Torchwood Four; Dublin, Ireland

Nessa Dove sat on Trefor's lap in his office on the new office chair. With him and Liam all but officially moved in together, they didn't have as much time together. She would have backed off entirely except Liam would get the wrong idea. Trefor wasn't wired for monogamy or conventional relationships. A sexual quirk they had in common that had caused both of them a lot of stress, frustration, and emotional pain.

"I have work to do."

She laughed, resting her arms on his shoulders. "Xiu already did your maintenance and inventory reports. Except for medical which Malcolm and Molly wrote. Liam and Jeanette cleaned up the garden and wrote up shopping lists. Charlaine helped. Four has taken to remote accessing the maintenance bots and repairing himself. Xiu keeps reporting it as system errors."

"The Legare situation." Trefor rested his hands on his hips and met her eyes, looking exasperated. "Liam and Jeannette are going to the movies tonight and Malcolm and Molly are watching Charlaine."

"We're scheduling sex now?" Nessa laughed more.

"I need to work."

"You need a different approach. Why was Charlaine taken from Italy instead of Belgium? Why was she transported to Dublin instead of Cardiff? Or Truro? Or the Nigeria facility? Why didn't whoever just walk her up to the door or drop her at a police station?"

"What are you thinking?"

"I can't get past the kid's reaction to Malcolm. She's figured out he's not dangerous, but he still makes her nervous. There is something very wrong with that." Nessa took a moment. "She identifies with me saying I 'heal souls,' and recognizes Jeannette is a healer. She doesn't appear to notice Rift abilities or CN. The only difference with Malcolm is his connected to Lewella."

"If she went to Cardiff, Ianto would care for her. His connection to Lewella is a lot stronger."

Nessa nodded. "Canada and Nigeria don't have Lewella connections. Luc speaks French. Eryn can keep Luc, Aman and Kailen out of trouble, she can handle a kid. Maybe Hana is good with kids."

"Eryn and Hana have had odd experiences. Luc has dreams that make him angry."

"Possibly another ancient." She paused. "Nigeria has Azrael, psychics and The Refuge. They would be hard to lie to."

"It could involve Europe."

"Yeah. Why would an ancient relocate Charlaine? Unless it was for her safety, and I don't buy that as the only reason, the relocation was something the ancient needed. Why does an ancient care? Charlaine in Belgium doesn't work for the ancient. The Goblin King doesn't want her dead. He wants her safe and for Torchwood to know there is a problem."

"She can identify people with abilities and what ancient they're connected to."

Nessa nodded. "Someone in Belgium was using that ability."

"The school."

"Charlaine has no learning disabilities, health problems or obvious 'special needs.' Why did she need an expensive private school in Belgium?"

"She lied to us about what she can do. If her ability was simply identifying other abilities, it unlikely anyone would have noticed or cared. Her parents relocated to Belgium for that school."

Nessa hesitated. "Maybe for money. My parents viewed me, Malcolm and Jeanette as sources of money and would have sold us to get our trust funds." In various ways, they'd actually tried.

"Except her father was abusive. If she's the golden goose, he wouldn't hurt her."

"Maybe he doesn't know. Mrs. Legare's employer disappeared when the abduction was reported."

Trefor kissed her. "I need you to move. That school still has kids. If there is a problem with it, I need to contact Rex. It will take planning and effort to convince Belgium to shut it down."

Nessa climbed off his lap. "I assumed Charlaine would be afraid of you and Jeannette if she could sense Rift abilities. The reason you're not afraid of Jeannette is you're just as dangerous."

General Trefor Williams reluctantly watched Nessa walk across his office and reminded himself again he had work to do. Finding a connection between Innovations Créatives de Tourtellotte and Académie des Cœurs Gentils was easier than he expected. The extended Tourtellotte family had businesses throughout Europe and a few in Asia and routinely donated to private schools. Wiatt Tourtellotte had no obvious differences from his family.

A quick check of the tabloids and he found Tourtellotte was vacationing in South America. It offered him a variety of alibi options if he had any direct connection to the missing business especially since there was no indication of a sudden trip from the celebrity-stalking media. The general admitted the man might not be involved.

As he wondered what to check next, a thought occurred to him. The countries involved could be significant. Relocating to Belgium suggested there wasn't a school in France. There were family-sponsored schools in France but none openly offered options for special needs students. Checking Italy, however, found a school Wiatt funded near where the Legares were vacationing. There weren't any in Ireland or Wales. Nova Scotia had schools in the vicinity. Wiatt's cousin funded a school in New Brunswick and one in Maine. There was nothing obvious in Nigeria or the surrounding countries, but the schools were different. The Tourtellotte's also donated to religious charities; tracking that would take time and probably Idrissa.

"Four," the general said, "Connect me to Nova Scotia, please."

"Hey." Eryn sounded stressed.

"I have a project for Hana."

"Do you know about Cardiff?"

"Yeah. Is Hana working on that? I need a statistical analysis involving specific private schools, kids, and possibly missing kids."

Eryn exhaled sharply. "She needs specifics."

"I'll send what I have. The Legare situation is potentially worse than a multi-jurisdictional abduction."

"The information needs to include why you're requesting the analysis."

The general knew Luc wasn't going to like it. "The current theory is an ancient abducted Charlaine to expose something."

Eryn groaned. "The Goblin King…"

"Why would a French six-year-old be familiar with an English language movie from the 1980s? Her parents were born in the 1990s."

"Fantasy movie enthusiasts." Eryn didn't sound convinced.

Statistics aside, the general needed to review the businesses. He hoped tomorrow was soon enough to ask Liam. Contacting Hana was different, the general told himself, but questioned his own motivations. Waiting meant he and Nessa could have time to themselves. Unsure how to shake the feeling, he opted to recheck the information looking for anything he might have missed.