TITLE: To Separate The Lies From Truth
PART THREE OF SERIES: The Five Elements (AU Verse)
CHAPTER SUMMARY: Gwen's introduction to the Hub
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Torchwood or Doctor Who which is unlucky because Jack and Ianto deserve so much more!
WORDS: 2000
NOTES: Not much of a plot today, I'm afraid. This was going to be at the start of next chapter, but it got too long in the end, so I split it. Some lines taken from Torchwood Episode Everything Changes.
Chapter 4: Wild Hearts (2006)
23rd October 2006
Ianto ran down the alley of a well-known Weevil hotspot – the side of an upcoming building complex. The building works had been going on and off for years now due to budget cuts, and the construction noises often brought rogue Weevils to the surface. Even in broad daylight it seemed, Ianto thought. Weevils were meticulously nocturnal, not being fond of sunlight, but apparently the one they were currently following didn't care.
Jack was out in front of him, while Tosh and Owen had gone around, hoping to box it in by approaching from the opposite direction. The weevil turned down a side-street, disappearing out of sight and they slowed as they approached the corner themselves, ready for if it chose to jump them. However, a high-pitched scream of fear and pain from down the street spurred them faster again.
Turning the corner, the weevil had vanished, but the source of the scream caused Ianto's heartrate to rocket. Sprawled on the ground a few feet away was a young girl who Ianto presumed could be no older than 7, with a large gash bleeding vigorously on her side.
Jack raced over, pressing his hands down immediately on the wound. The girl didn't move an inch, but Ianto was in fact relieved that she appeared unconscious as it meant she was no longer feeling the pain, that he'd felt himself when the scream had rung through the air.
Ianto had just pressed his comm to call for Owen, when said medic appeared alongside Tosh in front of them, skidding to his knees beside the young girl and pulling his emergency kit from his pocket.
"Is she okay?" Tosh asked, peering down worriedly.
"I'm not a bloody paediatrician." Owen objected. Jack lifted his own hands from the wound to allow Owen to press a sterile compress to the girl's side. "She needs a hospital."
"The closest hospital's just northbound from here." Ianto recalled. "Less than 5 mins by car."
"Can she be moved?" Jack looked thoughtful over his concern and at Owen's nod, he straightened assertively and tossed the keys towards Ianto. "Bring the SVU closer. We'll take her ourselves; it'll be quicker than an ambulance." Ianto was already racing back the way they'd come when Jack called back out. "And be careful, that Weevil could still be around."
Ianto managed to reach the SUV in a matter of minutes. He was restricted of speed due to the narrow widths of the streets and alleys, but he accelerated as much as he could.
They arrived at the hospital in record time, handing the young girl carefully over to the doctors and nurses in the emergency room. Thankfully, now with the prospect of a transfusion, it appeared as if the wound had looked a lot worse than it actually was, but before the team could breathe a sigh of relief that they'd made it in time, a loud beeping distracted them.
"Weevil Alert…" Tosh announced, pulling her PDA from her pocket. "Hang on…it's here, at the hospital."
"Okay, what's the chance it bloody followed us from that alley." Owen speculated.
"Normally I'd say not many…" Jack returned. He pulled the few remaining cans of weevil spray from his greatcoat pocket, and passed them around. "…but given the circumstances and what they say about coincidences…"
Ianto followed the rest of the team as they raced out of the emergency room, up the stairs and down the many identical corridors of the hospital, following the signal on Tosh's device. In the bustle of the public hospital, he didn't notice the unconcealed interest that leaked through his shields, or that it came from the intrigued policewoman shadowing them at a slower pace.
~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~
"Seems the weevil's not the only tail we're going to have today."
Owen's voice broke through the solemn atmosphere in the vehicle. The death of the porter at the hospital could have easily been avoided if they'd been a few seconds quicker, and nothing could have disheartened the mood more, especially after one bystander had been injured already that day. Ianto turned to glance out the rear window at Owen's words, easily spotting the police car that was subtly trying to follow them from a few cars back.
"I thought I recognised her. It was that policewoman." Owen realised. "The one spying on us that time. When was it, again?"
"Early January." Ianto supplied. "PC Gwen Cooper." When he saw the others staring, he shrugged. "I looked her up at the time. Just in case."
"Sometimes your memory freaks me out." Owen declared in response. "Bloody useful that would have been in school. Could have aced my exams."
Ianto couldn't answer. He guessed it would have been useful had he actually had had the chance to finish school, but Owen didn't know that. He felt the warm brush of Jack's presence push against his shields and turned to see him smiling warmly. He pushed back his thanks and assurance, hoping Jack's own lesser abilities picked it up.
Jack didn't add anything verbally to the conversation, however, and only sped up the SUV in response, hoping to lose their tail.
Back at the Hub, Ianto headed straight to prepare lunch. Despite it being mid-afternoon, the hunt and subsequent trip to the hospital had meant no-one had yet eaten. Delivering the food one by one, something caught his eye on the external cameras, and he sighed internally.
"Ianto! Just the man I wanted to see." Jack exclaimed as he entered his office. "Have you seen where Suzie's got to? I haven't seen her today."
"She's not come in yet today as far as I know." Ianto replied, setting the plate and coffee onto Jack's desk. "However, you might want to check the external cameras." Ianto suggested. "It appears our attempts to lose our tail from the hospital were unsuccessful."
"You're kidding?" Jack asked disbelievingly, using his remote to flick on the monitor in his office and switch over to the correct view.
"Afraid not." Ianto confirmed, as Jack finally spotted Gwen hovering in front of the Water Tower. "Shall I prepare some retcon?"
