m_findlow

Title: Double vision
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 2,402 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "Any, any, I'm not the me from this reality" at fic_promptly
Summary: Owen's had a rough night, and things aren't getting any better

Owen groaned as he shifted in the bed. Fuck. Hungover again.

He fumbled for his phone to check the time. Half ten. Double fuck.Jack was going to kill him. Again. He flopped back on the bed, head spinning in wild circles, feet still tangled in the bedsheets. He knew how to hold his booze better than this. No way should he feel this bad. What the hell had he done last night? He was pretty sure he'd had a standard one. Not even a bird to warm his bed. Maybe that was why he was so far gone. Maybe he'd just kept drinking. Either way, he was in for an arse kicking when he finally got to work, assuming he could get himself together enough to manage it.

He checked his phone again. No missed calls, no abusive messages, no single syllable texts that suggested he should haul arse to a rift alert. In fact, nothing to even indicate that his presence was missed. Bloody typical. Not only would he cop a bollocking when he got there, but no one was the least bit concerned where he was. Well, he did have form, he supposed. Tosh had covered for him more than a few times. Suzie was far less generous, but a lot more fun to hang around with. He could live with that.

He pulled himself up out of bed, feeling that familiar teetering sensation that told him he had exactly eight seconds before his esophagus ejected the residual contents of last night. Making the trip to the bathroom in six, he let nature take its course, vomiting into the bowl and feeling all the better for it.

The tiles were cold underneath his feet as he padded to the sink, dunking his head under a steady stream of water, mentally running a string of expletives through his tangled brain, before shedding the rest of his clothes and going to stand under a much bigger stream. The steam generated by the shower brought on another wave of nausea, but he persisted. Cold showers and Cardiff just didn't go together.

He tugged on some clothes, guestimating that they were clean, if a little crumpled, though socks eluded his coordination, so he left the bedroom barefoot.

Kitchen.His mind was working in one word instructions, building itself up to more complicated tasks. Bowl. Cornflakes. Milk. Sugar. Spoon. Chair.He added painkillers to that list, throwing them down dry, forcing them down his burning throat. Coffee. Need coffee. Have to go to work for that,he realised. Jesus, but he felt like shit. What the hell had he been drinking last night?

Breakfast over, he returned to the bedroom for his car keys. He probably shouldn't be driving if he was still this hungover, but screw it. Keys... keys... Where were they?He tried all the usual places, and a few unusual ones, but no car keys. He growled, opening the drawer and grabbing the emergency set, before pounding angrily down the four flights of stairs to the underground car park and looking around at the empty lot.

'Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Where's my car?'Please tell me I didn't walk home last night.He kicked the concrete pillar, swearing again.

The cab dumped him just outside the Millennium Centre. It had taken him another half an hour of upending his apartment to realise his access card had gone the same way as his car keys. Well, at least he had his phone. Someone would let him in so that he could face the music, or if he was lucky, simply crawl to his desk and pretend he'd been there all along. You never knew, Jack might be out for the morning and not even know he hadn't turned up yet.

Tosh or Ianto?Which would be more likely to sneak him in without telling Jack?Tosh,he decided. Ianto wouldn't say boo to a mouse, but Jack had him wrapped around his little finger. Who knew what he might snitch on for the boss. There was something going on with those two, he was sure of it, but given the nauseous state of his stomach, it didn't bear thinking about. He felt sick enough as it was. He hit the speed dial. Nothing.

Why wasn't it working? He checked it again. He had power, and the clock display was working fine. He checked the side port. Where the fuck was the sim card? Bloody hell.First his car, then his access card, now his phone. What the hell was going on? He marched down the steps to the quay, headache dissipating as his frustration grew. He paced the length of the quay until he was standing right outside the ramshackle door that was their makeshift tourist office. He gripped the handle, but it jiggled uselessly, locked. He tugged it again. Since when did Ianto lock the thing?He grabbed it hard again, shaking it violently this time, praying it was just stuck, or that someone caught him on the CCTV cameras. Finally the door slowly opened an inch, and he was about to shove his way through.

