I don't own Torchwood or the characters. I only own Angel! I did not create the cover photo, so whoever created it gets the credit, not me! I only put the text on it. I hope you guys enjoy Angel's journey! If you guys see any typos I have missed or a misuse of a word (i.e., "I here it" instead of "I hear it") PLEASE tell me because I get very bothered by it and I know some of you guys do too.
Angel entered the Hub in Cardiff Torchwood, Jack in the lead. She had left the Doctor recently, knowing it was her time to go. He had helped her so much, but he needed someone else. She traveled with him for two years, and now she was sixteen. Jack had promised that she could come work for him, and that he would help her get an apartment. Angel, of course, declined, but he insisted. So, here she was.
The door opened and they entered the main part of the Hub. Angel looked around. Four people were eating Chinese and laughing, but they stopped when Jack cleared his throat to get their attention. "Guys, this is Angel. She's going to be working with us for awhile. Angel, this is Toshiko, Owen, Ianto and Gwen."
Owen rolled his eyes while the rest of them gave her the once over. "Hungry?" Gwen asked. Angel shook her head and looked over the group. Ianto was in a suit, and the rest of them in lab jackets. Waves of emotion rolled over her. Some anger, annoyance and confusion amongst other things. Her telepathic abilities had grown, and it was natural for her to feel other people's emotions now, though she could shut it off when she wanted to.
"Jack," the woman named Toshiko said. "Can we talk in your office?" Everyone nodded in agreement and rose. Jack gave a nod and they headed off to the private office. Knowing better, she stayed behind. Ianto gave her a nod as he passed her, and she smiled. Not knowing where to go, she sat down on a couch and sat back, waiting. A ding sounded on one of the many computers, and she tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't let up!
Finally, she peeked over, but couldn't see anything. She was about to go and look, when Jack's yells came from somewhere up the stairs. She looked quickly at the glass door, and saw him yelling at the guy named Owen. Angel looked down. She really hated yelling. After awhile, the door opened and everyone came out. Gwen smiled at her and Angel smiled back.
"Come on," Jack said, glaring at Owen. "Let me give you a tour of the place." Angel stood and rubbed her sweaty hands on her jeans, her dark blond hair falling in her face. Quietly, she walked next to Jack while he showed her around. She was surprised to find a morgue with bodies in it, but other than that it seemed okay. Thankfully, there was no body on the examination table.
Finally, they ended up in the basement, where the holding cells were. Some were filled with weird creatures. They had an ovalish head, big teeth, claws. A lot were empty. "They're called Weevils," Jack said, going over to one cell. The Weevil came towards them, teeth bared, but head cocked in question. It (whether the creature was a he or she Angel didn't know) came over to them and sniffed the air.
A huge wave of sadness came over her and the Weevil gave a small call. She stepped closer to the glass, and the Weevil did too. "Did you feel that, Jack?" she asked, looking at the creature, slowly raising her hand to it.
"No, but we suspect the Weevils have a low field of telepathy between each other."
Another wave of sadness came over her, and the Weevil in the cell put his hand up to Angel's, his forehead laying on the glass. "One of them just died, and he's crying. He's weeping, Jack." Between the link her and the Weevil shared, Angel gathered he was male.
Jack was baffled by the way the Weevil was acting. He had only seen them act like wild animals, so much rage and hatred pouring out of them. But now it was looking at Angel calmly, their hands in the same place on the glass. She stepped back, her sympathy and understanding making it's way into the Weevil's mind, just like she had practiced.
The Weevil went back to acting like its normal, crazy self. They walked out of the basement and back up into the main room, where everyone had continued eating. "I have to make a phone call," Jack said to her. "Tosh can you catch Angel up on what's going on?"
Without waiting for an answer, he left for his office. Angel sat down awkwardly in an empty seat near the table. Everyone stared at her, questions probably rolling through their minds. While Angel could probably easily read them, she didn't like to. Doing that was a huge invasion of privacy. "So," Gwen started. "I gather you're from America with that accent."
"Utah, actually. Not a very exciting place," Angel said, picking at her nails nervously. She hoped no one asked her about her past and home life, because then she would have to lie.
Toshiko gave her a warm smile. "How long have you known Jack?"
"About a year. I was, um, travelling when we met. He helped me out a couple times."
Owen looked her over, a judgmental glare in his eyes. Her guess was that he didn't like newcomers. "How old are you then?" he asked.
"Sixteen two months ago."
"And you know about everything we do here in Torchwood?"
"Yeah. I'm pretty good with computers. Jack said Toshiko was the computer person here. I'm probably not as good as you are, but I know some. So, what are you guys working on now?"
Gwen looked at her watch. It was almost one in the morning! "Well, it's just about time for us to go home. Owen will show you to files for the most recent case. But if you're tired you can come stay with me for the night. There's always room for one more person," she smiled.
Angel stood. She had slept for a couple hours on the ride here, and was now fully awake. "I think the case files are fine, thank you. Owen?" she said, turning to him. He rolled his eyes and stood, showing her to the files. She thanked him and sat down in a chair, opening the first one.
Owen made sure no one was looking before he gave her a five hundred page book on coding. No one in the Hub had actually read it, but he gave it to her anyway. "This is a mandatory read. It has to be finished by Wednesday."
Angel faked shock. "Wednesday? That's two days from now!"
"Rules are rules," Owen shrugged, and then left. He didn't trust her one bit, even if Jack did.
Angel sighed when he left and picked up the book. She knew he was shitting her because the book had never been opened before, but she read it anyway. It took her all of an hour and a half before she finished. After that, she picked up the case files. There were three, so she figured whatever was going on there had been three victims. She opened the first one, and the photo shocked her. It was a little girl, only seven years old.
Her fingers lightly touched the photo. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, and read over the information. "Okay, Sara Clarke," she mumbled to herself. She died of what doctors were calling a heart attack, but someone had made annotations. Her heart was frozen while she was still alive. Angel came to the horrible realization that the little girl had felt it. She must have been in so much pain.
The other two victims, Ramona Davidson and Kim Wilde were both the same age and died the same way. Other than that, no connections. "There has to be something other than that," Angel whispered to herself.
Getting up, she took the files with her and found Owen's computer. It was encrypted like crazy and had a million passwords, but with her new knowledge, she broke through them easily. She got Owen back quite well, if she did say so herself, and then turned it off, making sure everything was how it was when he left.
She went to another computer, once she assumed was Toshiko's, and turned it on. She spent the rest of the night learning about these three girls and printing out everything she could about them. There were papers pinned to the cork board and wall next to it when everyone came in the next morning. Jack, used to Angel's sleeping pattern, gave her some coffee.
"What's all this?" he asked her, motioning to all of the papers.
"They aren't just victims, Jack. They were people, children, with lives. They were connected because of how they died, but what about where they went to school? Did they have any siblings or not? Did one of them have a teddy bear they would leave the house with? We owe the parents enough to learn about their kids."
"So, tell us. Who were they?"
Angel went over to the board and wall, looking down at the floor once she realized everyone was staring. "All three of them went to different schools, and no one worked at all three. The same foods weren't served at any of the schools and no plants were the same, so I ruled that out. Sara and Ramona were both allergic to pollen, but I doubt that has to do with anything. Their families, however, were quite the same. Sara, Kim and Ramona's parents were divorced, and all three girls lived with their mothers. You found premortem bruises on all three girls, correct?"
