Across Broken Glass

Chapter Seven: A New Found Friendship

The Torchwood cells were quiet; a dim light lit the room providing the single current conscious occupant with enough light to finish reading her book. Addiena sat with her back pressed against the back wall, facing one of the cells with the ceiling light on the highest setting. A small, soft blanket lay beneath her with a pocket-sized coloring book and a collection of pencils on either side of her.

Without warning a loud groan filled the room - Addiena jumped in shock, her eyes widening in fear. Her eyes slowly looked up from the bright pages of the book to the cell directly in front of her. A figure was moving on the bench, the grey blanket that covered them slipping to the ground. The figure let out another loud groan as they attempted to sit up; a faint muttering of "Where am I?" also left their mouth.

Rhys blinked rapidly, his eyes beginning to readjust to the settings around him, it didn't take him long to realize where he currently was. His face turned red with anger and his eyes narrowed dangerously, ready to lash out and attack the next person he saw.

"Hello?" Addiena spoke up suddenly, finding her voice, curiosity encouraging her to make contact with this strange guest.

Surprised, Rhys froze, his eyes finding Addiena's small frame and curious eyes analyzing him thoughtfully.

"Um…hello." he replied, still confused but now not only on why he was there, but also why a small girl was wandering Torchwood unattended. Dusting himself off as best he could he edged himself closer to the bench so that his face was practically touching the bullet proof glass that sealed him in.

"Can you let me out?" he asked her politely, slightly hoping that she was his ticket out of this place.

Much to his disappointment she merely shook her head before placing her book on the ground, picking up her blanket and placing it directly on the other side of the glass and settling herself down in front of him.

"So..um…what's your name?" Rhys asked, slightly unsure of what to say to this small girl who seemed so fascinated with him. His thoughts were temporarily drifting between Torchwood and the fact that he was locked up in one of the cells.

"Addiena." the young girl replied with a smile, excited at the prospect of possibly gaining a new friend. "What's your name?"

"Nice name you have there, I'm Rhys…"

"Rhys, Rhys," she repeated, testing out the word until she felt she had a good grip on it. Rhys couldn't help but smile at the look of concentration evident on her face as she played around with his name.

"I like your name." Addiena responded after a moment.

"Well I like it too, I guess - it's nothing that special though…" Addiena shook her head in disagreement at his statement before changing the subject.

"So now that I know your name, does that make us friends?" she asked; her eyes bright and hopeful.


"And then one day you get a phone call from Rhys?" Kate prompted after a moment, a few dry tear tracks on her face, long lost in the story Ianto had spent the past hour telling her.

Ianto nodded in response to her question. "He briefly told me what had happened, not about Addiena though, just about Gwen," he continued.

"How did he sound on the phone?"

"Upset, in despair, confused, betrayed, I guess-"

Kate nodded her head eagerly, urging him to continue. "How did you break the news to Jack?"

"I didn't."

"Then… how?"

"I couldn't do it when I saw him coming; I just told him that Rhys had called and that he was needed at the hospital. I mean he must have guessed something that had happened to Gwen, I imagine I must have looked a right state at the time…"

Kate couldn't help but smile at him; he was so open with her and so sensitive and caring. Gently she reached out and placed a hand on his leg, her right hand caressing his cheek in a comforting manner; it was obvious this was hard for him. Her thumb moved in a circular motion against his skin and he slowly turned his head into her palm.

Then, out of the blue, Ianto's watch beeped. The pair turned to the light blue face of the watch, the clock had just struck 3'o clock; it was lunchtime.

"Addiena?" Kate called out, her voice ringing throughout the upper level of the underground Torchwood hub. Worried, the pair stood up, each going in separate directions, pulling out their intercoms as they frantically searched for the missing four year old.


"I don't have a bike, the girl in my story does, is it fun to have a bike?" Addiena rambled on animatedly talking to her new friend.

Rhys nodded, the small smile on his face giving no hint of disappearing any time soon. "Very, I used to have one growing up, I used to ride it every day, sometimes twice a day." he continued, thinking back to his pleasant childhood and the memories that remained forever engraved in his head.

"What color was it?"

"Dark blue with silver handlebars."

"How old were you when you got it?"

