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What Never Should Be: The Sex Gas Debacle
Title: What Never Should Be: The Sex Gas Debacle
Chapter 2: Misjudgements
Author: blucougar57
Summary: Torchwood's newest recruit tests the patience of all her colleagues in her efforts to fit into a daunting new career.
Rating: Strong T
Warnings: Intermittent references to past abuse. Not Gwen-bashing, but not strictly Gwen-friendly, either. This is what I consider to be real!Gwen - well-intentioned, but sadly lacking in the ability to employ lateral thinking.
A/N: Sorry for the long delay in posting this next chapter. Real life caught up and slapped me up-side the head...
Chapter 2: Misjudgements
Gwen had to admit, to herself if to no one else, that she was confused. It had nothing to do with snogging Carys – Jack had explained to her that she'd just been overwhelmed by alien pheromones, and that it was nothing to be embarrassed about. Although, she could have sworn she'd overheard Owen muttering something to himself about CCTV and digital copies, and she was definitely going to be having a word with him later about that, if it meant what she suspected it did. No, what confused her was that despite what Jack had said about doing more to help, here they were, sitting and eating Chinese while the poor girl suffered in the cells.
And yet, despite herself, Gwen couldn't help but be drawn into the conversation and the lively banter. The stories Jack was telling seemed too outrageous to be true, and yet the others weren't denying anything he was saying. Then, Jack disappeared to go to the bathroom, and the questions started.
"So what's he told you?" Owen asked, pinning her with what she personally thought was a beady-eyed stare.
"What do you mean?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she suddenly felt. "Told me about what?"
"About himself! C'mon, PC Cooper, spill the beans."
She looked around at the three of them, trying to work out what to say, if anything at all. After all, Jack had trusted her to keep his secret, and suddenly she felt a surge of self-importance that she couldn't suppress despite her best efforts; that even though she was the newest member, she was privy to knowledge about Captain Jack Harkness that the rest of his team wasn't. It was an awesome position, and the thought of it nearly took her breath away.
She wouldn't allow it to go to her head, though, she told herself sternly. After all, she wouldn't have known the secret either, if she hadn't been there to witness it. She had no delusions that Jack would have told her, otherwise.
"You've all known him longer," she pointed out. "Surely he's told you more?"
"Nothing," Owen declared, quite comfortable in truth by omission. It hadn't been Jack to tell him the truth, it had been Ianto and Tosh. "Except for him being gay."
* * *
Across the table, Ianto nearly choked on a mouthful of rice. The so-called impromptu interrogation had been planned as a test to see whether Gwen could be trusted to keep her word under moderate pressure from her colleagues, but Jack had left it to them to decide what to put to her, and how. Honestly, Ianto had no idea what Owen thought he was achieving in throwing something like that on the table.
For her part, Gwen looked genuinely startled and, if Ianto wasn't mistaken, perhaps just a touch disappointed.
"He's not! Is he...?"
Owen smirked, and Ianto wanted to smack him. The bastard knew damn well that Jack was listening in on the conversation from his office.
"Period military is not the clothing of choice for a straight man."
Gwen smiled, then, and Ianto suppressed a groan at the predictable doe-eyed look of someone at risk of developing a romantic crush.
"I think it suits him."
"So do I," Tosh agreed, though she had a much less dreamy look on her face. Ianto wondered fleetingly whether he and Jack should make it clear to Gwen that they were in a relationship, and just as quickly dismissed the notion. Firstly, it was no one else's business and secondly, Gwen already had a boyfriend. He could excuse girlish infatuation, confident that it would go no further.
Realising they were all stating their opinions on the likelihood of Jack's supposed homosexuality, Ianto quickly spoke up, knowing as he did that the reality of Jack's sexual nature went far beyond any labels that twenty-first century humans could supply.
"And I don't care."
Perhaps not strictly true, but Jack's preference just weren't as simple as being a choice between male or female. Jack loved regardless of gender, race, colour, creed or species. The narrow categories that humans boxed love into simply weren't a factor to a man who had been born and raised in the fifty-first century on a colony planet many millions of light years from Earth.
Ianto had wondered once how Jack could possibly love him when it was clear that he also harboured a deep love for the Doctor and Rose. Over time, though, that question had changed from 'how could he', to 'how could he not'. Ianto had long since ceased questioning Jack's love for him, and had learnt to accept it for what it was – open and infinite.
Thanks to Owen's less than innocuous comment, though, the purpose of the moment had been lost. Ianto had to give Gwen credit, though. She'd given away nothing of what she knew about Jack. That was definitely one point in her favour to balance out the unfortunately poor start she'd had.
As the banter subsided, a new sound became audible. It was the heartbreaking sound of Carys weeping.
"What are we doing?" Gwen implored as Jack walked back in. "We're sitting around, making jokes while a young girl is fighting for her life!"
"Well," Jack said in a dry tone as he dropped back into his seat, "while we've been sitting here, the computers have been analysing the air and atmosphere in the cells, as well as Carys' vital signs, and compiling all the data so that we can analyse it quickly and make the best decision that might help us to save her life. Is that enough for you? Would you like us to do something more?"
