x x x
Chapter 10: Memory Is A Very Delicate Thing
x x x
It was a Monday morning. And Ianto couldn't help but be fully aware of that fact as he walked into the tourist office.
It always seemed to him that mindless infuriations usually hit like a ton of bricks on Mondays. Mostly, he blamed Owen for that. Specifically, Owen's perception of weekends and alcohol.
He wandered down the corridor into the Hub, and began preparing the office for the others. He always got in at least half an hour before anyone else.
He set about his usual tasks of sorting out all the files left out from overtime, the previous night, then went down to the lower levels to feed Myfanwy, and checked on Janet as well. Owen thought he was her favourite, but she always seemed to growl a great deal less around Ianto, which he was rather smug about.
By the time he was done with this, he realised that the others would be due in, in about ten minutes. He set the coffee machine to start, and went back out into the main room of the Hub to check that he hadn't missed anything important.
"Hello, Ianto." a voice said behind him. Ianto turned around to see a stranger standing there, bold as you please, as if he thought he belonged in the middle of a top secret underground base.
"Who are you?" Ianto demanded, frowning at the stranger.
"I'm Adam." the man answered, reaching out to touch Ianto's shoulder. Ianto took a step back. Complete strangers and his personal space were not to be mixed. He didn't deal with it well. The stranger frowned at him, now meeting his eyes with an intense gaze, "I've been working here for three years, remember." and this time he did make contact with Ianto's shoulder.
Which caused him to freeze. Reality faded for a moment, spinning and blending with something else, and he felt certain there was something missing... a gaping hole in his chest that he had never felt before, and a burning in the back of his mind.
Adam's touch on his shoulder was a comfort... yes, he knew this man. Adam had been there, along with Tosh, Owen and Suzie, when Jack had first brought Ianto into Torchwood Three. He remembered talking to Adam. Remembered fighting Weevils and other monsters, with Adam at his side. And of course he knew exactly how the man took his coffee.
Ianto nodded, coming as close to a smile as he usually got when Jack wasn't in the room, "Of course I remember."
"Here, there's still some files in Tosh's outbox. Let me help you with those." Adam offered, quickly moving to do so.
Ianto watched for a moment as Adam walked away from him. Something felt off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And now he had a headache, too.
x x x
Half an hour earlier, Jack Harkness had woken up. She immediately wished she hadn't. It was Monday, which meant very little to Torchwood employees who usually didn't take weekends off, but rather took the quiet days off regardless of when those days occurred. Still, there was some deeply ingrained psychological aversion to Mondays, in the human collective subconscious.
She attempted to roll over and go back to sleep. Preferably with a pillow over her head, to block out the lights that had just turned on in the main Hub, signalling that Ianto had just come in to start work early, as always.
Unfortunately, this was not to be. Instead of a pillow, her hand found what felt distinctly like a human shoulder. Opening one eye, squinting against the light, proved to her that yes, someone else was in her bed.
This would not be an abnormal occurrence, were it not for the fact that she didn't recognise this guy, and they were in the Torchwood Hub... not somewhere Jack ever brought random sexual encounters back to, what with it being a top secret government facility and all. It would really defeat the purpose of having a secret underground alien-hunting hideout if she brought one-night-stands back here. And for that matter, Jack wasn't stupid enough to go out and get so intoxicated as to forget who she had sex with the previous night... and this man was completely unfamiliar.
Now, the man's eyes opened, and he smiled at her, "Oh good, you're awake."
Forgoing all pretence of remaining asleep, Jack sat up, backing away from him, and opening her mouth to demand to know who the hell he was and what he was doing here. But he was too quick, reaching out and touching her right shoulder just at the point where it met her neck.
"It's me, Adam. Remember." he said, as she froze at the touch.
Yes, Jack remembered recruiting Adam as a member of Torchwood, shortly after picking up Suzie Costello. He had been caught on the wrong end of an alien conspiracy, and Jack had offered him the choice of working for Torchwood Three or taking a Retcon. Adam had made a joking reference to The Matrix, and then promptly agreed to work for them.
Jack also remembered that for a twenty-first century human, Adam was very open-minded, and while they would occasionally sleep together he showed no possessive tendencies whatsoever. This had been a good thing, given Jack's nature, and so Jack had accepted it without complaint. Besides, Adam was pretty good in bed and had a thing for leather.
She laughed, almost embarrassed at her reaction to finding him in her bed, "Of course I remember." and he caught her around the waist, pulling her back down onto the bed and kissing her.
