Work Text:
“I mean it, come stay with me.”
Lois laughed again, letting herself be dragged by the hips towards the exit of Tosh’s workplace. It’d been introduced to Lois earlier in the morning as “the Hub”, and she had just about made it through the day seemingly unfazed by everything around her. Weird, humming rift manipulator? Fine. Depths of archives reaching floors and floors below ground? Nothing that she hadn’t seen similar to at Thames House. The pterodactyl living in the rafters? Bit more of a shock, but Lois had seen far worse in the past 72 hours.
Funny, really, how Lois had been shocked to hear that Tosh would ever have a 72 hour work day - and yet, here she was. After defeating the 456, Torchwood hadn’t stopped. There was clean up - Jack had stormed his way into Frobisher’s office whilst the rest of the team had jumped into action, talking to Lois’ co-workers and ordering foreign ministers around. Without even stopping for sleep, they’d headed back to Cardiff, taking turns getting a bit of shut eye in the back of their car. Lois thought she could still feel Tosh’s head against her shoulder, soft breaths hitting her collar as the streetlamps reflected off Tosh's sleeping face.
By the time they’d reached Cardiff, everyone except Jack had rested for at least an hour and it seemed work was continuing. Not really knowing what to do with herself, Lois had tagged along, providing ample coffee throughout the day (which was only slightly sniffed at by Ianto). Lois had been given the quickest workplace tour she’d ever had, the world around them still spinning and not stopping for one moment. With her own credentials still working, she’d been able to help with monitoring the records at Thames House, and had spent a large portion of the day helping Ianto fill out necessary paperwork and formulating emails to higher-ups.
“We’ll do all the normal introductions in a couple days,” Jack had told her, a hand on her shoulder.
“So that’s it, then? I’m staying?” she had questioned, an eyebrow raised.
“If you want to,” Jack answered, sending a not-so-surreptitious glance at Tosh in the corner. “Torchwood isn’t the kind of job you apply for. It finds you, and you’ll never want normal again.”
With a pat, he’d left to talk to Gwen, leaving Lois on her own. Rhys, Gwen’s husband, hadn’t stayed - he’d been back to his own home to sleep, but had returned in the evening with some home cooked pasta. Lois had wondered if she’d caught Torchwood on an off day, or whether this was the norm for their job.
“Come back to mine,” Tosh asked her at the end of the day, once the calls had fizzled to a stop and the five of them were in dire need of some rest.
“I’ve not exactly got anywhere else to go, have I?” Lois pointed out. “I stopped renting my flat as soon as I moved.”
Tosh shrugged. “Come stay with me, then.”
Lois laughed, tiredness falling over her in waves as she knocked shoulders with Tosh. “I’m sure I could find somewhere else.”
“I mean it, come stay with me.”
Tosh’s arms had snaked around her waist, pulling her towards the large metal cog at the entrance to the Hub. Why it was designed like that (not to mention the grating noise it produced), Lois didn’t know.
“Tosh,” Lois grinned, looping her arms around Tosh’s neck as they leaned against the door. “If you think I’d want to be anywhere else tonight but your place, I’d be worried.”
But as Lois leaned forwards to go for a kiss, Tosh pulled her head backwards. “I don’t just mean tonight. You don’t have anywhere, and I do. So…” Tosh leaned in, mumbling against her ear. “Come stay with me.”
Lois caught Tosh’s eyes as she leaned backwards. “You mean that?”
Tosh shrugged. “Only if you want to.”
“Of course I want to,” Lois parried, finally managing to pull Tosh in for a kiss. They had to break apart when their grins grew too wide. “You’re sure? You’re not just making a sudden decision?”
Tosh rolled her eyes. “We’ve been dating for months - I’d hardly call it sudden .”
“So now you’re calling it dating…”
Tosh flicked Lois’ cheek. “Hey!” Lois cried.
“Quit your whining,” Tosh told her, and then the only thing Lois could think about was the mouth pressed insistently up against her own.
They kissed languidly for a while, no longer worried that it might be their last chance, nor fueled by the adrenaline of finally reuniting on a busy street in London. To Lois, it felt like coming home.
Pulling back to lean their foreheads against each other, Lois closed her eyes. For a moment she thought she could fall asleep on the spot, until -
“Ahem,” an awkward voice called, and Lois twisted around to see Ianto. “Sorry, I was just -”
“Oh no, we were just leaving!” Tosh hurried to say, stepping out of the way of the door.
“Right,” Ianto replied, looking at them as a small smirk grew. “Interesting definition of ‘leaving’.”
Tosh shoved his shoulder, then turned to actually open the door. Her hand reached down to link with Lois’ as Ianto walked past.
“Home?” Tosh asked, turning to give Lois a smile that said a thousand words.
Lois squeezed their hands together. “Home.”