So, next episode is up :) Unfortunately, I'm shortening the parts... well... significantly. Uni is just behind the corner and I'm slumped with work and preparations. But I'd rather do releases more often than have weeks of breaks so that's why the releases will be shorter from now on. And who knows? Maybe I'll manage to write a bit more soon and start releasing longer parts? :)

Anyways, here's Ep 5 The Ambassadors. Hope you like it :)

Episode 5: The Ambassadors

Gwen hadn't slept so peacefully in days. The rush from the last mission had already gone, everything was properly archived and put away. Jack forced a short holiday on her and for the past few days she had been able to focus on her family properly. Plus, for the first time in a long while she could go on a date with Rhys. They had hired a girl to babysit and had had the whole evening for themselves. She couldn't help feeling it was a bit like in the old days - before this whole Torchwood mess.

But although Gwen's sleep was peaceful and relaxed her wake-up wasn't. She heard glass smashed in the kitchen and jumped on the bed. Within seconds she was up shaking Rhys trying to wake him up as well.

"Just a few minutes..." her husband mumbled still attempting to sleep.

Gwen tried again, "Rhys I think I heard someone in the kitchen," she said.

It worked immediately. Rhys opened his eyes and searched for the baseball bat hidden under the bed. Finally when he procured it he glanced at his wife. Gwen was already loading her handgun and within moments they were tiptoeing down the stairs - the ex-cop barely producing any sounds and Rhys... well Rhys wasn't that good at sneaking. Gwen glared at him a few times, her eyes wide with fear and anger, mouthing "quiet!" shushing him.

Once down, they took positions on both sides of the entrance to the kitchen. Gwen had her gun ready. She pointed at the light switch which was on Rhys' side and the husband nodded. He counted to three, turned on the light and they both stormed inside. They halted immediately, Rhys with the baseball bat above his head and Gwen with her gun pointed at the intruder.

The "intruder" much unaware of the danger he was in started giggling.

"Alex!" Gwen tucked the gun away and quickly hugged the baby and took him in her arms. There were glass shards shattered on the floor but nobody else was around. "How did you get here?" The mother held her child close to her chest.

She nursed the child but looked at Rhys and pointed her head towards the exit of the kitchen. The man went around the rest of the house but found no signs of intrusion. There was nothing stolen either. He returned to the kitchen to see Gwen still standing with their baby. Her worried face turned to him and for a brief moment he saw Gwen holding their son with one hand and pointing a gun at him with the other. Only when she saw it was Rhys did she lower the gun.

"There was nothing," the man said. "Nobody came in or out, nothing's stolen or moved."

"He's not even two months old, Rhys, how would he come down here?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know maybe the babysitter left him there?" Rhys asked.

"We checked up on him when we got back, remember?" Gwen quickly rebuffed his argument. "Maybe..."

The mother put the baby down away from the glass and watched Alex crawling to Rhys. There was silence in the room. Rhys and Gwen looked at each other.

"Rhys, when did the book say kids started crawling?" Gwen asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"First words, usually no sooner than the fourth month, crawling sixth to twelfth month," Rhys recited.

Any normal family would be overjoyed. To have a baby so smart it denied statistics. But when both parents had dealt with aliens and the supernatural before they couldn't be blinded by their parental instincts that quickly. Rhys picked up Alex and Gwen quickly found the telephone.

"Bloody Torchwood," Rhys muttered as Gwen was dialing the Torchwood Institute.

o*o*o

Ianto didn't enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night. But with Jack gone he was responsible for answering all the calls made to Torchwood outside of working hours. And after having sent a busy tone twice the caller still didn't stop calling so Ianto took into consideration the fact that it might be something important.

"Bloody americans," he muttered. After all who else would be so inconsiderate as to phone somebody knowing it was four in the morning in their time zone. Everyone, he answered his own question.

To his surprise the caller was Gwen. He didn't even have a chance to say hello when she started speaking.

"Jack, Alex has started crawling!" she said but instead of content there was panic in her voice.

"First of all, this is Ianto," the man said trying his best not to sound sleepy or disoriented. "And... congratulations... I guess..."

