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Chapter Twenty-one

The rain continued to fall heavily outside the social club. Seto entered onto the veranda and was hit by the many droplets that momentarily blew in sideways from a big gust of wind. He didn't let the weather bother him though as he continued his search for Gwen and soon found her huddled away, concealed from view by a stack of chairs.

"Gwen?" Warily he approached her as she sat sobbing on the damp floor.

"Seto?" She stopped her crying and swiftly wiped away the tears to leave behind two red rimmed waterlogged eyes. "What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you." He frowned at the state he'd found his friend in. She was clearly hurting inside and after the one instance when she'd seen him reduced to tears and offered him support, he felt that now was the time to repay such a debt. Carefully he seated himself on the ground next to her. "What's with the weeping?"

"Nothing; they're just tears of happiness."

"You're a bad liar." He could easily see right through her. "Once Ianto said yes to Jack's proposal, you couldn't leave the room fast enough. That's not the actions of someone who's happy for her friends."

"I didn't ask you to come out here!" Gwen exclaimed, clearly not wanting to discuss the situation further. "You don't have to pretend like you care."

"But I do care; that's the problem." Indeed things were much simpler when he didn't have friends. Back then there was no need for him to justify his actions or involve himself with the concerns of others.

For a moment they looked at each other with silent understanding of their friendship before Seto then rose what he assumed to be the problem behind the woman's tears. "Whatever you and Jack may have had going on, it has to stop."

"Whoa, whoa!" Gwen gave a preposterous laugh. "There was never anything going on between me and Jack."

"Is that the honest truth?" Seto asked sceptically. He'd once uncovered a startled reaction from the captain in an argument where he'd teased the older man about beating him in gaining the Welshwoman's affections and had later been given an explanation from Jack who believed Gwen to be some kind of reincarnation of a past love, and assured that nothing had progressed further between them, he still couldn't help questioning her to make sure that both sides added up.

"Yes." She answered without any doubt and then added. "Although… nah, forget it. You wouldn't understand."

"Understand what?"

Another big gust of wind blew more water their way and left a chill behind as well. Gwen shifted where she sat and snuggled against the man beside her who didn't move the slightest. "It sounds crazy, but I've had these dreams, quite vivid dreams at that, visions even, about me and Jack."

"Ah! That'll be his pheromones at work." Seto had no desire to listen to whatever erotic dreams she may have had about the other man.

"No, not those kind." Gwen managed a smirk as she now lazily rested her head on Seto's upper arm. "These were more … periodic; around a century or two ago. Like we were once an item, together, in another life. And maybe, just maybe, it might have been possible to continue it in this life." She frowned with a heavy sigh. "But I never worked up the nerve to tell him with fear of being shipped off to the loony bin, and now it's too late."

"It's probably for the best." Seto stated then added, "And you were right; that did sound crazy. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He couldn't believe what he was hearing from her as she described similar things like Jack had once told him. Just like him and Kisara, his two friends had once been together in the past, only neither of them had been brave enough to express to the other what they had experienced and felt. And he had no intention about ruining the commitment due to be made between his two male friends either.

"I guess Rhys will have to do then." She whispered her private thought out aloud. "I do love him. It's just sometimes …

Seto craned his neck to be able to look down at Gwen, even if it was just the top of her head. "You shouldn't stay tied to a guy that you think is second best." He'd never liked the Welshman in question and the sooner she was rid of him the better in his opinion.

"He's not second best." She insisted with a half hearted laugh, and after the beat of a pause added, "Try third best."

"Third?" He asked curiously as more raindrops were blown their way.

"Today I've had to watch two men whom I adore, and I even helped them to devote themselves to another." Gwen explained with a heavy sigh and part wishing that she'd spoken up sooner to prevent the current aching in her heart.

"I had no idea that you felt that way about Ianto." Seto spoke and now understood that seeing the two men officially announce their relationship to bunch of almost complete strangers must have been the factor which had brought on his friend's tears.

Gwen carefully eased herself from his shoulder and stared at him. "I didn't mention anything about Ianto."

It took a second for Seto to catch on to the fact that she had been talking about him, and then he wasted no time in a panicky scramble to get to his feet.