Only when Adam's hands started wandering did Jack break the kiss, "You know, we should probably be getting ready for work, now."
Adam looked up at the light that was streaming in through the blinds in the office, "Yeah." he said reluctantly, "We know how jealous your boyfriend gets."
Jack shoved him away, playfully, "He's not my boyfriend." she protested. She hated labels like that... besides, she wasn't really sure what Ianto was to her, at this point, anyway. They were certainly a lot closer, emotionally, than she was to Adam. Which did seem odd, as she had known Adam longer.
Adam grinned at her, and quickly grabbed his clothes. It took him less than a minute to dress and leave the room, with a cheerful announcement that he would go and see if Ianto needed any help with the coffee. Jack called after him, something about him displaying more suicidal tendencies than her if he intended to touch that coffee machine, before the door closed behind him.
She quickly sat up and stretched. Her body felt tense and cold, as she scanned the room for her clothes. She found them in the last place she expected, neatly set over the back of the chair next to the bed, where they usually ended up when Jack slept alone. Whenever Adam or Ianto came in here with Jack, there was a frenzied fight to see who could removes whose clothes first, and it all ended up scattered on the floor. Ianto would pick the clothes up before being able to sleep, but Adam had never displayed any sign of such obsessive-compulsive neatness.
Jack showered slowly, spending some time kneading tense muscles in her shoulders as she did so. This was also unusual. Sex was the best way Jack knew to relieve tension and generally put her in a good mood for the next day or so. Right now, she was grouchy, fully aware of the day's inherent Monday-ness, and very tense... but she did remember a wild and passionate hour of sex with Adam, last night.
Very wild... surely she'd still feel something from that? Shifting from one foot to the other, she moved her body carefully, testing for signs of pain or any other residual echoes of playing the sort of semi-violent games she remembered from the previous night. Nothing, just this tension in her neck and shoulders.
x x x
Once she had finished showering, dressed, and now considered her appearance to be decent, Jack emerged from her office to see Tosh and Owen had arrived already. The two were chatting amicably, and Owen seemed to be openly flirting with Tosh, who looked very happy at this new attention. Jack smiled, her only thought on that subject being, 'about damned time'.
Adam was sitting at one of the computer stations, reading a file and looking utterly disinterested in everything else around him. Ianto was skulking- no, he preferred the word lurking- in a corner, watching everyone else.
Jack watched the scene for a while, listening with a faint smile as Tosh laughed at some joke Owen had made. But her mind was far more preoccupied with Adam. Something had been very wrong this morning, and she still couldn't place why.
With a sigh, she made her way over to the others, and was immediately intercepted by Ianto, bearing the truly priceless gift of coffee, which she took a mouthful of before telling him, "Mmmm, thanks, Ianto. I really needed that." she said, her tone implying something quite obscene about just how drinking that coffee affected her.
Ianto nodded to acknowledge her words, then he quickly and silently returned to his previous stakeout location to continue observing the room. He wasn't talking to her, and hadn't reacted to her insinuation. Was he really jealous?
With a sigh, she held her coffee mug possessively, and returned to her office.
Half an hour later, she reappeared, making her way over to the workstations with a large box in her hands. She had found some tedious donkey-work to inflict upon everyone else. It would make her feel better, in a sadistic sort of way, about the fact that it was a Monday.
"Unlabelled Class D artefacts." she announced, setting the box on the nearest table, "Tosh, I need you to run a full check."
"Sure." Tosh said happily. Owen mock-pouted at their lovely little conversation being broken up by work, but he accepted the fact that it had to be done without any comment.
Directly because of this lack of offence taken, Jack added, "Owen, you can help."
"Happy to." he said, causing her left eye to twitch slightly.
Jack turned on Adam, now, "Adam, I know how much you love audits." she said, faking a smile for him. She knew perfectly well that he hated them.
"Ah, it's gotta be done." Adam said, with a genuine sigh. Good, at least someone was put out by this.
"If you could-" Jack started, but he interrupted her, finishing the sentence perfectly.
"-go through the reports, find out when they came through the rift."
As Adam was saying that, Jack heard the cog-door that led up to the tourist office roll open. Gwen had finally arrived.
"You okay with that?" Jack asked him, slight sarcasm in her tone. If he wasn't, too bad. Someone had to do it, and it was Adam's job.
"I have been for the last three years." he said with forced cheer.