"No, not right now. Leave her." Jack ordered, still looking at the screen. "She got this far; I want to see how much further she takes this."
"You just want a chance to show off." Ianto replied, interpretating the emotions he could read from Jack when he lowered his shields slightly.
"Why not?" Jack replied, leaning back in his desk chair playfully. "The team needs a boost after this morning and what's the point of a secret organisation if you can't show off to a nosy policewoman every now and then."
Ianto sighed, used to Jack's flamboyant behaviour. "I'll go open the tourist office then."
It wasn't that long of a wait overall. He past the time updating the records on the digital archives but at half eight that evening, the tourist door finally swung open. Gwen entered, armed with two pizzas and the delivery address written on a post-it-note. He made a mental note to maim Owen after this as he stepped through the beaded curtains that separated the side room from the main.
"Oh, hiya. Sorry I'm late. Someone ordered pizza…"
"Who's it for?" Ianto asked, keeping in character.
"I think it's a Mister Harkness."
'Oh!' Ianto felt Jack would enjoy this one. Hopefully, it would quell his mischievous nature for at least a little while. The outside door slammed shut as he pressed the hidden button that swung open the entrance in the wall.
"Don't keep them waiting." Ianto added with a smile. Okay, maybe he would enjoy this as well.
~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~
The alarm signifying the cog door opening was Jack's cue to begin, as he walked along the upper catwalk before descending down the spiral stairs to the main hub, the atmosphere eerily quiet and intense compared to the usual. The contrast only made it harder for Jack to keep his expression serious as he passed Owen and Tosh on his way to his office, both seemingly engrossed in multiple computer screens and files. He'd only just sat down at his desk however, when Tosh and Owen's stifled laughs broke through the silence.
"I can't do this. I'm sorry. I'm rubbish. I give up." Owen declared, spinning around in his chair.
"He set me off." Tosh blamed through her laughs.
"Well, that lasted 0.2 seconds." Jack complained, he still hadn't come up with the punchline of his joke.
"Hmm. She's actually carrying pizza." Owen surmised, his expression becoming the slightest bit guilty. "I thought you were kidding when you said that."
"Come on. She was gonna say here's your pizza, and I was going to say, how much? And she says, oh, whatever, twenty quid, and I say, ooh, I don't have any money." Jack joked, leaving his office. "I was working on a punchline. I'd have got there. But it would've been good.
Gwen suddenly looked completely out of her depth. "There's your pizza. I think I'd better go."
"I think we've gone past that stage." Jack returned, rather shortly.
"You must've been freezing out there." Ianto added, having followed Gwen down once the lift had returned to the top. "How long were you walking around? Three hours?"
"You could see me?"
Jack nodded, simultaneously reading the label stuck on the pizza box. "And before we go any further, who the hell orders pizza under the name of Torchwood?" He asked, staring directly at Owen as he spoke.
"Er yeah, that'd be me. I'm sorry. I'm a twat." Jack laughed as Owen shrugged indifferently at his confession.
"That man at the hospital, that porter, what happened to him?" Gwen asked, either not noticing Owen's quip or too distracted to comment, but her question refocused his attention on the events of earlier that morning. "That was real, wasn't it? He was attacked."
"He's dead." Jack confirmed.
"But there's no one gone missing."
"We took the body, retrospectively changed the work rota, planted a false witness who saw him leaving the hospital, giving him an alibi for the next forty-eight hours, so when his body is pulled out of the docks next Tuesday night, he's only been missing for three days."
"He was murdered." Tosh nodded the affirmative and Gwen continued. "And you covered it up."
"That's my job." She answered simply, turning back to her program and Jack grinned. He would have to ask Ianto whether he could give Tosh a pay raise for her performance. Covering up after the unfortunate death of a civilian was thankfully rare, but was everyone's worst and most dreaded job, yet Tosh had made it sound as if it was simple routine.
"Who are you?"
Gwen's panicked tone pulled him back into focus and he replied. "Torchwood."
"What happens to me? I'm Police. You can't do anything."
Jack watched Gwen glance around the Hub with a mix of awe and fear for a little longer before deciding it was time to up the ante. "Right then, PC Cooper." Jack started, stressing each letter separately. "Do you want to come see?"
"See what?"
"You saw the murder. Come and see the murderer." Jack set off for the vaults, but stopped when he realised he'd lost his shadow. "Are you coming?"
~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~
It was late evening when Ianto heard the key turn in his flat door. Jack had left with Gwen for the Pub armed with retcon a few hours before and he had expected him to swing by. At least after checking for him first at the Hub.
"Done showing off?" Ianto asked tersely from the sofa as Jack arrived in his living room.
"Okay. Okay." Jack said, raising his hands in surrender. "I might have gotten a little carried away, but…"
Ianto rolled his eyes. "But nothing. You've had something like that planned for ages, haven't you? And 'Look's good in a suit', seriously?" Ianto jibed. "You couldn't have come up with something innovative?"
"You can talk." Jack returned. "Harassment again, is it? Do I need to be worried?"
"As you've said before." Ianto started, reaching out to pull Jack down onto him. "It not harassment if I enjoy it."
"Then why don't you remind me what you enjoy the most?" Jack replied, his mind dripping with desire that only increased his own as their lips met.
Notes: Hope you enjoyed my view of how Gwen was allowed to get into the Hub. Please Review with your thoughts.
Next up: Why wasn't Suzie there? Was she gearing up for this next chapter? No spoilers other than chapter is set the day after this one, and is called: "Playing with Fire."