"Oh no!" He shook his head in disbelief. "No, no, no."

"Yes." Gwen nodded frantically as she watched him now with his back to her and arms bearing his weight as they pushed up from the railings on the edge of the balcony. Speedily she stood up and joined his side as they both looked out over the rugby pitch of the social club which then morphed into housing estates and mountains further in the distance. "I don't see why it's something so hard for you to accept; we were almost there."

"Focus on the 'almost' part of you statement." He failed to make eye contact with her. "Back then I had nothing…"

"And I still wanted you!" Gwen's voice wavered on the verge of more tears. Even now she held feelings for him and the only thing that had stopped her speaking out sooner was that she'd prioritised his happiness above hers. But now that things were being revealed … well, it kind of sent that concern right out the window.

Yes; she had gotten close to him and not the CEO of Kaiba Corp, but that wasn't the point he wanted to make. Seto turned his head slightly to face her. "I don't just mean about my company. The day I descended into the hub on the invisible lift, I had nothing."

"Except the perfect family you were running away from." Replied a scornful sneer.

Seto's fingers tensed on the railing in his grasp as the Welshwoman brought up the fact which had sent him seeking the captain's help in the first place. He fought back the rage that would have otherwise exploded at having been made aware of the traumatic experience for him and instead began to clarify the situation of the misunderstanding. "When I first met the Doctor he briefly left me and Jack in a portion of my past where we unknowingly altered the timeline.

"At that time, my brother was the only thing that truly mattered to me but because of the change he was never born, that's why I insist that I had nothing when I first came here. Fortunately we were able to put things right." - She didn't need to know about the Noah fiasco, - "Later, I found Kisara…"

"And what if you hadn't?" Gwen failed to accept that he didn't feel anything towards her. How could he not after the moment of lustful desire in the blind spot that one time? "What if you were stuck here? Working for Torchwood? No Kisara?"

"Never venture into the land of 'What if?'." He told her and turned away again into another gust of rain. "Trust me, I've been there and it only brings nothing but sorrow."

"Just answer my question." She ordered with that hint of supercilious authority which her job had sowed in her. "If you hadn't had the chance to change things back, what would you have done?"

Seto knew instantly what his answer would be and that for his friend to hear it would only cause her more pain. But she was being frustratingly persistent and maybe once she knew then she'd finally abandon the conversation at hand. He looked her straight on with a captivating yet stern glare. "If that had been the case and you wanted to part from Rhys, then yes, I would have gladly taken you from his arms."

A tear slowly crept down Gwen's face and pursed lips wobbled as she fought back her sobs after hearing him confirm that they could have been so much more than friends had the situation been different. But of course it wasn't as he'd found a life without her. She sniffed and tried to reclaim her usual composure. "What am I meant to do now?"

"I don't know." Seto admitted a little guiltily at having revealed something that he'd long since moved on from. She'd been the first woman he'd ever had feelings for, but he'd never dwelt on it like she had. He'd gotten over the attraction of first love with her and found his true happiness with Kisara. There was no comparison to be made; he loved and had devoted himself to the woman he'd married earlier that day. "Whatever you do decide though, it's got nothing to do with me. Why on earth would I want to settle for second best?"

They stared at each other in silence with rain water buffeted them from the chilly gust that blew once more. The conversation was over and quite possibly the friendship they had known. Neither of them would want to speak of this moment ever again.

"We could have been so good together." Gwen was the one who had broken the silence with her hushed and hurtful tone. For a flicker of a moment her eyes left his and she wet her lips before diving at him as she kissed him one last time; giving her closure or the tiniest of chances of relighting the spark he had once felt for her.

Seto made no attempt at any kind of reaction. To do so would have been exactly what was expected of him and most likely to fuel another addition to the conversation they'd just left. He didn't want that for him or for her and knew that she'd finally get the message if he remained motionless like a statue while her lips danced circles around his.

The kiss was cold and horrible with its one sidedness and a million miles from what Gwen had truly wanted. She finally admitted defeat and removed herself from the groom. "I'm sorry." She whispered mournfully and then gently stroked a hand down the side of his face as she gave him a tearful trembling smile. "You'll always be my Cariad." Her touch disappeared before her words had ended and she was then swift to vanish from sight as she returned inside the social club.

