Title: Kissing Meme
By: karaokegal
Pairing: Tosh/Martha & Tosh/Owen
Rating: PG
Summary: Based upon "Comment with two characters I'm familiar with, and I'll tell you how they kissed (the first time)", with the Tosh/Martha pairing.

Martha hadn’t known exactly what she was walking into when she entered the Hub, although she should have known that nothing was ever simple with Captain Jack around, certainly not relationships.

Ianto had been easy enough to mollify by making it clear she wasn’t a threat where Jack was concerned and Owen was too good a doctor and too good a man, in spite of himself, to resent a fellow professional who was there to help them do their job as long as she had no desire to usurp his position as Torchwood’s medic.

Gwen seemed the sanest of all, the one who could actually talk sense into Jack, when necessary, and had managed thus far to resist the legendary Harkness charm. Martha had to smile at the sight of Gwen’s trainers. No wonder Jack liked her. She wondered which way that was going to go, but things got too busy and then too dangerous and then too tragic for her to spend much time worrying about it.

Owen was dead. Okay, not really dead, thanks to that thing that Jack had brought in to resurrect him, but still kind of dead, and even if it wasn’t her fault, she still blamed herself, and she knew damn well Toshiko did.

Poor Tosh. They’d never had much of a chance to talk, but Jack had given her the scoop on Tosh and Owen, as if it took more than a day around the team to figure out that dynamic, anyway. Poor thing. Martha wanted to sit down and tell her what she’d told her friend and what she’d finally had to tell herself—“Get out,” but she knew it wasn’t so easy. Certainly not now that he was dead and all. It was time for her to say goodbye and get back to her life, but she couldn’t leave it this way between them.

Apparently neither could Tosh, who’d shown up on the platform for her train to Cardiff, wearing a long leather coat over an oddly impractical dress, and looking like she’d been up all night either crying or trying to think of what to say.

“Nice of you to come see me off,” she said hopefully. Maybe they could part on good terms.

“I want to make sure you go.”

Or maybe not.

“Look, Tosh, I’m sorry, I’m really really sorry, about all of this, but none of it was my fault.”

“You know he agreed to go on a date with me. Finally.”

“That’s nice.”

“And then he got shot, and I’m back where I started. No, I’m worse because now he’s got more in common with Jack than he does with me. He’s been somewhere and seen something and I’ll never be able to understand it. Before he was at least somehow the same, there was something I could touch, but now….” Martha could see Toshiko’s anger crumbling into pain and tears, and instinctively reached out to hold her, even though she expected to be pushed away.

“…and it’s all your fault.”

“Tosh…I’m so sorry.”

There were tears now, and Martha could still feel the resentment in Tosh’s body, but the need for some kind of human contact was stronger and Martha knew she was doing the right thing, giving Tosh an outlet for her feelings.

“I wish you’d never come to Torchwood. We didn’t need you. We could have figured it out by ourselves, and Owen would still be alive and I wouldn’t be all alone.”

Tosh’s body was wracked with sobs, her pain an absolute, and Martha, doctor by nature as well as profession felt the urge to do something, anything to alleviate it.

“You’re not alone love,” she said, before kissing her gently on the cheek, on the forehead and finally on the lips, trying to bring comfort and finding herself be held tighter then she’d intended as Tosh latched on, kissing back, kissing deeply as though she could draw Martha’s strength into herself.

Martha let it go on, and on, telling herself it was for Tosh, but maybe enjoying it a little too much, until she heard the train pulling into the station. She saw that Tosh was still crying, but there was something calmer in her face. If she was going to tell her to get out, this would be the time, but having given a measure of hope, Martha didn’t feel she had the right to take it away again.

“Don’t give up Toshiko. There’s worse things than loving a dead man. At least he knows you’re alive.”

“Thanks. I think.”

Martha got on the train, touching her lips and hoping she’d done the right thing. Hopefully, Torchwood wouldn’t need her services for awhile. That place was too crazy for her.

Next story in series - Reunion