Memories 1
Astra sat at her desk. It was late afternoon and she'd was staring at a letter that she'd received that morning in the mail. She couldn't really believe what she was reading, but it was all there in black and white. The University wanted her out of the apartment that she shared with the girls. She had to admit, living alone would make her job easier, but part of her didn't want to. She sighed and placed the paper down. Like she didn't have enough to do. Now she had to go house hunting.
She looked around. Gwen and Taye were out on a job, Jack was in is office and Ianto was with him. She didn't want to know. Honestly. She opened up a web browser and looked for local realty.
"What are you doing?" Jack asked, hovering over Astra's work station, a while later. She minimized a window she'd been working in and looked up at him.
"Nothing."
He leaned against the desk, "Lying doesn't become you."
She rolled her eyes, "So?"
"Oh, come on... I can be really annoying!" Jack insisted.
"Don't I know it!" She looked away from him and spotted Ianto, "Yan, can't you take him and make him leave me alone?"
"Well... I could... But last time I kept him busy while you were here, you complained."
Astra rolled her eyes again and sighed, "Right... Of course..."
"You really shouldn't roll your eyes at me so often Ms. Lifrey," Jack said with one of his charm grins. Then picked up the letter she'd left lying around, "What's this?"
"Nothing!" She tried to get the letter back from him before he could read it.
He looked up at her. He'd won and managed to read the letter, "They're kicking you out?"
She nodded, "Yes... I'm not at the university full time and my job apparently pays too well. I don't qualify for student accommodation anymore."
"But it's not a dorm?" He said, "Hang on, they can kick you out because you make too much money? Remind me to pay you guys less!"
She shruggd, "Apparently and yeah, I know the apartment isn't a dorm, but it's still owned by the university. So, what they want they get!"
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
A flash of light lit up the apartment momentarily. The man who'd entered with the flash of light looked around. It was a largish apartment, decorated in warm colours. Slightly messy. He walked around, looking at various things. He was getting frustrated. This was the eleventh apartment he'd enterd and searched. He was never going to find her. He slumped down in a chair and held his head. It was an impossible mission. He'd promised to protect her and now he couldn't even find her. He didn't want to give up, but there were hundreds of adderesses on his list. Some didn't even exist anymore, others hadn't been built yet, but he didn't have years or names. Just adderesses and the year he was supposed to send her to. One day he was going to get caught.
He looked up and a photo caught his eye. He remembered the face. A candle and a white rose lay round the picture. Crystal Trent. The girl from the university. He jumped off the chair and stared at the photo. Would she hate him for what he'd done to her friend? The girl hadn't been her friend though. She had been a threat. He'd been there when she'd been hired to hunt down his lover and kill her good.
He looked at the other photos that scattered the bookshelves and walls. He picked one up, it was a close up of four girls, dressed up for a fancy night out. There was a girl in a maroon dress. He traced her face gently with his finger. That was her. This was the place, or at least who ever lived here knew her. It was a start. He moved from the living room. He needed to find her and this was the first true lead he'd had in ages. He went through the cupboards and draws of the living room. He littered everything over the floor. He found a few bills with people's names on them, but not the name he was after.
He went to the bed rooms. The first he entered had two beds. Two girls shared this room. Again he went through the closets and desks. Everything he could find, but there was nothing. The next room, was a single room, which obviously belonged to a girl with money. The clothes were brand named, books neatly arranged on the desk. He tore it all apart looking for a clue as to where she could be.
The third bedroom, was clean. Everything in it's rightful place. On the desk, were Uni books and a few sketch books. He picked one up. Sitting on the bed he flipped through the pages and felt his heart stop. A sketch of her. He traced his fingers over her face, her real face. The one he'd fallen in love with. In the picture she was holding a small boy, around ten. The boy was hugging her. Beside them was a robot dog that he'd only ever seen once. The day he'd lost her. What had the dog's name? K-9? Had she been a Mother? How much was there about her that he and the others hadn't known?
He flipped a few more pages and felt like crying when he saw himself. He was holding her. It was just after a mission. Their friends were beside them, but he was the one that had his arms wrapped around her, "I thought she said she wouldn't remember..." He murmered to himself.
He put the sketch book down and wandered around the room. This was it. This was the new her. It looked so different from her dorm room at the academy. There was a photo on the bookshelf by her desk. She was with a group of people and she looked happy. The five of them. She was inbertwine two men. The one in the centre of the group, looked like, "Oh god... Boe..."
He sat back down on the bed and dropped the photo beside him. She was with Boe. She was safe then right? But what if he didn't know who she was? He picked up the sketch book, then activated his wristband. He dissapered in a flash of light...
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
PC Andy Davidson looked around the apartment. A young woman was sitting on a chair talking with another Constable. He walked around and listened to what the others were saying.
"There was no sign of forced entry... Again."
He looked through the rooms. Things had been torn from the closets, papers littered the floors from the desks, except in the last room. The last room was still spotless. The only thing out of place, was a photo frame lying on the bed. He picked it up and looked at it. He knew everyone in that photo. Torchwood.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Gwen.
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
Gwen looked around the hub. She was on the phone to Andy, "Astra, come here," She said. Astra made her way over to Gwen and waited as she talked on the phone. She hung up, thanking Andy then looked at her friend, "That was Andy. He's at your place. Apparently Shannon came home and found the place ransacked.
Astra looked horrified, "Is Shannon Ok?"
"Shannon's fine... There is one wierd thing though... Your room was the only one not touched."
Astra looked confused by this, "What?"
"Come on. I think Shannon could use a friend," Gwen stood up and grabbed her coat. Astra dashed to get her own.
As they made their way out the cog door, Jack came to them, "Where are you two going?"