She looked at Jack and he nodded. She continued, trying to keep a straight face as she went on. This case was now personal to her, and she would find whatever did this to the three girls. "They were all physically abused by their mothers. Digging deeper into the girls' parents, I found that the three of them are friends. Lacy Wilde, Casey Clarke and Tara Davidson are in a book club together along with four other people. They are Kathy Wright, Alice Henry, Will Kendrick and Anna Rice. They meet once a week and switch off from home to home.
"So, the mother's knew each other, no big deal. But the weird part? The kids never met each other. Ramona, Kim and Sara were complete strangers to one another. Did you check their rooms at all?"
"I did," Gwen said. She was blown away by Angel's dedication to the case she just joined last night. From right then she knew Angel was a hard worker, and would never underestimate her again.
"Did you notice this?" Angel said, pointing to a brown bear.
"No, sorry," Gwen said, trying to think.
"You wouldn't have. Well, not unless you found the kids' secret hiding spot. Each one had this same exact bear in their room, and I caught a snippet of recording from one of the book clubs they hosted outside Ms. Wright's house. The CCTV picked up on it. In the conversation, Casey, Tara and Lacy confess to giving the girls the same teddy bear. The bear was made in 2001 and manufactured by an unknown company called Roger's Ride. After all the bears sold out, the company disappeared. That's enough to raise some suspicion, right?
"I looked into it. The company seemingly rose out of nowhere. The back story was that a man name Roger Fieldman founded it in 1902, but it was shut down because of safety violations in 1927. Customers kept complaining that the toys broke randomly, and some even talked when the strings weren't pulled. The company hasn't been seen since. Well, not until now anyway. They sold a total of fifty bears and then vanished. Fifty is odd, right? I mean, who opens a company just to sell fifty bears? But, these bears aren't normal. After finding the process of making it, and I mean the real process that was hidden deep behind encryption codes, I found out that there's a piece of technology in them not from this time period.
"It's from three thousand years in our future. The piece allows the toy to be active, like it's a real human, until the child turns it off. In the future, almost every kid has something like it and it's harmless. It's engineered so that it's impossible for it to do any harm, but not these fifty. Someone tweaked with these. If a certain activation word is said, the bear turns on. Each child probably said it and the bear came to life, and none of the children knew how to turn it off. They probably thought it was cool; that they had a friend to talk to after their mother's beat them. But then it started creeping them out. It probably wouldn't let them sleep or take their attention away from it for one second.
"That's where the tweaking comes in. The toys in the future had no ability but to move on its own and talk, but not much else. Someone gave these bears a mind of its own, and then filled it with rage. The bears knew nothing but anger and turmoil, so when the kids weren't there to play with them and make them happy, they got mad. With some more tweaking on the part, the bears were given an ability that could kill anyone. They were given the ability to freeze the heart. I have a list of everyone who bought the damn thing with their addresses and phone numbers."
She finally finished with a huge breath and turned back to the group of people. Jack was smirking at all of the shocked faces because he knew Angel well enough to know that she was smarter than she looked. Toshiko was looking in awe. Maybe she would finally have a person who understood her computer talk and didn't have them look at her like she was speaking a different language.
Ianto was straight faced like always, but a smile was poking at his lips. Owen was just Owen, and rolled his eyes. "Think I'm showing off, Owen?" she asked him.
"Yeah, I do as a matter of fact," he responded, crossing his arms.
"Well, if you don't believe me, try on your own computer." Angel was a master at hiding her emotions and lieing through her teeth. And she did just what she expected him to do. He turned on his computer. Angel smiled as a loud scream came off it. "What the hell?! Who the fuck messed with my computer?"
Jack looked back. "Owen come on, if you're going to watch porn at least have the decency to do it at home." He winked at Angel who smirked in return. She watched as Owen struggled to get out of the window, but Angel had locked it. After seeing him slap the thing, she sauntered over and pressed a button, closing the window and deleting the fact that it was ever there. She dropped the heavy book about coding on his desk. "Next time you try to prank someone, Owen," she said, leaning in close to his face. "Make sure you know who they are. And further more, make sure they don't know how to speed read. Try and embarrass me again and you'll find yourself in Cuba."
"Try me," Owen snarled at her. Angel raised her eyebrows and stood back. "We should probably get started with going to each house. We have forty seven to cover."
"Are you saying that stuffed animals are killing people?" Jack asked, finding it hard to believe.
"Think about it," Gwen interrupted. "It's a perfect murder. There's no trace of anything and it's covered by heart attack; natural causes. But why is it targeting the kids?"
"I don't know, but we have to get every single one out of those houses and destroy them, then we can focus on going after Roger Fieldman," Angel said. The team agreed and split up. Owen went alone, Gwen and Toshiko went together in Gwen's car and Jack and Angel went in the SUV. They rode in silence for awhile, and then they reached the first address. Jack and Angel went up to the door. "I should have changed my clothes," she said, looking down at the wrinkled mess of a shirt she was wearing.
"Into what?" Jack countered, pressing the doorbell.
"Oh, I forgot about that. Kind of came with nothing, didn't I?" He didn't get time to respond because the door opened to a worried looking mother. Her hair was crazed and she kept glancing towards the stairs, like she had to get back to something. "Is your daughter home?" Jack asked, looking inside the house.
"She's not feeling well at the moment. May I ask who you are?" the woman asked. Angel didn't remember her name from the list.
"Police. We just need to ask her a few questions. Is that alright?" Angel said. She knew kids, and she most definitely knew parents, good and bad.
"Yes, it's fine. Come in. She's just upstairs. I'll be with you in a moment, I just have to grab some aspirin." They nodded and stepped inside the house, quickly going up the stairs. Angel reached the door first and pulled it open. The little girl was hugging a bear, bruises all over her arms. "Jack, her mother didn't do that to her," Angel said. She knew what an abusive parent looked like, and the woman downstairs wasn't it. She cared too much. Angel reached out and touched the mind of the little girl.
What she saw made her freeze for a moment. Her mind was dead. It wasn't full of emotion and images and imagination like other children's, it was dull. Angel went over and put the little girl's body in her arms. The girl was shaking. "Hey," she whispered. "I need you to close your eyes. Can you do that for me?" Angel asked.
The girl nodded and closed her eyes. Her body relaxed against Angel's. Angel motioned Jack with her head to grab the bear. He did. The girl protested it, but Angel pushed soothing thoughts into her head. "It's okay. It's all going to be okay now," she whispered to the girl in her arms. "Just get some sleep, okay?" The girl yawned and relaxed, pulling up the blankets. Angel let her go and stood. After that, she looked at the bear. It was trying to squirm out of Jack's touch.
Angel tapped its left ear twice, its stomach three times and the bottom of its foot once. The thing stopped moving and deflated. "How'd you know to do that?" Jack asked as they walked out. The mother looked relieved that the bear was leaving and didn't ask why.
"It's the emergency power down. I was wrong, Jack. The mothers aren't abusing the kids, the bears are. But they're doing so much more than that. These things are stealing the kids' imaginations. They're kiling them slowly. But there's definitely an ideal target here. Kids between the age of five and eight and single mothers. Maybe the strategy is that they go to kids who are sad about the divorce and need comfort."
