Hiya, here is chapter two, please read and review… remember don't own Torchwood, that is RTD and the BBCs proerty!
Chapter Two: Finding a new doctor and alien encounters
Jack sped down the streets of Cardiff as all of the traffic lights turned green. I activated the computer in front of me and took out my notebook and hooked it up to the database, allowing me to access the Torchwood server.
"This is such primitive technology." I muttered as I hack into the database and the GPS system of the car. "Really need to upgrade Jack; that was way too easy!" I said as I pulled the data I needed to remotely access the hub's database at home, I activated my security blocks on my notebook so that no one but me could access this area of my computer and smiled at him as he pulled into the A&E area. Pulling out his sunglasses he looked at me.
"You ready?" He asked as I closed my notebook and put it in my bag, nodding as he put on his sunglasses and left the car. I undid my seatbelt as Jack went into the boot to get something and I got out following behind Jack. He had an air of authority around him as he walked into the building and people moved to the side, I wished that I could pull it off but I knew that I did not have enough self confidence to do that. He walked up to the counter and leaned on it, a nurse appeared.
"May I help you sir?" She asked as Jack dipped down his sunglasses and looked at her name badge and then smiled his charming smile at her.
"My name is Captain Jack Harkness and this is my partner Ilandere Starr. We are from Special Ops. We were called over to see something Gemma." He said as she blushed still from her smile. "Would you be a sweetheart and tell us where we need to go?" He asked and she giggled, yuck gross he was flirting. She nodded as she picked up a folder and then led us to a room from A&E. I looked in and saw a woman, no older than thirty lie on a bed… it looked like she was sleeping. Jack took the folder that Gemma had and began to read it and nodded. "Would you please fetch her doctor, we will be in the room." He said and she nodded as Jack opened the door and walked in.
Jack put the case from the boot on the table as I closed the blinds. He pulled out a device, a portable x-ray machine.
"Nice, haven't seen one of them since my last medic bay visit." I said as he began to scan her body. He reached her head and saw something. I went over and looked at the display, there was something eating her brain. "Gross." I said as I pulled out my notebook and began to access the database again to see if I could find anything.
"No need, I have seen this before, but for it to put her in a coma must be some different kind of race." Jack said as he pressed his communicator. "Gwen, how is the clean room looking?" He asked and I heard her snort.
"Clean Jack, like always." I heard her say. "What kind of stupid question is that?" She asked him.
"We are going to have a little operation, let's just hope that this woman's doctor will be understanding and help us." He said as there was a knock at the door and it opened to reveal a male doctor. He must be in his late twenties as looked at me and Jack.
"I am glad you could make it." He said as he pulled out the x-ray images of her brain, same to the ones we had just done. "She came to us this morning and then passed out. We realized she was in a coma and scans of her brain have shown this." He said as he put the backlight on and we could see the images.
"Has anyone else seen these?" Jack asked and the doctor shook his head.
"Do you really think that people would believe it even if they saw it?" He asked… touché. I looked at the doctor; he was cute and looked to be in shape. He had short brown hair and was at least a foot and a half taller than me. Jack turned and looked at me and I shrugged.
"We have a clean room back at our base and we need to get her there, but we also need your help if you think you are up to it?" Jack asked him and he nodded right away.
"If it can save her life then I am prepared to do anything, she is my cousin after all." He said and Jack looked at me and I shook my head, I knew what he wanted me to do, read his mind. Jack let out a sigh as we got the patient ready and the doctor carried her to the back of the SUV. He sat down with her head on his lap and began to stroke her head as I climbed into the passenger side again.
"Gwen make the lights green and get out the suits, we are brining her in." He said into the communicator as I pressed it.
"No need to worry about the lights Gwen, I can do that from the SUV." I said as Jack turned and smiled at me. "Sorry, am somewhat of gadget freak." I muttered as he started the SUV and drove.
I looked over in the back to make sure everything was okay.
