AN: This is my first fanfiction that I'm publishing here. The beginning is a bit slow, but it will get better!
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or it's characters. Only the wolf is mine :)
The hub was surprisingly loud for a day with so little rift activity. Tosh was working on her computer programs, the click-clack of her keyboard the only sound coming from her workstation. Owen was playing some video game, avoiding reports for the past three aliens he had dissected. Gwen still wasn't sure what to make of this new workspace. She had tried reading some background information on Torchwood and had quickly gotten bored with that, so she decided to follow Owen's example, though she did some online window shopping instead of video games.
Jack appeared to be working in his office. Appeared was the keyword here. He was looking at some reports that he needed to sign, but wasn't absorbing any of the details. He was bored out of his mind. And he was hungry. Just as he thought he might die of starvation, the alarms at the cog wheel door blared to life, announcing the arrival of Ianto. With food. He headed up to the conference room, the whole team following him like a pack of hungry dogs. He quietly slipped out of the room after setting the food down, coming back a few minutes later with that magic coffee only he was able to make. He gave everyone their personal favorite drink before sitting down to eat his own Chinese food.
Halfway through their lunch break, the rift activity monitor blared to life, causing everyone to jump in their seats and Owen to curse as he dropped some rice into his lap. Tosh raced down to her workstation, Jack not far behind her.
"That is one hell of an activity spike," Jack murmured.
"Jack, we haven't seen a rift spike like this in ages. I think we should all go out on this."
"You're right Toshiko. Something big must have come through with a spike that size. Gwen! Owen! Get your guns and head to the SUV!" Jack ran to his office as he shouted instructions, taking his coat as Ianto handed it to him. "Ianto, stay here. Have a cell ready, and the autopsy bay just in case."
"Yes, sir."
Jack ran out to the SUV, jumped into the driver's seat and tore out of the garage like a bat out of Hell. With Jack's driving it took less than 15 minutes to get to the site, just outside the city. The team piled out of the vehicle, senses on high alert and guns at the ready. They followed Ianto's directions from the hub, soon coming upon an area of burned grass with a body roughly in the middle of it. They all approached cautiously. The creature didn't appear to be moving, but they didn't want to take any chances.
"Is that a wolf?" Gwen asked, staring incredulously at the huge canine in front of them.
"That looks way to large to be any Earth wolf," remarked Owen as he crept forward to get a closer look. Only Tosh noticed that Jack had stopped dead, staring at the creature, eyes wide but vacant.
"Jack, are you ok?" Tosh questioned. She got no reply. "Jack!" His head snapped towards her and he seemed to come back to the present.
"I think I know this species. They're both wolf and human, capable of switching between forms at will. It's not exactly alien, the species originates on Earth. They're from the future."
"How do you know so much?" Gwen stared at him, eyes wide.
"I dated one once. She was stranded here, out of her time. I tried to help her acclimate. She disappeared one night. No note, no goodbye of any sort."
Owen frowned as he examined the creature on the ground. "We need to get this thing to the hub stat. I can see some major external damage, I need to do a full examination to rule out any internal damage as well."
"You go prepare the SUV for her, I'll carry her."
"Watch her broken front leg Jack. And don't jostle her too much, her ribs are probably broken."
"Gwen, get the SUV started. Toshiko, search for any information we have about any shape-shifting species."
The drive back felt like an eternity, with Gwen driving much slower than Jack would and the wolf breathing shallowly on Jack's lap while Owen poked and prodded it a bit.
Gwen dropped Owen, Jack, and the wolf off at the invisible lift before going to park the SUV. As Jack caught sight of Ianto waiting at the bottom of the lift, he realized they had all forgotten about him while they were in the field.
"Anything I can do, sir?"
"Get some towels and hot water down to the autopsy bay and pull out some local anesthetics. I don't want to risk sedating her," Owen answered, walking briskly towards his domain to wash up and don his lab coat.
Jack carried the wolf down to the table. Ianto had placed a large towel on top of the metal surface of the table, which Jack settled her onto as gently as he could.
"Owen, her breathing is getting worse."
"Shit. Out of the way Jack." Owen took his stethoscope to her chest and listened to her heart and lungs. "She's got fluid in her lungs. I'm gonna have to open her up. If she has fluid in her lungs she could have internal bleeding too. Where's Tosh? Did she ever get any information?"
"There is almost no information on shape-shifting species in the database. There might be some in the paper records though. The only information I did come up with is about a reptile species, but they're not really shape-shifters, they're more like human reptile crosses."
"So I have nothing to go on. Great."
"I can look up something on wolf anatomy. It might not be perfect, but it'll be better than nothing."
"Good idea Toshiko. Ianto, go down to the archives and see if you can dig anything up. Gwen, go get some coffee while Ianto is down in the archives. I'm going to help Owen." They ball split and went about their respective tasks.
Owen realized he had some serious work ahead as soon as he opened her up. One of her lungs was punctured and blood was seeping into it from internal wounds. He was glad to see that her heart was just fine and there was no acid coming out of her stomach. He had hours of surgery ahead.
"Hope you're ready for a long night Jack. Got anything for me Tosh?"
"Just a basic layout of internal organs."
"Put it up on screen. Don't want anything in the wrong place."
Ianto surfaced from the archives three hours later, covered in dust, carrying only a small file. There was no one in the main area of the hub, but he heard some small curses and murmured instructions coming from the autopsy bay. He followed the sound and found Tosh and Jack standing around the table, occasionally handing Owen small medical instruments, or—in Tosh' case—mumbling small corrections apparently about where organs belonged or which blood vessels should be avoided. Ianto stood at the top of the observation deck, not wanting to startle any of them, or get any dust into the sterilized area.
Jack turned around quickly, feeling someone's eyes on him. He relaxed when he saw Ianto standing there, file in hand.
"Find anything useful?" He asked hopefully.
"Not really. Just a small file with basic descriptions of half a dozen shape-shifters. They're very old descriptions, and they all seem very negative, sir." Jack frowned.
"You can go home then, Ianto. I already sent Gwen off. No reason to make you sit around waiting. I'll call you if we need anything."
"Of course, sir." He turned and walked out, leaving silently if not for sounds of the door.
"We've still got at least three more hours. It's like someone was interrupted in the middle of trying to beat her to death."
"Who would do such a thing?"
"I don't know Toshiko. Maybe we'll get some answers when she wakes up."
"If she wakes up." Jack and Tosh both glared at Owen. No one wanted to hear his pessimism. "Don't give me those looks. I'm being realistic. With this extent of bodily injury and a major concussion like the scanner picked up, she might die or fall into a coma. We all need to be prepared for the worst." Both of his teammates agreed grudgingly, and continued to help their doctor fix up the poor creature in front of them.
TWTWTWTWTWTW
At home, Ianto showered and got dressed into fresh suit before grabbing a quick dinner and heading back to the hub, using the forgotten back entrance that he had used in his first few weeks. He slipped through the underground levels, finally reaching his destination. He quietly opened and closed the door, trying to not wake the woman inside.
"Ianto?" She called out, body constricted by the metal casing and wires attached to the table she lay on top of.
"Yes my love. Did I wake you? How's the pain?" He started fussing over the machine, checking medicine doses and electrical connections.
"I was already awake. The pain is...bearable."
"Soon Lisa. The doctor will be here in a few weeks, and he'll be able to heal you." He put another dose of painkillers/sedatives into her IV and talked with her about work until she drifted off. He slipped back out, not daring to stay that night with so many people in the hub, even if they were distracted. He headed back to the small apartment that wasn't really home, but it at least contained a bed. He took a heavy dose of sleeping pills and let himself slip into unconsciousness.
