"What's Dark Talk?" Laura asked me as I was removing the power cord.

"Internet radio station," I told her. "Very underground. Conspiracy theories, mostly. You know, big sharp-toothed creatures living in the sewers of Cardiff and such," I told her, making her giggle.

"How does a pirate Internet radio station get its own server here?" she asked me.

"It was run by aliens," I told her. "Aliens with really good connections, bent on world domination. You know. The usual."

"And Torchwood shut it down," she guessed.

"Yes, they did. Blocked the signal, wiped the data. Sorted."

"They? Where were you?"

"Sick leave," I told her, which was basically true.

"I take it you're not the technician, then," she ventured. "You know a lot, but they managed without you and, well, you're considering me... Was your technician one of the ones who... didn't make it?"

"Her name was Toshiko," I told her, wiping away another treacherous tear before turning around and bustling back toward the hospital's server.

"I'm sorry. You must have been close," Laura said apologetically. I didn't answer her. It would have been too complicated to explain that the reason I was crying was Tosh and I hadn't had time to become close. She was brilliant and lovely and I'd lost her too soon.

"Let's get this cabling patched. Pity the CAT-7s on the Dark Talk server were severed in the blast. We were really lucky the power cable's unscathed," I changed the subject.

"Who else did you lose, Sage Smith?" Laura murmured, undaunted, stopping me with a gentle hand.

"Our medic," I told her, swallowing hard. "Owen."

"Were you two...?"

"A long time ago," I admitted. "How did you know?"

"You're blushing, and you look as if you can scarcely breathe," Laura told me, drawing me gently into her arms, prying my fingers from the cabling so it would fall to the floor. "I know you feel as if the world has ended," she whispered. "No one can replace the people you love, and no one can take away the pain. I won't try to do either of those things, Sage, but I do want to be useful, and I do want to be your friend," she said gently. "Can we try for that?" I nodded against her shoulder. "All right, then. Let's get to work. You can tell me whatever you like, if you feel like talking, and you can keep it to yourself if you don't. Sound fair?"

"Yeah," I managed to say. I had a bit more of my iced tea, then smiled at her. "Want to see a neat trick?"

"Is it an alien trick?" she asked me with an intrigued half-smile.

"Not really. Just something most humans haven't figured out yet," I said, pulling out my Penlight and adjusting the frequency.

"Humans have figured out penlights," Laura said, eyeing me oddly.

"It only looks like a penlight," I told her, then sonically melded the frayed cabling back together; we only needed the power cable after all.

"What the bloomin' 'ell was that?" Laura blurted as I was replacing the power cable. "Was that a sonic modulator? Did you just use sound to fuse that wiring?"

"Very good, Laura Harding," I congratulated her. "Let's get this baby switched on."

After we'd powered everything up, Laura called Cardiff A&E and asked them if their database was up. It was, and they thanked her profusely. "Not a problem," she said. "It's what we're here for." After hanging up, she said to me, "Are you sure you even need me?"

"We do," I assured her. "I'm playing catch-up on a lot of things. The truth is, I've been on sick leave since the year 2000," I finally admitted.

"What happened to you?" she blurted.

"I was blinded by a rogue Time Agent. Long story."

"Time Agent?" she echoed.

"Long story," I repeated. "I've only been back a few days. Also, Cardiff was not bombed by terrorists, whatever you heard."

"Yeah, I figured that out a while ago," she told me. "Who did this?"

"Someone very twisted, very angry, and very determined," I told her.

"One man?" she asked me. I nodded. "One man did all of this?

"Very determined," I repeated.

"Wow," she said, stunned. "So when I walk into this, I'll be facing enemies I didn't know existed. They will become my enemies simply by affiliating myself with you. With Torchwood. Is that what you're telling me?" I nodded. "What about the medic? Have you found a medic yet?"

"We're currently employing the aid of a friend from UNIT, but we have no idea when she'll be recalled," I told her. "They need her as much as we do. Her name is Martha Jones; you'll meet her in the morning."

