It didn't take long for the Torchwood team to explain their stance on, what was being referred to as the "Wolmer Case" to the DI and DS. The "unknown substance" found in Jude Wolmer's body was the poisonous sweat of a Leekodone, a creature from the planet Arkdo II. The poison is known to Torchwood as "Leeke" (pronounces lee-eek).
"I know what you're thinking," Jake said. "Not too clever of a name, but it's the best we've got."
Being a liquid sweat, one might think that Leeke could be consumed as a drink rather than used as a drug. Honestly, it could be used as both, but it would burn a human's mouth down to raw, stinging pink flesh and it's more efficient as a drug, anyways. It's as addictive as nicotine but causes the user to react as if they were on acid. Though Leeke is poisonous, if treated in small, concentrated doses, it could be used as a drug. But the amount has to be small, emitted through a needle, similarly in the way of heroin, which is another reason why it's preferred usage is as a drug opposed to a liquid drink. Although, it wasn't unheard of to use Leeke to spike alcohol.
Upon observing Wolmer's body and the Leeke contained within it, Drew found that Jude had either been given or self administered multiple shots of Leeke. Though the blow to his head caused an epic amount of blood loss, depending on when the drug was admitted, Drew assumed the most likely cause of death was the Leeke, with a blow to the head to make sure "the job was done." This sort of method was generally not unheard of.
"So if the case is all alien, I don't see how there's much we can do for the investigation?" Ellie asks, brows furred and lips pressed into a firm line.
"We don't know yet if this case is entirely alien," Rose supplied simply, intertwining on the table in front of her as she leans forwards. "There have been several alien based drug rings throughout, well, the world. We've dealt with plenty in England, especially London. Sometimes the rings involve all aliens, other times they involve aliens and humans, and sometimes they involve all humans supplying alien based drugs. The bodies you've found could be part of the drug ring, or they could be completely innocent, and their reasons for being killed could be non-alien related, but their killer or killers, for whatever reason, used an alien drug to, er, 'get the job done.'"
"What happens if the case turns out to be entirely alien? Do you just take it?" With his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, Rose can tell he's either trying to be threatening or defensive, but she's not going to let him belittle her.
"We'll just have to wait and see," she straightens her posture, hands still on the table, and tilts her head slightly to the side; an invitation to try and argue.
He declines, settling to even out his eyebrows and clenching his jaw. Rose can't help but notice the dimple that forms in his cheek, hidden slightly by his facial hair.
This is not the Doctor and she needs a distraction.
As if on cue, her mobile rings.
Pete Tyler, creator of Vitex and one of the multiple heads of Torchwood, has two phones. One is entirely Torchwood based, only used for business. When he calls Rose on this phone, she refers to him as "Pete." Pete's second phone is for family, friends, and emergencies only. Despite not actually being father and daughter, they have learned to accept one another as such. When Pete answers this phone, she refers to him as "Dad."
Looking up from the caller ID, Rose gives a sympathetic smile as she claims that it's an important call that she has to take and that she'll be back in a few minutes. She looks pointedly at her team and they nod in turn. They know the drill. If she's not back in five and a half minutes, one of them is to go after her. Having peaked at the caller ID, Mickey silently communicates to Jake and Drew that he'll get her. They don't ask, nor do they plan to. They can already guess, and if the looks from Rose and Mickey were to give any indication, they'd take their assumptions as correct.
Once she leaves the room, closing the door behind her, everyone sits in silence for a solid minute or two, Ellie and Alec wondering what just happened, and the boys silently communicating their plans.
Ellie and Alec watch the exchange with furrowed brows. They look to each other to see if the other has any idea. Ellie pulls a face and shrugs. Alec sniffs and looks away.
Ellie turns to Mickey. She looks concerned. Alec looks between a mix of confused and offended, until he blinks, sniffs, and relaxes his face back into an mask of devoid emotion.
"Is she alright?" Ellie asks Mickey. The looks on her face is more than concerned, it's also of compassion, both that of a mother. She has two kids, he remembers.
"Rose? Oh, she's always alright, least that's what she always says. Just a family call, nothin to worry bout."
"Family problems?" The boys are used to this tone. The tone that all the policemen they've worked with use. The tone that tries to sound neutral at first, but quickly grows intrusive, investigative, as if there's reason to suspect everyone for everything. The only difference between those policemen and Alec is that he looks like the Doctor and the boys will do anything to protect Rose from both men.
"Nah, mate. Her dad's the creator of Vitex. You know how those big companies are. Her dad's probably telling her about another fundraiser or party or somethin."
With a sweet smile gracing his lips and a far off look in his eyes, Drew quietly comments, "Met my fiancé at one of those parties."
"Congratulations," Ellie offers with a small smile.
Drew smiles back at her, "Thanks."
