TORCHWOOD

Torchwood

If Things Were Different

By Dawn M Duval

Chapter One

The Torchwood hub was unusually quiet. Nothing exciting was happening. But each member of the team was working away on something or other; even Ianto was giving the coffee machine an overhaul.

Toshiko was staring at the screen in front of her. Something wasn't right but she didn't know what it was.

"Is it rift activity?" Jack asked looking over her shoulder.

"It looks like it, but it's not the usually type of reading. I suppose it could just be an error on the system"

"Maybe we should look into it"

"I'll go" Toshiko said picking up her jacket.

"I'll come too" Jack said.

"No, it's probably nothing"

"Ok, but the slightest notion of trouble and you call for back up"

"I will" With that Toshiko left the hub.

The reading had come from a small unassuming street. It was a place that looked like nothing ever happened there. Toshiko looked at the small device in her hand, it was still giving out the same reading it had in the hub. She couldn't understand it, nothing look out of the ordinary. She moved along the road to see if the reading changed.

As she moved forward the weather suddenly changed, the sun had been shining brightly but now it was replaced by the strangest of lights. It was a weird yellow foreboding light, it didn't seem right at all. She immediately looked at the device in her hand, the reading had gone mad.

Toshiko looked around her, everything looked and felt wrong. The strangest thing was there was no sound, nothing at all. She noticed something she hadn't noticed a moment ago. Above her head was a bird, it just hung their suspended in time. Looking to her left she saw the busy junction at the end of the road. People where paused cars where stopped in odd places where they had been moving. Out of interest Toshiko looked at her watch, as she suspected the hands stayed perfectly still. She took another couple of steps forward and the spell was broken everything was moving again.

"Very interesting" Toshiko said to herself, she took a note book out and feverishly scribbled notes down before she forgot anything.

Toshiko decided to take the long way back to the hub in case there was anything else strange. Also she thought it would be nice to get a bit of fresh air, the hub was pretty airless.

As Toshiko returned to the busy street she spotted a familiar figure, you could hardly miss him, but the people walking past hardly noticed him. Toshiko didn't know how anyone could manage to ignore Jack. She was surprised he was out and about he hadn't been planning anything when she'd left. Maybe something had come up, although he hadn't contacted her, she'd have thought he would as she was in the same part of town. She really wanted to tell him about what she had just found out. She tried to get his attention, but he was over the other side of the road.

"Jack!" she called but he didn't hear.

She called him again. Seeing a gap in the traffic, she went for it, but as she did a car pulled out without noticing her and knocked her down.

Next thing Toshiko knew she was lying in a bed, everything ached. She didn't open her eyes immediately. She could hear people were talking about her.

"No identification on her" a female voice said.

"Well whoever she is, she was very lucky it could have been a lot worse"

The second voce sounded strangely familiar. She opened her eyes to find a white coated Owen staring at her.

"Welcome back" he said making some notes.

"Owen!" Toshiko said surprised.

Owen looked rather shocked.

"You know my name?" he asked.

"Yes it's me Toshiko"

"Toshiko…"

"Sato"

Owen looked at the nurse and she wrote it down in her notes. But Owen showed no acknowledgement. Toshiko wondered if Owen was undercover some how and she would have better luck once the nurse had gone, which she did shortly.

"Owen what are you playing at?"

"Look Miss" Owen looked at the notes "Sato I don't know how I know you, but around here I'm Dr Harper"

Owen took Tosh's wrist to take her pulse, his hand was warm.

"Oh my god, you're alive"

Owen gave her a very strange look.

"Well done Miss Sato perhaps you should be the doctor"

Owen shone a pen light in her eyes.

"It seems the accident has left you rather confused" he paused for a moment wondering how the woman in front of him knew his name, not Dr Harper but his Christian name. That was strange. He was certain he didn't know her, he was sure he would have remembered her she was rather pretty. "I think we'll need to keep you in for a while"

Toshiko lay there wondering if she did indeed have concussion but she knew too well that she did know Owen Harper after all she had only battled unrequited love for him for four years. Watching him sleep his way around Cardiff being the one woman he didn't look at with lustful eyes. Even still it wasn't possible he'd forgotten her altogether, they still worked with each other for long hours every day.

