Title: Dreams of the Wolf
By: d60kit
Pairing: gen
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own anythng!
Summary: 500 words on Gwen after 'End of Days', with a little bit of Rose there too.

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The dreams began as soon as Jack disappeared. When she finally stopped searching long enough to shut her eyes, the whole story was there, perfectly formed, waiting for her. She never remembers most of it. All she knows when she opens her eyes is the ending that wakes her up each time. It is a hoarse voice that is hers but is not and seems to stretch across centuries.

'You've seen it… the big bad wolf.'

The words are always the same and she always speaks them to the same person. Sometimes the girl is so close that Gwen feels she could reach out and touch her, but sometimes she is worlds away. Sometimes she is human and sometimes she is unearthly and glowing. One night she is a familiar stranger, someone you may have met once but cannot quite place. Another night she is like a mirror and when Gwen looks into the big blue eyes she somehow sees herself straring back. But the shadow of the wolf is always there, surrounding them both. It is not exactly threatening but it is there, filling the air around them and humming with power. And the words are always the same.

Sometimes she finds herself muttering them aloud, testing them out in the daylight to see if they still feel the same. It can be a bit awkward when she forgets the others are around, but now they pretend not to notice her. At first they were worried but now they just want to move on with their own lives. She understands that and she will not blame them, she just cannot do the same. At the end of each day they go back to the real world, while she stays here in the darkness, waiting.

She is the boss now. She was never prepared for it, but after everything that happened, Owen did not have the heart for it. And she is getting better, learning from her mistakes. She moved into the hub gradually, without even realising, because somewhere along the way she just stopped going home. Rhys is long gone of course, but it had to happen eventually. The others had tried to fight her on it, telling her not to let the job consume her, just like someone else had once told her. Now everyone pretends that she is okay because it is easier that way. She does not think there's anything wrong with what she is doing anyway. She does still have dreams, hopes and fears for the future but right now she just has to live from day to day and wait.

Maybe soon she will remember the beginning of the story, and then she will understand. She can be patient though. Time is no longer a straight line. She realises that it twists backwards, spirals forwards and then loops back into itself. Nothing is impossible and so she waits patiently, knowing that one day time, and the wolf, will bring Jack back to her.

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