Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Torchwood, no matter how much I wish that I did. None of them are mine but I love them all.
Author's notes: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I managed to finish that in just under three hours but I didn't quite manage it this time. Anyway most of the first chapter was made up on the spot but I was planning what was going to happen next while writing it. Hopefully it didn't show in the last chapter. Enjoy, read and review please. Also sorry about the chapter name U. R. and R. F. M. because the full title wouldn't fit.
Chapter Two: Unfortunate Reunions and Repeated First Meetings
"What have you got for me?" asked Jack.
"Four people were found lying in the road this morning near a busy pub." Reported Mickey as he placed some articles on the boardroom table.
"And?"
"All of them were dead except one who is currently in the local hospital."
"The bodies were part-way between scorched and having had the flesh ripped from their bones." read Gwen. "Nice."
"Any rift activity?"
"Not since last Wednesday." Said Mickey shaking his head.
"You mean the one where we got there and there was nothing there?" asked Ianto as he picked up the coffee cups.
"Yeah."
"We should interview the person left, then. See what they saw." Said Martha.
"I'll get the grapes." Said Ianto.
Mickey walked through the hospital passing room after room of sick or dying people. Behind him were Martha and Ianto with the grapes.
"Which room is the person in?" said Mickey, scanning each door as he passed.
"8192" said Martha.
"They're very lucky." Said Ianto. "To have escaped unscathed."
"They didn't."
"What?"
"Here it is." Mickey knocked on the closed door before entering.
There was one bed in the room and in it was a girl with brown hair and a slight face. The three of them walked over and Ianto placed the grapes on a table by the side of the bed. She was unconscious but they saw that part of the right side of her face had been taken. It looked like it was exposed muscles.
"Is that…?"
"I don't think so." said Martha, as she scanned it with one of her devices. "She lost quite a lot of skin. The equivalent to third degree burns."
"Ouch."
"I really need the loo." Said Ianto.
"Man we could do without the update. Just go."
Ianto left Mickey and Martha with the girl.
"It's amazing." Said Martha. "There's no scorch marks, no bleeding, no cuts. It's just not there anymore."
"Well, it wasn't just taken."
"Don't mind me." Said the girl.
"You're awake!" said Martha.
"Yeah, I just have my eyes closed because it hurts less."
"Does it hurt much?"
"I've felt worse." She sighed. "You're with Torchwood aren't you?"
Mickey and Martha looked at each other in shock. How did she know about them? They were a secret organisation.
"How do you know?" he said.
"Ask that guy who just left to introduce us. He knows me." The girl said. "That's why he left so quick he's gone to tell one of the others that its me."
Ianto had gone round the corner so as not to be overheard. Luckily Torchwood's communication system worked on an alien frequency that didn't affect the hospital's equipment.
"Gwen?" he said.
"Yeah?" she said on the other end of the line. Crystal clear signal too.
"I've seen who our survivor is."
"And you're telling me instead of Jack because…?"
"It's Jennifer." The other end went silent. "Gwen." Nothing. "Gwen?"
"It could have been her who did it." Said Gwen. "We need to bring her in."
Ianto came back into the hospital room and smiled. Martha was checking out Jenny's wounds on her face while Mickey was just talking to her.
"Well I think you did the right thing." Said Jenny.
"You really think so?"
"Course. It sounds like she was taking you for granted up until you leaving. After that she barely notices you. If it were me I would've booted her long ago. Saying that I only know what you've told me. You're likely to have left out all the good times that you had which would make the decision harder."
"She's awake?" asked Ianto.
"It would seem." Said Martha.
"We need to take her back to the hub."
"Why? What is it?"
"We just need to get her there."
"I am right here you know. Can hear everything." Interjected Jenny.
"There might…" he lowered his voice. "Gwen thinks there might be a chance that she did this."
"Her?"
"Me and Gwen will explain but we need to get there. Can you help her get dressed?"
"Sure." Said Martha. "Mickey."
