"Tad wanted to see if we were coming for Sunday dinner again and they're starting to ask about Christmas," Nora said as she picked a dog toy up off the shelf. It was late evening and Miranda and Nora had ducked into a pet shop on Albany road to buy Alvin food.
"I know this is a weekly thing for your family, love, but I can't vanish to London every Sunday," Miranda said, a bit impatient. "We've been there three Sundays in a row."
"I know it's your only full day off, Cariad," Nora said, "but they're used to me being there every Sunday. Tad understands you could get called to work."
"It's not just work, Nora," Miranda said, tersely. "London is a big 's not safe for me. You saw what happened at the service station."
"I still don't understand why you even have to fight," Nora said, her voice clipped and short. It was a common disagreement between the two women. "That man let you go."
"I don't want to get into this discussion again, Nora. I've already explained that it's not that simple," Miranda said with a sigh. "Unless I want to live on holy ground, I can't remove myself from the Game and Beauclerc letting me walk away was luck."
"You don't need to be so condescending about it, Miranda," Nora snapped.
"I'm sorry, love," Miranda said, rubbing Nora's arm. "I've had to deal with this for a long time, I forget that it's new to you."
"It's not that," Nora said, dropping her voice and looking up and down the aisle nervously. The shop would be closing soon and it was deserted. "You're right, I don't want to quarrel."
"No, Nora, tell me what it is?" Miranda said, dropping her voice as well.
"I see that your work is important, I can accept that. I just don't understand this game of yours. I don't see why you have to fight and why you all choose to."
In all of her life, Miranda had often thought the same thing. She continued to fight in the Game because she had no real choice in the matter and because she wanted to survive. But, unlike the Watchers, Miranda had no grand illusions about the Game. She didn't believe its outcome would influence humanity nor did she think there was some great plan in it all. It might sound cynical but Miranda had too often seen bloodshed merely for its own sake.
"I don't understand it myself, Nora. I never have but I've never wanted it to be different," she said, "if there was no Game I would have died long ago and I never would have met you."
Miranda reached up and caressed Nora's cheek with her fingertips. "You only say things like that so that I'll stop being cross with you," Nora said with a smile.
"It worked didn't it?" Miranda said, wrapping her arm around Nora's waist and drawing her close. She plucked the dog toy from Nora's hand and put it back onto the shelf, leaning against Nora as she did. She ran her fingers along the bottom hem of Nora's shirt, letting her fingertips expose a small strip of skin.
Nora's eyes darkened at the seductive move and she smiled at her lover. "We're in the wrong aisle for Alvin's food."
"You're the one who wanted to get him another chew toy," Miranda said, sliding her fingers into the waistband of Nora's jeans and tugging her close.
"He has enough chew toys and he has enough food to get him through tomorrow," Nora said as she dipped her head to nibble at Miranda's neck. "Take me to bed, Cariad…"
The two women's heads snapped up as the sounds of a disturbance from the rear of the shop reached them. Curious, they walked towards the sound and saw the shopkeeper with a broom in his hand, raised in the air defensively.
"Are you all right, sir?" Miranda asked.
"Oh, a fox in my shop! Killing my birds!" the shopkeeper exclaimed.
Miranda craned her head to the bird enclosure, it appeared empty but then she saw a dead bird, its featherless body laying on the ledge of the glass.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to step back," Miranda asked, taking out her credentials from her wallet and flashing them. The shopkeeper gratefully stepped backwards. "Nora? I'm sorry, love, I need your coat."
"My coat? Why?" Nora asked.
"It's down," Miranda said as she took the small finger blade from her belt. "I'll get you a new one, I promise."
As Nora took off her coat, Miranda peered into the free standing bird enclosure. She saw a pair of bright green eyes staring back at her from behind a box at the bottom of the enclosure. Nora tapped her shoulder, holding out the coat. Miranda slit one of the puffy sections of the coat, dumping the down feathers out in front of the enclosure door. After she had a fair sized pile, Miranda opened the enclosure door and pushed the feathers in.