'About fucking time, I-,' he stopped mid sentence.

He'd expected Ianto. He'd even been prepared for it to be Jack. What he didn't expect was to come face to face with himself.

'Shut up and get inside. Quick.'

Owen closed the door behind them and turned to face his double, who looked rightly annoyed.

'How the fuck are you even able to walk in a straight line? You should be hungover in bed.'

'Practice,' Owen muttered, unsure why he should find talking to himself the least bit surprising. 'Let me guess, you're the reason my car is missing and my phone doesn't work.'

'Precautions,' Other Owen replied. 'Should've known you'd be a tough bastard to knock out. Some things never change.'

Owen crossed his arms over, realising that his duplicate was wearing his favourite shirt. Stole my clothes too, he thought gratingly. At least he didn't have his gun. He'd left that at work last night.Oh, wait, they were at work. He probably had that too now.

'Wanna tell me what the fuck is going on? As a rule, I don't like aliens impersonating me.'

Other Owen rolled his eyes at him. 'Thought you'd appreciate the day off work.'

'Maybe you should've left me a sick note, then,' he jibed. 'Let me know you were handling things.'

Other Owen sighed, running a hand through his hair. 'Look, strictly speaking, we shouldn't even be talking. Jack will kill me if he finds out.'

'Finds out what?' Jack said, appearing from behind the side door, before spotting the pair of them. With a speed that caught them both by surprise, he reached for the gun tucked beneath the desk and aim at both of them. 'Don't move.' He hit his comms. 'Suzie,Tosh, we've got a foothold incursion. Lock down the hub.'

'Fuck,' Other Owen swore. He turned to Owen, faced full of fury. 'This is all your fault. If you'd just stayed where you were.'

'My fault?' Owen retorted, affronted that another version of him should have a go. 'I'm not the one playing fucking alien dress up.'

'Shut up, both of you,' Jack ordered, ending their argument. 'Over in the corner and on your knees.'

They both complied, knowing better than to argue with Jack when he was pointing a gun.

'Jack, it's me, I'm the real one,' Owen said, holding up his hands in surrender.

'Yeah, cause you look way more believable than the other guy,' he said, gripping his gun tighter. 'Now someone tell me what the hell is going on.'

'He's right,' Other Owen said. 'He is the real Owen Harper. Well, I mean, we both are, technically. But I'm not the me from this reality.'

The admission threw even Jack for a loop. 'What do you mean?'

Other Owen shook his head, annoyed that things had gone so badly. 'I came through the rift from an alternate universe.'

It was Jack's turn to shake his head. 'No, that's not possible. You'd have to travel through the void. The rift can't do that.' He looked at Other Owen with suspicion, still unsure that he wasn't dealing an alien shapeshifter.

'It can if you have one of these,' he said, pulling a round yellow object strung on a long silver chain from his jeans pocket. 'Nice to know Torchwood One were good for something.' He passed it across for Jack to take, knowing he had to prove himself somehow. 'It's only got one charge left in it though, and if I don't activate it in the next three hours, it'll dissipate completely and I'll be stuck here forever.'

Jack's brow furrowed in concern, which was to say nothing of how Owen was feeling. Another him from an alternate universe? There was more than one of him out there?

'You're from an alternate reality?' Jack asked, as if reading Owen's thoughts.

'That's what I said, isn't it? He said it'd be hard to convince you. Kinda why the idea was to get in and get out without you knowing we'd done a swap.'

'Yeah, but why are you here?' Owen asked, feeling his head begin to hurt again.

'You've got a piece of technology we need. I was sent here to sneak in and grab it before any of you knew I wasn't the me you thought I was.'

'Okay,' Jack said, 'so you land here, drug Owen to keep him out of the way, and steal his access card to get inside, that I get. But you just happen to know exactly where in the hub to find this thing? That part I don't quite believe,' Jack said, sounding skeptical.