Ianto and Mickey came back in the room. Jenny was now dressed in the red shirt and black jeans that she'd worn the night before and had been brought to the hospital in. There was a rip in the back of the shirt and across the stomach. Through the rips they could see more areas of skin that were affected like her face. She had her eyes open now and they saw that they were electric blue.
"Wow." Said Mickey.
"Yeah, wow." Jenny said sarcastically. "Now I'm guessing that I'm your prisoner so do I have a choice or is it straight into the cuffs?" Ianto removed a pair of handcuffs from his pocket that he'd taken from the car before coming back.
"Ianto!" said Martha.
"It's procedure." He assured her.
"Just like last time." Said Jenny. "Don't worry I don't mind. Just don't do them too tight." She held out her wrists. "It got one side of my wrists and they're quite tender."
Ianto gently placed the handcuffs round her wrists.
"Not too tight, are they?" he said adjusting them. Jenny shook her head. She pulled at the cuffs.
"Deadlock sealed." She almost sounded impressed. "I like that." She whispered.
"Okay so who's Jennifer?" asked Jack.
"When you were off gallivanting doing whatever you did," explained Gwen, "we got a large amount of rift activity concentrated in one area." She sat down. "We went to investigate what was going on and found a person there." She tossed a file at him. "We didn't know what else to do with her so we gave her a cover story."
"'Name: Jennifer Smith. Age: supposedly 20.' Supposedly?" read Mickey.
"We only had her word to go on and she didn't look it." Mickey passed the file to Jack.
"Well I don't look my age do I? 'Height: 5ft 2" Weight: unknown Bio: unavailable due to involvement in a serious crime'." He read. "Involvement?"
"She's part of a witness protection programme. It stopped people from asking too many questions." Said Ianto
"So what else did you do?" said Martha as Jack continued to flick through the file.
"We gave her a name, some money, a flat and a job." Said Gwen.
"And?"
"And what?" Jack smacked the file down on the table.
"So you left a person who fell through the rift and who could be from anywhere to get on in a time that might or might not have already happened for them?"
"We didn't know what else to do!" she shouted. "You weren't around." Jack looked shocked but she was right. He hadn't been there.
"We figured it could work like it did for those people who came from the fifties." Said Ianto. Jack ran his hand through his hair and sighed in frustration.
"What would you have done?" asked Gwen. Jack looked her right in the eyes.
"It doesn't matter." Was all he said. "Like you said. I wasn't here."
Jack headed down to the cells to check on Jenny about 2am. It wasn't that he didn't trust the cameras. He was just curious about her. When he watched Ianto march her through the hub she looked around and her eyes focused on him for a split second longer than everywhere else. Not to mention there was something familiar about her.
He'd sent everyone else home long ago after Gwen had attempted to interrogate Jenny about what happened to the others but was met by either silence or an insult. It seemed she wasn't willing to talk.
As he entered the vault he looked in the cell she was in. She'd fallen asleep already; sprawled out on her back. Jack noticed something on the floor and realised they were the handcuffs that Ianto had put on her earlier.
Suddenly Jenny sat up. She was sweating and breathing heavily. Then she noticed Jack in front of her cell.
"You know, if you haven't slept with someone it's considered rude to watch them while they sleep." She said.
"Is that an invitation?" Jack asked. Jenny laughed.
"Maybe some other time when I'm more in the mood. And not covered in horrendous mystery sores." She shifted so she was sitting on the little bench that protruded out of the wall.
"Trouble sleeping?" Jenny nodded. "What is it?" She raised an eyebrow. "No really. I won't laugh."
"That's not what I'm worried about." She waved his comment aside. "It was just a nightmare."
"Jenny-"
"That isn't my name." she said sternly.
"Then what is it?" Jenny smiled. "What?"
"You're the first person to ask me since I got here." Her smile dropped. "When I fell twenty feet out of the sky, those friends of yours bundled me in here after taking everything I owned off me except the clothes I was wearing. They left me here for about two hours before coming back saying this is your name, 'this is your job and there's your house. Bye.'"
"So what is your name?"
"What does it matter?" she spat. "I'm just going to be Jennifer all my life now."
"Do you know where your stuff is?"
