Torchwood with Rose
Everything Changes
Chapter One
Sometimes Rose Tyler loved Wales – specifically Cardiff -, but there were plenty of other times that she didn't. Cardiff was the capital city of Wales and was the largest population wise. It's famously known as the City of Arcades with over one hundred different shops and cafes. Only ten percent of the population actually spoke Welsh.
Cardiff was also host to the Rift. The Rift was a time rift, like a wormhole in space that occasionally spat out aliens from other planets and other sorts of anomalies. Rose just happened to be one of those anomalies. Coming here was not part of her plan, but she was grateful that she had. She ended up running into her old friend Captain Jack Harkness, who she travelled alongside the Doctor with a lifetime ago. That's what it felt like, considering what the two of them had endured. Jack took her in, the two of them now working for Torchwood, located underground beside the Rift.
That was two years ago.
Rose liked working with Jack, in fact, she loved it. It was nice being with somebody who actually understood her and her "condition". She also loved working alongside his team, well, Owen was debatable. Half of the time she saw him as an arrogant sod and had called him that on more than one occasion. As well as other names.
One thing that Rose did not like however, was the weather. Ninety percent of the time it was raining in Cardiff. Whenever they were on a case or a mission, every time it rained. Tonight, was no different. It was a Friday evening, and if there was any hope of having a quiet weekend, that was not going to happen. Suzie – the second in command – was desperate to try out this glove she was working on, but she needed a dead body to use it properly.
"Do we really have to do this?" Rose asked from the passenger's seat of the SUV, with Jack driving. "We're only doin' this so Suzie can use tha' bloody glove."
"Excuse me, Rose, but this is very important research." Suzie said loftily from behind Jack, with Owen in the middle and Toshiko on the other side. The other two clearly uncomfortable with the tension. "Think of what we could do with this sort of information. I'm surprised you actually came out of your cave."
It was also a well-known fact amongst the team, that Rose and Suzie didn't particularly get along, their individual friendship with Jack getting in the way.
"Go back to your science lab, Suzie." Rose snapped, wanting to be anywhere but here.
"That's enough, ladies." Jack cut in firmly, not wanting an argument or fight to break out whilst he was driving. "Put the claws away." He turned to Rose, smirking as she huffed a breath like a child throwing a tantrum, folding her arms across her chest. "You needed to get out for a bit. You were cooped up in the Hub for too long."
"I was fine." Rose insisted. "I like it in the Hub."
"You were going stir crazy." Jack reminded her. "I've seen the signs. You were getting fidgety; the final straw was when you broke Ianto's coffee machine and the only way of soothing him was by buying him an espresso machine."
"Tha' was an accident." Rose pressed, still embarrassed by that situation. Ianto had refused to talk to her for several days afterwards.
"It still happened, though. Let Suzie do what she needs to do, and we'll get back to the Hub. This won't take long." Jack reached over and squeezed Rose's knee in comfort as he pulled up to the crime scene, where the police were clearing up and making space.
"Alrigh', fine." She grumbled, getting out of the car, and zipping up her jacket, pulling up her hood and moaning about the rain.
The team approached the crime scene where the body lay prone on the ground. A young man, around twenty, maybe older?
"What's the report?" Jack asked of Rose, whose job at the Hub was to keep up to date with what was going on in the city.
"John Tucker, twenty-five years old. Lived with his mother in the city centre. The police reports of one stab wound to the back. He wouldn't have seen his attacker." Rose relayed, reading off her little handheld device.
Jack was rambling to the others, and mostly himself, about getting pregnant and how he'd never do it again. Rose was ignoring him, watching Suzie and the others assembling themselves around the body, wanting nothing more than to be in her own space in the Hub where she felt safe.
"How's it going?" Jack asked, standing beside Rose.
Suzie shook her head, disappointed as the glove slipped onto her hand. "Nothing yet," she said. "It's got to connect; I've got to feel it."