"Andy called, Astra's place got broken into," Gwen explained.
Jack's eyes widened, "Come on, I'll drive."
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
Jack parked the SUV outside the apartment block. He and Gwen followed Astra into the apartment block and they could all hear the groans. What was Torchwood doing there? The officer outside her door stopped them.
"This isn't anything Special Ops needs to be concerned with."
Astra glared at the man, "This is my apartment. I live here and I'm gonig to go be with my friend. Do you have an issue with that?"
Jack just grinned as the officer stepped aside, Allowing Astra and them through. Obviously not willing to deal with the wrath of the young woman. Shannon looked up, "Astra!" She rushed over and hugged her room mate.
Astra looked around, "What the hell happened?"
"I don't know..." Shannon said, "I came home and found it like this."
Andy came to them, "Do you girls know if anything is missing?"
"I... I haven't looked..." Shannon replied.
Astra sat her down, "I'll go look, Ok?" Shannon nodded and Astra started a search through the apartment. Nothing appeared to be missing. She looked devestated as she went through her friend's rooms. She entered hers and almost everythng was in it's right place. It didn't make any sense.
Jack looked around, "Why didn't the thief touch your room?"
"They did..." She said.
"So, anything missing?" Andy asked.
She looked at her desk, "Nothing valuable..." She replied, "Andy, did you move that photo?" She pointed to the bed.
He shook his head, "No, I found it there."
"What's missing Astra?" Jack asked.
"My sketch book."
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
Back at the hub, they were gathered in the board room. The robbery wasn't really a Torchwood case, but what could it hurt looking at the alien possibillites? Jack looked to Gwen, who'd been in constant contact with Andy ever since they'd left Astra's apartment, "And what did PC Davidson have for us Gwen?"
"There have been ten other robberies around Cardiff," Gwen started, "All reletively the same. No sign of forced entry. The places are pulled apart, as if the intruder was looking for something. Nothing is ever taken and there is no link between the adderesses and the occupants."
"Well, we're pretty good at finding links," Ianto said, "So show us the adderesses."
Gwen put the adderesses on the plasma and they all looked at them, "I know those adderesses," Jack finally said, "Astra, bring up these files would you: Mallory Walsh, Darrien Holt, myself... Lillian Aldridge, Harry George, Steven Duke, Tobias Cole, Julianne Marway and Suzie Costello" Astra did and the files started to pop up over the screen, "Look at their adderesses," Jack said, getting up to point them out on the plasma screen. Each of the people he'd mentioned, had lived at one of those adderesses.
"I can't imagine you not living at the hub..." Taye said as they looked at Jack's own file.
"Once upon a time, I lived elsewere!" Jack said, "But following that theme, Astra fits in as a Torchwood Officer."
"What about the tenth one?" Gwen asked.
"Don't know it," Jack said.
"Well, then that's an anomaly right?" Astra asked.
"What if..." Into started, "Some of these names go back to when Jack first started at Torchwood, that's over a hundred years ago, what if the one we can't identify is a future Torchwood adderess?"
"It's plausible..." Gwen agreed.
"Ok, assuming that Torchwood is the link," Astra asked, "How are they getting in?"
"That is a very good question..." Jack replied, he looked to Astra, "Have you decided where you're staying till it's cleared up?"
"Uhh... No..." She replied.
"We have a couch at my place if you're interested?" Gwen offered.
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
Gwen entered the apartment and looked around cautiously, somewhat expecting to find it in a similar state to Astra's, but it was clean and she was rewarded with the scent of spaghetti sauce in the air.
"Something smells good!" She said as she walked into the kitchen.
Rhys turned to her and smiled, "I was hoping you'd like it!" He kissed her quickly, then turned back to the sauce pot.
"Astra's apartment got broken into today..." Gwen said, leaning against the counter beside the stove.
He looked at her, "Really? The girls Ok?"
"Bit shaken up, they're all staying elsewhere for now," Gwen said, taking to wooden spoon from him and tasting the sauce, "Your mum's recipe?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"I hope you don't mind... I offered Astra our couch..."
He looked at her, "That's fine... Did you think I'd be mad?"
Gwen shrugged, "I know how you feel about having people from work over."
Rhys stopped stirring the sauce, "Gwen, her apartment was broken into, it's understandable that she doesn't want to stay there!" Rhys turned the stove down and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Where is she?"
"Jack took her by the apartment to pick some things up, he'll drop her off here in a little."
"Wasn't so keen on going by herself?"
Gwen shook her head, "No..."
Rhys leaned down and kissed her tenderly, "Then I better get as much of this in before she arrives..."
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Gwen rested her forehead against Rhys's, "They're here..."
He kissed her again quickly, "Ok."
Gwen went to the door and opened it, Jack and Astra stood there, "Come on in!" Gwen said, holding the door open. Jack followed Astra in. Gwen noticed that she hadn't brought much, her laptop bag, the bag she usually had a for work and a small backpack which Jack was carrying.
Astra looked at her, "Gwen, thank you..." She spotted Rhys in the kitchen, "Hi Rhys... Thanks!"
"No problem at all," Rhys called, "Hope you like spaghetti! Hi Jack."
"Rhys."
"You want to stay?" Gwen asked him.
Jack shook his head, "No... Ianto's waiting for me back at the hub!"
"Well, you better not keep Ianto waiting then!" Astra replied with a smirk. Gwen laughed.
Jack gave both of them a quick kiss on th cheek, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Then left.
Gwen looked at Astra, "I think he just gave us permission to do anything we want!" Both of them laughed as they headed to the kitchen.
"That smells good Rhys!" Astra said as she smelled the Spaghetti.