This was born from a moment of shared confusion between Gwen and me in 'Adrift', when we both failed to recognise a GPS system for what it was, and from several years' worth of my own technological mishaps. I decided that if any member of the team shared this problem it would be Gwen, so here is some light Gwen-bashing (or Beth-bashing, from my point of view) where I can download all my more stupid mistakes.

I like to dedicate things, so this story is dedicated to all the Toshs in my life, who help straighten out the technological chaos I leave behind me.

The Printer

Gwen glared angrily at the printer and its unhelpful message. All she had been trying to do was print out a few more sheets of personal info on one of the people related to their current case – part of her drive to make Torchwood more 'people-friendly' – only to be thwarted by this simple piece of technology.

'Please insert more paper in tray two.'

Well, she'd found more paper after asking what-was-was-his-name -- Ianto. There was nothing wrong with not knowing where the spare paper was kept. It was only her second week, after all. But as for tray two…

The Torchwood printer seemed a lot more complex than her home printer, and she'd already managed to break that one several times by feeding in the paper wrong so that it became stuck inside. She remembered having to spend half an hour fishing scraps of chewed-up paper out with tweezers so that Rhys wouldn't find out. She had managed to open up the front of this printer but couldn't fit the paper in properly – no matter how she tried it, it wouldn't fit. She tried just poking it in and then closing up the front panel, in the hope that it would slide in. It didn't.

She sighed quietly to herself and weighed up the alternatives. She could try and shove it in any old where, and break the printer, or she could admit defeat, lose her pride and go and ask for help. Imagining Owen's face when he discovered that the 'new girl' had broken the printer, she opted for the latter.

"Err, Ianto?"

Ianto looked up from the pile of records he was checking. Surely she couldn't need more paper already? However, he answered in his politest voice; "What's the matter?"

"Errm, I'm having a few problems with the printer…" Gwen led Ianto over to the printer whilst continuing to explain. "I know it sounds stupid, but I can't work out how to load it, and I've broken my home one a few times, so... sorry."

Ianto carefully kept even a flicker of amusement from crossing his face as Gwen gestured helplessly at the printer and its pile of paper. Wordlessly, he bent over and slid open the paper draw at the bottom of the printer, just underneath the bit Gwen had opened.

Gwen mentally kicked herself several times as she watched him casually loading the tray and sliding it back in again, knowing full well that he thought she wasn't capable of doing that either.

"Thanks." she mumbled, blushing furiously. "Err… I never got the hang of technology… need to take an IT course…"

Ianto nodded and walked away, leaving Gwen stood dumbly by the printer, wishing furiously that he wouldn't tell anyone.

***

Shortly afterwards Ianto noticed a steep decline in the amount of paper being used and also in the number of wall-to-wall collages of people's lives. And he guessed it wasn't just because Gwen was trying to be eco-friendly.

I did that in the library yesterday lunchtime. Now the librarian thinks I'm an idiot. And I am, from a technological point of view.

Please, please review and I'll post another chapter. But only if you send nice reviews. If you embarrass me too much I won't be too keen on publishing another of my idiotic mistakes online for all the world to see – you have been warned!