"Yeah. They stuffed it all in a box and put it in that safe they have." Jenny stopped.
After a while Jack said, "I got a call from the police earlier." He paused. "They were unable to identify the bodies you were found with."
"Not even with dental records." Jack shook his head.
"Maybe you could tell me who they were."
"You're a one for firsts aren't you? You're the first to ask me that." She sighed. "There were two men and one woman. Gary Jenkins, Henry Picter and Linda Hedley."
"Thank you." said Jack.
"He fancied me." She said solemnly.
"Who?"
"Gary. He even asked me out. I explained to him I couldn't for reasons I couldn't begin to explain to him. But he didn't care. He was besotted with me." She laughed weakly. "He said he understood and bought me a video camera to make up for it. Said he was an idiot for even asking. He kept apologising." She stared at the wall.
"He sounds nice."
"He didn't stop there though." She continued. Her voice became emotionless "He bought a 15" telly. The best he could afford." She laughed again. "And a sofa. Cushions to go on it. In fact," she closed her eyes as she thought, "now that I think about it, he furnished over half of my flat." Jenny petered out.
"You must have liked him a lot."
"You'd think that…but I didn't." She shook her head. "I didn't feel anything for him."
A light flickered above Jack's head but he paid it no attention.
"Do you feel guilty?" Jack said, breaking the momentary silence.
"I didn't kill them!" Jack put his hands up.
"I never said you did." He slowly lowered his hands again. "Sometimes a survivor feels responsible for the losses."
"I don't."
The awkward silence descended upon them once more.
"Any more questions?" Jenny asked.
"Just one."
"Shoot."
"What was your nightmare about?" She didn't answer. "Was it about what happened last night?" Jenny pointed at Jack.
"That constitutes as two questions." She said but she sighed. "Yeah, it was."
"What happened last night?"
"I'm now counting three." Jenny held up three fingers.
"Just tell me." Jenny stopped as though paused in thought.
"We were out. Just a late night on the town." She took a deep breath. "I went with Gary and Henry, we met up with Linda. Never liked her. Anyway the time was getting on for one in the morning.
"We start arguing. They accuse me of lying to them and damn near order me to tell my name. Thing is I was the only one who was sober…" she stopped. "I don't think I've ever said that before… weird."
Jack coughed causing Jenny to go on..
"… and I know that if I say I'm from 'out there' your friends would see to it that I ended up in a lunatic asylum or dead. And to top it all off, there was a bright light coming from behind me. I thought it was a lorry or something" She sighed. "Saying no just made them louder and someone was sure to come investigating. I panicked. I was just about to tell them when that bright light just stopped.
"I turned around to see what was going on and…" she broke off and stared at the wall again.
"What?" asked Jack. Jenny didn't answer. "What did you see?"
"I don't remember." She said quietly. "Just more bright light, I suppose. And a deafening amount of white noise." Jenny smiled. "Real scary isn't it?" she said sarcastically.
Neither of them said anything but it wasn't like the silences before. It was a finishing silence. One to show the conversation was over.
Jack turned to leave; he doubted he was going to get any more from her tonight. Besides he had felt the oncoming sleep for a while now and couldn't fight it off for much longer. But as he was leaving Jenny whistled.
"Hey you." she said. "Yeah you tall, dark and gorgeous." Jack stopped and turned. "You like questions? Here's one for you."
"I'm listening."
"How come when your pale friend with the black hair asked me about this earlier I'm as shut as a deadlock seal but you ask and I open up like a set of floodgates?" Jack shrugged.
"It's my good looks." Jenny shook her head.
"It would take a bit more than that." She said. "Not that you're not scorchin' hot." They both paused in thought. Then Jenny clicked her fingers. "I got it." Jack waved at her to continue. "She ruined my life and you didn't."
Jack didn't say anything. He believed her but he wasn't going to admit it.
"Look I've got to sleep."
"Go ahead." She said. "So have I." And with that she turned over.
Jack hated to leave it at that but he didn't know what else to do.
"Good night."
Next: Sending Out an SOS