"If that's true, then whoever created these is trying to power something. You'd be surprised on how many things can run on children's imaginations. Come on, we have fifteen more houses to do." She nodded and they were off. Angel mostly handled the kids while Jack charmed the mothers into staying out of their kid's room.
"This case bothers me," Angel said as they were driving to the last house.
"Kids can be hard to deal with on your first case. You seem to be doing a pretty good job, though," Jack responded. He knew Angel's past with kids, and he hated to think about it.
"Kids can be hard to deal with during anything. But that's the thing, they're just kids! And whoever is doing this is draining them slowly. These bears were sold out months ago, and they're just dying now. I wanna kill the son of a bitch myself."
"Whoa, hold on there. Ask questions first, kill later."
"You and your bloody rules," she muttered, crossing her arms. They finished the last house and threw the bear in the back seat, where fifteen others sat. They made their way back to the Hub and brought in the bears with a crate Angel dug out of the trunk. When they entered they saw everyone else had already arrived. Owen had ripped the heads off every animal, and Gwen and Toshiko had ripped the device out of every single one.
"Forgot to tell you guys about the emergency off switch. Sorry," Angel said, putting the crate down on a table. "Toshiko, would you mind helping me for a moment?"
"No, not at all!"
Angel grabbed two of the pieces that Gwen and Toshiko ripped out. "Can you show me where the tweezers are? And a microscope if you have one, which, judging on this place, I assume you do."
They walked off while Gwen, Owen, Ianto and Jack stayed behind. "Just give her a chance," Jack said, turning to the glares of his coworkers.
"Oh, I like her. I think it's Owen who has a problem," Gwen smiled, turning to him. Owen rolled his eyes, only confirming Gwen's theory. Ianto gave a smile. "She is quite intelligent."
"Five hundred pages in one night is impressive. But did she even sleep? And how does she know that this technology is from three thousand years in our future? Where did she come from?" Gwen asked, her ever curious mind raking out question after question.
Jack ran his hands through his hair. He knew these questions would come up sooner or later. None of his friends knew of the Doctor, or even about Jack himself. Only Toshiko knew where he got his name from. "Her past is complicated," was all he answered with. Only time would tell if Angel would trust them enough with her past.
Toshiko and Angel went to the lab. Angel started twisting her piece in different directions quite frantically. "If I'm right," she said, twisting it some more. "This should pop right open!" As she said the last words the piece popped open, revealing wires and technology from many millennia later. She did Toshiko's and they went to work, picking out things that seemed to be controlling the device. "How did you know that this was from our future?" Toshiko said, looking up from her microscope.
"I told you, I used to travel. Never stayed in one place for over a month. It was a lot of fun, actually." She sighed and went back to work. She didn't want to talk about it. It had only been three weeks and she already missed the Doctor. Jack had set her up in a hotel, and she should have spent the time getting the essentials like clothes and house products, but she didn't. She got some, but then they were stolen when she accidentally left her hotel room unlocked. Her body was already itching to move on and go somewhere else, to find a new adventure, but she was grounded on Earth.
"But how?"
"Carefully. Come on, Toshiko. We have to make sure no one else gets hurt."
"Tosh. You can call me Tosh," she said. Angel was mysterious, and on one level she liked it, but on another it was absolutely frustrating. They went back to work and didn't utter a word until Angel held up something in the light. "It looks like a microchip. Any way we can plug it into your computer?" Angel asked, handing it over to Tosh.
"I can try. What do you think is on it?" Toshiko took the chip from Angel and put it in her lab coat pocket, walking back to her computer.
"I have no clue. Guess we'll just have to find out," Angel smiled, walking easily next to Tosh. They got back and slipped the chip into the computer. Everyone gathered around them to see what was going on. An old man's face came on the screen and a video started playing. "Hello, bear! I am your creator, and if you are seeing this it means someone has turned you on! Now, you were made for a reason, and that reason is to serve me, so look here. I need the children's imagination. Why? So I can be young again! And then I can make more of you! You get to have a whole family! Isn't that great!?"
He was so cheery that Angel almost missed the part about stealing children's imagination. "Do you mind if I...?" Angel asked, looking at Toshiko for confirmation. Toshiko nodded and Angel started typing on the keyboard. She brought down all of the main audio and pushed up what lay in a layer just underneath it. "Steal the imagination, kill the stolen from. Steal the imagination, kill the stolen from," played on a loop for the entirety of the video. If this played often enough inside the bear, the subliminal messaging would get to them.
"Stuffed animals were brainwashed? This officially just got weirder," Gwen commented, leaning back and yawning. Another day had flown by, because it was almost two in the morning. "We've collected all the bears, so I think I'm going to turn in. Anyone need a ride home?" she asked.
All of them shook their heads, but rose as well. Owen and Toshiko followed Gwen out while Ianto and Jack stayed. "I'm going to make some coffee, would anybody like some?" Ianto asked, looking between the two of them. Both nodded and he went off. Angel watched him go and sighed.
"You should get some sleep," Jack said.
"Right back at you," Angel said back. She knew Jack only slept when he had to, just like her.
"Here." Jack handed her a package and she opened it, looking up at him in confusion. There was an ID badge and a credit card in it. Angel put the ID card in her pocket, but handed the credit card back to Jack. "You know how I am about money. Either I earn it myself or I don't earn it at all."
"Then think of it as your first paycheck."
She sighed and set it down on the table. "It feels strange to be in the same place for so long. Being with the Doctor is different. You go places and do things you never thought possible! And then you leave, and your body is itching to go back out there and do something, go somewhere new! But you can't, and it's strange."
"You could have stayed," he said, leaning back.
"No, I couldn't have. It was time to move on. He regenerated into someone new; into someone I don't know. It was time for me to be a part of his past."
"It gets easier after awhile."
"I hope so," Angel said. Ianto came back with two mugs of coffee, and Angel took hers with a smile. "Is there anything I can do for you, Ianto? You shouldn't have to clean everything."
"It's fine," he said, and then grabbed his coat. He left to go home and Angel stood. Jack went to go do something or other and she wandered off. She couldn't keep wearing these clothes and was in desperate need of a shower. She searched through the Hub until she found one, and then moved on. After about an hour, she found a storage closet. Finding a couple of old clothes and a sewing needle with some thread, Angel spent about another hour or so altering what she found so that it fit her.
She turned the sweatpants into sweat shorts that came down to wear her fingertips ended and shortened the sweater so that it stopped at her hips, also making it smaller so it fit her. After searching some more, she took some torn shirts and made a loose tank top to wear under the sweater in case she got hot. Finally, she went back to the shower and turned it on.
Stepping in, she decided that the next day, if she got any time off, she would go shopping for some clothes. After her shower, she dressed in the new clothes, and checked on Jack. He was half awake in his office. Quietly, she took his coffee cup and brought it out, taking hers as she made it to the small kitchen area. She washed the cups, dried them, and put them back in the cupboard. Garbage littered the area so she cleaned it up, wishing there was music to listen to.
"I will stand by you. I will help you through. When you've done all you can do and you cant cope. I will dry your eyes. I will fight your fight. I will hold you tight, and I won't let go," she sang. She alternated humming and singing quietly as she cleaned. Her fingers always had to stay busy. They even moved in her sleep. She switched from that to singing Bon Jovi's Dead or Alive.
