Day 3.

You wake up, a little sleepy. You take a shower and get ready to work. You're not really hungry, so you eat a granola bar and a drink glass of OJ before leaving for work. You walk into Gareth and you spend the whole trip from your apartments to the entrance of the building chatting about whatever comes to your minds.

When you get to the Hub, Owen's mumbling about how stupid he's been. That's so weird that you just need to check what happened.

"Why are you stupid? I mean, there are plenty of reasons but I want to know which one you're thinking of."

Owen glares at you, before mumbling, "I owe you ten quid."

"What?" You ask him to repeat, though you heard him perfectly well.

"I owe you ten quid. I hope you heard it because I won't say it again."

"So, what did you get wrong?" You ask, amused. He explains it to you, and even though you expected it, you can't help but laugh so hard that you can't breathe, and you drop to the ground, still laughing, and holding your stomach because of how badly it hurts.

Jack has to come and check on your because Owen's alerted the entire Hub of the hysteria crisis you're having.

"You all right?" Jack asks you, and you nod, but still can't stop laughing. "What happened?" He asks Owen.

"I told her I owe her ten quid. Then I explained what I got wrong and she started laughing and doesn't stop. She might die." He doesn't look exactly sad at the thought. You wipe your eyes that had been filled with tears, and manage to calm yourself down.

"Jesus Christ," you mumble, "that hurt. I'm blaming you, Owen."

"Why? What did I do now?"

"You tried to kill me!"

"I didn't!" Owen protests.

"Yes, you did! You tried to make me laugh to death! If that's my cause of death, I'll find a way to come back and I'll haunt you until you die too! By laughing! I'll come back and haunt you until you've died laughing!" You yell. It's stupid, you know, but you're also joking so it's not like it's a real threat. Owen just gives you a weird look and you start laughing again like crazy.

That's when Tosh comes in, and approaches you three. Jack is laughing too, you notice, and you try to calm yourself down, partly because you don't want to have another crisis and because if Tosh asks questions, you want to answer them.

Owen starts throwing things at you, but they make you laugh even harder, and Jack just avoids the stuff Owen throws at him.

"What's going on?" Tosh asks, and she takes a step back to avoid the stuff Owen is throwing.

"You know the skeleton we found at the building site?" You ask, smiling. Tosh nods. "Well, guess what? I won the bets."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me explain." Owen intervenes.

"At the building site, Owen said a woman was killed by a single gunshot." You cut Owen off.

"I'd been there, like, a minute?" Owen tries to defend himself, but you ignore him.

"Since then, he's had to… tweak some of his initial deductions. For example, this isn't a woman. It's a man!" You laugh again.

"Yes, it's a man." Owen admits, grudgingly. "A very girly man."

"But still a man. And the cause of death. Owen said GSW." You shake your head. "But the universe apparently hates Owen and the correct answer is…" You make a drum sound with your fingers, tapping on the railing, and then show Owen with your hands, as he mumbles,

"Unidentified trauma. But…" He starts, but doesn't get to finish.

"Unidentified trauma?" Tosh asks.

"Yep. But there was one thing that could be ruled out. And that was…" You present Owen again.

"Gunshot wound." He mumbles.

"Gunshot wound!" You crack a smile. "I swear, sometimes I wonder if you're a real doctor." You joke as you walk up to your workstation. Then you turn to Owen, and, since he's a bit far, you scream, "And remember! You owe me ten quid!"

Owen grumbles and you chuckle before sitting down at your workstation. You don't have any new paperwork to fill so you quickly check up on Gwen, see how she's doing, then decide to start a case. Nothing too dangerous or anything. Just a little research and stuff. Maybe you should start preparing for the 456 attack, but since the only records you have are in 1965 and it's supposed to be secret…

You sigh. The Doctor could help. Still, you decide to do a little research on the aliens you've got on record. You look up some stuff on the computer's database, but there's not much. It's like this Torchwood Three knows little more about aliens other than weevils and addict blowfish. You still read it all, before checking the time on your watch and realizing that you've got that lunch with Gwen.

You knock on the door of Jack's office.

"Yeah?" He asks you.

"I'm going out for lunch. Gonna meet Gwen." You inform him.

"All right. Take a long lunch. I won't call you unless it's an emergency." He tells you.

"Sure." You nod.

"One thing…" He hesitates, and looks over at Tosh, sitting at her workstation. "Tosh asked me before about Philoctetes. Do you know why?"

"Suspecting her already?" You raise an eyebrow. "Anyway, I thought we'd agreed. Let's give her today, and if nothing happens, I'll tell you later. I have to go now. See ya!"

Jack doesn't stop you from leaving. You meet Gwen at a little restaurant near the police station she works at. You greet each other, sit down and order.

"So?" She asks. "How's work? I bet it's amazing."

You smile. "Yeah, it is. A bit terrifying though, but I love it."

Gwen smiles too. "I envy you! I wish I could work for Torchwood." Gwen said.

