A/N: Bit longer this chapter but hopefully it works. Thanks to everyone who has followed or reviewed the story, it means a lot.
After a few hours of searching, they came up with nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
No one had even heard of Torchwood. They asked at nearby stations, around the office. At one point a younger officer thought it was the name of a band until Alec politely corrected him.
Ellie ran their names through the database and discovered information on the individuals, but nothing on the team as whole. She still believed that they would be an asset to them, despite Alec's claims. She took the files to her boss, hoping that she could change his mind.
"Neither one of them has a criminal record. In fact, Captain Harkness was in the army up until eight years ago." Ellie explained.
"What about Miss Tyler? What do we know about her?"
"She worked in a department store in London for a few years but went travelling abroad and…." Ellie hesitated, Rose was so nice to her on the cliffs, she didn't want to seem harsh or judgemental.
"And?" he prompted.
"She has very basic qualifications, nothing higher than GCSEs."
Alec scoffed. "Friends in high places it seems."
"Sir, maybe you should watch your tone when they arrive." Ellie warned.
"Why?"
"It looks as if a fight was going to break out and no offence, sir, but I think you would lose," Alec shot her daggers, but Ellie hastily added "I just mean … your…" She gestured at his chest.
"My heart is fine now, thank you, DS Miller."
She shrugged, recalling the operation a few months before, waiting in the ward for him while it was touch and go for a second, "I know, but still."
"Miller, if you want to have a conversation about professionalism, you might want to consider your behaviour." Alec muttered.
"Excuse me?" Ellie said, dropping the folder onto the desk.
"You were blushing at the enemy!" he pointed out.
"They are not the enemy. And I was not" She protested, even though she knew there was a little truth behind the accusation.
"Lair. Even his colleague told him to shut up."
"Must be good friends, just a joke to them." Ellie suggested, wondering what that was like, to have a boss with a sense of humour and not just when it suited him.
"Maybe. Tell me how does she get to talk to her senior officer like that and get away with it?"
"I know. Lucky cow!" Ellie muttered under her breath, thinking her boss hadn't heard her, but he did.
"Miller, something you would like to talk about?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"No. No, sir." Ellie mumbled, refusing to take him up on the offer. Let's not go down that rabbit hole, she thought.
Alec glimpsed at the clock on the wall behind Ellie. "Right they should be here now. I'm going to see if they are downstairs."
He strode past Ellie, down the stairs to the reception. He glanced up, half expecting them not to be there, when he eyes fell on a shaky Rose, obviously feeling the chill outside. Thankfully she had her back to him, Alec paused, stepped back, letting out a long shaky breath.
He ran his hands through his hair. Ellie might have blushed because of Jack, but Rose… Miss Tyler… was something else. She showed such compassion on the cliffs to someone she hardly knew and yet at the same time her strength for standing her ground against her boss was impressive.
He had to focus though, there was a case that needed to be solved. Alec marched towards the door pushing those new feelings into a box, firmly shutting the lid.
Jack, Rose and Alec strolled into his office, ignoring the mummers of the other officers as they passed them. They found Ellie sitting on the sofa with a stack of folders next to her. Jack glanced over the folders as Ellie moved them out of his view, but he still caught his name of the top of one. He rolled his eyes, predicting they would check the system for them, but the thickness of the file meant they were doing a thorough job. Their team wasn't as flawed as he first thought.
"No tape then?" Rose said, surveying the room. .
"We aren't having a formal interview. This is not an arrest." Alec stated, returning to his desk.
"Not yet, it's not." Rose uttered, reminding him of their earlier encounter as she sat on the edge of the sofa. Tickled, Jack closed the door, trying to hide his smirk. Ellie supressed a smile at the comment, liking Rose more and more while Alec rolled his eyes, not amused.
Ellie stood up, crossed the office so the two teams were on the same side of the of the room. "Right, thank you for coming in," In the corner of her eye, she caught the equipment Jack had brought in. "What's that?"
Jack lifted the medical case on to the desk, opened the lid to reveal the a laptop, passing it to Rose. She loaded the crime scene photos of the first murder. They left their specialist equipment including the scanner back in the car, certain information need to be held back for their safety as well as the officers.
Rose placed the computer in front of the officers. "In the early hours of this morning this body was discovered. Same cause of death, but this murder took place near a nightclub in Cardiff." Rose informed them.
"Another victim?" Alec put on his glasses to examine the photos better, "Same killer?"
Jack nodded. "We are an investigating team from Cardiff. Torchwood specialises in unique cases. With murders like this, it helps to have an different insight." Technically it wasn't a lie, just a bit it vague. Jack saw the look in Alec's eyes as he glanced up from the screen, giving a sceptical look.
"What sort of insight?" asked Ellie.
"Fresh set of eyes can't hurt." Rose said, crossing her arms.
Knowing his charm would work better on Ellie rather than DI Grumpy, Jack suddenly declared that he needed a cup of coffee to work efficiently. Ellie walked him out the office and towards the kitchen. Rose stayed behind, suddenly regretting her decision to turn down a cup.
