Bring Me To Life

Chapter One: Meeting Torchwood, Part One

"Jenny, huh?" said the handsome man, giving her a friendly smile with a hint of caution to it; it was obvious that he was a warrior, at least to some degree. Enough to look at everyone as though they might suddenly decide to kill him. But there was also something in him that was reckless and fearless and didn't care whether this fate befell him, as long as he was the only one endangered. Jenny was immediately reminded of her dad. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness," the man went on, still smiling, and Jenny got the feeling that he was thinking some rather untoward thoughts as he stood there staring at her. She didn't particularly mind this, however. He was very handsome.

She gave him a bright grin. "Captain," she said in greeting, extending a hand. Jack hesitated for a moment, then took it. They shook. "Are you a military man, then?" Jenny asked, tone conversational. "I was in an army, before I got here. 'Course, the war on my planet's over now, so they're not missing me or anything."

The Captain continued to smile as he stepped closer to her. "Your planet? Yeah, I figured you were an alien - the spaceship's kind of a giveaway, I guess. Where are you from?"

"Messaline," she answered.

Jack pondered her reply for several moments. "Messaline...nope, never heard of it." Then he gave her a once-over with his eyes, half in the way he'd been doing before, but half like he was examining her for signs of being hostile or dangerous in some way. "Human? You look it, but I've learned never to be too sure."

"Human," confirmed Jenny automatically, then realised that she wasn't. She was a Time Lord, technically. Best not spread it around, though, she reasoned; if the Time Lords were all supposed to be gone now, then people finding out that she was one would probably draw unwanted attention.

"All right then." Captain Jack took her gently by the elbow and steered her over to the tall statue, leading her onto a seemingly ordinary paving stone. Jenny would have protested had she not been so curious about this world and this man and, indeed, this paving stone, which suddenly began its descent down into the ground.

She looked up at the man as they sunk below ground-level. "Where are you taking me?"

"Sorry about this," he replied, flashing her a toothy and slightly apologetic grin. "But your ship - and you - came through the Rift, so I gotta take you in and run some tests." He raised his hands in a gesture of peace when Jenny shot him a startled look. "Don't worry, it won't hurt. Unless you turn out to be some alien psycho-killer, in which case, yeah. It kinda will hurt."

Jenny was about to assert that she most certainly was not an alien psycho-killer, when the interior of their destination came into view, and her words were replaced by an intake of breath. The place was enormous, full of walkways and computers and wires and technology, all sorts of wondrous things that she'd never seen on Messaline. This was what she'd been hoping for; discovering new civilizations, and with them new inventions, marvels of the universe. While she was taking all this in, a giant, flying reptile swooped over their heads and screeched loudly, making Jenny instinctively duck and let out a small cry. Jack laughed.

"Don't mind the pterodactyl," he told her as she straightened up. "It won't bite, as long as you stay outta the barbeque sauce."

"What is this place?" she breathed, as the paving stone elevator came to a halt. "It's fantastic!"

Jack gave her an odd look at this last word, but quickly replaced it with his default, jovial expression. "This is Torchwood's Hub," he said. "It's where we work, protecting the Earth from hostile aliens." He smirked. "Arming the human race against the future."

"We?" inquired Jenny, but no sooner had she said it than the answer to her query became apparent; a man and a woman were walking toward them, both eyeing Jack with suspicion before turning cautious eyes on Jenny.

The woman, who had a great deal of long, dark hair and several faint freckles on her face, addressed the Captain in an odd accent that Jenny hadn't heard before. "Who's this, then, Jack?"

The man, shorter than Jack and wearing a light pink dress-shirt and black suit and vest, simply stared at Jenny, in a way that made her feel as though she were less welcome here than the plague. She shifted uncomfortably. "I'm Jenny," she said in a submissive tone, as if the words were a kind of peace offering. "I came here in my ship - crashed here. Just outside."

"From the Rift?" the man asked, speaking to Jack. He appeared to want to avoid contact with Jenny at all costs, and she was left wondering what it was she'd done wrong.

Jack nodded in reply, raising his eyebrows in what seemed a mild warning. "From a planet called Messaline. Says she's human, and she seems nice enough to me." The other man muttered, "Of course she does, she's blonde," but the Captain either didn't hear this or simply ignored it, turning to Jenny. "This is my team, or half of it. Gwen Williams, nee Cooper" - he gestured to the woman, who smiled - "and Ianto Jones." Indicating the man, who continued to frown, trying to look everywhere but at Jenny.

"Want us to take her to Martha?" Ianto asked, looking up at Jack pleadingly, his expression seeming to say Make Gwen do it, not me.

"Actually," said the Captain, his face twisting into a sly smile, "I think we can leave that for later, Martha's busy wrapping up that last case. And Gwen, I need you with me for a minute." He laid a hand on Jenny's back, urging her forward off the lift, stepping off after her. "Ianto, could you give Jenny here the tour? Wouldn't want our guest to get bored waiting for us, now, would we?" With a wink at Jenny and a quick "see you in a bit", he walked off in the direction of an office-like room with Gwen, both of them entering and Jack closing the door with a forbidding sort of click.

Leaving Jenny and Ianto alone.

Fantastic.

She swung her arms absentmindedly as awkward silence enveloped them both, then adjusted the hem her green shirt without quite realising she was doing it. If she had been looking at Ianto at that moment, Jenny would have seen him link his hands behind his back and rock slightly on the balls of his feet.

"So," she began, trying to break the tension in the air with some friendly small-talk.

"So," echoed Ianto. His rocking came to a gentle halt, and he cast around for something to say or do. Then he seemed to grasp it, finally looking into the girl's face, managing a hint of a smile albeit a formal one. "Would you like a coffee?"

Jenny noticed that he had the same accent as the woman Gwen, although slightly less pronounced. "Yes, thanks," she said, although she didn't really like coffee too much; she was more of a tea person. Not that she'd gotten the chance to try either during her very short life so far. It was just one of those things she knew.

Without another word, Ianto started to wander off, presumably to the kitchen. Caught between not wanting to be left on her own in an unfamiliar environment and not wanting to continue with the stifling awkwardness between the man and herself, Jenny decided to accompany him. Besides, she considered that he might get in trouble from Jack for not keeping an eye on her.

To be continued.