[Gwen]
"knock, knock!" a voice called tauntingly as the door opened. My head shot to the left, my hand finding the gun by my leg
"Don't bother shooting me," the voice told me. I was greeted by a woman of around 25, she had blue eyes, long hair - dyed lilac and slight dimples when she smiled. Although she had been graced with looks that could make her beautifully slutty, she didn't seem to use this, in fact she appeared quite tomboyish, with black jeans that had leather patches on the knees, a black tank with a picture of what appeared to be a punk Alice from Disney's 'Alice in wonderland' and a half trench coat that reached her knees with leather sleeves and studs on the collar. She didn't appear to be wearing make-up other than eye-liner and mascara, she was wearing black Dr Martens on her feet - the only pristine part of the outfit. Owen entered the hub,
"Hey slut," he greeted as-if it were normal.
"Nice to see you again man-whore," she replied, Owen walked back, looking at the new arrival
"Ari, you never said you were back," he exclaimed, hugging her. I frowned, very confused as Tosh walked in
"hey Tosh" Tosh looked up at 'Ari'
"Arialle!" she grinned, jogging up the steps to hug her. When Tosh had finally released 'Ari', she sprinted up the stairs with a wink and a cheeky smile.
Jack strolled in
"What are you two so happy about?" he asked Owen and Tosh, who were trying not to smile more than usual. At the question, they shared a look then
"Oh, err, nothing, just some good news about… my mum?" Tosh answered, the end of her reply sounding more like a question, Owen agreed with a smile.
"You know anything?" he asked me, I shook my head, very confused.
"Mr Harkness, I believe you and I are due a catch up," a raspy voice announced, Jack looked around in surprise
"Don't you think?" 'Ari' asked, stood at the top of the stairs
"Arialle!" he hollered, running to hug her, he picked her up, spinning her round, then putting her back down.
"Who is she?" I asked Owen
"That's Arialle, she and Jack go way back, we haven't seen her since around a year after the torchwood 1 incident," he explained. Arialle finally pulled away from Jack and looked over at me,
"Sorry, never had time to introduce myself, you're Gwen Cooper, ex-police aren't you cop," she announced with a wink aimed at Jack, then continued "I'm Arialle and that..." she pointed at something behind me, before walking over to a small box, she opened it and pulled out a necklace, fastening it round her neck, she continued "is mine,"
"I made sure they kept it, and we kept it safe," I heard Ianto say from the door. She straightened up and turned round, her face bearing a huge smile, she wordlessly ran at him, jumping on the Welshman, nearly knocking him over. He wrapped his arms round her, the smile on his face showed he was happier than I had seen in a long time. They immediately started talking, ignoring everyone else in the room. Still deep in conversation, they made their way to a stair case I hadn't ever been up,
"So how's Myfanwy?" I heard her ask Ianto
"She's very good, very healthy," Ianto replied, just before they went out of earshot.
[Arialle]
Ianto and I made our way up to the platform where we fed Myfanwy. I could feel Gwen's eyes on my back, watching us. I had so many questions about her: How did she join; is she nice; what did she do before this; is she any good at this job; what is her role; and had she slept with Owen yet? But I settled for
"Has Gwen ever met Myfanwy properly?" Ianto shook his head,
"She's seen her peck at a half-cyber-woman though," he added with a sad smile
"Lisa?" I asked quietly, a short simple nod answered my question, I put my arm round his waist in a side hug and rested my head on his chest. Given the choice, I would have probably put my head on his shoulder, but having not inherited the 'tall gene' as Jack had, I had stopped growing at a mere 5"6. Nearly.
"Gwen," I called, the dark haired girl jogged up the steps loudly "I hear you haven't met Myfanwy yet," I continued, she shook her head, green eyes growing slightly wider. I smiled, the looking up at where the magnificent beast flew, I let out a series of whistles. The pterodactyl flew down, hovering above us, her massive wing-span creating quite some wind, she managed to land on the platform I had installed long ago - when we were decorating torchwood 3.
"Hello old girl," I murmured, "this is Gwen," I continued - speaking in Latin as it is the only human language she understood. I turned to Gwen
"Stroke her, she won't bite," I instructed as my left hand gently caressed the side of her long face, the knowledge that a simply playful nip could take my arm off gave me a weird adrenaline rush. Nervously and slowly, Gwen reached out and allowed her fingers to brush along the rough surface of Myfanwy's skin
"Wow," Gwen breathed, her facial expression showing her awe for my pterodactyl. I smiled, looking at Ianto, remembering the first time he had done that.
"I'm going to go see my room," I announced, standing up after a brief talk with Jack.
I wandered into the room I had set up, my fingers brushing over the cold stone walls, I inhaled the familiar scent and looked through all of my old collections: precious rocks - each from a different planet; photographs - memories of all the different lives I had lived and last of all - my favourite: books - I had shelves and shelves of the things and even then a few stayed on my desk. I smiled as my eyes scanned the spines, some old and falling apart, some that looked almost untouched, I ran one finger over each of them and swiftly moved on to search under my bed. I found the small wooden box I was looking for, smiling I pulled it out and opened the hatch. A familiar envelope lay just as I had left it, my fingers grasped the old paper as I opened my most treasured possession. A picture, a picture Jack had given me when I was 10. it showed our family not long after I was born, he pointed out our brother - Grey - a brother whom I hadn't properly met. All Jack would ever say on the subject was 'I should of held on tighter' obviously having been 3 years old at the time, I didn't remember what had happened. I knew that Grey had been 7, jack was 12 and that was it - the only information I held about the rest of my family.
I heard a knock on the door and jumped, putting the picture back in the envelope and back in the box, then the box under my bed, I got up and opened the door.
"We're having Chinese, is your order the same as I was last time?" Ianto asked, I smiled and nodded
"Same as always," he nodded in thanks and went to the phone to order. He then stopped and turned
"Oh and, it's good to have you back," he smiled, before turning and continuing his previous journey.
I left my room properly, making sure to shut the door behind me and went to sit next to Gwen,
"So, tell me about you," I demanded
"Not much to tell really, ex-police - as you know, what do you want to know?" Gwen responded
"I don't know… Boyfriend? How long ago you joined," I decided on two easier questions
"yes, I do have a boyfriend, his name's Rhys, I've been here for a few months now… not long really I guess," she told me, I nodded and smiled
I haven't had a boyfriend for years," I sighed with a smile, it was nice to finally talk about normal girly things with someone "Keep hold of him," I advised
"Oh, I will, he's great," Gwen smiled, a somehow serious smile on her features. Our chat was cut short by Ianto entering the hub with the food,
"Food!" he shouted, informing the others that the food had arrived. We all sat around the table, Gwen next to Tosh, who sat next to Owen, Owen sat next to Jack, Ianto on his other side and me in-between Ianto and Gwen.
The conversation was easy and flowing, it felt good to be back.