Torchwood with Rose

Everything Changes

Chapter Three

A few days had passed since the Torchwood team had encountered PC Gwen Cooper, and now that she'd been Retconned, they could all continue on as normal. Rose had taken Suzie's wise words into consideration, and when she was alone – which was rare in the Hub -, she would scroll through estate agents websites, looking for apartments that were available. She wasn't worried about the financial aspect, as Torchwood – specifically Jack – paid her a substantial amount of money. She remembered her jaw dropping when she received her first cheque from him.

"You can't really put a price tag on saving the world." He'd said to her.

On top of her regular archiving duties, Rose would look on various sites, making some notes. Maybe Jack would come with her to look at some of them. She knew it would be a big step, living on her own, and it would come with a lot of responsibilities, but Rose was determined to give it a try. It was time to move on.

That evening, Rose had just finished cataloguing some random equipment with no name, when Suzie approached her, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Can I help you?" Rose wondered, why she was acting strange.

"Can you come with me?" Suzie asked, practically pleading. "I bought myself some furniture that I need to build, but it would be easier to make with two pairs of hands instead of one." She paused, seeing no enthusiasm from Rose. "And I also want a girly evening so we can get drunk and bitch about how unfair life is and Owen."

"Wait, so you're tellin' me tha' you want to build some furniture, but then get drunk an' bitch about life an' Owen?" At first, Rose's immediate reaction was to say no, but then she hesitated. "Let me go an' tell Jack first, then I'll get my coat, ok?"

Suzie shook her head. "You don't need to do that, I already did. I suggested the idea to him, and he was all for it. He wants you to have a good time."

"Really?" Rose was doubtful, even glancing over her shoulder to look at Jack in his office, but Jack was too engaged in a conversation with Ianto at the time to notice. "Alrigh', then." She logged off the computer, making sure to switch it off when she grabbed her coat. "You don't really want to build furniture, do you?" She asked teasingly, knowing Suzie a little too well.

Suzie just smiled, knowing she'd been caught out. "I needed a reasonable excuse to get you to come with me." She admitted, leading Rose out of the safety of the Hub. "Let's go to the shops first, I want to get some decent wine for a change."

Suzie's apartment was surprisingly modern and was decorated with a slight boho twist. There was a multicoloured rug that lay between the fireplace and the sofa, that made Rose dizzy if she looked at it too long.

Rose was tempted to text Jack, at least to let him know where she was, but she decided against it. If Suzie had already told him, then there was no point in her doing the same. Was there?

"There we go." Suzie returned to the sofa, carrying a glass of red wine for her and a glass of white for Rose. "Bottoms up, it's been one hell of a day." She groaned, dropping down onto the sofa next to Rose, sighing as she drank a mouthful of wine.

Rose decided to drink slowly, not too eager to get drunk, like Suzie seemed to. "So …" she began awkwardly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You wanted to talk about things. Mostly Owen, by the sounds of it."

Suzie threw her head back dramatically on the sofa, groaning. "Ugh, bloody Owen Harper. We love him and we hate him at the same time, don't we? It's like, Torchwood wouldn't be Torchwood without him. With all of his bullshit aside, what do you think of him, really?"

Rose blushed, drinking some more of her wine, and settling on the sofa, tucking her legs under her knees. "I mean … he is kind of cute, I guess." She admitted. "I never thought he'd be my type, but I'd be lyin' if I said he wasn't."

"What do you like about him though, specifically?"

"His sense of humour I suppose even though he can be annoyingly sarcastic. Why are you askin' all these questions about him?"

"You know Tosh has a crush on him, right?"

"Wha', really? Since when?"

"Are you kidding me? She's been head over heels for him ever since they started working together!" Suzie informed her, shocked that Rose didn't know. "Bless her, Tosh has been dropping not so subtle hints, but Owen's either oblivious or he's purposefully not paying attention."

"Poor Tosh."

"If you want some tips on winning him over, then I've got the information you'd need. We had a bit of a fling before you arrived, but it was more like a 'friends with benefits' situation. Just a bit of fun to fill in the time at work. But to win him over, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and Owen loves his food. He particularly loves steak with potatoes – which is honestly such a typical man food, isn't it? -, oh, and anything Italian."

Rose nodded, making a mental note in case anything did progress. "Noted, I think. An' thank you, for this, an' tonight. I know we haven't always got on, but it's been nice. We should do this more often."

"That's not going to happen."

Rose frowned, drinking the rest of her wine, and placing the glass on the coffee table. "Why not?"

"After this evening, you won't be seeing me again."

"Are you goin' somewhere?"

"I might as well tell you since you're not going to remember this, anyway." Suzie sighed, placing her own glass beside Rose's.

