Owen crouched against the side of a dark building. He wrinkled his nose trying to block out the smell, and scanned over the ally trying to find a sign of the alien they was tracking.

After a week of, well mostly, peace and quiet, the rift had decided their break was over. They had been lucky lately, just random rift trash, and the occasional weevil sighting, but then they got news of an alien, roaming Cardiff, targeting drunks and vagrants, leaving behind bones and yellow slime.

Ianto had come, refusing to let the new sentinels in the field with out him. After Owen found the latest victim, and recognized teeth marks on the bare bones, Ianto had allowed himself to be pushed back to the SUV with orders to monitor vital signs, and have the restraints ready.

Owen tensed as he heard the soft slide of footsteps, but relaxed when he saw Jack coming up behind him. "Any signs?" He whispered, so only Jack could hear.

Jack gave a sharp nod and pointed.

Owen followed Jack back down the ally trying to keep low and quiet.

Suddenly Jack tensed and froze head tilting. Owen stopped and watched him. Owen stilled as well, wondering if the captain was going to zone. He couldn�t decide whether or not to whack him upside the head to see if he could bring him out of it. Before he could decide, Jack started with a curse and bolted. Owen followed, not knowing what he heard, but knowing it couldn't be good. He concentrated on his vision, pushing it as far ahead as he dared.

They turned a corner, both skidding to a halt as they saw Gwen and Tosh both fighting off a nasty looking creature.

It was at least three meters tall, human shaped but larger, tinged pale lavender and brandishing what Owen�s medical training immediately identified as a human femur. Well shit. That was a new one. Meant it was their alien though, which made it slightly easier.

Owen had his gun drawn already, but the alien was darting and weaving, reaching out to grab an arm or tug on a piece of clothing. Playing with its food. "Stay still you purple bastard." Owen murmured, trying to draw a sight on the moving creature.

The alien spotted them and roared, tossing Tosh like a sack of laundry, she landed against a stack of crates, rolling and coming back up quickly. Owen felt of wave of anger and protectiveness sweep over him. Fuck �contain�. Barney was going down.

Gwen saw them at the same time and ducked as Jack and Owen fired. The alien roared again, but went down as they emptied their clips into it.

Jack ejected the clip and slammed a full one in, keeping his gun trained on the still form as Owen ran to Tosh.

"Tosh? Can you hear me?"

Tosh groaned and shifted. "Yeah, I hear you."

"Whoa, whoa don't move till I check you out. That thing really threw you, you could have internal injures or something." Owen said as he ran his hands over her neck gently.

"I'm fine. Just...sore. And I�ve already moved. I�m fine."

�I swear I'm going to ban the word 'fine'! What do you people have against telling me the truth?" Owen snarled, shooting the dead alien a fierce glare, as he hands gently checked for breaks in her arms. He did a double take, as the alien seemed to disintegrate, leaving a faint yellow outline where the body had lain.

�Damn convenient, that.� He murmured, turning back to Tosh. �How are you really?�

Tosh gave him a look, that he was sure translated into �You�re nuts and I�m humoring you�. Outwardly she said "Okay. I'm very sore, and would really, really like some drugs, now please. Is that better?"

Owen snorted. "Well your sense of humor is broken. Nothing new there. Lay still a minute. No sharp pain? Any trouble breathing? Blurred vision? Dizzy? Anything?"

"Owen!�

He ignored the exasperation in her voice.

�This isn't the first time I've been hurt, I know. I know you don't want to hear it, but really I'm ok." Tosh assured him pushing his hands away firmly.

Owen kept his hands near by her encase she suddenly got dizzy or anything. He watched her closely for signs of being in pain. He could never trust his teammates. He sniffed the air, wondering if he would be able to smell her pain the way he could Ianto�s. Instead he smelt the coppery tang of blood.

The doctor grabbed her arm, looking at the shredded sleeve and the bloody skin underneath. It looked like a scrape. Maybe from the cement. The filthy cement. "That hurt?"

"Owen, seriously..."

Jack came over to where Owen was crouching next to her. "She okay?"

"Says she is, but I want to check her out when we get back to the hub. I'm gonna have to clean this out really good, and bandage it, but I don't see any signs of broken bones or internal injures."

Jack stared at her for a full minute, head cocked to the side.

Tosh scowled.

Gwen was crouching on the other side of Tosh, now and looking in confusion between everyone, clearly believing her whole team had gone completely insane this week.

Owen gave her a once over, frowning at the small bruise above her eye.

�Don�t even start!� Gwen held up her hands. �I�m f- I�m not hurt.

Owen turned back to Tosh, and rubbed his neck, looking at the cement. All of his senses had been screaming to �Protect!� �Help!� �Kill!�. perhaps not in that order exactly.

