Suzie was hired in the fall. By winter it seemed as though she never left the hub, always something new she was tinkering with.
She and Tosh would get into the longest conversations about things they found. They would wax poetic about how there were beautiful things out there and then start to become weepy and say things like 'if only we saw this more.' He supposed it was a girl thing.
However, Jack liked that Suzie was there all the time. She was different than the others and she made him smile.
---------
"It is not a transporter."
"I swear it is."
Suzie took it out of his hands, turning it over and over.
"It's just too small. Plus, it's an octagon. Aren't these things usually square or at least round?"
"Since when does a transporter have to be a particular shape?" Jack crossed his arms over his chest.
She gave him one of those classic 'because I said so and don't contradict me' Suzie looks. Sometimes you'd think she was the one in command here.
"How do you even-" but she was cut off suddenly as she accidentally pressed the activation button and disappeared.
Chuckling Jack tried to remember where the other part to the transporter was so that he could go find Suzie.
----------
It was wrapped in gold with a big red ribbon on the top. Jack raised an eyebrow at her as she held it out to him.
"What? You thought I wouldn't give you a Christmas present?"
"I'm your boss."
"And my friend." Suzie smiled at him.
Something sparked in Jack's stomach and he took it from her hands. He pulled off the ribbon and stuck it on Suzie's jacket as she stood watching him. The gold paper fell to the floor and Jack opened the box. Inside was a gold pocket watch, complete with chain. He gaped for a moment then took it out of the box.
"Suzie… I…."
"You need a snazzy time piece to go with those braces, don't you?" She said and turned out of the office.
----------
"Just give me the damn glove, Owen."
Owen bounced out of her reach, tossing the glove from one hand to the other.
"Oh, come on Suzie. Relax; we all need to go out so you have to stop working. Come on, just for an hour. You can stand to be away."
"I was in the middle of…"
Owen started to slowly walk backwards.
"Owen, it is not a toy!"
"Children…" Jack chided.
"Jack, tell him to give it back!" Suzie shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Owen.
"Jack, tell her to come to the bar!" Owen countered.
Jack snorted at the two of them and glanced at Tosh. She just shook her head. Her body was twitching slightly from the effort to not burst out laughing. Suzie glared at all of them and sighed.
"I suppose I could work on it at the bar…"
Tosh's will broke and she nearly fell out of her chair, Owen groaned and Jack sighed again but couldn't help smiling.
---------
Suzie looked like a master carpenter or an artist when she worked. Nothing else ever got through to her when she was in the zone. She could break into just about any device. Together she and Tosh could open and translate anything which came across their desks. Sometimes Suzie's desk would be a blaze of sparks as she sawed or drilled. Other times she would be sitting in her chair just staring at a black box which would turn out to be prison transport or a blue orb that would be a med kit.
Jack would be sitting at his desk cursing the day paper was invented. Then he would glance out over the hub and see Suzie leaning over her desk, eyes completely absorbed in her work. Suddenly, it didn't matter so much then that he had paper work to do because he'd hired Suzie and there she was making him smile.
---------
"I can't leave yet, Jack."
"Suzie, we're closing up everything for the night."
"Shut up, Ianto." She was staring at Jack. "Please just a little longer. Since when does anyone throw you out of work? I just want to test a little more tonight."
Jack glanced over at Ianto and he just looked at the floor, hands in his pockets.
"Suzie, you don't need to work 24 hours a day." He said.
"Jack." She put her hands on her hips looking more like a mother who was telling him to go to his room than anything else. "I've already done it with a rat and a goldfish and I keep trying with this fly."
"I've noticed but you've been here since four this morning."
"How do you…." She glanced over at Ianto who was studiously looking in the other direction.
"Take a break." Jack said.
"But…."
"Now."
----------
Why did they always put white gowns on the corpses they kept here? White had never been Suzie's color. Then again no one ever really looked good once they were dead and cold in a storage locker.
He wasn't upset with her for shooting him. At the time nothing else would have saved her than to run, to escape, so of course she shot him. Suzie had fallen in too far. Her reason changed to fit only her vision. What did upset Jack is that he hadn't noticed how far she had gone in. He always noticed how hard she worked and how dedicated she was to each project. Jack had known the glove was on the dangerous side of their work but he had thought she could handle it.
Why hadn't she asked him for help? Then again that wasn't Suzie's nature. Now she was forced to wear white forever. Jack was sure she would have had a sarcastic comment about that and something to do with Torchwood budgets. No more comments like that now.
"Good night, Suzie."
Jack slid in the drawer and closed the door. He couldn't bring himself to say 'I miss you' yet.