Taking A Walk In Your Shoes

Taking A Walk In Your Shoes


Owen moaned, as he heard the alarm clock blaring loudly like it did every morning at the same time. He reached out a hand to shut it off, but stopped mid stretch, realising his alarm clock sounded nothing like that.

He removed is head from underneath the pillow, and squinted, until his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He froze when he saw the colour of the alarm clock. It was bright red, whereas his was black.

He quickly sat up in bed, instantly wishing that he hadn’t, when he was suddenly hit with vivid images and sense of emotions that weren’t his. It didn’t take him long to realise they were not images, but in fact memories.

He clutched his head in agony, as the memories overwhelmed him, memories that were most certainly not his own. He saw a family of Japanese people, a woman in particular who looked like a much older version of Tosh.

He continued to be hit with not only memories and emotions that were not his, but knowledge was being rapidly supplied to him, knowledge he had no way of knowing up until then.

He discovered Tosh had been a prisoner of Unit, after she had stolen a secret government device from the ministry of defence, when her mother was being held hostage by another agency.

He saw the cell Tosh had been in, and felt her terror, frustration, and mind numbing loneliness. He watched as Jack came and took Tosh away from the prison, and recruited her to Torchwood. He felt her relief to be leaving her current conditions, felt it as sharp and vividly as if it was he who was feeling it.

He was hit with the constant fear she felt, after she had been released into the outside world, entrusted to Jack. The slightest noise, sudden movement or touch, it would cause her to flinch. And on especially bad days when the memories become too much to bare, she’d close in on herself.

Then the day he had arrived at Torchwood. It was if someone had hit a switch, sending an overwhelming sense of comfort and hope to her. He realised he had been a serious mess when he had first arrived.

He also realised for the first time, that soon as he had arrived, he had given Tosh a new meaning. She set out to help him recover to the point he was able to continue day to day without feeling like his grief was going to swallow him whole.

Soon he begun to shake, feeling physically ill with guilt and grief, knowing these emotions were his own, what he was currently feeling, as he was hit with all of Tosh’s anger frustration, loneliness, and worst of all her heartache caused by him.

He saw images of himself, always paying attention to Suzy, Gwen, and every other female Tosh had seen him hit on and pick up. Felt her heart break, whenever he would discard her after she had done something to get him out trouble, but still he hadn’t given her the time of day.

He felt her despair and humiliation, when she wore the necklace that Mary had given to her. As she listened to him reliving the memory of what Gwen had done to him in his car on the way to work that morning.

Had listened, as Gwen had made comments about her clothing, and listened to Ianto’s despair over Lisa. Felt all of her emotions, as she kissed and caressed Mary. Her stunned sense of disbelief, as Mary had revealed what she truly looked like.

And of course there had been his comments, when Tosh had freaked over him messing around with Gwen near her computer, when she had been running some kind of code analysis.

Her immense hurt when he had made fun of her, when she had been trying to talk to him in his autopsy bay, trying to tell him about the necklace, but had shot her down, both verbally and mentally.

And he felt her emotions when Diane had arrived. He spent all his time with her. He had no idea that he had fallen back on the bed, as he was sobbing uncontrollably, as he was hit with her crippling heart break, as she realised he had fallen in love with Diane.

And finally, the argument they had yesterday, everything they had said to each other. What he had said to her, her rage, heart break, and worst of all her hatred, as she had slapped him across the face. Then she had verbally laid into him, causing him to cry with guilt and anguish.

And much to his horror, he realised she had been leaning against the door to the hub, silently sobbing, as he had talked to Jack. She had heard it all; the door had not been closed properly.

The memories instantly ceased, and the emotions calmed down to the point of being almost none existent. Once he had stopped trembling, he became aware of his surroundings. He realised he had not shut of that infernal sounding alarm clock.

He slowly turned around, and smacked his hand down on the off button. He froze, going completely rigid in horror and disbelief, as he realised he was not looking at his own hand.

He lifted it up and held it out in front of him. He muttered “What the fuck?” The hand quickly recoiled and was placed over his mouth, as soon as he heard the sound of his voice. No, Tosh’s voice he realised.

He quickly bolted off of the bed, and ran to the bathroom, or what he least hoped was the bathroom, as he quickly realised he was inside of Tosh’s apartment and not his own.

Luckily for him he had ran to the right room. He quickly stood in front of the mirror, and gasped in horror, as he saw Tosh’s reflection staring straight back at him instead of his own.

He quickly looked down, as he suddenly realised what he was wearing, or what Tosh was wearing. He noticed he was wearing a pair of lilac satin shorts, with matching spaghetti strapped tank, which had silver floral embroidery.

He noticed how tight and form fitting they were. He was surprised to discover Tosh had an incredible body. He was stumped, that she had been hiding such an incredible body under all of those clothes for all of this time.