A squat, fat animal waddled its way out from behind the box. It had short, smooth brown fur and a long snout. Miranda suppressed a smile as that snout dug into the pile of feathers, sucking them up like a small hoover. She slit another section of the coat and took out a handful of the down feathers. She opened the enclosure door slowly and the alien creature backed away, retreating behind the box.
Miranda crouched down, clicked her tongue softly and held out the handful of feathers. She pitched her voice low and spoke slowly and softly, "No, no. I'm not going to hurt you. Come here, little one, nice, soft, tasty feathers…"
She continued to coo and softly click at the animal and it peered out from behind its box. "Hi there, little one… hungry?"
The small creature was larger than she thought it would be. Jack had described it as the size of a cat but, in fact, the animal was the size of a large raccoon. Miranda smiled softly and reached out a little further with her hand. "It's all right, little one."
It continued to move forward, slowly, sniffing the air. Miranda opened her hand, letting some of the downy feathers flutter to the floor. The creature immediately sniffed them up and then raised its head to eat from Miranda's hand, sniffling a few feathers out of her fingers. It waddled towards Miranda a little more and she raised her eyebrow a little. She couldn't believe this slow, lumbering creature captured and fed on birds until a long, whip-like tongue slithered out of its small snout with amazing speed. The long, thin tongue wrapped around her fingers and her hand and then disappeared back into the animal's snout with the down feathers stuck to it. The alien waddled forward a few more steps, sat back on its haunches and peered at Miranda with its bright green eyes.
"That's it, little one. I'm not going to hurt you," Miranda said as she shuffled herself forward and reached out her hand to touch the creature's head. It ducked down away from her at first but Miranda was able to pat it on the head, gently. She felt behind her with her foot for Nora's coat that she'd left on the floor behind her and dragged it towards her without taking her eyes off the creature.
Miranda showed the coat to the animal, opening the cut she'd made before, showing the feathers. "Look, I have lots more."
The creature waddled towards her and buried its snout into the coat's down filling. Miranda smiled as she continued to pat the creature's head, sliding her hand backwards down its neck. She continued to pat gently, easing her hand further and further back on the creature's back and finally sliding her hand down the creature's side. The creature stopped eating and looked up at her.
"I know, you're scared. I'm not going to hurt you. Will you let me pick you up, little one?" Miranda asked and the creature returned to its meal.
Miranda eased her hand under the creature's belly and slowly lifted it into the coat as she stood up. She turned around, wrapping the coat around the creature and gently stroking its head. She swore it was purring.
"Oh! It's adorable!" Nora whispered.
"My mobile is in my back pocket. Do you mind calling Jack for me?" Miranda asked.
Nora dug Miranda's phone out of her pocket and dialed Jack's phone number, holding the phone up to her lover's ear. "Hi Jack. Good news, I have the niffler… I'll be at the Hub shortly… No, Nora is with me… Yes, both of us. Make sure you two are decent and by you two I mean you, Jack… Because Ifan at least has some sense of propriety… Yes… Thirty minutes… No, I want you to turn to Ifan and tell him that because I want him to set his watch… Thank you, Jack. See you soon."
Nora disconnected the call and put the phone back into Miranda's pocket. "Want me to drive you to work?"
"Please, I'm sorry, love," Miranda said as they walked out of the shop and towards Miranda's car.
"It's fine, Cariad," Nora said with a smile. "Is it really from another world?"
"Yes, poor thing, we can't send it home," Miranda said, absently stroking the creature's head.
"What will happen to it?" Nora asked. "You're not going to destroy it are you?"
"Absolutely not," Miranda said. "We may be able to train it, keep it at the Hub."
The drive to the Hub was quick and Miranda had Nora park up by the Plass. The two women stepped onto the invisible lift.
"My PDA is in my purse, just hit the icon on the right that says lift. When you press it, the lift will descend, don't move and hang onto my arm," Miranda said.
