thank you for reading everyone! Please review if you have a moment, it encourages me to write more :) sorry again for the infrequent updates, here's a long chapter to make up for it :)
As the team, all except Ianto, walked out of the hub through the tourist's office, heading towards the parked SUV, the sun was just beginning to lower towards the horizon. "Come on, we don't have much time," Jack prompted the team as they all piled into the car.
Splott wasn't far away from Cardiff bay, which was were the hub was, so the drive was only short. On the way, Tosh pulled out a screen from the back of one of the seats. "I've found the address of Bernie's mother, with any luck, he'll still be living there." She said.
"Great," Jack replied. "Tosh, you try there first. Gwen you go with her." Jack spoke, keeping his eyes on the road as he parked on the side of a road. "Keep in touch, any updates, you report back immediately."
"Aye aye, captain," Owen grumbled as he got out of the car.
"Emily, you'll be sticking with me, but in case we get separated-" Jack handed her a small in-ear communication device.
"Thanks," she murmured, fixing it in her ear and allowing her auburn hair to fall over it- perfectly concealed.
"Okay. Let's roll out team!" Jack called, and began walking down a nearby street as the others took different directions. "So," Jack said to Emily, who had to nearly jog to keep up with him, "this will be an easy training exercise for you, just so you can see how we handle situations like this. We'll just knock on doors, and ask if anybody knows the kid. Easy peasy." Jack smiled, looking sideways at her.
"Training?" Emily questioned, smiling back.
"Of course, you may be a member of the oldest species in the universe, but we're not going to let you get away without any training," Jack joked, patting her lightly on the head. "Let's try here first," He motioned to a small, run-down looking house with grubby windows. "He doesn't strike me as the kind of kid who associates with the wealthy." Jack said as he walked up the drive. He knocked swiftly on the door. Emily stood back, partially concealed by Jack's large figure as the door was answered.
"Yes?" A rather rough-looking woman in her mid-forties answered the door, sounding somewhat fed-up.
"Hello. We're looking for Bernie Harris, would you have any idea where we might find him?"Jack asked her.
"What are you, police?" The woman asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"No, we're from a local-"
"Well he's a rotten young man," the woman said, cutting Jack off. "I wouldn't piss on him if he were on fire. Don't bother me with this silly rubbish again!" She said in a harsh tone, shutting the door on them promptly.
Jack sighed. "This may be trickier than I thought."
At that moment, Gwen radioed through on the comms. "Tosh and I were just shooed away from his Mother's place, though she told us he's been living in a shared flat with his other troublemaker friends."
"Did she give an address, Gwen?" Jack asked, tapping his finger on his own earpiece.
"Uh... Not exactly, she said it was by the park..." Gwen answered.
"Jack," it was Tosh this time. "The nearest park to his Mother's house is Moorland Park, it's only a few blocks from where you are right now. I've found one large share house right next to it." She explained.
"Great. Send me the address, I'll go check it out. Anyone else have any luck?" Jack asked over the system.
"No luck on my end," Owen grumbled in response. "He doesn't appear to be a very popular chap."
"Keep trying. We need to find him." Jack replied. A beeping sound came from his pocket, and he pulled out a mobile phone. After tapping the screen several times, he looked up at Emily. "Let's go catch us some Bernie," he said, winking
Emily laughed. She realised that she was starting to feel more comfortable and trusting of Jack and the rest of the team. They started off in the direction of the park, following the directions Tosh had texted Jack. They got to the share house Tosh had mentioned, which was an old looking two-story building, made of cinder block walls. A light was on inside and the voices of young boys drifted onto the street.
"Well, it seems like this is the one," Jack said, looking at the building.
"Jack," Emily piped up from beside him. "Could I try this one? It's just, maybe a group of nineteen year old boys might trust someone closer to their age more easily." She asked nervously.
Jack looked unconvinced. "Emily... I, uh, don't know if-"
"Please? Let me show you what I've got?" She pleaded, with wide eyes.
"Ah, fine then. Can't do any harm I guess. Keep your comms on the whole time though, so I can hear what's happening. And if he's in there, let me know immediately. I'll be just over here," he said, motioning to a park bench.
"Okay! Thank you!" Her face lit up. She began walking up the front path to the house, thinking about what she would say. She rang the doorbell, and smoothed her hair as she waited for the door to be answered.
The door creaked open to reveal the face of a teenage boy, probably about eighteen or nineteen. It wasn't Bernie though, Emily noted. "Hello? What do you want?" He asked, opening the door further when he saw a young girl standing there.
"Hi, um, I was wondering, is Bernie home?" She asked in an innocent voice.
"Why are you asking?" The boy asked her, looking her up and down.
"I'm his friend."
"His friend?" The boy narrowed his eyes at her.
"Yes, his girlfriend. I was out, and I've left my phone somewhere, so I couldn't call him." Emily explained. The boy looked her in the eyes for five long seconds, and Emily smiled at him.
"Okay," he said finally. He opened the door fully and stood to the side. "Why don't you come inside? Bernie never told us he had a girl." He said, sounding almost offended.