"No one said you could sing. What a deal breaker," Jack said behind her.
Angel jumped and turned around. "What are you doing awake?" she asked him.
"Couldn't sleep," he shrugged. "Where'd you get the clothes?"
"Oh, I found an old storage closet. These were just some torn up and moth eaten old clothes. I found a sewing needle and cleaned them up a bit. Hope you don't mind." She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at the ground. Her ID card hung on a string around her neck so that she wouldn't lose it.
"You should get some rest," Jack said, hoping she would listen. He knew that she would stay up for as long as her body let her, which was about a week straight, and then only sleep for a couple hours before repeating the cycle.
"Not tired," she responded and put the broom down. The place had been filthy. She couldn't stand that, and constantly yelled at Jack and the Doctor for leaving things everywhere. When she was with her parents, all she did was clean and cook, so it was kind of written in her genes to clean everything. There were a couple of things she couldn't shake even though she was on her own now. This was one of them. Asking for things was another. She could never ask for anything.
"Are you okay?" he asked her concernedly.
"Am I ever?" she responded, sighing. She didn't feel sixteen, she felt like she was forty. She didn't have a childhood at all, and was forced to take care of herself.
"When's the last time you ate?" Jack knew she forgot sometimes.
"Two days ago? Maybe longer, I don't know." She messed with a loose strand on her sweater. She was usually so busy that she forgot to eat a lot. When she was with her parents she ate maybe twice a week, so she was used to a low intake of food.
"I know a place that's open. Pizza okay with you?"
"Yeah, sure." She sat at the table and pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a big breath and then exhaling slowly. Jack went to order and Angel went down to the holding cells. She went back to the Weevil she connected with earlier. He calmed down once she came up to him. "Hey," she said, and put her hand to the glass. Like before, the Weevil mimicked her and put his hand to the glass as well.
She poked into his mind and saw he was still mourning over the death of one of his kind. "I know how that feels," she said, and flashed back to her last meeting with the Doctor.
"Stay! I'm still me you know. Except different. It's all a bit confusing," the Doctor said. Except, it wasn't her Doctor, He was different in every way. Different speech, different thoughts, different looks. She bet he was still magnificent, but it was time for her to move on.
"No, Doctor. You need someone else. Thank you. Thank you so much for everything." She hugged him tight and didn't let go for awhile. Tears were leaking out of her eyes as she let go, and she hurriedly wiped them away. The Doctor hugged her again and kissed the top of her head. Part of her would always be with him, just like his other companions. But, Angel, oh Angel opened his eyes to so many things, and she had become as close as family.
"Goodbye, Doctor," she said, and stepped back, out of the doors of the TARDIS, where she had agreed to meet Jack. The Doctor gave a sad smile and closed the doors. She watched as the TARDIS left without her, and while her heart was shouting to have it come back and get her, she didn't. It was time for her to go. "Goodbye," ghosted around her mind and she smiled sadly. Right there, right then, Angel knew that some part of her died. Some part she would only get back if she traveled with the Doctor once more, but she knew she never would.
The Weevil made a noise to snap her from her memory and she looked at him. His head was tilted in question, and a drop of water landed on the arm of her sweatshirt. She hadn't realized she was crying. She hated crying. Quickly, she wiped the tears away and smiled. "I know what sadness feels like, but it gets better. Just remember that whoever you lost will always be with you, and it gets a little bit easier to cope. I've got to go, but I'll be back, I promise."
She stepped away and exited the basement, going back upstairs where Jack was carrying in a box of pizza. He laid it on the table and she opened it, picking up a slice and taking a bite. It felt nice to have something in her stomach. She ate it and then picked up another slice, this time only picking at it. "Pizza for breakfast?" Gwen's voice asked as she entered the kitchen. "Oh wow, look at this place! It's spotless!"
"I couldn't sleep," Angel said, taking another small bite and curling her legs to her chest.
Jack offered the box to Gwen. "Pizza is good anytime of the day."
Gwen laughed and shook her head, going over to the coffee maker and starting it. The brewing sound started and she took a cup down. After eating half the slice, Angel pushed it away. Jack gave her a pointed look and she returned with a look of her own. Finally, Jack sighed, knowing Angel was too stubborn to give in. She smiled a little and picked up the plate, throwing the rest of the slice and and putting the box in the fridge.
As the morning went on, the rest of the team showed up. Angel gave Toshiko all of the information she had found on Roger Fieldman and Roger's Ride corporation. "Will you help me try and locate where he is now? If we can find him, we can shut this whole thing down. When he finds out that his power source has been shut off, he'll start it up again. We have a week at most to find out where his base is."
"Actually, Tosh, if you could start on your own. Angel, with me," Jack said. Angel nodded and walked with Jack to a back room. It was soundproof by the looks of it. He walked to a table full of different handguns, and she saw targets. "Before you go out on the field, you need to know how to use these, but I hope you never have to fire it."
Angel picked up a gun, loaded it, and fired. She was ready for the recoil and absorbed it easily. When she looked, the bullet had pierced the head of the picture of the man holding a woman to him. It was one of those don't-hit-the-victim targets. "I lived in Utah for fourteen years. You really think I don't know how to load and fire a gun? Granted, I've never actually held a gun before, but I've read about them. How to load, strip, fire and deal with the kick back."
"I'm impressed," Jack said, smiling a bit. He wasn't really surprised. Angel read ten books when he was on the TARDIS with her and the Doctor for three days. Ten books in three days!
"I don't think I'll ever be able to use it," she admitted, taking out the ammunition.
"That's a good thing. But, if it comes down to it, you'll make the right choice whether to fire or not, because I know you, and you wouldn't just sit back and watch someone die."
She sighed and leaned against the wall. "I should get back to work," she said, and walked out, joining Toshiko once more. It took them all day and all night, but they finally found out where he was hiding. His building was just an old warehouse about ten miles from the Hub.
Everyone agreed to meet at nine the next morning and figure out a plan, and then went home. Jack, of course, stayed, and Angel went down to the basement. This time, she opened the door where the Weevil sat. It didn't move, or try to attacker, and she didn't think it would. She went up to him, all the while sending soothing thoughts to him. The Weevil stayed still, like he was inviting her.
She put her hand against his cheek, and she felt him lean into the touch. "Mind if I sleep down here tonight? I don't really have anywhere else to go."
The Weevil answered with telepathy. He sang a song, much like the Ood do, and she heard the rest of the Weevils join in. It was a song of acceptance, like they were saying she was one of them. Angel smiled and sat down in the corner. The Weevil sat next to her and awkwardly put his arms around her. He could probably see little snippets of her life because of his telepathic abilities, and saw a lot of that in her memories.
She smiled and leaned into him, yawning. And they fell asleep like that, the beauty and the beast. The Weevil wasn't a majestic or beautiful creature, actually, they were quite ugly, but the songs that they sang were so beautiful.
The next morning, the team came in together after going to breakfast, Jack included. Owen was the first one to see it. On the cameras from the holding cells, he could see Angel and the Weevil. He looked closer. "What the fuck is she doing?"
Jack, Gwen, Toshiko and Ianto looked to the monitor connected to the camera. Tosh zoomed in on Angel and the Weevil. "Jack, have you ever seen this before?" Gwen asked, looking at Angel. She was sleeping on the Weevil, and he was holding her protectively. It was probably the strangest thing Gwen had ever seen.
