Time Entertwined

Chapter 2

"Yes may I help you?" Marcus asked politely.

"Mr Edwards?" the police man inquired.

"Yes?" Marcus answered, "have I done anything wrong officer?"

"You have a daughter, aged approximately 19 years of age?"

"Yes, what this about?" Marcus getting worried.

"Sorry sir, but we believe that your daughter was found in the bush. We need you to identify her body" the policeman said apologetically.

Police inform Marcus that they believe that his daughter was found killed in the bush near his house. And could he please accompany them to the morgue to identify the body. In a daze Marcus follows them to the morgue and is led into one of the viewing rooms, the body of the jogger is on the slab. The morgue attendant pulls back the white sheet to reveal Marcus's daughter, the apple of his eye, his little girl that who would visit all the time as she missed her father whilst at uni, his little girl that could always make him smile when he felt sad about the loss of his wife.

Marcus howled, crying out "Why, why ,why" and "No, no, no"

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9am in the Hub and all are in, caffeine still coursing through their veins from the morning dose of 'Ianto brew', as they go about their business. Jack's mind wanders, after all signing reports is the most boring part of his job, thoughts of Ianto keep on interrupting his reading, thinking of Ianto and him in Venice, yes, that is the most romantic place, the ideal place to propose to Ianto, his hand instinctively went to his pocket, the ring that he picked up the other day in readiness of his proposal to Ianto in Venice, oh yes, it's the most romantic place and with the love of his life, it's the perfect place to 'pop' the question. He thought of all the ways he would do this, on a gondola, on the bridge of sighs, at the finest authentic Italian restaurant, so many places in romantic Italy. Jack just hoped that he didn't chicken out, there was always that possibility, his nerves were getting the best of him lately. Thinking of nerves Jack observed that Owen seemed nervous, not his usual self-assured arse and he is kept on looking up to where the girls were working, he hoped that Owen wasn't picking up with Gwen again.

"Meeting in 10 minutes guys" Jack calls out over the comms, figuring they were all needing another caffeine fix and for Jack a 'fix' of seeing Ianto, it had been two hours since he last saw him after all, he was having withdrawal symptoms, oh you've got it bad Jack, Jack thought to himself.

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Several days later after the police shown him his murdered daughter, Marcus found out from the police that two cyclists, a father and son found his daughter in the bush and it was also revealed that they saw her about 20 – 30 minutes before finding her dead body as she was telling them about a man who was after her with a knife and begged them to go with her in the other direction. Marcus got a chill listening to this, not only because it was his daughter but that the details were so similar….exactly the same!… to what occurred to him and his dad.

Marcus asked what was his daughter wearing, recalling that the girl that he and his dad saw so many years ago, was wearing a tight pink t-shirt and black running shorts. The police sergeant said a pink t-shirt and black running shorts. No it couldn't be, how is this possible? Marcus thought, his mind racing, this can't be happening.

"NO, this is not possible" Marcus screamed, "No, No, No, this is wrong, all wrong, how could this be right, she couldn't be wearing those clothes" Marcus became hysterical.

The police sergeant looked at Marcus quizzically, why would he be so concerned about what his daughter was wearing. The sergeant called for a medic, but Marcus, screamed "No…. no, let me explain!"

Marcus tried to calm down so he could explain. Marcus explained to Sergeant Craig what had occurred to him and his dad so many years ago and how there was no body found by the police when they lead them there, so it was dismissed as there was no body. The police constable Craig inquiringly shook his head and said that he didn't understand. Marcus shouted that this happened 35 years ago, with a girl about his daughter's age wearing a pink t-shirt and black running shorts.

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Jack sat in his office looking down at his team with a smile on his handsome face, watching Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto go about their work. Gwen was looking through police reports of some reported muggings in Cardiff, thinking that they were alien related; Owen was cutting into a body of their latest alien, the recorder capturing his words to be referenced later; Tosh was on her back under a computer improving some electronic gadget or other; and Ianto, his lovely Ianto was sitting at his computer logging in the latest artefact that the rift spat out. Jack's smile grew when he saw Ianto stop and stretch, his shoulders scrunch up, his arms flung out and raised up high, his head pulled back in a familiar way that reminded Jack so much of when Ianto would be so close to the peak of his arousal and his head would fall back and he would scream Jack's name. Jack shook his head, now is not the time or the place, Jack admonished himself; the team knew of his and Ianto's relationship but whilst at work they were professional, keeping that side for when they were alone at home. Home being a lovely apartment they bought together to represent their bond together and commitment to each other. Jack remembers the day fondly when they went out to buy furniture together, he was the happiest he had been in a long time, what with all that Torchwood thrust upon them and heart ache they had endured over the past few years they both agreed they need some normality. So going shopping for furniture and buying groceries was an activity that they did rarely but enjoyed thoroughly, besides their love making which never got boring, never with Ianto, Jack thought lovingly. Jack shook his head again, 'enough! real work to do' thought Jack.

The phone rang, Jack sighed and picked it up "Yes, hello" he said.

"Captain Harkness? Police Sergeant Craig here" the person on the other side of the phone said.