Gwen trotted over to them, taking off her jacket and hanging it up on a railing.
"You're late." Jack announced, smiling at her in spite of that. Gwen had been taking a well-earned vacation with Rhys, while she had been recovering from a gunshot wound. She didn't begrudge Gwen that, in spite of the fact that Jack herself was having a bad day.
"Yes, Paris was lovely, thank you!" Gwen cheered, slight sarcasm in her tone as she happily pretended that Jack had bothered to ask. Then she turned to the others, and froze as she spotted Adam. A second later, she asked, "Who the hell is this?"
Everyone who had been in a good mood seemed to freeze, tense and confused, at this question. Jack herself let the illusion of good humour drop, as well. They all knew Adam, why would Gwen ask such a silly thing?
Adam stood up, walking over to Gwen as he said, "Just 'cause that's what I said to you on your first day." and he put a hand on Gwen's shoulder, "Remember?"
Gwen laughed, "Sorry, couldn't resist. Come here, you!" and she hugged him, "Good to see you."
Everyone relaxed, Tosh and Owen going back to their work, good moods restored as if they had never wavered. Ianto's smile was forced, though, and he glanced at Jack. The tension in Jack's shoulders had returned, and she rubbed idly at the back of her neck, meeting Ianto's gaze with a slight frown, as she did so.
x x x
Jack was heading down to the vaults to look for more artefacts she could add to today's workload, when she passed Janet the Weevil in the holding cells.
Janet growled, low in the back of her throat, standing right up at the door of her cell. Jack ignored it, and Janet snarled louder, hitting the door in an attempt to gain her attention.
"What?" she snapped, turning back to the creature.
Janet growled, a non-threatening tone this time, and put one clawed hand up to the door, so her palm was over one of the air-holes.
Curious, now, Jack stepped closer, "You're acting strangely." she observed, a slight smile on her face as she stopped right in front of the glass.
Janet let out a low whining sound, tilting her head to one side. Very cautiously, Jack reached up one hand to touch the Weevil's palm through the air-hole in the door.
The instant she did, she felt a wave of emotion that was not her own. The Weevil had somehow sensed that she was pregnant... the emotions she felt were positive, almost like the way a human might say congratulations... although it was tinged by envy. Jack smiled at her, "Hey, maybe someday we'll find the right guy for you. Most of them don't seem very nice, though, do they?" she was referring, of course, to the male Weevils they had caught, most of which were vicious bastards.
And Janet seemed to agree with this opinion. Then a flicker in the back of her mind, Janet was concerned as well... something was off in the air, a telepathic echo of some sort, and the Weevil could almost literally smell it.
"I know, girl." Jack said softly, "Wish I knew what."
A soft whimper and the Weevil backed up, all-but purring with approval at Jack's attitude.
"Made a friend, have we?" Gwen asked with a grin as she approached from the direction of the main Hub.
Janet growled at Gwen, and Jack smiled, amused. She got the impression of a pack-mentality, where Janet believed herself to out-rank Gwen and was challenging the human for daring to speak directly to the pack-leader.
"I don't think you can say the same, though." Jack warned, and Gwen gave Janet a wary and slightly defensive look. Janet seemed satisfied with this sense of deference, and ceased growling.
"I was worried." Gwen said to Jack, now, "You seemed... distracted, this morning."
"It was afternoon when you got in." Jack pointed out.
"Still..."
"I'm okay, really." Jack said dismissively. Part of the feeling of unease she felt was that she shouldn't share it. Like it was her own problem to work out, not Gwen's.
Gwen shrugged, dismissing her concern in favour of asking, "So, did you miss me?" there was a playful tone there, almost flirtatious. Jack knew Gwen had fancied him for her first year working at Torchwood... but she also knew that Gwen was engaged to and madly in love with Rhys.
"Were you gone?" Jack joked. It had been two weeks, yes they had noticed that she had been gone. Didn't stop Jack from teasing her about it. She took a couple of quick steps in Gwen's direction, and Gwen turned and ran off, laughing as if they were playing a game. If Jack hadn't been so preoccupied by this feeling of unease, she would have felt the same way.
She stopped at the door and turned back to Janet, but caught sight of something else out of the corner of her eye. Instantly, her full attention was on the young and incredibly familiar boy standing in the middle of the hallway... just staring at her with accusing eyes. She was unaware of how long she stared, but the trance was only broken by a mournful whine from Janet, causing Jack to glance briefly at her instead. She turned back to the boy, only to find he had disappeared.