"No, I haven't, but Angel first connected with it the first time she was here." He closed his mouth to stop from saying she was telepathic. Last time they had a run in with telepathy was when Toshiko accepted the necklace that allowed her to read minds, and he didn't want the rest of them to judge her from that experience. They all watched for a moment before Jack headed downstairs.
As soon as it saw him, the Weevil bared it's teeth at Jack and gave a low growl. To Jack's surprise, the Weevil pulled Angel even closer to him, his grip getting firmer, as if protecting its own. At the movement, Angel jerked awake and sat up. The Weevil released her and she stood, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the sleep. "Jack?" she questioned, her vision a little blurry.
"Angel! What the hell are you doing in there?"
"I didn't have anywhere else to go. Oh, Jack, you should hear them! The songs they sing, the things they say, it's beautiful."
Jack opened the cell door and roughly pulled Angel out. His temper was flaring a little bit and Angel knew it. She knew Jack could be temperamental. "Don't do that again," he said angrily.
"Why? Jack, it's safe."
"No, it's not! Because at any given time, he or any one of these, could snap, and you would be dead within the minute. The Doctor left you with me because he knew I would take care of you. He wouldn't have left you if he didn't think that. By going in there you are putting your life in danger!"
Angel was getting as mad as Jack was. "Don't you dare think that I can't handle myself, Jack! I know what danger is, and that? That's not danger. Danger is being fucking locked up for fourteen years! Danger is losing an unborn child by being pushed down the stairs after you were fucking forced to have sex! Danger is not being able to die, and you know all about that. So don't you dare tell me what danger is Captain Jack Harkness."
"I know you can handle yourself, but if you die on my watch it'll be my fucking fault! Those things can explode at any moment, and don't think just because you are telepathic and can send fucking thoughts that they won't attack you without a second glance!"
Angel reached out and gripped Jack's wrist. "Just listen, and then maybe you'll get over yourself and understand." She projected the song she heard last night into Jack's head. It was a bit of a challenge, seeing as he had millions of walls up and knew when someone was trying to break into his head, but she did it. After a couple minutes, she released his wrist and stared him straight in the eye. "Again I say, don't you ever tell me what danger is, Jack, because I know what it is. I've never stopped being in it."
"Just do what I say for once."
"I don't have to, Jack, because you are not my fucking parent! You're my boss, and go ahead, fire me, I don't care! I can find a way to survive, because I WAS FUCKING LOCKED IN AN ATTIC FOR FOURTEEN YEARS!"
This just started another heated argument between the two. They had had arguments before, some becoming as heated as this one, but never one that lasted this long. As Angel got angrier, the Weevils became more agitated. "Fine, Jack! Just stop! We're done with the yelling," she said finally, stopping the argument. Jack knew she hated yelling, and instantly regretted the stupid argument. Angel felt the same, but that didn't mean she was going to listen to Jack. "I won't sleep in there anymore if it makes you so angry, but I still have the right to visit them. They have a mind and a soul, Jack."
He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. Like the Doctor, Jack considered Angel family. "I just spilled my entire life story didn't I?" she sighed, leaning against Jack. He was the closest thing she had to a sibling.
"Yep," he responded, smiling. They walked back up the stairs, talking and smiling like the argument never happened. Jack and Angel got into arguments quite often, but they never stayed angry at each other for long. As soon as they stepped back into the main room everyone scrambled away from the screen. Angel looked at the ground. She had practically just told them everything about herself. Everything from being abused to being telepathic to the name of her unborn child to the fact that she never went to school.
Jack saw that she was uncomfortable and started up the conversation. "So, anyone up to actually getting rid of this Roger Fieldman guy?"
That seemed to snap everyone out of their daze and Toshiko started explaining the layout of the building. "It's just an old warehouse with one entrance, but there'll probably be something guarding it. If he's really running on children's imagination, then he could be almost invincible. Imagination is one of the strongest fuels in the universe."
Angel was about to say something, but Owen interrupted. "Are we going to ignore what just happened?"
Angel's eyes snapped to his. "Yes, because none of you were meant to hear that. That was an invasion of my and Jack's privacy. And I know you're all thinking it, but no, I haven't poked into your little brains and read your thoughts, because honestly, I don't care. Think whatever the hell you want to think, I don't give a shit. Now, let's get back to taking this evil son of a bitch down before he kills more kids."
Gwen smiled a bit. She really liked the young woman in front of her. "Come on, it's ten miles to the warehouse, we better get going."
They started to walk out and Jack let everyone leave before stopping Angel at the door. He handed her a pistol. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asked.
"I was born ready. Come on, lighten up, Jack. I'll be fine."
Jack turned around and walked out, Angel on his tail. They entered the SUV, Owen glaring at Angel. If he didn't trust her then, he definitely didn't trust her now. Angel's eyes hardened, and she did something she knew she would regret. Since the Doctor helped her harness her abilities, she could do a lot. Focusing all her energy, she barged into Owen's head and took over for a second. She could only control a brain for up to ten seconds, but even that's enough to scare someone shit less.
Think about it. Someone else is controlling you, yet you're still conscious, so you can see what you're doing but can't stop it. That's pretty terrifying. But Angel didn't use that ability ever. Only this once. Owen ran his fingers through his hair and then set his arm back down. Angel was pulled out of his mind. She wasn't strong enough to stay in, and she hoped she never would be.
Looking at him through the mirror, she could see his muscles were visibly tensed. She poked into his brain again, only intending to speak. "That? What I just did? I would never use that against someone, nor would I coax someone into doing something horrible. I'm not that kind of person. I would never treat someone like my parents treated me. Believe me when I say I'm not dangerous. Well, only if you piss me off."
She pulled out and their eyes connected through the mirror. Angel gave a little smile, saying she was sorry. Owen rolled his eyes and turned his eyes back to the road. She figured that that was the only form of acceptance she was going to get and turned back. Jack, who had noticed the high amount of energy in the air, raised his eyebrows at Angel. She shrugged and leaned back.
Gwen and Tosh were oblivious to the whole thing. Tosh was looking at her computer screen, the car a little blimp moving on it. "Turn right, here!" she said, and then the car jerked to the right. About twenty minutes later, they stopped quickly. Everyone filed out, Gwen, Jack and Owen instinctively pulling their guns. As they neared, Tosh did as well. Angel was the only one not holding hers, and she didn't know how to feel about that.
The Doctor was so against guns, and she wasn't used to holding them in her hands. Once they entered the place, she took it out, cocking it and holding it towards the ground, ready to aim and fire. "Is it just me or is this to easy?" Gwen whispered.
"Thanks for the jinx," Angel said. They walked on in the dark of the warehouse. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"Tosh, are you sure this is the right place?" Jack asked, looking over to her.
"Yeah. This is where he should be." She lowered her gun and looked quickly at a piece of paper. "Yep, this is the place." She put it back in the bag.
"Do you smell that?" Owen said, straightening up and sniffing the air. It smelled a lot like gas. Leaking gas. Either they were getting poisoned or the whole place was about to go up in flames.
"No one fire!" Jack yelled. He could smell it as well. "The lightest spark could set off the place. Cover your mouth and nose and get out of here! Gwen, drive them back to the base." Jack tossed Gwen the keys and she caught them easily. Angel kept her gun out. Gas didn't just come from nowhere. Someone was here to control it.