"Yes, do I know you?" Jack asked.

"No, but I've heard about your organisation and I think I may have something of interest to you" Sergeant Craig said.

"Oh, yes?" Jack asked quizzically.

Sergeant Craig explained about the girl found murdered in the bush, and about her father and what he said about seeing the same girl 35 years ago, and how that girl disappeared, and how the father of the more recent murdered girl seemed sure it was the same girl.

"Send me the details and I'll look into it" Jack said, giving the sergeant his email, an email set up just for the police, wouldn't do to have the police having their real email details.

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Marcus sat at home in his black suit, his tear stained face showing the strain of the last couple of days. Marcus thought about all the things he said to police sergeant Craig and how at first he seemed interested then he dismissed it like the police dismissed it 35 years ago, why didn't anyone believe him he thought frustrated. As much as he didn't want to believe it himself he is sure that 35 years ago the girl that he and his dad saw that day was his daughter that wasn't even born at that time. But how could that be possible, he raked his brain, what would cause that to happen, police Sergeant Craig said something about an organisation 'Torch..' something or other but then he didn't mention them again. Why, could they know something? Marcus thought.

Marcus did a search on the computer, random words, …..'time', 'Torch', 'time shift', 'oddities', 'strangeness'…..the computer came up with an organisation 'Torchwood' that some nerds said that investigated aliens, strange events and other odd occurrences. Could they explain, could they understand, could they fix this? Marcus's mind raced with these thoughts. More research revealed that this 'Torchwood' was in Cardiff, that's a pretty big place, but there was a group of researchers/nerds that got together to discuss this 'Torchwood' group. Marcus found out when they meet next and arranged to go to the next meeting, which luckily was in 2 days time, in Cardiff.

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The information from the Torchwood researchers/nerds group that Marcus obtained seemed strange but what happened was strange so he had to try, had to try to see if they could help him. He was convinced that they were able to reverse time, they had some sort of time shifter thingy that could fix these types of events. Could Torchwood help Marcus fix this, could Marcus go back 35 years and save the girl, save his daughter, he was so sure that the girl his dad and him saw the day was his daughter even though at that time he wasn't even a dad himself, even though she wasn't even born at that time.

Marcus settled himself in front of his computer and put together the information he had to formulate a plan.

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Owen headed up to the tourist office looking for Ianto, yeah he could have spoken to him over the comms but this wasn't for the comms, he wanted to talk to him in person. Owen was a little nervous, an unusual event for him but we all change, Torchwood changes people.

Ianto, looking through some catalogues on his lap top, leaning on the counter, turned as he heard the hidden door slide open to reveal Owen. "Hey Owen, heading out? I didn't hear that there was a rift alert"

'Yeah, no,… no rift alert, just stretching my legs" Owen said nervously.

"Oh okay" Ianto said.

Owen stood there watching as Ianto began re-arranging the Cardiff tourist maps on top of the counter, Ianto sensed Owen's nervousness, thought well, that's strange, but strange is something you get used to at Torchwood. After several minutes, Ianto said "Oh Owen, did you want something?"

"Ah…um, yeah" Owen spoke hesitantly "it's just,…it's Tosh's birthday next week, and I …..um, I thought that we could go out …." he stuttered, "all of us" he added quickly.

"Yeah, that's sounds good, Tosh would love that" Ianto said smiling, thinking that was nice of Owen even if it was ususual coming from Owen.

"Yeah that's the thing, do you know what restaurant she would like to go to, since you two are quite close", Owen said anxiously.

"Yeah she has been admiring the new restaurant down the road, the Thai one, you know the one?" Ianto said.

"Yeah, um…that's sounds good…..um… do you think that….um….oh forget it" Owen flustered.

Ianto sensing that Owen was trying to say something but for some strange and crazy reason he was having trouble expressing himself, is this Owen, has Owen been replaced by an alien, oh well with Torchwood anything is possible. "Owen, what is it?" Ianto asked quizzically.

"No, forget it Ianto, stupid idea, stupid ….never gonna happen" Owen muttered.

"Owen, do you want to ask Tosh out?" Ianto asked as he slowly realised why Owen was acting not like himself.

"Yeah" Owen said slowly, "Do you think that she would go out to dinner with me?"

"Hell yeah, Owen, are you blind?" Ianto said incredibly.

"What?" Owen said.

"She's liked you for …forever" Ianto stated.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, yeah!" Owen said his smile lighting up his face.

Owen walked back through the hidden door with a slight spring to his step.

Ianto shook his head, smiling and went back to his laptop, looking at the possible places that Jack and he were going to visit on their holiday to Venice.

The comms crackled "Rift alert" Ianto quickly closed his laptop and raced down to the Hub.

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The information, although hard to find, was there once Marcus was able to isolate this mysterious Captain, there appeared to be 5 people associated with Torchwood, this Captain, 2 men and 2 women. The photos were grainy but were always associated with strange events. The whereabouts of its base were harder to find but it seemed that it was somewhere near the Cardiff Millennium Centre. Marcus decided to go there and see if he could find more out, so without so much as letting anyone know he drove off in the direction of the Cardiff Millennium Centre.

