Hello, thank you all for reading. Here's the 3rd episode :) Starts of a bit weird I guess but it all gets explained in the end... I think. Anyways, enjoy :)

Episode 3: A Different Kind of Heart

I've been always watching her. I know what her whole day looks like. It starts with the alarm clock going off and she always, still drowsy, presses the snooze button to sleep just a few more minutes. By the third time she is up. She puts on her little pink slippers and still yawning makes her way to the bathroom to get changed. She comes back only to take her backpack and then she's off again. Then comes the waiting. It's the worst time of all. I feel so lonely then. I like to watch her sleep. Her chest rising regularly and her body shifting in her sleep. I can't imagine what she's dreaming about but I wish I could join her in that land the sandman takes her to every night.

Waiting is the worst. I can't talk to anybody, I don't see her. But then she comes back and my existence seems worthy again. It's the evenings I look forward to the most. During the afternoon she just spends most of the time out, but when the evening comes she slips under her sheets, takes me and starts speaking. She talks about everything she had been up to, all her plans and worries. Sometimes she practices dance and I watch her jump up and down repeating a routine to the music coming from her speakers. I see her trip and stand back up, sometimes crying but most of the time determined to master the dance.

But the thing I love the most about her is when she says my name, James, in that sweet, high-pitched voice of hers. And I always wish I could do the same.

o*o*o

The alarm clock beeped a few times and Tobey unconsciously turned it off. He turned curled up on the other side of the bed once more and returned to sleep. But of course he couldn't. There was something very unfamiliar about the beeping and he suddenly remembered what. He always had the radio set as his alarm. Without opening his eyes he thought about it and realised the sound hadn't come from his alarm clock.

He cursed and sat up on his bed. The sound came from, as expected, his phone. He displayed the message and it was as he expected from Torchwood.

'L8' he read. It took his sleepy head a few moments until he realised it mean late. He looked at the clock and indeed it was almost midday and the message had been sent two hours earlier. His immediate reaction was to hurry but his young, rioting heart wouldn't have it. He had come home at six a.m. after having caught a big alien, a real alien, and almost having his hand bit off by that thing called a Weevil. He needed at least a proper shower.

Afterwards, he dressed in his jeans and striped shirt which he quickly tucked into his trousers. Over it he pulled on a cardigan, one that wouldn't make him look too thin and left his flat grabbing just a small yoghurt from the fridge and hurried to catch the bus.

It was well past twelve when his bus stopped by the bay. At this point he had already came to the conclusion that there was no point in hurrying. The message only said late and not Torchwood which was the "secret" message for when something serious was really happening. He stopped by a cafe and ordered a coffee to wake him up. The red-haired girl by the counter glanced at his clothes with a scrutinising look before handing over the hot cup.

He was quite surprised to see a girl waiting on the bench by the information centre. She didn't come up to him at first but her gaze followed his every move. He decided to ignore it and at least try to act naturally. He pushed the handle and was ready to enter the building but when the door didn't budge he barely avoided hitting it with his forehead. His brow furrowed. This was unusual. Ianto generally didn't leave the post unless a third person was needed for a job. He searched his bag for the keys and opened the door closing it as fast as he could. Except he couldn't. The girl put her foot in the gap preventing him from doing so.

"Sorry, we're not open yet," Tobey said with a slight tremble to his voice. He was still not used to his new job.

"Wow, you really didn't sound too convinced," the girl said letting herself in. She was black and quite tall and pretty. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail. Her clothes were not exactly professional but they had a certain stern feeling to them. "Martha Jones," she introduced herself. "Temporary medical officer," she added seeing a glimmer of comprehension in his eyes.

"Oh, right!" Tobey's face lit up. "Jack said he might call you. I'm Tobey Magpie. Sorry for that, I'm still not used to..." he tried explaining himself but stopped halfway through. He felt resentment towards himself. All he did since joining was explain himself and his incapabilities. "Never mind," he said slightly less energetically as before.

He let Martha in through the hidden door and down the elevator to the Hub. He heard familiar sounds and the rustling of the computer equipment seemed to had carved itself into the silence.

"I heard you have had little work recently," Martha said looking around.

"That's what Jack says," Tobey smiled. "If catching these 'Weevils' is what he calls little work then I can only fear what 'busy' means to him."

"You'll get used to it, don't worry," she said with confidence.

"Do you want some coffee?" he asked glancing at his own cup. "I'm no Ianto but I think I can make a decent cup of coffee. Or tea if you prefer. I don't know where everybody went so I guess you will have to wait a few minutes for Jack."

"Don't worry about it. And tea is fine," Martha said and sat on the couch while Tobey rushed to the "ktichen" segment of the Hub to put on the electric kettle and prepare tea. He didn't see Ianto anywhere but he couldn't just wait for him to make it so he went along with the job.

