Gwen flopped down into the bar stall with a huff, she couldn't believe that Ianto refused to open up about his past once more. Couldn't he understand that she was just trying to get her head around what happened, about why he had been chosen like little Jasmine by the fae and why he decided to stay instead of leaving with them like all the other children. It just didn't make sense, but Jack refused to let her interrogate Ianto and Tosh and Owen seemed to suddenly get chummy with him that they weren't letting her have a second alone with him and for some unknown reason her codes weren't letting her into the archives.
"So, the guy over there's been staring at me all evening, and I told him he's wasting his time, but he won't listen. So, I've come over to talk to you because I know how these ends. He gets a punch in the next and I get barred. And I've already been barred from about twenty pubs, and I don't want to get barred from this one because they do these nice olives on the tables" A blonde-haired woman said pulling Gwen out of her thoughts before the woman added "I'll buy you a drink".
"Fine" Gwen said giving her an odd look, she had hope to have some peace and quiet so she could come up with a new plan. Maybe she needed to get Jack on her side then he can order Ianto into explain himself.
"JD and Coke, and Gwen, what do you want?" the woman said turning from the bartender to look at Gwen.
"How do you..?" Gwen trailed off, the woman knew who she was, but then again should she be surprised after she was well known in the police, for her certain sets of skills.
"I know who you are. You could say I'm a massive fan of Gwen Cooper, you've had such an impressive reputation with the police, and then hired to a remarkable organisation like Torchwood. You're all the rave these days, ever scavenger wants to meet you" Mary lied.
"Well I am that amazing" Gwen said missing the woman rolling her eyes "What's your name?".
"Mary. And I would to hear everything you have done for Torchwood, people said that it was you who single handedly make Torchwood charge for the better to start helping those who need it. I feel much safer on Cardiff streets with you protecting them" Mary said stroking Gwen's ego in all the right places to not notice the manipulation techniques she was using, and it worked because the pair moved to table away from the bar and Gwen started talking about her time in torchwood.
"I'm the heart of this team, Jack said so himself, yet they won't let me try to understand what's going on. How are they expecting me to adapt and help them feel more human if I don't know what's made them inhuman in the first place. Like recently we found out that Ianto Jones – he's basically our butler, he had no other use that make use coffee and buy food – anyway, he was this chosen one of these aliens when he was a kid and I just want to know why. He's practically useless, and I don't see what the fae saw in him, but I just want to understand, and they won't let me. I'm Jack's second in command so they should follow my command" Gwen whinged, she had so much pent up anger revolving around Ianto Jones, he was getting more on her nerves than the pathetic butler should do.
"It's seems like your problem is this Ianto fella. From what I've hear Jack is obviously in love with you and wants to be with you but this Ianto person is holding him back. Any ordinary person would have made a move, maybe Ianto has something on Jack to hold him hostage or is using alien technology to keep Jack for himself" Mary suggested, she need to plant a seed of doubt in Gwen's mind so when she becomes desperate then Gwen has no choice but to come to Mary for help.
"That's what I'm thinking after all who could resist me but Ianto's in charge of the archives so if there was anything alien which he's used on Jack, only he would have access to it and my codes to even enter the archives aren't currently working so it's not like I could go down there and find it" Gwen said slumping in her chair, Ianto seemed to have control over everyone at Torchwood and she as the heart of torchwood needs to save them, then they can finally start appreciating her for how important she is after all there is no torchwood without Gwen Cooper.
"What if you use this? This pendant allows you to read people's minds maybe if you put it on at work, you can read Ianto's mind maybe you can find out what he's doing" Mary suggested handing the pendant over to Gwen who gave it a sceptical look but regardless put the necklace on. Her mind was bombarded by the occupants of the bars' thoughts, it was so overwhelming that she had to take the necklace off straight away. But Gwen had a smile on her face, this necklace would be the downfall of Ianto Jones, she could finally steal Jack away from him and take her rightful place in his bed. Mary smiled with glee – she had won.
Ianto could tell something was off the second he came up to the hub from the archives. He saw Owen and Tosh were at the stations already getting on with their work, Jack was up in his office and Gwen had only just arrive. She looked happy, a little too happy for Ianto's liking, she didn't even start harassing him with questions when they made eye contact in fact her smile only widened.
"Morning Ianto" Gwen said cheerily, and it scared him. Why the hell was Gwen acting like this? Did something happen last night that made Gwen forget that she currently hated him because of his secret of being a chosen one or was it something else entirely.
"Morning Gwen, coffee?" Ianto greeted deciding to maintain his usual politeness.