Jack was pushing her, Ianto realised, to see how she'd react. The truth was that he held an almost painful empathy for the girl in their cells, but he was deliberately masking it to see how Gwen would respond.
Gwen stood there, regarding them with a pitying stare.
"You've all been down here too long. You've forgotten what it is to be human."
Ianto felt, rather than saw, Jack bristle and he felt much the same way. He really did not appreciate a newcomer, who knew next to nothing about them all, accusing them of having forgotten what it meant to be human.
Jack stared at her with an unreadable expression.
"Well, then, PC Cooper. Why don't you show us? Remind us what it means to be human."
Gwen looked around at them determinedly. She seemed oblivious to the way she'd just insulted every one of her new colleagues.
"All right. I will."
* * *
"Well, she didn't give anything about you away," Ianto said as he and Jack sat together in Jack's office. "That's surely got to count for something."
He was clutching at straws, and he knew it. Jack was already reticent about having her in the Hub, and her little performance earlier had done nothing to improve his attitude towards her.
For his part, Jack said nothing. His eyes were on the Hub beyond the open door of his office. Owen had disappeared back into Autopsy; Tosh was analysing data at her computer and Gwen... Basically, Jack had no idea what Gwen was doing, and he wasn't so sure she knew, either.
"She's sticking things up on our charting wall," he said flatly. Ianto twisted a little in his chair to look.
"Maybe she's planning show and tell," he suggested lightly. When the remark was met with a blank stare from Jack, Ianto shook his head.
"Never mind. Do you want me to see what she's doing?"
Jack offered his lover an imploring look.
"Please? I'm worried I'll just get mad and lose my temper. I mean, look at her! She didn't even ask, and now the charting wall is going to be all sticky and horrible to touch the next time we need to use it!"
Amused, but also sympathetic, Ianto went to check on their newest recruit. As he got closer, he realised that many of the photos she'd stuck to the wall were of Carys.
"What's all this, then?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, given the circumstances. Gwen glanced at him and, for a brief moment, he suspected she was trying to remember his name.
"Oh... Hi, Ianto."
Yep, he thought wryly. Definitely struggled to remember his name.
"This is everything I could find on Carys, about her life. Everything from Kindergarten through to high school graduation. Her family... all of it."
Ianto raised an eyebrow as he began to realise what it was that Gwen was trying to do – albeit, in a random and somewhat ham-fisted way. It was a noble effort, and full marks for trying, but Ianto failed to see how it was going to help them to separate the alien entity from the frightened girl in the cells below.
"And what is it meant to achieve?" Ianto asked. He didn't really mean to be quite so blunt, but he wanted her to start thinking her actions through, to not just throw herself into any idea that happened to occur to her. She needed to learn that action without forethought was never a good idea in Torchwood.
His mind went briefly to his experience with the Clyreney, and he very nearly winced. The jury was still out on that one. He came back to reality to find Gwen was looking at him with an offended expression.
"Jack told me to remind you all what it means to be human, and that's what I'm doing. All of this, this is what being human is all about. The simple things. Growing up, being part of a family. Having someone who loves you."
Ianto fought to keep his expression neutral and his voice calm, but inwardly he was fuming that Gwen could have the gall to assume that none of them understood those things.
"Do you think we all sprouted from the cabbage patch, Gwen? We all have families and we all have our memories of growing up. Despite what you seem to believe, there is plenty of humanity to be found in our little group."
The look on Gwen's face was one of utter disdain, and when she spoke, Ianto felt not unlike a child being corrected by a teacher or a parent.
"And yet none of you seem to care about what happens to Carys."
"You have a lot to learn, Gwen," Ianto said soberly, "but one thing you'd be wise to get into your head right now is that you shouldn't make assumptions about people that you hardly know. Jack, most of all."
If anything, her frown deepened as she turned her attention back to the picture-covered wall.
"I'll bet I know more about him than you do."
It was muttered under her breath, but Ianto heard clearly enough. His gaze narrowed, but then he shook it off. Now was not the time for a confrontation, not when there were more serious matters to deal with.
"This is an admirable effort at profiling, Gwen, but you need to be willing to think more broadly. How can this help us? How can it help Carys? When you have an idea about how to answer those questions, then I think you'll find Jack will be ready to listen to you."
"Excuse me," Gwen said tersely as Ianto started to walk away, "but aren't you just the office boy?"
It quickly became apparent that Tosh had been listening surreptitiously, from the way her hands suddenly clattered clumsily over her keyboard. Slowly, Ianto turned back and fired Gwen with an appraising stare. In a moment, he made his choice. He was not going to allow a repeat of the situation with Suzie, especially since he was the one who had advocated that Jack take her on.
"I deal with administrative matters," he said calmly. "As Second-in-Command to Jack, it falls within the boundaries of my responsibilities."
Silence met his words, and Ianto could almost see her processing the information.
"I thought Suzie was Second-in-Command," she said finally, sounding as though she was caught somewhere between suspicion and embarrassment. Ianto easily read between the lines. She had assumed that Jack had hired her as the new Second. It was definitely time to put her straight.
