"Get off of me!" Violet screamed, down the hall as Neal grabbed her along, "Get the Hell of me you son-of-bitch!"
While the rest of team were trying to uncover what was going on with this turn-of-events, Neal was dealing with the fall out. He had brought Violet down to the rooms for people who come through the Riff there first night in. They hadn't had to use it since Torchwood was rebuilt, no one came down here, which made it of use for hiding Violet away until she cooled down.
Neal threw her down on the bottom bunk. She went till, breathing heavily. Neal knelt down beside her, asking, "Are you going to be okay?"
"I don't know." Violet said, shaking her head, "I don't know. I mean, it's Gracie and she's-alive, Neal, she's alive."
Neal didn't say anything just looked at her sympathetically. He couldn't even begin to know what she was going through. To believed someone you cared about was dead and then to find out they were alive and had purposefully hid from you. That had to rip a person's heart apart.
"How could she do that?" Violet asked, "I mean, I knew why she had to hide, but why didn't she even try to get us, or try to stop it with her people?"
"Who says we didn't?" A voice said.
Violet and Neal swirled their heads to the doorway and saw Gracie standing in it. "Look," She said, walking into the room, "I know I have a lot to explain-"
"You bet you do!" Violet shouted in rage.
Gracie paused for a minute, then directing the comment at Neal, "Sir, maybe you could leave us alone for a few minutes?"
Neal looked at Violet to see what you wanted to do. "It's okay," Violet said, "Go. I'll be fine and they probably needs all hands on deck for this mess anyway."
"Especially after the bombshell Julia just dropped, " Gracie said.
Neal stood up and walked out of the room then blotted down the hall, worried what that bombshell could possibly be, considering everything that has just occurred.
The two young women stared at each other for a moment then Gracie took Neal's spot on the bed. She took a flask out of her jacket pocket and took a swing. She handed it to Violet saying, "You want some?"
"No," Violet said. sharply, putting her hand out in front of it, "In fact, get it away from me, I'm eight months sober."
Gracie chuckled then looked at Violet and saw she was stone-faced. "Seriously?" She responded, "You quit drinking?"
"I quit everything," Violet said, backing away from the flask like the vodka would leap out of the bottle and attack her.
"Okay," Gracie said, calmly, putting it away.
They sat in awkward silence for a moment then Gracie blurted out, "I'm proud of you." When Violet gave her a questioning look, she said, "You know, for quitting."
''Thanks," Violet said tersely.
"Really," Gracie said, "It's great. And I like what you've done with your hair."
"Look, can you just say what you came here to say and leave?!" Violet snapped.
"Just wanted to try to explain what happened," Gracie said, "When Declan and Michael tried to take me out they almost succeeded. And I didn't exactly get out completely unscaved." She pointed at the very apparent ugly scar that ram down her lips.
"Yeah, well, that's still pretty far away from dead." Violet replied.
"I really thought I was going to die," Gracie insisted, "Michael was holding me down and Declan was pouring alcohol down my throat and I the one thing that kept running through my mind is that I'm gonna die and my brother was an accomplice."
Suddenly Violet wasn't mad at Gracie anymore. In fact, she was a little mad at herself. "I can't believe I've treated her like this," Violet though, then pulled Gracie into a hug.
When they broke the embrace Gracie asked, "So does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?"
"Let's hear the rest of the story," Violet said, not wanting to let go of everything just yet, "And then we'll talk."
"They must of just left me there for someone to find or something," Gracie said, "Because the next thing I know after blacking out is waking up with a doctor standing over me. Apparently some guy found me in the park pasted out and I has to have my stomach pumped. Said I overdosed, but it looked like someone else was involved. I wouldn't tell them anything though. The day I checked myself out Jules approaches me outside the hospital, tells me this team of hers got a way to take Declan down."
"They knew what was going on the whole time?" Violet asked, starting to get riled up again.
"No, actually," Gracie said, "They had only put it all together themselves. Before they had just thought their equipment was faulty. It's not exactly top of the line if you know what I mean. " After a moment she continued, "Which is why, we eventually decided to hand it over to this bunch when they got back."
"How'd you manage to do that?" Violet asked.
"Made sure they found out something was up with the Riff," Gracie said, "Made sure they saw Michael and Declan in the act, drop clues to lead them to New York and the Mart, basically spoon fed them everything."
"And you really couldn't drop a dime to me?" Violet asked.
"There wasn't any time," Gracie said, "And I made sure they found Cherish and Will so they knew your side of the story."
Violet stared at her, dumbstruck. She hadn't even told Gracie about Will and Cherish.
