AN: Happy New Year! So I have been pretty much out of touch completely over the last year :( it has been a bit of a chaotic one with my workplace changing every 10-12 weeks but I am now settled for now at least :) Hoping to get back on a regular writing schedule now that the xmas chaos is over and done with :)
Booking in to a traditional spa was not something that Wednesday had ever done before, it was a bit too run of the mill for her family, they had more involved ways of relaxing the body and getting rid of their stresses. The spa at the St. David's was supposed to be one of the best though and it would be rude to refuse a gift, even if it did come with an ulterior motive, her cousin was a master at moving people around like pawns in his game of chess, placing them in just the right spot to be effective in a game they had no idea they were even a part of.
Tharmus treating her and Toshiko to a spa trip and not Gwen after their run was definitely a power play on her cousins part, his way of showing Gwen that if she wasn't going to take part properly with her training that she would only be pushed harder, whereas she and Toshiko were being rewarded for their efforts. She did wonder how this would be made clear to the woman as Tharmus had given them their passes rather subtly while she was trying to figure out the Torchwood manual, but Wednesday knew that he had plans for her to find out somehow.
Toshiko had been rather excited at the idea of a spa trip and while Wednesday was rather lacklustre about the actual treatments she was looking forward to the trip itself. She was curious about how Tharmus' little revenge would play out, but she was also looking forward to spending more time with Toshiko, getting to know the woman her cousin and her fiancé held in such high regard. She hadn't had the opportunity to spend that much time with the other woman yet, having been spending time getting to know Owen instead, but as Tharmus had given them the time to bond she was going to take it.
They left the hub together walking to the hotel, the short walk nothing to them after their run that morning, intending to get a light dinner before the massages that Tharmus had booked them in for. Over dinner Wednesday conducted a friendly interrogation, asking Toshiko many of the questions she was looking for answers to, and managing to avoid using her salad fork as a weapon to get those answers. It would be bad form to properly torture one of her teammates without them either deserving it or consenting.
Toshiko was interesting, she was a lot darker than she appeared, but she still retained her lighter qualities. Despite everything that she had gone through she still had a faith in humanity and while Wednesday thought it was a bit naïve she did understand why she clung to that faith. Wednesday could see them becoming close in time, Tharmus certainly seemed to think that Toshiko had the makings of an Addams, and she trusted her cousins' judgement. He was one of the few of her Welsh cousins that wasn't prone to snap judgements of people's character, he was the calculating one that studied everyone and made measured judgements.
They continued to talk through their massages, not mentioning anything sensitive as they had an audience, but Toshiko had somehow steered the conversation round to Owen and the wedding.
"Owen seems to be getting on well with the planning of the wedding," Toshiko had told her, "Don't you want to have some part of the planning though? He told me you gave him the colours you were intending to wear and told him that the rest was up to him."
"Weddings are a form of torture that I never thought I would have to experience." Wednesday replied dryly. "With so many of my family wanting to attend this wedding is likely to end up a three ring circus, but I don't really care for the details. I have never had any thoughts about how I would want my wedding to be, so I have no desires to become some sort of bridezilla in planning the day."
Wednesday was sure she heard Toshiko mutter something about Gwen and she asked her to repeat herself. The words, "If only Gwen had taken the same approach to her wedding", had Wednesday chuckling, she had seen photos and Tharmus had given her all the details about the day. "Owen will do fine, he has Tharmus, Aluka and Grandmamma helping him, everything will work out."
They spent the rest of their time in the spa talking about Owen, Wednesday trying to gauge whether there were any hard feelings or jealousy from Toshiko, Tharmus had told her of the crush she had on Owen before. Her teammate seemed genuinely happy for both her and for Owen, and when she decided to just ask Toshiko about her feelings towards her fiancé the other woman let out a sad chuckle.
"I had hoped for years that he would notice me, but it never happened until the accident." Toshiko started speaking, choosing her words carefully given their location; it wouldn't be wise after all to say until he died considering they were talking about him getting married. "By then I had started to realise that nothing would come of it, we're friends I hope and I still love him, but I'm not in love with him, I don't think I ever was, infatuated sure, but love no I hadn't allowed myself to fall that far. You make him whole, he is much more alive around you, he's not as grumpy or guarded when he's with you, you fit together."
That made sense to Wednesday and she nodded, "We do fit, I don't understand it, we're like a moth to a candle, we gravitate to each other, we have since we met."