He admired her long and slender legs. He never realised what incredible legs Tosh had. He turned to one side, and observed Tosh’s upper body in the mirror. He noted her breasts were not big or small, they were just right. They were nicely shaped and rounded, and very supple looking.

He knew Tosh would have his guts if she ever found out what he was about to do. He moved his hands down her body, smoothing them over her womanly curves, stunning womanly curves Owen noted.

Finally his hands stopped on her perfectly firm and rounded bottom. He gave it a brief squeeze. He smirked slightly, thinking to himself ‘Nice arse, Tosh, very, very nice arse in fact’

His smirk was soon wiped away, to be instantly replaced with a frown, before flushing brightly, as he suddenly realised he needed to use the toilet.

Ok this was not good. Not only did he need the toilet, he also had the overwhelming urge to take a shower. He decided he would do all of these things, but try not to look too much. Usually he wouldn’t have cared, but after yesterday, and all he had just seen and felt, he decided he owed Tosh some decency, privacy and respect.

He quickly slid down the shorts without looking down, before sitting down on the toilet. He was a Doctor, and contrary to popular belief, he could turn and switch off certain emotions, and take on a more clinical approach.

As soon as he had finished on the toilet, he flushed, before making his way towards the large shower that was surrounded by several frosted glass panels.

He opened the main frosted panel. He then switched on the hot and cold taps, before proceeding to regulate the temperature to his likening. Once done, he looked straight a head, as he completely stripped down.

Once inside of the shower, he made quick work of shampooing and conditioning Tosh’s hair, followed by washing all of her body, all with a clinical indifference. It wasn’t easy; he was a hot blooded male after all. But he managed it.

Once he was satisfied with his cleanliness, he switched off the taps. He then stepped out of the shower, and was relieved to discover there were in fact two towels draped over the heater in the far corner. Things could have turned awkward fast if there hadn’t been.

He wrapped the largest towel around his waist, followed by the smaller of the two around his head. He then picked up the discard nigh shorts and tank, and placed them in the nearby wicker clothes basket.

Once he was back inside of the bedroom, he found Tosh’s hand bag. He rummaged around until he found her cell phone. He then flipped through the contacts, until he found his own cell number.

He quickly called his cell hoping Tosh would answer it. He was at her apartment trapped in her body, so he presumed she was at his own apartment trapped inside of his body.

As he listened to it ring and waited for her to answer, he wondered to himself, whether Tosh was hit with all of his memories and the emotions that went with them. If so, then she knew all about Katie and Diane, as well as Gwen and Suzy.

He cringed at the thought, knowing she would have seen all of that. He could only imagine what that must have done to her. He cringed even more, not wanting to think about it.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as soon as Tosh picked up on the other end. He could instantly sense the panic in her tone of voice, or rather his own voice. Listening to your self sounding hysterical on the other end of the line, it was more then a little disconcerting to Owen to say the least.

Owen quickly said, “Tosh, calm down. Take deep breaths in and out slowly.” Once he realised she calmed enough that she wasn’t about to keel over from hyperventilating from a panic attack, he sighed wearily, as did she on the other end of the line.

“Now listen to me, Tosh. I need for you grab a changing of clothes then find my car keys. I then want you to drive over to your own apartment. You can take a shower here.”

He added “We can then discuss what we think could have happened. We need to talk to Jack about this. Obviously we’ve somehow switched bodies with each other over night.

He concluded “Not only that, I was hit will your memories, even the emotions that come with the memories.” He asked “What, you had the same thing happen to you?”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, as he answered Tosh on the other end of the line. “I know that you were sent to prison by Unit. You worked for the ministry of defence. Your mother was being held hostage by a rogue agency.”

He added “In order to keep your mother alive, you were made to steal government secret plans for a device that let off a deadly pulse. You improved and made those plans work, which were flawed, which is why the plans in question had been shelved in the first place.”

He continued “I saw you with Mary, watched and felt all you felt, as you kissed and caressed her. And the horror you felt over the fact you had shagged an alien, when she revealed her true form to you. She looked beautiful, but deadly.”

He went on after a brief pause “I saw your memories of me, and the emotions that come with those memories. As saw everything you did and felt everything. You watched me mess around with Suzy and Gwen. Had to watch me flirt with and cop off with practically half of the female population of Cardiff.”

He added “I felt your emotions when you discovered I had fallen for Diane. I felt your heart break. But I also felt your sympathy when I had been a mess after she had left me.”

He concluded “I felt everything you felt when we had that argument yesterday, as you slapped me, and verbally laid into me. I now understand why you chose to throw in my face the fact Diane left me and broke my heart. I understand, and I’m sorry, Tosh, I truly am.”

After a brief pause, he cleared his throat, and said, “You need to come over immediately. We need to discuss what is gonna happen, and how we can switch back. Tough shit if we’re late to work. This is more important.”

He then ended the call, before heading over to the bed room door, and took down Tosh’s dressing gown and slipped it on. He then sat down on the bed, and proceeded to towel dry Tosh’s hair.