Other Owen puffed his chest out slightly, trying not to take offense at the insinuation. 'Finally sussed out Ianto's filing system, didn't I? Obviously you haven't or you wouldn't be asking me,' he said, sounding pleased with himself.

Jack looked at Owen and cocked his head lowering his gun. 'Now I know you're the real one. The Owen I know couldn't be bothered figuring it out.'

'Cheers,' Owen said, taking the proffered hand to help him get back on his feet, not sure if he should feel relieved or offended. He turned to face his counterpart. 'You could've just asked us for help.'

'Didn't want to take the chance,' Other Owen replied. 'Jack warned me about crossing timelines and realities.'

'And I would have,' Jack confirmed.

'I could be affecting your timeline even now.'

'We can limit the damage,' Jack assured him. He flipped his comms on again. 'Suzie, Tosh. Ignore my last order. The situation has been dealt with.' He followed it up with a string of letters and numbers that was a unique identification code to confirm he hadn't been compromised.

'Okay, so it's just us now,' he said, slipping his gun back in its holster. 'No one else has to know you're here.'

Other Owen thanked him in his usual gruff way, which was to say "that it was about bloody time."

'Let me go downstairs to the archives and I can get what we need and be gone.'

Jack nodded. 'I'll come with you. The archives might be a little different to what you're used to, since you're from an alternate reality.'

'Don't tell me you've sussed them out too?' Owen asked, feeling left out.

Jack just shrugged. 'Ages ago, but it's just easier to let Ianto get stuff. I've spent all lot of time down there, and when I say a lot, I really mean a lot,' he grinned.

'Overshare,' both Owen's said in unison.

Jack hit the button to activate the inner door when Owen's brain caught up with him.

'Hang on, if you take whatever it is, what happens if we need it? You didn't say why you needed it or what it does.'

'Jack said I can't tell you, and that we reviewed dozens of realities before choosing yours. He's pretty sure your timeline is sufficiently different that what's happening to us won't happen to you. Please,' he said. 'We need to hurry. I already lost Tosh. I owe it to her to save everyone else.'

What? Owen felt shocked by the admission. He'd never fancied her or anything, but hearing she was dead in another version of his reality was like a punch to the gut.

'Don't say anymore,' Jack ordered, already concerned for ripple effects from whatever they learned about their alternates. 'Owen, stay here. We'll be back ASAP.'

Owen felt odd, sitting upstairs, knowing there was another version of him wandering about, hopping across time and space, trying to save the day. Half an hour later, he heard the door slide open again, and his double was standing there, alone.

'Where's Jack?'

'Downstairs. Trying to prevent any further changes to the timeline. The less we converse the better. Trust me.'

'You got what you need?'

'Yep,' Other Owen said, pulling out a long blue glass rod. 'You'll really be saving our bacon, y'know.'

'It's what we do,' he said, sharing a smug smile with his other half.

Other Owen pulled out the yellow disc again, slipping the long chain around his neck. 'Gotta go.'

'Be seeing ya,' Owen replied, knowing he wouldn't. 'Next time go easy on the drugs. I feel like shit.'

Other Owen smiled. 'You're a doctor, you'll live. Oh, and something else,'

'What?'

'I know I'm not meant to mess up the timelines and stuff, but just wanted to say don't fuck things up withTosh, yeah?'

'Yeah, alright,' Owen replied awkwardly, unsure quite what he meant, but unable to ask him as he disappeared in a flash of light.

Jack returned a few minutes later.

'Is he gone?'

'Yep. You're still stuck with me, though.'

'Pity,' Jack teased. 'How's the head?'

'Don't ask. Leave it to a doctor to know how to mess you up good and proper.'

Jack smiled. 'What's say you take the rest of the day off? I'll tell the others you got whacked trying to blast an alien shapeshifter to bits. Think I've had enough Owen's for today.'

'You and me both,' he agreed. He went to leave before stopping in his tracks. 'Bollocks!'

'What is it?' Jack asked.

'Forgot to ask him where the hell he parked my car.'