"Maybe one day you will." You don't know if this is true or not, but you hope so. Gwen could get to be a very good employee if she doesn't make the same mistakes as before, and now that you're there to help, maybe you could actually stop her from making the same mistakes and direct her to a right path or something.

"Maybe."

You spend the rest of your lunch, talking about many things in general. It's like you've known each other for years. And technically, you have known her for a while.

When you get back to the Hub, you find Tosh and Owen talking at the medical bay. Owen makes a comment and Tosh smiles at him. You smile a bit at the sight of them, but you jump when Ianto clears his throat.

"Jesus Christ!" You can't help but say.

"No, it's me, Ianto Jones." He replies, deadpanned.

"Oh really? I didn't know!" You say sarcastically. "What's up?"

"Not much, really. Jack told me you wanted to look into the archives." He says.

"Yes, I wanted to check some records about alien encounters Torchwood's had before." You reply, making a mental note to thank Jack as soon as you see him.

"Well, tell me whenever you want to go in." Ianto says.

"All right." You nod. Then Tosh arrives. "Hey, Tosh!" You greet her.

"Hello." She greets you again. "Has Jack said anything to you about the hardware we found with the skeleton?"

So… She spoke to Mary again… You think before you remind yourself not to think about it anymore. You don't think any of the team are ready to know the truth. It's still to early in their timelines. But you wonder if Jack has told Ianto, now that they're more… intimate with each other, if we have to put it in words.

Tosh looks surprised, and you mentally curse yourself. Of course she's still wearing the pendant. Never mind.

"He's told me nothing about it." You shake your head "Sorry."

"He hasn't told me either." Ianto answers. "Why?"

"No worries. Just asking." Tosh smiles before leaving.

"Oh, and," Ianto tells you, "there's copies of that Michael Hamilton statement on your desk. He's still seeing Cybermen outside his mother's house."

"Oh," you nod, pensive. "Sure. I'll check it out later."

"Coffee?" He asks as he lifts a tray full of mugs.

You can't help but smile at that. "Thank you!"

After checking the whole Michael Hamilton case, you walk to the archives, just to find Ianto there.

"What are you looking for?" He asks you.

"D'you have anything about the Arcateenians, or Arcans?" You ask.

"Not much. Let me see." He walks off into the archives, looking for some files. Fortunately, you don't have to wait long. Ianto brings a file, a very thin one at that. "Like I said, we don't have much, but I hope this is enough." He says while handing you the file.

You smile at him. "Thanks." Then you walk back to your workstation and start reading about the Arcateenians.

"What are you investigating?" Jack approaches you, about an hour later.

"Arcateenians or Arcans." You answer absent-mindedly.

"What did you find?"

"Not much. They come from Arcateen. They have a written language… You need to add some info here." You comment.

"I'm sure if you do a report and print it, you could give it to Ianto later." Jack says.

"Yep." Then, you remember the mental note you made before. "Thanks for telling Ianto by the way." When Jack just gives you a confused look, you elaborate. "About wanting to check the archives?"

"Oh! Sure. No problem." He waves it off. "What else did you find?"

"Made of liquid but take a humanoid form. They require large amounts of energy to maintain their shape in any planet with a stronger gravitational field than their own. Their skin has some sort of blue tint. I also found an Arcateenian's skill set depends on which planet it came from." You look up from the file. "That's about it. There are descriptions and stuff. Lots more I could add, though."

"Then work on it. I'll check on you later, so we can talk about Tosh."

"She hasn't said anything, has she?" You know the answer, so you're not surprised when Jack shakes his head.

"She… She tried to talk about the object we found? And then…" He looked around to make sure she wasn't there. "I think she tried to read my mind."

You nod. "Possible. I'll tell you more about it later, once I'm finished with this." You point at your computer.

Jack nods. "Sure. I've got to call the Prime Minister."

"Again?" You raise an eyebrow.

"What can I say? They don't take us seriously. Told me to call him back in a few hours, and every time I've tried, they tell me to wait for about an hour just to tell me to call back later." Jack rolls his eyes. "I miss Harriet Jones."

"Yeah… Anyway, good luck!" You say.

"Thanks. I'll need it." He walks toward his office, and you chuckle, before typing the extra info you know about the Arcans.

"Even though they have a written language," you mumble as you type, "they communicate through a telepathic signal, picked up by Arcateenian pendants. They have faster-than-light travel capabilites, including transporter systems and superluminal communications technology, having developed this by our early 1800s at the latest."

When you're finished, you print it, save the document, just in case, and give it to Ianto, along with the file. You tell him that you've added something to the file, and it's right there. He nods, thanks you for sharing your knowledge with the rest and disappears into the archives to put the file back in his place.

Tosh is gone by the time Owen yells at Jack to come. Curious, you approach them as well, and you hear Owen explaining, talking about Operation Lowry.

