The morning after [Attn: Tosh, Jack, Torchwood 3]

Owen made his way into the hub. He knew Jack would be a bit upset with him for not showing up, but, he could deal with Jack. He wondered how Tosh would be. She behaved very strangely last night, and he wasn't sure how to deal with her right now. He was thankful she wasn't at her desk as he passed it and sat down at his own.

Owen tried not thinking about Lynne. He was at work, now. Torchwood. He couldn't afford for last night to be more than a one night stand, as much as he wanted it to be. He turned his attention to a pile of paperwork Jack had set on his desk already and got to work.

Her head still buzzed from last night as Tosh made her way into the hub. What was she thinking?! She had never gotten drunk before to just get... drunk. She didn't remember too much about the night before, but she knew Owen would be pissed at her for something...

Sticking some chewing gum in her mouth, Tosh tried to hide the scent of her "binging" as she walked to her desk. She plopped down in her seat as her head fell to the table like a giant hunk of lead. "Ow..."

For once in her lifetime Tosh didn't want to be at work; there was no way she was leaving - she couldn't let them down. If there was a first time for everything, missing work wasn't defined within that.

Owen didn't look up from his work as he heard Tosh come in. She was later than him? That was a first. He heard her sit in her chair, and a thud which was immediately followed with an "Ow." He looked up at her, collapsed at her desk. 'She must've been hammered last night,' he thought to himself.

"Everythin alright over there?" he asked. He was angry with her, but he had gotten shagged, so he really didn't need to be. And, being a doctor, he was more concerned with her current state than what had been said last night.

"Everythin alright over there?"

Tosh heard it, but she didn't quite believe it was really someone talking to her. Her inflated head just sit there until she heard the computer beep like crazy. Sitting up she realized she had been pressing the 'H' key for a little too long.

She quickly looked over her shoulder and saw Owen there and shrunk back down into her chair. "I'm fine," she muttered. Lie, but what did it matter. She didn't feel like talking to really anyone and just wanted to snuggle in a warm blanket.

Owen watched as Tosh sunk into her chair. She said she was fine. He knew it was bollocks, but if she wasn't going to say anymore, he wasn't going to ask. He turned back to his paperwork.

A few minutes later, the combination of a late night with Lynne and waking up at 6 began to hit him. He got up, looking for Ianto and his magical coffee skills.

Ianto walked by, hands busy with mugs. As he passed near Owen, he stopped, turned around, and handed him one of them.

"Morning." He said, moving on his merry way, not even caring what the long faces Tosh and Owen were sporting were about.

"Thanks," Owen said, taking a sip of his coffee. He sat back down at his desk and watched Ianto place a mug next to Tosh and walk away. Owen cocked an eyebrow at Tosh and returned to his paperwork.

Ianto was quite sure something iffy was up, so after he picked up his own coffee, he went back downstairs to the desks and stood around, going unnoticed as usual - he was excelling at it, now.

He sat down by some random desk and read some random papers, looking around without moving his head. Tosh didn't look like herself, did she?

Tosh heard something beside her head and could smell the aroma of Ianto's famous coffee. He always did make it just like she preferred and it never did cease to get her perked for the day. She lift her head up, deciding to sip the liquid bit by bit and to her surprise, nothing could have felt better.

She sat up fully, almost wide awake, looked at her surrounding and saw Owen, sitting at his desk, flipping though some papers. Feeling herself so numb again, she got up and carefully walked over to him.

"Owen... can we talk?"

"Owen... can we talk?"

Owen looked up at Tosh, eyebrow cocked. He set the papers he was looking at on his desk and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms.

"What."

"What."

Tosh watched as Owen's facial expression and arms crossed defended himself. Boy, she must've screwed up.


"Well, about last night... I didn't mean to do what I did and made the stupid mistake of getting drunk because of work," She paused after saying at, glaring at him a bit. "But I really think you could have been a bit more... understanding, knowing you've very well been in the situation which present itself to me last night."

"Yesterday was a really stressful day. I didn't find it at all funny when you basically insulted me in front of the whole crew for doing my job. I've covered you many times when you were passed out in your living room on the floor and truthfully, I'd like some sort of gratitude or even respect."

