ericadawn16 | A Glimpse of the Possibility

Title: But Time Marches On
Characters: Alice, Jack, Iefan, Gwen, Lois, Bernie Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys
Rated: PG-13 ANGST COE Spoilers MPREG
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Lois has a decision to make.
Author's Note: The Sequel to But Time Didn't Stop Not one, but two John Lennon references.

Previous Chapter: Dress-Up

Masterlist: http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/113396.html

A Glimpse of the Possibility

Luckily, Jack didn't seem to sleep much.

"Alice? What is it? Did something happen to Iefan?" Jack's voice asked, completely alert despite being early morning still.

"Iefan did something to himself. This might be a shock," she warned, hit the video conference function and aimed the camera at Iefan.

"Oh," he stated.

"He found the nail scissors and this is how I found him just now," Alice explained, wondering what he would say. Lucia had just cut the hair off several of her dolls but Steven had had his hair cut once in school from a classmate. She remembered being horrified at the huge chunk missing from the back of his head.

"Taddy!" he said with a smile, seeing the video from the other mobile. He came closer and touched the screen with a frown.

"I miss you, too, Iefan but scissors are not a toy. I don't want you cutting anything without an adult around," his voice said and Iefan's frown turned into a pout. Maybe she should have hidden the scissors.

"Alright if I take him today to get the rest of it cut?" she asked.

"Yeah, straightened up, we should be back tonight. I'm with them now. Lucia hasn't woken up yet so she doesn't know," Jack spoke and Alice wondered how Lucia would react. She knew they hadn't been on good terms during Christmas.

"I was thinking that maybe tomorrow, Lucia and I should stay at a hotel or rent a house until the baby's born," Alice suggested.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"I know Lucia and Iefan weren't best mates. Maybe it would be best..."

"I'd still like them to get along and maybe this could help unless you want her to have a separate room. The only one I have to spare is the loft," Jack interrupted.

The loft was only acessible by a ladder and that wouldn't do for a five year old, but she didn't mind sharing her bed. To be honest, she also preferred the idea of staying with Jack. It made things easier especially with the pregnancy.

"Right, if we won't be a bother, give her my love and a hug...have Thomas kiss her for me. Bye, dad," she said and ended the call. Lucy was five years old today. She knew she'd received her birthday package from Alice last week, but she could pick up a couple of surprises for tonight. Lula started licking Iefan's face while he giggled.

*********************************************************

Gwen waited for her team to arrive back from the field. She was so proud of them. The reports had been of two Weevils. However, when they arrived, there were three. If she'd known, she would have gone with them despite the paperwork on her desk. Three Weevils were no match for her team though. They reported just a few scatches between the three of them. As soon as they parked, Gwen walked over to help them with the unconcious aliens. Then, she saw Lois' face. It was troubled.

"What's wrong? What happened?" she asked, beginning to wonder what they hadn't told her. Gwen hadn't noticed the object in Lois' hand until she held it up. It was the antenna aerial that was supposed to be attached to the vehicle.

"Bernie broke it," Lois spat and Bernie's face grew red. Despite herself, Gwen couldn't help grinning.

"What? He has to fix it and I don't mean with cellotape. He's not the one that has to requisition things. I do. I know how much all this costs," she complained and dropped it on the ground.

"I don't know what your problem is," Bernie growled.

"Maybe if you thought before you acted more..."

Gwen and Selene stepped between them.

"We're going to move them and then, I want you in my office," she told Lois.

A little while later, Gwen sat at her desk, looking at her picture frame with Owen, Tosh and Ianto. They were always smiling. They never changed. She knew that was the point of photographs that they didn't work like Dorian Grey's portrait or the photos in Harry Potter, but it was still odd and sad as she collected wrinkles and the occasional grey hair. They'd be young forever so would everyone in the second frame: Johnson, Jeff, Marlene, the other lives Torchwood had claimed. The door opened and Lois came in. Gwen took a last look at the frame and set it down. She was about to speak when Lois beat her to it.

"Why did you laugh? You laughed about the aerial," Lois pointed out and took a chair. Gwen smiled again at the memory.

"He wasn't the first to break the aerial on a Torchwood SUV," Gwen explained, "Over ten years ago, Jack did the same thing. If it were anyone else, Ianto would have killed them, but it was Jack so...he had his own methods of punishment."

She smiled, knowing it would have been more ingenious than just switching him to decaf and a lot less family friendly. Lois nodded.

"I just don't like how he acts. He's learning but he can still be rash at times. He acts like he can do it all on his own. We're a team and that's how you get killed by doing that," Lois complained and her brown eyes went to the second frame with all their former teammates.

"He was on his own for a long time," Gwen reminded her, "but I'll talk to him."
An idea struck Gwen.

"You don't...fancy Bernie, do you?" she asked, thinking of how she reacted towards Owen at first. Lois looked horrified at the suggestion.

"No."

"Look, I've been there. You're working in close quarters day after day and..."

"No," Lois repeated, "I..."

She stopped short and another thought came to mind.

"You have someone," she guessed, "and you haven't told us."

Lois hesitated before answering, "It's only been a few months. I wasn't sure. I didn't want you lot to scare him off."

"Oh, we're not that bad," Gwen argued with a smile.

"It's just...he thinks I'm a proper civil servant with some strange hours now and then. He doesn't know anything about this," she explained and crossed her arms.

"If it gets serious, if he's really...the one," Gwen spoke, "you're going to have to tell him. I did with Rhys and it all worked out."

"I know, but that's Rhys. He's pretty laid-back. I don't know about Macey...I don't know about..."

She trailed off, but Gwen knew that look.

"You don't have to stay at Torchwood. You could transfer to UNIT or we could find somewhere else for you to be," Gwen suggested.

"But it's Torchwood, how am I supposed to leave when I know everything? The human race needs us," Lois uttered and bit her lip. Gwen had a plan for cases like this. She'd never had to use it before, but she would now if that's what Lois wanted.

"We could make it so you don't remember any of it. It'd be like you'd had an accident and forgotten all of this," Gwen explained in a serious tone.

"You mean RetCon? You would make me forget the last nine years?" Lois asked.

"If you thought that was best, do you still want to do this, Lois? I know when you first joined; you didn't have a lot of time to think about it. You might have even felt obligated because of what happened, because of Ianto, because of Steven but that was a long time ago...people change. You might want to try something else with your life," Gwen spoke in a soft voice.

"What? And go back to being a temp?" Lois asked.

"No, we're Torchwood. Whatever you need, I'll make sure that you get it," Gwen promised and would make Jack do the same after she was gone. Lois was silent and rubbed her face for over a minute.

"I can't. I've thought about it before, but everytime I did, I thought of Bridget and what she would think when I wasn't there..."

"She'd understand. I'm sure she would. She'll still think you were a good person..."

As soon as she said that last bit, Lois began shaking her head.

"No, I've seen that look on Bridget before. I don't want it again," she whispered. Gwen gave her a moment and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans, yeah?" Lois replied.

"Well, the offer still stands, any time you want out, you just tell me," she said and Lois nodded.
Fun With Airport Security