He came back with his own cup and a mug of earl grey.

"Thanks..." Martha took the drink.

"I heard you too work with... you know..." Tobey started a conversation but somehow the word he was looking for to finish the sentence stuck inside his throat.

"Aliens?" the casualty of her tone surprised him and reminded of how different the world he stepped into was. He felt a surge of embarrassment and the warmness in his cheeks told him he was blushing. "Yes, I'm working freelance now, but I used to work with UNIT and for some time with Torchwood too. What about you?"

"Oh, I worked with the police for some time," he glanced up from his coffee and saw an expectant look on Martha's face. "In IT. I was assigned to upgrade the system and firewalls. I learned about Torchwood because of that."

"I thought they deleted their files..." Martha interrupted him.

"Yes, they did. Probably a million times already. What I meant to say that they kept breaking into the system despite my trying to stop them every time. Well never mind that, it was really frustrating."

"I can imagine. Tosh was a pro at her job."

"I did some digging into it but little came out of it. Until a few days ago anyways."

Martha glanced at his desk. There were no photographs or trinkets that would characterise him. She remembered that even Tosh kept a photo attached to her monitor screen.

"Have you got anybody you like?" she asked a bit concerned.

Tobey blushed but not because there was anybody. He was very rarely in a situation where he was to discuss his love life. "I'm not good in relationships," he lied nervously.

"It's good for this job," Martha said. "To have someone to remind you of what's really important."

Tobey glanced at her surprised.

"Jack will probably tell you otherwise but if you find someone, don't listen to him. Nothing good ever comes from completely immersing yourself in work."

The man blushed and turned his head down catching a glance of the ring on Martha's finger.

The metal gear door opened and Jack and Ianto entered the Hub. Martha stood up with a smile.

"Well if it isn't Martha Jones!" he said skipping down the steps to greet her. "Thanks for coming on such short notice. I thought you'd be here tomorrow to be honest."

"I managed to get everything done earlier," Martha explained still smiling. She glanced at Ianto from above Jack's shoulder. "He doesn't look so bad. From how you explained it it seemed-"

Jack cut in.

"Let's not delve into that right now," he said. He turned around to introduce Martha to Ianto. The woman saw a tiny glimmer of hope in his eye and a furrow of eyebrows when he met with disappointment. "This is Martha Jones," he said and Ianto put out his hand to shake hers.

"Ianto Jones," he said.

Martha smiled shaking his hand.

There was a moment of silence nobody knowing if they should proceed with what they were doing or not.

"Right, you two probably have a lot to catch up to and I have a few things to do so..." Ianto said breaking the awkwardness.

Tobey took this chance to get on with his own work and Martha and Jack disappeared in his office. Martha glanced occasionally at Ianto who was heading towards the kitchen area to unpack the groceries he'd probably just bought. His face was filled with regret probably for letting Jack down. She couldn't help but admire the way he managed to smile with all that had happened to him.

She looked back at Jack who had just opened the door for her and entered the room with the Captain following her.

"You haven't told him anything have you?" she said with amazement.

"I prefer it this way..." Jack explained sitting behind his desk.

"Maybe if you told him he'd have his memories back..." Martha pondered.

"I can assure you that's not the case. He can remember normal things with some sort of memory stimulant but things that he thought were more important to him are a mystery."

"And you want me to help you figure out what happened to him?" Martha asked.

"No, I want you to find out if he's going to die," Jack said bluntly. "He was dead the last I saw him and I don't want him to return that state again. I highly doubt it will be a reoccurring thing."

"Like with you?"

The silence was a definite yes.

"I'll do my best," Martha smiled seeing how his emotions were leaking through the cracks of his stern mask.

A loud alarm brought them to their feet. Jack looked outside to see Ianto fighting with the stain made from the coffee he had accidentally dropped startled by the loud sound. On the ground floor was Tobey typing sequences of codes. The movement of his fingers was steady but his face looked like he was panicing. After a short moment the Hub became silent again and Jack was staring intensely at the new recruit.

"Let me just say that it's not my fault!" Tobey said immediately. "Honestly! I think miss Sato set some kind of alarm for when a powerful energy outbursts appear."

"Look into it! I'll be back in fifteen minutes. I want to know everything there is to know about this."

Jack stormed out of the Hub leaving Tobey dumbstruck.

o*o*o

Gwen shivered slightly. Her leather jacket was warm but it still wasn't enough against the strong chilly wing. She had been waiting for some time already and was wondering why nobody was showing up yet. It wasn't the same as when she first found out about them. She highly doubted that Jack and the rest were making fun of her again.

