Chapter Four

The three members of Torchwood took Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani to a very upmarket restaurant; a very cosy setting painted in a deep red, with mahogany tables that had candles flickering away at the centre of them. The tables surrounded a dance floor where a live band was playing gentle music whilst the restaurant's guests ate.

"Rather posh in here isn't it?" Clyde pondered as he tucked into some bread that was on the table, as they decided what they wanted to order.

"I think it's nice" Rani smiled, looking up from her menu "Do people get up and dance later?"

Gwen smiled "Yeah at about ten o'clock. Why, do you like dancing Rani?"

Rani grinned bashfully "Yeah..."

"Well there's no way you'll get me up there, not a chance!" Clyde assured the group.

Jack laughed briefly before saying "You can't let the lovely Rani dance by herself Clyde, I bet there's an inner dancer in you somewhere?"

"There definitely isn't!" Clyde insisted, looking back at his menu.

Sarah Jane smiled at the other adults, knowing they'll talk him round eventually. Following a gorgeously cooked three course meal, people were indeed starting to get on the dance floor.

"Anybody fancy a dance?" Ianto asked the group.

Everyone in the group smiled eagerly, apart from Clyde. Ianto offered his hand to Sarah Jane who took it and they began dancing to the upbeat music.

"Go on Rani, you can dance with Jack if you want?" Gwen offered to the young girl.

"But you had already agreed to dance with him."

"No go on, you go" Gwen tried to tell her.

Jack looked helplessly at Clyde "Come on Clyde, help me out here, mate, please!"

Clyde sighed "Alright alright" he got up "Come on then Rani."

Rani looked a little disheartened that Clyde had not been more eager to dance with her, but nonetheless he had agreed to dance. She thought she must be grateful for that at least. She was also thankful for the fact that the tempo of the song meant that they weren't really dancing closely; it diffused any awkwardness for the next few songs. However, the mood soon changed as the music dipped into a slow song. Gwen with Jack, and Ianto with Sarah Jane, danced more closely with their partners, none of them thinking anything of it; but it was a completely different story for the young adults whose feelings complicated everything, they did not know what to do or how to act around eachother in a situation like this. Rani tried to encourage Clyde to copy what the other couples on the dance floor were doing, Clyde started to get a bit irritable as he tried to follow the dance but something inside him made him freeze.

"I'm sorry Rani, I can't do this" and he hurried off the dance-floor to sit back down.

Rani stood completely alone in the middle of the dance-floor, a lot of the people watching her with pity as Clyde had abandoned her. Jack stopped dancing with Gwen to offer to take Rani's hand but she shrugged him off, tears springing in her eyes. "No, Jack, please...just leave me alone."

And she ran off the dance-floor, feeling utterly humiliated and rushed directly past their table they had been at earlier and headed straight outside. Tears were flowing as she ran a few streets away, to a quiet alleyway where no one could bother her.

Clyde remained at the table feeling solemn, but most of all he was scared. There was no hiding it. He had frightened himself with his feelings for Rani, he did not realise he felt that strongly about her. He knew he had always fancied her, but now it was like they were on a whole different level. Seeing the other couples dancing like they were, were a sign for Clyde, a sign of what he and Rani could be. And that terrified him. The dancing was all too much, but so too were his actions towards Rani he now knew. Realising what he had done, Clyde got up and hurried out of the restaurant. He scanned the area for any sign of Rani, but he could not see her whatsoever. This was a strange place, somewhere completely unfamiliar to them both, so he knew she was more than likely to head somewhere that she recognised, so he made a beeline for the Torchwood base. It was gone half past ten in the evening, the area was relatively quiet with not many people around, Clyde called out Rani's name as he wandered around, and even tried her mobile but she had it switched off. After ten minutes Clyde was not only breathless but he knew he was completely lost.

"Rani!" Clyde called desperately again.

All of a sudden he heard a piercingly loud scream from the next street, Clyde recognised that scream all too well. "Rani!" Clyde yelled as he ran to the source of the noise.

He came to the entrance of the alleyway to find Rani backed up against a brick wall, and what Clyde could just about make out in the darkness as a weevil approaching her.

"Rani!" he cried, moving towards his frightened best friend.

"Clyde, help me!" Rani exclaimed, edging further across the wall, moving away from the weevil who would not remove its attention from Rani.

Clyde knew it was risky, and he could potentially get himself killed, but he had to do it. To divert the weevil's attention, he found a rock nearby and threw it at the back of the weevil's head. It did the trick. The weevil turned around swiftly, gave an angry growl before launching itself towards Clyde who shouted "Rani, run!" as he ran away from the weevil that chased him out of the alleyway and around the corner. Rani ran after them and tried to distract the weevil away from Clyde, who managed to slow the weevil down with a bin that he pushed over, causing the weevil to trip and fall, giving Rani enough time to catch up to Clyde who grabbed hold of her hand.

"Quick, we need to hide!" they ran down another street and round another corner until they realised it was a dead end.

"Oh god, no!" cried Rani, turning to Clyde, who was looking behind him. It was too late; the weevil had caught them up.

Clyde and Rani grabbed hold of eachother in a protective sort of hug, Clyde holding onto Rani, protecting her as if she was the most precious thing on the whole of the planet.

"Please, leave us alone!" Rani cried, tears streaming down her face "Get away from us, just go!"

The weevil snarled at them, which made Rani and Clyde jump. Clyde tried to reassure Rani, but in his heart he knew this was the end. This was how they were going to die. A violent and bloody death.