"My name is Ilandere Starr, different I know, may I ask for yours?" I asked the doctor as he looked up at me and smiled.
"Dr Raphael Scott." He said as he nodded at me and I put on a smile at him as I turned back and saw that we were already at the hub. Opening the door to the car I climbed out and then looked into the peep hole for the retinal scan. I heard the door click and opened it as Raphael brought in his cousin inside as Jack went in behind them and I followed. Jack went in front and led us to a room off the corridor that led to the hub. Gwen was already in the room in a suit as he took the girl from Raphael's arms and took her onto the bed that was in a tent. She went into an airlock as an air shower quickly took place and then she went in and placed the girl on the bed. Jack had led Raphael to get a suit and then looked at me.
"Come on, we are going to need you in there too." He said and I nodded as Jack handed me a suit and I put my bag down. Taking off my trainers I put the suit on over my clothing and walked into the shower part of the chamber. Covering my ears I allowed the air shower to blow onto the suit and then went into the main part of the clean room. Gwen had hooked the girl up to heart monitor and a blood pressure monitor as Jack and Raphael came in.
"What is her name?" Gwen asked and I looked at Raphael as he checked her vitals.
"Lucy, she is thirty years old, came in today with headaches just as I was finishing my shift, even though I told her I would check on her at home she said the pain was unbearable and then she just lost consciousness and that was when I knew something was wrong. After I did the scans I called the police and told them what I found and was patched through to you." He explained and I nodded. I looked at Jack; I knew what he wanted to do; cut her open.
"Last time we saw an alien parasite of this kind it killed its host and when it was discovered and her head was opened up it released a toxin that knocked all of the people in the room out, hence why we are here in a clean room and also in these suits. Do you think you are up for brain surgery Dr Scott?" Jack asked him and I could see him physically gulp as he slowly nodded. "Wonderful, shall we begin?" Jack said as he clapped his hands together and pulled over a trolley.
Removing the cover I could see that there was all of the necessary equipment needed for an operation as Jack pulled me to the side. "Do you think you can take control of the creature's brain like you did with the weevil yesterday?" He asked; now it was my turn to gulp.
"I… I can try Jack but I won't know until I touch its brain and even then I am not sure if I can control it." I said as he put his hands on my shoulders, even through the suit my body felt like it was electrically charged… was I falling for Jack?
"I have faith in you and know you can do this." He said in a low voice to me and again I gulped and then nodded. I went over as Raphael was getting ready to make the incision.
"Wait just for a minute please." I said as I went behind her and bent down to her level. I put my hands on the side of her head just a few inches away and then closed my eyes and began to reach out. I could feel the two presences, Lucy and the creature. Lucy was calling to me and I turned to her and smiled.
I am here to help, please do not be afraid.I said to her as she looked at me and the nodded. Good, please keep quiet, I need to talk to the other thing here in your mind. I said to her and then I felt her presence ebbing away; allowing me to focus on the one I came for. The creature was happy, and when it felt me it kinda got curious. I pulled at it; it was a simple mind just like the weevil, all it wanted was to survive. I pulled on this thought and made it think that nothing was happening as I nodded slowly.
"Jack I have it, do it now." I said as I felt myself being moved back so that Raphael could operate. I never once opened my eyes as I heard the humming of the saw and it hitting the bone. I could feel Lucy's presence knocking onto my mind; I let out a groan I was not sure how long I could hold this. Lucy we are trying to help you. I need to focus, please do not worry, your cousin is here operating on you and you will be fine I promise. I said to her and I felt her unease as she backed away, I concentrated on the creature that was still unaware of what was happening.
"Okay, we are in; I can see the creature." I heard Raphael's voice in the room, but to me it sounded like he could have been miles away for all I knew.