"This is not the time to celebrate, Ianto! He's bloody two months old! Children don't do anything when they're two months old!" Gwen didn't even change her tone of voice.

"Well, if you want to contact Jack he's out of town for a couple of days," Ianto said unmoved by Gwen's panic.

"Out of town?" Ianto recognized Rhys' voice. "What do you mean he's bloody 'out of town'? Since when?"

"Yesterday. They're investigating an alien murder in London I believe," Ianto said.

"Well then tell him to come back this moment!" Rhys said.

Ianto imagined himself hanging up. He sighed knowing he couldn't do that.

"I'm afraid I can't help you now. Like all normal people Jack is probably sleeping right now. You should be too. I doubt you could do anything in the middle of the night..."

There was silence on the other end, the kind that makes you feel something bad is going to happen.

"Ianto..." Gwen's voice was unusually sweet as she stretched his name out. He started guessing in his head what was going to be Gwen's request.

o*o*o

Mark Storey enjoyed a peaceful Friday night in Camden. The customers were plenty that night and he made a little cash for his next big project. He stood on his usual post between the old record shop and the Trimmed Bonzai pub. Once the crowds shrunk to a couple of drunks passing by every fifteen minutes or so he knew he could close down the business for the night. He was already getting ready to leave when an unfamiliar face came by.

"You Age?" the person asked. The face was hidden in the shadow of a hood but the voice was obviously female.

Mark looked at her. Age was his pseudonym as a drug dealer. This could mean only one thing: a customer.

"Yeah, I'm Age, need anything?" Mark asked. "What are you interested in? Light? Hard?"

The woman grinned. He could see her white teeth, now gray because of the lack of light. "I'm not interested in any of that."

Mark looked at her nervously. That was never a good sign. He tried guessing if she was a cop but there was nothing about her that could tell Mark whether she was an officer or not.

"I've heard you deal another kind of drug... the Tiger?"

Mark smiled. His reputation was growing. He was the only one supplying the Tiger because he was the only one who could make it. The recipe wasn't what one could call "earthly". A monopoly on something was always good for the business. And he could remain independent. Soon he would have enough money to get out of this dump and sell properly, not just on the street.

"Who told you I deal the Tiger?" Mark asked out of sheer curiosity.

"Fornish."

Mark blinked. This wasn't right. Only he knew about Fornish. Or more like only he knew his real name. Fornish, also known as Dave Reichs was not exactly of this Earth. Yes, he was an alien and Mark could never understand the specifics of his origin. The names were a bit too hard for him to pronounce and Fornish's technical jibber-jabber difficult to understand. But he knew a recipe for a very effective and addictive drug and that was all the encouraging Mark needed to help him in this new world.

Now he wasn't entirely sure if this connection was something good. The strange woman's tone of voice seemed menacing and there was something about her giving him an aura of peril. Mark thought it better if he denied anything.

"Must be a new customer, I've never heard of him," he said.

"Might I refresh your memory?" the woman took out her phone. It took her barely a few seconds to find the right picture.

Mark vomited upon seeing Fornish's dead body in a pool of blood - all his and all coming from the hole in his forehead. He looked up and saw the woman already brandishing a gun and casually checking if everything was loaded: ammo, check; silencer, check; gun loaded, check.

Mark ran. He ran like he had never ran before. He glanced around trying to see if there was anybody who could help him. But despite his desperate cries for help none of the few people still strolling the street turned their head towards him. What was this magic? There was a woman with a gun in the middle of the road and suddenly nobody cared? They pay to see that in cinemas! This was the real thing! If they just turned around they could see a real thriller in the making! And help him!

"Somebody help me!" he cried trying to get somebody's attention. He almost ran into a person but the girl just walked pass him as if he didn't exist. By now his mind was a mess of swear words and all kind of SOS words some of which he never thought he'd learnt.

Mark turned around for a brief second. He was already quite far away and the shot still hadn't come. The woman was pointing straight at him, her casual stance making it seem like practice.

He heard a bang and closed his eyes tightly. He saw darkness. And then there was nothing.