Kitzinger v Danes

Chapter Four: Preparations

Author's Note: WOW. So may views, and loads of hits! Thanks :)

I don't want to sound desperate, but it'd be really nice to get an opinion on this that isn't my mum's, so…reviews? 'Cause I need to know how to improve this.

Disclaimer: Torchwood is not mine. End of.

Isn't it amazing, Jilly thought to herself as she helped Esther copy some files from her laptop onto a small disc, how when your mind gets hold of a single idea, it just won't let go? This thing Esther and I dreamed about last night…it terrified me, yet, at the same time, I feel almost like it's calling out to me, drawing me to the edge….and maybe even over the edge. Because what I saw –or rather, what I didn't get to see- was beautiful. Like the very essence of life was down there, everything, glowing in one wonderful, impossible pattern that just has to be solved. And I want to be the one to solve it. And if that's true….then it must hold the answer to all this. The Miracle, and how to end it. How to win our case. Everything. If I could understand it, I could find those answers…

"Hello, Earth to Jilly Kitzinger?"

Jilly snapped out of her daydream to see Esther giving her a slightly odd look.

"Are you done staring into space? 'Cause I need a password to get that video from the hotel room."

"What? Oh, yeah, right." Jilly leaned over and tapped a password into the box provided.

"Thanks. What were you thinking about, anyway? You were totally zoned out."

"Nothing. Just…that thing last night. The dream."

"Ah."

It had been on both their minds quite a bit for most of the morning.

"Hey, Jilly?"

"Yeah?"

"I know how real it felt, and how weird it was, but I think it might be a good idea to try and forget about it. It may seem like just a dream, but I can see Jack's scared by it. I think that he thinks it's some kind of trap, mind manipulation or something. And if that really is the case, we shouldn't dwell too much on it." Esther said. Jilly nodded in agreement.

"You're probably right."

But if I'm right….I wonder what I could do, if I could understand what it's saying to me? It could tell us how to win this thing…..how to end the Miracle…..it could change the world, I'm sure it could…if only I understood what it's saying….

Jack, who had been preoccupied sorting through documents for most of the morning, looked up. "Anyone fancy a break?"

His suggestion was met with enthusiasm, and soon the five of them were sitting in a small café, sipping coffee. For Jack and Gwen, who, after Ianto's famous coffee, could drink hardly any other type, it came as a pleasant surprise.

"Wow, this is almost as good as Ianto's." Gwen said, savouring the taste of it. J

Jack nodded. "This may be the best coffee I've had in months."

They sat enjoying their drinks in silence for a few minutes before Jack spoke up again. "Ok, after last night's events, in particular, the first one, I think we need to go over a few things. Firstly, I don't think it's a good idea to stay in that apartment for any longer than we need to, in case Amelia comes back. So, I've booked us into the hotel down the street."

"Which hotel?" Gwen asked. "There's at least five down that street."

"The Miltonian."

Jilly smiled. "Jack, you're fantastic!"

Jack looked slightly bemused yet happy. "I know. …What part of my fantastic-ness are we talking about?"

"That's the hotel Oswald and I were staying in. This makes it easier to get information. You know, question the staff and guests, see if they saw or heard anything suspicious."

Jack nodded again. "Good thinking. And that brings us on to our next issue."

He looked at Jilly as he spoke. "You had a gun pointed at you last night and Amelia may very well have pulled that trigger and shot you. In the interest of safety, I don't want you going off on your own and I want the rest of you to keep an eye out for anything out-of-the-ordinary. Clear?"

"Wait a minute. I can't go anywhere on my own?" Jilly asked. "I always have to have one of you with me?"

Jack shrugged. "Sorry, but it's just a precaution. If you enjoy being killed then go right ahead and wander off."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You make charming conversation, Jack."

"I like to think of it as a gift." he grinned.

"You're the only one, Jack. Anyway, shouldn't we be getting back? We still have a lot of work to do, and if we're moving to the Miltonian, we ought to do some packing, too."

The others voiced their agreement, so Jack went to pay.

"Jesus Christ." Gwen muttered, shaking her head. "I don't believe it."

"What?" Esther asked. "Is it Jack?"

Gwen nodded. "The bloody idiot's gone to pay with English money."

"Should we tell him?"