Gwen, Owen, Toshiko and Angel started to back up, but white smoke started to fill the room. It came out of nowhere in an alarming rate, and in a matter of seconds no one was able to see. Angel coughed and covered her nose, the gas starting to pour into her lungs. A commotion was to her right, but she couldn't see it, much less help. The last thing she heard was Jack call out her name before everything went black.
Angel woke up with a throbbing headache and little recollection of where she was. She remembered white smoke, and then nothing. When she opened her mouth, she found a gag was on it, preventing her from speaking. When she tried to move, she found herself chained. Her arms were above her head, wrists crossing each other, while her feet were shoulder-length apart. She was off the ground, but her weight was distributed so that her circulation was fine, because God forbid she get gangrene.
She opened her eyes all the way and saw Jack, Gwen, Toshiko and Owen chained as well, but not like her. They were all next to each other, slumped against the wall. Their hands were chained behind their backs, one around each of their necks and each had two binding their feet to the wall. "Jack! Wake up! Owen! Gwen! Toshiko! Wake up!" she yelled at them, her words muffled.
None of them had gags on their mouths. After a couple of minutes or so, Jack woke. His first instinct was to stand and go to Angel when he saw her, but he could barely make it one foot without getting restrained. Gwen, Toshiko and Owen followed soon after. All of them took her in. Before any of them could say anything, and older man walked into the room.
Angel recognised him from the video, but he had to be at least ten years younger! So he was serious about using imagination to get younger. "Good!" the man said. Angel guessed him to be sixty. "You're all awake!"
"You fucking let her go!" Jack yelled, pulling on his restraints. They were made of pure stainless steal, Roger Fieldman made sure of that. No one was going anywhere.
"But why would I do that? Oh you precious little girl, you. Can anyone guess what is so magnificent about her?" He grabbed Angel's chin and squished her face. She jerked out of his grasp and sent a cold glare.
"You touch her and I'll kill you," Jack snarled, muscles straining.
"Oh, you don't know, do you? This one, oh this one is ripe for the picking! One of the best brains I have ever seen, and that's a compliment. So full of imagination you are. You, little girl, could keep me going for months, even years! The bears have had me going for over a hundred, but you are so much better! So magnificent. But, the process of stealing one's imagination takes a long time, so we are going to speed it up a little bit. This will hurt. A lot."
He went over to some sort of machine and pulled a lever down. Then he turned a knob all the way and pushed something or other up to the top. Angel watched carefully, getting ready to use full power and make him stop, when he pushed a button.
The greatest pain she had ever felt went through her. It was like fire was coursing through her veins, her blood boiling in its path, and at the same time, each and every bone in her body was breaking one by one. She felt like she was going to die. A scream of agony left her lips, and she arched her back.
As the power became greater, another scream left her mouth, and her back arched even further. A hammering started at her throbbing head, like someone was trying to break into her mind, but even through all the pain, she managed to block it. After what felt like eternity, the pain stopped.
Angel slumped and hung her head, sweat beading on her body. Weakly, she raised her her head, her eyes meeting blue ones she knew so well. Angel smiled sadly with her eyes and Jack pleaded with her. She slightly nodded, telling him she knew it wasn't his fault.
Jack knew that for Angel to scream like that, the feeling had to be one of pure and complete agony. With her up bringing, she was taught not to show any signs of emotion or pain when getting hurt, and that still stuck with her. Something like that had to be like dying. "Take me if you want! Just let her go!" Jack yelled, again pulling on his restraints.
"You? Oh, no Captain Jack Harkness, you will not do! Nor will Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato or Owen Harper. Only she will do."
"How do you know our names?" Owen growled, pulling on his chains much like Jack was. He wasn't getting anywhere.
"Why, you're wallets of course! But Jack, oh everyone knows Jack! Or maybe it's just me. Never mind that! This little girl here has a very powerful and imaginative mind, unlike you lot. Especially you, Jack. There's nothing there! Just thoughts, like your brain is dead. But you," he turned back to Angel, tilting her head up, "are strong. You have one hell of a brain there little missy! And it's very hard to get into."
"I'm not a little girl," Angel snarled, her words running together. Roger ignored her and went back to the machine. Jack was yelling at him not to hurt her. Roger rolled his eyes and snapped towards Jack. Angel watched as a huge teddy bear came out of a another room. It held up a shotgun, and fired a round right into Jack's head. "No," Angel breathed, her lungs not powerful to speak.
She knew better than anyone that Jack would come back, but she also knew he hated it. Every time he died it tore him up inside. She kept one eye on Roger, and another on Jack. When she saw start to wake up, she poked into his mind, which was weak because it was just restarting. "Stay down," she said to him telepathically.
Jack didn't move, but he was waiting to here her reasoning. "You have infinite energy, Jack. If he finds that out both of us will be up here, and what good will that do? Just stay down. I'll be fine." He didn't move, knowing Angel was right. He wouldn't be able to help anyone if he was dieing every couple of minutes.
Angel made eye contact with Owen and raised her eyebrows. He could hear her voice in his head. "I told Jack to stay down. If they find out he's alive after that, it'll just hurt him. Don't tell Gwen and Tosh, let them freak out. It'll make it more believable."
Owen gave an imperceivable nod and looked over at Jack. His chest was just barely rising and falling, and you wouldn't be able to see it if you weren't looking for it. He looked back over at Angel, kind of surprised by her calm demeanor. It only made him think about how many times she must have been in a situation like this before that made her so in control of her emotions. She wasn't even crying.
Angel looked over at the old man. She knew she had seconds left before the machine turned on again, and she didn't know if she could handle it. "Alright!" Roger said, clapping his hands. Angel could see they had become twenty years younger. His face was slowly starting to catch up with his hands. "Full power for ten minutes should do it!"
He cranked everything up as high as it would ho and turned it on. A pain even worse than before went through Angel, and she felt like she was in the middle of Hell. Like the Devil himself was torturing her. Scream after scream of agony came out her mouth, and tears slipped down her cheeks. She wanted so desperately to make them stop, but she couldn't. They came against her will. Her brain was being torn apart piece by piece as something tried to get at it, and Angel fought with all of her strength to keep it out.
Jack struggled to stay still as he heard Angel's screams. Cracking open his eyes just a bit, he saw Gwen and Toshiko crying over him and over Angel. Neither of them could handle seeing someone so young be so hurt, and it was killing them that they couldn't help her. Owen was stone faced, jaw set.
His attention went to Angel. She was crying; sobbing. In the entire year that he had known her, she had never sobbed like that. She barely ever spilled one tear. Jack knew she must be going through the worst pain in the world at the moment. He glanced over at his watch. It had only been three minutes.
As he watched through slitted eyes, he saw deep cuts rip through her body because of the force of the machine. She cried out as one went right through her cheek.
"You're killing her!" Owen yelled, pulling as hard as he could against the stainless steel. "If you keep going she'll be dead within the minute, and then what use is she to you!?"
Roger looked over at Owen, and then over at Angel, where a new cut tore through her shoulder, pulling off a sleeve of her sweatshirt. He stopped the machine and Angel slumped, completely unresponsive. All of her energy had been drained. The machine was on full for five minutes according to Jack's watch.
