The Torchwood team were stir crazy. Ianto had already reordered the archives twice and was now extensively cleaning the Hub, Owen was arguing with Ianto about said cleanup because chemicals he claimed he was using everyday – "There's at least a two-month layer of dust on it, Owen," Ianto said in his far too patient voice – had been moved to an area that was harder to access. Gwen had started to try and do other people's jobs, ending with a yelling match between her and Jack because only one of them could be in control of Torchwood Three – "You and your bloody dramatic coat!" Had been the ending shout from Gwen as she stormed off. In her defense, Jack had taken to wearing the coat around the Hub more, instead of just outside. Now it was rare to see him walking around and giving orders without it. Even Tosh, who was the only Torchwood member that could be described as sweet had started to snap at Kayla about her language translating skills. She followed each snap up with apologizes to a copious amount, but they were still harsh words coming from Tosh.

Kayla, of course, had not gone stir crazy. This was not because she found Torchwood peaceful compared to the TARDIS, or because she was just happy to be apart of something again. Oh no, Kayla found the Hub to be rather annoying. What was stopping her from going insane was existence of her new nighttime hang out; the roof of an abandoned building. There, she would drink, partake in some of the Earthly drugs – they didn't give her the elusive high she was looking for, but it did allow her to have a few moments of bliss – and talk to the one source that wouldn't force their advice on her despite the fact that she was millions of miles away and not traveling with him on the TARDIS: The stars.

Once Gwen had gone off to Rhys, Owen had gone off to the bars that Kayla made sure to avoid, Tosh had gone home, and Ianto and Jack had gone off together, Kayla would go to the roof, stopping by stores on the way to get her supplies. Sometimes she would spend an hour, or sometimes she would spend all night. She felt peaceful there, and that peace was something she hadn't felt before. Even with the Doctor, she still had a level of anxiety that he would judge her, for surely he would judge her for her behaviors. On that roof, the only thing that judged her was the stars, and so far she had yet to hear them say anything against her. Even if they did, she was a Time Lady, and weren't the Time Lords supposed to be arrogant? In her opinion, it was a win-win situation, and it would remain that way as long as no one figured out.

This was the mood of Torchwood Three's Hub when Tosh reported a police call about a burglary with abnormal qualities to it. Normally, Owen and Gwen would go and judge the crime scene. Tosh might go with them if there was something that warranted it in the description. Rarely did the entire team go about one call. But as soon as Tosh had reported it, Jack had ordered everyone to get ready to go. Never mind the hour, they needed something to do. No one could refute that, so they prepared their equipment and got into the SUV, leaving Ianto to make coffee for what already promised to be a late night.

In Kayla's opinion, the crime scene was normal. Granted the state of the burglars was eyebrow-raising and horrifying enough for Owen to get angry at the police, especially when he found out the surviving one, still on the roof of the car below the window he had been thrown out of, had yet to be stabilized. And granted the police officer had made it a point to say that it was a bit odd, but like Jack had said, when you're terrified for your life, it's surprising what you can do.

What did make everyone, even Kayla, suspicious, was the stab wounds. The only weapon at the scene was a baseball bat, which did not match the cause of death for one of the burglars as a long, narrow blade – the same stab wounds were on the one thrown out of the window as well.

"It doesn't make any sense," Kayla grumbled in the SUV, which was missing Owen and Gwen, who were at the hospital with the remaining burglar, "Unless they had a weapon made of ice, there's no way a blade can just disappear."

"Maybe they did," Tosh suggested, though she had no confidence in her voice, "Maybe they were paranoid and wanted a knife on them."

"Why not have a regular knife under their bed? If you're that paranoid you want something that can be found so your killer can be found."

"Could be something with the cricket bat," Jack suggested as he drove, "Did we get it?"

"It's in the back," Tosh answered promptly, "I'll run some scans on it as soon as we're back."

Once they were back at the Hub, Tosh kept her word and started to scan the bat for hidden weapons. She promised to update Jack with whatever she did or didn't find, which was enough for Jack to go back to his office. Ianto, the only member of Torchwood who hadn't left, blatantly watched Jack go before he brought the first round of coffee around to Tosh and Kayla.

Jack had checked in on Owen and Gwen before they had left the crime scene and had ordered Owen to stay at the hospital while Gwen could head home. All he had to do was watch the surviving burglar and try and question him if he woke up; it really wasn't a hard job.