Nora's eyes widened and she gasped as the lift descended down. She gaped around as the lift slowly lowered to the main Hub floor. When it came to a stop, Jack and Ianto were waiting for them.
"Nora, you've met Captain Harkness already and this is Ianto Jones," Miranda said.
"Lovely to be introduced properly, at last," Nora said, shaking both of the men's hands.
"Welcome to Torchwood, Miss Ashline," Ianto said.
"Oh, Nora please," she said and Ianto beamed at her.
"Good to see you again, Nora," Jack said with a smile.
Miranda shot Jack a glare and said, "Don't you start!"
"Can't I say hello to anyone?" Jack said indignantly.
"Mandy, I've readied a cell downstairs, a feather pillow and some water. There are some old boxes and blankets for it to hide and sleep."
"I'll be right back, Nora. Please ignore anything Jack says about… anything," Miranda said as she crossed the main Hub towards the stairs.
"She's been really happy since you two got back together," Jack said, crossing his hands over his chest. He jutted his chin out defensively.
"Am I about to get the 'if you break my friend's heart you'll regret it' speech?" Nora asked a little sarcastically as she did the same, assuming her own defensive position.
"Jack," Ianto said, putting his hand on his lover's shoulder. "Go see if Mandy needs help."
Jack didn't move, he stood there staring down Nora.
"Jack," Ianto repeated a little more firmly.
Jack turned on his heel and disappeared down the east stairs.
"Sorry about him," Ianto said. "He's protective of Miranda. They've been friends a long time."
"All this is a bit overwhelming for me too," Nora said, snapping a little.
Ianto nodded, unphased by Nora's bristling. "You worry that you'll get old and she won't see you the same. You worry that she'll get bored of you, move on to someone younger. You wonder how many came before you and you wonder how many will come after or if she'll even remember you after you're gone or will your face and your name just blur with time."
Nora's eyes widened as looked towards the stairway Jack had used to leave the room. "I don't think I can take much more of this…"
"Don't let them know I told you. I know how you feel, Nora. I understand. I wanted you to know that. If you want to talk, ever," Ianto handed her a small card, "this is my mobile."
Nora took the card from him. "Thank you."
"We should all get together for drinks, you, Mandy and the team. We'd all like that," Ianto said.
"Maybe not your boyfriend," Nora said.
"Don't worry about Jack," Ianto said. "Like I said, he's protective of Mandy. The two of them go way back."
"I don't think I want to know," Nora groaned. "That statement has whole new meaning with the two of them."
Ianto laughed. "It certainly does. Mandy doesn't have anyone else but us. We're her family and everyone would like to meet you. Think about it."
Jack and Miranda came back up the east stairs and Jack looked decidedly scolded. Ianto wished he'd have been a fly on the wall for that one. It always amused the Welshman when Jack received one of Miranda's tongue lashings.
"I'll be in tomorrow, Jack," Miranda said.
"It's late. Nora's welcome here tonight," Jack said with a shake of his head. "Will? Why don't you take her downstairs to your rooms? Good night you two."
Jack strode back towards his office and after a quick wish of goodnight from Ianto, his lover followed him.
"Aren't they going home?" Nora asked, confused.
"They are home. They live here with me," Miranda said and then rethinking said, "Actually, saying that I live here with them is probably more accurate. Do you want to stay here tonight, Nora?"
"I don't want to impose, Cariad," Nora said shyly.
"You're not imposing, love," Miranda said and led Nora down the north staircase as the other woman sent a quick text to her neighbor, asking her to take care of Alvin. She was glad that Myfanwy hadn't made an appearance. Nora seemed to a bit nervous and the pterodactyl would have been worse.
"I can't believe all this is under the Millennium Centre," Nora said gazing up and down the vast hallways.
"It's been here since the Victorian era," Miranda said opening the door to her rooms and letting Nora in. "Drink? I have beer, water and soda."
"Of course you have soda," Nora chuckled. "I'll take some water, please. What is it with you and the soda anyway?"