"I'd say around six or seve…." He carried on, only to be interrupted by the sound of the cell door swinging noisily open, clashing with the back wall behind it. Two figures dashed in, their eyes darting from Addiena to Rhys and then back to Addiena.

"There you are!" Kate exclaimed, relieved, and she picked Addiena up and hugged her tightly.

"Hungry?" Ianto questioned, not oblivious to Rhys' eyes trained on his form.

Addiena shook her head, food was the last thing on her mind, all she wanted to do was sit back down on her blanket and continue her conversation with her new friend about his dark blue bike.

"Bit irresponsible to have a child wandering around Torchwood, eh?" Rhys spat out bitterly.

Ianto turned from Addiena to face him, not bothering to make an effort to properly address him as he spoke. "Torchwood is the safest place in Cardiff."

Rhys scoffed in response. "It's also the most dangerous in the whole of Cardiff, I'm sure the pair of you won best parents last year-"

Ianto gave a sly smile, his eyes dancing in amusement. "I'm sure we would have if Addiena was our daughter"

Addiena turned from her Uncle to face her Aunt before her eyes turned back to her new friend who stood there baffled. His mind putting the pieces together, he was certain that Torchwood only had a few members and word was currently around that they were down to three. It was then that it hit him. Shock was evident on his features for a moment before his face turned red with anger once more.

"What's wrong?" Addiena asked her eyes widening at Rhys' terrifying expression.

Without thinking Rhys glanced down at her, only to find him a familiar expression sitting on the features of his new "friend." That expression was one hundred percent Gwen, with her blue eyes widened and her pupils dilated as she looked up at him. Quickly he took a large step backwards, his back colliding with the wall behind him. It was then that everything fit into place, now the only one thing remained answered.

"What do you want from me?"

A few moments of silence passed following Rhys' question and finally Ianto let out a small sigh before stepping closer to the cell and answering his question.

"Jack's missing."

A look of confusion replaced the anger followed by a look of pure disbelief.

"And what? You think I decided after five years to go out and get revenge?" he exclaimed, glaring at him and wishing that the bench to his right wasn't bolted to the ground.

Ianto nodded. "Wouldn't shock me, after all the last few years were probably the years you spent mourning and perhaps the last few months you've been picking yourself back up, now would be the perfect time to seek revenge."

Rhys chuckled in response to Ianto's logic. "That's barmy, I didn't do anything, and I stayed the hell away from this place!"

"Well I'm afraid at the moment you're our lead suspect, and until.."

"Lead suspect? What? Are you trying to emulate the police? Because you're doing a bloody awful job at it…"

Ianto glanced at Kate, curious as to why she hadn't spoke since they had reached the cells - that was unlike her. From the corner of her left eye she spotted her husband giving her an inquisitive glance; she had been deep in thought, but now she realized was perhaps not the best time not to be focused.

"Look, the fastest way for you to prove your innocence to us is for you to undergo a series of tests-" she began, pausing for a moment to raise her hand, silencing Rhys from responding. "Now if you refuse, you will remain in this cell until we can find someone else that will lead us to Jack, understand?"

Rhys didn't respond immediately, his eyes were locked with Kate in a sort of stare down - the pair battling with their eyes for dominance. Rhys finally gave in, breaking eye contact with her and nodding his head in acquiescence.

"Good, now the first test we'll put you through won't take very long so we'll start it in about five min…" Kate continued only to be interrupted by a loud gasp coming from Addiena to her right.

In unison the three adults turned to face the small girl with her mouth open wide and her eyes glazed over, her body in froze in shock.

"Addiena?!" Kate exclaimed kneeling down in front of her.

"Addiena?!?!" she cried again, gripping the arms of the unresponsive child in front of her. Ianto rushed over to her in hope of breaking his god-child out of this state.

Without warning Addiena's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body fell towards the ground, the only thing that prevented her body from hitting the cold floor were Kate's hands that remained tightly gripping her.


Author's Note: First thing's first, I would like to thank Lady Clark-Weasley of Books for reviewing every chapter without fail! You are amazing!! I love hearing feedback on what I'm writing so I know what everyone thinks of the story so far. So please, it takes a minute to review and I greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading and hopefully reviewing, new chapter soon!