Yet at two in the morning, when Tosh and Ianto had long since gone home and Kayla and Jack were the only people in the Hub, it was not Owen who called frantically from the hospital, reporting that the burglar had died and his last words were a plea to stay away from Beth. No, no, Owen had gone home after telling Gwen she was to stay at the hospital all night.

Even with the death and the transporting of Beth, the woman who lived in the flat with her husband and who was their prime suspect, done by Jack and Ianto at six in the morning, Jack still had time to call Owen to his office and tell him off for a good few minutes. When Owen emerged, grumpier and more sullen than usual, he went immediately to the autopsy area and stayed there until everything was ready for Jack and Kayla to interrogate Beth.

Jack was the obvious choice. He was the boss and he knew how to push people to tell him what he needed. Kayla, however, was not an obvious choice. Sure, the team had welcomed her into Torchwood Three, but she really wasn't a member and they really didn't know anything about her. It was alarming when Gwen reported to the rest of the curious members that Jack had told her that Kayla had been the top interrogator at the Time Agency and would be able to get anything out of Beth in a matter of minutes.

When the two went into the room and stood in front of the bagged, handcuffed figure of Beth for several minutes, the entire team was watching anxiously through the two-way mirror. They all breathed a sigh of relief when Kayla stepped back and crossed her arms, just watching as Jack walked over to Beth and removed the bag from her head.

The drug Ianto had injected her with was one from the future. It kept the user unconscious in the dark. As soon as they had light flashed on them, they would wake up and not have any of the side effects like being dizzied or altogether stoned. The downside was the confusion the user would face since, as far as Beth was aware, she had just woken up in an interrogation room with handcuffs, which was a stark difference the hospital room she had been in when she had fallen asleep.

Despite her clear confusion, Jack still gave her a hard look and snapped, "Tell me everything."

"Where am I? Where's my husband?"

"Safe at the hospital," Kayla answered, her voice far cooler and smoother than the Torchwood team usually heard.

Beth whipped her head around Jack to stare at Kayla, "What do you mean safe?" When no answer came, she looked back at Jack, "What have you done with him?"

"Nothing," Kayla assured, though her voice was anything but kind. It almost sounded bored as she added, "He's not the one that we need to talk to."

Despite the lack of threat from her, her voice held enough edge in it that it was almost as if there had been a threat, or at least like she was just itching to add a "but that can change" or some other promise to make Beth behave.

It was enough to make the woman silent as Jack spoke, "Tell me what happened in the flat, Beth. It had to be you or Mike, so how did you do it?"

But even with Kayla's voice and Jack, Beth was an angry woman who would defend herself if she needed to, "You can't treat people like this. I've been burgled, attacked. I want a lawyer, I want a phone call. If you're charging me with something-"

Even though her voice shook, she still had a defiant glint her eye as Jack cut her off, "We're not charging you with anything. We don't have to. And there'll be no lawyer, no phone calls. Just us and this room for as long as it takes. Now, tell me what happened!"

"I told the police. Please, I don't know what happened."

Though Jack and Kayla would never go into depth about their history together for the Torchwood team, it was clear they had worked together during something like this before. How else would Kayla already be placing the crime scene photos in front of Beth without Jack signaling her to do it? It was obvious they knew how to bounce off each other, giving the nicer role to Kayla and the harder role from Jack.

"Look at them. The second one just died in hospital. 'Keep her away from me. The woman in the flat.' Those were his dying words. Now why would he say something like that?"

Beth shook her head rapidly, tears falling down her face, "I don't know, I swear. I never touched him."

"Is it Mike? Are you covering for him?" Jack continued to press.

"No!"

As the angry yell echoed around the room, the light bulb blew, sending them into a shadowy darkness. Kayla and Jack slowly looked upwards, taking in what they both knew to be a fresh bulb. It was only because of Kayla's enhanced Time Lady hearing that she was able to hear Ianto telling the team that that bulb was brand knew, he had replaced them yesterday.

Perhaps it was nothing.

Besides, the bulb gave Kayla the perfect opportunity to place a hand on Jack's shoulder, though it literally pained her to do so, and say in a soft voice, "Jack."

