Ben smiled broadly as he walked to his locker. Entwined on his right arm, was his hero, and on his left, the love of his life. Sam and the Doctor had agreed that the three of them needed to talk about the pair's options for the future, and when Ben had said that he needed to get some food and a new uniform ("this is never going to wash out, boys, and I don't intend on leaving this school drenched in alien blood. Besides, someone's footing the bill for the clothes, and it's certainly not me, so why not spend some green?"), they'd both agreed to accompany him.
When they arrived at his locker, they both noticed something odd – whilst the rest of the lockers had standard combination locks on them, Ben's simply had a small panel that was rectangular, and clear, but had a black frame around it. Ben crouched down and placed his thumb to the panel – it clicked, and his locker door slowly opened. They both expected a regular locker, as well, but were instead greeted with a flat black panel that covered the entire area. A keyboard popped out, and Ben typed a few things into it. A credit card emerged from one of the many slots on the panel, and some coins. A couple of files came out as well, which he took. He slammed the locker door shut and walked back to them.
"Well, this is new. I have an entourage! I feel so popular." He smiled.
"What are those files?" Sam asked.
"Ah ah ah," he sang teasingly. "We haven't gotten there yet. Now," at this point, he began to walk away from the locker, and both Sam and the Doctor followed. "We have some things to discuss."
"That we do," the Doctor affirmed. "Starting with how it was exactly that you managed to kill all of those Silence."
Ben breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. You know what the Silence are. Not too early days then…" he trailed off for a moment, as if remembering something related. His eyes suddenly began to tear, and he turned and wrapped the Doctor in a big hug.
"Umm…" the Doctor was clearly uncomfortable. "Hugging? Is that… is that necessary? Why are we hugging? Is this a new thing, like a trend, or something?"
"Shut up," Ben said sharply, and Sam placed a hand on his shoulder. He let go of the Doctor, and Sam pulled him into a hug, because he knew he needed it.
"See, he's the one you should be hugging. That's the rules, I think."
"Dear lord, you are clueless," Ben said, wiping his eyes. "You're lucky it's just rather endearing." He sniffled, but continued walking, disentangling himself from his boyfriend. He continued walking as if on a war path, and both Sam and the Doctor scrambled to keep up with him. "I know how to kill those Silence, and I managed to do it unscathed, because of the White Guardian. When it left," he sighed. "It left some of its knowledge with me. Just a smidgen, but enough for me to become a valuable resource for the Earth. So," he paused for a moment, opening the door to the uniform shop, and rushed in, shrugging off his jumper.
He ran over to a mirror, and inspected the damage. "Well the pants are a write off," he concluded, and grabbed a pair off the rack. "But the shirt's held up. I just need a new jumper, and blazer." His eyes rushed down. "The shoes will be fine. A bit scuffed, but I can shine them when I get home if I really want to." Both of his companions looked at each other and shrugged. He raced into the change room.
"Now, what was I saying? Oh yes, an… oomph… sorry, a bit tight in here. Umm… yes, I'm a resource to the Earth. In the first month of being here, I made some money out of interviews, and then I got contacted by a person of authority, and we made a deal." He paused, for a moment, drawing back the curtains to the change room, and walked outside wearing the same outfit as before, but clean. "Better, hmm?" Both the Doctor and Sam nodded obligingly.
Ben walked over to the register, and the lady behind the counter smiled at him. He pulled the credit card from before out of his wallet, which he had moved into the pocket of his new pants (a sign that he'd done it enough times before to be prepared and move his things over) and presented it to her. "Blazer, jumper, and pants."
She nodded. "Altogether, that comes to $600. Which account?"
The Doctor and Sam's mouths fell open, and Ben simply nodded. "Savings please." She put his purchase through, and he handed her the ruined clothing. "Could you do the same with these as the rest?" She nodded, and he smiled. "Thank you." He turned back to the pair, whose mouths were still open and gaping. "C'mon, boys." They both nodded, and followed him out of the store.
