AN: Thank you to the people who have read what we've uploaded so far; we've mostly recieved positive reviews, and one set of constructive critism so thank you sooooooo much for that. Disclaimers: we don't own torchwood or any of the characters except Laura, Morgan, Olly, Seth, Grace and Anna.

Summary: When Laura meets the team, to them, it's a surprise. Laura's new to the world of Torchwood; aliens, time streams. But when she does get to Torchwood, Morgan offers her a less than friendly welcome. As Laura digs deeper into her Uncle's world, will she fit in? Or will she simply forget... Chapter 2 Part 2 of the Torchwood: Alive and Better Than Ever series :

The Hub, A Pterodactyl and Bizarre Happenings - Chapter 2 Part 2

Owen parked his car by the water tower, deliberately parking on the double yellow lines just to flash his ID at the passing traffic warden. I shook my head at him.

"What?" he asked me, "No point in having authority if you can't overpower people you don't know!" he shot a grin at me, and I smiled.

We walked across the Plaza again, before descending a set of steps so we were level with the bay. We walked towards a small tourist office. I stopped just before the door.

"Really?" I asked, sounding totally sceptical, "I mean, really?" Owen just grinned.

"No point in the secret base without the cover story, is there?" Owen asked, still smiling, "Come on." He said, taking my hand and dragging me through the door.

The tourist office itself was nothing special; just a desk, with a computer, and a rack for leaflets on the wall. An empty coffee mug sat behind the desk, and I suddenly realised that my coffee never did get finished; to be honest, I was more interested in getting mum out of that cafe before she made a scene.

Owen went behind the desk and slipped his hand underneath it. I gasped as the wall beside my slid open, revealing a dimly lit corridor.

"Okay..." I said, turning to look at Owen, "That is cool!"


We walked through a maze of corridors; I don't' think I could find my way back out if I tried!

We reached a big cog-like door. How did I know it was a door? It rolled open when we came within six feet of it.

What I saw inside was incredible. I mean really incredible. I now realise just how tall the water tower is; not only does it come up 21 metres above ground, I reckon it comes down another 15 metres into the ground.

I just looked around. I could see a grand total of seven people, though I could hear the excited screams of young children coming from somewhere nearby that I couldn't see. I stood there, frozen to the spot with shock.

"Yeah, it has that effect on most people the first time." Owen told me.

"Yeah, I remember when Ella first came in. It was so funny." A girl laughed. She had black hair, and was quite pale, and she had blue eyes. Next to her, was a boy, possibly a little older, and he had slightly darker skin, but lighter hair (which was still dark, obviously brown, but bordering on black). The girl next to the other girl had sandy brown hair, and wore square glasses. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that this is the Ella the other girl just mentioned. Ella glared at the girl.

"Oh come on Ella, you have to admit it was slightly funny." The other girl said.

I looked over to them.

"It wasn't that funny." Ella muttered.

"Oh believe me, it so was." The other girl replied.

"Um question. Who the hell is this?" A guy (a rather good-looking guy...) asked walking over to Owen and me. He was obviously the leader kind of person.

"Oh, yeah right. Everyone this is Laura, my niece. Laura this is the team." Owen said. I looked around at all of them.

"Captain Jack Harkness." The guy said holding his hand out. I shook it, smiling.

"Oh God dad!" the boy and the first girl said.

"What?" Jack asked.

"You don't always have to add the Captain part." the boy and girl replied.

Another man wearing a smart black suit stepped up next to Jack.

"Ianto Jones. It's nice to meet you." He said. I smiled at him.

"See, why couldn't you be more like Tad, when introducing yourself?" the boy and girl asked Jack. He poked his tongue out at them as his arm slipped around Ianto's waist. The boy and the girl rolled their eyes at exactly the same time, making me smile. Everyone else there laughed.

"I'm Gwen." A woman said coming up to me. She had shoulder length black hair, and she looked to be in her early thirties.

"Hi, I'm Tosh." An Asian woman slowly stood up and walked over.

"Tosh and I are together," Owen explained to me as Tosh stood next to him. I noticed Tosh's baby bump. I looked from her, to Owen. He nodded, and I smiled; I'm going to have a cousin!

I looked back to the kids in the room. Two younger kids came running in calling for their dad and tad. They stopped quickly, before the girl introduced herself as Grace. She couldn't be older than two, almost three, years old, and she had lighter hair than the other three, more of a chocolate brown. The other, a boy about six, almost seven, years old, introduced himself as Seth. I said 'Hi' to both of them, before my thoughts about one of the girls being Ella were confirmed.

"I'm Ella, Gwen's niece." Ella told me.

"Olly, as you probably know I'm the Captain and his husband's son. I'm the oldest." The older boy said.

I looked at the last girl expectantly.

"Morgan." She said.

"Morgan is our second oldest, before Seth and after Olly." Ianto explained. I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Technically I'm the third oldest, well if you count Alice." Morgan pointed out.

