"Gwen!" Jack called from his office. Gwen knew this could not be good. "GWEN!" Every time he yelled like this it was not good. "Gwen! Get your ass in here!" He yelled as she ran through his door.
"What!" Gwen yelled slamming her only empty hand on the desk (the other was carrying a folder of the work she was doing). "What could possibly be so important, that you had to call me away from scanning some new rift activity!"
"Tosh can work on that later. Didn't you get the email about our assignment today?" Jack asked taking the folder from her hand and chucking it on his desk.
"What email?" Gwen asked scowling at the lack of respect Jack had for her work.
"The email about introducing you to a good alien during her yearly checkup, it was Ianto's idea. Besides, you need to meet Andi eventually." Jack said as Ianto helped him into his coat. Gwen rolled her eyes. Things like this happened at Torchwood all the time. All work even though the way Jack and Ianto looked this might be a well deserved break. Ianto's eyes were lit as he glanced at his watch. When Jack saw his small gesture he said, "Ianto don't forget your stopwatch, just in case." Ianto winked pulling said stopwatch out of the pocket of his blue suit.
Tosh and Owen joined them in the car. Owen had only a small amount of medical equipment. Usually when he was dealing with aliens he brought along all types of strange instruments. It seemed like he was just working on a healthy human. The more Gwen thought about it the more confusing it became to her.
The car approached a large house. Ianto was outside before Jack put the Torchwood truck in park. Gwen had never seen Ianto act like this. He was usually so professional. (Well except when alone, or seemingly alone, with Jack.) Gwen was so focused on her thoughts about Ianto's sudden personality change, that she jumped when Jack on her window. He opened the door for her. "Waiting for an invitation?" He asked holding out his hand to her.
When she made it to the front door, Ianto had already rung the bell. He stood there looking like a child at Christmas. The large door opened to reveal a girl no older than seventeen. Before Gwen knew what happened she was already in Ianto's arms. He had picked her up was swinging her around. She seemed more than happy to be held by him. He passionately kissed her before putting her down. Now this really confused Gwen. Ianto was at least was at least ten years older than her, and Jack was laughing like this happened all the time. By now Jack should be freaking out.
Jack took the next turn greeting the girl. He bowed to her in a very gentlemanly, heroic way, took the hand she offered him, pulled her into his arm, and held her close. After about a minute of this loving embrace, Jack lifted her face to his and took his turn passionately kissing her. Gwen was just staring, mouth agape, in bewilderment. The age difference between Ianto and this girl was one thing but Jack was a few hundred years older. Who was this girl?
Owen and Tosh hugged the mysterious girl after Jack was done. He walked right up to Gwen and looked into her eyes. They were the perfect shade of blue. They were glassy and they had the shine of stars. Gazing into her eyes felt like being searched by some sort of probe that Jack would lock away in his safe. "Hello Gwen Cooper, I'm Andi Sabel." How did Andi know her name? Maybe Jack had told her. This would not be the first time she was kept out of the loop. "I was hoping Torchwood would show up today. It has been too long. I wish one of you would have told me about Susie's death. I would have liked to pay my respects to her though what I saw from Gwen I'm happy she's gone." Well apparently Jack did not tell her any of that, but how did she know all of this?
Gwen stood there pondering Andi's abilities for a minute. Everyone was just looking at her, as if she was supposed to just know. Finally Jack walked over to Andi. "She has a wonderful gift. She can see your life through your eyes," he said putting his arm around Andi's shoulder. Gwen remembered the feeling of gazing into those perfect eyes. Andi was a living probe. This terrified Gwen. All the secrets Gwen had. Then the bigger picture came, all the secrets anyone and everyone had. This could be a very bad thing. The look on her face betrayed her thoughts to Jack. "Yes it could be a catastrophe if she were to use it wrong, but she didn't come to be a problem. She is here because she is curious about us. My Doctor brought her to us. She keeps most of what she sees to herself," Jack added the last bit to steady Gwen.