"Okay, so if this hunk of metal doesn't work on you, let's try a different method, yeah? You are a fighter, aren't you? All of this and you're still not letting me through. What a will you've got. I know just how to break it! Oh, what fun!"
Angel's tears had stopped, but her body throbbed with pain and she barely had the energy to breathe. She couldn't move as something was connected to her head. They felt like wires. Her back arched in pain as shock wave after shock wave of something or other was pushed into her mind, but she didn't dare let her walls fall. But even with her walls up, he was still getting younger.
After the machine stopped and Roger basked in the feeling of getting younger, Angel located the life sized bear that was still in the room. She wondered if the piece was tweaked and it did have a mind of its own, if she could control it. But that would mean she would have to let her walls down. She didn't have the strength to do both.
Owen saw her eyes flicker in indecisiveness, and then watched as she looked over at the bear holding the shotgun. It had loaded the gun again after it had shot Jack. It took him all of a couple of seconds to figure out what she was thinking, and then a determination crossed her eyes.
She closed them, and took as deep of a breath as she could. "NO!" Owen yelled as the gun went off. A huge amount of energy filled the room, and Angel screamed as it left her body. Roger Fieldman clutched his chest, his rapidly de-aging body covered in blood. "You shot me," he said to the bear, like he was betrayed.
Everyone was too preoccupied to think about how ridiculous that was. Angel concentrated harder, pain coursing through her body, her mind throbbing with the amount of force it took to control the stupid teddy bear. She had it get the key from the dead man's pocket and then unlock everyone, then released it. To her surprise, its head exploded. She wondered if that's what happened if one's brain was controlled for too long.
Jack shot up as soon as he was released and ran over to Angel. He got her down carefully from where she hung, and Angel collapsed in his arms. She didn't even try to fight. Her body was too weak to move or speak at the moment, and all she could feel was pain. Tears threatened to pour out of her eyes again, but she blinked them back.
"Jack we have to get her to a hospital," Gwen said. She only faintly heard. She faintly felt her body bobbing with Jack's running, but then she was shifted. Her body was moved to a different pair of arms as the SUV started moving, going faster than she thought possible.
Her head was pressed up against a chest and words passed through her ears to her head. "Come on, stay awake. Just a little bit more, and then you can rest." She couldn't tell who's voice it was.
The SUV jerked to a stop and Angel was being carried again. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep for a bit. "No! Angel, stay awake!" a voice shouted at her. She still couldn't tell who it was. The next thing she felt was being placed on some sort of sheet and being rushed off. That was the last thing she remembered before falling asleep.
Jack paced in the waiting room, his body refusing to let him stay still. Ianto had shown up about twenty minutes ago with coffee for everyone. Jack couldn't focus enough to drink his. On the ride over, he had given Angel over to Owen while he drove faster than he had ever driven before. Angel was half alive, her heart failing quickly. Owen had carried her into the hospital, and Jack knew that he cared for her, no matter how many times he would decline it in the future.
The doctors immediately rushed to their aid and took Angel in for surgery. He didn't know if she would even make it that far. It had been four hours since then, and everyone was on edge. In the short four days she had been at Torchwood, Angel had already made an impression on every single one of them.
After another hour, a doctor came over to them, reading through papers on a clipboard. "Mr. Harkness?" he asked, looking at the small group. Jack stepped up and the doctor explained Angel's situation. "She's stable at the moment, and you can go see her if you'd like. She's resting so try to be quite. Because she's in ICU we can only allow immediate family to go in."
"We are her immediate family," Jack said, gesturing to his team. They were the only family Angel had. The doctor led the group to the Intensive Care Unit and to Angel's room. Jack had to look away for a moment. There was a tube in her mouth helping her breathe and a million other things connected in her arms. She was going to kill him when she woke up.
He entered the room and sat down in a chair next to her bed. Gwen, Ianto, Toshiko and Owen stared at him. "Go home and get some rest," Jack ordered them. He wasn't asking. They left, knowing Jack needed some alone time with Angel. Jack clasped her hand in his for a minute before letting it fall. He stayed by her side all night, not daring to leave.
Angel pounded on the walls of her mind. It was like her brain was on fire and she was slowly dieing in the flames. "Help me!" she cried. "Jack! Doctor! Someone just get me out of here!" she yelled. It was torture.
Every single nightmare and bad memory kept playing on a loop in her head and she didn't know if she could take it. Sometimes bits of conversation would make their way in, but not much. She didn't know what to do. Sometimes she thought she felt someone push her hair back or clutch her hand, but she didn't know if it was real or not.
All she wanted was for it to stop.
It had been a month since Angel had fallen into a coma, and the doctors were urging Jack to pull the cord. He wouldn't budge. They were making progress! She didn't need help breathing anymore and her heart was becoming normal again, but the doctors said there was only a 1% chance of her waking up. He knew Angel, and he knew that she would seize that 1% and wake up.
He couldn't be there everyday, but he tried to go once a week. She mumbled in her sleep sometimes, or he could feel a low amount of energy in the room, but other than that she was unresponsive. He knew that when she woke up she would want to get out of there as soon as she could. Angel absolutely hated chemicals, especially the smell they emitted.
Gwen, Ianto and Owen visited her a couple times, Owen a little bit more than the others. What surprised him was that the Doctor hadn't shown up yet. The day she fell into the coma, Angel sent out enough energy to power the TARDIS for a week! He must have felt it, or his psychic paper would have picked up on it, but he hadn't come once. Jack went back to work, but Angel never fell far from his mind.
Two weeks later, he got a call. "Is this Jack Harkness?" a woman asked.
"Yes," he responded, unsure of what was going on.
"I've called to inform you that a patient named Angel has woken up. If- "
But Jack didn't give her time to finish. He jumped up, grabbed his coat and went downstairs to the main room. "She's awake!" he yelled to his team, grabbing the car keys. Everyone followed him out and piled into the car. Jack sped all the way to the hospital and barged in. He went straight to ICU, not even bothering to sign in.
Ianto had enough sense to stop and sign everyone in before they got caught by security. The receptionist thanked him and he went on, a smile pulling at his lips. He liked Angel.
Jack stepped into Angel's room and went over to her. He saw her eyes open, the green he hadn't seen in so long sparkling with life. "Hey," he said, and pushed back a piece of her hair.
Angel smiled weakly. "Hi."
They looked at each other for a moment before Angel looked at the rest of the group. Her mind was still reeling from the horrible things that had happened, on top of the memories and nightmares. "How long was I out?" she asked, propping herself up.
Jack helped her sit up but she slapped his hands away. She hated help. "Six weeks," Tosh answered, a smile coming upon her lips. She was happy that Angel managed to pull through.
"Six weeks?!" she yelled. Thankfully, she didn't have a roommate at the moment. As everyone caught her up on what had happened, the chemical smell started to register, and she looked at Jack. He saw her hands clenched at her sides, eyes pleading for him to get her out of there. He nodded and left the room.
After Angel was all caught up she looked at them. "Do you guys want me to come back?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.
"I mean to Torchwood. Do you want me to come back?"
"Why wouldn't we?"
Angel shrugged. She was used to saying goodbye to people, especially when she never stayed in one place for long. "I don't know," she shrugged, her hands picking at the blanket like they always did when she was nervous. They stood in awkward silence for a few moments before Jack came back in.