"What the-?" she asked quietly. Janet repeated her mournful whining sound, and Jack stared at her, "Did you see him?"
The Weevil shook her head sharply, very much like a dog trying to shake water out of its ears. In spite of the negative answer, Jack could tell that she had been aware of something, even if she hadn't actually seen it with her own eyes as Jack had.
She idly wondered how the rest of the team would react to knowing she was now talking to Janet. Owen would be jealous, that was for sure... the Weevils were his pet project, after all.
x x x
Jack had wasted a good few hours down in the vaults. In fact, she had hidden down there for most of the day. It was late enough that she was sort of hoping that the others would have gone home by now. This was not to be, however, as she returned to the main floor of the Hub. Gwen was nowhere to be seen, but Tosh and Owen were working on something, in the corner.
"I'm going to check the logs, cross-reference the data." Tosh informed Owen, before disappearing. Jack had noticed something unusual about Owen, that morning, but had been too determined to cause misery to really figure out what. Now, however... she really did not recall Owen Harper ever wearing glasses.
Ever.
She approached the doorway to the room in which Owen was still working, opening her mouth to ask about it, when she was quite soundly distracted by Adam's arms wrapping around her waist from behind. She smiled, turning her head towards Adam, as he whispered in her ear, "It's quiet today..." he observed, and she could hear the amusement in his voice.
She allowed him to lead her away from the lab where Owen was working, but once they were far enough away, she turned to face him, taking control and pushed him back against the wall, kissing him lightly on the lips. "And you are not allowed to disturb that atmosphere." she murmured, leaning against him as she said it.
She met his eyes with a suggestive smile. This was a challenge, and she would do everything in her power to try to make him cry out. His returned smile showed he understood this perfectly, and accepted her challenge. She pulled him quickly into her office, and as soon as the door closed behind them she pushed him up against it, kissing down his neck as her hands moved down to work on his belt.
She felt him pull her shirt out of her pants, and his hands move up her back underneath her shirt. She bit down on his neck, and heard him hiss as he barely stifled a moan of pleasure. This really was going to be a fun game.
But then the phone rang.
Jack froze, and slowly raised her head from where she had been sucking on Adam's neck, looking over at the phone on her desk. The glare she aimed its way would probably send Daleks fleeing in terror. The phone continued to ring, unperturbed by her resentful glower. Adam was glaring at it, too, though not quite as hatefully.
With a dramatic sigh, she backed away from him, and ran over to pick up the phone.
"Jack Harkness' office." she answered, knowing better than to directly introduce herself, when many of the government-types that called this number still thought she was a man. The number of times in the last four months that she had taken official calls, pretending to be her own secretary, it wasn't even funny anymore.
"Jack." that really did sound like...
"Gwen?" she asked, just to be certain.
"Yeah, someone's broken into my flat." Gwen said quickly, sounding upset and frightened, "He had a key. He knows my name." She heard a voice in the background, but it was too distant to make out. Gwen answered this voice with an angry yell of, "Shut it! Just shut it!"
"You want us to come over there?" Jack asked, trying not to sound exasperated. If the answer was no, there was still a chance that she and Adam could get back to their game, but she was quite certain the answer would be yes.
"Yeah." Gwen answered, "Can you hurry, Jack? He's a nutter."
"Sure, we're on our way." and she hung up the phone, before looking up at Adam, "Gwen needs our help."
Adam didn't look upset by this, shrugging as he adjusted the collar of his shirt to hide the mark she had left on his neck, "No problem, we can finish this later."
x x x
They got to Gwen's place in record time, and she let them up to the flat immediately. Whoever it was that had broken in, she obviously had it under control well enough that they didn't try to stop her from doing this. That was a good sign.
"In here, Jack!" Gwen called out, as they entered the flat. She followed Gwen's voice into the living room, and found her pointing her gun at... Rhys?!
Jack kept her gun aimed in the direction of Gwen's perceived threat, but subconsciously put the safety back on, as she asked, "What's going on, Gwen?"
"You tell me." Gwen snapped, near-hysterically, as she picked up a photograph from the nearest flat surface, and held it up, "Look!"
Jack glanced at the picture. It was of Gwen and Rhys, together, laughing and smiling for the camera. A happy moment that could have jumped out of the lives of absolutely any normal couple. Whenever that had been taken, Jack wondered how Gwen could possibly have forgotten it... it looked like one of those moments that someone with a life like Torchwood would want desperately to cling to for some sense of normality.
