Chapter Three

It was definitely Torchwood. Victorian Torchwood, but Torchwood nonetheless.

They sat Tosh down in a chair and waved a device over her. It went 'ding'.

"Temporal. Not Rift, though," said Alice.

"Ocha wo onegaishimasu?" Tosh asked, figuring that if she wasn't going to scream she needed to keep her sense of humor. And, she was thirsty.

"Past or future?" The blond one folded her arms. "I doubt she's from the past."

"I'd say future too," Alice agreed, "Do you think we'll need an interpreter?"

"No. Look at her. She understands every word we're saying."

"No speak English good," Tosh said desperately.

"Get the translator, dear," the blond woman said, "I've been meaning to see if it works for Earth languages too."

Alice kissed the blond and went into the Archives. Emily pulled up a chair and sat across from Tosh, then idly called Tosh a few unspeakable things. Tosh struggled to keep a straight, slightly frightened face. The blond stared at her in a way that made Tosh burst into hysterical laughter.

"I'll make tea, then," the blond commented as Tosh giggled. Oh, stress laughter. She'd thought she'd been over that, once she'd become a hardened criminal and all.

She'd managed to get them under control by the time the blond returned with two cups of tea. "Emily," she said, pointing to herself.

"Toshiko. Anata ga suki ja arimasen." She smiled in the hopes that Emily would take it as the polite greeting it wasn't and sipped her tea. "Ah! Hot!"

Emily looked at Tosh. Tosh looked at Emily. Tosh looked at her tea. The tea did not look at Tosh.

"I know your English is better than you're letting on, Toshiko."

"No speak English. Anata wa akujo. Ocha ga ii ja arimasen." Tosh shrugged and threw her hands up exaggeratedly. "I go now?" Tosh was a bit disgusted by what she was doing here, but hopefully it would get her back to the 21st century safe and sound.

"No."

Tosh sipped the tea as Alice returned with a device she recognized. A translator all right. Owen had broken it.

"Here we are, darling."

"Ah, lovely. Now, Toshiko, where are you from?"

"Japan." Play it cool.

"Of course. When?"

"What— what sort of question is that?"

"Do I need to get the lie detector?" Alice asked. Tosh knew they had one, and a damn good one.

"Oh, fine. I'm a Torchwood agent from the year 2008 sent back in time by an enigmatic shopkeeper." Tosh put the tea down on Emily's desk. "And this tea is horrible."

"I like her," Alice said after a pause.

"Did we ever mention Torchwood?"

"Not once."

"It really wasn't hard to figure out at all." Tosh sighed and decided she was perfectly within her rights to stand up. "Now, if you'd lend me a dress, I'll go save a quarter of time and be out of your hair."

"A quarter of time?" asked Emily.

"I have three coworkers saving the rest of it."

Alice looked at Emily. Emily looked at Alice. Tosh looked at them. They looked at Tosh.

"You don't really believe this tosh?" Emily asked.

"Doesn't sound that far-fetched, does it?" Alice shrugged. "I don't trust her, but I'm willing to work with her."

"I'm right here."

"So, how exactly is time in danger?" Emily asked.

"A being called the Trickster is trying to affect the timeline of a man called Captain Jack Harkness. If certain things don't happen, all of time will collapse in on itself." Tosh paused. "That, or that shopkeeper was just evil. Captain Harkness is the head of Torchwood in my time… he's immortal."

"I see," Emily said, pulling out a flask that was probably of brandy.

"So, what's your plan?" Alice rubbed Emily's shoulder, for which Emily was clearly grateful.

"Try to find him." Tosh shrugged. "I have an idea where to ask."

"Where?" Alice asked.

Tosh tried to think of a few Victorian terms for what she meant. "The… bohemian community. I think you call them… earnest?" Jack himself had called that one a euphemism, but Alice and Emily didn't seem to get it. "Like Oscar Wilde?"

"Oh," said Alice, "he's one of those?"

"As long as by those you don't mean poets," Tosh said.

"And what does he look like?"

"Wears a big blue coat, tall… handsome." Tosh described Jack a bit more.

And then Alice led her into a cell and locked her in.

"We'll be back once we find him," she said, walking away.