"Can I give you some advice?" Toshiko asked, the quiet woman looking a bit unsure but ploughed on at Wednesday's nod. "Don't try to understand it, just enjoy it. You are young and you will probably hear many criticisms about what you are doing, but ignore them and live for yourself. I know Gwen is grumbling about the age difference between you and Owen and that you are always around, especially now that you've taken her place on the team, but try to ignore her and enjoy every minute with Owen, you never know how life will go, especially in our line of work."
Wednesday let her lips twitch quickly as she looked at Toshiko, the other woman catching the micro expression and smiling. She could see why Tharmus liked her so much, she really was something, and Wednesday found herself liking her as well. They enjoyed the rest of their massage in silence, for Wednesday it was nothing like what she was used to, her body could take a much more vigorous beating, but Toshiko said on their way out that she felt almost boneless.
She was praising Tharmus and his treat as they left the spa area into the main part of the hotel when they walked into Gwen. Wednesday tilted her head just a little while she thought, this was obviously the situation that Tharmus was looking to engineer, but how he had got Gwen here she didn't know. He wouldn't have booked her in for a treatment, as she definitely didn't deserve it and an Addams wouldn't reward the undeserving.
"Gwen, did Ianto book you in for a massage as well?" Toshiko asked, "They mustn't have had enough free spaces to book us all in at once. You'll enjoy it, I feel great, it was just what I needed after the run this morning, Ianto really does pamper us all."
Wednesday wanted to smirk, but she knew that it wouldn't be the polite thing to do. Toshiko, wonderful Toshiko had managed to deliver a small blow to the woman in front of them without realising it and while still being perfectly polite and genuine. Gwen was annoyed that much was obvious to Wednesday, but she was still unsure as to how or why Gwen was in the hotel when Tharmus wouldn't have booked her in for any treatment.
Gwen snorted, an angry grimace on her face as if the idea of Tharmus treating someone was a thought that she couldn't bear to recognise. She then growled a little, throwing them both a dirty look before storming off towards the elevators. Wednesday just stared after her a little bemused at the display, the woman hadn't even managed any words, it was all just noises and gestures. Throwing a quick glance towards Toshiko she noted the same look on her face as she was no doubt wearing herself.
"I wonder what Gwen is doing here if not for a massage." Toshiko wondered aloud, "I know that there is no way Ianto would have booked this for Gwen, not with the way she has been acting recently, but I was hoping that asking would push her into telling us why she is here."
Wednesday smirked, she could definitely see what Tharmus saw in Toshiko, there were definitely hidden depths to the woman, she was showing more and more traits that Wednesday liked the longer she spent in her company. She could definitely see a relationship of more than just co-workers developing between them as time went on, it would be nice to have tolerable female company in Wales, especially as she was intending to stay here with Owen after they married.
It was inevitable that her family would go home, and she would miss her mother and Grandmamma terribly, it would be torturous. Having Acantha and her little Lucretia for female company would help alleviate some of the loneliness, but it would be nice to add Toshiko to her number of confidants as well, someone who wasn't of blood but accepted her anyway.
"Hmm, it appears as though she was going to one of the rooms, I have a feeling she is up to something." Wednesday replied as they continued to walk towards the exit. "She certainly seemed unhappy about something, and I doubt that she is here with Aluka, this hotel is really not to his taste, he prefers a less conventional luxury."
Wednesday looked around as they left the hotel, looking for anyone that may be going to meet with Gwen, she could tell that the woman was completely unscrupulous just by looking at her, never mind having met her on several occasions as well as hearing stories from Tharmus and Owen. She didn't see anyone that set off her senses in any way, and she could say without a doubt that Aluka wouldn't spend out on a hotel like this one, it wasn't in line with an Addams' ideal of luxury. They had stayed at the hotel the night before the party at the manor, Tharmus had booked them a couple of suites as the manor was still being prepared for their arrival, as it wasn't used as a residence much these days. She explained this to Toshiko and the other woman nodded in agreement, having seen the more gothic sense of style that most of the Addams' seem to favour.
They continued to hypothesise what Gwen was doing at the hotel as they walked back towards the Plass, Toshiko tapping away on her phone as they walked, she seemed intent on whatever she was doing, but was still able to carry her part of the conversation. "She is staying there, booked into one of their suites using her Torchwood credit card," Toshiko informed her as she put her phone away. "Ianto is no doubt livid at her misuse of company funds and will be forcing her to repay them. I'm sure that is why we were sent to the spa as well, a tiny bit of punishment for Gwen as well as a little treat for us. He could have booked us in to any spa, but he sent us there so that Gwen would see what she is missing out on as a result of her own actions. I wonder why she is staying there though, I wonder if she and Rhys are fighting again."