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Jack, Ianto, Gwen and Owen strode out across the Plas, heading towards the parked black SUV where it was left, when Owen parked it last, too lazy to park it in its safest parking spot in the private car park. Jack was talking to Tosh through the comms, Owen and Ianto were talking quietly between themselves discussing Owen's eventual date with Tosh, Owen was going to take her out the day after her birthday as Gwen had planned for them all to go to the pub to celebrate Tosh's birthday with a few drinks, rift permitting. Gwen was on her mobile listening to Rhys rant about something or other. As they approached the SUV Jack reached inside his jacket to retrieve the car keys, but Ianto pulled out the keys from his jacket pocket as he rounded about to the driver's side. Jack looked at Ianto stunned and a slight smile.

"I'm sure I picked them up, how did you get them?" Jack asked pouting.

"Jack, I'm driving, the rift is close by so there's no need to scare the locals with your driving" Ianto said with a smile on his impossibly beautiful face. Since he and Jack had committed themselves exclusively he was happiest that he has ever been and he was more relaxed and his beauty shone through. Jack smirked and raised one eyebrow quizzically at his lover.

"Right keep, keep the comms open, thanks Tosh" Jack said ending the conversation with Tosh as the rest of the team got in the SUV, Ianto in the driver's seat, Jack in the front passenger seat and Owen and Gwen in the back. Gwen retracted the computer accessing the computer via Tosh who was showing them the location of the current rift.

As the SUV drove off it was watched by Marcus who had sat in the Plas waiting for something that might be that of the elusive Torchwood. When he saw the SUV and Torchwood team, the captain sticking out like a sore thumb, it was quite hard not to notice the man, what with his old World War II coat flapping about as he walked with his 'team' to a large black SUV. Curiously the SUV also had TORCHWOOD etched on its roof, so much for being a secret organisation!

Marcus ran to his car that was parked nearby, noting with indifference that it had a parking ticket on it, and drove off in the same direction of the SUV. He watched from a distance as the SUV parked at a nearby alleyway and the 3 men and woman got out of the SUV and spread out two by two, the Captain and a tall handsome young man together and the woman with the other smaller man.

After some time Marcus watched astonishingly as the Captain and the young man had what appeared a man in overalls with a bag over its lopping head and they bundled it into the large boot of the SUV. They were shortly followed by the other two, arguing with each other as they climbed into the SUV. This time the Captain got in the driver's seat and drove off.

Marcus followed the SUV at quite a distance back to the Plas. The SUV disappeared into what Marcus supposed was an underground car park. So Marcus waited and watched, he needed to find where they actually where situated if he was to get inside and locate the time shifter.

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Ianto with Owen's help got the sedated Weevil out of the SUV boot and brought him?her? up to the cells, "Lets see if this one likes our Janet" Owen stated straight faced.

"Not likely, Janet hasn't liked any of the ones we've brought back, my bet is this is another one we will have to return to the sewers" Ianto commented dryly.

XxxxxxxX

"So which pub have you organised for us to go to celebrate Tosh's birthday tomorrow, the usual local or the other pub with the karoke" Jack asked Gwen.

"Oh no Jack, no karoke, the last time we were there as lovely as yours and Ianto's voices are, no one needs to see you two singing love ballads to each other and then … well lets just say that I don't think the audience was expecting you to snog Ianto on the stage and to top it off you go for a grope ….whilst you were on the stage!, I mean, no one knew where to look." Gwen said sheepishly, "So no, Jack it will be at the local with no karoke!"

Jack laughed loudly, recalling when he and Ianto got a wee bit drunk at the local after celebrating capturing a large haul of weevils and had put them into safer environments away from the Cardiff citizens.

XxxxxxxxX

After putting the newly acquired weevil in the cell next to Janet the team cleaned themselves up and set to head home. Gwen rang Rhys to tell him that she would be ready to be collected in the Plas in 10 minutes. Tosh checked the rift for any rift activity that may occur overnight one last time knowing that Jack carrying with him a remote rift alarm with him, they all set off home, exiting from the tourist information centre. Owen put out his arm in invitation for Tosh to hook her arm through his; she did so shyly, looking out of the corner of her eye to Ianto who smiled at his friend arching his eyebrows. Gwen hooked her arms between Jack and Ianto as they walked across the Plas to where Rhys was going to collect Tosh and Gwen.

Marcus tightly wrapped his jacket around him more to keep the cold out while he watched the Torchwood team exit out of a tourist information centre and walked towards the pub. Now was the time for him to try to gain entry into this place, he had to find this time shifter, if they had one, they had to, his daughter's life was banking on it. After an hour of searching Marcus couldn't find a way in or a way to break in, there were security cameras everywhere as well as the tightest defence into gaining entry into this torchwood place. So he would have to find another way, then he thought he wouldn't know what a time shifter thingy would look like or even how to work it, so his next part of his evolving plan would be to wait for one of the team to be on their own and then gain entry using that team member. Marcus didn't even think about the lives of others now, he was so focussed on only fixing this, getting his daughter's life back.

This was his only way.

A/N: Reviews makes me smile.