Ellie passed him a cup of hot coffee and Jack gratefully accepted. His plan to gain information from his new best friend was in full swing.
"Captain Harkness," Ellie started "how long has it been since you left the army?"
"Don't waste any time, do you?" he said, giving her a cheeky grin.
"Please just answer the question." said Ellie, not amused by his games.
Jack took a sip of his coffee, enjoying the hot liquid as it warmed him up. "Okay, since this isn't a formal meeting, call me Jack. And I left the army nearly eight years ago, but you already knew that." he said, still smiling.
"Why did you leave?"
"I wanted a change." he said with conviction.
"But you still use the title 'Captain'?"
"I've found it's a good conversation starter." he said, hoping to defuse the awkward tension. Two teams had come together, some sort of trust would have to be built, otherwise more problems would rise.
"When did you start to lead Torchwood?" she asked.
"About six months after I left the army." Jack said, leaning back against the counter.
Confident that he wasn't lying, Ellie didn't feel unnerved, in fact, she knew that despite his jokes and flirty attitude, he was skilled at his job. What did worry her was that they didn't seemed as fazed by the murders as they were. Like they did this sort of thing all the time. But how could that be possible? If there was any other killings similar to the one of the cliffs, they would know. Wouldn't they?
Jack could see the fear in her eyes. She was out of her depth. He'd read the articles on Danny's murder and her husband Joe, all the pain she must have gone through. He felt sorry for her and her situation but wouldn't sugar coat their current predicament.
"What are we dealing with?" she inquired "A psychopath? A serial killer?"
"We don't know." Jack answered.
"Don't give me that!"
"Ellie, I swear we don't know." he turned to face her properly. "But I promise that we are dedicated to finding out."
She sighed, looking at the officers in front of her, the lit screens, the constant clicking of their mouses, working hard on a case that she had no idea how to solve. Finally she said, "Not easy, this job."
Following her eye line. "It really isn't." Jack breathed, breaking the tension completely.
Meanwhile in the other room, Rose felt uneasy. Alec was reading from the laptop but his eyes kept darting up from the screen then back.
She had dealt with cranky men before but never like this. She remembered a grumpy, distant man until he opened up to her. Then his big grin and heart showed her everything he was about.
Looking at Alec now, she could see the tiniest similarities between him and that northern man she once had in her life. The same passion for their job, the motivation that drove them. Just like Jack, she had read the research on Broadchurch and what happened last year. She passed no judgement on him like the press did and wanted to form her own opinion.
Alec angrily tapped the keyboard. "What's wrong with this program?"
"Oh, yeah, it took me a while to work it out. Hold on." Rose stood next to him, leaning over slightly, her shoulder just brushing his, oblivious, as his breathing hitched. She typed in a complex sequence, which baffled Alec further. "It's strange thing, but it gets the job done."
Alec nodded. "How did you know that the body of Billy Hansen was on the cliffs?" he said abruptly, trying to distract himself and close that "box" once more.
"Honestly. We intercepted a call from the emergency services when it was phoned through." Rose said, as if it was nothing.
Alec glared at her. "Because of your 'special access'?" The words tasted foul in his mouth. "Special", what makes them better than the rest of us? he thought.
"Yeah, pecks of the job." Rose stated, clicking on the autopsy report that Ianto had emailed from earlier. Alec took no notice, but gaped at the mysterious girl in front of him.
How did a person so young get into such a specialist job? Connections maybe? Normally on a case like this, not that he ever had case as disturbed as this, but usually when interviewing someone, he could keep his concentration. But Rose was pushing all his buttons and she wasn't even trying. Those feelings he had banished earlier were stirring, waking up inside him. Alec scratched the back of his neck, not liking that it was changing his focus.
"What did you do before all this?" He gestured at the equipment.
"I travelled, all over really, had jobs in between." She said, smiling again.
"Tell me, how does a girl like you get this sort of job?"
Rose blinked. Where did that come from? "What do you mean a 'girl like me'?"
"I mean how does a girl with hardly any qualifications get a job like this?" Alec pointed to the files that Ellie had earlier. "Your friend Jack to happen to give you this job?" His voice was cold and heartless.
"What are you insinuating, DI Hardy?" Her eyes narrowed, feeling her temper rising.
"How close are you exactly?" Alec queried, pulling off his glasses.
Rose scoffed, snatching the laptop of the desk. She spun around, clenching her fist. "Don't think you know everything about me because of what's in some file." She spat.
Jack and Ellie entered the room, laughing and giggling, but once he saw Rose's expression, a look he had only seen a few times in the years he had known her, he could have killed Hardy. Ellie looked at Alec, shaking head, already guessing what he'd gone and done.
"Jack. I'm going back to the car, before I say something that will get me arrested." She grabbed the medical case from the desk and hauled it out the door.
Jack politely passed the coffee back to Ellie. "DS Miller, it has been a pleasure." He turned to Alec, resisting the urge to jump across the desk and strangle the bastard. He was always protective of Rose, but his presence was needed elsewhere. "Word of warning, Detective Inspector, don't piss off the Bad Wolf." He grinned at them both before leaving to chase down his friend.