Whispers In The Dark

Owen sighed and tossed one of his shoes across the room in frustration, not caring when it hit and apparently shattered something made of glass. Not even three hours ago, he would have been cursing under his breath and rushing to pick up whatever it was before he managed to step on the shards of glass. But now, his apartment could have been completely empty and he wouldn't have cared one bit -- as long as the bed was still there. The massive thing he'd originally bought purely because it looked good and it sat just high enough to feel more luxurious than it actually was.

"And none of that matters anymore," he muttered, dropping backwards onto his bed and closing his eyes, then opening them slowly, hoping that the past few hours had been nothing more than a bad dream. No. He was still blind and there was nothing he could do about it. The only person who could possibly help was in Portugal and wouldn't be able to get a flight to Cardiff until late next week.

Considering what it was that had rendered him blind in the first place, Owen didn't exactly enjoy the prospect of having to wait almost a full week to find out if he would ever be able to see again. If this was permanent, Jack would probably force him to leave the team and that meant being retconned. Four years of his life gone in less than 12 hours. All the cases he'd worked on, the things he'd learned ..... and the people he'd developed relationships with.

He didn't care so much about losing his memories of Diane, or even the fiance whose name and face were already starting to go fuzzy around the edges. Had that time before he joined Torchwood even happened or was it just a dream brought on by too many lonely nights off spent in a drunken haze? Probably a mix of both, knowing his luck.

Before he could delve more deeply into his thoughts, the soft crunching sound of glass being swept up into a dustpan reached Owen's ears. "Are you alright, Owen? I thought you might have fallen and hit something on your way down."

Ianto. He remembered that the younger man had driven him home, probably after being asked to by Jack. But no, wait. Ianto had volunteered, hadn't he? Rather eagerly, now that he remembered it. Why had he stayed? Owen had told him several times on the way over that Ianto didn't have to stay, that he could go home, or go to Jack, and that he could take care of himself well enough, thanks. In truth, he'd only said it because he was still upset about the conversation he'd overheard a couple weeks before.

Parts of it had been too muffled for him to make out the words, and he hadn't been curious enough to use the CCTV to eavesdrop, but Owen distinctly remembered hearing Ianto yelling at Jack -- something he hadn't done in the entire time he'd been with the team. The only words he'd actually been able to hear clearly had been 'It isn't now and it never will be, Jack'. Not much to go on, but he was able to guess what the subject of the argument had been. And the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to punch Jack in that overly brilliant mouth of his.

"I'm fine, Ianto," he said finally, glad for once that he was unable to see the look on Ianto's face. If he had, the conversation would have descended into one where he was defensive, grumpy, and all the other things that had previously made Ianto turn away. "Aside from the fact that I can't see, more than likely won't be able to again, and I've got the most gorgeous man I've ever met in my bedroom, of course. Perfectly fine."

The silence that fell over the room as soon as those words were out was so heavy that for a moment, Owen didn't even breath. What in the world had possessed him to say that? One night of being able to hold Ianto in his arms while they slept did not give him permission to say things to a man who was still, as far as he knew, dating and sleeping with their boss. He wasn't even entirely sure that it would be alright for him to say these things if that yelling match he'd overheard had in fact resulted in Ianto breaking off his relationship with Jack.

After what felt like several minutes, Owen could hear footsteps and his heart sank. Ianto was walking away. Any minute now, he was going to hear the front door of his apartment open, and then that would be it. If he ever did get his sight back, his friendship with Ianto would be so strained that they'd have a hard time even being in the same room for more than a few minutes at a time.

But there was no creaking of hinges, no jingling of keys that told him Ianto had left. Just the muted sound of a cupboard being opened and closed, then the footsteps again -- this time, coming back into his room. Owen let out a sigh of relief, but almost immediately sucked his breath back in as Ianto sat down next to him and put one hand on his thigh.

"I can't say I'm not shocked by what you said. I am. But .... you should know that I'm not going to let that shock and the fact that you're blind get in the way," Ianto murmured, his fingers drumming nervously against the seam of Owen's jeans. "I'm just worried that you might think this is a rebound from Jack and it's not. Far from it."

Owen smiled and covered Ianto's hand with his own. "I never said anything about that. But I do think you deserve a lot better than Jack. I just wish the circumstances could have been better for me saying this. It doesn't help when I can't see the way you're looking at me."

He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn the determination he was used to hearing from Ianto at work was even more intense now. "You will soon enough. As soon as Martha and whoever this other Unit doctor are get to Cardiff, they'll figure something out. I promise. Even if it means bringing in an ophthalmologist who doesn't know about aliens. They'll just have to be retconned as soon as they're finished."

The thought that Ianto was willing to go to that sort of lengths to help him gave Owen a warm feeling he hadn't experienced in .... well, he couldn't remember feeling like this past his medical school days. He'd been so worried that the other man wouldn't care about him as more than a casual acquaintance and now, Ianto was actually sitting on his bed, practically cuddling with him. After fixing the problem of not being able to see, the biggest worry on Owen's mind was what might happen when and if Jack ever found out about this.