"That's because it's only very recent," Emily said as she walked triumphantly through the door.
"Wow. Well, looks like he really scored this time. Though you do look quite young." He said, causing Emily to blush as he shut the door behind her.
"I'm eighteen. I look young for my age." She replied with a smile.
"Right. Hey fellas!" He called into another room as he lead Emily to where laughter was coming from. "Bernie's got a girlfriend!" They walked into a room with couches and a small tv. The couches were occupied by two other teenagers.
"He never told us! That bastard!" One of them yelled, clearly under the influence of alcohol.
"So, where is he? Or when will he be getting home?" Emily asked, a little worried by the rowdy teens.
"Bernie is out a lot. But he's probably at-" he was interrupted by his phone, which had started ringing loudly. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the display. "Oh, speak of the devil. This is him now. I'll ask him where he's at."
Crap, Emily thought to herself. She looked up, trying to think of a way to escape the situation. She had too little time to make an excuse, so she decided to just play dumb.
"Hey, Bernie, what's up?" The boy answered the phone. The was a long silence as Bernie was apparently talking. "Oh, I see... Well, listen mate, your girlfriend's just showed up here, looking for you..." Emily groaned internally. This was not going well.
"What? What do you mean? She's right here mate. Red hair, pale skin. Quite the looker actually," he smiled up at Emily as he spoke, in a slightly creepy way. "Are you being serious?" He spoke into the phone again, this time his smile fading. "Well... Alright. I've got it... Great. I'll catch you later." He hung up the phone and looked at Emily expectantly.
"What was it?" One of the other boys asked, looking up at him from the couch.
"Well apparently," he began. "Bernie says he ain't got no girlfriend." He sounded angry now.
Emily put her hands behind her back sheepishly. "I, uh, well I..." She stammered as she backed towards the door. These boys had been drinking. They could be violent, she thought to herself.
"Emily? What's happened? Get yourself out, now!" It was Jack now, talking to her through the comms.
The boy sitting in the couch closest to her leapt up suddenly and grabbed her arm firmly. "Well, well, well..." He said in a mocking voice. "What should we do with the imposter now?" He asked, grinning maliciously.
"Lenny, stop being wanker. Just kick her out." The boy who answered the door rolled his eyes at the boy holding Emily's arm. "You better not mess with us again, girl." He said harshly.
"Fine. Out with you!" Lenny released Emily's arm, but then as she ran down the hallway to the front door, he chased her, waving around a beer bottle he was holding. He's just trying to scare me, she thought herself. But as she reached the door, pulling it open, Lenny swung the bottle at her, just clipping the top of her head.
"Ow..." She growled. Turning back slightly, she thrust her elbow into his stomach, eliciting a groan from him. He reached out and pushed her harshly, causing her to stumble through the open door. She quickly regained balance and jogged over to where Jack was waiting. She heard the door slam behind her.
"Emily! What happened? Did they hurt you?" Jack asked immediately, concerned. He had seen the scuffle.
"No," Emily panted. She reached for the back of her head, were the bottle hit her, which was now throbbing painfully. Jack didn't miss it.
"Owen should take a look at that," he said, reaching out to touch her head. Emily flinched back.
"No, it's fine. It just clipped me." She brought her own hand away from her head and was relieved to find that there was no blood.
"But still. Better safe than sorry. I'm going to kill those bastards. No one hurts my team and gets away with it."
Emily tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile. It flattered her that Jack was protective of her like that. "Don't worry about it Jack, I got an elbow to his stomach."
"You did. That was a good job you did in there, even if it didn't quite work. Well done, Emily." Jack commended her.
"Thank you," Emily replied, grinning. "I'm glad at least something good came of that experience." She joked.
Jack chuckled. "Come on, let's see if the others had any luck."
Back at the SUV, the others were already waiting. Owen was passing around pasties he had bought from a nearby bakery.
"Any luck, team?" Jack asked as he walked over, sounding hopeful. The team all looked down guiltily, mumbling about how they tried. Jack slammed his hand against the side of the car. "Well this just excellent. Everyone get in. We're going back to the hub to discuss how we're going to deal with this." Jack said, sounding annoyed. The sun was nearly gone now, and it was getting dark very quickly.
On the way back to the hub, Jack explained to the others how Emily posed as Bernie's girlfriend in order to get inside the house. "That's good thinking," Tosh congratulated Emily.
The SUV pulled up outside the Millennium Centre, which was across the walkway to the Hub. Ianto greeted the disappointed-looking Jack and rest of the team in the tourists' office. "It didn't go well, I take it?" He asked.
Jack shook his head. As they walked back into the hub, Jack pulled Owen aside. "By the way, Owen, one of Bernie's friends hit Emily over the head with a beer bottle. You should take a look at it." Emily sighed. She had been hoping he'd forget.
"Jesus, Jack, you tell me this now?" Owen seemed annoyed that he hadn't known about it.
"Well you couldn't even handle the first job I gave you, could you?" Jack shot back angrily, before stalking off to his office.