"He's put photos of us up." Gwen continued, angrily, "He must have done it while I was at work. He's deluded! He keeps saying he's my boyfriend!"
Jack looked at Gwen as if she was crazy, "He is." she said, looking at Rhys once more to be certain that this wasn't some alien who had made itself look like Rhys. No, she doubted anything could impersonate that air of self-righteous indignance... or the horrified confusion that his mind was all but screaming at Gwen's behaviour. "It's Rhys."
"I've never seen him before in my life!" Gwen yelled, finger still on the trigger... the last thing this couple needed between them was another bullet-wound.
Jack stepped between them, facing Gwen, "You've been with him for years." she said, meeting Gwen's eyes. All the tells of a lie that Jack had been trained by the Agency to avoid allowing anyone to see the difference between... she deliberately dropped her guard and allowed Gwen to see that they weren't there, trying to emphasise the truth of her statement in every way possible.
"See!" Rhys said, grateful that at least someone remembered the truth.
"Give me the gun, Gwen." Jack ordered, holding out her hand.
"No!" Gwen cried as she shook her head, trying to aim past Jack and failing to get a clear line of sight, "He- he grabbed me, Jack. Who knows what he was going to do?"
"How can you say that?!" Rhys demanded, shocked and angry at the accusation.
Jack rolled her eyes and cut across Rhys's words, clearly, "He's your fiance, that's hardly abnormal behaviour." Gwen looked horrified at Jack's dismissal of what seemed to have been a genuine fear... but as she opened her mouth to retort, Jack spoke first, "Why were you late into work this morning, hmm?"
She could feel the sense of mild embarrassment from Rhys at that question, which told her the answer she had been expecting... and now she waited for a stunned Gwen to reply aloud. "I- I don't remember." she said, frowning, "I think I missed my alarm clock?" but there was obvious confusion in her words... she really didn't recall the reason, and was just guessing.
"Why did you take the last two weeks off? Where did you go?" Jack continued.
"Paris. I went to Paris. I-" Gwen hesitated, frowning, "I was recovering from a gunshot... but... maybe I was on too many pain meds." she shook her head, "I don't remember much of it."
"You spent most of the time with me!" Rhys snapped.
"Which- if you don't remember a thing about Rhys- might explain why you can't recall most of your vacation." Jack observed calmly.
"Did your lot do this?" Rhys demanded, suddenly, and Jack could feel his full attention was on her now, "I know what kind of sick games you play. Pills that make you forget, is that what this is, yeah? Are you phasing me out so you can have her all to yourselves?"
Jack turned around to face Rhys, acutely aware that she was turning her back on a fully loaded gun in the hands of a frightened woman who knew that Jack was immortal and saw Rhys as a threat... not a smart move, really, but she still trusted Gwen. Rhys had taken a threatening step towards Jack, and Gwen all-but shrieked, "Stay away from her!"
Jack held up a hand to Gwen, to try to stop her from jumping to conclusions, while still meeting Rhys's accusing gaze, staring him down, and she spoke as calmly as she could, given the tension in the air, "Those pills erase entire periods of time, they're not selective. She remembers Paris, but not you... this isn't something I know how to do, even if I did want to."
Gwen was still aiming the gun at Rhys, and Jack was still in the line of fire... she took a step back towards Gwen, grabbing the gun and turning to meet Gwen's frightened gaze, "Put the gun down, Gwen." she said softly.
Rhys seemed to have taken Jack's words to heart, accepting it enough that he reigned in his anger, "Gwen-" but Gwen's own anger flared up again at the mention of her name, and Jack quickly twisted the gun out of her hand before she could threaten again. When Rhys spoke now, it was far more sad than angry, "Like what Jack said- we're engaged. I bought you that ring you're wearing, sweetheart."
Gwen glowered at the pet-name, but then looked at her hand... and stared, her eyes widening in shock as if she had absolutely no memory of the ring's existence, even though it had been on her finger the entire time. She seemed completely dumbstruck. Jack smiled weakly at Rhys, nodding to tell him that this was probably the perfect thing to have said to Gwen.
At this point, just when Jack was beginning to forget that he had even come here with her, Adam stepped forward, "Why don't you come with me to the Hub." he suggested. Confused, Gwen nodded at this suggestion.
"Who the hell are you?" Rhys demanded irritably, giving Adam a suspicious look.