Nodding, Jack left, joining the team by the mirror to watch as Kayla move a chair so it was next to Beth and sat down in it.

"Beth, I know what it's like to kill in self-defense. It makes you feel horrible and you constantly question whether or not you had the right. Those two burglars were breaking into your home and attacking you and your husband. People will understand if you or Mike fought back, but we need the full story to help."

Beth, however, started to sob. And Kayla, for her all her warmth she was trying to show Beth, did nothing except stay in her seat, her arms crossing so that her hands could run up and down her shirt sleeves, the texture calming her.

"I promise. I promise I have no idea what happened to them. All I know is that it wasn't me," Beth managed to say between her sobs.

Tilting her head to the side so that her ear was closer to the window – "It's like she pretending to hear us," Owen had grumbled, "Might make her feel like she's being watched. Mindfucking at its finest." – Kayla got up from her chair moments after Jack had said that they would try again after Owen had run some tests and left the room.

Kayla escorted Beth to the tests, reassuring her that it was standard, and that Owen was a very good doctor. Both statements were things she did not know at all, but it was worth it for Beth to be relaxed as they walked into the rest of the Hub. Beth had marveled at the structure of the Hub, remarking that she felt very small, Kayla didn't comment. Not because it wasn't worthy to comment on, but because Kayla had no reassurances to give to Beth. How could she, a Time Lady help Beth feel better about her humaniness?

The question was so silly that Kayla didn't bother trying to answer it. She just wordlessly steered Beth to the autopsy room and quickly introduced her to Owen.

From there, Kayla was okay to watch Owen set up the tests while Beth sat on the autopsy table. Owen, for all his personality faults, did have a relatively good bedside manner. He spoke to Beth throughout the entire process, not only making sure she knew everything she wanted to about the tests, but also making sure she knew about every single safety implement in place if things went wrong. When Beth had shied away from Owen at this, he had even assured her that issues were very rare.

It was weird seeing Owen so nice to someone. As far as Kayla had seen, Owen and nice just didn't mix. Her views were backed up by both Tosh and Gwen joining her and almost immediately remarking on the odd occurrence.

"This must've been him before Torchwood," Tosh murmured, sounding as if she was identifying a rare specimen.

"Or him with a patient who's alive," Gwen suggested, making herself and her co-worker snort.

The joking stopped as Jack and Ianto joined the three women to watch Owen start the blood tests. Or at least they would have watched if it weren't for a snapping sound and Owen grunting in confusion, "What?" Jack called down, the group unable to see thanks to Owen's angle.

"Needle's snapped," Owen answered.

"Haven't you got a nurse to do this?" Beth asked shakily, looking up at the team worriedly.

"Owen knows what he's doing," Kayla assured, trying to give Beth a smile to go along with it.

That seemed to work…and then Owen tried again and another needle broke.

"Okay, look, I'm not gonna do this if you can't even-" Beth started to explain as she started to get up from the slab. She cut herself off as Owen came at her with a very sharp scalpel, "What are you doing?"

"Bear with me," Owen assured, even as tried to cut Beth's arm with the scalpel. Of course, Beth started to protest, but those died as even that blade broke off, rendering it useless. Owen stared at it for a long moment, and then he crossed his arms, "When was the last time you were in hospital, Beth?"

"I don't remember. I don't think I ever have. Why, what's wrong with me?" Beth asked, her voice speeding up as she became more and more concerned with the looks everyone was exchanging and giving her.

"Well, any operations? Checkups?" Owen continued.

"No, nothing."

"When was the last time you felt ill? Have you had a cold?"

"I don't think I ever have. I take a lot of vitamin C."

Owen hummed, "Hell of a lot I reckon," he muttered with a sharp look to Jack.

Taking the hint, Jack crossed his arms as he stared down at Beth, "Okay, Beth. You make light bulbs blow, we can't break your skin. What planet are you from?"

"Earth," Beth said firmly.

Jack huffed, "Stop wasting our time. We know you're an alien."

"There's no such thing as aliens."

What bothered Kayla about that statement was how truthful it was. Beth truly believed there was no such thing, and that made Kayla cross her arms as well. How had Beth not noticed the multiple alien invasions?

She didn't have time to question Beth on that, because quite suddenly she was jogging after Jack and Beth as he dragged to the cell and forcibly introduced her to the celled Weevil lovingly named Janet.