"Suzie said she was Jack's second because she was hoping to cause instability between Jack and myself. She was trying to deflect attention away from herself."
"So that would make you...?"
Ianto offered her what he hoped was a conciliatory smile. He needed her to accept what he was about to say, or Jack would never accept her.
"Your immediate superior, and the one who is going to be in charge of most of your training."
He could see the objection in her eyes even before it found a voice.
"But that's ridiculous," she protested with a slightly hysterical laugh. "You don't even have any training, you don't go into the field..."
"What did I just say about assumptions?" Ianto chided her lightly. "I was trained by Torchwood One, in London. As for me not going into the field..." He lifted his plastered arm, and wiggled his fingers at her. "Not exactly conducive to good fieldwork, and I won't put anyone at risk when I'm not at one hundred percent fitness."
To her credit, Gwen blushed red in embarrassment, and murmured an apology, which Ianto responded to with a slight nod.
"Accepted. Now, this is not normally the way we'd train you. You only went out to the crash site because I was out of action, and you were meant to observe only."
"I really am sorry about that," she burst out, and Ianto suppressed an urge to growl.
"Stop apologising. Just be prepared to do whatever is necessary to resolve this issue."
"You mean saving Carys, don't you?" she asked anxiously. Ianto did sigh, then.
"Two lessons, Gwen. Don't make assumptions, not about anyone. Secondly, we don't always get happy endings in Torchwood."
The shock on Gwen's face quickly made way for anger and determination.
"No. No way. She is not going to die. I won't accept that. There has to be a way to save her, and we will find it in time."
Any further conversation was put on hold as an alarm suddenly rang loudly through the Hub.
"What is it?" Jack asked as he bounded out of his office. "More to the point, where is it?"
"The cells," Toshiko spoke up quickly. "Where Carys is."
Silence reigned as they all looked at one another in shocked realisation, and four voices said the same name at the same time.
"Owen!"
* * *
It would have been funny, had the situation not been so serious. Owen had gone down to the cells to check on Carys, and had clearly underestimated the strength and effect of the alien pheromones. When Tosh and Gwen got down there, it was to find Owen locked in the cell in Carys' stead, handcuffed and butt-naked. As Tosh unlocked the door, Gwen couldn't resist the temptation to have a go at him.
"All right, Owen? Or are you feeling a bit of a cock?"
Owen went red, and his embarrassment was compounded when Tosh sniggered.
"Shut it, Cooper," he snarled. "I came down to check on her because she was distressed. For all your bleating about what uncaring, inhuman bastards we all are, I noticed you never bothered to go anywhere near her."
Once again, Gwen found herself wrong-footed by her own thoughtlessness. Before she could respond, though, Jack's voice came over the Hub's speaker system.
"Save the squabbling for later, kids. Carys is somewhere in the Hub, and we need to find her."
"Mind if I get dressed first?" Owen asked snarkily.
"If you really have to," Jack answered, sounding more than a little disappointed. "But hurry up!"
* * *
Jack was rapidly losing his sympathy for Carys. Even though, logically, he knew that she was being driven by the alien presence inside her, it was becoming increasingly hard to dissociate the innocent girl from the increasingly violent behaviour.
As Jack staggered from the blow to his leg that Carys had just delivered, courtesy of a medieval mace that someone had failed to put away, he couldn't help but wonder whether there was enough of Carys left to save. Immediately, he buried that thought with all the brutality that it deserved. After all, where would he be now if Ianto had decided he wasn't worth saving? He shuddered at the thought, and resolved then and there that he was not going to let this girl down.
Then, she emerged from his office and Jack's heart stuttered painfully in his chest. She had in her hands the precious piece of coral that the TARDIS had gifted to him.
"Put that down, please," he begged. He knew he sounded desperate, and he didn't care. If she smashed the coral, it would break his heart.
"Then let me go!" she cried. With reluctance, Jack released the cog door. Carys paused in the doorway, staring at Jack with a stricken look, and for an instant he was able to see the helpless and terrified young girl rather than the alien that possessed her.
"Please, help me!"
Then she was gone, taking the coral with her.
* * *
Jack gave chase, less desperate to stop Carys than he was to save the coral. Carys could be found again, but the coral was irreplaceable. He made it to the office in time to find Carys trying to force the outer door, which was obviously locked. Ianto was there, at the ready, though Jack had no idea how he'd gotten up there so fast, especially with a heavy plaster cast on his arm.
"Need me to do any attacking, sir?" the younger man asked. Jack shot him a look that spoke volumes. Firstly, with one broken arm, Ianto was in no condition to be attacking anyone. Secondly, Jack knew Ianto would no more risk the coral than he would. Thirdly, Ianto was shite at bluffing.
"No, that's okay," Jack said, keeping his voice forcibly calm. "Just open the door."
To his relief, Ianto did as told without question.
"Okay, the door's open," Jack told her. "Now give me the coral."