For a moment Seto stayed where he stood outside on the balcony and gathered his thoughts. The last thing he'd wanted to do was hurt Gwen, but she had to stop living in the past and move on. He was even surprised with the calmness he'd maintained throughout the whole thing and not resorted to snarky comments which he could have quite easily made. Maybe he should have made them? Would it have ended sooner and/or felt less painful if they had resorted to such a manner? Would they ever speak to each other from then on? …

"Seto." Kisara's voice sounded as she approached where he stood. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was talking to Gwen." He replied as he turned to view his beautiful wife. "She was out here a moment ago."

"Yeah, I passed by her on my way out here. Is she okay? Poor girl looked like she'd been crying."

"Jack's proposal to Ianto got a little too emotional for her to handle." Seto smiled as he took Kisara's hand and led her back inside before more rain, - which had become heavy within the last minute or two, - was blown inwards at them. "It's a long story full of co-worker technicalities, but she's extremely happy for them both."

"Good." Kisara beamed back, though it seemed forced, and then held up the object in her hand. "Thank you for my gift. Naoko is ready to give you a piece of her mind for giving me a kitchen utensil, but Ianto assures me that there's reasoning behind it all."

"Of course there's reasoning behind it." The groom gently pulled the bride onto the dance floor where several other couples were slowly swaying along to the melody of Westlife's music since the wedding singer had abandoned the stage to spend time with his lover. "It's needed to help you prepare my meals once we settle back home."

Kisara rolled her eyes at the smirk on his face and put up no resistance as they joined in with the slow, - and voluntarily on her husband's part, - dancing taking place. "Seriously Seto, you're going to have to explain this one to me." Carefully, so not to force them apart, she held her gift in front of them both. "As nice as this wooden spoon is, I'm left completely baffled by it."

"It's a Welsh love spoon." Seto explained. "I wasn't sure what to get you so decided on something novel, but appropriate, to remember today by."

"After the all of the things that have gone wrong to get to this moment I don't' think I'll have any trouble forgetting today."

"I entirely agree with you there." He chuckled before continuing with his gift explanation. "According to general Welsh history it is ancient tradition for a man to give such an item to commemorate a courtship, engagement or marriage to the woman he loves. Each one has its own special meaning dependant upon the images carved on the spoon's handle."

Together they looked closely at the carvings on the spoon he'd chosen for her. At the top there were two bells tied together in an actual bow which could be used to hang and display the item of love. Beneath the bells was a typical Welsh dragon which stood on top of a heart before the handle ended with the head of the spoon.

"The bells are a symbol of marriage; our marriage. The dragon, as well as being a symbol of Wales and my favourite creature, also depicts the protection I give to you. And the heart, well that's pretty self explanatory as it symbolises my heart is solely yours."

Kisara looked completely moved by such a well thought out and sentimental gift that for a moment Seto thought she might cry. "You okay Honey?" He asked her.

"Yes." She forced a smile and wiped a tear from her eye. For a moment she hesitated and then added, "My feet hurt."

They stopped dancing for a moment and the bride stepped out of the pair of shoes that she'd borrowed from Gwen.

"I'm not surprised your feet hurt with that thing." Seto laughed at the sight of the shiny five pence piece in the left shoe. "Why is there a coin in your …"

"It's just a silly superstition which is supposed to bring us good luck for our future together." Kisara replied quickly before he had a chance to finish and looked at him with questioning eyes. "We don't need luck, do we Seto?"

"What's brought this on?" He laughed nervously at the doubt she had risen.

"It's just been one hell of a day." She tried to laugh but it ended up sounding more like a cry. "Tell me that we'll prove Naoko wrong."

"Of course we'll prove her wrong." Seto pulled his wife close to him before her tears had chance to fall. He'd made an art of hiding it but he was extremely angry with the bitter woman who had placed such a doubt into her mind. "I know she's your friend but you mustn't take note of all the things she says. You and me, we're going to be together for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He squeezed her tightly.