"Yes, I knew about them," Gracie said, "See, I'm not the only one who kept secrets."
Violet sighed. "Alright," She admitted, "You have a point. But why did you never try to contact me afterwards, when I joined Torchwood?"
"Julia didn't want you guys to know about us," Gracie explained, "Because, you know, of Gray and everything. If I came back from the dead you would have gone running to Jack and it all would've been over like," She snapped her fingers, "That."
"Not nessecairly," Violet replied, "You'd be surprised the secrets I can keep from Jack and the others."
"Like what?" Gracie challenged.
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore, would it?"Violet teased.
Gracie chuckled. "I suppose you're right," She said, "So, forgive me for not letting you know I was alive?"
Violet looked at Gracie fondly, "Only if you forgive me for being such a bitch about it."
"Hey," Gracie said, stroking her friend's arm, "I probably would've done the same thing if I were you. It's forgotten."
"Thanks," Violet said. "Now," She said, standing up, "We probably need to get back to the others before you're missed."
"I think we'd be better off in here," Gracie said, "After the Jerry Springer action Jules just pulled in there."
"What does that mean?" Violet asked.
"You're serious?" Jack asked, back in the center of the Hub, still processing what Julia had just told him, "Grey's the father?"
It was that note that Neal arrived. "Oh," He thought, slumping into the shadows, "So that's what she meant by drop a bombshell."
"Do you really think I would joke about something like this?" Julia replied to Jack's question.
No one responded but their eyes all darted between each other, as they all knew the answer: Julia was as serious as a heart attack.
''How did this happen?" Jack asked, dumb-struck.
"Like I said earlier Gray wasn't in the best shape when I found him," Julia began, "Aside from his near-death experience in the cryo-tank he was traumatized , mad-at-the-world- especially the part that's you- unpredictable lunatic. Even after we came to an understanding it was still-well, you've know."
Jack did know. Gray had spent most of his life being tortured, and now there was practically nothing left of the boy but anger.
"So, I did what I could to help," Julia said, " Kathy had a therapist who owed her a favor, so I called it in. She did this thing where you give someone strong sedatives and have them talk about some traumatizing events that happened to them, until they don't react to them anymore. I gave him other meds for anxiety and sleeping medicine that to this day he still uses. I stayed with him through all of it and told him about what happened to me and Torchwood Four. And he helped me build my team. We got very close, but nothing happened until eight months ago."
"What changed then?" Gwen cut in.
"This new creature came through the Riff, something that looked like a giant flying reptile," Julia began, "It carried me off, Gray rescued me, and killed the thing. He'd always been protective of me, so I guess it was only a matter of time. He wanted to make sure I was okay after wards, and we got to talking about everything that happened and next thing we both knew-" She didn't finish her sentence, but they all could knew what happened next.
"And how long until you got pregnant?" Gwen asked.
"About month or so, I think," Julia said, "I'm six months along now. The baby's due in June."
Jack rubbed his hands through his hair. This changed practically everything.
"What are you going to do with him?" Julia asked, clearly worried.
"Right now I don't know," Jack admitted.
"Jack," Gwen said, "This doesn't change anything-"
Jack laughed bitterly. "Of course it changes things. "
It looked like Gwen was about to speak again, but Rex spoke up to keep a fight from breaking out, saying, "Look, why don't we come back to this later. We still have the other two people of their happy band we don't know about."
Jack paused for a minute then said, "Rex's is right, so, let's move onto the other two, starting with the Spelman girl, since she too rose from the dead."
"That one's actually pretty simple," Julia said, getting herself together again, "A good Samaritan interrupted Michael and Declan, they ran off thinking Gracie was dead anyway, said Samaritan took her to the hospital, we approached her when she checked herself out. We decided it would be best to hand it over to you, you found out about it, stopped it, that was the end of that."
"And the redhead?" Jack asked.
"Nathaniel was my first hire after Gray," Julia continued, "He came through the Riff from Roanoke."
"Ah," Jack said. Gwen was nodding.
"Alright, somebody needs to explain things again," Rex said.
"Roanoke, the colony in Virginia," Jack said, "The one where everyone mysteriously disappeared."
"Oh," Rex said, putting it together, "So they came through Cardiff through the Riff."
"Yeah," Jack confirmed, "But not all at once, in good-sized chunks. It was the weirdest thing. To this day we still get some. So, how did he wind up actually working for you?"