Jack realised what she was going to do just seconds Carys hurled the coral across the office, clearly intent on smashing it. He lunged, over-extending his arms to the point where it felt like his shoulders were going to pop out of their joints. His fingers closed around the coral and he twisted so that he landed on his back, with the coral clutched to his chest.
It took him a few seconds to regain his equilibrium and when he did, he knew without looking that Carys was well and truly gone.
"Is she all right?" Ianto asked softly. Jack focused his mind on the coral, ignoring the footsteps that heralded Tosh and Gwen's arrival. He felt the psychic warmth emanating from the coral, and smiled up at Ianto in relief.
"It's okay. She's okay, she hasn't been harmed."
"What the hell are you going on about, Jack?" Gwen demanded. "Carys isn't okay, she's bloody gone!"
Jack looked at her darkly as he got to his feet.
"I didn't have a choice. I had to let her go."
"You had to... Bloody hell, Jack, just what is more important to you? A girl's life or a bloody seaside souvenir?"
Jack's expression had turned positively deadly.
"The seaside souvenir," he snapped, "every time."
He stormed back into the Hub, leaving behind two stunned women and one exasperated Welshman.
"So what do we do now?" Gwen asked angrily. "Just sit back and wait until the bodies start piling up again? Blood hell."
Tosh waited until Gwen had gone back into the Hub as well before speaking anxiously to Ianto.
"He didn't mean that, did he? Tell me he didn't mean that, Ianto."
Ianto sighed as he relocked the tourist office's outer door.
"Tosh, the Doctor gave that piece of coral to Jack. It's from the TARDIS, and if it's grown properly it could eventually become a TARDIS in its own right. You and I, and everyone Jack cares about, will eventually die and he'll be left behind to go on, whether he wants to or not. But that piece of coral, if it does become a TARDIS, will be with Jack forever. So as much as I wish I could say he didn't mean it, I can't. I think he probably did mean it and what's more, I don't think I can blame him."
It was Tosh's turn to sigh.
"I can't say that I like it, but I understand."
"Thank you. Now, let's go and make sure he and Gwen don't come to blows."
* * *
Jack had retreated to his office, most likely to return the coral to its place on his desk, and Gwen was venting her displeasure at Jack's priorities to the nearest unfortunate soul – namely, Owen.
"He just let her go! All to save some cheap bloody souvenir!"
"Leave it, Gwen," Owen warned her. "If there's anything I'm sure of, it's that Jack doesn't keep meaningless souvenirs. If he thought saving that... whatever it is was more important than stopping Carys escaping, then it must be pretty important."
"Oh yeah?" Gwen countered. "Then why doesn't he explain to us what it is? Tell us why it's more important than that poor girl."
"Because," Jack growled as he emerged from his office, "you do not need to know everything, Gwen."
She looked set to argue, but then seemed to think better of it.
"Fine," she retorted. "Have your silly little secrets, then. What are we going to do about Carys?"
Jack looked past her to the tracking wall, still adorned with Carys' short life history.
"You put that together?"
She nodded, preening just a tiny bit in anticipation of praise.
"That's right."
Jack glanced to Ianto, but the young man's expression gave nothing away. He was letting Jack deal with this as he saw fit, and Jack wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or grateful.
"You must know Carys pretty well, then," Jack said in an admirably even tone. Gwen was starting to look uneasy, as though she could sense she was about to get burned, but couldn't work out how.
"Reasonably," she answered.
"Then how about you quit postulating and start putting it to practical use? Tell me, Gwen. Where would Carys go?"
"And you might want to be quick about it," Owen added. "The longer this goes on, the worse the pressure will be on her body. Sooner or later, something's going to give, and when it does it won't be pretty."
"I never had to deal with anything like this in the police!" Gwen burst out defensively.
"You're welcome to go back to it any time you like," Jack told her, "but it'll be with no memory of us, or of Torchwood." He paused, taking in the distress on her face, and his expression softened just a little. "This might seem like a bad situation, but it doesn't have to end badly. Take what you know. Think logically. Where would Carys go? She's a young woman, she doesn't have a lot of worldly experience but she's possessed by an alien gas that craves orgasmic energy. Where is she going to go to get it?"
Gwen ran her fingers through her hair in growing anxiety.
"I don't know... Clubs?"
"Too early," Jack said. "Plus, it'd be no sure thing, even with those pheromones. Think, Gwen."
"I don't know!" she choked out. "I'm sorry, I just don't know!"
"Well, this one's great under pressure," Owen snarked.
"Don't, Owen," Jack snapped. "Now is not the time for it."
"I think I might know where she'll be headed," Tosh said abruptly. "She works as a casual receptionist at the Conway Clinic." Tosh looked up at Jack worriedly. "It's a sperm donor clinic."
* * *
to be continued...
Chapter 2: Misjudgements
Author: blucougar57
Summary: Torchwood's newest recruit tests the patience of all her colleagues in her efforts to fit into a daunting new career.
Rating: Strong T
Warnings: Intermittent references to past abuse. Not Gwen-bashing, but not strictly Gwen-friendly, either. This is what I consider to be real!Gwen - well-intentioned, but sadly lacking in the ability to employ lateral thinking.
