And When She Walks, She Walks with Passion [Attn: Lynne]

There was no such thing as time on your side, atleast Toshiko began to think that after speed walking down the pavement of the sidewalk on her way to the Millenium Centre. Jack wanted her to be back in thirty minutes, which she thought, was a bit crazy for a lunch break. But then again, who said Jack was normal...

Her heavy black boots weighed her down as she tried to pick up pace, looking at her watch while sipping her ice coffee. It was all she could do from just stop and plop down on the curb where she was but she had exactly five minutes to get back to her job.

She was late already once; she wasn't going to make a habit of it...

... Until she fully ran into someone who also seemed to be in a hurry...

Lynne sprinted back down the street. The manager of the bar had called to let her know that they'd found the paycheck she'd thought she'd been screwed out of last week and the timing couldn't have been better - bills were due at the end of the week. She had exactly ten minutes to get said check and dash to the bank three blocks up, before it closed if she wanted to be able to get the bills paid before the weekend when she'd be too busy between all her plans and both her jobs to remember.

"Oi, mum! You dropped something," a young male voice shouted from behind her.

Lynne slowed to a jog as she looked over her shoulder to see if the boy was addressing her. He wasn't. As she picked up her running pace, though, before she could turn her head to look properly forward again, she collided - hard - with something solid. Someone if the foreign grunt of pain that sounded alongside Lynne's own was anything to judge by.

Suddenly, Lynne was soaked and cold...and wreaked of coffee. "Fuck me!" she shrieked reflexively, pulling her shirt away from her skin and shaking the fabric out a little. "I am so sorry!" she went on, finally looking to see with whom she'd collided. "I didn't mean to--" Lynne cut herself off as she came face to face with Owen's friend from work, Tosh. "Oh..."

The collision nearly knocked the wind out of her, but Tosh steadied herself. She saw her ice coffee had burst open, spilling it on not only herself but the person she had ran into. Good thing it was iced.

"I am so sorry!" she went on, finally looking to see with whom she'd collided. "I didn't mean to--" Lynne cut herself off as she came face to face with Owen's friend from work, Tosh. "Oh..."

"No, no need to apologize, I was trying to hurry back to work and I should've been watching where I was going an--" Looking up, Toshiko saw a rather shocked brunette, staring at her as if they had met before. "Um," Tosh chose her words carefully as the face seemed somewhat familiar, but she didn't know from where. "Have we met?"

"Um," Tosh chose her words carefully as the face seemed somewhat familiar, but she didn't know from where. "Have we met?"

Lynne raised an eyebrow at Tosh. Yeah, you nearly cost me a perfectly good shag and earned yourself a right hook to the jaw in the process, actually, she thought, but didn't say. "Yeah. Last night. In the bar..." Lynne replied slowly, furrowing her brow and narrowing her eyes suspiciously at Tosh.

She paused. "You're Owen's friend from work, yeah?" she asked, to be on the safe side. It was entirely possible that Lynne was mistaking a stranger for someone she'd met briefly and uncomfortably, but she didn't think so. She was fairly certain this was the same woman.

"Yeah. Last night. In the bar... You're Owen's friend from work, yeah?"

Owen. The bar. It all started coming back to her, as Tosh placed her hand on her forehead, getting a headache all over again. This was the woman Tosh nearly beheaded with Owen. Or was it nearly beheaded Owen for? Whatever, it didn't matter. Now, she was really going to be late.

"Uh... yeah..." Tosh looked down. This wasn't awkward at all. She sighed, this wasn't going to be easy telling this girl she wasn't as crazy as she acted last night. "Listen about that... I'm so sorry."

Tosh kicked some ice off of her boots into the street. She waited for the girl to respond which wasn't going to be very pretty in the end. "It's a very long, stupid story...."

"Listen about that... I'm so sorry. It's a very long, stupid story...."

Lynne was still holding her shirt away from herself and decided to give up. The sun was hot, but there was no breeze; it wasn't going to dry, at this point. She also suddenly had all the time in the world, because she sure as hell wasn't walking into the bank with coffee spilled all down her front. "I've got time," Lynne challenged.

After a short pause, she looked - really looked - at the woman's face. "I'm sorry, are you and Owen...?" she let the sentence trail off. Owen had been quick to debunk it last night and she wanted to trust him, but, again, she'd been burned and Owen was still a man. Last night, he might very well have just been trying to hurry along to his place. Wouldn't have been terribly far-fetched, she thought suddenly, saddened by it, considering how upset he'd gotten when she'd pulled away from their kiss in the cab.

"I've got time,"

Tosh really didn't want to explain it all - there was nothing really to get other than what she had told Jack earlier. But before she could answer, the woman spoke again.

"I'm sorry, are you and Owen...?"

She shook her head. "No, no, nothing is between us. We're only friends..." Tosh sighed without meaning to. She didn't want to lead on that she indeed wanted a bit more, but she figured she had blown that cover already last night.

"We're good friends," she continued, feeling really bad about the girl's shirt, yet she was no better off. "Owen is just... well, sometimes... an ass ..."