"How do you afford replacing clothes like that?" Sam asked. His family wasn't really rolling in money, and he felt a bit nervous – what if his boyfriend expected fancy gifts, or other things that he couldn't give?
"I took it out of petty cash. The institute's got enough put away for my 'ruined clothing budget'." Ben chuckled. "I certainly made sure of that in my contract."
"So who was it that you made a deal with?" The Doctor asked, moving the subject back to what he'd attempted to talk about before. They navigated further back towards Ben's locker.
"Well, you see, I attracted the attention of a lovely woman named Elizabeth. Liz, I think you call her."
The Doctor looked confused for a moment. "Liz, as in, Liz Two?" Ben smiled and nodded in response. "You've been doing direct dealings with the Queen of England?"
Sam's eyebrows shot up. "You just went up, like, a hundred cool points."
Ben laughed. "She's a lovely lady, the Queen. She genuinely cares about the people of the Commonwealth Realms. So, when she found out about my story, she asked for a meeting. Together, we masterminded a worldwide plan to keep the Earth safe from those who would wish to harm it. An agency dedicated to the safety of the human race." Here, he smiled. "We called it, predictably, the Torchwood Institute."
The Doctor smiled. "Torchwood reformed? I like the sound of that, although you'd better promise me that there aren't many guns."
"Well…" he trailed off, and the Doctor gave him a serious look. "We don't shoot anyone who hasn't shot us first. Or at the very least threatened our lives and had the means to make good on that threat."
The Doctor nodded. "You've killed people?" Sam asked.
Ben nodded, and sighed. "Sadly, yes. But I've only ever killed bad people."
"Why do I feel a bit like Jamie Lee Curtis all of a sudden?"
Ben punched him lightly on the shoulder. "You'd better watch yourself. Now, you," and he pointed to the Doctor, "you need to look at these." He gave the Doctor the files he'd retrieved from earlier. The Doctor flipped through them. "Torchwood Three retrieved them last week, and they're unlike anything I've ever seen. Dating puts it at around the time I got back from Sam's universe."
The Doctor seemed perplexed. "What is it?"
"That's why I've asked you. I don't know. Although, Three is in Cardiff, which could explain it."
"What's in Cardiff?" asked Sam. "Better yet… and don't call me stupid for this… but where is Cardiff?"
Ben turned to him softly, and gently replied, "Cardiff is a city in Wales, where there's a transdimensional rift."
"Also, if Cardiff is Torchwood Three, where are the others?"
Ben beamed. "Well, me being the head of Torchwood, Torchwood One is here in Sydney. Torchwood Two is in London, Three is in Cardiff, and Four is in Glasgow. We're establishing Five in Dublin, Six in Toronto, Seven in Mumbai, and Eight in the Fijian Islands. They should all be completed by the end of the year."
"You've really spread out, haven't you?" the Doctor asked, still transfixed by the images that Ben had given him.
"Yep. We're growing fast."
"Hold on a second…" the Doctor looked at the pictures very intently, squinting. "Why are there Silence in your universe? I mean, if we're both part of television shows – "
Sam cut him off. "Television shows? Who's a television show?"
"Later, sweetie," Ben cooed. "Go on, Doctor."
"If we're part of television shows, then the Silence aren't part of your history. What are they doing in your universe?"
"I see your point… unless…"
They both looked up at each other, right in the eyes. "Of course!" The Doctor shouted, excitedly.
"Why didn't we see it before?" Ben asked, disappointed with himself.
"I'm so confused…" Sam said, but went un-noticed.
"The Silence used the Rift to get here, so we're going to need to monitor the Rift far better. I knew there was a reason I needed you."
Sam felt a bit left out at the celebrations, as he still didn't understand what was going on. Suddenly, he looked down at his watch. "Ben, we need to go! We have to get to the auditorium now!"
"Oh, goodness! I forgot about the surprise the glee club had for me. Let's go!"
Sam grabbed Ben's hand and they ran off.