A/N: Sorry for the long delay in posting this next chapter. Real life caught up and slapped me up-side the head...
Gwen had to admit, to herself if to no one else, that she was confused. It had nothing to do with snogging Carys – Jack had explained to her that she'd just been overwhelmed by alien pheromones, and that it was nothing to be embarrassed about. Although, she could have sworn she'd overheard Owen muttering something to himself about CCTV and digital copies, and she was definitely going to be having a word with him later about that, if it meant what she suspected it did. No, what confused her was that despite what Jack had said about doing more to help, here they were, sitting and eating Chinese while the poor girl suffered in the cells.
And yet, despite herself, Gwen couldn't help but be drawn into the conversation and the lively banter. The stories Jack was telling seemed too outrageous to be true, and yet the others weren't denying anything he was saying. Then, Jack disappeared to go to the bathroom, and the questions started.
"So what's he told you?" Owen asked, pinning her with what she personally thought was a beady-eyed stare.
"What do you mean?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she suddenly felt. "Told me about what?"
"About himself! C'mon, PC Cooper, spill the beans."
She looked around at the three of them, trying to work out what to say, if anything at all. After all, Jack had trusted her to keep his secret, and suddenly she felt a surge of self-importance that she couldn't suppress despite her best efforts; that even though she was the newest member, she was privy to knowledge about Captain Jack Harkness that the rest of his team wasn't. It was an awesome position, and the thought of it nearly took her breath away.
She wouldn't allow it to go to her head, though, she told herself sternly. After all, she wouldn't have known the secret either, if she hadn't been there to witness it. She had no delusions that Jack would have told her, otherwise.
"You've all known him longer," she pointed out. "Surely he's told you more?"
"Nothing," Owen declared, quite comfortable in truth by omission. It hadn't been Jack to tell him the truth, it had been Ianto and Tosh. "Except for him being gay."
Across the table, Ianto nearly choked on a mouthful of rice. The so-called impromptu interrogation had been planned as a test to see whether Gwen could be trusted to keep her word under moderate pressure from her colleagues, but Jack had left it to them to decide what to put to her, and how. Honestly, Ianto had no idea what Owen thought he was achieving in throwing something like that on the table.
For her part, Gwen looked genuinely startled and, if Ianto wasn't mistaken, perhaps just a touch disappointed.
"He's not! Is he...?"
Owen smirked, and Ianto wanted to smack him. The bastard knew damn well that Jack was listening in on the conversation from his office.
"Period military is not the clothing of choice for a straight man."
Gwen smiled, then, and Ianto suppressed a groan at the predictable doe-eyed look of someone at risk of developing a romantic crush.
"I think it suits him."
"So do I," Tosh agreed, though she had a much less dreamy look on her face. Ianto wondered fleetingly whether he and Jack should make it clear to Gwen that they were in a relationship, and just as quickly dismissed the notion. Firstly, it was no one else's business and secondly, Gwen already had a boyfriend. He could excuse girlish infatuation, confident that it would go no further.
Realising they were all stating their opinions on the likelihood of Jack's supposed homosexuality, Ianto quickly spoke up, knowing as he did that the reality of Jack's sexual nature went far beyond any labels that twenty-first century humans could supply.
"And I don't care."
Perhaps not strictly true, but Jack's preference just weren't as simple as being a choice between male or female. Jack loved regardless of gender, race, colour, creed or species. The narrow categories that humans boxed love into simply weren't a factor to a man who had been born and raised in the fifty-first century on a colony planet many millions of light years from Earth.
Ianto had wondered once how Jack could possibly love him when it was clear that he also harboured a deep love for the Doctor and Rose. Over time, though, that question had changed from 'how could he', to 'how could he not'. Ianto had long since ceased questioning Jack's love for him, and had learnt to accept it for what it was – open and infinite.
Thanks to Owen's less than innocuous comment, though, the purpose of the moment had been lost. Ianto had to give Gwen credit, though. She'd given away nothing of what she knew about Jack. That was definitely one point in her favour to balance out the unfortunately poor start she'd had.
As the banter subsided, a new sound became audible. It was the heartbreaking sound of Carys weeping.
"What are we doing?" Gwen implored as Jack walked back in. "We're sitting around, making jokes while a young girl is fighting for her life!"
"Well," Jack said in a dry tone as he dropped back into his seat, "while we've been sitting here, the computers have been analysing the air and atmosphere in the cells, as well as Carys' vital signs, and compiling all the data so that we can analyse it quickly and make the best decision that might help us to save her life. Is that enough for you? Would you like us to do something more?"
Jack was pushing her, Ianto realised, to see how she'd react. The truth was that he held an almost painful empathy for the girl in their cells, but he was deliberately masking it to see how Gwen would respond.
Gwen stood there, regarding them with a pitying stare.
"You've all been down here too long. You've forgotten what it is to be human."
Ianto felt, rather than saw, Jack bristle and he felt much the same way. He really did not appreciate a newcomer, who knew next to nothing about them all, accusing them of having forgotten what it meant to be human.
Jack stared at her with an unreadable expression.