They considered this option. "How about we let him work it out for himself?" Gwen suggested, a grin spreading across her face.

Half an hour, one massive argument with the waitress on Jack's part, a lot of laughing on everyone else's part, and one severe lecture later, they were back at the apartment, Jack refusing to speak to any of them.

"Come on Jack, it's quite funny when you think about it." Gwen said, in a futile effort to make him talk.

"We're sorry we didn't tell you, but we didn't know the waitress would be so mad." Esther added, also trying to make amends with Jack.

Rex sighed. "Jack, this is ridiculous. You gotta talk sooner or later."

Jack still did not speak.

All of a sudden, an idea came into Jilly's head. "Hey, Jack, what's all this about these dreams being 'mind-manipulation'? Only, Esther said you thought that's what's going on."

"I never said that!"

There was a stunned silence before everyone started laughing. Well, everyone apart from Jack.

"It's not funny!" he protested, not very convincingly.

Esther held up her hands in mock-surrender. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry."

Jack might have taken her more seriously if she wasn't still laughing.

"Knew I could make you talk to us." Jilly said.

Jack tried his best to look dignified. "You did not, I chose to talk!"

"Sure you did…"

"I did!"

"Look, I don't care what happened, but can we please move on now?" asked Rex, who was once again witness to Torchwood's amazing lack of professionalism. "What is all this 'mind-manipulation' stuff anyway?"

"I saw something similar to this once." Jack said. "It was years ago, hundreds of years back into my past, and a thousand years into your future."

"Oh, here we go again." Rex muttered.

"Anyway," Jack went on, "it was the same sort of thing, and one of my friends kept getting dreams like yours." he nodded and Jilly and Esther. "Eventually, it drove him mad. He went out in the middle of the night, screaming that he'd found the 'answer'- how to stop what was happening. He was found dead the next morning. He'd wandered into quicksand. I went back years later and found out what had happened. Some people had found this…thing, whatever was causing their Miracle, and they had found a way to get inside people's minds. Every time, it was people with troubled lives. Not enough money, marriage breaking up, unemployed, victims of assault, ect. It got inside their heads, showed them visions. They thought it was the answer to everything. That it could show them how to turn their lives around. And with the Miracle keeping them alive for ever, they had nothing to lose. None of them survived. So you two," again, he pointed at Esther and Jilly, "had better be careful. Don't think about it. If this really is what's going on, we'll find out and put an end to it, but that won't happen if you let it take over you. Because do you know the worst thing of all? Those people, the ones manipulating…whatever it was to get inside people's heads, they thought it was funny. They were doing it for a joke! We don't know what or who we are dealing with here, so for God's sake, be careful."

"It's ok." Esther replied. "We will be."

Jack looked at Jilly. "Relax, Harkness, I'm not stupid. I'll be careful."

Jack did relax a little, though he made a mental note to keep a close eye on the two of them, just in case.

Gwen suddenly remembered something. "Jack?"

"What?"

"When are we meant to check in at the hotel?"

Jack laughed. "Relax, Gwen, we've got plenty of time. We're not due there until…" he caught sight of the clock. "….20 minutes ago."

Jilly pulled her phone out and started dialling a number.

"What are you doing?" Rex asked.

"I'm calling the hotel to sort things out. Believe me; if you're late checking in you might not even get a room. I've stayed there several times, it's happened to me."

All the phones must have been busy, because Jilly ended the call and shoved her phone in her bag, looking annoyed. "Come on, let's go."

Jack looked surprised. "Hey! I'm the boss! Where are we going anyway?"

"The hotel, so I can get us our rooms?"

Jack thought this was probably the best thing to do, so didn't protest anymore.

"Welcome to the Miltonian Hotel, may I help you?" the black-haired receptionist asked, a smiled fixed to her face.

Jilly stepped forward, about to put skills from 5 years in PR to the ultimate test. She'd had to do this once before, and it hadn't been easy then. She could sort of understand, though. The Miltonian was an in-demand hotel.

"Hi, we have reservations in the name of Harkness, Jack Harkness." she said, giving the receptionist a sweet smile.

"I'm sorry, you're late and we've already promised three of your rooms to other guests." the receptionist replied, still with a friendly smile and an overly-sweet tone, which nobody believed for a second.

