MY SKIN
"Gwen...I'm gay" Gwen blinked for a few moments, she stared at Andy intensely and he waited, his shoulders held stiffly for the shock, surprise, hate and anger. She snorted. A rude, loud one before suddenly dissolving into giggles. "Gwen, it's not a laughing matter! I am truly gay" Andy said indignantly. "Oh my god, you just said truly!" she said laughing even harder, Andy glared at her and she tried to stop laughing. "Sorry" she said putting a fist against her mouth to smother her giggles, she finally managed to stop laughing but she was grinning like a maniac. "I'm sorry, I really am, but Andy...i already thought you were gay" Andy gawped at her. "What?" he choked out. "Well, Andy you're very camp, y'know? Really good at shopping, at bit too good for a bloke and then you've always eyed up Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp instead of Kiera Knightly when we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course you're so jealous of Jack when he's near Ianto. So it's obvious, really" "I was that obvious?" Andy said disbelievingly. "Andy, Ianto's dad knew you were gay and he's the biggest pillock of all Cardiff" Gwen said rolling her eyes. "You're own mum knows, she asked me to be there when you finally realised you're gay" "Mum knows?" Gwen patted Andy's arm sympathetically. "Another drink?" she asked, Andy nodded dumbfound. "And then we'll work on you confessing to Yan?" "What?" "Well you got to sooner or later, better sooner than later or otherwise we'll all be messed up for our exams" TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW Rose was crying very hard now, her face buried into her hands and loud sobs making her whole body shake, Owen awkwardly patted her on the back while exchanging a 'please help!' look with Tosh who bit her lip nervously. The pair of them were so emotionally messed up that they had no idea how to comfort someone, wonderful and Owen actually thought he had a chance with Tosh... Bugger! He thought to himself. I'm never going to work this out, am i? The door opened and a young man, roughly thirty-ish with wild brown hair and dark eyes came in. His face softened when he saw Rose and he took her small hands into his large ones, pulling her off the desk and into his arms. "Oh, Rose" he whispered stroking her hair. "I'm sorry about this, I'm Dr John Noble and you are?" "Owen Harper and this is my friend Toshiko Sato" Owen said pulling Tosh to his side and keeping an arm round her shoulders. "Oh this is brilliant!" Dr Noble exclaimed, Owen glared at him and his grin faltered. "Sorry, I didn't mean the situation, I just meant meeting you, I mean my stepbrother talked about you two, you're brilliant do you know that Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato? You're both fan-bloody-tastically brilliant! I know John would want you there at his funeral, it'll be in a few days, please come? Donna would love to meet you too; Martha and Mickey will be there as well. You'll love them, well maybe not Mickey but Martha's a doctor and-" "Look, will you just shut up?" Owen snapped. "Your girlfriend is upset and so is mine. I'm going to take her home and I advise you do the same Dr Noble" Tosh blushed brightly at what Owen said, it appears he was unaware that he had just called her his girlfriend as he dragged her to the door, pushing past the stunned Dr Noble. "St Mary's church, this Friday at three. Please be there" Dr Noble called. Owen turned round. "Count on it" he said firmly before leaving the room with Tosh in tow. TWTWWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW The next day, Owen and Tosh were sombre and quiet as they worked through their homework together in their own little world. Jack worried had tried to interfere and make them laugh but when Owen told him what had happened, Jack backed off and left them alone in respect. Andy was now acting normal around Ianto again causing him to grin at Gwen and thank her for sorting it out. It was a very quiet day for the group of friends. Then Friday came and Owen stood there stiffly in the church in his black suit with Tosh by his side in a black skirt and matching blouse, crying her eyes out in the ceremony. It was heartbreaking to see that not many people had turned up. A few work colleagues, the few people in Dr Smith's photos that were alive and a couple of strangers that Owen didn't know. A ginger haired woman came to him after the coffin had been taken to be cremated and shook hands with him, in a firm grip that he immediately respected. "Donna Noble, I'm John's stepsister and the skinny twig's actual sister" she said calmly. "You're Owen Harper; it's good to meet you. John admired you a lot, he says you have potential and he doesn't say that about any random sod" Owen smiled. "Thank you, this is Toshiko Sato. I'm so sorry for your loss, Dr Smith was an amazing man" he said. She smiled warmly at him. "No sunshine, it's just as much as your loss as mine. He wanted to have you as his intern so much. You better be the doctor he wanted to see you be, you got me? If you two don't succeed I shall hunt you down and smack you" Tosh giggled