"Beth, Janet. Janet, Beth," Jack ground out, his voice still managing to sound pleasant.

Beth whimpered in Jack's grip, "What is it?"

"It's an alien. But you know that cos you are, too."

"No, it's not. I'm not. I work in an office."

"Why do you give off electromagnetic waves? Why?" Jack pressed.

"I don't know. Stop it. Why are you doing this? I want Mike. I want to go home," Beth practically begged, her voice cracking as she spoke.

As if the Weevil could sense her emotions, it started to back away in a sort-of bow, making a low keening noise as it moved. It was unnerving to see any Weevil, who were very aggressive, fierce creatures, acting in blatant submission to anything.

"Why is it doing that?" Beth asked.

When Kayla looked over at Jack, it was clear that he was puzzled by the behavior, "I don't know," he admitted, "It's never done that before."

Beth stared at the Weevil for a long time, "This is real, isn't it?" She asked, though she didn't turn to look at Jack or Kayla.

"It is," Kayla answered.

As if she couldn't look any longer, Beth turned jerkily so she was staring at Jack, "I don't know about my skin, or any of that other stuff. I just. How can I prove it to you? How can I prove to you that I'm not an alien?" She demanded, and though her voice shook with each word, and her lip quivered with the threat of tears, she still managed to tilt her head up just a bit.

Kayla was the one to bring Beth from the holding cells filled with Weevils to the interrogation room. When she reentered the Hub, she immediately saw the large metal helmet Jack was placing onto a table. He had a slightly manic look on his face, one she recognized well. He always got that face when he wanted to prove something, and right now, he wanted to prove that Beth was an alien.

Kayla wanted to prove that as well, but she was very firm in her belief that an invasive, high-power mind probe, that was what the large metal helmet's purpose, was not necessary, especially with herself around. She had used the mental abilities of a Time Lady before and had done so with relative success. Sure, the other person had gone into her mind, but Kayla was fairly positive she would be able to stop that from happening this time.

All she had to do was convince Jack it was a good idea.

She was surprised when it turned out to be set up so easily. First, Tosh started chastising Jack about bringing the probe back since he had ordered previously that they were never allowed to use it. Then, Ianto pointed out that the last person they had used the probe on had exploded. As Gwen started to protest, spluttering at the beginning because of how horrified she was, Kayla saw her chance to say, "Jack, why don't I just read her mind?"

It appeared she had thought it easy too soon. At this statement, the entire Torchwood team turned to stare at her, and even Jack was thrown off enough to allow a, "What?" to slip out.

"You can read minds?" Owen asked, the first of the team to recover from this shock. Like his usual behavior, the question was spoken harshly.

"Yeah," Kayla answered, her arms crossing from the discomfort of having the usually friendly team acting so hostile, "Only with specific contact, though."

"How is that possible?" Tosh asked, sounding less hostile and more blatantly curious.

"It's from experiments at the Time Agency. They were trying to get long-range telepathy for spying, but they couldn't get past a contact-only block in our evolution. The project was ended when they got over the block and the person immediately died," Kayla explained.

The nice thing about her answer was that it was only somewhat false. The Time Agency was trying to get long-range telepathy for spying, they had found a contact-only block, and they had gotten over the block on one person who died immediately after. The only false part was Kayla's involvement. She had the privilege of knowing thanks to her rank, but she had never been experimented on. That had been reserved for prisoners and Time Agents that just weren't worth the effort – money – for the Time Agency.

She supposed it was rather horrifying she had okayed such experiments, but Kayla had spent much of her past okaying and doing horrifying things. All she could do now was be a better person.

Her musing over, Kayla paid her full attention to Torchwood once more, and was pleasantly surprised by them accepting her explanation. Owen still appeared hostile about it – later that week he took her aside and practically forced her to show him how it worked and what it felt like. Kayla had humored him and given him a small look by only skimming his surface thoughts. When she was done, she had asked why he wanted her to look and he had snapped that he wanted to make sure he knew the sensation, so she couldn't sneak in. – The rest of Torchwood, however, seemed more curious than angry. Tosh looked like she wanted to start bombarding her with questions now, but Jack's response made her pause.

"If you think you can," he said slowly, warning her with both his words and his eyes, "Then go ahead. I hate that thing."