Dr Harper came back to see Miss Sato with the results of the tests they had taken. He pulled back the curtain but the bed was empty. He stopped a passing nurse.

"Have you seen my patient?"

The nurse looked blank unsure who he meant.

"A pretty Japanese woman"

The nurse shook her head and Owen scratched his, he still hadn't managed to place her.

Toshiko moved as fast as her aching body would let her. She couldn't stay in the hospital, they thought she was come kind of nut case and she didn't fancy being admitted to a psychiatric ward. She headed towards the battered looking tourist information office, which was the normal looking front for Torchwood.

Ianto was sitting there doing something on the computer when she entered, he looked rather surprised by her entrance.

"Ianto, do you know me?"

"Of course I do, but what are you doing here?"

"Why shouldn't I be here?"

"Because you have just flown out to see your dying auntie"

"Don't be silly my auntie died years ago"

She started to walk through the office "I need to talk to Jack, Owen's acting strangely"

"Owen?"

As Toshiko entered the hub Gwen looked rather surprised to see her too.

"Tosh, you're back!"

"I only went a mile down the road"

"What about Japan?"

"I don't know where you and Ianto have got that from"

Jack entered.

"Jack have you been telling stories about me?"

She looked at Jack it was the same old Jack, but something was different, he had a scar on his cheek that had never been there before.

"Jack what happened?" Toshiko asked

He looked at her with puzzlement.

"The scar" she said

He absentmindedly put his hand to his face.

"Why hasn't it healed, you always heal in minutes"

"Tosh I've had this all the time I have known you. It happened before my cosmic accident. I'll tell you what, my appendix never grew back either"

Toshiko was somewhat unnerved by events, first Owen not recognising her, now Jack had a permanent scar she never remembered. What was happening?

"I've just seen Owen" she said "He was acting very strangely he didn't seem to recignise me"

"Owen?"

"Yes Owen"

"No I mean Owen who?"

"Owen Harper, Owen our Owen"

"Nope not with you"

"Gwen help me here you know Owen, you and he…"

"We what?"

Toshiko lowered her voice "You had an affair"

"I really don't know who you're talking about, I would never cheat on Rhys"

Gwen was looking just as concerned as Jack.

"He works here" Toshiko persisted.

"No he doesn't" Jack said calmly "Check the personnel files if you don't believe us"

She did and it was true there was nothing about Owen on there. She did wonder -knowing Torchwood as she did – if Owen had done something that needed to be covered up, meaning he had to leave and memories had to be altered. But he had been there when she had left just an hour or so ago, even for Torchwood that would have been a quick turn around to wipe someone from history. Toshiko trawled through the computer looking for any remnants of deleted files mentioning Owen but still there was nothing. It was like to Torchwood he didn't exist, and hadn't ever existed.

"Jack indulge me"

"Ok"

"Who's Torchwood's medical officer?"

"Bernard Cliffton-Reed. I call him Berney. He's a bit of a toff, I don't usually recruit from the upper classes, god knows Torchwood had enough of them over the years. But Berney was the best qualified at the time, well that could handle this place. Anyway he likes you"

"Does he?"

"Sure does"

Just then a tall blond man who's whole looked screamed upper class toff came in. He couldn't be any more the opposite of Owen if he tried.

"Ah Berney, we were just talking about you. Toshiko seems to have a problem remembering you"

"I'm hurt" Said Berney not taking it seriously.

Jack lowered his voice and leant towards Toshiko so only she could hear. "Tosh I'm worried about you, take a couple of days off. Get your head in order; you've been working too hard"

All they did was work too hard at Torchwood, Toshiko thought, although it had never affected her like this before. She opened her mouth to say that she didn't need time off but Jack stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"That's an order" Jack said "I need my staff fit" he gave her a warm smile before going back to his office.