"Okay, Gwen can you get the containment unit. We need to do this quickly; I don't think she can keep the ruse up much longer." I heard Jack's voice in the distance. I heard movement as the creature still concentrated on its meal. I could hear something being done and then for all I knew hours must have passed before I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"You can let go now." Jack said as I tried to pull back. The creature felt the coldness of the glass box on it and began to get angry. It released a gas that had no effect on anyone as I pulled away and then saw nothing but darkness.
"Bet you can't catch me Shaylee!" I shouted as I began to run in the open field, my little sister following me as I tumbled in the long grass and she came up to me and fell next to me. My sister changed into her feline form as she began to purr and leap on my stomach, I began to stroke her as she began to get comfy. "Do you think that Jalen will be home soon?" I asked her as she opened up her mind to me and I read her answer and smiled. "Yeah the Time Agency is keeping him away for a long time this time… but when he is back I am sure we can all play together." I said and she meowed in response as she began to close her eyes and sleep. I stroked my sister absentmindedly as the clouds in the sky began to appear… but they were not clouds… it was a shuttle of some kind. It landed near us and I sat up, moving my sister to the ground where she changed back to her human form; for me watching her change was a beautiful process as she stood up next to me. I recognized the markings of the shuttle, it was our brother! We ran to where it landed and waited for the doors to open as he stood out.
"Ilandere we need to get you out of here, they are after you." He said as he pushed me into the shuttle. "Shaylee, go home and tell mom and dad that I have taken Ilandere somewhere safe, I will be back in a day and take them there too I promise." He said; I quickly hugged my sister and kissed her.
"Be a big brave girl for me." I said as she began to cry. "I love you Shaylee, now run, like the wind!" I said as she nodded and changed into a cat again and ran home.
I could hear beeping in the distance as I slowly opened my eyes. I felt something warm holding my right hand as I looked to the side and saw Jack sitting there, his head was lowered as I reached over and touched him.
"Thank the stars you are awake!" He said as he looked up at me and smiled. "How are you feeling?" He asked as I tried to take in my surroundings. There were a few beds and I knew then I must be in the medical room of the hub.
"Like I went a round with a boxer and lost." I said and he laughed.
"Well, you didn't lose and Lucy is going to be fine." Jack said as he pointed to the bed on my left. I looked over and saw her lying there as Raphael was checking her vitals. He came over to me and smiled as he began to check mine.
"Thank you for saving her. I know that you had a huge role to play in this somehow." He said and I smiled weakly.
"Just tell me when I can get out of here." I said and he laughed.
"You need rest, you have exhausted yourself." He said and I nodded, I could do that at home as he unhooked me from the machines. "Besides that you are fine, well your blood was a bit strange if I may be honest but after what I have seen today, nothing can surprise me anymore." He said as I began to sit up and sway a bit. Jack was standing at my side in an instance.
"Worried about me were you Jack?" I asked him and he smiled.
"Can't have my dinner date being sick tonight now can I?" He asked and this time I blushed. We heard a moan and I rushed to Lucy's side as I took her hand and she opened her eyes and looked at me.
"You were in my dream." She said and I laughed and smiled.
"I am in a lot of people's dreams, did it help you?" I asked her and she nodded. "You are going to be fine; thanks to your cousin." I said and she turned and saw Raphael at her side.
"He is not the only one I should thank." She said as she turned to me and smiled. "Thank you for what you did." She said and again I smiled.
"I didn't do anything; now rest you have to get better soon." I said as I stood up and left the medical room.
Tears fell down my cheek as the flashback about my sister came back to me, I missed her so much. I looked around and then went towards the main part of the hub. My jacket and bag were next to the workstation that Jack was on this morning as I went up to it and sat down, Gwen came up to me and gave me a bottle of water.
"Thanks, how long was I out?" I asked her.
"Several hours, how are you feeling?" She asked as I reached into my bag for some pain killers.
"Well, besides the monster headache pretty good." I said as I took one out of the bottle and popped it in my mouth, taking a swig of water I swallowed it and looked at her.
