After Owen left to get Jack, Gwen sat with the girl. She chatted at her simply trying to get her to smile or frown. Occasionally she would attempt to formulate a response, though it mostly came out sounding like 'Eow' or "Ewa eyee." Somehow Gwen understood.
It was as she was beginning to wonder what was taking so long that Owen's voice returned along with Jack's, the other mans, and another voice she had never heard before.
"So!" Jack cried, "She's awake!"
The girl moved her eyes, looking at him as he came into her view. She hadn't known what she expected, but the incredibly handsome, bright blue eyed man that stood in front of her was definitely not it. Behind him stood another man, still handsome, but not as much as Jack.
"Hello lovely," he said, "I'm Jack."
"Ewoh," was the best she could manage.
He grinned. Oh god he had suck a beautiful grin. Yet she still didn't like him. She couldn't figure out why. There was just something about him that terrified her. She pushed it to the back of her mind, hoping he wouldn't see the odd fear in her eyes.
"So," he said taking a seat and turning out of her view to talk to Owen, "Do you know how long it will be until she can speak clearly?"
"Considering the impressive amount of damage she's suffered," Owen began slowly, "It could be anywhere from a few days to several months. It's also quite possible that her voice will always be slurred." She could hear him nearby along with a strange clicking, "But you also have to factor in the way her nerves are able to repair themselves."
"So no rough estimate?" Jack pressed.
Owen took a deep breath. The girl wished she could sit up and look at them rather than laying on her cot feeling utterly useless. She wished she could try to help Owen figure out the medical stuff she was supposed to know.
"I'd say it'll probably be two or three days," Owen concluded, "If someone is down here helping her."
"I could do it," Gwen piped up. The girl felt bad. She'd been so focused on the men that she'd completely forgotten about the woman who was holding her hand.
"Thanks for volunteering Gwen," Jack said, his voice chipper.
The girl heard wheels on concrete and Jack rolled back into view. "Just wondering," he said simply, "Has anyone asked your name?"
The girl did her best to shake her head as she replied. "Nuh."
"Really?" Jack asked.
"Yuh," the girl said. She found that words were already easier to recall and it didn't cause a headache to try to think of them. Though sound still hurt. All the loud voices and the beeping of her machines. It was easily pushed away, but it still made her mind ache.
"What's your name then?" Jack asked still grinning down at her.
The girl opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. What was her name? Oh no. She couldn't remember her name. "Uh dunnuh," she said, panic lining the edges of her voice Why didn't she know her own name?!
"Calm down," Owen said his hand reaching over to rest on her arm, "You hit your head very hard. It's just amnesia."
God dammit. How would he feel if he woke up like this. No memory. Nothing but pain. Surrounded by strangers. She wriggled on the table, trying to prop herself up on her elbows but her damned limbs wouldn't move. Her fingers dug into her palm.
Then a hand covered hers. "Hey," she looked over, tears welling up in her eyes. Jack sat there. He looked worried. Those damned blue eyes were so scared. He opened his mouth, and spoke in a soft, calm tone. "It's gonna be alright," he said, "You're going to be just fine."
She shook her head. He was so incredibly wrong. She had no wings and no name. She was far from fine and couldn't see alright anywhere on the horizon.
"Owen," Jack called, "Is there any way we could sit her up? She should be able to see the team."
"Right!" Owen cried. There was a whirring noise and the girl groaned as the cot folded, lifting her so she was sitting upright and able to look around. She was positioned with her head to the wall of a circular room. Around her sat the three people she'd met along with not only Jack's man, but a woman with lightly tanned skin and a small smile. While the others sat around her bed, this woman was up on a platform. She leaned against a railing, curious but quiet.
"You already know Gwen, Owen, and I," Jack said, "But I just thought it would be good for you to meet Ianto and Toshiko." The man was Ianto, the woman Tosh.
"Hello," Toshiko called wiggling her fingers seeming excited. Ianto simply waved and nodded. He was acting odd, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed. The girl eyed him, her expression somewhere between curious and confused. She smiled at them. "Ewoh," she called back.
"Remember," Jack said, his hand landing back on hers, "If you ever need anything. No matter how difficult the times, no matter how bad things seem. We'll be here."
Gwen smiled slightly. "It's funny," she murmured, "You've been here nearly five weeks and we've decided to keep you, even though this is our first conversation."
The girl smiled at Gwen. Then she frowned. Who was she? She took a deep breath. "Aem?" she asked. It still sounded like she was trying to talk while swallowing, "Mah aem?" She needed to know. These people didn't know what her name was, but it was worth a shot to ask.
