m_findlow

Title: So close and yet so far
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Owen, Tosh, Ianto
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 95 - Near at anythingdrabble
Summary: Owen is annoyed that he can't do more to help.

Owen tapped his finger on the glass window, catching Tosh's attention. She gave him a weary smile and a little wave, which he returned, before someone in a protective containment suit stepped across his line of sight, blocking her from view.

'Thought I might find you loitering here,' came Ianto's voice, sidling up beside Owen in front of the observation window.

'You didn't really expect me to be sitting in my office working, did you?' he replied.

'Actually,' Ianto began, slipping his hands in his pockets as he peered through the glass, 'I half expected you to be barking orders at them to let you in.'

Owen snorted derisively. 'I wouldn't have to bark orders. They're my people. They do what I tell them to. Unless of course some bastard from higher up gives them an overriding order.'

A small smile broke out on Ianto's face. 'The bastard knows you too well.'

'You're worse than Jack, you know that? Used to think it was a godsend having you in charge.' He saw Tosh give a second little wave, having now noticed Ianto joining Owen. 'Let me in there to help them.'

'Torchwood is giving Tosh the best care we have at our disposal,' Ianto assured him. 'Do you think I'd demand anything less?'

'I'm the best,' Owen replied, bristling with indignation. 'And you know it, or else you wouldn't have me in charge of the whole department.'

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'And those people in there are your best, which means I need you out here keeping an eye on your second best.'

Owen bit down on his temper, trying to take the sideways compliment at face value. 'You won't even let me in there to visit. If that was Jack in there, you'd be moving heaven and earth to be near him.'

'If that was Jack in there, we both know he'd have barricaded himself inside with strict orders that no one go in there.' Ianto reached up and ran a hand across his chin. 'Look, I know you want to be in there with her, but we're dealing with a highly contagious pathogen. One of the most contagious pathogens in the universe according to Jack. I know the symptoms aren't fatal but we just can't risk exposing any more people than we absolutely have to. As a doctor, I know you understand that.'

Owen sighed. He hated it that Ianto was always right. 'Shouldn't have happened,' he said. 'She was only coming across to meet me for lunch. Shouldn't have been anywhere near the labs where they deal with this kind of stuff.'

'It piggybacked in on something else,' Ianto replied. 'That's our working theory, anyway. Everything is being tripled checked and decontaminated as a precaution.'

'And you came all the way to London to supervise,' Owen snarked.

Ianto rested a hand on his shoulder. 'No, I came to make sure my friends were okay, and that they didn't do anything stupid to put themselves in harms way.'