CHAPTER 7: IT WAS A ONE TIME DEAL

School was excellent Monday morning. Excuse my sarcasm. Putting on the façade that everything was peachy took effort. My mind kept replaying the scene in my living room where my boss took the bullet that was meant for me. How long would these feelings of regret, no, not regret, guilt last? Hah, maybe when my boss started walking around again I wouldn't feel so guilty anymore. But like you can bring someone back from the dead who's had their brains wallpaper an entire room.

I hurried back home, eager to get rid of the show I was putting on for the benefit of my friends. My school friends knew nothing of Torchwood. Even if I could tell them all about my job, I wouldn't. My friends would never know that someone had taken a bullet for me. I was just a normal college kid; no one shoots at a random college kid unless we're talking about the random homicide.

Exams were coming up. The semester was finally coming to an end. It was a nice feeling to know that soon I wouldn't need to keep up in school and work in Torchwood. Just two more weeks of school yet and then graduation.

I'd already figured out the lie I would tell my parents when graduation was over. I enjoyed it here in Cardiff, and wanted to stay longer and switch my student visa for a work visa. I would leave out the part that when I renewed my visa, it would be permanent. You can't exactly say "I quit" when you're in Torchwood. Torchwood may be the best job when it comes to variety, never a dull moment, let me tell you. But working in Torchwood is a struggle. Everyday you fight for the human race against creatures out of this world, creatures coming from farther away than you can possibly imagine.

I flopped tiredly onto my couch.

Naturally, the instant you sit anywhere and get comfortable, knocking at the door means you have to get up. I trudged to the door to my apartment and opened it without peeking through the peep hole first.

My neighbor from the day before stood in the doorway.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi," I said, "what's new?"

"How do you feel about horror movies?" he asked.

Can you say left field? "Love 'em, why?"

"Well there's this movie comin' out Friday night and my friends aren't interested," he trailed off.

"Sure." I said.

"What?"

"Sure, I'll go to the movie with you."

"Dinner before or after?" he spat out.

I raised an eyebrow, "It depends on when the movie is. If it's a late night showing, make dinner earlier." I shrugged mentally. I could use the distraction; my thoughts kept turning to my dead boss. It had been really hard to concentrate during class today.

"Any preference?"

"Surprise me." I said. When you work in Torchwood, there's a good chance any plans you make need to be cancelled last minute. I decided not to tell him that, but opted instead for, "Just don't make it any fancy place that needs reservations half a week ahead."

He laughed nervously.

"I mean it." I said.

Someone cleared their throat behind him. My neighbor and I both turned to look at the newcomer

"Raya?" I asked, my stomach dropped to see her standing here.

"Hey." Was all she said. I could tell she was trying not to make a scene. She had something on her mind she needed to get out.

My neighbor must have picked up on that too, he turned to me, "So, uhh, Friday then. After you get back from school we can go."

"Okay." I said, ignoring the fact he knew I had school on Friday and knew when I came home.

He turned and walked away without a second glance.

I opened the door wider and let Raya through, before I could ask her anything, she spoke up, getting right to the point.

"So where's your cop partner?" she asked.

"Dude, I'm not a cop." I told her, looking straight into her eyes. I was a passable liar. But this was the truth. The closest division of law enforcement Torchwood could be referred to was Special Ops. It's what we told people who didn't understand what Torchwood was.

"But your partner must be a cop." She said.

"How do you figure?" I raised an eyebrow. I wanted to know where she was coming from before I let something slip.

"You said you were cops." She stated simply, "But see, I asked around. Turns out you and your partner were roaming Cardiff Saturday night into early Sunday with a gun."

Hmm. We'd have to be a bit more discreet for a secret organization in the future. I'd also have to stop underestimating my friends. They picked up on more things than I thought they did.

"I'm not a cop." I said.

"Then what were you doing when I saw you? Why did you lie straight to my face?"

I was hunting down killer aliens…like she'd believe that. I just looked at her, not being able to come up with a good excuse.

"You look ill." She motioned towards my face and my slightly red brimmed eyes.

"It's just allergies." I said.

"You don't have allergies." She said.

"I came home and puked my insides out shortly after you saw me. You happy?" Ok. So it was a couple hours after she saw me, but same difference.

