Chapter Six
Jack watched as Trace suddenly grinned, grabbed his hand, and replied, "Jenny Bennett, Driftwood."
The entire team was startled to hear her strong American accent. However, it only strengthened a growing suspicion of Jack's.
Not to be put off, the Captain said, "Now it's not nice to lie."
"Who says I'm lying?" came the teen's quick remark.
Jack allowed himself to give a small chuckle. "I'm afraid I am. You see, it's our duty at Torchwood to know people's names, and yours is definitely not Jenny Bennett."
He watched as she gave a small nod.
"Oh, I see," Trace said slowly before taking off down the street.
The team stared after her in shock for a few seconds before turning to Tosh.
"Where's our girl headed?" Jack nonchalantly asked the computer whiz as the group headed to their SUV.
Using a piece of technology that latches onto a heat signature and tracks it, Toshiko started spouting out different street names.
As the Captain was putting the car in drive, everyone came to the realization that she was heading straight for Roald Dahl Plass. They all grinned at the irony of it.
The team easily beat Trace to the Plass and dropped Jack off in front of the water tower.
"See you guys inside," he said before waving them off. Once the SUV was out of sight, he stepped gracefully onto the slab with the filter and calmly waited for his guest.
A few minutes later, the Captain watched as the girl finally came into view. She came to a stop just a few feet short of him to catch her breath.
Once her breathing was under control, Jack decided to step off the slab.
Surprised at the stranger's appearance, Trace fell backwards. She quickly gathered herself and narrowed her eyes at the man. "Where'd you come from?"
With a grin, Jack replied casually, "I had been standing right there for a few minutes now."
"How come I couldn't see you, then?" she asked while picking herself up off the ground.
He shrugged and said, "Perception filter."
The immortal was starting to feel a tiny bit uncomfortable under the teen's gaze when she finally spoke again. "Why would you need that? And on one specific slab?"
Jack's trade-mark grin came back, instantly reminding Trace of someone she knew, and he told her, "I can show you if you want."
He stepped back onto the slab and the girl hesitantly followed. She watched curiously as he hit a few buttons on his wrist strap and they started moving down.
Although Trace felt a bit unstable on it, there was no way that she was going to hold on to that man for safety.
She was very grateful when they reached the bottom of the huge underground room. Jack stepped off the lift first and graciously offered his hand.
The Captain watched as the girl ignored his outstretched hand and jumped off on her own. He had to admit that hurt. Just a little. He quickly shook it off, though, and introduced her to the waiting team.
"Alright. You already know who I am. This is Gwen Cooper, she keeps us human. Owen Harper, our sarcastic medic. Toshiko Sato, resident computer genius. And Ianto Jones; he keeps us going and makes a mean cup of coffee."
During the introductions, the teen studied the people around her with sharp eyes.
When Jack finished speaking, she said, "Well, I guess this means I have to tell you who I am."
"No need," the Captain interrupted. When she simply stared at him, he continued. "Trace Emma Peterson, born June 16th, 1991 in London, England."
He was about to give all the info they'd learned about her when she interrupted him. "Okay, fine, you know who I am. Now why don't you enlighten me as to why I'm here?"
Jack couldn't help but grin once again. "You, Trace Peterson, made Gwen and Owen question their own sanity a few nights ago."
Looking unimpressed, the girl asked, "How so?"
Gwen chose to jump in at this point. "We saw you being attacked by a weevil. You were thrown against a wall and passed out. Once we contained it, Owen went to look at you and you were gone."
Still calm, Trace replied, "Sorry, I don't recall anything like that ever happening."
While those two were talking, Jack had started to piece everything together in his head. Her looks, her attitude, her ability to be hurt pretty bad only a few days ago and be standing here unscathed, her accent, her mother, her birthday.
Suddenly, everything snapped into place and he realized that his suspicions had to be correct. He also knew that if this girl is who he thinks she is, then there's only one way possible to deal with her.
Gwen was just starting to get upset, insisting that it was her, when Jack interrupted.
"I'll make a deal with you. Tell us what you remember of that night, and I'll tell you who your father is."
Ignoring the looks he was getting from his team, Jack stared straight into Trace's eyes.
The girl's mask slipped and she looked shocked. She stared back into the Captain's eyes while regaining her composure.
Once the mask was firmly back in place, Trace looked away. "It doesn't matter who he was, he's dead now. Has been since before I was born."
Jack's lopsided grin showed that he was getting a bit frustrated, but he was not to be put off. "What if I told you that he wasn't? That he survived that crash? That he's alive?"
This was becoming too much to bear, so Trace hurriedly turned away from him to try and regroup.
While her back was turned, the forgotten team pulled Jack aside and started laying into him.
"What do you think you're at?" "What are you trying to do?" "How can you lie to her face?"
Owen, Gwen, and Tosh's comments overlapped each other.
When they stopped to breathe, Ianto spoke up. "How do you know he died in a crash if there was no father on record?"
Surprised, the three who were previously talking turned to stare at the Welshman, who in turn stared at Jack.
The Captain noticed that Trace had turned back around and quickly replied, "I'll tell you later. I promise," before heading back to the teen.
"So?" he asked.
The girl calmly replied, "Okay."