�Sorry. Er...chalk that up to general Sentinel weirdness, yeah?� he asked. Now that the alien was dead and he knew his teammates were okay he felt more than slightly foolish.

Tosh grinned. �No wonder Ianto�s so freaked out when you do that to him.�

Both Sentinels� eyes widened. "Ianto!"

Jack's hand slapped to his Bluetooth to call Ianto.

"Sir? Have you found a sign of the alien?"

"Ianto are you okay?" Owen demanded into his own comm.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

"We got the alien. Tosh got banged up a little. We're on our way back to the SUV." Jack said.

"Tosh is hurt?" Ianto voice was concerned.

"I don't think it's that bad. But I'm gonna check her out better when we get back."

"I'm fine Ianto. Owen's just being...Owen." Tosh broke in.

"You shut up! That word is now forbidden!"

"Oh whatever." Tosh rolled her eyes while she stood up with a hand from Gwen.

--

Owen wrapped the last piece of tape over the bandage and looked at Tosh again. "You sure you don't wanna take a day to rest? I'll tell Jack it�s doctors orders."

"Owen!" She had had a brief reprieve of Owen�s attention on the ride back, and had hoped he was back on kilter. She should have known it wouldn�t last.

Owen sighed and handed her a small bottle with a few pills in it. "Take these, with food, one every 8 hours. If the pain gets worse, swelling, anything, come see me. You know the drill."

Tosh nodded and slid off the autopsy table with a hand from Owen. "Thanks Owen."

"Yeah..." Owen ran his hands though his hair and slumped against the table looking exhausted.

Tosh hesitated. "Owen? Are you okay?"

"This shouldn't have happened. I should have stopped it."

"What could you have done?"

"I'm a...Sentinel for fucks sake! I'm supposed to be some protector! And I couldn't even keep you from getting hurt! You could have died Tosh! Fallen a different way and snapped your neck!"

�Aren�t you being a little melodramatic?� She asked, folding her arms over her chest.

Owen snarled, and Tosh cut him off.

"Yes and every day when I get out of bed I could trip and smash my skull in on my dresser, or get hit by a bus crossing the street, or get eaten by a weevil, or get food poisoning, so do I need to go on? Life is dangerous. Just because some alien device zapped you, or even if you were a natural, doesn't mean it's your fault if I stub my toe."

Owen shook his head and growled low in his throat, moving to roughly start cleaning up. That seemed to be default mode when he decided the conversation was over.

Tosh sighed and climbed up the stairs. She thought briefly of grabbing Ianto and throwing him into the autopsy bay. Let Owen work out his coddling issues on him. Somehow she doubted she could convince Ianto to take one for the team, and she didn�t really want to be on the wrong end of a Sentinel if she got caught manhandling the Guide.

--

Jack popped out of his office as Tosh passed, and she cringed, already having an idea what was coming. "Tosh? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She stepped into his office and he shut the door behind her.

"Tosh I want you to take a day or two off."

"Jack! It's a scratch! I've gotten worse playing sports!"

"It shouldn't-"

"It shouldn't have happened, yeah I've heard this before. You're a Sentinel. Not God. You couldn't have stopped it. No, I'm not going home, I'm going to take my pill and sit at my desk and work."

Jack opened his mouth to argue, but Tosh gave him a threatening look, and left the office, closing the door quietly as she left, muttering a stream of Japanese in a whisper pitched so Jack would overhear.

--

Ianto bought Tosh another mug of coffee, and a sandwich to take her pill with. She smiled and waited for him to leave. He hovered.

Great.

�Let me guess,� she started; when it seemed obvious Ianto wasn�t going to speak. �It�s your fault I got injured, because you stayed by the SUV instead of killing the purple people eater with your bare hands? You should have been there for your Sentinels, or your teammates.�

Ianto stared at her for a moment, and she felt her blood pressure begin to inch up. �Well, aren�t you going to say anything?�

Ianto watched her steadily. �It sounds like you have a pretty good grasp on my opinion. I take it then you�re not leaving?�

�No.�

Ianto quirked a small smile at her and pulled a bar of fine chocolate out of his jacket pocket. �This might help. You�re on your own, though, if Owen smells it.�

She glanced down at the label. Her favorite of course, and she had been craving some ever since they had gotten back. She always did after missions that became a little too adventurous.

Tosh looked up to thank Ianto but he had already slipped off, disappearing down into the autopsy bay.

Dealing with Sentinels she decided, and Guides, was turning out to be far more interesting than she hand imagined. She unwrapped the chocolate bar with a sigh, biting off a large chunk, but then started to smile. Interesting wasn�t always bad.