Owen sighed. "Emily, come down into the med bay so I can take a look."
Emily was about to resist, but neither Jack nor Owen seemed in the mood to argue, and both were very stubborn when it came to matters like this, so she followed him down.
He motioned for her to sit on the autopsy table. "Let's see," he murmured, reaching up to her head and probing his fingers over it. As soon as he felt over the part where the bottle had collided, Emily winced. "This hurts?" He asked, his fingers pausing over the tender spot.
"Yeah, just a bit." Emily responded.
Owen moved around to the front of her, pulling out a penlight and checking for a concussion. "You're okay," he began, putting the penlight down. "No concussion, it's just a bruise."
"You don't have to tell me that I'm okay, it was you and Jack that were worried," Emily grumbled, hopping off the table.
Owen looked at her with a serious expression. "Head injuries are nothing to play around with, Emily," he said, using her name for added seriousness. "If you ever hit your head, you need to come straight to me. In fact, if you ever get any sort of injury, or ever feel unusually sick, tell me. It's very important in our line of work, especially with all the things that come from other worlds." He sermonised her.
"Yes, Owen," Emily mumbled, looking down.
"Now," he turned away to face his computer. "How are the ribs? Need more painkiller?" He asked over his shoulder.
Now that he had mentioned it, Emily noticed that she had started to feel the burning ache starting to stage a comeback in her ribs. "Yeah, they're starting to feel sore again. Not nearly as bad as before, though." She admitted.
Owen walked back over to her and pressed lightly around her ribs. She winced slightly when he touched the broken ones. "Not too bad? They're healing well, shouldn't give you too much trouble from now on." He explained to her as he opened a bottle of pills and handed her two. "Jack wanted to see you," he added. "And then you should go to bed. You still need more rest so your body can fully repair itself."
Emily nodded, heading towards the stairs. "Thank you, Owen. Goodnight." She smiled shyly.
"Sleep well," he called as she made her way up the stairs, heading towards Jack's office.
Jack looked like he was filling out paperwork, so Emily knocked lightly on the door and waited for him to look up before walking in. "Owen said you wanted to see me?" She asked politely.
"Oh, yes, I did. Why don't you take a seat?" He motioned to the seat in front of him. Emily sat hesitantly. Jack's voice was worrying her, she thought to herself. It was too soft, almost... Sympathetic?
"Now, Owen told me that your memories started coming back last night," Jack began. "He said you were too upset to talk about it at the time. Feeling any better now?"
Emily looked down at her lap, tears instantly prickling her eyes as she thought back to the dream. She didn't want to talk about it, but she knew that at some point she'd have to tell someone.
"Emily, I... I think I might have a friend who can help you. But I need to know more about how you got here first." Jack told her, talking in a low voice.
"A friend? What kind of friend could possibly help me?" She asked, looking up at him.
"He's from Gallifrey too. A Timelord." Jack responded.
"That doesn't mean he can help me. And besides, he probably burned with the planet, as most Timelords did. I don't think many escaped." Emily said sadly, shaking her head.
It was then that Jack realised. She didn't know that all the Timelords had indeed perished in the war. Whether that was because she still hadn't gotten that memory back, or she just didn't know, Jack feared for the moment she would find out. "No, this one definitely did. He's told me about the war before. So anyway, are you going to tell me what you remember?"
Emily sighed. "I remember my dad- he was inventor- making something, and when I asked him what he was doing, he went all solemn and said that there was something bad he had to tell me. Just as he was about to tell me what, I woke up. But it was definitely something really bad, I remember this awful sense of dread in my stomach and crying and-" her voice broke off and she looked away, trying hard not to cry.
Jack nodded sympathetically. "And that's it? You don't remember what happened after that?"
Emily shook her head. "No, I just remember taking off in the escape pod. I don't know what happened to my family. My brothers, my mother-" she let out a sob, struggling to hold in her grief.
"Hey, it's okay," Jack said softly, reaching out and resting his hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to say anymore if you don't want to." Jack came to the realisation that her family were probably dead, if his knowledge of what happened in the war was correct. "You should probably go and get some rest."
Emily looked up at him fearfully. "Jack, I'm scared... I'm scared that when I close my eyes, I'll see my family dying, and my planet burning..." A tear slipped down her cheek.
Jack got up and walked around the desk to her, placing both hands on her shoulders. "You can't put it off forever Emily. You can't hide from the truth." He said solemnly.
Emily nodded, wiping the tear away. She stood and made her way to the door. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Jack," she said, not doing well to hide the fear in her voice.
"Goodnight. And Emily?" She turned back to face him. "Just remember, that you're part of the team now. We're all here for you." She smiled, and then wandered out the door, heading to her room. The others had all gone home as well.
Emily spent a while getting ready for bed. She took a long shower, brushed her teeth, put all of the new clothes she had bought earlier away in the wardrobe- until she finally realised that Jack was right. She couldn't put this off forever. She climbed under the warm sheets, and taking a deep breath, drifted off into sleep.