AN: I know I said Ianto was up next, but Gwen shoved her way in first demanding to be allowed to speak after Jack silenced her :( The end of this chapter lines up timeline wise with the end of chapter 2 of Festers Fun for those trying to work out my wacky timeline.
Gwen Cooper was fuming, she couldn't believe the audacity of Jack or her underlings at work. Jack should have been comforting her after her harrowing experience in Scotland, dealing with the uncultured and unintelligent man that was running Torchwood Two. Gwen didn't know what it was about all these relatives of Rhys' that kept popping out of the woodwork, but they all seemed to be up to something and she wasn't going to allow them free rein. She had been positive that Jack would have been on her side with this, helping her to figure out exactly what they were up to, but he had been completely dismissive of her. He hadn't allowed her to speak, instead he had silenced her and turned her over to Ianto of all people for training.
She just couldn't believe it, they expected Ianto to train her, the tea boy, train her to be a proper Torchwood agent. All Ianto could train her on would be paperwork really, it wasn't as if he went into the field much and he had no idea about any alien tech or actual aliens spending all his time in the archives or the tourist office. Really he was just a glorified butler who needed to learn his place, it was his job to do her paperwork for her anyway so why should she learn how to fill in all the stupid forms he requested of her.
Rhys wasn't home when she got in and there was no dinner waiting for her so she ordered food online as she was unable to speak on the phone with her favourite takeaway. She was still angry when the food arrived and she practically grabbed it from the delivery boy before slamming the door in his face. She devoured the pizza, it felt like she hadn't actually eaten properly in days with all her travelling and the torturous training up in Scotland before heading for bed to consider what she needed to do to remove the hold Rhys' family seemed to have on her team.
She knew that Ianto had to be involved some way, he was the only one that really had access to them all the time after all. Just before she drifted off to sleep she realised that it must be the coffee, after all he was supplying them regularly with their beverage of choice, he had plenty opportunities to drug them daily.
When Gwen awoke the next morning a plan was already forming in her head, if the coffee machine was broken Ianto would be unable to make them coffee and wouldn't be able to drug them anymore. The team may be a little caffeine deprived or have to make a few more trips to Starbucks in the rain, but they would thank her when they were free of Ianto and his families' control. With that in mind Gwen rushed through her preparations for the day, trying not to wake Rhys who was sound asleep on his side of the bed. She rushed out of the flat and drove to the hub, breaking the speed limit in an attempt to get in before Ianto did. She parked on the Plass as she usually did and made her way down into the hub.
She couldn't see anyone else around so she made her way into the small kitchenette and stared at the coffee machine for a good few minutes trying to figure out the best way to put her plan into action. Not knowing much about the way the machine worked she resorted in the end to breaking several different parts of it off hoping that it wouldn't work without them.
By the time Ianto and Jack appeared, apparently they had been down in Jack's bunk, Gwen appeared to be hard at work at her desk reading one of the thick manuals that Ianto had left there. Gwen had decided that until the hold Ianto had on Jack and the others was dispelled she would have to pretend to go along with the training with Ianto. The manual she was reading was dry and boring, it had taken her a good while just to get though the introduction and the thick tome didn't look like it would be getting any more interesting the further she went in. She didn't really understand why she had to read about ancient protocols from when the Institute was founded, it wasn't as if they would still be relevant.
She had mulishly said as much to Ianto on the way down to the firing range, who had informed her bitingly that every protocol in the manual he had given her was relevant and enforceable today still. Gwen must have looked a bit like a guppy as she stared at him, surely Torchwood, an agency dealing with aliens and time travel would have advanced since the Victorian times. What she didn't seem to realise was that the Torchwood Institute had always been more advanced than the rest of society so their protocols had been more advanced than other institutions of the time.
Putting the book out of her mind Gwen focused on her firearms recertification, there was no way that she was going to allow herself to be unarmed, she needed her weapon to protect herself from Ianto and his schemes if necessary. She passed thankfully, although Ianto hadn't been impressed, telling her that she had passed barely and that he expected her to put in more effort and practice in future.
Gwen had to bite her lip as she stormed back up to her desk, she really wanted to give her fellow countryman a piece of her mind, but she knew that it was unsafe to do so while the rest of her team were still under his thrall. Instead she settled in for a boring day reading the Torchwood Protocols, Ianto having already informed her that they would start her training properly the next day once she was further through the manuals.
At least her scheme with the coffee machine had worked, Ianto had seemed genuinely angry at the fact that the machine was not working, solidifying Gwen's theory in her mind that he was definitely up to no good. Tempers had started to fray later in the day as the caffeine deprivation started to kick in and Toshiko had made a hasty exit returning with coffee for them all. Ianto still seemed to be in a strop about the coffee machine when she left that evening and she had a bit of a spring in her step as she made her way to her car. She wasn't even that put out to find her husband's cousin sat in her flat when she got in, at least they were doing something normal like watching the rugby. She had decided that the easiest way to suffer his presence was to get drunk, between Pugsley being in her home and a day of struggling through dry as dirt books she deserved a drink.