"Aluka might have come to his senses and finally kicked her out." Wednesday considered aloud before shaking her head, "I am getting ahead of myself, Aluka is not disillusioned enough with her yet. After all he did marry her knowing of her indiscretions, her actions recently won't have been enough to bring him to his senses when he did that."
Toshiko stopped in her tracks, looking round at her younger companion. "He knew about Owen and still went ahead with the wedding?"
Wednesday glared ahead of where they had stopped, startling a passerby coming in the opposite direction. "He knew before they got engaged, Tharmus told him as soon as it occurred of course, but Gwen also told him." Wednesday's glare became even more deadly, "She retconned him before she told him of course, timing it so that she could tell him to make herself feel better, but so that it would kick in before he got a chance to properly respond."
"But that's horrific," Toshiko exclaimed, "the dosage of retcon required to be that fast acting could have done serious damage, and she claims to love him."
"She's lucky that retcon has no effect on us or she could have been facing serious charges." Wednesday glared, "Aluka remembered of course, but couldn't bring it up without revealing that he had broken the retcon."
"Retcon doesn't work on your family," Toshiko questioned ever a scientist looking to solve a complex problem. "But we retconned ourselves a few months ago and Ianto seemed to have no memory of what happened either, and Gwen and Rhys' wedding we gave retcon to all the guests, do all of Rhys' family remember?"
"Only Aluka's mother and Andronenkos' parents were in attendance of that farce of a wedding, the majority of Aluka's guests were friends or members of the Williams family, if anyone was aware of anything they shouldn't have been or showed signs of breaking the retcon Aluka would have alerted Tharmus." Wednesday explained, before turning to the other matter. "Why did you retcon yourselves? Did you find out?"
"We never did find out what happened, what memories we were missing, but Jack had left a message for himself that we shouldn't try to recover them, that it would be dangerous to remember." Toshiko explained, "Ianto had even destroyed a few days worth of his diary entries that corresponded with time we were missing."
"That explains it then, Tharmus knew he had to forget so he did. It isn't so much that we are immune to retcon, but rather that we have strong mental defences that we use to protect us against the effects. Tharmus would have been able to let his defences down to allow the retcon to take effect if he needed it to." Wednesday told her.
As they walked back to the Hub from the hotel Wednesday was witness to some pretty impressive hacking skills. Tharmus had told her that there was no digital information that could hide from Toshiko if she was searching for it. Using only what she had with her she had started searching for answers. Wednesday was never one to let conventional morality get in her way, but she was curious as to Toshiko's take on it. "Are you not concerned that you will be caught digging around in your co-workers life out of curiosity."
Toshiko let out a small laugh, "I won't get caught, but even if I did it wouldn't matter, due to the nature of our work it isn't uncommon for the Institute to keep tabs on the more weak willed employees to make sure that they are not compromised in any way. Ianto and I normally split the task of monitoring Gwen as it can be such a chore at times."
Wednesday was impressed, she was liking Toshiko more and more the longer she spent with her. It was such a shame that she and Lurch had decided that they were better suited as friends than as a couple, perhaps a cousin would be a good match for the petite woman.
"Ianto did warn me earlier that Gwen may ask to stay with me, but he didn't give me anymore information. I just assumed he had heard her planning one of her 'girly nights'." Toshiko shuddered, "A night of pampering and fun supposedly, but in reality it's a front row ticket to Gwen's self appreciation society."
Wednesday grimaced, the very thought of such an evening making her yearn for any normal form of torture as that one was a cruel thing to inflict on anyone. Her grimacing gave way to interest as Toshiko spoke again, updating her on the details she was uncovering.
"She was picked up by the Police last night causing a commotion outside the flat, which is strange as I should have got an alert. I built a program into the police system that would alert me to any police calls to any of our addresses and some of interest." Toshiko looked puzzled as she continued to work away as they walked. "Someone deleted Gwen and Rhys' address from my program earlier that day. I wonder if Ianto did it, he always seems to be steps ahead of me."
"It might have been Aluka," Wednesday offered, "He is very sneaky and if he has kicked her out he wouldn't want the team to show up if there was an altercation as Gwen would see you as being there to back her up."
As they reached the Hub they made a pact to keep what they had seen and learnt to themselves. It wouldn't hurt anyone to have to wait for the situation to unfold. Toshiko was convinced and Wednesday agreed that Tharmus was aware of everything that was going on. Wednesday was convinced that Tharmus was managing the situation from the sidelines if not directly so she wasn't worried, Gwen would get her comeuppance. After all Tharmus was an Addams through and through and followed the family motto: Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc.