Sorry It took so long folks (assuming anyone is still reading out there), new job, new house and a big lack of time. I hope this lives up to the high?? quality of the previous chapters and I promise it will be finished, it just might take a while!! ;-
Happy New Year folks
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Jenny wanted to sleep for a week, just like the other occupants of the room, Tosh was trying to explain the extra chemical in her blood stream and had lost her after the first five minutes or was it hours? By the way Jack was zoning out and Owen was texting something under the table, yes there was Gwen receiving the text, this was a normal occurrence. Tosh paused for breath and that was the only excuse that Jack needed to jump in clapping his hands to wake the rest of the team, only Ianto didn't jump.
"So no weird energy readings, no alien takeovers and all you have to do is steer clear of DNA tests and you should be fine."
"Standfast the fact she is actually an alien I suppose" said Ianto more to himself to than to the group, he looked up guiltily and scanned round the room for any sign of reaction.
"So what do we do with her now?" Asked Gwen
"Hello, still in the room" said Jenny wearily
"Oh sorry I didn't mean oh God that came out wrong I was only wondering how we hide you out in the big wide world." She said in one big breath turning red.
"I can manage, like I have for the last 500 years."
"I'm all for womens lib but that is taking it a little too far." Said Owen "Besides I haven't signed you off yet and we don't know what other effects our" He searched for the right word, "Erm, intervention might have."
Jenny put her head in her hands, she just wanted to escape to a warm bath and a bed that didn't have a drip stand attached, she couldn't remember a time when she had felt this bad. Now perhaps she could understand what her patients had been going through when they manked and moaned at her, of course she had felt tired before but never so tired she felt physically sick.
"Ianto book a room for the lady and drive her over, make sure she has every thing she needs." Said Jack with a smile.
"No glass box on level four then?" she asked with trepidation
"I've told you we're not like that anymore." Said Jack with a hint of menace, he got really edgy when people brought up the old days, he'd tried so hard to make it something the Doctor would be proud of, it had taken months to reassure Ianto that this Torchwood was not the shoot first ask later One that had nearly brought down the world. If only he had managed to break that shell a little sooner they might have been able to save Lisa, but then Ianto would never have been his. Jack suddenly felt ashamed at that thought.
"Level four is full." Said Ianto breaking the silence. "Though I could let you share with Janet, she gets lonely you know."
"You could come back to my place again" said Gwen trying to make up for her earlier faux pas
"I've got something organised, thanks all the same."
Tosh looked up and blurted out
"You can't do that, the police will be monitoring all your bank accounts, I might be able to change the data before they notice but they'll be looking for you when they see a transaction." She started stabbing at her laptop as if the world would end if she didn't change the records in a nano second.
"Not every bank account." She said quietly "I'm getting something delivered in your name to the tourist office." She looked at Ianto, "Very small, completely harmless, not alien at all."
"I already took the liberty of checking that." He said sliding a thin box over the table. "Very professional, couldn't have done better myself."
All the eyes followed the box but Jenny just left it on the table, she knew what it was and didn't need to see it, it just represented another passing life. She wondered idly whether you could equate it to the stages of bereavement, this was definitely depression Jack obviously never got out of anger. She could feel Gwen trying to x-ray the box by thought alone so she pushed it down the table and past Owen.
"You will let us know where you are staying." Said Jack in professional mode, "You know we could have taken care of all that for you, why is everyone so damn independent these days." Everyone round the table interpreted it as a personal affront over some past transgression and shot daggers at Jack for bringing that up again. Jack just slumped in his chair, one of these days he would regain control of his team. Gwen started cooing and giggling, a sure sign that whatever was in the box was shiny and expensive, he looked down and saw that the whole of the table was gazing at the black credit card, boy did this girl have connections flash that baby and you could buy a cruise liner on tick.
"Don't worry it's not hooky and I am coming back tomorrow, Owen and I have unfinished business."
Jack flipped the card over in his fingers, Ianto was right it did look very good and he should know, credit cards were still good for a con for many years to come yet.
He was about to dismiss the conference and let her go her own damn way when the rift alert sounded, he dropped the card back in it's expensive leather case and looked expectantly at Tosh as she deciphered the incoming signal.
"Small incursion, life form, local park." She said in staccato bursts, "Bringing up the CCTV now."
They all looked at the screen, it was nearly dark, the camera was only picking up the pools of light cast by the fluorescent street lamps round the pond.
"What we looking for the Lake Ness Monster?" asked Owen grinning, he noticed the rest of the team weren't laughing and was about to explain his very witty pun but something happened on the screen instead. A small shaggy dog scrabbled out of the pond dragging something in its mouth, an unfortunate duck if the head dragging on the tarmac path was anything to go by but nothing more.
"The signal is really strong it has to be in the camera angle." Tosh beat another symphony on the keyboard but came up with the same answer.
"Could it be underwater?" asked Jack squinting at the grainy image.
