Authors note: this is dedicated to my friend Melissalianne who inspired the character Melody.
"Remind me again why Jack and Gwen aren't here" Owen said as the foursome climbed out of the SUV.
"Pre-natal class" Melody said screwing her nose up "followed by baby shopping and then lunch"
"Yuck" Owen said "it was great at first but now the pair of them are getting far too gushy for my liking"
"For all of our liking I think" Ianto said
"I got four signals" Tosh said reading the GPS in her hand "we should separate. Owen you take the right, Ianto left, I'll go that way and Melody will go the opposite"
The other three nodded before walking off in other directions. Melody walked slowly round the corner, her gun out ahead of her, her fingers closed round the trigger just in case. She peered round and saw a small cube. She frowned and then suddenly it exploded.
"And then there's you" Ianto said softly "you remember how you ended up working here"
My name is Melody Winters and one day on a night shift me and my partner Andy got our first sighting of the mysterious Torchwood.
"Coffee?"
She looked up from her cell phone and smiled at the blonde man "oh you're an angel" she said "trust it to rain when we have night duty"
"Trust it to rain when we have a murder on our hands" he corrected "who are you texting then?"
"My mum, she worries"
He rolled his eyes "you think Mrs Winters would learn that you don't need anyone to worry for you"
"Doesn't stop her" she points out taking a sip of the scalding liquid. She watched a black SUV drive up and four people in black walk up towards the crime scene "who are they?"
"I keep forgetting you never grew up round here" he said looking down at her fondly "that's Torchwood, very uptight and mysterious. Special Ops. No one's quite sure what they do…apart from cause trouble of course. Surely you heard the curse Bloody Torchwood. Even the old biddies use that one"
"What do you think they're doing?" she asks
He shrugged and took a gulp of his coffee.
"Want to sneak up there and check it out for ourselves" she asked pointing to the blocks of car parking just above the crime scene.
They shared a look before running towards it.
That night I saw a miracle. They brought a man back to life for two whole minutes. Andy got creeped out and ran but I stayed and watched. Suddenly a man looked up and made eye contact with me.
"Sir we got a witness" he said
He looked up and saw the pale wide eyed woman. "Hello" he called "don't be afraid, I'm Captain Jack Harkness, come on down"
I don't know what it was but I felt terrified, I had to get away. But something about them drew me in. I spent ages researching Captain Harkness, Andy thought I was nuts, specially since the only Captain Harkness we could find was an American in 1941.
There was a fight in a bar and I got thrown against the bar. Andy took me to hospital to get me checked out. Sat there holding my hand like the mother hen he was. Then I saw that coat of Captain Harkness and I ran after him, Andy following.
Andy missed the horror I saw…he was lucky. We followed the SUV to the Roald Dahl Pass but the five people just…vanished.
I spent nights circling it, trying to see how it could be possible, Andy thought I was nuts but he dropped by each hour to give me some hot coffee.
Then I found the main way in. I saw what Torchwood really was. And then they simply made me forget.
Andy got worried about my memory loss, he took me to the hospital again and they couldn't find fault. We got into work and they showed us the knife that they suspected as the murder weapon. Something about it stirred my memory.
Then I got on my laptop to check my emails and on a little post it note written in block letters was TORCHWOOD: REMEMBER!
And I did.
And then I worked everything out, I knew who killed those people. Susie Costello second in command for Torchwood.
She admitted it to me, she went nuts and she was going to kill me, but instead she killed Jack Harkness…who woke up and healed up.
She then killed herself.
To this very day I shall always remember that look of horror on her face, when she realized that everything was over. Susie Costello shall always haunt my nightmares.
It was roughly one in the afternoon when Jack and Gwen got into the Hub loaded down with bags. No one was at the reception desk, which wasn't unusual at this time of day. Usually Ianto would be found feeding them with takeaways or eating with Melody somewhere nice.
But the whole Hub was empty and no note was left.
That meant danger. That meant the team could be injured.
"Stay here" Jack ordered running out of the hub.
Gwen as usual ignored the order and ran after him, she found him hotwiring Owen's car.
"Owen will kill you for that" she commented
"I told you to stay in the Hub" Jack said through gritted teeth
"And I told you before I was never going to leave you" she snapped back
"Damnit Gwen you and the baby aren't invincible" Jack snarled "something could go wrong and the baby wouldn't be able to protect you" his eyes drifted to her stomach. It's been fourth months and the bulge was just beginning to show.
"The team is in danger, you're walking into danger and for all we know danger is heading to me and the baby. I'm not leaving your side Jack"
"Fine get in"
They found Owen almost being cut into little pieces by a huge glass window, they only got him out in time, they found Tosh buried under some rubble, bruised but overall fine. Ianto was unconscious but after a few light slaps he woke up and with some help able to get up. Melody was found curled up under some rubble, her eyes wide in horror, she seemed to be in some kind of trance.
"She's remembering" Owen said calmly helping her up into a sitting position
"Remembering?" Gwen asked
"When you end up in this sort of almost death experience you remember something in full detail, every single detail is blown out of proportion" Owen explained "I should know since I've been through it a good few times, all of us have but this is Mel's first proper time, she's in shock"
They got Melody in the SUV with the heater on full blast; she slowly got out of the shock and huddled up close to Ianto sobbing. Owen was over at his car fussing over the mess Jack made. Then Jack's vortex manipulator beeped and everyone turned to look in horror remembering the last time it did that and then the hologram of John Hart appeared.
"Hello Jackie-Boy, how are you? Did you like my present? I wonder how much of your team survived. Did sweetcheeks survive? I hope so and eye candy I like him as well" John smirked "I got another present for you Jackie-Boy" he turned and made another hologram of a young man "does he look familiar?"
Jack whispered one word, one word that sent shivers down Gwen's spine, a word she thought she was never going to hear since the night Jack confronted her after their marriage.
"Gray"