6 - Obsession
"The glove… well…" Jack paused. "We had it… at some point." He paused, watching the man beside him. "Careful with that. It belongs to Owen's ex."
The man carefully set down the robotic foot he had been playing with and sighed. "That's great, but I'd really like to know where it is now." He said tiredly. "Can you think back to where it was you last saw it?"
Jack scratched his head. "Umm… maybe… Gwen had it?"
"Whatever it was, I didn't do it!"
The two men turned in time to see the woman in question disappear around a corner of the hub.
Jack moved to go after her, but the other man held up a hand to stop him. "Let me." He said firmly and sprinted after her.
"Gwen!" He called when he was within earshot of her.
She turned. "Yeah?"
He slowed as he closed the distance between them.
"Can you help me with this?" Gwen asked him, tipping her head at the pile of gadgets in her arms.
The man came up beside her and began to take things from her, naming each as he did so. "Rubber gloves, syringe, scalpel? What's all this for? You training to be a doctor?"
Gwen smiled. "No, just running a few tests on something that Owen found the other day. He and Ianto, actually. They fought over it for a while, but Jack said that the credit goes to Ianto. He actually found it; Owen just helped him carry it in." she explained, handing over almost all of her load to the curious man.
"So what is it?"
Gwen stopped to unlock a metal door at the end of the hall. "We're not sure."
She pulled back a heavy black curtain to reveal a tank full of water. "I thought maybe you could have a look at it. Seem familiar?" She asked.
"No. I've never seen anything like it." The man whispered, depositing the supplies onto a nearby table. "Although… it does look rather like…"
"A human." Gwen nodded. "That's what we thought too. But it's… different."
Free from his burden, the man pulled a pair of glasses from his pocket and quickly put them on before circling the tank twice.
"Hmm…" He squinted at the creature locked inside. "That's beautiful." He whispered.
Gwen raised an eyebrow as she organized the medical supplies.
"Is it alive?" The man asked suddenly, making Gwen jump after the silence.
She walked over to a small control board. "Yes. I can drain the tank, if you like. We have an exam table just through here." She said, drawing aside a plastic curtain as she pulled a lever. The tank began to drain of its water and the creature crumpled at the bottom.
"Are you sure it's alive?" The man asked as Gwen pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and nodded to him to do the same.
"Yes." She replied. "There's a heartbeat. Of some sort."
They each moved to a side of the tank and Gwen opened a hatch that swung outward. They lifted the tiny creature carefully from the tank and moved it through the plastic curtain and onto the exam table.
Instantly, the man pulled off his gloves and tossed them aside in favor of a stethoscope that he pulled from his pocket.
Gwen looked on nervously as he moved to the side of the exam table and placed the stethoscope gently on the creature's chest. He nodded a few times.
"Everything seems to be in order." He said, sliding the stethoscope to the other side and straightening up. "Wait a minute." He jammed the buds back into his ears and moved the stethoscope slightly.
"What is it?" Gwen asked. "Has it died?"
"No." The man replied without looking up.
A certain uneasiness had begun to creep into his voice. Gwen tensed, ready to spring into action if something was wrong.
"It's more than alive." The man went on. He motioned for Gwen to join him at the creature's side and she did so. Apprehensively, she took the ear buds that were offered to her and gingerly placed them in her own ears. The man stood for a moment, holding the stethoscope to the creature's body.
Gwen nodded to show that she had heard the heartbeat.
The man held up a finger. "One." Slowly, he moved the stethoscope to the other side of the creature's chest.
Gwen listened for a moment, then nodded slowly.
The man held up another finger. "Two. Each just as strong as the other." He took the stethoscope back from Gwen and put it back into his pocket. "Which means that this thing, whatever it is, has got two hearts." He sighed and shook his head. "And I only know of one thing that's got two hearts."
"Are you sure?" Gwen asked skeptically.
The man blinked a few times and rubbed his head. "Em… yeah…? Why?"
Gwen smiled. "Well, everyone knows you're a little obsessed."
He glared at her. "I am not!" He said, crossing his arms.
"Are too!" Gwen laughed. "Well, anyway…" She looked at the creature. "How do you explain the green skin and the wings?"
The man stood beside her for a long moment, staring at the creature. Finally, he removed his glasses and began massaging his temples.
Gwen waited patiently while he attempted to form his next sentence.
"Well, it looks like you lot have messed things up again." He began.
"What do you mean?" Gwen asked accusingly. "We've done nothing!"
"Wherever you found this thing, you should've left it there."
Gwen blanched. "Is it dangerous?" She whispered.
"Nope." The man shook his head. "Not at all. Just… wrong. Very, very wrong."
"I see." Gwen said, attempting to look as though she knew just what he was talking about.
"What we've got here is a Time Lord - Fairy metacrisis." He said seriously.
So seriously, in fact, that Gwen burst out laughing. "That's so ridiculous!" She said jovially.
"Afraid not." The man said sadly.
Gwen frowned. "But that's just mental."
The man smiled. "That's what I said about letting a policewoman into the gang." He said before strolling away through the plastic curtain and out of sight.
"Oh, and Gwen?" his head had reappeared around the curtain. "About that glove…"
Gwen stared at him. "Bloody Doctor." She muttered, grinning.