"No we would see it, the signal is moving it would cause ripples the water's only a foot deep." Her voice rose an octave as the problem defeated her.
"Try species 287723." Said Jenny quietly
Tosh beat a new rhythm on the keyboard and pulled up the achieved species database, Torchwood had been using computers to sort and store data for twice may be three times longer than the rest of the planet, so while women in white coats had used a computer the size of a house to calculate the simplest of wage bills Torchwoods sentient super processor had already mastered voice recognition and stored information on every extra-terrestrial being known to man, well Torchwood, and there were a few thousand more added each year. Each with an autopsy report. The computer processed the numbers and flashed up a file including a drawing of an evil spiky shelled turtle.
"You're saying that there is a Bowser running round the park, a real life Bowser." Said Owen with incredulity, he often thought that some games characters looked suspiciously like the things he ran after on a daily basis.
Jenny looked up and rubbed her temple
"Erm no try 32 instead."
Tosh bashed away again and this time a photo of a endearing dog like creature, shaggy and squat held in the arms of a smiling 30 something woman in a smart 50's twin set appeared. Which would have been unremarkable apart from the fact it was purple.
"Awh cute, you really think we have one of those in Cardiff."
"Cute unless you're a duck." Said Ianto reading through the blurb with it.
"Didn't you have a pair of those in One?" asked Jack
"They wanted them archived so we put them in the achieves under the code names Fred and Ginger. They tried to mate them with toy poodles to make permanently coloured dog but they were incompatible and Ginger caught distemper. Fred was hidden down there for about five years, pinned for his mate every day, we wondered if they were both the same sex but you couldn't tell, they were good with a litter tray though"
Jack chuckled at the thought, if anyone thought Ianto was precious about the vast vaults of alien scutter they should have visited the old warehouse by the Thames that would later be flattened to become the foundations for Torchwood Tower. One day over fifty years later he would pick through the rubble destroying what he couldn't carry while a young man dragged what was left of his girlfriend away unseen.
"Gwen, Owen deal with it. Tosh give them some support."
"Oh great now I get to be an alien animal collection agent, join Torchwood, save the world from being licked to death"
"Does he ever stop complaining?" muttered Jenny under her breath
Owen tilted his head and narrowed his eyes before being pulled away by Gwen
"Should we raid the armoury or just stop at the butchers on the way over." He said being pulled from the boardroom by Gwen and with Tosh bringing up the rear. Ianto suddenly realised he was being left behind and darted out on the pretext of providing some bait.
"Then there were two." Said Jack moving out of his chair and walking slowly round the table till he was stood behind her, she was too tired to face him. Sensing the tension Jack carefully placed his hands on her shoulders, unsure of how she would react and when she didn't move he started kneading her neck gently.
"We need to talk" Jack felt her tense again "I mean I want to talk to you, person to person, I just…" Jack was lost for words he was scrabbling about again to tell someone how he felt without letting them in, a vision of Ianto passed before him just waiting for him to speak.
"I mean I know my timing sucks but…" the statement hung in the air as he absent mindedly carried on walking his fingers round her spine
"How do you do it?" He asked simply.
"Do what?" she asked hissing as his fingers pressed on the open wound in her shoulder, it was still weeping clear fluid despite having closed rapidly after the laser burn only to reopen a day later. Jack quickly apologised and leant back on the table instead,
"You know, carry on, move around, live happily for 500 years when the people round you don't." He looked down at the floor feeling like a twelve year old, it wasn't often that he had to respect his elders anymore.
"You take what you can when you can, the first 300 years are the worst." She said with a smile.
Jack chuckled too, he could never really work out how old he was, 150 plus certainly but did he count the years stuck in the time loop? He'd stopped counting about the same time he stopped with the death count, if only he had the discipline to write diary like Ianto but then again he would never let anyone read it.
"Anyway life isn't all fluffy bunnies and chocolate kisses, there are bad times but when you don't have any choice but to get on with it, what's the point in moaning?"
"Amen to that." Said Jack quietly
"But it is better if you share it." She said quietly
"Remember that night in Arras? We talked for hours about what it meant to be alive, if only we'd known, God but we've missed out on so much."
"No I don't think we have Jack, imagine if you'd have known that I was out there all that time we would have felt bound to keep meeting, you'd have left Torchwood after what they did to me and you might never have found the answers you were looking for."
"How do you know what I was looking for?" asked Jack sharply "And how do you know I have the answer now"
"You look content." she said simply
"Life isn't exactly a bunch of roses round here, we're overworked, the Rift is only getting more active and we are ending up with all the terrestrial cranks the police can't classify." He remarked crankily, because he could never stay still he ran his fingers through his hair and flashed a grin. He quickly changed his face to a much more serious expression "But you aren't happy now are you?" asked Jack with amazing insight "Happy people don't hope that the Rift will open up and swallow them they run away from it and keep out of harms way."
