Here's the next chapter - I hope things aren't moving too slowly.

Chapter 9

Sometimes Tosh hated her job. Not Torchwood as a whole – although sometimes she hated that too – but her job; being the geek. She could stand the endless jibing from Owen, the way that to other organisations and people she was just 'the nerd', the way that so much was expected of her time and time again (she had once read a quote that summed that bit up: "Accomplishing the impossible means only the boss will add it to your regular duties." Doug Larson had been spot on there) and she could even overlook not being thanked. After all, Jack had rescued her and given her an almost endless supply of fascinating things to test, to stretch and satisfy her mind, so none of that mattered too much. What Tosh hated was being left behind.

Monitoring the situation was what she was often left to do. The team so often relied on information that only she could provide, so it was normally her who did that job. Keep an eye out from her relatively safe place and alert the others of any danger. That was the problem. Their job was dangerous, and one day would cost them their lives, so whenever they went out into the field and left her behind Tosh couldn't help but feel guilty. Because they didn't always come back unscathed. Whilst she was safe, away from the action and the dangerous aliens, they were out there risking their lives to keep the mostly oblivious people safe. That was what she hated.

But she'd perfected the art of patiently doing her job long ago; Tosh wasn't constantly glancing around, instead keeping both her eyes on her PDA, because she knew as well as the rest of the Torchwood Three team that one second could make all the difference. A fraction of a second could save a life.

So when the Carcasian suddenly appeared on Tosh's sensor; right next to Gwen and Owen's position, Tosh didn't hesitate to call it in. When Jack called demanding information about the situation Tosh already had all her answers planned out in her head, ready for use. And when she heard the explosion - sound waves travelling at about 343 metres per second, leaving her eardrums in want of a serious vacation – even before she'd heard Owen's confirmation of what had happened – the rules of the game had changed and Tosh was running.

TWTWTWTW

Tosh arrived at the scene to find what looked like the aftermath of a small earthquake. Her eyes quickly took in the pile of rubble that used to be a part of Cardiff: most of the road had been overturned, the larger slabs hidden by smaller debris; a water main had obviously burst as there was a new water fountain – if there had still been a drain it would have been overflowing. She involuntarily winced at the thought of the cleanup and even worse: the cover up. Luckily the people of Cardiff were used to localised earthquakes, and she'd already called the emergency services on her way to tell them that Torchwood was handling it – met as usual with groans and swearwords.

Strangely enough there was no sign of the Carcasian or Jack. Owen was crouched next to Gwen beside a brick wall a safe distance to her left, the latter still unconscious. She started to make her way over.

Suddenly Tosh remembered what Owen told Jack: her eyes widened in horror. Jones was nowhere to be seen either...

Owen looked up as she approached. "Is Gwen alright?" she asked. He nodded.

"You got here quick."

"I ran. Where's Jones?"

"I had a look – can't see him anywhere. If he didn't get out there's no way he's still alive."

Tosh heard the regret in his voice, mixed in with a portion of guilt, and felt her own pang of loss tumble its way through her heart. If Jones was dead, Ianto was dead – maybe not yet, maybe, like Jones had said they would still get him back, but he would die – and they would all know it. The only comfort she could take was that he'd lived – or was that live? – for at least another five years, during which time he'd meet the Doctor, become a Time Agent, travel in time, and become almost unrecognisable as the man they all knew and loved. Working for Torchwood, five years was impressive.

"It's not your fault Owen." The doctor just snorted and continued tending to Gwen.

Tosh walked nearer to the sorry looking debris, half-heartedly hoping to find a sign of life that Owen had missed, but it soon became obvious that that wasn't the case. If Jones was alive – which was unlikely – he was buried under half a road.

Pounding footsteps behind her and Tosh turned back to find two people sprinting out of a side street as if their lives depended on it. The first was Jack, who immediately doubled over, hands on his knees, looking the epitome of exhaustion – which for Jack meant that he'd run very far, very fast. The other man was several paces in front of Jack, looking decidedly less tired, and in fact kept running, looking anxiously at the pile of rubble decorating the area. Tosh couldn't get a good look at him but he seemed quite young.

"Who's that?" asked Owen to a very out of breath Jack.

"That," Jack gestured to the young man, "is my prisoner."

Owen looked at him, disbelief on his face. "You know for some reason I thought you had to be held captive to be a prisoner – you know, like not free." He gestured to where the man was looking distinctly un-prisoner like, just in case they didn't get his point. "Strange that." He looked at Jack pointedly.

"Yes, well...he's a friend of Jones."

Tosh whipped her head around from where she'd been watching the man scouting frantically along the rubble just in time to see Owen do the same. There was no way she could have missed his snort of...whatever it was. Tosh herself was rather dubious.

"A Time Agent?" She asked. Jack nodded. "You trust him?"

"No." Jack flexed his wrist and Tosh saw the thing he'd called a sonic screwdriver in his hand: the one that Jones had 'borrowed' off the Doctor. "But he can help."

Tosh was about to ask how when there was a shout from the young Time Agent.

"IANTO?" He was half crouched to the left of a smaller rubble pile, keeping himself up with his hands on some of the rocks. At any other time Tosh was sure that Jack would have taken the opportunity to admire his behind and make some comment about it, but instead a flicker of confusion spread across his brow, deep enough that she could see it. It took her a few seconds to work out why that was, and when she did she shared a significant look with Owen.

The other Time Agent had called Jones 'Ianto'. When talking to Jones he'd insisted that she and the others called him 'Jones' and had seemed dead against being referred to by his first name. When she'd asked why he'd smiled and indulged her probing.

"When on missions Agents generally go by false names, or names left...conveniently vacant – you know for example who Jack's name comes from." Tosh nodded grimly: she hadn't forgotten the Captain Jack Harkness she'd met in 1941. Jones continued. "We keep them for as long as they're needed and then discard them – although we keep a log," he tapped his wrist-strap, "in case we ever need them again."

He paused again to take a slug of coffee; a novelty Tosh knew he didn't get often anymore.

"When you sign up for the Agency you leave your real name behind, along with everything else. You chose a new name to work with whilst you're at the Agency – something they can call you by: just one name when you join up, though you often end up with several others pretty quickly. Other Agents will use your original chosen surname to address you : you never give out your real name, it's too risky."

All of which meant...Jack's expression had closed down completely.

Tosh bit her lip and started to move forward only to be held back by Jack, his eyes never leaving the young man who was by then typing hurriedly into his Vortex Manipulator. She looked over at Owen who shrugged and rolled his eyes.

Without warning a beam of blue light surrounded some of the rubble, and Gwen woke up with a gasp.

TBC

Feedback is loved even more than cookies :P