"You live ninety percent of your life without refined sugar and see which beverage you prefer," Miranda said with an eye roll.
"I suppose that's the same reason you always scald me when we take a shower together?" Nora asked with a laugh.
"Do you know how hard it used to be to make water hot a few hundred years ago?" Miranda said with another eye roll.
"Loo?" Nora asked after she'd stopped chuckling.
Miranda pointed to the door just passed the kitchen and then the bedroom. "There's that one and then there's one in the bedroom."
"Thanks," Nora said cheerfully as she headed straight for Miranda's bedroom.
Miranda got Nora a glass of water and set it down on the coffee table. Nora came out of Miranda's bedroom, an ornate silver picture frame in her hand and Miranda felt herself blanche. She'd wondered if Nora had chosen that bathroom so she could snoop a bit. She didn't mind if Nora looked around… but she'd forgotten about the picture of her and Jack completely. It was their wedding photo.
"This is Jack," Nora said, turning the frame to Miranda. "You two are married?"
Nora's face was inscrutable. Miranda swallowed on a dry throat. She had no idea what could be going through Nora's mind. How could Ianto possibly have felt when he'd found out about Miranda's existence? All sorts of different thoughts crossed her mind, each one worse than the one before. Afraid, Miranda fell back on obscurity.
"It's very, very complicated, Nora," Miranda said, slowly, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
"Because he's immortal too?" Nora asked and then added when she saw Miranda's eyes widen, "Ianto told me. Don't be cross with him. He thought I could use a friend, someone who understood."
Miranda nodded. "Jack isn't an immortal of the Game. Something happened to him to make him the way he is. He ages but very, very slowly. Because he's not part of the Game, I can't sense him. When I met him in 1919, I didn't know what he was and he didn't know what I was. It's why he calls me 'Will'. I was going by the name Wilhelmina Cho at the time. Things didn't work out between us… at all. In fact, to say it was disastrous is being kind."
"You lied to me," Nora said, her face scrunched.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.
"When you told me why you left your husband in 1920! It was Jack!" Nora said, a little anger in her voice.
Miranda blinked, the memories of all that time ago flooding through her. "I told you what was true at the time, Nora. I didn't know what Jack was and I didn't tell him about me. I thought he was a mortal man, a soldier returning home from war. I left him for precisely the reasons I told you. I thought he deserved better. I didn't find out Jack was immortal until the second war when I saw him in 1941."
"And that was the end of it?" Nora asked with suspicion.
It took Miranda a moment to formulate an answer.
"It wasn't was it?" Nora asked, her eyes blazing.
"Jack was my last lover, seven years ago. If you want to go through my entire back catalog, Nora, we'll be here for quite a while," Miranda said a bit impatient.
"Are you sleeping with him now?" Nora snapped out the question like a whip.
The question cut Miranda deeply. Nora had just seen Jack walking away hand in hand with Ianto Jones. Miranda was about to vehemently deny the accusation but then she realised what was going on.
"You're jealous!" Miranda said.
"I am not!" Nora said, defensively and blushed.
"You are!" Miranda said and then smiled. She got up off the sofa and cross over to her lover. She put her arms around Nora, despite her half protests. "Nora… I won't lie to you, love. There have been others before you and there will be others after. But right now? Right here? It's just us. That is the way I want it. And it will be for as long as you want it that way."
Nora blinked a few times. She knew she was being silly. She saw the way Jack had looked at Ianto and the way he had looked at Miranda and the two looks were worlds apart. A swirl of emotions had gone through her when she'd spied the picture on Miranda's dresser. The jealousy had been the strongest emotion. The green had welled up in her but it was gone now. So what if Miranda and Jack had shared a bed seven years ago? Or a marriage nearly a hundred years ago? Miranda was with her now. She scolded herself for her knee jerk reaction. She'd been having so many of them lately.
"That bed does look comfortable…" Nora said with a wicked grin, wrapping her arms around Miranda's neck.
Miranda pulled Nora in for a heated kiss and then dragged her off to the bedroom.