She sighed with relief seeing the familiar silhouette of the man in the military jacket.

"You know I don't approve of this, don't you Gwen?" Jack said firmly. The letter he received from Zoe saying they were both in danger still echoed in his head.

"You're not exactly the first person I would ask for advice on this, you know?"

Jack remained silent waiting for her to continue. As stubborn as he could sometimes be he knew that he was a bit selfish as well.

"I want to work for you again," Gwen said. "Part time at least. He was in danger. I cannot accept that happening again. If I cannot protect him by staying away from trouble then let me protect him like this. And let's be honest, you need me. Tobey is still a rookie, nowhere near half as good as Tosh and with Ianto stuck in the office you will need a some help in the field."

"Tobey is showing potential and Ianto is as great as ever," Jack said rebuffing Gwen's arguments. "And I called in two more than capable members for now."

"Martha's coming over?" Gwen asked guessing the first of the two new recruits.

"Martha is already here and Lois will probably be joining us soon. I think these two will be more than capable."

Gwen didn't know what to say. Jack didn't give her time to sort out her thoughts. He smiled. "But there's nobody who could ever replace you. A place for you will always be available in Torchwood."

Gwen smiled at seeing how Jack had wanted to trick her into worrying.

"How are things?" he asked kindly when they were returning side by side to the Hub.

She giggled remembering how only a few months ago she could tell him anything on a stroll like this. "It's fine, you know. My life is fine. I figured everything out eventually. But I guess I don't want my life to be in harmony just yet."

o*o*o

Tobey took a deep breath. He was nervous as he had little idea about how exactly he should've concluded in his report. "The good news is... It's not a giant power surge," he said relating to the what he told Jack previously.

"If so, then why did Tosh's alarm go off?" Jack asked.

"That's where it gets complicated," Tobey pressed a button and on the screen behind him a map appeared. There were over twenty red points marked in different districts of Cardiff. "There are twenty-seven signals being sent from all around Cardiff resulting in a joint transmission that triggered the alarm. I think it's some kind of information transferred. Into space. The signal is sent from twenty seven households and from information on the previous outbursts it should last roughly 65 and a half hours."

"Previous outbursts?" Jack repeated.

"Yes, I was surprised as well. It turns out that this sort of signal was sent a few times before. I crossed referenced the dates and it turns out that you were away from Cardiff at that time or busy with a bigger project hence Torchwood didn't notice the previous ones."

"Have you got the addresses of the destinations?" Jack asked.

"Yup they're all here," he passed a folder. "But there's on more thing," he added when everybody was busy searching the list. Gwen found one of the addresses dangerously close to her current home. Jack looked up from the file and raised his eyebrow. "One of the signals is being cancelled. And I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or not. It's also the only one that seems to be moving."

"OK, Gwen can I count on you to check that one - I'll take Tobey and check the closest points to see what we're dealing with," Jack gave out instructions. "And Martha, can I count on you?"

Martha smiled reassuringly but Jack was already picking up the list of addresses and heading out. Tobey followed finding it hard to keep pace with him. However only Gwen headed out immediately. To Tobey's surprise he and Jack first headed into the lower levels of the Hub, where he had never been before.

After the first few hundred meters Tobey lost track of how to get back to the Hub too distracted by the sight of the new section. The architecture wasn't much different from the higher levels but there was an ominous feeling to it. The section was also older than the levels above. He had heard about the explosion and it was probably the thing that could be blamed for the difference. The upper levels were destroyed but the lower ones remained unscathed. Reconstruction however precise could never equal the original.

They entered a wide room which sent a shiver down Tobey's spine. Not because of the size but because of what was on one of the walls. It was a wide collection of guns, some of which were clearly too modern to be of his time and some were clearly dating long before his birth.

"As much as I wanted to postpone this you could need a proper weapon today," Jack said. He took one gun from the wall and gave it to Tobey. He was surprised by the weight of it. He almost didn't hear his next words: "Is this fine?"

Tobey nodded mesmerized. Would he need to use it? Would he need to use it against another human being? The idea alone made him feel nauseated. He looked up and tried to ignore the paleness of his own face. He watched as Jack explained how to reload and use to weapon but didn't hear his words too concentrated on thinking if he was the right choice for this position.

"Do you understand?" Jack asked.

"Yes," Tobey said answering a different question then asked.

o*o*o

"Jack asked you to do this?" Ianto asked Martha. He was sitting on the operation table with his shirt unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up. His skin was pale with little color and he was so thin Martha could easily count his ribs.

"Yes, and I am glad I agreed," Martha said preparing the vial in which she was about to store his blood for tests. Ianto quickly clenched his fist for ease Martha finding his arteries. "I suggested an MRI but Jack clearly wanted to avoid it," Martha continued. "He keeps saying that whatever has happened to your memories is most likely to be artificial damage."