"Vitex?" Alec asks, eyes squinting slightly and brows furrowed.
"Yeah," Jake nods. "That's Rose Tyler, Vitex heiress that you're accusing of have family problems."
"Well how was I to know?" It looked as if he was going to roll his eyes, but he didn't. Jake wondered if he thought himself too above such a notion.
"You're a cop," Mickey points a finger in his direction.
"Yes. I am. And unlike most," he turns to Ellie. "I don't spent my free time dilly dallying over gossip drag."
"Oi!" Ellie protests. "Sorry that emunlike you, I use my free time to try and relax, maybe even have a little fun. Mister, 'I'm just going to sit around and sulk about my stupid two hearts.'"
Mickey tries to compose himself to appear nonchalant. He's trying, he's really, really trying.
"Now look what you've done, you've made them uncomfortable," Ellie accuses Alec. She turns to the boys, one at a time. "I apologize for him."
"I'm gonna go get Rose," Mickey blurts out before anyone can say anything further.
"Why?" Alec asks, his irritation clear.
"Strict policy, gotta check on each other if a call goes longer than a certain time."
"Who's policy is that?" Alec asks, his arms crossed again.
"Five and a half," Mickey mumbles as he heads for the door.
"What?"
"Five and a half minutes," Jake says, looking down at his watch. "That's our rule."
"Why?"
"Because Rose is the leader and what she says, goes."
"Five and a half minutes, that's very specific."
"Is it?" Mickey asks as he leaves the room.
Narrowing his eyes, Alec lowers his chin slightly to stare down Jake. He sniffs.
"Hardy," Ellie sighs.
"What, Benson?" He spits out, turning his attention to Ellie.
"I think when they get back, we should all go down to the morgue. Check out that new body," Drew calmly offers.
"I don't know if they've done the autopsy yet," Ellie says.
"You found the body, what? Five hours ago?"
"Five and a half," Alec grumbles.
"You gotta work on your jokes, mate," Jake shakes his head.
Alec responds by rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair. Turns out Jake was wrong, Alec doesn't think himself too above an eye roll. Jake's not sure how to feel about that, so he just lets the thought pass.
They spent the time waiting for Rose and Mickey in silence.
Leaving the room, Rose takes a deep breath to ease her tension and moves a few feet down the deserted hallway.
"Hey, dad, can you hold on a sec? Ta."
She walks a safe distance away from the door, making sure to be out of earshot if things get too loud or private on either side of the door.
"Hi, dad."
"Hello, sweetheart. How are you?"
"Oh, you know. Busy, investigating a new case. The usual. How are you and mum? Tony?"
"They're good, Rose. I, on the other hand, am worried about you."
"Me? And why's that?" Rose tries to sound innocent and flinches at her own voice.
"Your new case is in Broadchurch, isn't it?"
"Yeah. And you've got nothing to worry about, dad. I know what you're on about and I'm fine, I've accepted that. And we're getting along just fine. Well, as fine as he'll get along with us. Bit of a git, this one."
"Rose-"
"I know. Dad, I know. And I've already talked it out with the boys. They've agreed to pull me out if needed, and I've even agreed to let them sedate me if, so help me god, something goes a little too wrong."
"It's concerning, sweetheart, if you think they're going to need to sedate you."
"I only said that to make emthem feel better, dad. Honestly. I can handle myself, you know I can."
Rose could hear a deep sigh from the other end of the line and she closed her eyes, waiting her her dad to respond.
"I know, sweetheart. I know. I suppose I just feel guilty for not looking more into the case. I could have at least given you warning." There was as long pause before Pete spoke again. em"How far into the case are you?"
"We've met the DI and DS, they read their clearance files, I talked a little about the usual, they've accepted to work together, and we've just about finished telling them about our side of the case and what Drew found in his lab reports. I'm sure we'll be going to the morgue soon, and eventually we're going to try to meet Steve Connelly."
"Good, that's good. And they handled the clearance files well?"
"Well enough.. Hey, wait, how did you know about the whole.. Reason why you called?"
"The boys called from the hotel."
Rose growled quietly, "Of course they did." Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose before scrubbing her hand down her face, neck, chest, stomach, and then curving towards her side. "I can hold my own, you know," she said, quietly.
"I know. And I trust you. I just had to call to make sure, Rose."
"Thanks, dad."
"Any time, sweetheart."
The line went silent for a few seconds.
"You should probably get back to your team.
Rose closed her eyes and sighed again.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right."
"Alri-"
"Wait! I sort of ran out of the room. They're probably going to want to hear an excuse or something."
"Just tell them I called about that Vitex fundraiser dinner party in three weeks. The boys and their plus ones are, as always, on the list. And there's still an open spot for a plus one for you."
This time when Rose groaned, she exaggerated it, as this was the normal routine between the two. She never brought a plus one and Pete knew that. But he'd always offer, she'd always melodramatically react, and they'd both smile and laugh.