"So what's your excuse then? 150 years of close proximity addled your brain." She said snippily
"Touché." Countered Jack chuckling to himself because she was closer to the knuckle than her wanted her to be.
Jenny dragged her head back up from staring at the table and looked at Jack with heavy eyes
"Sorry, I'm just so tired, physically and mentally, the last few years haven't been the same. I rejoiced when they invented the internet, then I cursed when I realised it made information easier to store and hiding harder. I just didn't know what to do anymore." Tears welled in her eyes and the floodgates opened, the stress of the last few days suddenly came to the surface.
"I think," her voice hitched "I think someone or something is on to me, I'm scared Jack, I'm scared."
Jack whipped out a box of tissues that he now kept in every room, Gwen needed them quite often, and pulled out a manly handful. She took them off him and started flattening them out, just like Ianto would thought Jack, then using a single flat sheet to dab at the corner of her eye. Jack watched as she fought to bring herself under control, it was like watching a 40's movie only he was seeing all the women of the time he had known. So different from now, Gwen told you exactly what she thought of you, even Tosh and all her Japanese manners occasionally got hissy but women of a certain age would stoically soldier on till they had a nervous breakdown. Progress thought Jack.
Jack sat for a few moments more then stood and pulled her into gentle embrace, which opened the floodgates again, he stroked her hair while she clung to him as the stress flooded out. Jacks shirt felt distinctly damp after five or so minutes when he saw Ianto peering through the glass door with a look of concern. He motioned for him to come in and gently pushed her away, lifting her chin to check she was fine. Ianto felt uneasy, he was only a partially reconstructed male, he understood his own emotions after a lot of coaching from Jack but women were worse than aliens, so god alone knows what a female alien was like.
"Get the lady a taxi Ianto."
Ianto stuck his hands in his pockets and fiddled round for his mobile,
"Where should I say it was going to?" asked Ianto
"St Davids." She said quietly
"You're right." Said Ianto after he finish his quick call, "Much better than anything Torchwood would run to, Jack never signs off on anything more than a three star."
"Never say never" said Jack giving Ianto a look that spoke volumes and for a nano second both men remembered a few snatched hours at somewhere rather special on the day they had to avoid themselves.
"Are you sure you are going to be okay by yourself?" asked Jack after the conversation they had just had. Ianto raised an eyebrow as he started to collect the coffee cups, if it was important Jack would tell him either now or later.
"I'd offer to drive you but the others have the SUV, my car is at home and Gwens car still needs a slight valet." Besides Ianto thought to himself he wanted Jack alone to wheedle more information out of him before he clammed up again.
"Thank you but I am enough of a nuisance, I think for a few days they should be off my tracks, depends if their photo recognition is as good as yours and how much of the network they've hacked."
"We'll put them off the scent till you decided on a next move, Tosh and Ianto do a good line in subterfuge, so good they worry me in fact." Said Jack chewing his lip ever so slightly
Ianto rolled his eyes and tutted under his breath
"It is what you pay me for." He muttered as if this was a common argument.
"Not all I pay you for" said Jack snatching at Ianto who deftly sidestepped him without even rattling the cups on the tray but fixed him with a scowl.
Jenny looked back and forth between the two men with slightly unfocused eyes and decided this was her key to leave, so slowly she stood holding the desk and took a deep breath.
"I'll go and get your things." Said Ianto his gaze never leaving Jacks till he walked swiftly over the thick pile carpet and down the stairway in an upright fashion that wasn't seen very often in the modern world of slouching and trainers. Jack put a steadying arm round her waist and steered Jenny after Ianto. He handed her a small plastic looking object, about the size of a keyring which she turned over in her hand.
"Call it a new age panic button, snap it, scream for more than 14 seconds or if your heart rate rises above 100 for more than 2 minutes and the cavalry arrives. Just don't take it to the gym and leave it in you pocket or get carried away in your own living room without taking your jeans off." Said Jack his voice trailing off as he remembered bursting in on more than one new team member when they least wanted an interruption, he smiled at the thought.
"I promise no gym." She said with a grin, she would be lucky to make it to the bathroom in her current state.
"And call in the morning Ianto will come and pick you up." He said as they reached the tourist office.
Two days ago and that statement would have had her running for the hills but now, well it sounded ok. Ianto offered her a battered case with an airport barcode for Orly hanging off it.
"I took the liberty of adding to your cover story, the name on the card looks French so I extrapolated that you could well be a lost French tourist, your passport is in the front, not the best I ever made and if they really want to go to town on it they will find that it seems to be mainly scuffed with Cardiff Bays finest ooze, but we can make sure that the reception staff don't look too closely for a few days."
"He is good." She said flipping the pages of the passport which looked suitably grubby with age.
"I only pick the best." Said Jack as Ianto playing the part of the concerned tourist official ushered the lost sightseer out the door.
"As I remember it I picked you." He threw over his shoulder waving as the taxi pulled away, how many Cardiffians knew they had a mini-cab firm staffed solely by aliens?