In The Beginning…. Chapter 2

We had a new recruit about 2 months after Ianto joined us.

Gwen Cooper. A policewoman.

I noticed her when we - Me, Tosh, Owen and Suzie attended a suspicious death. Very inquisitive, our Gwen. She was very nosy that evening. Spied on us from a great height, so to speak. She saw us using the resurrection gauntlet - it brought dead people back to life for about 2 minutes so we could find out if they saw who killed them - it was very traumatic. I knew she'd find out all she could about Torchwood. And I'd let her. I had a plan.

I was right. She'd make a very good edition to Torchwood Cardiff.

I noticed her again at the hospital. Gwen was getting a head wound checked out. True to form, she followed me up to the top floor

That was where the Weevil I was perusing was waiting for her. I managed to get her to leave the building, while the rest of us took the Weevil prisoner and hurried him back to the Hub. But not before it killed a porter, in front of Gwen.

Again, Gwen followed us in her patrol car. We lost her, though, when we reached the Water Tower by the Millennium Centre. We went down into the Hub via the secret lift. That didn't deter her though.

About 3 or 4 hours after she first appeared outside the Hub, Gwen turned up at the Tourist Information Centre with pizzas. She'd trolled the local restaurants and came to where Torchwood ordered their pizzas from. [Owen's idea to use the actual name Torchwood for the orders. Incredible.]

Ianto greeted her and pushed the button that opened the secret door to the Hub.

"Go ahead, Miss. Don't keep him waiting." he encouraged.

I knew she'd want to join us. I introduced her to the rest of my crew.

I remember when I introduced her to Ianto, I said that he 'cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time'. I also said that Ianto 'looked good in a suit'.

He replied, playfully.

"Careful, sir. That's harassment."

But he did look good in a suit, there was no denying it. And he was good at directions - direction us, that is. Did I mention his coffee was out of this world? I will, several times, I expect.

I took Gwen out for a drink and put a retcon tablet in her drink [it's a small white tablet that I created myself. Erases the last memories. Gwen wouldn't remember the last 24 hours] after I'd explained everything that Torchwood did and stood for. It would make her forget everything that had happened that day.

But Gwen was very resourceful.

She had left a few clues around. Like Torchwood written on a piece of paper by her laptop at home. Or, forgetting that she'd asked a colleague to look up Captain Jack Harkness.

"The only Captain Jack Harkness dies in 1941." Gwen was informed.

Her keen mind lead her back to the Water Tower, because she remember that she had seen the murder weapon from the murder that Torchwood had taken over earlier the evening before.

Suzie was waiting for her. Knew that Gwen would remembered and was going to kill her. I intervened, and Suzie shot me in the head. She didn't know I couldn't die - none of them did at that point - When I came back to life, she knew it was the end for her and she took her own life.

That's why Gwen is with us today. She had an inquisitive brain, like a dog with a bone. Never giving up. Never letting go. Good for her

I remember when we were all sat in the Boardroom, eating, I listening to them all talking about me, when they thought I was in the toilet.

They wanted to know from Gwen, if she'd found out anything about me. They told her they were counting on her to find out something. Owen told Gwen that they didn't know that much. Apart from me being an American and gay. Tosh didn't think I was gay. Ianto said he didn't care. Good for him.

I never let on that I heard them.

I remember once, we had to go to Splott. Ianto, daintily eating a cream doughnut, chirps up. 'I think estate agents pronounce it Splo.' [loosing the T's and emphasising the O]

I can still see those lips daintily nibbling that doughnut. Mmm.

We deal with all sorts of aliens and their weaponry. Weaponry that we lock away. Bring out if and when it is needed, if it's needed. The Achieve is full of weapons and blueprints. Old and new.

We came across a device that showed the past and the future. It scared both Gwen, with a blast from the past, and then Owen.

Gwen traced down a little boy who she saw from the 1940's. He was alive and well, and still living in Wales.

Owen was almost obsessed at trying to find the man that had raped and murdered a seventeen year old girl called, Lizzie, more than fifty years ago. He went to the guy's house and let him know that he knew what he had done all those years ago.

The device had another part to it. Put both together , and it showed the future. That's what Gwen saw. The man who had the weapon in the first place was being killed, stabbed by her.

But I knew better than that. Gwen wouldn't kill anyone. It had to be wrong.

The guy ended up dead, but not by Gwen's hand, but by the guy who killed Lizzie, then he killed himself. No loss there then, the guy was a slime ball.

Ianto never came with us on assignments, not in the beginning. He was content to stay back at the Hub, feeding us information. Cleaning up after us. Keeping the Hub in tip top condition.

Later you'll find out why.

Plus, he made a wicked cup of coffee. There I go again.

I threatened to shoot Ianto on one occasion, more than once, actually.

Yep, I did.

We had a power surge in the Hub. Found out Ianto had installed his Cyberwoman girlfriend in the basement. She had been there almost from the day he joined Torchwood.

Yes, the deceased one, Lisa.

He was hoping to cure her. Had got a Japanese Professor in to look at her. She killed him by trying to assimilate him, too.

As if she could be cured!

Once turned, you can never be cured. But he didn't know that. She tried to kill Gwen. Then she turned on Ianto, throwing him to the floor, like rubbish.

He was lying there, dead. I remember kissing him. To bring him back to life, not for pleasure - hell, yes. It was pleasant, for me anyway. I'm not sure if he knew he was dead, though. I certainly never told him.

I do remember him hitting me once we got out of the Hub and up top and saying something along the lines of,

'You could have saved her! You're worse than anything locked up down there! One day I'll have the chance to save you and I'll watch you suffer and die!'

Heat of the moment. Maybe. Did he mean it? Yes, I think he did.

We had to shoot Lisa. She had put her brain into a pizza delivery girl's body, and killed someone Ianto had brought into the Hub to cure her. I could see the hate in his eyes. But it had to be done.

I didn't fire him, though. I don't know why. Did I feel responsible for Lisa's death? No. Did I feel sorry for Ianto? Definitely. He was smitten with her.

I put Ianto on a month's suspension, and I never told UNIT.

He kept his head down after that. Did his job, 110%.

He was less hostile toward me as well. I guess he realised we were all looking out for him that day in the Hub. Protecting him from himself, as well as Lisa.

That was the reason why Ianto had tears in his eyes the day I hired him. He had managed to get into Torchwood so he could try and find a cure for Lisa. Love knows no boundaries.