Jack and Miranda unloaded the SUV in reverent silence. Gwen, Fish and Ianto had taken Donovan sight seeing as a way to fill the time while Miranda and Jack performed the autopsy. Even though they were both immortal, they'd performed the autopsy in full protective gear. Jack had even demanded the tests be done without anyone in the Hub so Miranda had analysed Stephanie Wilson's blood and tissue samples immediately.
All she'd found was evidence of profound infection. It had invaded every organ of Stephanie's body. The only strangeness had been the green colour to her fingertips and the fact that the tissue had felt mushy, almost gelatinous in Miranda's hands. Nothing she'd found was evidence that this was alien and the purview of Torchwood. So, Miranda had returned Stephanie's body to University Hospital. The samples Miranda had taken were destroyed in the Hub incinerator. Once everything had been disinfected, the rest of the team was permitted back inside for a small briefing after their take away dinner. The mood around the table was solemn.
"This'll be quick everyone. Will?" Jack said from his place at the head of the table.
Miranda tapped the tablet in front of her, bringing up a picture of Stephanie Wilson in life. Her face was grim as she said, "This is Stephanie Wilson, age five. She, along with the rest of her family, collapsed into a coma at University Hospital nearly a week ago. The cause is unknown. Our computer system caught the unusual circumstances of an entire family falling into a coma nearly simultaneously but didn't flag it for our attention until the family's condition became life threatening. At first, I had thought the most likely cause of their illness was a toxin."
"Why's that, Evie?" Fish asked.
"Five people falling so ill simultaneously highly indicates exposure to a toxin. It's one family who lives in the same home, eats the same food, drinks the same water, uses the same household products, et cetera," Miranda said, twisting in her chair. "I have altered my list of differentials now that six of the staff are also ill."
Miranda reached forward and tapped the tablet in front of her again. The picture of the isolation ward with the hospital staff came into view. "Brian Wilson injured himself when he, quite literally, fell into a coma. He broke his nose on the arm of a chair. These six staff came into direct contact with his blood. Each of them had some sort of cut or abrasion that was the point of infection. Another nurse accidentally punctured herself with a used needle. She has not developed symptoms yet but I believe it is inevitable that she will. Since their illness was the most advanced, I examined all five members of the Wilson family, including Stephanie. I am sorry to say that their situation is critical and the prognosis is extremely grave."
"Are they all going to die?" Gwen asked, quietly.
"In all likelihood," Miranda answered and then added in a voice so low that Donovan thought perhaps he was the only one who heard her whisper, "and may the Gods unite them in the afterlife."
Without thinking, he reached out and squeezed Miranda's hand. She squeezed it back and then let go, tapping the tablet in front of her. Donovan looked up and saw Ianto quickly averting his gaze. Well, there go the beans spilling all over the place…
"As I have said already, had the Wilsons not infected others, the most likely explanation is some sort of toxin exposure but all tests are negative-"
"Could be something we can't test for," Donovan pointed out.
"That is possible. It is also possible it is some alien toxin. I've done some preliminary research and have found nothing but infectious disease is not my speciality. My autopsy of Stephanie Wilson found nothing out of the ordinary except for a strange feel to her tissues and this green tinge to her fingertips." Miranda tapped the tablet and the picture changed to the photograph of Stephanie's fingers. "The nail bed was green as was nearly the entire fingertip. The distal phalanges, the bones in the fingertip, were also green. As you can see, the colour is quite vibrant, like a tropical plant. My current assessment is that this is possibly within the scope of Torchwood but I have no solid evidence. It could be nothing more than a freak medical anomaly and tragedy but we're making you all aware because that could change. I do want to examine the rest of the victims as the illness claims them to be certain."
Donovan asked, "So this could still be something alien and we just can't tell?"
"That is a distinct possibility," Miranda said, steepling her fingers in front of her.
"We have a section in the archives for this - unusual but no conclusive evidence of alien involvement," Ianto pointed out.
Miranda continued, "I may or may not learn more when I examine the other victims. More could also be learned if others fall ill or as the disease progresses in the infected staff."
"What a waste," Gwen said, softly.
"Everyone, I know this is a tough one but let's keep it together," Jack said with a small nod. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Go home, recharge and we start fresh in the morning. Will? Hang back a minute."
Everyone else filed out of the room and Miranda stayed behind. She knew what this was about and she had zero patience for it. Jack got up and walked to the foot of the table. He leaned against it and crossed his arms in front of him, jutting out his chin slightly.
The minute everyone was out of earshot, Jack asked, "What's going on with you and Ethan Donovan?"
"Nothing, Jack," she said.
"That didn't look like nothing. I hope you know what you're getting yourself into," Jack warned. "You saw the background check. The man's vulnerable right now."
"It's not like that, Jack," she insisted.
"You sure about that?" he asked, seriously. "That's not what I'm seeing."
"Whom I take to my bed is none of your concern," she said, standing up. "End of discussion."
She turned and walked away but Jack jogged after her, grabbing her arm.
"Hey, Will, c'mon," he said. "Drop the ice queen act, okay? This is me you're talking to here. You need to be careful."
"It's just a bit of fun," she said, shaking off his grip, "and it is still none of your concern."
"That really hurts, Will," Jack said, seriously. He backed up and shook his head. "You say no to me and Ianto for going on a year now. At least we know what we're getting ourselves into-"
"Oh, I've wounded your pride," Miranda snapped, sarcastically. "The Goddess forgive that I have taken a man into my bed who isn't the infamous Jack Harkness!"
"This isn't about my ego," Jack yelled, "Ethan Donovan isn't exacty your type."
"I wasn't aware I had a type," she snipped back at him. "Perhaps in my current mood, I merely prefer someone who isn't quite so concerned with showing off."
