Hughes Flat; Cardiff, Wales

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Anwen Williams sat at the table near the kitchen in John and Ken's flat. She was researching Halloween decorations or at least that's what she told Ken. At twelve, she didn't feel like a kid anymore. She knew girls at school, all of them older, complained about their parents' rules, and that they were treated like children. They were lucky. Their parents didn't work for Torchwood. They'd never seen an alien nevertheless killed one.

Trefor looked at costume pictures on the coffee table while Michael played with a noisy new toy Ken gave him. Watching her brothers with Ken made her smile. It was her normal. The girls would never appreciate it because they hadn't seen the alternative.

"Find one?" Ken moved over to the table.

Trefor held out one of the magazines. She didn't have to see it to know it was a pilot costume of some type. Their dad expected him to chose Jedi.

Ken turned to look at her, unsure how to say something. "That's not going to work."

Anwen stood, wondering. Trefor smiled. And showed her the picture. She should have known. "What about the flight suit you saw at the mall."

"Like Uncle Jack."

She vaguely remembered John saying that the general had modeled the Torchwood pilot uniforms after the WWII Royal Air Force. "He's not a pilot." Although he had been. Anwen hoped Trefor didn't remember Jack flew spaceships.

"Uncle Jack flew planes," Trefor argued. "I saw a newspaper picture. From an old club."

Shit. She'd seen that. It showed Jack and the real Captain Harkness. According to John, it was taken during a time shift. A weird time traveler stranded Uncle Jack and the original Tosh in a dance hall the night before the Cardiff Blitz. It somehow resulted in a demon rampaging through Cardiff. Although she wondered if Jack or John made that part up.

"The general suggested Han Solo." Anwen was sure he meant it as a joke. "I can be Princess Leia." A Leia Skywalker costume was better than seeing her dad's reaction to Trefor wanting to be Uncle Jack for Halloween.

"No." Trefor looked frustrated. He hadn't thrown blocks in a while, but he might.

"I'll talk to dad." She did not look forward to that conversation. Maybe she could talk to their mother and claim it wasn't available this close to Halloween.

Armed with the magazine, and a growing sense of dread, Anwen headed upstairs to her family's flat. She hoped that mum was home. Dad's jealousy had started up again. At first she thought it was directed at Uncle Jack again. Finding out Jack was Trefor's father explained it some. She wasn't sure how dad could blame her mum for the circumstances that led to that. Not that any of it made sense.

Anwen hesitated in the hallway outside the stairs. She needed to leave Ken out of the conversation. The current jealousy seemed to be directed at Ken and Ianto. Michael bonded with them. She'd made the mistake of trying to explain that Michael liked carers: Ianto, Ken, Tosh and Rhiannon. Her mum had worked for Torchwood too long. Dad got angry. Dr. Harper was an arse. She had no explanation for Jack or John. Dad took it wrong. He'd taken a lot of things badly in the past few weeks.

Annoyed with herself, Anwen entered their flat. Dad would get angry. She'd deal with it. After everything, his jealousy shouldn't stress her out.

"Hey."

Her dad looked up from the dishes. "Where's your brother?" Something about his expression was wrong.

"With Ken and Michael." Anwen held out the magazine. Trefor found a costume.

"I already found three Jedi costumes. For me and the boys."

Ianto already had a dinosaur costume for Michael. "Trefor wants to be a pilot."

"Jedi's are pilots."

Anwen absently rubbed her concealed wrist-strap. "Trefor found a historical costume he liked."

"He'll like what I picked out."

No, he won't. Anwen knew better than to argue at that point. There was something wrong with her dad. She needed to get out of there and call her mum.

"You could be Rey."

It took Anwen a moment to figure out what he meant. "I don't like Star Wars." She watched it because her brother loved it.

"Family costumes. It will be fun." His tone had an edge.

Then an insane question came to mind. Are you actually my dad? His body language and attitude was that wrong. "Sure. I will go tell Trefor."