"He's one of us." Jack said dismissing his confusion.
"We can check you over." Adam continued, completely ignoring Rhys's question, "Jack will stay here and take care of things."
Gwen nodded, accepting this suggestion, and Adam put an arm around her, his hand resting on her shoulder as he led her away. But she hesitated in the doorway, her emotions turning from confusion to fear again in an instant, though her demeanour didn't change visibly. She turning around to face them once more, and warned Jack, "Don't let him go. If he comes after me again, I'll kill him."
Adam quickly led her out of the flat, and Jack frowned at the door for a few seconds after it had closed behind them. Gwen had accepted enough of the explanation that death threats really were a bit extreme... threats of maiming, she could see, death-threats, not so much.
"What was that about?" Rhys demanded, staring at the door with just as much confusion as Jack.
She shook her head, turning to face Rhys, "How do you think you'd feel in her position? She doesn't think she knows you, and you sneak up on her?"
"How was I to know?" Rhys demanded, turning on her angrily.
"I'm not blaming you." Jack said, sighing. Suddenly she felt very tired of this, the adrenaline was over but the problem remained. She sat down sharply on the couch, and stared off across the room, "But it's really not the best way to find out your girlfriend has amnesia."
x x x
Adam watched as Owen checked on Gwen. He didn't like Rhys... had tried to get rid of him, the second he saw the man so far to the front of Gwen's mind. Obviously, it would take more effort than simply making her forget and hoping she would deal with the problem herself... he had to turn everyone against Rhys.
That would take more time and effort.
"Right, well, no signs of long-term damage, as far as I can see." Owen declared, "Or alien intervention." Adam smiled, finding that quite amusing. Obviously Owen's medical skills were not up to detecting memory-alteration on his level. "But, I must be missing something. I'm sorry, but it's a mystery to me why you can't remember Rhys."
Adam watched Gwen leave, then moved to stand next to Owen, "You reckon she'll be alright?" he asked.
"I'm sure she will." Owen said with a nod, "Bet it's like amnesia. The right triggers could bring it all back. She got past Retcon once, she'll be able to get through this."
Adam smiled, "That's good to hear." he put a hand on Owen's shoulder, in what he hoped Owen interpreted as a gesture of camaraderie, and reached out to Owen's mind. In an instant he found memories of Rhys.
The memories themselves stank of aggression and self-righteousness. Rhys was offensive to everything Adam understood of existence. He carefully altered- not erasing or adding, simple twisting- these memories. Obnoxious comments; 'four-eyes', 'nerdy doctor', 'rodent-face'. Slights; ignoring Owen in favour of asking Gwen's opinion, talking about him while he was standing right there, ignoring his medical advice on Gwen's injuries.
Subtly making Owen not care so much that Rhys had been the one to come up with such an effective plan, the one time they'd worked together. That it had been Rhys who had infiltrated and sweet-talked the bad-guys, however much nerve and quick-thinking it may have involved. That Gwen had honestly and truly been in love with the man.
In the blink of an eye, it was done, and Owen turned to face him, adding to his earlier comment, "And even if she doesn't remember... no big loss, right?"
x x x
Adam was stood next to Gwen as she watched a video of Rhys Williams... talking, just talking... as it streamed through to the Hub from Jack's video camera. The entire point of this exercise was for her to see it, to try to trigger her memories of this man, and Adam couldn't very well go against one of Jack's plans directly. That would arouse suspicion.
Still, the way Rhys talked, it made Adam want to personally kill the man. So... open, no pretence or defence. No secrets. It was practically painful to watch, every word of perfect truth, as if he couldn't possibly understand how to lie to Gwen. He knew what he was and didn't need or want to fake it.
Secrets were the only thing that made one individual, share your memories so completely as Rhys willingly did here, and everyone knew you, may as well share your own mind, and to Adam that was inconceivable. Even those whose minds he infiltrated, he couldn't read all their memories. Never would. He could gradually earn their trust and learn more, it would never be so complete as Rhys' trust of Gwen. He literally felt nauseous just watching this.
"Do you remember that?" Adam asked, kneeling next to Gwen, as Rhys talked so openly about the time when the two had first kissed.
"Sort of." Gwen answered hesitantly, as the infuriating man ranted on, in the background, "It's like I'm... I'm seeing what he's saying, but... I don't remember how I... felt."