"He volunteered," Julia answered, "And we didn't have any policy for it as the time, there was only me and Gray, and we were still working out-everything. We needed someone to pick up the slack, and that's just what Nathaniel did." It was all quiet for a moment then Julia looked up at Jack and said, "So, now what?"
"I don't know, yet," Jack admitted, "You think I could get a look at your set-up?"
"On one condition," Julia said, "I want to see Gray before we do anything."
"Deal," Jack said, offering a hand to help her up, which she accepted.
When the pair entered the vault, Gray's face fell when he saw Julia. "How did you find out about her?!" He demanded, alarmed.
"I came to him," Julia explained, walking into the vault, up to Grey's cell.
"You shouldn't have done that," Gray said, clearly concerned.
"I had to," Julia said, "I'm not just gonna-leave you in here."
"But they could do anything to you," Gray said, "To the baby."
"They're not monsters," Julia said, "They've actually been pretty reasonable all things considered. We've just got a few...things to work out."
"Hm," Grey muttered, "I take it that means I'm not getting out of here."
"Not just yet," Julia said, "I'm taking Jack over to command central. I wanted to see you first."
"Are the others going with you?" Gray asked, still afraid Julia might be harmed in retribution for his own sins.
"Gracie's dealing with a personal matter right now," Julia replied, "But I can take Nate along if it would make you feel better."
"It would," Gray said.
"We'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" Julia said, sounding like she didn't want to leave.
"Alright," Gray said, "Just be careful."
"Don't worry," Julia said, "I will." She put a hand on the glass. "I love you."
Gray put his hand up on his side of the glass so they met, the fingers of his larger hands rising around hers. "I love you, too," He said tenderly.
Finally, Julia was able to tear herself away and go back to Jack. "Come on," She said, turning back into the strait-faced professional that had came into the Hub, "Let's go."
Julia's command central was all the way on the other side town. It looked nothing like the Torchwood Three Hub. For starters it was an abandoned building. "This is the place?" Jack exclaimed, looking at the decrepit building.
"It was all we could find," Julia said, allowing Nathaniel to help her out of the SUV. They walked up to the front door as Julia pulled a car out of her pocket. She slid it through a card-scanner that looked like it had been welded onto the wall of the building. The door opened and the three walked into a dimly liked room with gray floor and walls. It reminded Jack of what the new Hub looked like before he and River remodeled it. Well, except for the back wall with a metal grid lined with both alien and terresial weapons.
"There's not actually in the main room," Julia said, "Well, expect for-" She gestured over to the wall of weapons, "So, let me so you the rest of it."
They walked down to the end of a hall stopping at two large doors, "This," Julia began, swinging them open, "Is our eviquelent of the vault."
They walked into a room with iron cages lined up with rows, several of them filled.
"Back before the factory closed down it was a storage room." Julia explained, "Lots of room, one way in, one way out, it was the perfect place for storing aliens."
As they walked down the rows the slender arm of a Treygan female grabbed at his shirt. "Hey, man," She said, desperation in her voice and sliver eyes, "You gotta get me out of here. Please, get me out of here!"
As he shook her off and walked past, Jack said, "She could past as human, what's she doing in here?"
"She's too dangerous to be let out," Julia said flatly, "Remember Treygans are born sociopaths. We learned that the hard way when we attempted to integrate our Ms. Serentiee into society. She attacked a woman -completely unprovoked might I add-with an ice pick and the police officer who tried to arrest her. Fortunately neither was killed, but it became obvious that she would have to be contained. And since then she's made two escape attempts one in which she stabbed Nate over there with broken off cage bar she'd sharpened to a point."
"Okay, I get the picture," Jack said, "Though I wouldn't want to be stuck here, either."
"Don't let her shattered-person act fool you, either," Julia said, "Even if the accommodations are a bit grim, we treat them all humanely. Now, I believe, this is the one you were interested in."
They stopped in front of a cage containing the electric controlling creature, still unconscious from the drugs.
"The best we can figure is somehow the cage either got, or was left unlock after the morning feeding," Julia said, "But I was there was there and the cage was locked."
Jack examined the front door of the cage. There was pad locked firmly locked into place. Is this the same cage?" He asked.
"No," Nathaniel cut in, "We put him in a different one, just to be safe."
"Where's the original one?' Jack asked.
"Over here," Julia said, walking two rows down, and stooping at the nearest cage to the door. Jack leaned in, looking at the door. He picked up the pad lock and instantly saw that part of the metal loop was missing. "Here's your problem," Jack said, holding out the broken lock to Julia.
"How'd that happen?"Julia exclaimed, looking at the lock.
"You expect me to know?" Jack replied, "Julia, maybe it would be best if I took these guys off your hands."