"Alice is my oldest daughter, she's forty two, from a previous relationship around fifty years ago." Jack clarified. No way in hell is he old enough to be over 50...I decided not to question it. For now at least.

I hear a screeching above me. I look up to see a dinosaur, a real life pterodactyl casually gliding across the base. It shocked me to say the least!

"I think I'm going to faint," I murmured, by eyes slowly drifting back down from the ceiling.

"Remember, she's more scared of you, than you are of her... ish...maybe...maybe not." Morgan told me smiling slyly.

Jack and Ianto both shot a harsh look in her direction. To be honest, it didn't faze me; well, I'd been fazed just about enough for one day thank you!

Morgan returned their glares with an apparently innocent look. "What?" she asked, "I'm only being honest!"

I was wary of the dinosaur; I tried to stay as far away from it as possible.

"Laura, why don't I show you around?" Owen suggested.

"Okay, sure," I said, keeping my eyes on the pterodactyl.

Owen started leading me away from the main area, down some stairs to what appeared to be the Archives of the base. As I was walking up, I heard Morgan calling after me.

"Don't worry the hub is huge you're most likely to get lost then run into Myfanwy. Anyway, she lets her prey come to her."


Owen showed me everything. We walked down to the archives with him specifically not to touch anything because Ianto would know. I asked him how, and he replied with "He just will." Again, I decided not to question it.

Owen was reluctant to show me the cells, but after me telling him several times that I wasn't a chicken, he gave in and showed me. He was surprised when Janet the weevil didn't scare me; I said "I told you so," when he worked out that I wasn't scared. He showed me the conference room, the 'hang-out room' (which I'm pretty sure was for the benefit of the kids rather than the adults) and the weapons locker, which, I have to admit, was pretty damn awesome.

We passed through the main room a couple of times; one time Morgan called Myfanwy (who I now know is the pterodactyl) down to try and scary. I just stayed close to Owen, trying to think about it.

I suppose it was somewhat...awkward. Everyone else seemed to fit in so easily. I'm starting o remember some things that mum said that were obvious hints as to what her job entailed. Something about a 'Dalek'... I thought that was just the name of a company they were in partnership with. Then something I wasn't supposed to hear when mum was talking on the phone late at night. I couldn't sleep so I came down to get a glass of water. Mum was talking about how 'Dave' had been 'Retconned'. I think the person on the other end of the phone asked what Retcon was, because mum replied with 'You know, that amnesia drug thing. They've been talking about it for weeks...'. I've now realised that this was at the same time as Torchwood 1. Which means it's probably at this Torchwood too.

After the tour, we walked around the edge of the hub to get to where Jack, Ianto, Gwen were standing and Tosh was sitting. Tosh was subconsciously rubbing her baby bump, smiling slightly. Owen went and crouched down next to her. I'm guessing the baby started kicking or something, as Tosh lifted Owen's hand up onto her bump so he could feel. They ended up grinning madly at each other; and there was me thinking that my Uncle Owen was going to end up dying single after thousands of one night stands!

After a while, Ella left, walking home from the hub, leaving me, Owen, Tosh (who I was already thinking of as an auntie), Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Olly, Morgan, Grace and Seth.

"Right, I'm going to make some coffee. Laura, would you like some?" Ianto asked me. I remembered my coffee from this morning.

"Yes please," I said, smiling.

"Morgan, why don't you take Laura to the 'hang out room', and you know, hang out." Jack asked Morgan.

"Aw, do I have to?" Morgan moaned. Yes, I did take offence.

"YES!" Jack and Ianto said simultaneously. Morgan sighed.

"Come on scaredy cat." She said to me. Again, offence taken. However, Morgan looked like she couldn't give two shits.

When we got to the hang out room, Morgan sat on the sofa furthest from the door. I sat on the one opposite. She stared at me constantly. After a minute I two, I gave in.

"What?" I asked her.

"You're a wuss." Morgan replied.

"How am I?" am I asked, slightly annoyed.

"You're scared of a bird...and a building!" she said, as if I was stupid.

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

The door opened, and Ianto walked in with my coffee.

"Here you go Laura," Ianto said, handing it to me. The phone call mum had come back into my head; I have no doubt that they spiked my drink with Retcon.

"Morgan, can you go get the triangular gadget, you know, the thing you saw earlier, from the archives please?" Ianto asked her.

"Why do I have to get it?" Morgan asked grumpily.

"Because Owen doesn't want Tosh going down to the archives in her condition, I won't allow Owen or you're dad down there without my supervision, I'm still making coffee, Olly's putting up a fight about it and Seth and Grace are too young to go down there." Ianto told her. Although you would have thought he was getting impatient by now, he remained as calm as ever.

"What about Gwen?" Morgan asked. I would have just got up and done it by now...

"She's helping Owen bring Tosh up here, to the conference room." Ianto said.

"For God's sake!" Morgan breathed, walking out of the room. I followed her, and then Ianto followed me.