Jack let out a frustrated growl. She was goading him and he wasn't going to fall for it this time. "Since you brought it up, don't think I haven't noticed that something's going on with you, Will."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Jack," Miranda said, feigning ignorance. She turned and started to walk away but Jack caught her by the arm again.
"You may have Ianto fooled but he doesn't know you like I do," Jack said. "I know you're drinking."
Miranda narrowed her eyes at him. She was about to open her mouth to loudly protest his accusations but Jack said, "I've known you almost a hundred years, Will, and I've seen you have a drink a year, maybe. Normally, I wouldn't call a drink every couple days a problem but with you? A drink every few days means you're practically a fall down drunk."
"I'm fine, Jack," she insisted.
"And like I said after you broke up with Nora, that won't be true no matter how many times you say it," he repeated. "I don't know what's going on with you, Will. If you don't want to talk to me, then talk to Ianto."
He lowered his hand and walked past her. She knew precisely what was going on with her but there was no way she wanted to talk about it with Jack or Ianto. She didn't want to upset the immortal man or incite Ianto's fears. She didn't want to show either man what time could do to a person.
The plain fact of the matter was that Yi Mei-Xiu was was becoming world weary.
At least, that's what she called it. She'd known it was coming for years actually. It was one of the reasons she'd retreated to the Welsh countryside. Sure, her falling out with Jack was why she'd left Cardiff and Torchwood in the first place but she could have gone anywhere. No, she'd decided to head to the country, hoping that time away in a simple life would refreshen her already waning spirits.
She'd first recognised the symptoms in herself back when she was young - only a few hundred years old. Back then and for the first few millennia, three or four years in the countryside enjoying a simple life would have refreshed her spirits. Then again, so had a few centuries of mindlessly slaughtering innocent men, women and children - not really a road Miranda wanted to go down ever again. These days, she merely seclude herself away for a decade or so.
But right now she didn't have the luxury of going home to her simple life of solitude. She was Torchwood. Oh, she'd have to leave eventually. The melancholy would completely overtake her and she'd end up drowning in sex, drug and drink. She wasn't there yet, not by a long shot but she could feel it starting but she knew she had a few years. There was nothing to be done except to try to hide the symptoms from those around her.
It had been the turn of the millennium that had done it to her this time. She'd been on duty at Boston General, volunteering for the shift so that others could celebrate the historical change from 1999 to 2000. She'd already seen 999 change to 1000. She'd also seen the invention of the calendar that used these dates. It had been all over the telly. She'd watched of course, not joyously celebrating like those around here, but a pit growing in her heart. Another thousand years… gone. Her falling out with Jack in 2005… the loss of Nora Ashline from her life last year had all just made things worse.
After the millennium, she'd come back to her job at Torchwood and continued her love affair with Jack as she'd always done. She'd had moments of happiness and a few wisps of joy. She'd had a few months or even whole years here and there where she'd felt fine. But deep down, she could feel the weariness creeping into her bones and entrenching itself into her mind. It was something that happened to her regularly but she'd noticed, over the past fifteen hundred years or so, that the time in between the melancholy was shortening and the time she needed to spend in solitude to fix it was lengthening.
She stepped across the Hub and into the autopsy bay. To her surprise, Ethan Donovan was sitting at her desk, reading her autopsy report on Stephanie Wilson. He didn't turn around or look up when he asked, "Any guesses about the greenish fingertips?"
"No," Miranda said, shaking her head. "I did a microscopic analysis of the skin and tissues of the green areas but found nothing other than the green color. I'll have Fish do an analysis if we discover more concrete evidence that this is Torchwood."
"You listed the official cause of death in your report as multiple organ dysfunction syndrome secondary to sepsis," Donovan said, tapping the paper in front of him.
"Yes, her body was overrun by infection which caused her organs to shut down," Miranda explained. "There was bacteria in her bloodstream, identified as a normal bacteria of earth origin that is occasionally disease causing."
Donovan put the report down and turned. "You don't think it'd be safer for Torchwood to take over?"
Miranda shook her head. "Ethan, I know that it is tempting to be overly cautious but no organisation, no matter how diligent, can prevent every atrocity. We have enough on our plate without taking on something that may be nothing."
"But the risk of plague-"
"Is neither here nor there. The human race endures," Miranda said, dismissively. "I have seen plague, Ethan… Hundreds of illnesses that came and went, some without ever being given a name because there was no one left to name them."
She sat down on his lap, running her fingers through his hair.
"You say the sweetest things," Donovan said with a laugh.
"It's part of my charm," she said, settling her arms around his neck.
Donovan hooked his finger under her chin and drew her down. The kiss was warm and deep. He was already formulating a plan to drag her off somewhere secluded but there was a loud throat clear from behind them. They broke apart and Donovan blushed scarlet. Fish was staring down at them, his messenger bag over his shoulder and his car keys in his hand.
"Was just coming to say good night, Ethan, and see if you wanted to have dinner with me and Henry," Fish said, averting his gaze, "but I see you've got plans. Night you two."
After shooting Donovan a disapproving glare, Fish walked away.
"Shit," Donovan muttered. He extracted himself from Miranda's arms and went after Fish.
"Joe? Hey, wait up!"
"None of my business, Ethan," Fish said. He didn't turn around and kept walking towards the Hub garage. Donovan managed to catch up to him, snagging his arm.
"We finalised the divorce last week. She left me, Joe," Donovan said softly. "No, that's wrong. We left each other a long time ago. She was just the one who had to guts to do it right."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly, mate? You cheating on your wife wasn't all of it," Fish said, flatly. "Evie's been through a lot. Her girlfriend left her last year and she's been in a right state ever since. So you watch it. That woman may be immortal, but her heart's as fragile as the rest of ours… even more so, if you ask me."
Fish didn't say another word, just turned and walked away.