A smile slowly reappeared on Kisara's face as she savoured the reassurance he'd given her. "There's still something I need to tell you." Carefully she escaped the embrace and looked up at her husband's curious face. "Something which I was trying to tell you early before Jack swept us off onto the stage." She paused for a moment. "These past couple of weeks, I've been keeping a secret from you."

Seto looked faintly bemused but she continued.

"I've been waiting until today to tell you and only narrowly avoided revealing all a day earlier than planned. Of course the situation I found myself in yesterday meant that I had to tell Ianto, and it's still early days but …" Her smile broadened. "I'm pregnant."

"Come again?" Seto laughed, wanting to make sure that he'd heard her correctly and wasn't just hearing things that he'd been longing for.

"We're having a baby." Kisara's face reflected the joy of her husband's and the couple kissed each other so hard that both of them almost failed to contain joyful tears at the thought of the new addition that would be joining their family later that year.

Eventually they parted and silently relished the tight embrace of their dancing amongst the handful of family and friends and the mass of complete strangers.

Their special day may not have gone according to plan, but it was the happiest that either of them had ever experienced.

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A/N: Aww; who's feeling warm and fuzzy from the couple's happy ending? I think they deserve it, especially since it's about to change pace and become extremely darker in the next instalment ...

Speaking of which, the first part of 'Children of Earth: Seto's story' which be posted 6th July :)

Thanks for reading,

KG

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'Children of Earth: Seto's story' sneak peak:

Seto sat in his office sifting through paper work, computer files and every other scrap of information that he had managed to gather regarding Geocomtex and its CEO Henry Van Statten. Thanks to Torchwood Three's previous research he knew that the guy had a huge array of alien artefacts, many of which were advanced weaponry, and it was left to him to try and infiltrate his way in there to confiscate them.

As a plan of action he aimed to gain the other man's trust by collaborating with him and sharing the advanced technology which Kaiba Corp had at its disposal. Not something he'd wanted to do willingly as he greatly detested the man in question, but if it helped him bring one of his company's competitors down too, then the sacrifice would be worth it in the long run.

The cell phone in his pocket rang and swiftly he answered it. "Jack?"

"Seto!" The excited voice of captain Jack Harkness sounded down the phone. "You're a man I can rely on; unlike some of those idiots at UNIT. Can you believe that I phoned them to speak with Martha and she's only finally gone and gotten married and is currently on her honeymoon? Of course I'm not calling her an idiot, but I was left talking to a Sergeant and that was no fun I can tell you…"

"Is there a point to this call?" Seto breathed out heavily. The handset was squished between shoulder and ear to leave his hands free for typing on his keyboard as he smoothed out some of the statistics for tomorrow's meeting with Van Statten. "If it's just a social rant about how Martha and Mickey didn't send out wedding invitations then I'm hanging up right now."

"No it's not, it's work related." Jack assured. "At 8:40 this morning, - I guess that would have been afternoon time for you guys because of the time zone difference, - all of the children stopped."

"What do you mean stopped?" The CEO asked curiously.

"Gwen says she witnessed several kids just freezing on the spot with their actions. That's about all we've got at the moment though Ianto has managed to find numerous reports indicating that this thing is on a global scale. UNIT 'allegedly' ran some basic tests on a couple of children immediately after the incident but that turned up nothing other than it doesn't seem to have affected babies or those who've matured beyond puberty. How's Anathema? Was she affected by it?"

"How would I know?" Seto growled. "I'm at work."

"Then phone Kisara and ask her." The captain sighed. Was he meant to think of everything? "Say you saw it on a news report or something."

"She wouldn't fall for that for an instant."

"Well then tell her the truth about Torchwood!" Jack snapped a little too impatiently.

"No way." Seto disagreed with his friend. "You know how I feel about keeping her safe out of harms way and uninvolved with all this." Was his choice of secrecy always going to start an argument between them? It was okay for his friend as he didn't have a family to think about.

"You're right, he's back." Ianto's voice could be faintly heard on the other side of the line.

"Hahaha, I said so." Jack laughed. "Gotta go Seto. Speak with you later. Just do want you have to." The line went dead.