"Thank you!" he called after Morgan, as she went back down the stairs, grumbling.

I went back downstairs to where Gwen was helping Tosh out of her chair, Owen hovering nervously.

"Owen would you stop doing that!" Tosh exclaimed.

"Doing what?" he asked, appearing to be completely innocent.

"Hovering! I'm absolutely fine!" Tosh said, before wincing.

"What is it?" Owen said, feeling her bump in under a second.

"Just a twinge," she said through gritted teeth, "Now get off!" Owen moved his hand from her stomach to around her back. Tosh was quite happy with this compromise, as she put her arm around his back and snuggled into his side.

"Come on," Owen said to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. I shrugged his arm off, and laughed Gwen and Owen continued to help Tosh up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, Owen stopped, leaving Tosh to walk slowly in alone, Gwen right behind her. Then Gwen dashed back downstairs, past Owen and me, then started flicking through a big pile of paperwork. Owen started coming down the stairs to the middle, where I was now standing watching Gwen.

"How are you coping?" he murmured. I look at him.

"I told you, I'm not scared." I told him.

"That's not what I asked," he replied.

I took a deep breath. "This is all so...bizarre!" I said, laughing slightly at the enormity of it all, "I mean, the day before yesterday, I was at school thinking about how boring this weekend was going to be. And now..." I shook my head, "This is amazing."

"I know." He said, looking at me smiling.

Gwen rushed past carrying a file. Owen rolled his eyes, and started dragging me up the last few steps. Morgan somehow got in there before us; I suppose there's another set of stairs or something. I drank some of my coffee whilst taking in the scene. On the table, sat a black, triangular object. I recognised it straight away.

"Hey, mum and I have one of those back at the hotel!" I told them. Everyone turned to look at me. Well now I feel awkward...

"There's another one?" Owen said, eyes going wide.

"Oh God, it's the risen mitten all over again!" Jack whined. The what...?

"Not exactly." Morgan weighed in. We all looked at her.

"Explain." Gwen said.

"Well for one the 'risen mitten' was a glove. Given the fact that there's two of these I'd say it would make a diamond, also if you look and the markings down the longer side you can see that is where the other piece fits." Morgan explained, gesturing towards the device.

"How do you know this?" Tosh asked.

Morgan smiled. "I know everything," she said, glancing up at me and giving me a knowing smile.

"Wow, um, ok. Laura can you bring your half in tomorrow, it could really help us out?" Tosh asked.

"Uh...I can try, but I don't know if mum will let me." I said, glancing at Owen.

"I'll bring her round to giving it to us; I have a power for getting my little sister to give me stuff." Owen told everyone smiling.

Jack, Ianto and Morgan all rolled their eyes; it looked so similar, it was almost uncanny. We ended up going back down to the main hub, where Ianto ordered pizza.

"Ok, so Laura, better be getting you home soon." Owen said after a while.

"Oh come on Owen, we're just getting to know the girl. Give it another twenty or thirty minutes." Jack said smiling at me. He seemed like an alright guy. That is, alright except for the fact that he spiked my drink so I wouldn't remember anything about today.

I'm pretty smart you see. Retcon is a trick of the mind; it makes your brain think that something never happened, even when it did. There's an easy way around it: trick it into not taking affect. Easy enough, if you know how.

Jack, Ianto and Tosh were asking me a lot of questions. I answered them easily enough; it was just stuff about school, and friends, and...Well, life I suppose.

"Right I really need to take Laura back now, otherwise Anna will kill me. Literally." Owen announced after exactly twenty minutes.

Jack and Ianto glanced at each other.

"Ok, go on then. But Owen, I expect you to be in on time tomorrow." Jack said firmly.

"Alright Jack, don't get your cock up your arse, that's Ianto's job." Owen replied. I smiled slightly at this. Morgan, however, was in absolute hysterics. Ianto blushed and Jack shut up for the first time since I got here.

"Owen, thank you. That comment has made my day." Morgan said between gasping for air. Owen and Morgan high-fived and I just stood there...awkward again...

"Come on Laura." Owen chuckled.

Owen started leading me out, but I stopped, thinking I should give them some explanation as to why I haven't forgotten everything.

"Oh, by the way, I'm not stupid...Retcon won't work on me." I said, directing the comment at Jack and Ianto, but also to everyone else.

I continued to walk out, leading a gobsmacked Owen back out again.


So! what did you think of that? Laura isn't such a scaredy cat after all it seems... who do YOU like more? Laura...or Morgan? And why? Tell us in a review or PM us...like i said, you+feedback=happy people :) we don't mind if you like one character better, we are just curious so please let us know :)

Please review. The ones we've had so far have made us very happy people, and we are glad that people are enjoying the series. there is much more to come, we promise!

This was quite a speedy upload, especially as we currently have no school (woop for half term!) so if we get some feedback, then maybe, just maybe, you'll have another chapter by Monday...i'll leave you to ponder on that...