He was amazed once he had cleaned all the unnecessary junk off the back of the bar. A lovely etched mirror filled the wall, the dark wood which surrounded it had intricate wooden leaves which extended from the wood to hold the glass in place. He climbed onto the counter on his knees with a cloth and started to wipe it down, cleaning the accumulated dust from the woodwork. What a shame that it had remained hidden, he thought to himself.

"What are you doing?" A voice said crossly behind him. He paused in his task and looked over his shoulder. It was Mrs. Trundle and she had an angry expression on her face.

"Cleaning," Ianto said, stating the obvious. "I didn't even know there was a mirror here."

"It's decorative and doesn't serve any purpose," Mrs Trundle said, her arms crossed in annoyance. "What did you do with all those boxes of supplies?"

"There weren't any," he said as he pushed himself off the counter and stood. His back ached from being hunched in one position so long. A glance at the clock showed that it was after closing time. "The boxes were empty, so I folded them up for recycling. And besides, this gives the place a lovely atmosphere, a certain old world charm that the customers will appreciate. Plus it allows the staff to watch the customers and serve them better. Why, is there a problem?" He decided to go into his arrogant and pushy mode since that seemed to throw her off balance earlier.

She seemed startled by the change in him. "No, not a problem. But I do think it is unnecessary."

"Not really, when there's no one here. I might as well make the place look presentable," he said, not willing to back down. She shifted uncomfortably and he pursed his lips together, trying to hold back a smile. She really didn't seem to have the slightest ability in social skills. "You do want to increase business, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she said. She shrugged as if in defeat. "Okay, we'll do things your way. Let's see if you're right."

"Oh, I am," he said. He bent over and picked up the stack of folded boxes. "Perhaps you can show me around back so I know where to put the trash and where the supplies are located." She nodded and led the way back towards the opening to the rear of the store. Once he had passed through the counter he put the boxes down and went over to the door. Flipping the sign to signify that they were closed, he turned the lock in the door. He tried not to think of the fact that he may very well be locking himself in with a potential monster and to trust that he could get himself out of anything if Mrs. Trundle tried anything.

He walked back to where he left the boxes and picked them up again. He brushed through the curtained entryway and wrinkled his nose at the musty scent the material had. Good lord, this woman was a pig, he thought to himself irritably. Amazing the place stayed in business at all. Mrs. Trundle waited right beyond the hanging. The room was small and cramped, the isles filled with boxes and supplies. He navigated it carefully and headed towards a door at the back. Pushing it open, he took a breath of the cool night air. Despite the somewhat unsavory smell of the trash area, at least the breeze was fresh. He stacked the boxes next to the overflowing trash bin and put his hands on his hips to look around. The alley spread out behind the shops in either direction. It was narrow, allowing only enough room for one of the small bin trucks to come by and empty the trash. A glance told him that there didn't seem anything odd here. Nodding to himself, he went back inside.

Mrs. Trundle still stood in the same place, which he found odd. He didn't act like he noticed, though.

"Let me bring the rest of the trash out and then you can show me around," he told her. Not waiting for a reply, he brushed past her and back out into the store area. It took all of his strength to pull the trash bin out to the alley, the coffee grounds making the bin heavy. He dumped that in the alley and brought the bin back into the store, Mrs. Trundle watching him silently. Perhaps she had never seen her employees clean before. It wouldn't really surprise him.

Once he had cleaned up the work area, he returned to the back room. "Okay, let's get started. What do I need to do?" He asked and seemed to startle her out of some reverie of some sort.

"Let's see," she said, looking around the small room as if seeing it for the first time. "All of the spare supplies are back here, and you can restock the stuff in front from here. We also have a roaster in the basement. Have you worked one of those before?" He nodded. "Good, none of the others know how to do it. Let me take you down so you know where it is." She turned and walked sideways through a tight aisle between the shelves and he saw a door at the back. Hoping he wasn't making a mistake he was going to regret, he followed her.

She opened the narrow door and turned on a light. "Careful, the stairs aren't too good," she warned him as she went down the stairs, her bulk waddling back and forth as she went. He made his way carefully down the steps, noticing that there was a damp smell to the place. It could be because they were below sea level and close to the water, or it could be something else. He proceeded cautiously.

When he reached the bottom he blinked in the dim light from the single bulb hanging from the ceiling. There was shelving all around them with boxes stacked on them. Mrs. Trundle was off to one side standing next to a large machine. Ianto went over to where she was standing and saw that it was an industrial sized roasting machine and similar to the one he had used back in London. He nodded, though he noticed the machine looked rather ill-used. Amazing the coffee was palatable at all if they were using it in that state, he mused.

"Can you use this?" She asked, gesturing to the roaster.

"Yes, though not when it's in that state. I'll need to clean it up before I roast anything in it." Good god, he thought to himself. What was going on here? There were signs that at one time this shop had been well run. What had happened to the original proprietor and who had taken over? And for what reason? All questions he hoped to have answered. "Where are the beans?" He asked. She pointed to some bins off to the side. He walked over to them and opened them cautiously, looking above to make sure there weren't any cobwebs or insects that might fall in as he did so. Amazingly, nothing was dangling overhead, which he found interesting as well. With the state the place was in, there should be spiders all over the place. Interesting.

One bin held fresh beans and he dipped a hand in to scoop some up and sniffed. They still smelled good, which was a relief. He walked about the room, inspecting it.

"Yes, I can do this for you. It will have to be tomorrow though, as I need to meet my partner before he gets more upset than he is already. And I so don't want him angry with me," Ianto said with a smile. The woman in front of him shifted uncomfortably at his comment. "What time would you like me to come back in the morning?" He asked her.

"We open at eight," she said. "Be here by seven thirty at the latest. Letitia will be here, so she can work the store while you get started down here," she said to him. "This room goes further in back, but I don't want you going back there." She indicated an entryway that was boarded over. "There was a collapse of a pipe a ways back, and so the other rooms aren't usable. Just stick to the store room upstairs and this room for the roasting. Understand?" He nodded. It also made him want to check out those out of bound rooms immediately. "Okay, you can go now."

"All right," he said equitably. No need to get her mad again. He preceded her up the stairs and back into the store room. He looked around the shelves curiously, but the supplies stacked there seemed fairly normal to him. She emerged from the cellar a moment later and he turned to smile at her.

"Good night," he said. She nodded and watched as he let himself out the back door to the alleyway beyond. "Oh, which entrance do you want me to use when I come here?" He asked, half in and out of the doorway.

"Come to the back door. We don't want people thinking we're open before we are," she said. He nodded and bid her goodnight. The door closed behind him and he stood for a moment listening. He could hear Mrs. Trundle bustling about inside, but the packed shelving inside the room were blocking the view from the outside. Shrugging, he walked down to where the alley led out onto a side street before pausing. He wondered if she was going to leave, but he didn't see any signs that she was coming out the back way. Perhaps she lived there, though he couldn't imagine where. There was no living space above the building, so she would have to live in the basement if she did stay there. He shuddered at the thought.

As he stood in the dim streetlight he found that he was exhausted. He had put in a full day's worth of work at Torchwood before he came to the coffee shop, and he found that the long day had taken its toll on him. He debated between going home and back to the Hub, but his flat was closer and he really needed a shower. He turned in that direction and headed home.