Suzie slowly opened the door to Jack's office, trying her best not to grimace at the mess. She waded through boxes of photos and files from just under a century ago to stand before Jack's desk, stomping loudly. Her boss just carried on sleeping, empty whiskey bottle held loosely in his right hand. She slammed her hands down on the desk.
"Jack!"
Jack's head shot up, his hair squashed to one side and his eyes bleary with sleep.
"You look like shit." she informed him, making Jack smile queasily.
"Why, thank you." he mumbled, looking confusedly at his whiskey bottle. "Hey, where did my whiskey go?"
"You drank it. What's wrong, Harkness? You've been up here all night brooding."
"Nothing's wrong, Suze, just a little tired is all."
"And drunk. I could smell the ale from the autopsy bay. Tell me, Jack."
"We've got a new employee." He told her simply, laughing slightly "And a new pet."
"Oh, what an amazing reason to almost drink yourself to death!" she exclaimed sarcastically, causing Jack to smile.
"I'm not drinking because of that." he told her, making Suzie raise an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe I am."
"And, pray tell, why are you drinking heavily in honour of this new employee?"
"He's 24, Welsh and he's fucking gorgeous. He left me on the floor after he lay on top of me and I don't think he's going to bite."
"Okay, let me get this straight. You drank-" she counted the bottles quickly "What amounts to two times the recommended weekly allowance of alcohol units because a young Welshman won't shag you? Get a grip, Jack."
"No." he said stubbornly, attempting to stand up. He failed. "There's no point, anyway. He's just going to die, like the rest of them. Everybody's going to die and leave me behind."
"Everybody dies, Jack. Even you." she reassured him, patting his arm, frowning when he laughed bitterly.
"Yeah, I'd like to see that happen." He muttered, making Suzie frown.
"What?"
"Go home, Suzie. Live. You sure as hell don't get a life stuck here all day. You think it'll be okay, then this place takes your life and before you know it this is all you are. Run, Suzie Costello, run from the aliens, from the craziness and have a normal life." Jack told her, making her sigh.
"Jack, go to bed, you aren't making any sense. I'll see you in the morning." With that, she turned and left the office, stopping at her station for her bag before starting on the long walk home. Jack was in a melancholy mood and she was too tired to humour him. Whoever this Welsh bloke was, he had got Jack hooked. She arrived at her flat and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep fully clothed with her coat still on.
A coffee mug landed with a large plonk on her desk, the brown liquid within swishing about but miraculously not spilling onto the polished surface. Suzie turned to see a tall young man smiling at her, holding out a hand. She blinked at it.
"Ianto Jones. And you are?" he asked. Suzie shook herself out of her thoughts and shook the man's hand, plastering a fake smile on her face.
"Suzie Costello. So you're the gorgeous Welshman, then?" she asked, making the newbie blush. He shook his head.
"I don't know what you mean?"
"Jack fancies you. Just thought I'd tell you just in case you file a harassment charge against him. Not that you would, mind, I mean, I wouldn't deny that." she told him, looking up to where Jack was shouting at the phone in the conference room. Must be the Prime Minister again.
"I've got a girlfriend."
"Oh, shame, there's been no good gossip around here for a while. Ah, well. Nice meeting you, Ianto." she raised her cup to him, smiling. He nodded politely in return and started to walk away. Suzie took a sip of the deliciously warm coffee. She grinned.
"Amazing coffee, by the way, I can see why he likes you!" she shouted after him, a look of satisfaction about her when she saw his ears redden. She barely had time to collect her thoughts when an American voice rang through the Hub.
"Suzie! My office, now!" she rolled her eyes and got up, regrettably putting the coffee mug down on the silver desk and traipsing towards the small office, passing Owen and Tosh's desks as she went.
"Yes, Jack?" she asked him around the door, frowning slightly at the serious look on Jack's face. Jack was only ever serious when he had to be, which meant something was going on. She walked in, closing the door behind her.
"About last night-." Jack started, cut off by Suzie's laugh.
"You mean when you told me of your desire to fuck our new tea boy senseless? What about it?"
"I'm sorry that you had to see me like that." He told her, looking into her eyes with a piercing gaze.
"Sorry? You've got to be kidding, I loved it! We're all human, Jack. We all have our drunken moments, hell, I think if Owen didn't work he'd rarely be sober but seeing you like that reminded me we're all vulnerable. Even you, hero as you are." Suzie said, looking straight back at Jack defiantly. "I don't blame you for getting drunk Jack, but you could've been a little more adult about it. You want him, go and get him, no more brooding."
"Great. Now piss off, I've got a tea boy to seduce." He commanded, making Suzie laugh heartily before going back to her desk.
Funnily enough, it worked. She knew Ianto would rather die than discuss intimate details of his love life, but the way they were with each other was a huge giveaway and she wanted nothing more than to shake him, to tell him and to make him realise that Jack wasn't the type to stick around, that he would one day break his heart. But Jack, even in his drunk moments, is rarely wrong and what he said came true. Torchwood became all that Suzie was. She became obsessed with the glove, killed three people before she was stopped, before reality took hold. But she was too far in and the only way out that she saw was death, only to be dragged back again by the thing that caused her demise. She didn't have enough time to warn him as she was engulfed by an exhilarating madness she found too hard to give up.
What Suzie saw in Ianto's eyes was what she used to see in the mirror every morning: despair. He had been driven to the edge and needed saving, before Torchwood became too much and he met the same ends as Suzie herself. Two little words muttered in Jack's ear before her plan was put into place, before she betrayed him once again, using the last shred of humanity she had left to do one last thing.
"Save him."
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