"I'm really sorry about that, we got a little held up."

"I'm sorry, but there's five of you and only two rooms."

"How many people can sleep in one room?"

"Both your remaining rooms have two single beds and one sofa bed."

Jilly smiled. "Perfect. Can we have the keys, please?"

The receptionist, who's name tag introduced her as Lucy- Happy to help! gave them a filthy look, but reluctantly handed over the keys anyway.

"Thank you, and have a nice day. We hope you'll stay with us again." she said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm and annoyance.

"Well," Jilly replied, still keeping her sweet-and-friendly voice, with a smile on her face, "we hope you'll learn some manners next time we see you, then we really will have a nice day."

If looks could kill, Lucy would have just made each and every one of them a Category One. However, looks could not (thankfully) kill, so she settled for jamming the keys into Jilly's outstretched hand, hard, and giving her another death-glare. Jilly was about to say something both clever and insulting when common sense caught up with her, and she just returned the Look she was getting and walked away.

"So, where are our rooms, then?" Gwen asked. "What floor, I mean."

Jilly checked the label attatched to the keys. "6th Floor. Rooms 28 and 29."

"Shall we take the lift, then?"

"I think you mean 'elevator'." Esther pointed out helpfully.

Gwen laughed. "Thank you, Miss Translation. So, shall we take the elevator?"

"Yeah, I think we should. I don't fancy climbing six flights of stairs."

Gwen pressed the button for what was now referred to as the elevator. It immediently lit up and the door opened, revealing what was probably the poshest lift any of them –except Jilly, who had been in the hotel before- had ever seen. The floor was wooden, and the walls were lines with mirrors. A gold railing ran round the sides. They walked in, most of them still marvelling at the fanciness of it all.

"I haven't seen a lift this nice since I was on Marhi Six." Jack declared. "Only this one isn't filled with large oval-shaped purple things."

With a ding!, the lift (or elevator) door opened, revealing a long corridor lined with many numbered doors.

"Our stop?" Gwen asked. "Or is there some fancy American word for that, too?"

"No." Esther replied. "To the extent of my knowledge, there is no American wording for 'our stop'."

"For once."

With a loud ping, the lift doors slid smoothly shut.

Yet another example of Torchwood's tragic lack of professionalism. Rex thought to himself as he pressed the button to re-open the doors. The others were so busy discussing the truly fascinating differences between American English and British English that they hadn't noticed. Well, let them stay there all day if they wanted to. They didn't even notice when the doors opened again, and they still didn't notice when he walked out of the lift. He was now faced with a dilemma; wait outside their rooms, which would be pointless as he would be locked out, or return to the lift and get the others out. The latter sounded better, but they might want to continue their conversation, and someone might walk past and think he knew them. Which he did. He was still debating this in his head when he heard voices from down the corridor. He turned his head to look and for a moment, he thought he was seeing Oswald and Jilly. Well, he was seeing Oswald, but the woman next to him wasn't Jilly Kitzinger. She was too small, and he skin was too tanned. She had dark hair, and wore it up. But everything else, from what she was saying to how she said it, from her clothes to the way she walked, it all mirrored the redhead who had once been in her place. Instinctively, he stepped back against the wall. The woman with Oswald was Amelia. Amelia Ure, the lady who had pointed a gun at them last night. Amelia, who would probably try to kill Jilly, and the rest of them, into the bargain if she saw they were there. He felt himself tense slightly as they neared, but relaxed when Amelia opened a door and walked in, Oswald doing the same at the next door. The reality of it took a few seconds to sink in; Oswald and Amelia's rooms were right next to theirs.

A/N: Well, I don't think I'd feel too happy if they were next door to me *shudders*. Maybe the team will move rooms or something….next chapter should have seen the start of the trial, but that may have to wait until Chapter Six. Sorry! Also, 'humour' wasn't and isn't one of the main genres, but I can't resist adding some in here and there….then again, I may be the only one who actually finds it humorous. Everyone is probably (mainly Jilly) very OOC here, but bear with me, I'm trying my best! Until next time, I love you all for reading and reviewing this (anyone wanna review this chapter? :D), and for adding to favourites and alerts. Shout out to Dark-Sky86, for adding this to their 'favourites' list! Ciao, guys!

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