Disclaimer: I'm flattered that you think I'm responsible for Torchwood, but sadly I'm not. Wouldn't that be great, though? As much Jack, John and Ianto as I could wish for…
Um, quick warning: there are mentions of Jack and Ianto doing… you know. But nothing even vaguely graphic. Still only PG sort of level.
This is where you get to find out why I called this story Resonance. Also, if you didn't know what resonance was you get to find out that, too. Resonance is real, not something I made up.
Testing, Testing
Eight days later, on John's third turn at watching Jess, there was a new development. As he approached the room where Jess's brother was, he could hear a man singing. When he opened the door, Jess's brother was singing to himself, and Jess was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, where'd she go?"
"You're Captain John Hart? Jess said you might turn up. She said to give you this." Luke handed John a piece of paper. Unfolding it, John read what Jess had written.
John, don't panic. I haven't done a runner. Or gone psycho again. As you might have noticed, Luke has woken up. I, however, need caffeine, so I've gone to buy myself some of the stuff they call coffee here. Ugh. Anyway, I'll be back soon, then you can take me to wherever Torchwood is. In the meantime, don't hit on my brother. Firstly; I have it on good authority he's planning on moving in with his boyfriend – yeah, he's got a boyfriend – and secondly; I'll break your neck if you try anything. Always beware overprotective big sisters. And you can ask Luke, I'm deceptively strong. See ya soon!
Jess.
"Is she deceptively strong?"
"Yeah. I still bear the scars of when I pushed her into the sandpit."
Jess breezed into the room, smiling. Her brother's recovery meant she was smiling properly for the first time since John had met her.
"Hi! Did this idiot give you the note?"
"Hey!"
"Yeah, I got it. And, I need to know, sandpit incident?"
"Long story. I'll tell you on the way. Listen, Luke, it's been great to catch up, but I need to run. Got stuff to do."
"You'll call me, won't you?"
"When I get a chance," she said, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. John was good at reading people, and he could tell she was nervous. Despite everyone was Torchwood being very nice she was still not looking forward to having to go there.
"See you later, Luke. Try to keep out of trouble for once."
"I won't, Jess. Nice meeting you, Captain Hart."
Jess hugged her brother, and then followed John out of the hospital to the Torchwood SUV.
"Oh, that is one hell of a car. I can see you're big on secrecy, with 'Torchwood' written all over it and blue flashing lights everywhere."
"I tried telling Jack that, but he won't change it. And why are you so sarcastic all of a sudden?"
"Sorry. When I'm nervous I make sarky comments."
"You'll be fine. But don't flirt with Jack – it'll get you nothing but dirty looks from Ianto."
"I'll remember that."
………………
"Whoa. This is impressive. You have a serious base down here."
Jess looked around the Hub, taking in all the details. Myfanwy chose that moment to fly overhead.
"Oh, that is not a pterodactyl. No way."
"It's true. Get used to it; you'll be here for a few days."
Jack had joined them, as had Ianto and Gwen, eager to see Jess's first impressions. "Now," he said, "we just need to run some tests, see how you do the thing with the glass. You'll need to stay here until we're sure you're not a threat. No offence."
"None taken. It's your job, not something you have against me personally."
"Good then. Make yourself at home, ask if you need anything."
With that, Jack disappeared off to his office. Ianto smiled at her, and said, "Come on, I'll give you the guided tour."
Jess followed him, always looking, making sure she imprinted everything he said into her mind. After all, you could never have too much information. And she would go through what she'd learnt later, just in case she needed to escape. Couldn't be too careful was her new motto.
……………
The next day, Jess was doing Zen breathing when John got in. Gwen was late – as usual – and Ianto hadn't actually left the night before.
"What are you doing?"
"Dancing the tango," she replied.
"What are you nervous about today?"
"Test Day, remember? And I wouldn't sit there if I were you."
"Why?" He'd been about to sit in one of the workstation chairs.
"Last night, Jack and Ianto sort of… well –" She broke off, looked around, and then got up from where she'd been sitting on the floor and whispered in his ear.
"Even I find that wrong. And that is a first for me." John shuddered. That is rough. Seriously, it shouldn't be allowed. Still, I'm curious…
"Out of the pair of them, who tops?"
"Ew! Perv!"
He just smiled, that infuriating smile that was extremely sexy and so irritating at the same time. "You know you want to tell me really."
"… Ianto."
"Oh, I am never going to let Jack live that down."