"Best I can do is tomorrow. They need to keep you overnight."
Angel nodded. She suspected as much. She put her arm over her stomach as it growled. She hadn't eaten anything in six weeks! The IV gave her essentials, but her body craved food at the moment. Jack had learned to notice the signs for when she wanted something.
"We'll go grab some food. I saw a place down the street," he said.
Angel nodded and looked down. The five left the room and Angel fiddled with a loose strand on her blanket. Her body was telling her to sleep, and she was drifting off when a familiar noise entered her ears. The brakes of the TARDIS.
Angel sat up some more and looked around. A little blue box was materializing in the room! A smile broke out on her face as she watched it land. The doors open and out popped a man she had seen only once before, but had known for years.
The Doctor was dressed in a tweed jacket with a bow tie. "Hello! I heard someone was awake!"
"You knew I was here?" she asked, looking sceptically at him.
"How could I not! You sent out enough energy to power this old girl for a week!"
Angel wondered who was travelling with him now. The Doctor never stayed alone for long. He sauntered out of his little blue box and over to her, a more serious look on his face. Angel looked at him for awhile. He was so different, but all the same. "What did I say about getting hurt?" he said, swiping the pesky piece of hair that kept falling out of her face.
"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll always be okay. As a silly old man once said, I'm the king of okay."
"Doctor! Where are you? Where are we?" a woman with a Scottish accent called out. A head popped out of the TARDIS doors. Angel saw a flash of red hair, and then some light brown as another person came out of the box.
The red-head walked into the room, the man behind her following right behind.
The Doctor looked up at his new companions. "Angel, this is Amelia Pond and Rory Pond. The Ponds! Ponds, this is Angel."
The two people looked at Angel. She looked fifteen at most. Her body was so small, and Amy guessed her to be a size four at her biggest. "Angel was it?" she asked, looking her over. There were bandages all over her, and Amy could see previous scarring.
"Unfortunately," Angel smiled. The Doctor clasped their hands together and Angel held his tightly. It was such a familiar gesture, but such a different hand she was holding.
"How do you know the Doctor?" Amy asked, looking between the two. They seemed extremely close.
"I was what you are now: a friend. For two years, anyway," Angel responded, a sad smile crossing her lips at the memories. "I chose to leave. This old man was getting sick of me anyway."
"How old are you?" Rory asked. Like his wife, he judged her to be at most fifteen.
"Sixteen. I know, hard to believe."
Both Amy and Rory were a little shocked. Amy had met the Doctor when she was only seven years old, and he took twelve years to come back. She turned to Rory and grabbed his had, silently leading him back to the TARDIS. She knew the Doctor needed some alone time with his friend. Rory knew it too and went back the the TARDIS quietly.
The Doctor paced next to her bed. "Are you okay here?" he asked her.
"Doctor, I'm fine. I just ran into a little bit of trouble is all."
"And Jack?"
"He's, well, Jack. You didn't have to come, you know."
The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at her. It amazed him that even after all this time she still thought she was unimportant. "I wanted to make sure you were doing better." He leaned in a little closer and Angel threw her arms around his neck. "I've missed you," she said and let go. "It's strange being bound to Earth again, after everything I've seen."
"There's always room for you in there, you know that."
"Not this time. You should go back to them."
The Doctor hugged her once more and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm just a yell away if you ever need me, yeah?"
Angel let a small and sad smile linger on her lips. She would miss him. She really would. "Yeah."
She watched as he closed the doors silently and the old girl started up again. Angel's eyes couldn't tear themselves away as the Doctor left once again. Jack came in about two seconds before it disappeared completely, and then gave Angel a knowing glance. She accepted the sandwich he tossed at her and took a small bite, itching to get out of the hospital.
After awhile, everyone had cleared out except for Jack, who sat in a chair with his feet propped up on another one. Angel was now very uncomfortable, and her muscles were ready to run at the first sign of something going wrong. Jack knew this. Even on the TARDIS, when she got seriously injured, she wouldn't be in the medical bay for more than an hour. This got her into a lot of arguments with the Doctor. "Nothing's going to happen. We're in a hospital!"
Angel sighed, refusing to relax. "Can we just break out? Make a run for it or something?"
"They're the ones who wanted to keep you for another week."
"What?! I can't even handle twenty four hours." She hated it! Hospitals were supposed to help you, but her experience with chemicals hadn't been so great. She shivered at the memories and closed her eyes. Eventually, she drifted off, her body tired and weak. Nightmares riddled her sleep and she woke up with a start the next morning.
Jack was drinking coffee and talking to Gwen, who held something in her hands. When Angel woke, both looked over at her. "I brought you some clothes," Gwen said, handing her a bag. "I had to guess your size."
"You didn't have to do that. I'll pay you back," Angel said, accepting the clothes.
"It was no trouble, really."
Angel smiled, knowing she was going to pay Gwen back anyway. Sitting up, she stood and steadily walked to the bathroom. Her legs felt like jelly after laying down for so long. Once she locked the door behind her, Angel let the stupid hospital gown fall to the floor and changed. The clothes fit fine! Gwen had gotten her a pair of black leggings and an over sized sweatshirt, something Angel wore no matter what the weather.
She paced in the bathroom for a bit to get her legs started again and then walked out. "Come on," Jack said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You're officially discharged."
Angel smiled a little and walked out, her legs becoming normal once more. She was quickly gaining back her strength. Jack handed her something as they entered the car, Angel sitting in the back while Gwen and him went to the front. "You forgot this on the table," Jack said.
Angel took the card with a grumble, putting it in her pocket. She didn't like being handed money. She would have to go out and buy some clothes soon, and then look for some place to stay. She couldn't keep sleeping in the Hub.
They drove back and entered the main room where Chinese food sat on the table. A look at the clock told Angel it was almost one in the afternoon. She'd slept a lot longer than she meant to. She went over to the table and took a carton with her name on it. "We didn't know what you like so we ordered some shrimp lo mein," Toshiko said, tossing Angel a pair of chopsticks.
They all sat around the table and ate, laughing and talking. It was the first time Angel had felt at home since she came to Torchwood. Jack excused himself to take a phone call and walked up to his private office, shutting the door behind him.
Caller ID told him it was the hospital. He answered it, keeping and eye on the group below. They were all laughing at something Owen had said. Angel pointed her chopstick at him, said something, and then they burst into laughter again. "Hello. I'm Dr. Renagald. Is this Mr. Harkness?"
"Yes. What's seems to be the problem?"
"We just got back the result from your sister's brainwave scans."
"Okay?"
"It seems that while she was unconscious, Angel went through massive amounts of fear. We suspect she had nightmares quite often while in her coma. Has she been showing any signs of this? Maybe she's more jumpy or squeamish?"
Jack looked over at Angel. She was laughing with the rest of them, showing no signs other than happiness. "No. I don't think she remembers. I'll call if something shows up." Jack ended the conversation and watched Angel a little more carefully. Jack knew she remembered every single detail of every single nightmare and bad memory she had while unconscious, but she would never tell anyone. She would force herself to carry it alone.
Angel laughed and smiled at a story Ianto was telling the table, and then looked up at Jack. He was watching them through the window, a knowing look in his familiar blue eyes. And somehow, Angel knew.
She half-smiled and waved, knowing that she would never tell him what she saw.