Marriage of Convenience, Part 01

Title: Marriage of Convenience
Author: Soledad

Category: Threesomes and moresomes – all varieties
Characters: Bates, Beckett, Corrigan, Halling, Charin, Markham, Stackhouse, Teyla, Zelenka, Others (mostly nameless Athosian extras whom I have turned into original characters)
Rating: Adult
Genre: Romance
Warnings: Adult themes in later chapters
Timeframe: Shortly after “Suspicions” (Ep. 1.05)
Summary: The Athosians' answer to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”.
Disclaimer: The characters and the settings don't belong to me. Just the story idea and a few original characters.

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A SHORT INTRODUCTION

In my other stories, I established the theory that “Emmagan” was not Teyla’s surname – none of the other Athosians seemed to have one – but her title as the leader of the tribe. So, since in “Suspicions” the Athosians practically voted her off as their leader and chose Halling in her stead, I have simply transferred the title to him.

The Athosians’ custom to live in clan marriages has also been established in my former stories, as well as the idea that the camp Sheppard & Co. met in the pilot episode was not the entire Athosian population. That would have been too little for an entire planet, not to mention that inbreeding would have led to hopeless degeneration centuries ago. So I decided that they were simply the tribe that watched the Stargate and the ruins of the Ancient city nearby.

This particular story, while containing many elements I use elsewhere, is not part either the “Moments of Joy” or the “Darkroom” alternate universes in which I usually play.

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PART 01

Stackhouse was sorry to see the Athosians leave Atlantis – even if only to the mainland. He had come to like Halling, the new Emmagan, during the off-world visits where the tall, quietly spiritual man had served as their guide. He had come to see Halling’s son, Jinto, as the little brother he never had. He had come to enjoy spending time with the Athosian children in the evenings, telling them stories about Earth and listening to their tales in exchange.
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Marriage of Convenience, Part 02

MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
by Soledad

Disclaimer: The characters and the settings don't belong to me. Just the story idea and a few original characters.

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PART 02

When everything the Athosians still possessed – not as if that had been much – and their tents stood on living soil again, they threw a party to celebrate their new home. Stackhouse and his entire team – including Dr. Corrigan and Drs B and Z – had been invited, of course, and they truly enjoyed their first taste of genuine Athosian cuisine… including the home-made ale that the first arrivals had begun brewing days before.

Stackhouse had been part of Colonel Sumner's team that had visited the original Athosian homeworld, right after their arrival. He could still remember the serene view the small village of colourful tents had offered, and was now surprised to see that the new village was looking almost exactly the same.

It was somewhat smaller, granted, as quite a number of tents had been destroyed by the Wraith attack, their inhabitants taken or killed, but the general impression was the same. Including the small herd of shaggy, goat-like beasts grazing peacefully on a fenced patch of fresh grass a little further away. Those not-quite-goats, called krumak, provided the Athosians with milk, meat and wool, and their horns served as raw material for small utility items. They were the most useful species Stackhouse had ever seen… and the most resilient one. They could live on very little food, they hid on their own during Wraith attacks, and they protected their youth from predators quite successfully with their vicious-looking horns. On the other hand, a small Athosian kid could herd them, as they were surprisingly meek towards their owners.
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Marriage of Convenience, Part 03

MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
by Soledad

Disclaimer: The characters and the settings don't belong to me. Just the story idea and a few original characters.

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PART 03

“He wants us to do what?” Sergeant Jamie Markham demanded in open-mouthed astonishment.

Stackhouse grinned. He had to admit that Jamie was damn cute like this. Well, he was cute, period. Lieutenant Ford was often called pretty, and with reason, although he would probably have rammed his biggest explosives up the ass of anyone who would dare to call him that in the face – well any fellow Marine, at least.

But Jamie… Jamie was different. With that sensitive, oval face, those beautiful hazel eyes that sat just a little too close to each other under the long, gently arched eyebrows, that cute, slightly upturned nose and those shy, lopsided grins that brought out his killed dimples to full effect, he could be simply irresistible at times.

When he was wearing his civvies, one would take him for an actor or a poet – never a soldier. There was some elusive softness in him, some odd vulnerability, inherited perhaps from his British father, that made one wish to protect him. Which was ridiculous, considering that he had gotten a Silver Star for their tour of duty in Iraq, just like Stackhouse himself, but it was the truth nonetheless.
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Marriage of Convenience - Interlude

MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
by Soledad

Disclaimer: The characters and the settings don't belong to me. Just the story idea and a few original characters.