"Does that mean you're shutting us down?" Julia asked.
"It means I'm helping you out," Jack said, "I haven't made my decision yet, let me see the rest of the place first."
The next room Julia showed Jack was a lab. The room's walls had been sterilized and lacquered as had the floor. There were tables laddened with test tubes and beakers and all matter of scientific material including if Jack wasn't mistaken a genomic sequencer. "I gotta say," Jack said, picking taping the sequencer, "This is a little more impressive than the last place you showed me."
"Well, science is my specialty," Julia said.
"I remember," Jack said, recalling the time Torchwoods three and four met up, Julia in their number, "You were barely thirteen and you could work our new computer system better than I could. Better than anyone could."
"That was a long time ago," Julia said.
"How old are you now, anyway?" Jack asked.
"Twenty-two," Julia answered.
"Wow," Jack said, walking around the room, "That's ..a...young...to..."
"Young to have a child?" Julia finished for him.
"Well...um..yeah," Jack said.
"I know we're getting into a lot, Captain," Julia acknowledged, "Me and Gray. But we've prepared. "
"You sure about that?" Jack asked.
Julia pursed her lips. "Come," She said at last, "There's something I want you to see."
Julia lead Jack to the second story of the factory, into what looked like a bed room. "This is where me and Gray sleep." She explained.
"I thought you said you weren't involved with Gray until eight months ago," Jack said, walking into the room.
"We weren't, but afterwards it made since to share a room," Julia said.
In the center of the room was a queen-sized bed, covered in a white comforter with matching pillows. On the left was a polished, ancient looking bureau with hissing dragons painted on the drawers. But on the left was basically a small nursery. There was a white crib with an old snow-white lamp clamed to the side. Adjacent from the was changing table with a wash basin on top. On the bottom part was a pink dipper bag.
"See, Captain," Julia said, "Me and Gray and ready to be parents."
It still disturbed to hear his unstable little brother and the term "to be parents," and the same sentence. It was one of things that worried him most about this situation. "Listen, Julia," Jack said, turning around to look at her again, "I know you say, Gray's under control, but are you sure your want him around an infant? I mean, if he were to relapse..."
"He won't ." Julia said firmly.
"How can you be sure of that?" Jack demanded, "What he went through isn't something you just-get over-"
"You think I don't know that?!" Julia snapped back, "You think he still doesn't have some flashbacks, you think he still doesn't wake up streaming in the middle of the night?! You think he doesn't ever get violent?!"
"Julia," Jack began, gently, "Is Gary...violent with you? Has he hurt you?"
"No!" Julia exclaimed, "He's never laid a hand on me. He's hurt a couple of people who tried to hurt me, but like I said, he's always been protective. He loves me, and he loves our baby and he hasn't even met her yet."
Jack paused for second then for some reason what came out was :"It's a girl?"
"Yes," Julia said, suddenly beaming, as if the thought of her child made everything better, "We're going to name it Katherine. You know, after Kathy."
"I actually think she'd like that," Jack said, remember the day Katherine, "Kathy," Fitzgerald, the bold brazen, fearless, crazy, leader of Torchwood Four barged into the Hub, declaring their cases had crossed, her entire team in tow, including Julia.
"What's this?" He had asked when he spotted the thirteen-year-old that looked more like a ten-year-old at time, hiding between Mike and Able, "Take your daughter to work day?"
"This," Kathy said, her brunette ponytail moving with her head, as she directed towards the young girl, "Is Julia Romano, a science prodigy we hired last year."
"She's a child!" Alex, the leader of Torchwood Three at the time, exclaimed, "Does Torchwood One know about this?"
"Since when do we answer to one another?" Kathy replied, "And you're one to talk, remember Hannah?"
"That was different," Alex protested, "Hannah was older."
"She was fourteen," Kathy pointed out, "Not older by much."
Jack noticed Julia scanning the group with her eyes, searching for this mysterious girl.
"You won't find her," Jack said, "Hannah was a member of the team many years ago, but she's...she's gone now."
"Oh," She said, pulling deeper into her side of the group.
"Jack," Julia's adult voice broke through his remembrance, snapping him back to the here-and-now, "You with me?"
"Yeah," Jack said quickly, "Just remembering the first time I saw you."
Julia smiled wryly at the memory. "I thought your team leader was going to hit the ceiling when he saw me. "
"I thought Alex was going to hit the ceiling when he saw you," Jack replied, "And when he asked about your parents-"
"He couldn't believe my mom would just sign over parental rights like that," Julia said, without self-pity or anger at the mother who wasn't a real mother.