"You'll be fine as long as you don't try to fight it," Kayla assured Beth, her arms crossed as she sat in front of the seated woman in the middle of the Hub. Ianto had immediately cleared away the probe and Kayla had gotten Beth and led her back to the center of the Hub to sit down in one of two chairs facing each other. Once Beth had sat, Kayla sat down in the other chair, her posture a stark difference from Beth's stiff form. To Beth, Kayla seemed to be the only relaxed person in the Hub, and that made her gnaw her lip.

"What happens if I fight it?"

"A concussion," Kayla answered, her tone blithe as she shrugged half-heartedly.

Beth swallowed hard and looked around at the rest of Torchwood. They were all watching the two carefully, and the nerves she thought she was picking up from them really did not help her own nerves, "Are you sure this is safe?"

"Yep."

Beth jerked her head down in a scared form of a nod, "Just try not to, you know, kill me or anything, okay?"

Actually nodding, Kayla leaned forwards and placed both hands on the sides of Beth's head, "It'll help if you close your eyes," she suggested in an almost whisper.

It was clear to Torchwood when Kayla had actually entered Beth's mind. The two both tensed and Beth leaned forwards, her eyes and body relaxing. Tosh instantly started to write down the signs, looking at Ianto's watch and marking the time that it had started.

It was also clearly better than the mind probe Jack had brought out. Both appeared peaceful, if a bit tense. One could even say they looked like they were meditating. It was all very, very fascinating for the group of humans from the 21st century to watch. Even Jack was fascinated by it, for as far as he knew, the Time Agency's attempts had never gotten close to true telepathy the way he knew the Doctor, and now Kayla, could.

Because of how watchful the group was, they noticed when something changed, when Beth started to tense more and more and…

"Step back!"

The warning, in the form of a guttural yell from a suddenly standing and moving back Kayla, was all the team got before Beth leaned back in her chair, cried out in pain, and then passed out. What was even more startling from this was that Beth almost immediately sat up, her eyes open but unseeing. A horrible hissing sound filled the air and all eyes followed the noise to its source: Beth's right arm's skin peeled back revealing red lights underneath it.

"Oh, my God," Gwen gasped, her voice ringing through the horrified silence that had followed this revolution.

As if she couldn't help herself, she started to step forward, but Jack grabbed her, stopping her in her tracks, "I wouldn't get that close," he warned. "Kayla, what happened?"

"There was a buried compartment in her mind. I had to push to get it," Kayla answered slowly. She suppressed a yawn, "She couldn't have known about it."

Nodding, Jack crossed his arms and centered himself in front of Beth, "Who are you?"

"Kayehla Janees. Putaak graszh, ish nin fas du hap vac nal."

Briefly, he felt Kayla's hand on his shoulder, a silent way for her to tell him that she could understand what Beth was saying. He acted as if he didn't feel it, instead asking Beth, "Where are you from?"

"Kayehla Janees. Putaak graszh, ish nin fas du hap vac nal," Beth responded in the same listless voice as before.

"How do you like my boots?"

"Kayehla Janees. Putaak graszh, ish nin fas du hap vac nal."

"Jack, what is it? What is she saying?" Gwen asked, her voice higher-pitched than normal thanks to her fear.

"Name, rank, serial number, and that's all she's gonna say," Jack answered. He turned to Kayla, a frown marring his face, "Can you safely-"

"Yes," Kayla answered. Moving forwards cautiously, Kayla took Beth's unchanged hand and closed her eyes, squeezing them tight as she concentrated…

"That wasn't that bad. Did you find anything?"

Beth's face, which had a cautiously optimistic smile on it as she first woke, crumbled when everyone just looked at her mournfully, as if they were already planning her new home in the cells of Torchwood.

Sleeper is an interesting episode. The acting is pretty...eh, but the plot is really cool and the idea of an alien species who might invade at any time is a concept I wish Doctor Who would delve back into, but that would require Torchwood and honestly, does anyone want Series 4 Torchwood team to come back?

For this chapter, I really liked it. I originally had Kayla as the aggressor, but that really didn't fit with her. She's very passive, so I made her kinda take the role of Gwen as the kinder person to Beth, but Kayla is still pretty harsh to Beth.

That's pretty much it. No new reviews so I'll see you guys next week!