Despite her mother's failed attempts, Rose refuses to date. She always makes excuses.
"Busy job."
"Busy life."
"Too risky with my line of work."
"But the publicity, the paparazzi.."
The truth? Rose Tyler can't move on from the Doctor.
"And with good reason," she would usually respond.
She could never tell who she was really trying to convince; herself or others.
"Your mother wants you to wear that, um.. light.. pink.. silky.. dress.. thing? Any idea what she's talking about?"
"Yeah."
No.
"Good, good. Because I have no idea."
Her, either.
"Call me later when you get some free time. Let me know how things are going, okay?"
"Yeah, dad. Love you."
"Love you, too. Give my best to the boys."
"Will do."
Rose ended the call and leaned her back against the wall, closing her eyes, and trying to rub the uneasiness from her stomach. She stood there, inhaling and exhaling even, calculated breaths. Eventually, she opened her eyes and turned to walk back to the room. At that same moment, Mickey walked out into the hall.
Right. Protocol.
"Five and a half?" She asked.
"No idea," Mickey shook his head. "Got a bit bored in there, y'know?"
Rose laughed once, "Yeah, I bet. By the way, when I find out which one of you made that call to my dad, I'll bloody well have you," she pointed her index finger close to Mickey's nose, causing him to go cross eyed for a moment.
"We're worried, Rose."
"I know, Micks. But I can't keep letting this run my life."
"Listen, I understand telling people about the Doctor during clearances. I mean, after all the things you've told me about, its put my mind at ease quite a lot-"
"Then just trust me," she nearly begs.
Mickey searched Rose's face for a moment before exhaling slowly through his nose and nodding.
"Fine. But if we see even the smallest reason to take you out-"
"Then I give you and the boys full permission."
"Sorry about that, was just my dad, boys he wants me to remind you about the dinner function in three weeks," absentmindedly waving a hand, Rose reclaims her seat and turns to Ellie. "I trust my boys were on their best behavior?"
Ellie laughs, "Yes, but mine was not."
Alec growls as he leans back in his seat, "I'm not your 'boy,' Benson."
Rolling her eyes, Ellie turns to Rose.
"We were thinking about going to the morgue."
"Sounds good to me."
"Great, let's go," Ellie smiled, placing her hands on the table to help push herself up.
Rose and her team followed suit and looked at Alec expectantly.
"What, emnow?"
"Unless you'd like to interrogate them a little more, yes," Ellie said, placing her hands on her hips and pursing her lips.
Alec gave an exasperated sigh before standing.
"Well?" He asked, eyebrows raised and mouth hanging slightly open a she nodded towards the nod. "Ladies first."
Mickey, Jake, and Drew try to press their lips into firm lines to stop them from smirking at Rose being called a lady once more.
"Yeah," Jake chined in. "Girls first."
Ellie gave Rose a confused look, to which Rose shrugs, and she walks out the door. As Rose started to follow her, she turned her head back to glare at the boys over her shoulder.
The four men shortly followed after.
"What the hell was that about?" Alec grumbled from the back of the group.
The three younger gentlemen shared a brief look, smirks lighting their faces.
"You keep calling her lady," Drew said casually.
"Do I?" Alec sniffed.
"Yeah, you should keep doing it," Drew continues.
"And why's that?"
The smirks on the boys' faces grew even wider. Alec raised an eyebrow but they don't give him any further explanation. He wasn't sure if he wanted to remove the word from his vocabulary or use it until it's worn down to the bone.
"Thats it? You're just going to smile at each other like a bunch of idiots and not tell me?"
"We'll just have to wait and see," thoughts of Rose's cocky voice and demeanor from earlier return to his mind for a moment.
He had only know the lady- bloody fuck- woman, for a few hours and already she had crawled under his skin. He wanted to peel her itching sense of existence off like a sunburn.
"How do you do that?" Leaning in close, Ellie whispered to Rose.
"Do what?"
"Stand up to Alec like that? Took my forever to even get him to call me 'Ellie' and he only does it like once every other week or month."
Her mouth suddenly dry, Rose licked her lips.
"Oh, well.. I learned at a pretty young age that sometimes you need to stand up for yourself. It wasn't until I started traveling that I got the courage to. Now I don't let anyone make me feel less than I am. They can see me as they want, but all that matters is how I see myself.. Besides, I work with a whole team of boys. Can't let them get all the credit for protecting me. Their egos get bigger than their heads if I'm not around to put them in their place," Rose grinned.
Ellie blinked at Rose, "And you're how old?"
"Twenty-six or so? Not entirely sure, to be honest. The thought gets a bit lost when you.. erm.. travel."
"Well, I'm certainly impressed."
Rose gave the woman a soft smile, which she easily returned. "Thank you."