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Interlude

At the moment, this is just a placeholder. The Interlude will be added, hopefully soon.

Marriage of Convenience, Part 04

MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
by Soledad

Disclaimer: The characters and the settings don't belong to me. Just the story idea and a few original characters.

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PART 04

Five days later, taking an authorized break from patrol duty, they were sitting on the mainland, in Anais’ tent. It was a large and comfortable one, divided into separate sections by beautiful, woven carpets spanned over wooden frames. It had a warm, homely atmosphere that touched them at once.

That which counted as the equivalent of a foyer or anteroom had the usual thick, water-resistant floor of dark felt mats, over which colourful carpets were spread, with a long, low wooden trestle table in the middle, and flat pillows strewn around the table to sit on. Aside from the two if them and Anais herself, Halling was present, too, as the newly chosen leader of the tribe – the Emmagan – and an elderly women named Charin, representing the tribe Elders… the only one still alive from the original Elders.

This was the first time that Stackhouse took a closer look at Anais, and he decided that Jamie and he could have done a lot worse. She was not very tall, but sleek and deceivingly strong, like Teyla herself, yet with fair skin and a hairdo that reminded him of the traditional portraits of Joan of Ark (which seemed matching, somehow, as she, too, was a warrior), her eyes dark and serious.
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Marriage of Convenience - Part 05

MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
by Soledad

Disclaimer: The characters and the settings don't belong to me. Just the story idea and a few original characters.

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PART 05

The Atlantis crowd took in the news about Sergeants Markham and Stackhouse’s changing family status with mixed reactions. Some of the Marines – those who had been on good terms with the Athosians and seen Anais train with Teyla – called them lucky bastards. Others found the ideal of sharing a wife… uncomfortable, if not downright disgusting.

Those were later taken to the side by an exceptionally pissed Master Sergeant Bates, who explained them in short yet not uncertain terms how it was not their business, and how they should keep out of it, unless they really wanted to scrub every single railing on Atlantis with their toothbrushes. That stopped the snide remarks with amazing speed. Everyone knew that Sergeant Bates did not make any idle threats.
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~The End~

Girl Talk

Title: GIRL TALK
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: episode tag (sort of)
Characters: Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper
Rating: General, suitable for all.
Genre: Character piece
Timeframe: During the last minutes of the Series 1 finale “The End of Days”
Summary: Toshiko gives Gwen a piece of her mind.
Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to DTL and BBC.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The sight of Ianto quietly crying into Jack’s coat in the orphaned office was the last straw for Toshiko. Rising from her workplace in a strange state of controlled outrage, she strolled down to the morgue, where Gwen was still mulishly sitting with Jack’s lifeless body.

“Tell me, Gwen, just when is it enough for you?” she demanded. “How many men, how much attention, how much drama does it take to satisfy you?”

Gwen looked up at her with red-rimmed eyes and mouth hanging open in shock… quite like a blowfish, actually.

“What do you mean?” she asked in a hurt voice. Apparently, she had the brains and the sensitivity of a blowfish, too. But again, that was nothing new.

Toshiko gestured around them angrily.

“I mean this. You sitting here like a grieving widow, as if you’d be the only one who’s lost Jack. What gives you the right to shoulder yourself in here, taking Ianto’s place?”

“Ianto’s… what?” Yep, definitely the brain capacity of a blowfish.

Toshiko rolled her eyes. “You aren’t telling me that you of all people didn’t know the two had… had something going on, are you? After all, you’ve been clinging to Jack like a leech since he hired you. Why do you always have to take what belongs to someone else? What’s needed by someone else?”

Gwen shook her head, the first surprise gone now and the usual mulish expression returned. “Jack wanted me on his side…”

“… because you’re the least qualified of us all,” Toshiko interrupted sharply. “Hell, you couldn’t even shoot when you came here – you used to be a beat cop at the best times and coffee girl at the worst ones. He didn’t want you to get killed on the field right away, and God knows you keep doing your best to get killed because you never listen. You always think you know everything better than those who’ve done this kind of work for years. Had you tried to pull things like that at the police, they’d have fired you long ago!”

Again, Gwen was so surprised by Toshiko’s vicious attack that she couldn’t reply at all, just opened and closed her mouth stupidly a few times. Already on the roll, Toshiko went on with her angry rant, pouring out everything that she had bottled inside her in all the months since Gwen had come to work for Torchwood Three.