"Tease him all you want, but please, please don't tell him how you know."
"You think I'd do that to you, darling?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
Ianto chose that moment to walk past. Jess held her breath, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing.
"What's she doing?" asked Ianto.
"The tango, apparently. I think she doesn't want to be disturbed."
"You want coffee?"
"Thanks, yeah. Jess?"
Jess managed to nod, and thankfully Ianto walked away to start filling the coffee orders for the day. Jess watched him go, then let out the breath she'd been holding.
"That was the single hardest thing I've ever done, including med school degrees."
"You owe me now."
Jack stuck his head over the railing above them, and yelled, "Hey, you two, test time. Show her to the autopsy bay, John."
"Autopsy bay? That's a bit worrying."
"Don't worry, we only dissect you if we think you're a threat."
"Don't tease her John, it's not nice."
"Yeah, cos I worry about being nice."
"There's a first time for everything."
Jack disappeared from view again, and John looked at Jess.
"You ready?"
"Hell no. Lead the way."
……………
Being a doctor – albeit an unemployed doctor – Jess wasn't worried by the blood samples and x-rays being taken. After it was done Jack told her to entertain herself while they were processing the results. After watching Myfanwy for several minutes, and fidgeting a lot, Jack took pity on her and said she could go outside if she took Gwen with her. They chatted happily, Jess was glad to get out in the fresh air. When Gwen's phone rang, and the caller ID showed it was Torchwood, Jess knew the tests must have been processed. Gwen answered the call, listened, said 'yeah' or 'no' occasionally, and then hung up.
"Test results in. Are you going to be OK with this?"
Jess thought about it. She could be about to discover that the one thing she never even thought she couldn't depend on was not at all what she believed it was. No, I'm not going to be OK.
"Sure. I'll be fine."
……………
"Well, the tests show you are one hundred per cent human. Which means we have a problem."
"Really? I'd have thought that was a good thing."
Everyone had gathered in the meeting room, where Jess's test results were displayed on the screens.
"Think, Jess." Jack tried to find a reason for it all. "What exactly can you do with the glass?"
Jess had wondered this several years ago, and so after several experiments had formed an explanation.
"Do you know about resonation?"
Gwen and Ianto looked confused. Jack and John looked slightly less confused. None of them knew where this was going. Only two of them had heard of resonation before.
"Well, essentially, it's that everything has a certain sound that matches it. I'm not an expert, but the idea is easy to explain. If you hit a certain note, you make the substance with that pitch vibrate, and it's called resonating. If you get that note loud enough the substance vibrates fast enough to, say, shatter glass."
"That's what you do?"
"That's what I do. I can resonate most things a little bit, but glass comes naturally to me, and I can't break other materials. Even getting other things to vibrate is an effort."
There was a pause while everyone absorbed this, and then John said, "Show us."
Jack looked over at him sharply. "No! It could be dangerous."
"Oh, come on, we all want to see it."
"It's not dangerous." Not normally, anyway.
"Are you sure?"
"The worst thing that's ever happened was that I broke a couple of windows. I swear."
"We don't have any windows."
"John, no. You know the rules: no experimenting in the Hub."
John grinned when Jack said 'experimenting', and then had to duck a hail of pens from the other Torchwood members. Clearly they were sick of innuendo. Jess couldn't blame them. She'd known him for less than two weeks and it was getting annoying.
"Seriously, though –"
"You can be serious!?"
"Shut up Jack. Seriously, a demonstration would be useful. Might help us understand more about this."
"You actually can be serious, John. That's a big step for you. We should have a party."
"I think it's a good idea."
"Ianto! Traitor!"
"Sorry, but I do. We need to see it under controlled conditions to understand this better."
"I agree with them."
"Gwen!"
Jess was getting bored of watching the others argue, so she took executive action. She grabbed a glass from the middle of the table, putting it in front of her, making enough noise for the others to take notice. She grinned. Watching other people's reactions to what she could do was always fun.
"Watch and learn, kids."
That was resonance – or as much as I could remember about resonance – in a nutshell. Until next chapter, review to make me happy. And, because for once I know what's going to happen in the next few chapters, here is a sneek preview:
The shattered glass lay everywhere. Jess turned slowly. To find four guns pointed at her head. Adrenaline spiked through her again, but now she had nowhere to run to. But what scared her the most was the cold looks in the eyes behind the guns. Nice as they had been, Torchwood were ruthless with threats. And that was what she'd become.