"I worked on this case, before I joined Torchwood. Her name was Lucy Marmer. Her diagnostic was the same. Heart removed, and ribs punctured. I'd only been qualified for six months back then… Anyway, I looked at the other cases in Operation Lowry, and the diagnostic is always the same. It goes back to the early 1800s." Owen tells Jack.

Jack loos thoughtful. "All right, I'll need the official report on that. Lucy, I need to speak to you. Now."

"Someone's gonna get sacked." Owen mumbles under his breath, but you hear him, and glare at him before following Jack into his office.

"You've got to tell me what's going on." He demands.

"All right." You nod. "There was this girl—she was outside the tent in which we found the body and the transporter." You're going to continue but Jack cuts you off.

"Transporter?"

"Yes. That device we found? It's an Arcateenian transporter. A two man transporter. For a guard and a prisoner. That prisoner escaped, and possessed Mary's body and killed a soldier that was pursuing Mary for… never mind. Anyway, she killed her guard, possessed Mary and killed the soldier, and the skeleton over there? That's the soldier. And Mary, she's been keeping an eye on us, on Tosh. She's been… Well, remember when I mentioned Tosh's new girlfriend? That's her. I tried to help Tosh at first, remind her that we're her friends, but Owen's thoughts aren't exactly friendly and—"

"All right. Just, what do you mean by 'Owen's thoughts'?" Jack asks you.

"Right. Well, Mary gave Tosh a pendant—surely you've seen it, Tosh has been wearing it for the past few days, with emerald stones… no? anyway—and she uses that pendant to hear thoughts. She can't control it, but she still uses it. And I think Mary's using it to drive her mad. I thought it would change this time but… Apparently not."

"Okay…" Jack said absent-mindedly, obviously thinking about what you could do. Just then, there was a knock on the door and Ianto came in.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked when he saw the two of you.

"Not at all. Come in." Jack invited him in. He quickly informed Ianto of what was happening.

"If the device is a transporter then maybe you could use it to take her to somewhere she won't hurt anyone." Ianto proposed.

"What about the center of the sun?" Jack asked.

"That sounds a bit harsh. Isn't there a space police?" Ianto wondered.

"Yep. The Shadow Proclamation." You answer.

"Then why not send her there? She'll be judged and since she already tried to escape, this time she'll be better guarded." Ianto said.

Jack hesitated for a moment, then nodded. You suspect that if you had proposed that solution, he'd have thought about it but in the end he'd have chosen the center of the sun. You always knew that Ianto was a good influence to Jack, but you didn't expect it to happen now. Not that you complain. If anything, you love that it's happening right now. "You're right. We need a plan. What do you reckon she's going to do next?" Jack asks you.

Your eyes flicker over to where Ianto is and you wonder if he knows. "She'll probably try to get into Torchwood. Get her transporter back. I'm not sure."

Jack raises an eyebrow at you. Then something crosses his mind. "Oh, right. It's okay, Ianto knows."

"Oh. Okay. Then yes, she'll convince Tosh to bring her here so she can get back the transporter. But then… Well, everyone showed up, and she took Tosh as a hostage, and you gave her the transporter in exchange for Tosh. It was set to enable, and you'd changed the coordinates to the center of the sun." You tell him.

"You could've at least warned me about the spoilers." Jack jokes.

"Yeah, well, I guess I just don't want Tosh to go through the same thing again." You shrug.

"Fair enough. When is she coming?"Jack asks.

"Tomorrow night." You answer almost immediately.

Jack nods. "We'll be ready. Tell Owen to go home. I'll give Tosh the day off, so we can get ready for everything."

"Sure." You stand up. "See you tomorrow." You say goodbye to the two of them and walk toward Owen's medical bay. Music's blasting from the speakers and you curse his lousy taste in music. "Owen bloody Harper, turn this shit down!" You yell to be heard over the music.

"Oi! This is not shit! This is good music!" Owen complains. You roll your eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. Jack says it's time to go home." You tell him.

"Why couldn't he come and tell me himself?" When you don't answer, he groans. "Let me guess. He's too busy shagging the Tea Boy, isn't he?"

"That's my theory." You nod.

"Let's get out of here before I throw up." He says, standing up, and you laugh. Owen glares at you. "And if I do throw up, it'lls be on you." He points at you.

You stop laughing. "Hey! It's a new shirt!" You protest, referring to your new green tunic, that has a belt assorted.

"Whatever." Owen rolls his eyes and walks past you. You follow him, grabbing your black messenger bag on the way.

You two keep bantering until you part ways. When you enter your house, you take off your jewelry—you're only wearing a black lace stretch bangle and your wristwatch—and start doing the dishes you've been postponing. When you're done, you dry your hands with a towel, and walk away before realizing it's not enough, and you're hands are still a bit wet. You wipe them on your jeans, and remove your combat boots, lying down on the couch, turning on the TV. You need to relax, and what a better way to do that than to get hooked up on a TV show that only exists in this universe?

You fall asleep on the couch, the TV still on, and when you wake up in the morning, you're glad you had the reflex to take a blanket with you when you lied down to watch TV.