"No, no, nothing is between us. We're only friends..."

If this woman said it, as well, then Lynne believed it completely and entirely. Especially when she heard the sigh coupled with the comment. So, Lynne had been right in assuming that Tosh had had a crush on Owen. Well, that was just too bad, wasn't it?

"We're good friends. Owen is just... well, sometimes... an ass ..."

And as much as Lynne wanted to bristle at the statement and shoot something nasty back at the woman, she realized it would be fairly pointless. In a sense, Lynne had already won the battle if there had been one to win; she slept with Owen the previous night, she met him for lunch, she was going out to dinner with him tonight. Not Tosh.

"Yeah, well, I think being an ass comes standard with having a penis, sometimes," Lynne retorted. "Sometimes, I think they can't really control it," she added, not thinking of Owen, but rather The Asshole and the heartless way he'd chucked her out of her own flat with nowhere to go, all over some young thing in the office.

Lynne's face softened. She'd been in Tosh's shoes. Many times. And as long as she didn't feel Tosh was any actual competition, there was no harm in playing nice. "I'm sorry about your shirt...I should've been watching where I was going. I live a couple of blocks back that way; you could borrow something, if you want and just give it to Owen when you've finished, so you don't have to go back to work covered in coffee..." she suggested, surprising even herself. "Or I could bring something to you, if you're late," she added. "You look like you're sort of in a hurry...and I'm sorry about that, too. I'm sort of a pro at making people late, it seems, lately..." she joked feebly.

Maybe Tosh wasn't so bad. The look on the other woman's face suggested she really was sorry and Owen had said that the Tosh Lynne had met the night before was foreign to him; that she wasn't normally like that. ...and Lynne didn't really have any friends, save her roommate. Well, not of the female variety, anyway.

Kill her with kindness and maybe you can both be civilized adults from here on out, if nothing else... she thought to herself as she waited for the other woman's reply.

"I'm sorry about your shirt...I should've been watching where I was going. I live a couple of blocks back that way; you could borrow something, if you want and just give it to Owen when you've finished, so you don't have to go back to work covered in coffee..." she suggested, surprising even herself. "Or I could bring something to you, if you're late," she added. "You look like you're sort of in a hurry...and I'm sorry about that, too. I'm sort of a pro at making people late, it seems, lately..." she joked feebly.

Tosh shook her head, but thanked the woman anyway. "It's fine, really, that's why i keep a spare outfit at work..." Knowing what Torchwood was like, she kept a few.

There was a trash bin near by and Tosh tossed the cup into it, there was really no need to hold onto it anymore. She examined the damage done to the woman's shit. "Ugh that looks like a nice shirt... I'll gladly pay for the dry cleaning." Tosh rummaged through her bag. She stopped, not wanting to be anymore rude ans tuck her hand out. "I'm Tosh, but you probably already know that..."

Looking back at her watch, Tosh didn't feel like arriving at the Hub soon, so she would take her time. "Really, I'm terribly sorry.... about everything." She smiled, hoping the woman didn't have a huge vendetta out and planned.

Lynne raised her eyebrows for a moment. She kept an outfit at work? Didn't doctors wear scrubs...? Why would she need extra clothes? Lynne didn't have time to ask.

"Ugh that looks like a nice shirt... I'll gladly pay for the dry cleaning."

"Oh, this old thing, no..." Lynne replied. "Thank you, but...no, I've had it forever. It almost never stains and I figure if it ever does, that's my cue to toss it," she laughed. "And yeah...I know. I'm Lynne. You probably know that, too, even if you might not remember, I guess..." she said awkwardly.

"Really, I'm terribly sorry.... about everything."

Tosh smiled a little and Lynne felt guilty about being so angry the previous night. She'd been completely justified, but it didn't make her feel like any less of a bitch. Lynne looked down at her watch. "Well, so much for the bank," she laughed airily. "I'm sure you've got to be back to work..." she said slowly. "I'm not doing anything; I could walk you," she offered, probably a little too eagerly. Part of her just didn't want to go home and twiddle her thumbs waiting for her phone to ring when Owen was free for dinner, another part genuinely wanted to be nice to Tosh, now; another part entirely just wanted to see where Owen worked. She offered a smile and hoped for a reply that wouldn't be awkward, angry, or dismissive.

"Well, so much for the bank," she laughed airily. "I'm sure you've got to be back to work..." she said slowly. "I'm not doing anything; I could walk you,"

"No!" Tosh replied too quickly. "Sorry, no it's okay it's really close and I can make it on my own..." She hoped it wouldn't offend Lynne so she added, "I'm usually on my own anyway, so it won't bother me. You should probably go home and get changed before something else happens to that shirt."

Tosh said her goodbyes and parted for her destination. She didn't ask anything more from Lynne; the last thing she needed was Owen thinking she's checking up on him, but she did mention hoping to run into each other again... not quite so literally. Reaching the Hub, Tosh looked around to make sure Lynne hadn't followed her and headed inside.