Tosh sighed, her hangover pretty much ceased and went back to her station, typing furiously.

"Feel better now, do you?" Owen said, annoyed. He got up from his desk and head down to the autopsy bay, muttering "Christ, Tosh," as he descended the stairs.

Early busywork - the kind of thing Jack hated doing, and honestly would have preferred to delegate if he was able, kept Jack away until he realized that it was getting on in the morning, and the team should be arriving. Should being the operative word, since a quick check of log-ins noted that both Tosh and Owen were late. By the time they'd gotten in, he'd been on the line with a particularly stubborn UNIT chief who was desperate to keep his case in his own hands. Bastard. But Jack got rid of him easily enough before he emerged from his office.

"Morning," he greeted Tosh, glancing around briefly. Owen would be down in the med bay, then. He'd have to talk to him. After he made sure Tosh wasn't ill or something. She was almost never late.

"Morning,"

"Morning Jack," Tosh replied without looking away from the CCTV. She rubbed her eyes, this computer screen wasn't doing much for sensitive pupils. "What needs to be done for today?"

She really wasn't up to working hard doing busy paperwork. She wasn't up to being here. She only wished she had someone to talk to about it, but this was work and home life and work should be separate.

"What needs to be done for today?"


"Just the usual. Nothing new and unusual there," Jack commented offhandedly. New and unusual was usually their bread and butter, but for the time being, it could wait. "You alright?" He asked casually, as he always did. But he was a bit worried. Tosh didn't seem herself, and she had been late. Tosh was -- well, Tosh, and as such, never late. He could count on his fingers how many times he could remember her coming in late without a fully acceptable excuse in the last four years.

"Just the usual. Nothing new and unusual there,"

Tosh sighed a bit. She'd rather there would be something going on than nothing and forcing her to think too much. She was s person who strived for being busy in life - otherwise she felt... well... bored.

"You alright?"

Before anything Tosh paused. Looking up at her boss, the words came out of his mouth like they normally would, but in his eyes, she could see he genuinely wanted to know if she was alright. "Kind of..." she trailed off. She and Jack were very good friends and she could tell anything to him, but the whole situation was just foreign. She didn't want to drag anyone else down into it. "Last night after being totally upset I got drunk of my ass."

Apparently, blunt was the way to go.

"Last night after being totally upset I got drunk of my ass."

Well, at least I know she's not lying to me, Jack thought a little sarcastically, but he was a little worried by this departure from Tosh's usual MO. She didn't go out and get smashed because she was upset; that was more Owen's MO. Used to be closer to his, once upon a time (in a galaxy far, far away... shut up).

"What happened?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. A little bit curious and a little bit concerned. Never let it be said he didn't give a damn about his staff except when he didn't.

Tosh smacked her lips, in trying to retell the story of what happened the night before. She was not at all proud of it - any of it - but she needed to tell Jack. "It was after work... I was so upset after what Owen had said to me, regarding the one time I messed up during a case. You know how I never like to have flaws... apparently I do, but I take work very seriously. So, if Owen could point them out to me, I just figured to go his way and have a several few drinks and call it a night."

"It didn't help that Owen was there with... this woman.." Tosh was almost close to tears, but she hid them well. "I wasn't exactly friendly."

She turned back to the computer screen. Why did she seem to sometimes understand technology more than she did people?

"I was so upset after what Owen had said to me, regarding the one time I messed up during a case. You know how I never like to have flaws... apparently I do, but I take work very seriously. So, if Owen could point them out to me, I just figured to go his way and have a several few drinks and call it a night."

Jack sighed; of course, it would have to have been something like that. "Everyone makes mistakes; Owen of all people ought to know that," he said, half to Tosh and half to himself. He wondered if it would be worthwhile to have a talk with Owen about this - he wouldn't have him driving Tosh to drink because she messed up sometimes, as if they all didn't have more than their share of botches to make up for.

"It didn't help that Owen was there with... this woman.. I wasn't exactly friendly."

Ah, and things become more clear. "Had a fight?" He asked, a little lightly, but he put a hand on her shoulder - he could tell Tosh was feeling badly about this. More seriously, he asked her, "So, you got into an argument with Owen, the woman, or both? Not sure I could blame you for fighting with Owen." Well, he did plenty of that himself.