wearily and Donna handed her a card. "My number if you ever need someone to talk to" "Thank you" Tosh whispered blushing lightly. A black woman with many small braids came over. "Donna, who's this?" she asked lightly. "John's kids so to speak. Toshiko was a patient and Owen a volunteer, John talked about nothing but them last Christmas, remember?" "Oh yes," she turned to face them, "Dr Martha Jones, Dr Smith had tutored me when I was an intern, it's so nice to meet you and that idiot over there is my husband Mickey Smith" "Who are you calling an idiot?" came a London accented shout. Ignoring her husband's yell Martha passed a card to Owen. "If you ever have any questions, medical or educational just email me and I'll try to give you an answer, no promises though I'm not a Dr Smith, he was fantastic" "Thank you" Owen said. "I'm sorry but its best if we went. My Nan had only come out of hospital recently and she needs someone to sort out supper" "Of course, take care Mr Harper. I hope I'll be able to call you Dr Harper one day" Martha said kindly. "You too Miss Sato, take good care of yourself" "I will" Tosh said quietly giving Martha a shy smile before letting Owen lead her out of the church ground and down the street. They waved goodbye in acknowledgement of Donna's and Dr Noble's shouted goodbyes and Rose's weak smile, she had obviously been crying again. After a few moments of silence, Tosh looked up at him. "I'm going to miss, Dr Smith" she said gently. "He was like a father to me, he always listened and gave me good advice" "Yeah," Owen croaked, "good man" "Owen" Tosh whispered, "It's ok to cry" Owen looked down to look at Tosh properly, her dark eyes were slightly bloodshot from all the crying she had done that past hour. He tried to smile but the sincerity and love and care in her eyes not to mention her own grief and sadness broke him. He grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, burying his face into her black silky hair and took a deep shaky breath. And then he cried. TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW The rest of the month went quickly. The group had the quickly finish off their coursework before the Easter holidays, it got so hectic that even Gwen's stalker had stopped bothering Gwen during those few weeks. Before they knew it, it was April the first, Ianto's birthday. That day fell on a sunny Saturday and Gwen had suggested a picnic party with alcohol, Tosh had unfortunately been unable to come since she was on a university opening day trip and Owen backed out the day before. Ianto and Andy went to Gwen to find her packing up the last of the picnic into a cooler. "Where's Jack? I thought he'll be all over you by now" Andy asked trying to take a peek at what Gwen was slipping into the cooler, she slapped his hand away and grinned at them. "Jack couldn't make it, family stuff. So it's just us three, I tried inviting Emma and Carys but they're both busy" Gwen said leaning up to kiss Ianto's cheek. "Happy Birthday Yan" "How'd you know Jack's not going behind you're back with something gorgeous and sexy?" Andy teased. "Because Ianto's here" Gwen shot back causing Ianto to blush and Andy to purse his lips together. "Doesn't matter where Jack is today. Today is all about Ianto and we haven't had time just us three in ages. If Jack actually is cheating on me then I'll kill him but until then let's enjoy it" "All for one and one for all" Andy agreed looping his arm into Gwen's while Ianto picked up the other bag before linking his into Andy's other arm. The three walked together to the park in laughter as Andy continued to make the worst jokes ever known to man. Once they got to the park they noticed the play area was filled with loud children, obviously some parents were taking the advantaged of sunshine to get their children some fresh air. They walked further along to some woodland where some picnic tables would be found along the path a small three year old girl with thick black hair and dazzling blue eyes ran along the path with Owen Harper chasing after her. "Alice! Alice stop running off, we'll get to the park soon but you have to wait for your Daddy" Owen snapped trying to make a grab for her only to stumble over a stone and trip up. "Fu...fudge!" he spat out. Gwen giggled. "Babysitting, Owen?" Owen looked up surprised and then shot up onto his feet quickly. "Yeah, that's right taking care of this little sprog for a cousin of mine. She's a hyper little bugger when she wants to be, aren't you Alice?" Alice looked up at him innocently before giggling, she saw someone behind Owen and grinned up at him with a sweet child innocence that could never be faked. The man behind Owen was someone that made two out of the three friends' hearts beat faster and faces flush a bright pink. Alice ran over to him and threw her arms round his neck. "Daddy!" Gwen's mouth dropped open, Ianto dropped the bag filled with bottles of wine and the smash could be heard from the surrounding strangers. Andy made fish faces and Owen smacked a hand to face. "April fools?" he said weakly.
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