"We know as much as you do," Jack said, "But for the past few weeks we've been referring to you as 'Angel' or 'Birdie'."
The girl wrinkled her nose at the names. She didn't like them. They were strange and foreign. She wanted her name. The name her mother gave her. But she didn't have that, and she'd have to make the decision soon. She opened her mouth to reply, but Toshiko interrupted.
"We need a first and last name for the system," she said quickly, "So we could just put the two together as Angel Bird…" She trailed off, unsure of the suggestion she'd made.
Jack looked at the girl, "How does that sound?"
She nodded. It wasn't the best, and it was so unfamiliar. Then again, she could feel a slight familiarity. That was probably from them using it when she couldn't hear them. Angel Bird. It felt better the more she repeated it. Angel Bird. She smiled at them all. "Ih wih afe oo oo," she said watching as they all grinned at her.
Well… she had a name. That was something. Sure it sounded a little rough, and it was a fairly irritating play on words, but it was something. And it was hers. Now to figure out what else she was missing.
She watched as Jack shooed everyone away, telling them to get back to work. She wondered what sort of work they did, but figured she would find out soon enough. They apparently all chatted with her and had some sort of emotional tie to her that she didn't have to them. She watched as Jack even shooed Owen out of his work station, then went and disabled a mechanism on the wall. Probably a recording device. It was hard to tell with the old bulky technology.
He walked over, taking the seat next to her bed. "Hey," he said softly, "I really didn't mean to have them all in here at once. As soon as they heard you were awake, they all came running." It was so incredibly strange. He sounded sincere, but she still didn't trust him. She wondered why.
A purple light flashed behind her eyes and she shook her head, clearing it away. "Ih-d oh-day," she replied, still hating the way she stumbled over the words.
"Not to mention I hate doing this here," Jack continued as if she'd never spoken, "Normally I'd do it in my office."
"Oo uht?" she inquired. He really was bad at explaining things, but maybe that was just her inexplicable dislike of him. She really couldn't tell yet.
Once again he continued as if she'd never spoken. "I'm not exactly sure how much you know," he said, "But I need to know everything"
"Oh-day…" she said, still incredibly confused.
"So, what's your name?"
"En-gel Bir," she answered, unable to enunciate her words.
"I mean your real name," he said seriously, "The one your society gave you when you were born."
What the friggin' hell was he talking about? She didn't remember her name. She'd said as much when she'd let them label her 'Angel Bird'. "Uh dun nu," she slurred, the tone of her voice insistent.
"Alright…" He rolled his eyes. Obviously at least part of him didn't believe her. That was irritating. "Can you tell me your species?"
She thought. She thought long. She thought hard. She couldn't remember. It was far less alarming than the thought of forgetting her name, but it was still a hard hit. It was her identity, and it had been completely wiped away.
The panic in her eyes must've been enough, because Jack rested his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," he said softly, "I know. You're NorthWest Palkatorian, otherwise known as Nakataia Palkatorian."
The words were so simple, but they meant everything to her. She didn't understand what they were supposed to mean, but they eased her hopelessness. She did have an identity. She was somebody. She had a place she was from. She looked at Jack, waiting for him to continue. He obviously knew more about her than she did.
"Next question," he continued the second her gaze met hers, "Do you know your age?"
Once again she couldn't answer the question. It scared her. How much else did she not know about herself. If she couldn't remember her own age, how could she remember anything. The beeping from the machines was getting louder. She remembered Owen saying that meant her heart rate was spiking, which she remembered was a bad thing. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.
"Angel?" Jack asked, using her new name. Hearing it from someone else felt so strange yet so familiar. Part of her wondered if she'd ever accept that as the name they'd chosen for her. Most of her doubted it.
She looked at his anyways. Her eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty and fear. She didn't think she could handle anything.
"Do you know your age?"
The question was so simple, but she couldn't find the answer. Even though she already knew the blunt reality. Slowly, even though it caused the entirety of her body intense pain, she shook her head. No. She did not know her age. She did not know her name. She did not have functional wings. She was useless as a fighter, a thinker, a speaker. She was nobody. She had nothing. Only a blank slate.
It was as Jack sighed for what seemed like the billionth time that she realized something. She was a blank slate. She had no past, no name, no age. She had nothing. She had the chance to rewrite everything about herself. It didn't matter what was on the past, because here she knew she had a future. No matter what she knew she had a future.
Jack continued his interview. He asked questions she didn't know the answer to and she proudly told him exactly that. From then on, she didn't care. She was Angel. Angel Bird. It didn't matter who she'd been before. That person was gone. They were no more than dust in the wind. Angel was real. Angel was there. She was Angel. And that's all she cared about anymore.
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