"Then why all this?" Ianto asked, barely paying any attention to the needle stuck in his arm.

"Because if you get hit too hard you'll break," Martha explained with a weak smile. "I don't need to do any tests to see that," she pointed at his hands. "Your fingernails are purple even though it's quite warm and you have white spots suggesting calcium deficiency. You are so thin I can see your bones and your eyes are red which can mean a lot of things but most importantly I think that you're just not sleeping well."

Ianto couldn't answer. She was after all right. He was so absorbed in searching the archives to find his old persona that he often forgot about the most important things. He felt Martha touch his hand gently. Her hand felt very warm although he knew it was probably of normal temperature.

"You should really take care of yourself right now," she said. "And don't worry, I'll help you with that."

Martha smiled and they looked at each other for a few moments. Long enough to confirm that they were good friends despite Ianto's loss of memories.

"How are you with exercise?" Martha continued the examination.

Ianto hesitated. "It's tiring," he said. "It's worse than you can imagine. Running is hard."

"You still do it though," Martha noticed.

"I can't be useless."

"And you're not," Martha reached for the stethoscope and measured the heart beat. "Well I can imagine why you feel like that. You have an arrhythmia. Not a serious one but it can disturb your body processes."

"Will it be a big problem?" Ianto asked concerned.

"It shouldn't be but that's probably part of the reason why you're so tired. The other one would be malnutrition."

Martha put away her medical equipment and smiled at Ianto. "That will be all," she said.

Ianto glanced at her suspiciously. "No more tests?"

"Well for one thing I think it's a miracle that you're alive and functioning like a normal human being. And Jack said that there's something keeping you alive at least for now. I reckon if something was going wrong you wouldn't be sitting here right now. I don't think medicine would be appropriate either. I don't want to risk any unwanted reactions. I think you'll be fine with a proper diet, lots of sleep and some vitamins."

Ianto tried smiling but the smile turned out to be a lot more grim than usual. "What do you think is the cause for my memories?" he asked.

"I think Jack knows a lot more about that. He said it's certainly not retcon or a natural reason. And you were saying that you can only remember things that weren't valuable to you. That alone would make me consider artificial reasons rather than natural ones. Somebody wanted you to forget Torchwood. For various reasons."

Ianto was buttoning up his shirt thinking about what he had just heard. For some reason he had been suspecting somebody of doing so. Some instinct in his mind pointed him in a direction but when he reached for the memory all he saw was darkness. Martha was right. Somebody made him forget.

After putting on the rest of his suit with unusual speed and accuracy which he himself was surprised of he thanked Martha and went outside. He felt light-hearted despite his heavy breathing. He was thankful for Martha being so honest with him.

He resisted the urge to call Jack and ask him about instructions. He knew that both of them would regard that as foolish and it would resolve in nothing.

Instead, he decided to really take somebody's advice for once. He decided to relax and rest for a bit.

o*o*o

Gwen wasn't surprised to find Rhys waiting for her in the kitchen ready to snog her before she even properly entered the house. She was still pleased when it happened. Only recently has she really thought about how lucky she was. There were so many women disappointed with their husbands who forget the value of those little things.

"How was it?" he asked.

"Jack said OK," Gwen said trying to hide her excitement. She loved working for Torchwood and knew that especially with the baby Rhys wouldn't favour her decision. However, he would support it and she was glad he was so considerate about it. That was why she preferred not to show how glad she was to be working with Torchwood again.

Rhys grimaced for a short moment but quickly hid it behind a smile and took Gwen into his arms and kissed her again. "That's brilliant!" he said.

Gwen giggled. "You seem happy."

"Well Jack never skimped on your salary."

Gwen laughed as Rhys released her.

"But you won't work too much though, right Honey?" he asked with a bit of worry in his voice.

"No, I doubt Jack will give me too much work. Speaking of which, I have to go."

"But you just came here!" Rhys protested. "At least try the pasta. The world won't be saved if you starve to death."

Gwen laughed as always glad when he joked. Rhys wasn't the person to hide things behind a joke. He'd rather use it to brighten the atmosphere a little bit.

She kissed him goodbye and went out again. In her car she noticed a new text had arrived. 'Wait for a message before going in,' it read. She dismissed it and turned her Honda on. She knew as well as anyone else how time was important in this job.

Hope you enjoyed this part :) Thanks to Ash-Varnei for beta-reading. Also a huge thank you for all your follows and favorites and kind reviews. It feels really rewarding knowing you enjoy my scribblings :)

Next part probably out still during the weekend. Monday at the latest but I'll probably release it earlier so don't worry :)