It was late evening on Friday and Miranda was walking across the main Hub towards Jack's office. She had a sheaf of notes in her hands for her UNIT phone call, a phone call she was dreading on a few different levels. Jack's door was half open and Miranda walked into the office without knocking. Jack was standing behind his desk, Ianto behind him, easing his greatcoat onto his shoulders. The two men had dinner reservations.
"Out, you two," Miranda said firmly, jerking her thumb towards the door. "I have the quarterly phone call with UNIT."
"Didn't know that was today," Jack said as he shook his arms and pulled on his coat cuffs.
Still irritated that Jack had sent her to London for the annual briefings, Miranda chided, "And you wouldn't have, even if you were the one making the call."
Ianto coughed in a futile attempt to disguise a laugh and Jack shot him an angry glare.
"Want me to bring you anything before we head out, Mandy?" Ianto asked.
"I could murder a coffee, Ifan."
Jack and Ianto both left the room and Miranda seated herself behind the desk. With her comm unit, Miranda could conduct the phone call from pretty much anywhere within the Hub but Jack's office had a door and afforded some quiet. Even though it was late evening and Gwen had left for the day and Fish was quietly tinkering away with some piece of tech, the rest of the Hub had a significant amount of background noise.
With an irritated sigh, she picked up Jack's phone, dialing the appropriate number and transferring the call to her ear piece. As it rang, she sat back in Jack's chair, opening her notes and spreading them out in front of her.
"UNIT operations, code in please," came the drone of the UNIT switchboard operator.
"Doctor Miranda Ryan for Colonel Marcus Ashline. Ryan, Miranda, Torchwood authorisation Alpha, five, seven, three, November, foxtrot, four one one six."
"Thank you, Doctor Ryan. Code accepted. Authorisation verified. Connecting you with Colonel Ashline. Please hold."
Miranda was going to reply but heard the click indicating the switchboard operator had already transferred her call. Ianto knocked politely on the door and then entered silently. Ever the perfect butler, he set the coffee down next to her right hand and was gone, she'd barely known he was there.
"Ashline."
"Colonel, this is Doctor Ryan calling for the quarterly Torchwood briefing."
"Code in please, Doctor Ryan."
"Ryan, Miranda, Torchwood authorisation Alpha, five, seven, three, November, foxtrot, four one one six."
"And that is… verified. How are you today, Doctor Ryan?"
"Fine, Colonel and yourself?"
"Good, good. Let's get on with this shall we?"
"Everything has been fairly standard, Colonel. Weevil sightings have neither increased nor decreased from what we typically see during these months. Blowfish sightings have continued to decrease as they usually do when we head into autumn. We've seen no rift instabilities. We've also seen no signs of rift expansion, all rift alerts have been within the usual boundaries…"
Miranda continued to drone on about the normal workings of Torchwood for the next half hour and moved through her cases, month by month, briefing the Colonel on anything significant.
"…The only item of planetary significance came through at the end of July, an escape pod from the DSV-Linnaeus. According to Captain Harkness, the vessel was a medical ship, lost in deep space. We have secured the pod in the biohazard section of our cryo-morgue. Doctor Fischer has hooked the pod up to various monitoring equipment so that we can ensure proper cryoprocessor functioning."
"Can you open it without a biohazard issue?"
"Unknown at this time. Captain Harkness and I don't feel the risk is worth opening it."
"Would it be more prudent to destroy it?"
"The idea has been raised. Right now, it's sealed. If we try to destroy it, we risk compromising those seals. The Captain and I feel it's best left alone."
"Understood, Doctor Ryan. Is there anything else you have to report?"
"Nothing, Sir. Everything is going smoothly here at Torchwood."
The Colonel was silent for so long, Miranda wondered if the call had disconnected. She was about to speak when his voice came over the line. "You haven't asked me about Nora, Doctor Ryan."
Miranda felt a tightening in her chest. "It's really not my place to ask anymore."
Nora was precisely the reason Miranda had dreaded this phone call. She hadn't wanted to pursue the topic of their break up with Nora's father. It had been a month since Miranda had ended their relationship and thinking of the other woman still brought Miranda sadness. She had finally stopped watching Nora eat her lunch in the park but often found herself thinking of the other woman, missing her quick wit and soft smile.
"I love my daughter, Doctor Ryan."
"Of that there was never a doubt," she said, wondering where this was leading.
The Colonel was silent for a few minutes before he said gently, "I may have been unfair in my assumptions of you."
She raised her eyebrows at the apology. "And I may have been overly harsh in my response. But you're right, Colonel. My immortality prevents me from giving Nora any semblance of a normal life."
"Nora's been quite distraught since you ended your relationship."
"And I'm sorry for that," Miranda said, steeling herself. "Nora is… exceptional. She deserves more than I'm capable of giving her."
"It's your choice, Doctor Ryan, but I believe my daughter can handle the truth. She's quite good with secrets," the Colonel said and then paused. "May I ask you something personal?"
"You can. I don't promise an answer."
"How old are you?"
"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to ask a lady her age, Colonel?"
The Colonel laughed aloud. "Good night, Doctor Ryan."
"Good night, Colonel," she said and disconnected the call.
Gathering up her notes, Miranda headed across the main Hub giving Fish a weak smile as she passed him. The Torchwood technician was on night duty tonight with her and had looked up briefly from whatever piece of tech he was fiddling with when she walked by. She descended the autopsy bay stairs, plopping down into her own desk chair. Pushing her hair out of the way, she undid the knot that held the leather cord around her neck. She stared at the bronze necklace, watching the metal shine in the light and turned her thoughts to the past.