"Well, I am going home; Rhys will be worried about me; I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I left." She said as she squeezed my shoulder and I smiled at her.
"Thank you, have a nice night." I said as she nodded and went to get her coat. I heard the siren go and knew that she had left the hub. I put my head on the desk hoping that the cold wood would sooth my headache. In the distance there were coming closer as I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Well it is technically too late for us to go out for dinner, but what do you fancy; pizza or Chinese." The voice said as I turned and looked at a smiling Jack who had two fast food menus in his hand.
"Chinese please." I said as I reached for the menu and Jack moved his arm away. "That was so not funny!" I said as I lifted my head and tried again, and once again Jack moved it. I stood up and began to chase him around the hub. "Jack cut this out it isn't funny!" I said as he stopped abruptly and I ran right into him. He wrapped his arms around me as my breath got caught up in my throat. I looked up at Jack and gulped; my body filling with heat as he looked down at me and into my eyes.
"You have amazing eyes, so you are part Aloean too." He said and I nodded, that was where the purple hair and eyes had come from. "They were always such a pretty race, no wings?" He asked and I shook my head. "Shame, but still with your powers maybe they will grow later." He said as he head came closer to mine. I held my breath as he came closer and then we heard footsteps; I jumped out of Jack's embrace as if I had been burnt and grabbed the menu from him as Raphael came into the hub.
"Not a bad set up you have here." He said as he came towards us. "So what are we doing for dinner?" He asked as he walked up to me and grabbed the menu.
"Hey I was not finished with that!" I said as I held out my hand and levitated it over to me. Raphael looked at me in shock and then smiled as I took it from the air and looked at it; Jack came back and handed me a fresh bottle of water.
"Oh that's right; you haven't had the grand tour, and as for you… well let's see if you would like to do this for me." He said to Raphael as he signaled for him to follow. They went down in the med bay as I heard a drawer open and a sound coming which sounded like someone saying 'cool'. Jack came back up the stairs happy as he walked over to him. "Looks like we have a new doctor… I like him!" Jack said as he took the menu from me.
"Yeah, I can tell you do…" I said; if he really was from the fifty-first century then he had a sex drive like crazy.
"I resent any evil thoughts you have in your head!" Jack shouted as I laughed and went back to my workstation.
"Food is here!" Jack said an hour later as I looked up from my workstation; I was reading about the aliens that were in the database and decided to update it a bit.
"Great I am starving!" A voice came from the autopsy bay; I completely forgot he was still here. We went over to the table as Jack began to unpack and handed us the boxes of food. We began to open them, take our own and sit down to eat.
"Don't you think you should talk to Gwen before allowing me to join the team?" Raphael asked Jack.
"No way, she is my second in command… what did you find?" He asked as Raphael smiled and looked at him.
"The species has two stomachs… I mean seriously he looks human but I have never seen that, it is so cool, but that is not what interested me most of all." He said as he stood up and left for the autopsy bay and Jack smiled at me.
"Tomorrow evening; you and I; so you better make yourself prettier than you are now." He said to me and winked as I blushed at him. Raphael came back with an object in his hand and my eyes went wide.
"No way… one of these can't be on this planet?" I said as I took it from his hand.
"Well she obviously knows what it is." Raphael said to Jack as he stood up and came to me. I took the sphere in my hands and began to press a few of the buttons as it opened up and revealed a gem. Jack and Raphael looked over my shoulder and gasped at it.
"That is the most beautiful gem I have seen." Jack said as he looked at it; it was a pink clear cut diamond, well that is what it looked like, in fact it wasn't; it was something more deadly.
"Yeah and now if only it was that. This gem is one of the most powerful explosives from the planet Trycur; we need to keep this locked up; in the wrong hands it could more than likely wipe out a planet." I said as I closed the sphere and then threw it to Jack. "Don't drop it Captain." I said as I winked at him and went back to the sofa and ate the food. Jack and Raphael looked at each other and shrugged, Jack went into his office I guess to lock it up as Raphael joined me on the sofa and ate.