"Anyone else?"

"Gwen Cooper. Formerly PC Gwen Cooper. If she's stand-offish, don't worry. Cardiff is her home, always has been, and she's very angry and far more hurt than she's admitting," I told her. "And if she's not stand-offish, congratulations. That'll leave just me for her to yell at."

"What for? Why you?"

"I'm the newbie who wasn't here when the sky was falling," I admitted. "I was in London that night. If I'd been here—"

"She blames you for the death of your friends?" Laura guessed.

"I blame myself," I said, "but Gwen likes to remind me. Not directly, mind you. She just takes jabs at me and Ianto. Says we're acting like hormone-driven teenagers. What she's really saying, though, is she thinks I'm irresponsible. Don't hold that against her, though. We've all had a rough time of late, and she seems to be a bit less angry with me. Just... listen to Jack, try your very best, and don't be afraid to voice your opinions to any of us. Anyone else, though... We're top secret. We don't exist. Jack'll give you the details."

"This is mad," Laura said.

"I know," I told her, smiling.

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault," she added.

"Thank you for saying so," I said softly.

"You love them. Even this Gwen. It's in your voice. Anything you could have done, you'd have done it. Besides, Jack and Ianto don't blame you," she voiced.

"How do you know that?"

"Because Jack blames himself," she said, finishing off her iced tea.

"I think I may have underestimated you, Laura Harding," I said.

"Hardly," she voiced. "I'm the only woman in a London IT firm who isn't a secretary. You get used to secrets and being stabbed in the back, office romances and intrigue. I've simply learned to pay attention. I notice things people would prefer I didn't. I suppose in your line of work that's an even more useful talent than in mine, eh?"

"When exactly did you figure out I was lying to you?"

"When I realized your boyfriend knew more about this building than he should, even if he'd just come along with you on a job... That's when I began to suspect. When he forgot to ask which server I was here to see to—"

"Shit!" I blurted, making her laugh.

"I mostly set my suspicions aside because you could have assumed I was here to help wherever I could, which is what you more or less said when you asked me if there was 'any particular server' I was interested in, but yeah, I knew something was off about the two of you."

"That's good to hear," Jack said from the doorway. "An alert mind is always an asset. Ladies, I take it your work here is done?"

"She hardly needed me," Laura admitted. I blushed. "I take it your pest problem has been sorted as well?"

"For the moment," Jack replied. "Miss Harding, Ianto has booked you a room at the Century Hotel for the week. If you'll accompany me, I'll take you back to your car and point you in the right direction. Sage, Ianto, back to the Hub. I'll see you there once Miss Harding is settled."

"See you in the morning, then," Laura said to me, then kissed me on the cheek. She then strode up to Ianto and kissed his cheek as well, smoothing back a stray lock of hair that had plastered itself to his forehead. "Take good care of her," she murmured to him, then glanced back at me with a small smile. "Captain," she said.

"Jack, please," he said, offering his arm.

"Then it's Laura, not Miss Harding, Captain Jack," she teased him. "Let us be off."

Jack looked back at me and winked as they left.

Ianto strode up to me with the oddest look on his face. It was so intense that at first I mistook it for anger. When he lifted me off my feet and pinned me to the wall, though, I realized it was passion even before his lips met mine. I locked my ankles around his waist, feeling his erection pressed against me, throbbing in tandem with the beat of his pulse. I tasted blood and broke off the kiss, ran my tongue over my lips and discovered it was my own. "Ianto," I murmured, and he lowered me to the floor.

"I'm sorry," he said, cradling me gently against his chest. "I didn't mean... Well, after a year of kissing Jack..."

"It's all right," I told him.

"No, it's not," he voiced, frustrated.

"Yes, it is," I told him. "That was so... fucking... hot."

He chuckled, kissing the top of my head. "We should go."

"Ianto?"

"Yes?"

"I love you, you know. I really do," I told him softly.