It took Rose a few seconds to catch on, and she glanced at Suzie, horrified. "Suzie, what've you done?"

"I laced your drink with a dash of Retcon and some arsenic, I placed the Retcon in there in case you happen to survive the poisoning. I doubt it though since Jack doesn't know where you are."

"Why?" Rose whispered, already feeling the effects as her vision began to blur. "Why are you doin' this?"

Suzie stood up calmly from the sofa, turning to watch Rose, as if she was enjoying the scene. "Because I wanted to, because I can. Think about it, Rose. Haven't you worked it out in that stupid blonde head of yours, yet? When we went out using the glove, we needed dead bodies, didn't we? How did we get those dead bodies? Me, obviously! I killed them all, with that bloody knife – no pun intended -. It was me the entire time! The more I used the glove, the more I could control it. It gave me power. Once you've had that sort of power, there's no going back."

Rose was speechless. Literally. She couldn't believe what was happening. Suzie had tricked her. She'd lured her into a false sense of security, and this reminded Rose why she struggled to trust people. Whatever Suzie had put in her drink was taking effect rapidly, her vision was blurry, and now her limbs were growing heavy and stiff. She could barely move, slouched against the sofa. With the strength she had left, Rose reached into her pocket to pull out her phone.

She had to tell Jack.

Before Rose could call him however, Suzie snatched the phone out of her hands, throwing it on the floor and crushing it with her heel.

"There's no need for that." Suzie said with a sinister smile, kneeling in front of her by the sofa. "By the time Jack finds out where you are, there's a strong possibility that you'll be dead. It's a shame really, we could've been friends had you not tried to take Jack away from me. Before you came along, we were close, Jack and me. In fact, I'd say we were closer than close. Then you came into the picture, and he seemed to forget that I existed. It's not a nice feeling, that, being ignored. Don't worry though, I'm sure Jack will forget about you and move on when he realises that you're dead. I'd give you about …" Suzie paused to look at her watch. "Half an hour or less before you breathe your last breath. I hope it's painful, it's the least you deserve after what you did to me. See you in hell, as Jack would often say."

With that, Suzie picked up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder before leaving the apartment, leaving Rose alone and locking the door behind her. Rose was sweating, out of fear, and if Suzie was correct, she didn't have long left to live. She needed to do something about it. Somehow Rose managed to roll off the sofa, landing heavily and awkwardly on the floor. Her limbs were giving out on her, whatever this poison was, it was powerful.

One thing was for sure, Rose wasn't about to die here like this.


Jack had come out of his office after a lengthy chat with Ianto, to find it quieter than normal. Suzie, Tosh, and Owen would have gone home, but Rose would always be there, somewhere.

It was out of character for Rose to not tell him where she was going, especially since she was working on building her confidence to leaving the safety of the Hub. He wasn't concerned, not yet, but he wanted to find out where she was. He called her mobile, which after a couple of rings, he was given a strange message.

"I'm sorry, but the number you are trying to call has been disconnected. Please enter the correct number and try again."

Strange.

"Hey, Ianto?"

"Sir?"

"I know we've been having a long discussion just then, but before that, did you happen to see Rose leaving at all?"

Ianto shook his head. "I don't think so, Sir. Would you like me to call her?"

"I've already done that, but her phone has been disconnected. That only happens when the phone has been destroyed, right?"

"I believe so, Sir. She could have broken it."

Jack shook his head. "Rose wouldn't do that." He went over to Rose's workstation to see if she'd left a note, but there wasn't one. Logging onto the computer with his details, Jack accessed the CCTV footage from the last two or three hours. He could see Rose working at her station, and not long after that, Suzie appeared. The two women had a short conversation, and to Jack's surprise, the CCTV fizzled out. This indicated that the footage had been tampered with. That was not a good sign. "What the hell is going on, here?"

Ianto was looking on the opposite computer, looking at the CCTV from the Plasa. "Sir, we've got a situation going on here."

Jack joined him to watch and was more than a little shocked to see Suzie speaking to none other than PC Gwen Cooper. "What the hell is going on around here?" He demanded, annoyed that he was in charge of his team, yet he had no idea what was going on between them all. Once this was over and done with, Jack was going to have to have a serious conversation with them all. He got out his phone and called Owen. "Owen, I need your help. We've got a situation at the Hub, but I need you to go to Suzie's apartment, apparently Rose went with her and now Rose could be in danger. Don't ask questions, just do it. Give me a progress report when you get there, now go! Ianto, call Tosh, we might need her as back up."

"What are you going to do?"

Jack ran onto the platform, activating the lift. "Diffuse the situation."


He rose up the surface, to see Suzie trying to justify her actions.

