It had been a, well, there really wasn't any other way to put it, a boring, day at Torchwood, at least... it was boring so far. No aliens, no saving the Earth, hell, not even a Weevil attack! Just piles and piles of reports to sort through, computers to work on, and alien instruments to test. A dull day at work.

Mind blowingly bored, Annie took off into the cold winter that was blowing outside the Hub.

She took a long stroll through the city before realizing how cold she was. She took a quick look at her surroundings to judge how far she was from the Torchwood base. Recognizing the small shopping area, she calculated that she was about ten miles away from Torchwood.

She shivered and realized that her hands had gone numb with cold. She checked her watch, it was ten minutes until noon. She shrugged, she had time for a cup of tea and a sandwich before heading back. She turned around and headed into the small cafe around the corner. She pulled open the door and saw that there really was only one or two other people in the cafe, most of Cardiff were staying inside these days, avoiding the cold weather.

She sat down at a booth and picked up the menu. She had just decided on a cup of raspberry and honey tea (her favorite) and half a ham sandwich when a voice spoke up.

"You look like you need someone to talk too."

She looked up to see a red haired boy about her age in a waiter's uniform looking at her. '' That would be nice." She said, smiling.

He sat down across from her. "I'm Eli by the way. Eli Crewe."

She smiled and stuck her hand out. "Annie. Annie..." she paused, deciding what her last name should be before deciding on her dad's fake last name. "Smith."

"Nice to meetcha! Now, what's wrong?"

"Just... work problems."

"Ah. Hard ass boss?"

"No. It's just, I can't do what I really want to do at work."

"Ah. Neither can I. I'm working part time here to pay for college. You?"

"Yeah. Same."

He smiled. "Where do ya work?"

"Can't really explain. It's still a working progress."

"Ah. You could get a job here. We could talk more." He grinned at her, making Annie go scarlet.

"We could, couldn't we." She said, grinning back in the same manner that Eli was.


Six months later...

"Who is he Annie?" Jack suddenly asked, as he watched Annie put an almost nude colored pink lipgloss on her lips. Something she only did on occasion, for an important event.

"I have no idea what your talking about." Annie said, flicking on mascara now.

"Don't lie. I've been noticing you wear more makeup, dressing even nicer than usual, going out more, even in the winter. Come on. Who is he?"

She blushed. "Alright. Alright. His name is Eli Crewe. We met at the cafe down the road. He's super nice and really funny."

"How long?"

"Not long. We've been friends for six months. This is honestly our first 'date'."

'Nice! Congratulations. Hope it works out well." he said, making Annie go even darker red in the face.

"Yeah. me too."

'Where's he taking you?'

"To an old fashioned sci-fi movie fest."

"He picked something just right for you. Does he know, about us?"

"No. I haven't told him about Torchwood."

"Good. First make sure he's definately the one."

"M'kay." she dabbed a bit of her faintest perfume on her wrists and her neck and stod up. "How do I look?"

Annie was dressed in an almost sailor dress. It was navy blue with white lining and a set of large white buttons on either side. She looked quite ute.

"Very pretty. Now go!" Giggling at the way he was acting like an uncle, at least, how she thought an uncle would act seeing as she never had one in the first place, she left the Hub and met up with Eli at the corner.

"You look really pretty Annie." he said as she giggled under her breath.

"Thanks El." she said, using her personel nickname for him.

"No problem. Now come on! That movie fest will start whether or not we're there!" he offered her his hand, she took it, and the two ran to his car.

Annie looked at him. The dark red hair had become a bit shaggy over the last six months, his dark eyes twinkled and she couldn't help but smile. She had been attracted to many men, mostly celebrity crushes, but the day she had met Eli, she realized that he had pretty much stolen half her heart and had stored it away for safe keeping.

She had lost interest in aliens, in Torchwood, even in searching the sky for the TARDIS. In fact, she had gone and done the most human thing she could possibly do. She had fallen in love. And the thought terrified her.