"So you know quite a bit about this alien stuff." He said as he ate his fried noodles.
"Yeah well I guess you could say that." I said as I took my sweet and sour chicken and continued eating. Jack joined us about ten minutes later. Raphael excused himself as he went to check on his cousin and I put my empty food cartoons down.
"Man I am going to have to train for a week to get rid of that!" I said as I picked up a bottle of water and began to drink.
"You can always use the training room we have here." Jack said as I looked at him. "Oh right, I still haven't showed you around; well my lady, may I?" He said as he held out his arm and I laughed as I nodded and he helped me stand up and we went down the hallway.
"The hub has several floors, as you have seen the main part, autopsy bay, clean room and medical bay; all of which are fully stocked with current medical supplies and also with other equipment like you saw in the hospital. Here we have the changing rooms and shower rooms, you can pick yourself a locker." He said as he pointed at a door and then opened it so I could look in. I saw it was like a normal changing room as in a school or something. I closed the door and we continued. "Next door we have the training room and next to that the shooting range." He said as he pointed to the other two doors we went pass. "Most of the rooms on the left hand side are the archive rooms, filled with anything that comes through the rift." He said as we continued. Jack pointed out rooms and took me to the lower levels, showing me the interrogation room and also the cells, along with his personal pet Janet… I sat in front of her and tired to reach out with my mind; wanting to make sense of these creatures. Jack watched me as I began to go pale before he put his hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. "It is time for you to go home." He said and I nodded.
"I want to check on Lucy one last time." I said as he nodded and we went to the medical bay. Lucy was asleep as Raphael sat beside her and was holding her hand. He looked up and smiled at us as Lucy's eyes begun to flutter awake.
"Hey." She said as she smiled at me and I walked up to her bed.
"Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I head home." I said as I reached out and held her hand.
"I am feeling weak but fine. My cousin said he is giving me a blood transfusion and that he will watch me for the night and then tomorrow I will be transferred to a different ward." She said and I nodded as I looked at Jack. I kinda understood what was going to happen, she was going to get some Retcon and then wake up back in the hospital and not know anything about the whole event.
"Raphael I am just going to drive Ilandere home, don't you dare touch anything while I am gone… well you can continue that autopsy for me." Jack said as he flashed him a smile. I squeezed Lucy's hand once more.
"It was nice to meet you." I said.
"I can never forget you or thank you." She said and I put on a fake smile as I walked away with Jack behind me.
"You will forget me; you can not remember anything that has happened." I muttered as Jack opened the door for me and we went into the hallway. "I understand the reasons behind it and everything; do you think it is really safe to leave Raphael alone here?" I asked as we went to my workstation and grabbed my stuff and then to the SUV and I got in.
"Don't worry; everything is password so he couldn't do anything even if he tried."
The drive back to my place was quick and I undid my seatbelt and looked at Jack and smiled.
"Thanks for the ride home." I said as I picked up my bag and looked for my keys. "I will see you tomorrow then Captain." I said as I opened the door; I felt a hand grab my arm as I turned to look at Jack, his eyes shone under the small light that was on in the car. He leaned forward and kissed me on my cheek ever so lightly, but it was enough to warm my whole body. I had not had anyone get close to me since I came to this time period; I was too scared and felt out of place that I didn't know what to expect. I blushed as Jack pulled me into the car and put his other hand under my chin and raise my head to his. He moved closer; yes I wanted to kiss this person but he was my boss! He lips were an inch away from mine as I lowered my head. "I… I can't; I'm sorry!" I said as I freed myself from his grasp and ran to my apartment building door, opening it and running up the stairs to my apartment, leaving a stunned Jack in the SUV. I opened the door to my apartment and disabled the security system. I gasped for breath as I fell to my knees and began to cry for reasons unknown.