Anwen backed toward the door. An even more terrifying thought occurred to her. When John and Luc were affected by ancients, they became increasingly angry and violent. Both had been locked up at first for everyone's safety. She tried to remember what John said about the transformation. He didn't want to talk about it, and she didn't press.

Dad wiped his hands aggressively on a towel. "I'll go with you. The boys need to spend time with a real man."

Anwen nodded. And flipping her wrist-strap open. "John Hart." There was no way she was letting her dad, if it was her dad, anywhere near her brothers.

He glared at her.

"There is something seriously wrong with my dad."

He threw the dish towel on the counter. And started walking toward her. Anwen telekinetically moved the table in front of him to slow him down.

Anwen fumbled with the door knob behind her. It clicked, but her dad slammed the table aside. She wasn't sure she could get out in time. Dad or not, he was crazy and dangerous. She levitated the table in front of him. He hit it, cracking it.

Then she sensed John as he teleported into the room.

"Rhys," John called, trying to distract him. And threw a stun pellet.

Her dad hesitated. The effect took longer than usual. Then he stumbled and fell. John rushed over with restraints. Then he flipped open his wrist-strap and programmed a scan.

"He's drugged out of his mind." Pause. "Has his behavior changed in the last few weeks?"

"Yeah." Anwen wasn't sure she wanted to ask. "Did he take something?"

"Not willingly." Pause. "Scan the flat with your wrist-strap."

Anwen nodded.

"If you find something, don't touch it." John teleported out with her dad.

Torchwood Three

Gwen Cooper stood next to Rhys. The Nanogene station was struggling to remove the drug. There were alien components similar to CN, Rift energy or both. She kept replaying the last week in her mind trying to picture the change. Rhys had been crankier than usual, and fixated on Jedi Halloween costumes.

She assumed it was the weird circumstances behind Trefor and Michael. Losing Dawn suddenly had been painful. The decision to have Ianto raise Michael solved some problems and caused others. Rhys kept it inside because he didn't have anyone to discuss it with. Atmore had been a horrible time for all of them. Gwen couldn't help but wondered if he would have been happier with Dawn.

The door opened and Jack entered, the sound of his boots clear on the floor. "We need to go."

All the time she'd left Rhys because Jack called haunted her. Gwen knew the reasons. Torchwood situations were never convenient. People's lives were in danger. They had literally saved the world more than once. However she justified it, Torchwood was her priority.

"Do you want to stay?"

Gwen knew she should. Pulling up a chair was a healthy response even knowing she could nothing to help him. "No." She turned away. Not for the first time she wondered how different their lives would be without Torchwood. No matter how much she idealized normal at times, she didn't regret her son.

Ianto Jones met Claire Weaver as she stepped through the large door. It was the second time she'd been in the hub since arriving from Nigeria. The Atmore people had varied backgrounds. She'd been taken from 1963 America by the unusual facility on Tasmania. After a couple years there and another in Nigeria, she had some understanding of the major changes. Seeing Cardiff for the first time had been shocking and required time to adapt.

"Captain Harkness said Mr. Williams is sick."

"Yes." Ianto motioned her toward the back hallway. "Jack and Gwen are tracing his movements for the last week trying to determine what happened."

Claire nodded as they walked. "Is there a nursery?"

"For sleeping. Usually the kids are in the kitchen area or my office when they're here." Ianto wondered how to explain. "Trefor and Michael are having lunch with Ken. Trefor knows something happened but not what." His empathy picked it up from those around him. "Anwen is on the firing range throwing things." Telekinetically throwing marbles at paper Weevil targets was too much for a first day. "She knows her dad's sick."

"Is that normal?"

Ianto wasn't sure how to answer. "For Torchwood."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. "Is Mr. Williams going to be all right?"

The Atmore people tended to view Rhys like many viewed Jack. He was the hero that kept them safe when the unimaginable took over their lives. "We don't know."