"Oh yes please, thank you dear" Gwen replied as Ianto walked over to the small kitchen area. Gwen was being nice to him and that scared him, Gwen was never nice to him. He quickly made the teams preferred drinks taking Jack's straight up to him before he started whining – Jack Harkness whining was not a pretty sight. Before coming back down the stairs to hand out the other drinks, Ianto noticed Gwen pull something out her bag and he was lucky that he quickly managed to regain his footing before he tripped over and spilt everyone's drinks on the hub floor. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. How the hell had Gwen gotten her hand on an arcateenian telepathic necklace. He had to warn Tosh and Owen, if Gwen knew what she had and Ianto bet she did because of her happy mood this morning, she was planning to read at least some of the team members minds which put his secret which Owen and Tosh now knew at risk.
"Tosh, Owen come down to the archives asap" Ianto whispered in their ears when he passed their drinks to them before disappearing back into the archives.
Tosh and Owen shared a concerned look with each other before standing up and when Gwen was too distracted with her necklace clasp and disappeared down into the archives. They headed towards Ianto's office where the fae was rummaging through a box full of – Tosh wasn't actually sure what was in the box.
"What's up teaboy, this better be in an emergency I nearly beat my high score on solitaire" Owen said as Ianto brought out two small rings with a consecutive circle pattern on it.
"Did either of you see the new necklace Gwen brought in today?" Ianto said getting straight to the point.
"Yeah she was messing around with it when we came down here why?" Tosh asked a little confused.
"The necklace is arcateenian. An alien race who communicates through reading people's' thoughts, the necklace allows them to do that. If a human wear that necklace they too can read people's thoughts" he told them, and he watched as both their eyes widened in shock.
"Bloody hell, how did Cooper get her hands on something like that?" Owen said, Cooper couldn't have just stumbled across a telepathic necklace by mistake.
"Not sure but you're both at risk. This is a bio-damper, it masks a person bio-signature from being tracked which includes thoughts. It's not a permanent solution but it will prevent Gwen from reading your minds" Ianto said passing Tosh and Owen the rings who instantly slipped them onto their fingers.
"What about you or Jack?" Tosh asked worried that Gwen would try and read either of their minds.
"Jack's clearly from the 51st century and since humans have long since moved into space he would have had training from an early age to prevent anyone from reading his mind. As for myself - we had training at Torchwood One to protect our thoughts and also being a fae we learn to keep people from reading our minds. So, we'll be fine" Ianto reassured his best friend, who visible relaxed.
"Harkness is from the 51st century, of course he is. You know ever since we outed you as a fae, we're learning more about Harkness then we ever have from him himself" Owen huffed and Ianto laughed.
"Go back to work before he comes down here" Ianto said shooing both Tosh and Owen out of his office before returning to work, he made a mental note in his mind to ask them to come over after work to go over come basic shielding techniques.
Gwen felt practically giddy when she arrived at work the following day, the pendant was safely tucked into her bag to wear when she gets to work. Hell, she was even nice to Ianto, it would be the last time she ever was since she was confident that she would find out all of Ianto's secrets today. She couldn't hear anything at the moment, Tosh and Owen had disappeared when she wasn't looking but when they returned she planned to look at their thoughts to see whether Ianto had manipulated them or if they knew what he had done to Jack.
She tried Jack's minds next but was just met with nothing, Gwen wasn't sure what to expect after all Jack wasn't from this time period she guessed that she kind of hoped that he wasn't maintain any protective shields so that she could find any trace of Ianto's manipulation or Jack's true feelings of her. Well unless, whatever alien technology which Ianto had used was preventing her from seeing his thoughts – yes that must be it. When Owen and Tosh finally resurfaced from where ever they had disappeared to she tried to read their minds but once again she was met with nothing, but this time Gwen wasn't annoyed with it in fact she was happy because it proved that whatever alien technology Ianto was using, he was using it on Owen and Tosh as well and it must have some side effect where their thoughts were blocked from her. Gwen smiled with glee she couldn't wait to read Ianto's mind.
Ianto appeared later in the day and Gwen was so distracted with her work that she nearly missed that he was up there until he placed a mug of coffee in front of her. She gave him a sweet smile which instantly turned sinister as soon as his back was turned. She then tried to read his thoughts but just like before with the others Gwen found nothing, she would have really doubted the necklace authenticity if she hadn't worn it yesterday. Ianto was blocking her, he had to be. She screamed in frustration before ripping the necklace from her neck and threw it into her bag where it remained the rest of the day.
Gwen was fuming as she stormed out of the torchwood hub after work and went straight to the bar where she met Mary in yesterday. The blonde was already waiting, and Gwen practically threw the telepathic necklace at her.
"It didn't work. I couldn't hear his thoughts" Gwen shouted attracting the attention of the others in the bar.
"Ianto obviously must be a powerful being to prevent you from reading anyone's thoughts" Mary lied, she knew what Ianto was, but she wasn't going to tell Gwen because where would the fun be in that. She need Gwen to be dependent on her.
"What do I do? How do I prove to everyone that Ianto isn't who he says he is?" Gwen asked, the telepathic necklace had failed her since she couldn't hear Ianto's thoughts. Hell, she hadn't been able to hear anyone's thoughts.
"Get me into Torchwood and we can stop Ianto together" Mary said smirking.