"Well, then, PC Cooper. Why don't you show us? Remind us what it means to be human."
Gwen looked around at them determinedly. She seemed oblivious to the way she'd just insulted every one of her new colleagues.
"All right. I will."
"Well, she didn't give anything about you away," Ianto said as he and Jack sat together in Jack's office. "That's surely got to count for something."
He was clutching at straws, and he knew it. Jack was already reticent about having her in the Hub, and her little performance earlier had done nothing to improve his attitude towards her.
For his part, Jack said nothing. His eyes were on the Hub beyond the open door of his office. Owen had disappeared back into Autopsy; Tosh was analysing data at her computer and Gwen... Basically, Jack had no idea what Gwen was doing, and he wasn't so sure she knew, either.
"She's sticking things up on our charting wall," he said flatly. Ianto twisted a little in his chair to look.
"Maybe she's planning show and tell," he suggested lightly. When the remark was met with a blank stare from Jack, Ianto shook his head.
"Never mind. Do you want me to see what she's doing?"
Jack offered his lover an imploring look.
"Please? I'm worried I'll just get mad and lose my temper. I mean, look at her! She didn't even ask, and now the charting wall is going to be all sticky and horrible to touch the next time we need to use it!"
Amused, but also sympathetic, Ianto went to check on their newest recruit. As he got closer, he realised that many of the photos she'd stuck to the wall were of Carys.
"What's all this, then?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, given the circumstances. Gwen glanced at him and, for a brief moment, he suspected she was trying to remember his name.
"Oh... Hi, Ianto."
Yep, he thought wryly. Definitely struggled to remember his name.
"This is everything I could find on Carys, about her life. Everything from Kindergarten through to high school graduation. Her family... all of it."
Ianto raised an eyebrow as he began to realise what it was that Gwen was trying to do – albeit, in a random and somewhat ham-fisted way. It was a noble effort, and full marks for trying, but Ianto failed to see how it was going to help them to separate the alien entity from the frightened girl in the cells below.
"And what is it meant to achieve?" Ianto asked. He didn't really mean to be quite so blunt, but he wanted her to start thinking her actions through, to not just throw herself into any idea that happened to occur to her. She needed to learn that action without forethought was never a good idea in Torchwood.
His mind went briefly to his experience with the Clyreney, and he very nearly winced. The jury was still out on that one. He came back to reality to find Gwen was looking at him with an offended expression.
"Jack told me to remind you all what it means to be human, and that's what I'm doing. All of this, this is what being human is all about. The simple things. Growing up, being part of a family. Having someone who loves you."
Ianto fought to keep his expression neutral and his voice calm, but inwardly he was fuming that Gwen could have the gall to assume that none of them understood those things.
"Do you think we all sprouted from the cabbage patch, Gwen? We all have families and we all have our memories of growing up. Despite what you seem to believe, there is plenty of humanity to be found in our little group."
The look on Gwen's face was one of utter disdain, and when she spoke, Ianto felt not unlike a child being corrected by a teacher or a parent.
"And yet none of you seem to care about what happens to Carys."
"You have a lot to learn, Gwen," Ianto said soberly, "but one thing you'd be wise to get into your head right now is that you shouldn't make assumptions about people that you hardly know. Jack, most of all."
If anything, her frown deepened as she turned her attention back to the picture-covered wall.
"I'll bet I know more about him than you do."
It was muttered under her breath, but Ianto heard clearly enough. His gaze narrowed, but then he shook it off. Now was not the time for a confrontation, not when there were more serious matters to deal with.
"This is an admirable effort at profiling, Gwen, but you need to be willing to think more broadly. How can this help us? How can it help Carys? When you have an idea about how to answer those questions, then I think you'll find Jack will be ready to listen to you."
"Excuse me," Gwen said tersely as Ianto started to walk away, "but aren't you just the office boy?"
It quickly became apparent that Tosh had been listening surreptitiously, from the way her hands suddenly clattered clumsily over her keyboard. Slowly, Ianto turned back and fired Gwen with an appraising stare. In a moment, he made his choice. He was not going to allow a repeat of the situation with Suzie, especially since he was the one who had advocated that Jack take her on.
"I deal with administrative matters," he said calmly. "As Second-in-Command to Jack, it falls within the boundaries of my responsibilities."
Silence met his words, and Ianto could almost see her processing the information.
"I thought Suzie was Second-in-Command," she said finally, sounding as though she was caught somewhere between suspicion and embarrassment. Ianto easily read between the lines. She had assumed that Jack had hired her as the new Second. It was definitely time to put her straight.
"Suzie said she was Jack's second because she was hoping to cause instability between Jack and myself. She was trying to deflect attention away from herself."
"So that would make you...?"
Ianto offered her what he hoped was a conciliatory smile. He needed her to accept what he was about to say, or Jack would never accept her.
"Your immediate superior, and the one who is going to be in charge of most of your training."
He could see the objection in her eyes even before it found a voice.
"But that's ridiculous," she protested with a slightly hysterical laugh. "You don't even have any training, you don't go into the field..."
"What did I just say about assumptions?" Ianto chided her lightly. "I was trained by Torchwood One, in London. As for me not going into the field..." He lifted his plastered arm, and wiggled his fingers at her. "Not exactly conducive to good fieldwork, and I won't put anyone at risk when I'm not at one hundred percent fitness."
To her credit, Gwen blushed red in embarrassment, and murmured an apology, which Ianto responded to with a slight nod.
"Accepted. Now, this is not normally the way we'd train you. You only went out to the crash site because I was out of action, and you were meant to observe only."
"I really am sorry about that," she burst out, and Ianto suppressed an urge to growl.
"Stop apologising. Just be prepared to do whatever is necessary to resolve this issue."
"You mean saving Carys, don't you?" she asked anxiously. Ianto did sigh, then.
"Two lessons, Gwen. Don't make assumptions, not about anyone. Secondly, we don't always get happy endings in Torchwood."
The shock on Gwen's face quickly made way for anger and determination.
"No. No way. She is not going to die. I won't accept that. There has to be a way to save her, and we will find it in time."
Any further conversation was put on hold as an alarm suddenly rang loudly through the Hub.
"What is it?" Jack asked as he bounded out of his office. "More to the point, where is it?"
"The cells," Toshiko spoke up quickly. "Where Carys is."
Silence reigned as they all looked at one another in shocked realisation, and four voices said the same name at the same time.
"Owen!"
It would have been funny, had the situation not been so serious. Owen had gone down to the cells to check on Carys, and had clearly underestimated the strength and effect of the alien pheromones. When Tosh and Gwen got down there, it was to find Owen locked in the cell in Carys' stead, handcuffed and butt-naked. As Tosh unlocked the door, Gwen couldn't resist the temptation to have a go at him.
"All right, Owen? Or are you feeling a bit of a cock?"
Owen went red, and his embarrassment was compounded when Tosh sniggered.
"Shut it, Cooper," he snarled. "I came down to check on her because she was distressed. For all your bleating about what uncaring, inhuman bastards we all are, I noticed you never bothered to go anywhere near her."
Once again, Gwen found herself wrong-footed by her own thoughtlessness. Before she could respond, though, Jack's voice came over the Hub's speaker system.
"Save the squabbling for later, kids. Carys is somewhere in the Hub, and we need to find her."
"Mind if I get dressed first?" Owen asked snarkily.
"If you really have to," Jack answered, sounding more than a little disappointed. "But hurry up!"
Jack was rapidly losing his sympathy for Carys. Even though, logically, he knew that she was being driven by the alien presence inside her, it was becoming increasingly hard to dissociate the innocent girl from the increasingly violent behaviour.
As Jack staggered from the blow to his leg that Carys had just delivered, courtesy of a medieval mace that someone had failed to put away, he couldn't help but wonder whether there was enough of Carys left to save. Immediately, he buried that thought with all the brutality that it deserved. After all, where would he be now if Ianto had decided he wasn't worth saving? He shuddered at the thought, and resolved then and there that he was not going to let this girl down.
Then, she emerged from his office and Jack's heart stuttered painfully in his chest. She had in her hands the precious piece of coral that the TARDIS had gifted to him.
"Put that down, please," he begged. He knew he sounded desperate, and he didn't care. If she smashed the coral, it would break his heart.
"Then let me go!" she cried. With reluctance, Jack released the cog door. Carys paused in the doorway, staring at Jack with a stricken look, and for an instant he was able to see the helpless and terrified young girl rather than the alien that possessed her.
"Please, help me!"
Then she was gone, taking the coral with her.
Jack gave chase, less desperate to stop Carys than he was to save the coral. Carys could be found again, but the coral was irreplaceable. He made it to the office in time to find Carys trying to force the outer door, which was obviously locked. Ianto was there, at the ready, though Jack had no idea how he'd gotten up there so fast, especially with a heavy plaster cast on his arm.
"Need me to do any attacking, sir?" the younger man asked. Jack shot him a look that spoke volumes. Firstly, with one broken arm, Ianto was in no condition to be attacking anyone. Secondly, Jack knew Ianto would no more risk the coral than he would. Thirdly, Ianto was shite at bluffing.
"No, that's okay," Jack said, keeping his voice forcibly calm. "Just open the door."
To his relief, Ianto did as told without question.
"Okay, the door's open," Jack told her. "Now give me the coral."
Jack realised what she was going to do just seconds Carys hurled the coral across the office, clearly intent on smashing it. He lunged, over-extending his arms to the point where it felt like his shoulders were going to pop out of their joints. His fingers closed around the coral and he twisted so that he landed on his back, with the coral clutched to his chest.
It took him a few seconds to regain his equilibrium and when he did, he knew without looking that Carys was well and truly gone.
"Is she all right?" Ianto asked softly. Jack focused his mind on the coral, ignoring the footsteps that heralded Tosh and Gwen's arrival. He felt the psychic warmth emanating from the coral, and smiled up at Ianto in relief.
"It's okay. She's okay, she hasn't been harmed."
"What the hell are you going on about, Jack?" Gwen demanded. "Carys isn't okay, she's bloody gone!"