"Why? Did you see something that horrible?" She began to roam the room, "It smells like you got your living room deep cleaned." She said. She knelt down to touch the carpet by the corner in my living room. I knew her hand wouldn't find the carpet was wet.

"It was a favor," I said, "from one of my friends."

"You're cop friend?"

I didn't answer.

Her eyes narrowed at the corner where the carpet met the wall. She leaned closer and stuck her face close to the wall. Vaguely I could see a dark splotch of something though I couldn't tell what it was from the distance I was at. Raya reached forward and touched it with her fingertips.

She gasped quietly, "Is this blood?"

My stomach dropped. This couldn't be, Ianto would never miss a spot, he was the best at cleaning bloody messes. I struggled to find an explanation.

"Tell me the truth." She said sternly, "I know you had a gun when I saw you two nights ago, and I know that there were a considerable number of people gone missing from inside their apartment. Tell me what's going on!"

I sighed, finding my feet interesting for a minute while I collected my words, finally I looked straight into her eyes and spoke, "It was nothing. Cops got a lead that someone was going around killing people and that I fit the description of one of their next targets. I helped them get the bad guy. Yes, someone was shot in here and the cops had people clean it up. It was a one time deal," I said I pleaded with my eyes, "please don't tell my parents. They're already worried about me. I wouldn't tell anyone else either, it's not exactly like this story is all over the news."

"Okay," she said calmly, "I won't tell. It's just nice to know the truth."

XX

I didn't go back to the hub until Friday afternoon. I'd finished exams early and had some time to kill before I was expected back at my apartment at the usual time I would come home on Friday. Surprisingly I hadn't had to cancel my dinner and a movie outing with my neighbor. Briefly I wondered if he thought it was a date. I shrugged mentally; he could think whatever he wanted.

I looked towards the vaults. Sometime between now and the last time I'd been here they'd moved a couch to the vaults. I guess it was so Ianto didn't have to leave to get some sleep. Ianto was awake and just looking at Jack like he had been the entire time I was at the hub last. From down the hall I did a double take at Jack.

I walked towards him to get myself a closer look. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Jack's brain was reconstructing itself. Ludicrous. Tissues inside people don't heal themselves after the person is dead. I narrowed my gaze. Jack's brain was definitely more whole than it had been last time I saw it.

I could feel Ianto looking at me, he probably wondered what I was doing. I ignored him. I looked onto the cadaver tray and noticed more silver fragments lying on the tray.

I looked up at Ianto, "Is someone taking the fragments out of his brain?" I questioned, "You'll never find them all."

"No," Ianto said, "Gwen and I haven't touched him."

"Why haven't you put him in the vaults yet and sealed it off? It's not like he's going to come back to life or anything." I said. I saw something gleam in Ianto's eyes, like he knew something but wasn't saying anything.

"Protocol." He said simply, as if it explained everything.

I raised my eyebrow at him, searching my brain for where protocol said we had to leave the corpse of our dead colleague rotting on a cadaver tray for almost a whole week. I came up with no answer.

I inhaled deeply trying to mask it as a yawn. I knew Ianto knew I had finals. He'd understand if I was exhausted. What I was really doing is seeing if the corpse was starting to smell. I furrowed my brow when I realized it didn't smell any different.

There wasn't a hint of rotting flesh in the air.

I briefly wondered if Ianto had been spraying the vaults with Febreeze, then shoved it aside, that was a ridiculous idea, Febreeze probably doesn't work on rotting corpses.

I looked down at Jack and realized his corpse was definitely not rotting. I couldn't explain it. I shoved the thought aside and told him I'd be at my desk for an hour or two then headed to dinner and a movie with a friend. He nodded but didn't move his eyes from the corpse before us.

This entire experience was one of the weirdest things I'd encountered in this job. I knew Ianto and Gwen hardly blinked when it came to shooting down aliens terrorizing Cardiff. How could they not blink when their boss was shot down in front of them?

I didn't remember Ianto and Jack ever being separate from each other's company. The two were inseparable. Maybe Ianto was having problems letting go of Jack.

All questions and no answers.

AN: -sigh- one more chapter left prolly. R&R plz! Hope u guys enjoyed the story so-far.