Title: Rooftop Fun
By: Universically
Pairing: gen
Rating: AO
Summary: Gwen experiences her first gun battle but will Jack's plan keep her and the rest of the team alive?

***

Gwen rested her head back on the cement wall that she was crouching behind on the top of some generic car park

Gwen rested her head back on the cement wall that she was crouching behind. She was on the top of some generic car park that Cardiff seemed to be littered with.

Her gun hand was practically numb after having to hold and return fire for what seemed like an eternity.

She closed her eyes briefly and wondered what the hell she was doing here.

"I wouldn't have to put up with smart arse parallel versions of myself with big fucking guns if I stayed with the Police, that's for sure," she thought to herself ironically, "but I wouldn't miss this for the world,"

Like a vision coming into focus, Gwen's hearing came back into the present.

She heard what sounded like gunshots ploughing into the wall she was hiding behind.

There were sounds of Tosh returning fire from the wall opposite from her.

Jack was talking loudly over the comms system, co-ordinating the attack and strangely enough, she could hear the mundane sounds of the traffic below. It was a strange counterpoint of normalness to this insanity.

There was the smell of burnt gun powder, ionised air and the musky smell of Owen's sweat as he crouched next to her. He had his quite shapely bottom pressed hard against her thigh as he took his turn to fire.

"Mind back on the job Gwen, bad versions of ourselves trying very hard to kill us,"

Gwen focused her mind on reloading her weapon, feeling the hard click of the magazine clicking in place. She then quickly reloaded her second weapon, knowing that it wouldn't take long to get through that magazine either.

"You ready to take point back here Gwen?" said Owen in his gruff voice, "Bloody gun battles, I've got a crick in my back you just wouldn't believe,"

"Mind your whinging you baby, or I'll mind it for you," Gwen replied with a grin as the two of them swapped positions.

While it was advantageous to not expose themselves as much as possible, Gwen was quite sure that it didn't require Owen's arm to scrape ever so gently over her breast as he climbed over or for her to accidentally graze his upper thigh with her hand.

In position and experiencing a weird combination of lust and pure nerves, Gwen took a deep breath and turned to aim.

And the rest of the world fell away.

Her focus became one with the gun.

"Left corner, behind the air duct, aim,"

BANG

"Swing to 4WD in the middle of the car park, can I see a leg? Aim,"

BANG BANG

"Bloody duck, bits of concrete falling on me. That was too fucking close that shot, hope I don't get any in my eye. Fuck is that our Jack or parallel Jack over there in the left hand corner, crouched behind the other wall? No my Jack is behind me. Aim,"

BANG BANG BANG

"Change weapons, safety on other, keeping my eye on that car closest to me. Is someone in there? Aim…, no hold, nothing there. What on earth is that noise?"

Gwen returned to hiding behind the wall, when she felt Owen tapping her on her shoulder. The line of her thigh was conveniently pressed against Owen's.

A quick glance in his direction and her gaze was trapped in his. The intensity of his look made her feel like she should be leaving scorch marks on the floor.

She shook her head and concentrated, realising that Jack had been speaking to her.

"Owen, Gwen, I need you to run like hell! You've got approximately 10 seconds from when I say to be at least 2 floors down. Now RUN!"

Before Gwen realised that she had thought about it, her body was up and running. She was sprinting to the rooftop stairwell while gunshots from Jack covered her and Owen.

Ahead she could see Tosh and Ianto already past the door and heading down the stairs.

"10 SECONDS PEOPLE!"

All of a sudden she was in the stairwell, plummeting down the stairs in a controlled type of freefall. She could hear Owen right behind, his harsh breaths tickling her neck as he ran with her.

Bouncing off the wall as she turned the corner, there was an almighty shake in the building and Gwen very nearly lost her balance, falling down several steps before catching herself at the last moment.

There was a deafening explosion from above and the lights flickered ominously and then went black, sending the stairwell into a twilight atmosphere.

Parts of the ceiling started to fall on her and Owen grabbed her from behind, throwing her into the corner of the next flat section of stairwell.

Gwen found herself flat against the wall, crouching, with Owen behind, shielding her from above. His groin was pressed against her back and she felt his long, thick hardness.

A quick thrill of excitement raced through her body before she got control of her self. Gwen told herself rather sternly to think of something else.

She tried thinking about cold porridge, a swim in the Bristol Channel, Rhys, the fact that she was probably going to fucking die.

Her cheeks still felt inflamed and all she could do was think about Owen, behind her.

Gwen then realised Owen was getting off on the excitement, the danger and proximity to her.

She opened her mouth to tell him off when it was filled with dust from a collapsing segment of ceiling cement that missed her and Owen by inches.

Coughing and spluttering, dust coating what felt like her entire throat, Gwen realised that the noise had subsided and the building didn't seem to be collapsing anymore.

Opening her eyes, Gwen saw that the stairwell didn't really resemble a stairwell anymore, more a dusty cavern full of cement rubble.

Sunlight was filtering down through the new hole in the ceiling and Gwen watched it interact with the dust particles, almost mesmerised by their dance and silence of the moment.

Movement to her left brought her attention to Owen, who was slumped over her, a hand surreptitiously slipping down from her shoulder to her breast.

"Was that good for you too, darling?" Owen whispered in her ear.

"You are too disgusting Owen," Gwen said as shoved him off her. She watched him on his bum, on the floor; face and hair covered in dust and couldn't but help but give him a conspiratorial smile.

"Admit it, you love the danger, just like I do," he replied, an evil glint in his eyes.

They stopped their banter when they heard voices from below.

"Tosh? Ianto? Is that you?" Gwen yelled out

"Yes!" Came back a feminine voice, "Ianto is out cold though, I think he got a knock to the head. Any sign of Jack yet?"

Gwen got her feet, brushing down her jeans. Owen stood and made his way carefully though the rubble towards Tosh's voice.

Gwen looked up into the now gaping hole in the ceiling and saw a bemused Captain Jack on the edge, looking down on her.

"He's fine Tosh, I think everything is fine," she yelled downwards. She turned to face Jack, the sun in her eyes. In the distance, the faint sound of sirens could be heard.

"And what do you call that then?" she called up to him.

"Oh that? Just a little something I picked up in my travels. Never know when you are going to run into an evil version of yourself that might require a bit of blowing up," he replied, that cheeky grin on his face.

"I suppose you aren't going to tell me how you survived that then either," she commented.

"That's easy Gwen, I'm the good version. That particular device only explodes evil versions," he said, as he crouched down and leapt to the same level where Gwen was standing.

Gwen couldn't help herself.

"Then why did you tell us to run?"

"Because I didn't know which one you were," he replied matter-of-factly. He smiled and started patting the dust out of her hair and clothes.

Gwen then watched as Jack started heading towards the rest of the team and stood in the sunlight, feeling it warm her face.

"And this is why I stay," Gwen rationalised in her head, "regardless of the danger, this is our team. MY team. Jack and his evasive answers. Owen and his mysterious mind. Tosh and her no nonsense science. Ianto with his ESP to know exactly when I need tea. No matter what, I could never leave them,"

With a sigh she followed Jack, picking her way through the rubble, down the stairs and could only wonder what tomorrow would bring.

***