“You’re the only one who has a life outside of Torchwood,” she said. “You’ve got a nice, decent man who worships the ground you walk on. But that wasn’t enough for you, was it? It wasn’t enough for you to flaunt your so-called happy relationship in the face of us, poor nerds, who never get any, unless seduced by some passing alien. No, you had to cheat on your man with Owen, and you just had to try inserting yourself between Jack and Ianto. Never mind that whatever they had was the only thing to keep Ianto alive and sane. So, I ask you again: when do you get enough?”

Gwen stared at her, feverishly seeking for the right answer… and failing. Toshiko nodded grimly and delivered her final blow.

“Don’t think that just because you got hired after Suzie’s death it makes you automatically second-in-command – it does not. Or that because Jack was flirting with you he’d have chosen you over Ianto. He flirted with everyone. That was his nature. It didn’t really mean much, most of the time.”

“You don’t know that!” Gwen retorted, finally having found her voice.

“Yes, I do,” Toshiko replied calmly. “I’ve worked with him for years. I’ve seen it often enough. And now if you’d excuse me – some of us have work to do.”

She returned to her workplace, trying to make forget anything and focus on what had to be done. But when a few moments later Jack came back to life against all hope and kissed Ianto before the eyes of them all, she felt more than a little evil satisfaction, seeing the victory being wiped from Gwen’s smug face, giving room to that stupidly shocked expression again.

Of course, her glee turned to ashes right afterward when Jack left them all again, this time on his own volition.

~The End~

Wishverse 1.01 - Take One

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: Teens, mostly. If not, additionally given.
Genre: Take your pick. It’s different with each part.
Series: If Wishes Were Horses aka The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper, called the Wishverse, just to make it short.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: All along both Series One and Two. Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though. The additional dialogue in the bar between Jack and Andy uses lines from the deleted scenes, my thanks to beccaelizabeth.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EPISODE 01 – NOTHING CHANGES, TAKE ONE

Author’s notes:
To certain episodes, there are two or more different versions. The pilot is one of those.
This particular chapter is rated 16+, for bloody violence. Personally, I find it a lot more harmful for young readers than moderate sex scenes.

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Police Constable Andy Davidson was not a religious man. At least, he didn’t go to church, unless him mother came to visit and dragged him there. However, he firmly believed in karma. He believed that one’s deeds had consequences, and one had to live with those consequences, whether one liked it or not.

And so he accepted the fact that having walk the beat with Gwen Cooper, of all people, was the well-earned punishment for that moment of weakness (or insanity) two years ago. For the fact that – after a particularly stressful day – he’d kept comforting Gwen Cooper till they’d ended up shagging like bunnies in the police station’s broom closet. Speak about horrible clichés.
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~The End – for now~

Wishverse 1.01 - Take Two

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: 14+, for this chapter.
Series: If Wishes Were Horses aka The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper, called the Wishverse, just to make it short.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: All along both Series One and Two. Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EPISODE 01 – NOTHING CHANGES, TAKE TWO

Author’s notes:
To certain episodes, there are two or more different versions. The pilot is one of those. The first two paragraphs are the same as in Take One, but in this version Gwen manages to survive a little longer.

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Police Constable Andy Davidson was not a religious man. At least, he didn’t go to church, unless him mother came to visit and dragged him there. However, he firmly believed in karma. He believed that one’s deeds had consequences, and one had to live with those consequences, whether one liked it or not.

And so he accepted the fact that having walk the beat with Gwen Cooper, of all people, was the well-earned punishment for that moment of weakness (or insanity) two years ago. For the fact that – after a particularly stressful day – he’d kept comforting Gwen Cooper till they’d ended up shagging like bunnies in the police station’s broom closet. Speak about horrible clichés.

Still, there was such thing as deleting one’s bad karma points – which was kinda inevitable in a person’s life – and then was such thing as the universe torturing one, just to be pointlessly cruel. His ongoing partnership with Gwen-bloody-Cooper definitely belonged to the latter category.
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~The End –for now~

Wishvere 1.02 - Part 1

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: 14+, for this chapter. Just to be on the safe side.
Genre: Drama, I'd say. Plus a lot of dark humour.
Series: Wishverse.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: All along both Series One and Two. Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

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EPISODE 02 – DAY ONE? NO, DAY ZERO! - Part 1

Author’s note: This episode turned out too long, so I broke it into parts. LJ does have its limits.