Suddenly Julia and Gray made sense to Jack. They were two broken people clinging onto each other for dear life.
"We're gonna try to do better," Julia said, placing a hand on her swollen stomach. Getting her bearings she said, "Now. We've been here long enough's, there's more places to see."
"Lead the way," Jack said, gesturing out the door.
Meanwhile, back at the Hub, everyone was standing around awkwardly, wondering what to do next. "Hey," Violet spoke up, "where did Rex get off to?"
"I think he went to call Alex," Neal whispered to her, "She's at his place and we could be here a while."
"Gee, ya, think, Captain Obvious?!" Gracie snapped at him, then turning back to Violet said, "And you're dating this guy? What do you see in him?"
"Be fair," Violet said, "You've only known him for five minutes. "
"Alright," Gracie said, "But what happened to your whole no really older guys rule?"
"Wouldn't be the first time I broke it," Violet said, "Both David and Michael were older than me."
"But they were only older than you by a little bit," Gracie insisted, "You're really breaking your rule with this one."
"Is this really the time and place for this conversation?" Neal snapped.
Just then, unexpectedly, Gwen burst out, "I can't do this. I can't I just-I can't."
"You wanna be more specific, Gwen?" Rex asked, returning from his phone call.
"This!" Gwen said, "Just waiting for word from Jack while we got a killer locked up in the vault!"
"He's not going anywhere," Martha said, trying to calm Gwen down.
"That's the point!" Gwen snapped, starting to pace the floor, "He's murderer and the fact that he's been working with another team and having a baby doesn't change anything! In fact, don't you think the kid might be better off without him?! I mean, I don't know what Jack's thinking."
Martha opened her mouth to speak but Gwen, unaware continued her tirade.
"Yes, I do," Gwen said, "He's walking around with blinders on because it's his brother and he can't stop feeling guilty for not keeping a hold of his hand when they were children! But you know what? I'm not!" And with the Gwen stormed off, presumably to the vault with the remaining members of the team, plus Gracie, quickly giving chase.
"Gwen, what are you doing?" Rex said, leading the pack.
"What I should have done in the first place," Gwen said, taking out her gun, and the whole group heard the click of the magazine.
It was now Neal's turn to try to talk some sense into Gwen, as he forced his way to the head of the crowd, to stand in front of her. "Gwen," He said, "You don't want to do that. If you kill him right now, you'll be just as bad as he is."
"Oh, don't be an idiot," Gwen said, pushing Neal out of the way, "I'm gonna put him into cyro storage like we planned. I'm only gonna shoot him if he makes me." Even in her rage Gwen knew enough not to say it out loud, but she actually hopped Gray would pull some stunt that forced her to kill him.
Gracie stepped forward from the crowd. "I can't let you do that."
"And how are you going to stop me?" Gwen scoffed.
Gracie pulled a gun from her jacket, and pointed right at Gwen.
Instantly, the others pulled out their side arms and trained them on Gracie.
They were right outside the vault at that point, so while Gray couldn't really see what was going on, but could hear the commotion outside. "Hey!" He shouted, "Hey, what's going on out there?!"
"Gracie," Violet pleaded, "Don't..."
"I'm sorry, Violet," Gracie said, "But I can't let her put Gray back under. What would you do if it was one of these guys?"
"Gracie?!" Gray exclaimed, "Gracie, what are you doing?! Look, don't do anything stupid."
"Listen to him Gracie," Rex urged, "You're outmanned and out gunned."
Gracie's eyes darted between the people training their guns on her. She knew Rex was right, but she couldn't turn back now. Then she saw the controls for the vault's cells. Before anyone could stop her she bolted over to them and started pressing them in bunches.
"No!" Gwen shouted, firing her gun, hitting Gracie in the hand, and in the shoulder.
She collapsed to the ground, grabbing at her injured shoulder.
"Gracie!" Violet cried out in horror, as she started to run to her friend, but Neal grabbed her hand.
"Violet, don't," He began, worried that Gracie might not be ready to give up despite her injuries and was desperate enough to take even her best friend hostage.
"Get off of me," Violet seethed and wrenched herself free of Neal's grasp. She rushed over to Gracie, leaning down beside her. "It's okay," She said, helping the injured girl upright, "It's okay, I got you."
"You're too late," Gracie said weakly, "I opened practically all of them. One of them had to be Gray's."
They all turned towards the vault, and realized she was right. Standing there, just outside of the open cell, was Gray.
Along with dozen of free Weevils.