Jack looked at her darkly as he got to his feet.
"I didn't have a choice. I had to let her go."
"You had to... Bloody hell, Jack, just what is more important to you? A girl's life or a bloody seaside souvenir?"
Jack's expression had turned positively deadly.
"The seaside souvenir," he snapped, "every time."
He stormed back into the Hub, leaving behind two stunned women and one exasperated Welshman.
"So what do we do now?" Gwen asked angrily. "Just sit back and wait until the bodies start piling up again? Blood hell."
Tosh waited until Gwen had gone back into the Hub as well before speaking anxiously to Ianto.
"He didn't mean that, did he? Tell me he didn't mean that, Ianto."
Ianto sighed as he relocked the tourist office's outer door.
"Tosh, the Doctor gave that piece of coral to Jack. It's from the TARDIS, and if it's grown properly it could eventually become a TARDIS in its own right. You and I, and everyone Jack cares about, will eventually die and he'll be left behind to go on, whether he wants to or not. But that piece of coral, if it does become a TARDIS, will be with Jack forever. So as much as I wish I could say he didn't mean it, I can't. I think he probably did mean it and what's more, I don't think I can blame him."
It was Tosh's turn to sigh.
"I can't say that I like it, but I understand."
"Thank you. Now, let's go and make sure he and Gwen don't come to blows."
Jack had retreated to his office, most likely to return the coral to its place on his desk, and Gwen was venting her displeasure at Jack's priorities to the nearest unfortunate soul – namely, Owen.
"He just let her go! All to save some cheap bloody souvenir!"
"Leave it, Gwen," Owen warned her. "If there's anything I'm sure of, it's that Jack doesn't keep meaningless souvenirs. If he thought saving that... whatever it is was more important than stopping Carys escaping, then it must be pretty important."
"Oh yeah?" Gwen countered. "Then why doesn't he explain to us what it is? Tell us why it's more important than that poor girl."
"Because," Jack growled as he emerged from his office, "you do not need to know everything, Gwen."
She looked set to argue, but then seemed to think better of it.
"Fine," she retorted. "Have your silly little secrets, then. What are we going to do about Carys?"
Jack looked past her to the tracking wall, still adorned with Carys' short life history.
"You put that together?"
She nodded, preening just a tiny bit in anticipation of praise.
"That's right."
Jack glanced to Ianto, but the young man's expression gave nothing away. He was letting Jack deal with this as he saw fit, and Jack wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or grateful.
"You must know Carys pretty well, then," Jack said in an admirably even tone. Gwen was starting to look uneasy, as though she could sense she was about to get burned, but couldn't work out how.
"Reasonably," she answered.
"Then how about you quit postulating and start putting it to practical use? Tell me, Gwen. Where would Carys go?"
"And you might want to be quick about it," Owen added. "The longer this goes on, the worse the pressure will be on her body. Sooner or later, something's going to give, and when it does it won't be pretty."
"I never had to deal with anything like this in the police!" Gwen burst out defensively.
"You're welcome to go back to it any time you like," Jack told her, "but it'll be with no memory of us, or of Torchwood." He paused, taking in the distress on her face, and his expression softened just a little. "This might seem like a bad situation, but it doesn't have to end badly. Take what you know. Think logically. Where would Carys go? She's a young woman, she doesn't have a lot of worldly experience but she's possessed by an alien gas that craves orgasmic energy. Where is she going to go to get it?"
Gwen ran her fingers through her hair in growing anxiety.
"I don't know... Clubs?"
"Too early," Jack said. "Plus, it'd be no sure thing, even with those pheromones. Think, Gwen."
"I don't know!" she choked out. "I'm sorry, I just don't know!"
"Well, this one's great under pressure," Owen snarked.
"Don't, Owen," Jack snapped. "Now is not the time for it."
"I think I might know where she'll be headed," Tosh said abruptly. "She works as a casual receptionist at the Conway Clinic." Tosh looked up at Jack worriedly. "It's a sperm donor clinic."
to be continued...
no subject
Love the use of the coral in place of the hand.
Also the lunch scene as a trustworthiness test worked nicely.
Looking forward to the next part. :)
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Let you in on a little secret - I was originally planning for Carys to grab Jack's toy dog, but changed my mind at the last minute and substituted the dog for the coral.
Unfortunately, Jack's own belligerance will keep him from offering any explanations, and that is only going to fuel the fire for later arguments.
no subject
NP and thanks, I love that picture of him. Feel free to grab it if you like. :)
Let you in on a little secret - I was originally planning for Carys to grab Jack's toy dog, but changed my mind at the last minute and substituted the dog for the coral.
Oooh I like that idea too, though, I can see how it'd be a bit easier to add the jeopardy to the coral as a distraction. She'd almost have to really do damage to the dog and I don't know if I could take what that would do to poor Jack...
Unfortunately, Jack's own belligerance will keep him from offering any explanations, and that is only going to fuel the fire for later arguments.
Oh yeah, I can definitely see that - and I LOVE the potential it creates for additional drama. :)