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Toshiko Sato had been one unhappy woman since the day Gwen Cooper had joined Torchwood Three. And it wasn’t simply because she missed Suzie – although she did. When she’d come to Torchwood, Suzie had been a funny, brilliant, sharp-witted woman with whom to work had been a delight a well as a great adventure.

And it hadn’t been all work and no fun, either. Often, the two of them had gone out together, late after work, and even though it had always been Suzie who got picked up in pubs or bars or discos, Toshiko had enjoyed very much that there was something else than Torchwood and its often terrifying secrets nonetheless.

Until the job had finally broken Suzie. Until she’d developed an obsession for “getting inside” the alien tech, as she’d called it, shortly before taking her own life. Until she’d surrendered to it completely, became part of it, so much that not even the perception filter would work on her.

Until she’d started murdering people, just so that she could test the resurrection glove, trying to extend the limits of its working. Until she’d become completely mad. Broken by Torchwood, for good.
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~Part 2~

Wishverse 1.02 - Part 2

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: 14+, for this chapter. Just to be on the safe side.
Genre: Drama, I'd say. Plus a lot of dark humour.
Series: Wishverse.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: "Day One". Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EPISODE 02 – DAY ONE? NO, DAY ZERO! - Part 2

Author’s note: Continued from Part 1 There will be one more part, and then it's done.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they finally returned to the Hub – ignoring Gwen’s self-important ranting all along the way with growing impatience – Ianto was there, wearing a fresh suit, perfectly groomed as always, serving them industrial strength coffee and almost-fresh-looking biscuits from the previous day.

“We found the same elements we’d recorded at the crash site in the alleyway behind the club,” Jack told him, accepting the mug and inhaling deeply. “God, Ianto, you’re a godsend.”

“I do my best, sir,” Ianto replied simply. “You were saying…”

“Traces were all over the club,” Jack continued, handing him his hand-held scanning and recording device, “but strongest in this area. Something definitely happened here.”

“Were there any CCTV records?” Ianto asked.

Jack nodded. “Yeah, we got the tape from the club’s security office. See for yourself.”
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~Part 3~

Wishverse 1.02 - Part 3 (finished)

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: This particular chapter is rated 16+, for violence. Personally, I find it a lot more harmful for young readers than moderate sex scenes..
Genre: Drama, I'd say. Plus a lot of dark humour.
Series: Wishverse.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: "Day One". Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EPISODE 02 – DAY ONE? NO, DAY ZERO! - Part 3

Author’s note: Continued from Part 2.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Whatever Ianto might have slipped their boss, it worked. In the middle of dinner, Jack suddenly left for the bathroom. As soon as he was out of hearing range, the others all turned their attention to Gwen.

“So what's he told you?” Owen asked.

Gwen blinked in confusion. “What about?”

“Himself!” Toshiko said. “Come on, the two of you are together all the time, talking, sharing… Surely he’s told you something?”

Gwen frowned. “You've been here longer than I have.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t talk to us the way he talks to you,” Toshiko said. +We were banking on you! You’re his new prize pupil, his confidante.” She bit the inside of her face to suppress a hysterical giggle, seeing that Gwen actually believed it.

“You're a copper, trained to ask questions,” Owen added, and Toshiko almost fell off her seat, because they’d all seen just half an hour earlier how good Gwen was at interrogating a suspect. Well, all but Ianto, that is, but Owen had recorded it for him.
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~The End – for now~

Wishverse 1.03 - (one-shot)

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: 14+, just to be on the safe side.
Genre: Angst/Romance, for this part. Plus some dark humour.
Series: Wishverse.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: "Ghost Machine". Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

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EPISODE 03 – GHOSTS OF A LOST LOVE

Author’s notes:
Well, this one turned out very differently from my original intention, but I’m quite pleased with it.

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Rhys Williams loved Gwen Cooper. He loved her with all his heart, despite Gwen’s tendency to take him for granted. Despite her repeated efforts to destroy the bond between them through selfishness, irresponsible actions or sheer stupidity.

