Rosabel was dragged out of her unconsciousness by the sound of gunfire. Instincts kicked in and she jumped up, reaching for her gun. Her head swam and her vision blacked—bad idea. "Torchwood, report! Is anyone awake?"
The entire place was silent for a moment, and her heart plummeted. Then her vision swam back into view. Everyone was unharmed, laying about her unconscious, and even as she watched Hunter groaned and rolled onto his stomach half-heartedly.
"What in all the Dark Forest is that thing?" An unfamiliar female voice said loudly.
"It's called a gun." Peter's voice replied.
"Not exactly stealthy, is it?"
"It's more effective than a bow!"
"Except your enemy will hear you coming—how could you possibly hunt with it?"
Rosabel walked towards the voices—they were in the weapons room—and was surprised to see a huge puddle of blood seeping across the floor. "Dr. Walker, what happened?"
"We killed the Pantera!" The woman called. "Are you the Queen of this Earth place?"
"I'm in charge of this team, if that's what you mean. There is no single Earth leader." Rosabel replied, searching her memory for any mention of a Pantera. The dead creature on the floor was it, obviously, and it looked like a panther.
Peter stepped into Rosabel's line of sight. "She's from—"
"Ah, ah, ah, I'll get it. Just… Hold on. Monarchy—okay. Pantera—got it. Bows—that helps. Now… Dark Forest! Oh, that is fantastic! Are you from Arbiore?"
The woman—young, with long, fiery red hair and tanned skin—picked her way around the dead Pantera, soaking her leather moccasins in blood. "Yes." She said simply, offering a hand.
Rose remembered her study of Arbiore's culture, and grasped the other woman's forearm. "I'm Professor Rosabel Stalon, at your service."
"I'm Princess Adrianne Rheia Topaz of the Royal Province of Druid." She lowered her voice, "Or at least, I was. My mother actually disowned me."
"That makes my job easier," Rosabel replied. "Because I have to tell you that you're stuck here."
The Arborian glanced over her shoulder at Peter. "I could do a lot worse." She said softly.
"Yeah, you really could. Welcome to Torchwood, Adrianne Topaz."
"You make that sound like welcome home." Adrianne said.
"It could be."
X-x-X-x-X One Week Later X-x-X-x-X
Rosabel leaned against the railings of the staircase, looking down at her team as they lounged around the Hub eating Chinese food—after bringing two living things and a tree (found on the floor next to the Rift Machine while they were getting checked out for concussions), there was little Rift activity, like the Rift was tired, like an actual living creature.
She was still working on that particular theory.
Below, Anne was teaching Adrianne to use chopsticks, while Elizabeth and Annabel threw a clothespin doll dressed like Peter back and forth. The actual Peter kept trying to stop them, hindered by his need to stop to argue with them when their joking insults presented logical fallacies, and of course dodging the strays from Will and Hunter's game of darts.
"They're adjusting well," Marissa noted.
Rose nodded. "They're definitely bonding. I'm worried about Peter and the other guys getting along, though."
"I think Peter prefers the girls anyway," Missy said. "Maybe not so much me and Anne, but he's best friends with the others."
"Have I ever told you my theory that the Rift is a living creature?"
"Yes," Marissa said, linking arms with her best friend. "But you were really tired, and you were describing it like a duck floating on the surface of the universe, so I sort of blocked it out. Have you refined it?" She added.
"Don't knock my Universe Duck Theory." Rosabel said, a touch too loudly, because the entire room turned to stare.
Adrianne looked around at them. "Is anyone else going to ask what the Universe Duck Theory is?"
"Yes, what is it?" Beth called up to them.
"Erm… Have I ever mentioned my theory that the Universe is a giant lake, with everything in it one atom of water or sediment? And sometimes those atoms saturate the things moving through them, which then bring particles of water to places they shouldn't end up? And how ducks bring water and sediment to different areas of the lake? I think the Rift is the duck! It's alive, and moving, and carrying things about. And I think that's why there are some periods of inactivity and some of activity—it's like it's sleeping and waking up."
"The Rift…" Beth said slowly. "The great, terrible gap in time and space that we work to combat—you think it's a duck?"
Rosabel tapped her head. "It sounds better in here."
"I think it sounds scary in there," Annabel joked.
"Yeah," Rose said quietly, so only Marissa could hear. Then, louder, "Ooh! Did you guys save an eggroll for me?"
"Non sequitur much?" Hunter called, but held up a white folding box.
"I would explain exactly how my thought process worked, but it's so complex and terrifying I'm afraid your tiny, ordinary little human brain would implode from the intricacy of the delicate balance of logic and reason." Rosabel retorted loftily, eyes sparkling with amusement, as she walked over to them and took the box.
She flopped down beside William, and Marissa took the spot on her other side.
William looked up and blushed slightly. "Um… Rosabel? What's non sequitur mean?"
"It's Latin for "not following", Will." Rosabel said, laughing.
"Hey! I'd like to see you learn more than one—oh, never mind." He said as his ears went pink—he'd obviously forgotten that Rosabel spoke everything.
"Keep being forgetful," She whispered in his ear. "It's endearing."
In the reflection on the interior of her glasses, she could see him gaping like a fish as she turned away. Beth shook her head, grinning slightly.
It would appear that only having half of the 51st Century pheromones of her father had done rather little to dilute their effect—not that she really wanted them, she reflected. Non-platonic or physical relationships weren't even a speck on her radar.
"Oops." Annabel said. "Um, Peter, we just killed mini-you."
Beth held up the clothespin doll, which was rather scorched from coming into contact with a heating coil in the open panel of the Rift Machine.
"OW! I totally felt that." Peter said, deadpan.
"Liar," Beth said. "If you could feel it, then Rosabel would've noticed she's been dangling from one of the pipes in the morgue by a string for days now."
Hunter sat up faster than you could say strip poker time. "You have one of those for all of us?"
"Mm-hm."
"That's creepy." Anne said.
Peter finally got a hold of the doll. "I do not wear a beret!"
"No, but I'm knitting you one for your birthday." Annabel retorted.
Adrianne bounced over excitedly. "Knitting? What's knitting? Can you teach me?"
Marissa nudged Rosabel. "I don't know why you were so worried. They're getting along perfectly." She said, and nodded to everyone as they fell comfortably into arguments once again.
"But that's the thing about Torchwood," Rose said, staring off into the distance, eyes fixed on the Rift Machine. "Everything always changes."