"I needed the bodies, that's how it works, violent death. It was so easy. To bring them back I just positioned myself behind the head, so they'd never see me twice."

"You've killed three people?" Gwen asked, flabbergasted and frozen in fear.

"It was the only way. The more I used the glove the more I controlled it." Suzie insisted. "If I can get enough practise, then think of what the glove could do. If I could get it to work all the time, on anything, beyond two minutes, if I could get it to work permanently, it could resurrect. Resurrection on demand for the whole world, isn't that good? Isn't it though? Well, that's what I've been working for. All day, all night, the rest of them go swanning about while I'm working. You got to get inside this stuff. Surrender yourself to it, I did with the knife and the glove, and that's why the perception filter isn't going to work on me …" Quick as a flash, Suzie span around and shot Jack in the forehead, where he promptly collapsed at their feet, dead.

Gwen stumbled back in shock, seeing a man appear out of nowhere. "What … who is he? Where did he come from? What have you done?" Before Gwen could do anything else, Suzie pointed the gun at her and cocked it. "Please don't …"

"I can't let you go." Suzie said, stepping over Jack's body and moving closer towards Gwen, shaking her head.

"Please …" Gwen began to sob in fear, clutching at her hair.

"I've got to … sorry, I've got to … I've got to …"

Jack stood up behind Suzie, the bullet wound in his forehead healing as Gwen watched in complete shock. "Put down the gun." Suzie turned to look at Jack. "Suzie, it's over, now come with me …" Jack offered his hand out to Suzie, willing to give her one last chance.

Gwen looked on, in disbelief. Suzie turned to look at Gwen and then put the gun under her chin and pulled the trigger. Suzie Costello was dead.

Gwen fell to the floor, a flurry of memories overwhelming her. "I … remember. I remember."


Owen slammed himself into the door of Suzie's apartment, growling when he realised it was locked. He hammered on the door, panicked. "Rose? Rose, are you in there?"

There was no response. Ianto jogged up behind him, his own mobile in hand. "She's definitely here, before her phone was disconnected this was where it last pinged."

"What the hell." Owen stood back and raised his foot, slamming it into the lock of the door, instantly breaking it. The apartment was dark and quiet. Too quiet. "Rose?"

"Over here!" Ianto shouted, having spotted Rose laying prone on her stomach, unconscious with a pool of vomit by her mouth. Ianto saw the empty glasses on the table beside them, and quickly checked her pulse. "Owen, she's got a pulse but it's weak."

Owen brought over his medical kit, opening it up. He started rummaging through the drawers for a particular item. "Get her into the recovery position but be gentle." He advised, hearing a car pull up outside the apartments. "That'll be Jack." He said, bringing out his torch and shining it in either one of Rose's eyes. "Mostly unresponsive, her body's gone into some sort of medical coma to protect itself."

"Jesus Christ." Jack swore, seeing Rose unconscious and kneeling by her side. "What the hell happened here?"

"Arsenic." Owen confirmed after looking at his results. "Suzie bloody poisoned her with a concoction of arsenic and Retcon. No wonder she vomited. We need to get her to the Hub before it's too late. Being unresponsive is never a good sign."

"God damn it, Suzie Costello." Jack stooped to pick Rose up, carrying her carefully in his arms. "Let's get back to the Hub."


When Rose came too, she was safe and warm, tucked up into a comfy bed. "Wha', how?" She mumbled, glancing around. She was laying in Jack's bed, which was located by his office. As her vision came into focus, she saw Jack looming over her, concern etched on his face.

"Finally, you're awake." Jack said with a sigh of relief, brushing the hair out of her face as she tried to sit up. "Easy, easy, just lay down. You've been through a rough patch, making sudden movements isn't going to make you feel better."

"Wha' happened?" Rose asked.

"What do you remember?"

"I remember … Suzie … we were at her place, an' she put somethin' in my drink." Rose's eyes widened. "Oh my God, wha' did she do?"

"Suzie drugged you with arsenic and Retcon." Jack confirmed. "You've been out of it for the past three days whilst it's been flushing out of your system. Owen reckons you'll be fine; your memory might be a bit foggy as it adjusts to things, and he suggests no strenuous activities."

"Wha' about Suzie, wha' happened to her?" Jack paused, debating whether or not to tell her. "Jack, wha' happened to Suzie?"

"I found out what was happening, Suzie was confronting Gwen, and she shot herself." Jack clarified. "Suzie's dead. You're safe, and she won't be coming back."

Rose visibly sighed in relief. "I'm sorry, Jack. Suzie, she was your friend, wasn't she?"

"She was." Jack conceded. "That was until she did the unforgiveable. We'll be fine. We move on. The twenty-first century is when everything changes, and we've got to be ready."