They had been together since high school, and none of Rhys’ friends or their respective significant others could understand it. He’d have liked to know what Gwen’s friends thought about their relationship, but the sad truth was that Gwen didn’t have any friends; and she didn’t really get along with Rhys’ mates, either. No-one was willing to put up with her – except Rhys himself, of course.
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~The End – for now~

Wishverse 1.04 - one-shot, 2 versions

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: This chapter is rated 18+, for bloody violence. You know my opinion about it by now, right?
Genre: Drama, Horror. No humour in this one.
Series: Wishverse.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: "Cyberwoman". Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EPISODE 04 – CYBERWOMAN RELOADED

Author’s note:
Again, this is a very different approach than the previous ones. I don’t know why these parts write themselves so differently, but here you are.

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TAKE ONE – UPGRADED

Down in the storeroom Gwen was facing off the Cyberwoman who walked around her and to the side with the regal posture of the funeral statues of an Egyptian pharaoh. She – it was beautiful and frightening and absolutely repulsive at the same time something beyond human weakness… beyond understanding, compassion, need, love… beyond everything that would make a once human being at least humane.

Gwen pointed her gun at the slowly moving figure with a trembling hand.
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TAKE TWO – CONNECTED

Gwen and Owen were kissing passionately in the morgue cabinet. Deadly peril usually made Owen horny; so horny that he didn’t even care who the woman was he snogged – it might be the last time, after all, and when she was willing, which she very obviously was, why should he miss the opportunity?
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~The End – for now~

Note: I originally planned this as a three-parter, but I run out of ideas for the time being. I might add the third part later.

Wishverse 1.05 - Part 1 of 2

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: 14+, just to be on the safe side.
Genre: Angst/Romance, for this part. Plus some dark humour.
Series: Wishverse.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: "Small Worlds". Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EPISODE 05 – SMALL BRAINS, Part 1

Author’s notes:
Originally, I planned to write this part from a different POV. But certain characters have a life of their own, and this one simply insisted. ;).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
His dreams had been haunted lately – since the Cyberwoman episode, actually. He didn’t sleep often… he could go on without sleep for quite a while, and he avoided it if he could… too many ghosts of his past lurking in the darkness, waiting to catch him unaware. And it wasn’t so as if he’d keel over and drop dead from exhaustion – or from anything else, for that matter. Even though sometimes he wished he could.

But the encounter with the Cyberwoman – more the sheer horror of it, of what it could have meant, rather than the physical strain itself – had taken more out of him than he’d have thought. He kept falling asleep at night lately… and the nightmares, long avoided simply by avoiding sleep, kept returning with a vengeance.

That still didn’t explain why he’d dream about the troop train in Lahore three nights in a row, though. About the dead men – his men, his responsibility – with their mouths stuffed with rose petals. Why this memory? He had so many, most of them just as horrid. He doubted it was a coincidence.
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~TBC~

Wishverse 1.05 - Part 2 of 2

Title: The Many Departures of Gwen Cooper
Author: Soledad

Fandom: Torchwood
Category: Heavy-duty Gwen bashing.
Rating: 14+, just to be on the safe side.
Genre: Angst/Romance, for this part. Plus some dark humour.
Series: Wishverse.
Warning: repeated character death(s) in each chapter.
Timeframe: "Small Worlds". Major spoilers. This is an AU, though.
Summary: Many different ways to get rid of Gwen Cooper, while keeping the episodes as canonical as possible.

Disclaimer: the usual: don’t own, don’t sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC. I used a great deal of rewritten original dialogue, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
EPISODE 05 – SMALL BRAINS, Part 2

Author’s notes:
Directly continued from Part 1. Obviously. Ianto and Lisa’s past is entirely my invention.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was near midnight when they finally reached Estelle’s home. Jack pulled up the SUV in the front with screeching tyres and slammed down on the brake. Leaving it to Gwen to park the car properly, he got out and ran up the front walk, pounding on the front door with both fists.

“Estelle! Estelle!” There was no answer from within, and the door was locked. He gave up and ran around the side of the house. “Estelle!”

He found her in the garden, lying on her face on the ground, dead. He didn’t dare to get any closer, out of fear that he’d break down spectacularly in front of the entire team. He made a vague gesture in Owen’s direction, who seemed to understand its meaning because he came forth to check on Estelle.

“Looks like she died from drowning,” he murmured, clearly stunned. “The rest of the garden's dry as a bone.”

Jack nodded, the numbness that had been spreading in his heart with every loss of a loved one in his unnaturally long life growing another inch. Sometimes he wondered how long it would take till his heart turned to stone entirely.
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~The End – for now~