Violet carfully followed two paces behind the woman, and tried to take in all the strange sights that surrounded her. A beautiful welsh dragon was painted on one wall, and the distinct smell of fresh coffee hung in the air like a soothing blanket. Their footsteps echoed off the concrete floor and bounced around the brick and tile walls. Trickling water could be heard in the distance and so could the tell tale clack of a keyboard.
In the center of the huge underground place, Torchwood, or whatever it was, sat a work station of monitors. They were set in a circle, each one running something different. But one monitor was surrounded by smaller ones. Each of the smaller screens were flashing pictures, numbers, live feeds, progress bars, charts, graphs,or basically anything that could be displayed on a computer was being thrown at the person from every angle. A small woman-ish figure sat infringe of the half dozen of so monitors and was typing furiously away at the keyboard in their lap, head tilted slightly to get a better look at the upper left hand screen.
Gwen cleared her throat and the person swiveled around. She was a small Japanese woman with shoulder length, black hair, and glasses perched on her small nose. Her eyes were brimmed red with strain, but she still managed a smile. "Hello, Gwen. What can I do for you?" The other woman shook her head and said, "I'm fine, Tosh. But I'd like you to meet Violet, she's a friend, if you will."
Tosh looked over at the girl besides Gwen and placed her keyboard on the neat and organised desk. She got up and held out her hand, "Hi, I'm Toshiko Sato."
Violet shook the small hand, "Violet Conners. Jack sort rescued me this morning." Tosh smiled, "Yeah, he tends to do that alot." A sudden beep from behind her made the woman turn around and grab her keyboard. Tosh sat back down in her chair and was opening up new windows on each screen, one by one, faster than the eye could see. "It was nice to meet you!" she said, glancing over her shoulder and smiling one last time.
The two left the woman to her work and Violet trailed behind as Gwen walked up a flight of stairs. The door was shut so she knocked. "Come in." said a muffled voice.
Jack over from the man in the corner and smiled, "Glad to see you're up!"
Violet just nodded. He cleared his throat and motioned to the man . He was very proper looking with a charcoal suit on, and a deep crimson button up shirt on underneath it, "Violet, I'd like you to meet Ianto Jones. He's in charge of keeping us all on our toes here at Torchwood." Ianto gave a small wave and gathered the three or so empty mugs off the large desk and scooted past the girls.
"If you don't mind, Violet, I would like to talk to you for a moment." She shrugged and watched as Gwen slowly shut the door on her way out. "Have a seat." Violet gingerly sat on one of the chairs in front of the desk and waited. Jack leaned back in his chair and propped his hands behind his head, "So, how old are you?"
"Im just turned fifteen a month ago."
"Fifteen, hmmmmmm. Not quite legal yet. Ah well. So how do you like here?"
"Its strange. But everyone I've met had been nice, except Doctor Harper. He's a bit of a push over." Jack chuckled, "Yeah, Owen can be kind of an ass when you first meet him."
Violet relaxed into her chair a bit, it was old and cushy, and very comfortable. "But I do like it here."
"Good. I gather you don't want to go home, do you?" She shook her head, "No, sir. Not at all."
"But you do realize we have to let some family member know you're here. Do you have any grandparents, or aunts and uncles that take care of you?" Again she shook her head, "Both my parents were only children. My grandparents don't really have anything to do with me because of how my parents act. So basically they're all I have."
"I see. And where do you go to school at?"
"Christoper's Mathematics Academy. I'm a scholarship kid. But term ended last week so I don't have to go back for two and a half months."
Jack nodded and leaned forward. He propped his elbow on his desk, his hands clasped in front of him as though in prayer, and a deep look on his face.
"Violet." She sat up straight at the sound of her name and tried not to look egar, "Sir?"
"I've been thinking about your situation, and I think that until we can find you a suitable place to live, that perhaps you could stay here, or in one of the Torchwood safe houses. Would you like that?"
Her chest nearly exploded with joy. Never having to go back to that God awful house, to her stoner parents, and to that screwed life style. It was a dream come true. Violet cleared her throat and tired not to let the surprise and happiness drown her voice, "Yes, sir."
Jack grinned from ear to ear, "Excellent. Now there's a safe house about a block from the plaza, but I want you here until your ribs are healed." She nodded and gently held a hand to her ribs. They hurt a bit, but not near as much as her face did.
Violet let the day replay in her mind as she brushed her hair later that night. Everyone was gone. A shrill beeping had taken them on some mission somewhere, but not that she minded. It was helping innocent people and that was good. She looked up from her white sheets and into the mirror on the other side of the room.
From this distance, her face just looked like a blur of color, and not really like a face at all. But as she closed the distance, features became more distinguished, and colors became bruises. Finally a foot away, she could tell what was what. Her nose was swollen, and red, and her eye was watery but still squinted open enough to see out of. It was an ugly purple, just like her lips. The skin around the stitches on her forehead was red and blue tinged on the edges.
It wasent a very pretty sight. Violet sighed and returned to the cool bed. Dallas was curled up on her pillow, his little kitten belly rising, and falling in sleep, and his purrs made him sound like a tiny, fluffy, car engine. Violet smiled dreamily and lay her head next to his.