Adam reached out and gently touched the side of Gwen's face. "Believe me when I tell you that that is your fiance." 'But it's still no big loss if you forget him forever... do you really want that big oaf around you for the rest of your life?' "Your memory's just playing tricks on you, that's all. Okay." 'Don't worry about him, you'll be fine.'
Gwen nodded slightly, "Okay." she said softly.
"She starts to laugh." Rhys's voice continues on the video, "She calls me 'Rhys the Rant' and then she kissed me, right there in the queue."
'Yeah, I called that one, with the ranting!' Adam thought, irritably, letting go of Gwen's mind as he turned to watch the video. It only proved his point about secrets, and losing yourself to others.
"And I, and I, and I thought then, Jack, I... I thought, 'I'm going to marry this bloody mad woman, even if it kills me'."
Adam looked away in disgust, while Gwen leaned towards the screen slightly, frowning in deep thought. He scowled at her, knowing that Rhys had just broken his influence for the second time, and truly resenting that fact.
x x x
She had seen him again. That boy. She knew he was very important and she really should know him... but try as she might, she couldn't place exactly why he was so familiar.
Ianto had been with her, this time. They had just left Gwen with Rhys for the night, and had been about to leave when she'd seen him... but Ianto hadn't seen anything at all.
What was this boy? An hallucination? A vision? Someone trying to reach her? She had no idea what it was, but now she was out, alone, in the dark. Hunting for a Weevil while her mind kept wandering back to that boy was probably not the smartest of moves.
Ianto had offered to come with her, but she'd been distracted and waved off the offer. Not something she would usually ever do, hunting with Ianto was a great deal of fun... it became like a game, and made her feel almost like a predator herself, in spite of the fact that the Weevils were technically higher up the food chain than humans.
Part of her desire to be alone tonight was in the hope that she'd see the boy again and with no one around to scare the apparition off she might just find out who he was, what he wanted.
She'd tracked the Weevil down to the sewers, now... and as she stepped down off the ladder, the dank water splashed unpleasantly, and she idly observed one thing she had better than most human women. She didn't give a damn about the state of her shoes... in this situation, that was definitely a good thing.
She shone the flashlight around, seeing nothing but more sewer in either direction, "Come out, come out, wherever you are." she taunted in an almost sing-song voice, still scanning the area carefully. Almost immediately, she heard a growling snarling sound off to her right, "I can hear you." she sang softly.
The Weevil growled again, and she moved in that direction. Why was she not surprised that the Weevil responded to her 'innocent girl' voice? They probably found lone females much easier targets. Even if in her own opinion, that sing-song tone was quite creepy in the echoing sewer.
She started humming softly in that eerie lost-little-girl tone, as she followed the sound of the growls down the tunnel, around a corner, and into even deeper darkness. If it weren't for her flashlight, it would be pitch black down here. The Weevil seemed to respond to the humming, its growling getting closer than her own progress should account for.
She turned another corner, fully expecting to see the creature snarling in her face, gun raised to defend herself... but the figure her flashlight illuminated was not a Weevil. No... definitely not. She stared in shock at the familiar face, trembling slightly at the impossibility of what she was seeing.
It was her father.
"Get out!" he shouted at her, fear and panic in his voice, causing that emotion to rise in Jack's heart, drawn up from terrifying memories that she couldn't quite grasp, "Get out now!"
"Dad?" Jack asked. Her hands shook to the point where she nearly dropped the gun and flashlight.
"Run!" he yelled at her, and she felt the absolute certainty that danger was coming... that he was trying to protect her. She couldn't help but obey, turning and fleeing the sewer as quickly as she could.
Retracing her steps was easy... soon she found herself back on the surface, staring down at the manhole she had just climbed out of, still shaking slightly and trying to figure out what had just happened.
It was as if she had suddenly been a hundred and seventy years younger, a scared child again... running away from the monsters his father had stayed behind to protect him from.
"Jack?" she jumped, startled by the voice, and turning sharply to see Adam standing a few feet away, looking concerned. This didn't make any more sense than her father standing in the middle of a sewer on Earth. Adam had stayed at the Hub with Tosh and Owen. "Was it down there? The Weevil?"
"No." she said, still shaken by what she had seen, "How did you get here?"
Adam looked concerned as he stepped closer to her, "Well, I came with you, Jack... remember?" he said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Yes... I remember." she said distantly, frowning and turning to look down at the manhole again. Should she go back? Try to find her father? Or was he another illusion, like the boy? Her mind playing tricks on her?
