AN: Taamar has now edited this chapter for me. (She's such a peach.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None
Word count: 1,400ish
Chapter 2
In the middle of the room was a mini round dining table, complete with four child sized chairs. Sitting in the chair facing the door was a little brunette girl with olive skin and hazel eyes. She looked no older than five, but Ianto wasn't fooled by her outward appearance. He knew that the girl was well over one hundred years of age, and that she had the temper of a lioness.
She had her arms folded across her chest, and she glared at Ianto as if she was trying to blow up his brain by the sheer power of her will. He casually wondered if she could indeed do that. He held up the candy bar and smiled, hoping to lessen the blow which he sensed was about to come.
She uncrossed her arms and rose from her chair. "Mr. Jones," she began, her voice sounding as fierce as a five-year-old's could, "while I make look and sound like a child, I can assure you I am not, and you cannot bribe me with candy!" She then walked around the table, snatched the candy out of his hand nonetheless, and quickly returned to her seat.
She began to open the candy bar. "Sit!" she snapped at him, her eyes flicking to the small chair on the opposite side of the table from her. Ianto raised his right eyebrow at her. "Now!" she spat. He quickly sat and tried not to think about how silly he must look sitting in a chair four times too small for him.
She smiled and popped a square of chocolate into her mouth. "I have changed my name to Lily," she announced imperiously. Ianto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Since he had met the ancient girl she had changed her name at least twenty times. The last few had all been flower names: Rose, Tulip, and even Daffodil. Ianto supposed that living over one hundred years stuck in a child's body must mess with one's mind, so he decided to let the girl's identity crisis go.
"That's a lovely name," Ianto stated.
"Thanks!" she chirped, her smile widening. As quickly as her smile had appeared, it vanished, and her glare from earlier returned.
"We thought you had all perished," she said softly with a pout.
Ianto looked at her with his eyes full of shame. "I know. I'm sorry," he whispered.
She rolled her eyes and huffed. "Is that it, you're sorry? It's been four months since the Canary Wharf disaster, and you couldn't be bothered to pick up a phone and assure us that you made it out alive? We grieved for eight of you when we should have only cried for seven." Tears were running freely down her cheeks now.
Ianto admired the way she cared so deeply for all of them, as if she were their mother. Because of this Ianto was tempted to tell her that Lisa was still here as well, but he couldn't trust anyone with that information. He had to protect her.
Ianto sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He could feel tears in his eyes about to break through.
"I cried too," he stated, "they were my friends, and one was my lover. Now I have to live everyday with the guilt that I made it out and they didn't." The tears started to fall. He brushed them away and continued, "I just needed some space, I really am sorry."
Lily wiped her eyes with her hands and took a deep breath. "Okay, you're forgiven," she said sweeping her hand in front of her face as if pushing the issue away. "So, on to the next order on business. Explain to me why you seem to be stalking Harkness?"
Ianto's mouth went dry. "I'm trying to get in to Torchwood Three," he said his voice only cracking a little, or so he hoped.
Lily let out a squealing laugh. "Are you serious? We haven't had anyone in there since Harkness took over. He is too picky. How do you think you're going to get in? Gonna smile at him real nice?"
It was a little unsettling that she was teasing him. He turned his gaze down to the table top. "That was part of my plan," he admitted, trying not to sound like he was pouting. "It would be good if I got in, though. I bet I could find the Parker files. I'm really good at finding things." She just nodded at him.
They had been trying to destroy the Parker files in Torchwood's records and database since the 1990s. Ianto knew mentioning them was his ticket to get approval to continue trying to infiltrate Torchwood Three. If it hadn't been for Lisa there was no why Ianto would be attempting this feat, and that was because of what had happened to Joy Parker within the walls of Torchwood.
Joy Parker had been born in Cardiff in 1904. She lived a somewhat normal life until shortly after her thirtieth birthday, when she died from heart disease and woke up naked on a Cardiff beach in 1974. Joy hadn't known she was a Rift Child, and she didn't know what had happened, so the woman had panicked, and before long local authorities were called in. Eventually Torchwood had taken over (for reasons unknown to Ianto). Apparently Torchwood had discovered that whenever Joy was injured she would heal quickly, and tha she was stronger than she should be, both normal traits for a Rift Child after their first death. Torchwood had then proceeded to perform months of tests on poor Joy until they had taken it a step to far and killed her for the second time.
Joy's second awakening was in 1992. The Children of the Rift were better organized by this time, and Joy was easily found by one of them before authorities or Torchwood became involved. She was then sent to America for some much needed rest and relaxation time, but not until she had told the whole story about what had happened to her while within Torchwood. Because of this, Ianto was scared of Torchwood Three. He realized now he should have also been frightened of Torchwood One.
Finally Lily grinned ear to ear at him. "Are you sure you want to do this? I could probably have you transferred to Massachusetts. They are running low on agents there, and you could be a great asset to them."
Ianto shook his head. "My place is here; I am not scared of Torchwood," he lied.
Lily scowled at him, "well you should be, especially with Harkness in charge! He is not a man to be fucked with!"
The vulgar word coming out of Lily's mouth made Ianto want to threaten her with soap, but he held his tongue and stared at her in a way he hoped conveyed that he would not be backing down.
"Fine," she said shortly, "I am giving you thirty days. If you aren't in by then you will be making the journey across the pond. Is that clear?" Ianto nodded.
Lily then got up and walked over to a pink and white dresser. She pulled open the top drawer, reached in, pulled out a lethal looking hand gun, and placed it on the top of the dresser. Ianto tried not to cringe at the vision of a child holding such a weapon. Lily then rifled around in the drawer, pushing items around as if searching for something small. Ianto was thankful she had taken the gun out first. Finally, she withdrew her hand holding a set of keys. "Here ya go," she said, tossing them to Ianto, who caught them easily.
The first key on the ring was obviously a car key. Ianto raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Jason said you didn't seem to have a car," she said, "so we got you one. He also said that you were living in a hostel, so we have rented you a flat in Grangetown," she indicated the second key on the ring. "There's a GPS in your car and the flat has already been programed in. Number 705. Also programed into the GPS is the warehouse that third key belongs to."
"What's in the warehouse?" Ianto questioned.
"Your way in." Lily smiled, being as cryptic as ever.
"And that would be?" Ianto pushed.
Lily paused for a moment then answered. "A Pterodactyl."
