillow. He reached out to turn off the alarm, but met something in the way.

"Don't," Tosh said sleepily. "I like that one."

He sat straight up. "Tosh?"

"Hm?"

"You're here."

"I fell asleep. Sorry."

"Yeah." His mind spun. Tosh was here, and as weird as that might be on a normal day, he hadn't lived through a normal day in a very long time. Owen jumped out of bed, tangling his legs and falling to the floor as he did. "Ow."

"Are you all right?"

He didn't reply until he'd crawled over to the window. Pulse racing, mouth dry, he peeked out through the lace curtains.

A deep blanket of snow covered the garden outside his window.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"Good."

Tosh wiped the sleep from her eyes. She had morning hair and morning breath and morning face, and he'd never seen so glad a sight in all his days. "Tosh, if I never tell you again, you're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

She frowned, and then her memories flickered over her face. "The time loop. Is it over? Owen, did you break it?"

"It had to be that fucking doll."

Toshiko reached for her handbag, which she'd left on the floor. She pulled out her scanner and began running it over him. "We should scan your brain when we're back at the Hub to look for neural growth. You said it's been years. Do you still remember everything that happened to you? You should really document the experience." She typed into the data pad. Owen stared at her for a moment, then took her hands and set the scanner down.

"It can wait."

She looked as though she were about to argue with him, and instead she wrapped him into a hug. "I'm sorry. I'm happy for you, Owen. You must be so relieved."

He was. Even as he accepted the hug, wave after wave of relief flowed through him. He thought about the things he had to do. He had patients he should check up on, including Archie. He should check up on Saundra and Rhona, and make sure Jimmy was staying away from his mates. And he had some decisions to ponder.

Five years here meant he knew everyone and everything. He carried a perfect mental catalogue of Torchwood Two's archives, and Archie was getting on in years. He could use help here, even train a replacement. Owen knew Toshiko didn't have much time left on the terms of her contract with Torchwood Three, and Jack was soft enough to let her out of it for the right reason. Not that Owen couldn't get on without her, he thought hurriedly, breaking the hug. But she was good to have around, and she liked it here.

Five years also meant he hadn't been in his own home in his own bed in half a decade. Cardiff was a hole, but he missed it, missed the city nights and the stinking Weevils and even the rain. He hadn't seen rain in five years. Settling down in a village he'd killed himself to escape on multiple occasions didn't sound like an idea the old Owen would have. He would need time away from this hellhole to decide if he'd grown to love the place and the people, or if he'd come down with a case of Stockholm syndrome in the midst of losing his mind. Maybe both.

Tosh's frown broke into his mental quandary. "You're thinking something."

"Usually am. Just getting my bearings. Tomorrow is another day and all that shit, yeah?" But tomorrow was today, for the first time in a long, long time, and he couldn't wait to see what that meant.

Outside, he heard a familiar grinding noise, the sound of the TARDIS fading away just out of sight. He almost burst out the bedroom door then, to pound on the walls and tell the world and wake up his friends with the truth of everything that had happened. Instead, he settled back onto the bed to relax. After a moment, Tosh sat beside him. He could let the others have a lie-in. Gwen had been on the phone all night and would be tired. The other two had spent the night exploring the uses of four Turanian fertility idols as well as an alien orgasm device. They might not be heard from for a week.

And besides, it was Saturday.

The End

My three favourite words are: "I liked this."

Previous reel_torchwood fics:

Jack Harkness and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
The Extraterrestrial (E.T.)
The Day the Dragons Came (Reign of Fire)
Just Because They Protect You Doesn't Mean They Like You (Clerks)
Back, and Back, and Back a Little More (Future Optional) (Back to the Future)
The Valentine's Day Massacre (The Valentine's Day Massacre)