That boy... she remembered him, now. God, how could she have forgotten?!
"Are you okay?" Adam asked her, "Jack, what did you see?"
She wondered how he knew she had seen anything besides sewer and weevil tracks, which really wouldn't be worth asking about... but somehow that detail didn't seem at all important right now. "My past."
It suddenly occurred to her that she really should tell Adam about this. She would never share the details of her life before the Doctor with another living soul, if it was at all avoidable... but she remembered confiding in Adam in the past... she couldn't recall specific details she had shared, only that he had never judged her, and never shared her secrets with others.
"What about your past?" he asked her gently, one hand still resting on her shoulder as he took her other arm and gently turned her to face him. "Is it your childhood?"
How could he possibly know that? "It was meant to be buried!" she said angrily, "I buried the memory over a hundred and fifty years ago. Why now?" she didn't care that she was yelling in the face of the man who was trying to comfort her... didn't care that she was close to tears, from the painful memories. None of it mattered, she just wanted it all to go away again.
"Well, maybe it's time." Adam suggested, reasonably, "Maybe up until now, your subconscious was protecting you. But you can't block out the past forever."
A single tear ran her cheek, and she met Adam's eyes with a pained and pleading stare, "I don't want to remember."
She was trying so desperately not to think about it, but the harder she tried to push the memories away, the clearer they became. Flashes of fear, the howling of monsters... the stuff of nightmares. A reality Jack had tried so very hard to forget.
She felt Adam's arms around her, trying to comfort her. It didn't work. "Tell me, Jack. I can help... that's why I'm here."
x x x
"So, according to the molecular breakdown, this potentially alien complex artefact is, in fact, made out of wood." Tosh announced, after hours of work on the scanners.
Ianto smiled faintly, as he watched the look on both Tosh and Owen's faces. It was quite comical, really. He had come in to see if they needed any help, and suggest they call it a night because of the late hour, but now he was glad he'd not announced his presence the second he had arrived.
"Well, perhaps it fell in the crate by mistake." Owen suggested, "Picked up meson energy from the other stuff."
Tosh snorted, "Yeah, right."
"Just a suggestion, no need to get snippy." Owen retorted sharply, grinning as he said it.
Tosh smiled at him, "Says Mr Sarcastic." the smile she wore was blatantly flirtatious, and Owen grinned back at her.
Ianto decided now would be a good time to either leave or draw attention to himself. He decided on the latter, as he had a valid comment to make, "I think Jack brought it in."
Owen jumped slightly at being caught out flirting, but Tosh just turned to face Ianto with slight confusion, "No, I'm sure Adam found it on an excavation a few months back."
Ianto shrugged, "I'll go and check my logs." he said simply, deciding it best not to use the word 'diary' in front of 'Mr Sarcastic'- and oh how that nickname suited Owen- before leaving the room.
He distinctly heard Tosh's muttering of, "Logs belong on computers." as he left the room, and smiled faintly at it. He couldn't help the fact that he was a traditionalist, and liked to keep some things- especially personal information and opinions- on paper.
He had just stepped into the locker room, where he kept his diary when he was at work, when he all-but ran into Adam, who had been leaving that same room, rooting through his coat pockets for something. Adam looked up at Ianto, startled, but then quickly asked, "Hey, Ianto. How's Gwen doing?"
Ianto blinked, taken by surprise by this question, but then shrugged, "Last I saw, she was still a bit upset, but I think she'll be okay." he said.
"That's good to hear." Adam said with a nod, "I was kind of worried about her." he added, placing a hand on Ianto's shoulder. Ianto scowled at the hand, incredibly uncomfortable with this friendly contact from the man he considered to be his rival, and he edged away from Adam.
"So was I." he said sharply. Rhys Williams could go jump off a cliff for all Ianto cared, but he really hoped that Gwen would be alright after this ordeal. He side-stepped further into the locker room, watching Adam like a hawk. Just because Ianto worked with this man didn't mean he had to like him.
Adam backed away, accepting the obvious demand that he leave, right now, "I'll catch you later, Ianto." and with that he turned to leave.
x x x
Author's Note: I know I've got Tosh and Owen acting more like themselves- especially Owen- but there's a reason; I figure Adam made Tosh so confident so she'd be more his type, and made Owen a bumbling fool so that he wouldn't be competition. Honestly, there's a fair chance he made Gwen forget Rhys on purpose, for the same reason. But if Adam likes confident women... well...