"Then hurry up and feel it," Owen groused, also not a fan of the rain. "I'm freezing my arse off out here!"
"I can't just flip a switch." Suzie protested, annoyed that the others didn't understand her fascination with the glove. "It more like access, it grants me access."
"Whatever tha' means." Rose muttered under her breath, raising a disbelieving eyebrow when Suzie shot her a glare.
"If you lot paid attention more, it – it –" she cut off as the glove suddenly sparked to life. "Oh, oh, oh!"
"Positions." Jack called, waiting until Owen turned on the video camera.
"If I get punched again, I'm punching him right back." Owen declared, having not forgotten the last time they did this.
"Last time you deserved it." Toshiko – preferably known as Tosh – recanted.
"Just concentrate, Suzie." Jack told her, ignoring the other two bickering.
Suzie nodded and placed her gloved hand under John Tucker's head, the rain instantly stopping and the lights by the body glowing brighter.
John Tucker gasped as he was brought back to life, looking around in shock. "There was, I was, I was … Oh my God, what's going on?"
Tosh knelt down, coming into John's view. "Listen to me. We've only got about two minutes, so it's important that you listen ok?"
"Who are you?"
"Trust me. You're dead."
"How am I dead?"
"You were stabbed." Owen clarified.
"But I'm not dead, I can see you."
"We've brought you back, but we haven't got much time." Tosh pressed. "I'm sorry, but you've got to concentrate. Who did this to you? Who attacked you?"
After a lot of unnecessary back and forth, Suzie cut in, aware of how much time they had left. "Sixty seconds." She reminded Tosh.
"You've got to think," Tosh insisted. "Just focus on me. What was the last thing you saw?"
Jack and Rose looked at one another, clearly irritated that this situation was not going as planned.
"Thirty seconds." Suzie cut in after some more useless dialogue.
"But he didn't see anything." Tosh protested at a loss as to what to do.
"Don't waste it." Suzie implored.
Tosh shook her head, flustered. "What else do I say?"
Before Rose could react, Jack had nudged her forwards, nodding at John. "Wha' do you expect me to do?"
"Talk to him."
Rose was stumped. She didn't normally get involved with whatever the team were focusing on, and now Jack was thrusting her into the centre of it. She wanted to help the team out when she could, but this was not how she imagined it.
Suzie was surprised when Rose gently nudged Tosh out of the way and focused on John.
"Wha's your name?" Rose asked gently, although she already knew this information.
"John. John Tucker."
"Ok John, not long now."
"Who are you?"
"Rose Tyler. Tell me, wha' was it like when you died?" Rose asked him. "Wha' did you see?" John didn't respond. "Tell me wha' you saw, John."
John shook his head. "Nothing … I saw nothing … Oh my god, there's nothing."
John stopped breathing, his head falling back into Suzie's hand, dead once more. The rain came back with a vengeance, falling heavily on them.
"Shit!" Suzie cursed, lowering John's head to the ground, and removing the glove.
"I said it was stupid, telling him he was dead." Owen said, getting to his feet.
"Well, you try it." Tosh bickered, a regular occurrence with her and Owen.
"Trust me, like that's going to work." The two continued to argue as they took the equipment back to the SUV.
"We told the last corpse that he was injured, and he wasted the whole time screaming for an ambulance. Maybe there's no right way of doing it." Jack looked up to the parking lot, locking his eyes onto the police officer that had been watching the entire time. "What do you think?"
Rose followed Jack's sight in time to see the police officer ducking back into the carpark, terrified that she'd been caught. "Should we be worried?"
Jack shook his head confidently. "Nah, I don't think so."
"But she could've seen everythin'!" Rose protested. "Wha' if she starts tellin' people wha' she saw?"
"Then they'll probably lock her away and throw away the key." Jack reassured her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "It'll be fine, stop worrying. Why don't we go and get a coffee and some chips and go back to the Hub?"
Rose couldn't help but smile. Jack always knew how to make her feel better. "Yea', tha' sounds like a good idea."