"I know," he murmured. "I love you, too." He tipped my chin up and kissed me again, this time tenderly, almost reverently. "We really have to go," he said again.

We left with our arms around each other. By the time we arrived at the Hub, Jack and Laura had left for the hotel. We went to the boardroom to wait, our chairs pulled close together, and I drifted off to sleep with my ear pressed to Ianto's heart.


"Was there trouble?" Jack asked upon arriving and finding me groggy and with a split lip.

"No, no, Jack, I'm fine," I said, straightening up. "It was... a minor miscalculation."

"Ultimately my fault, I believe," Jack remarked, raising an eyebrow. Ianto lowered his head to the table, embarrassed. "Ianto," Jack said gently, moving behind him and taking him by the shoulders, straightening him back up, "everything is all right. Sage is tougher than she looks, and she's not angry. Are you, Sage?"

"Of course not," I reassured them. "A little rough and tumble can be a good thing," I added with a wink.

"How did I ever get along without this girl?" Jack asked the air and the walls around us, then took a seat across from us. "So... Laura seems very interesting. I hope she does well under pressure. Seems a bit too accustomed to having responsibility taken out of her hands, though. Sage, any thoughts?"

"She's a bit bitter, but she's young still. I guess we'll see her mettle when it comes to crunch time, and I hope we can recover from whatever damage she causes if she turns out to be all talk and no spine," I said.

"Ianto?"

"She took seeing a Weevil up close pretty well. Drove from London out of a sense of duty that she shouldn't have been feeling at all. Both are very good signs. She's sweet on Sage, though. Do you think that will be a problem?" He asked this last looking at me.

"If you're asking me if I swing that way, Ianto, I really don't know. I've never fallen for a woman. If you're asking if that'll get in the way of us, I've got two hearts, not three. What I mean is I don't see her the way she sees me. If it's a problem, it'll be hers, not ours... but yeah, it could interfere with work if she can't cope with it," I said at length.

"And you're sure that you can?" Jack asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm hoping I can, Jack. You know full well how I usually react when someone likes me," I pointed out.

"Yeah, you cut and run," he said. "So how can you guarantee me this time it'll be different?"

"Because I have the two of you to look after," I said. "Gwen, too. And Martha, for as long as we have her."

"There seemed to be a lot less animosity between you and Gwen this afternoon," he remarked.

"She listens to you, Jack," I shrugged.

"No," he laughed. "Gwen listens to herself. Ever since day one she's been calling me on my bullshit and putting me in my place. The only reason I can figure for her letting this one go is she finally realized it's not bullshit."

"Jack," I said softly, "come home with us."

"Sage..."

"Or we could stay here," Ianto suggested. "Make a bed out of sofa cushions, but big enough for three."

"What are you after, Sage? You think you're ready for this, but you're not," Jack protested.

"All I want is for the three of us to be near each other, Jack. You need Ianto right now; I know you do; and I'm keeping him from you. I'm a selfish bint, though, so I'm not ready to give him back to you entirely," I admitted. "That leaves two options: come home with us, or we'll make camp right here in the boardroom."

"Ianto, can we trust ourselves with this supposedly selfish girl? Because personally I think even beginning to move in that direction at this point makes me the selfish one," Jack stated.

"Then we're all selfish, Jack, and let's be selfish for once," Ianto said fiercely. "Come home with us, Jack," he said firmly. "Please."

"'Will you walk into my parlour?' said a spider to a fly," (1) Jack murmured.

"Please, Jack?" I pleaded. "I haven't shared a bed with you since last century."

"Last millennium," he pointed out. "Okay, I'll go, and it's practically a crime for me to say this, but the pants stay on."

"Deal," I agreed. "Come on, Ianto! Grab him before he changes his mind!"


1) "The Spider and The Fly" by Mary Howitt; poem. Often misquoted as "'Welcome to my parlour', said the spider to the fly", but here stated correctly. Which means Jack reads poetry. Which also explains why he recognized "I Cannot Stop for Death" so quickly.