"Well now that we are over the grand revealing," Andi said with a sarcastic smile, "Let's go inside. Oh Jack! My brother sent me the most interesting little toy." Gwen saw her as an innocent child, and then her mind went back to the passionate embraces with Jack and Ianto. Who was this girl really? What was she? Did she come from the rift? And just who was Jack's illusive Doctor?
As if Andi could read her mind, without looking into her eyes, she turned around to face her. Andi looked deep into her eyes and the probing feeling was back. "Oh so many glorious questions are in that beautiful mind! Which shall I answer?" Andi grabbed Gwen's hand and pulled her around a corner, up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, and into a large room. The walls were made of braided Cobalt blue metal, the ceiling looked like salt, and the floor was something Gwen had never seen before. It looked like carpet but it was moving in a wave like motion. "Will you please remove your shoes? They will ruin my Ciliar." Gwen quickly took them off. "Sit down," Andi said waving Gwen to a chair that looked like gel. It formed to Gwen's shape almost like a beanbag chair.
Ianto appeared at the door. When Andi and Ianto's eyes met, Andi giggled at his thought. In the mean time Gwen studied what Andi called "Ciliar". The wavy carpet gently caressed her bare feet. Suddenly the panels on the wall lit up. She could see Ianto and Andi in her mind. Ianto's fantasy played out before her eyes. Feeling immensely embarrassed invading their privacy, she immediately pulled her feet from the Ciliar. This was easier said than done, because it had stuck onto her feet. She quickly drew them up on her chair. Andi turned from a giggling Ianto, who had no clue about what just happened. "I am so sorry. I forgot to warn you. I was just about to when Ianto came in and distracted me," Andi said sorrowfully.
"Well I'm sorry I intruded. I had no idea," Gwen said giggling at Ianto's face as he figured out what had happened. He looked shocked and horrified. "This isn't the first time I have caught Ianto in the act." Ianto looked down ashamed, but Andi tilted his head back up, looked into his eyes, and giggled more.
"I see," Andi said trying to fight her giggle fit. "You and Jack just go at it all over the place." This put an adorable smirk on Ianto's face. "You spend so much time together, you are even starting to look alike," She commented on his smirk. This made them all laugh.
Ianto pulled Andi to him, looked deep into her eyes, and said, "Can't you do this some other time? I haven't gotten to be with you in a while. I missed you." Andi kissed him. Gwen wondered if she should leave and let them have some time alone that seemed long overdue.
"I think we should do this later. We have all night and it's not like you are leaving in the morning." Andi said without even the slightest bit of hesitation.
"I really don't want to be a bother. You haven't seen each other in a while and we could always do this later," Gwen said sincerely. She didn't even know what was going on.
"Am I interrupting something important?" Ianto asked with a frown. He had already taken off his shoes in preparation of what was to come. Andi felt awful turning away but she knew it had to be done.
Andi gently kissed him. "We have all the time in the world, but Gwen needs to hear my story. It's the Doctor's orders that I tell anyone and everyone I can," She turned to Gwen, "He thinks I'm special." She turned back to Ianto, "How would you feel if I ignored you for Jack, when it was your turn to hear my story?" Andi asked as Ianto's head fell. He had an irresistible little smirk. He had been spending too much time with Jack. Her hand reached his cheek and she lifted his eyes to hers. "Now don't look so sad. It's too cute." His pout turned into more of smile. "That's the spirit. We have all day. This will only take a few hours. You can entertain yourselves." Andi said smiling back at him.
Ianto took Andi's face in his hands, "I'm not upset that you're spending time with Gwen. I'm upset that you would even consider ignoring me for Jack." Andi laughed as Ianto brought her lips to his. Gwen thought about how cute they were. Maybe the age difference does not matter. Ianto gave Andi one last kiss, slipped his shoes back on, and went back down stairs with the others. He seemed so happy with her. His smile seemed to make the room glow even after he was out of sight.
"Now where were we?" Andi said with a smile as she sat back down in the gel chair across from Gwen. The Ciliar incased their feet. "I apologize for ruining your first encounter with Ciliar. Well I mean… You know what I mean. All you do is set your feet down and let it take your mind on my jouney.