Torchwood Four; Dublin, Ireland
John Hart woke with a major headache. The swirl of images in his head felt like someone took a blender to his memory. The clearest picture he had involved repairing one of Torchwood's Roombas. Which didn't help him figure out what year it was.
"Where am I?" Younger Anwen meant he was probably in 2020. "Computer, activate lights."
Emergency lighting bathed the room in red. It looked like a storage room for one of the older facilities. The debris said it hadn't been used in a long time. Pending they were in 2020, and the right time line, it wasn't Torchwood Three.
A sudden image of a mall trip and two kids made him wonder. It wasn't his memory. "Teleri's a brat, Wynne." It had to be Anwen's memory. The girls must be her friends from the Academy.
"Computer, command authorization Anwen Williams."
The computer took longer than it should have to beep.
"Computer, contact Torchwood Three."
"External communications are nonfunctional."
"Computer, run systems diagnostics." She stood up. "We need to get to an access panel. If we have an internal map, we can figure out which Torchwood facility we're in."
John stood and followed her. When he met her, she sounded like a smart kid. The composure and tactical awareness was blamed on having to grow up fast. He wondered if there was a lot more to it as she pried open a malfunctioning panel.
When she swore in a language he understood, and she would have never encountered, he realized they were connected. If he was having memories of her friends, she could have some of his memories. The older version of her had technical skills beyond the first Anwen he met, but hadn't shown any indication of a connection. The CN exposure and portal malfunction must have done more than he originally thought.
"I don't know how to fix this." She hit the wall with the side of her fist.
"Darling." He wasn't sure how to explain the situation.
Anwen flipped open her wrist-strap and entered instructions manually. "Its a time distortion. The CN disrupted chronons and Rift energy. The facility must have been trapped in temporal flux."
John chuckled, he couldn't help it. "Anwen, darling. What does 'temporal flux' mean?"
"What?" She turned and looked at him.
"The CN and Rift energy messed with our memories." He explained the best he could.
Anwen hesitated. "I know."
"What did you see?"
"A sunset in a garden with the Anwen you proposed to. Pieces of a Christmas party." She closed her eyes. "And Uncle Jack. I didn't need to know that."
He hoped she was only getting innocent memories.
"The wrist-strap." A beat. "It belonged to me in two time lines. Its almost identical to yours." She met his eyes. "Is it an exact copy?"
"Yeah." He modified it for her.
"We must have disrupted time. The energy surge must have impacted something else that disrupted time."
It sounded like she was using her logic and his knowledge.
"We're in Torchwood Four," Anwen concluded
Torchwood Three
Jack Harkness entered the conference room. The general was standing at the far side of the table wearing his clothes. Gwen walked over and gave him a hug. Bree looked at him nervously.
"What happened?"
"CN overdose. You flirted with the furniture and made an effort to pick every lock in the hub for six days," the general commented.
Jack rubbed his face. "Cattrel Industries?"
"Yeah." Gwen set her head on his shoulder.
"You and John were trapped in a shared or similar memory of some kind," Bree said. "It had to involve improvising tools to disable locks."
"I found John and Anwen." The general sounded puzzled. "The mainframe logged Anwen claiming command authority of Torchwood Four."
"I thought Four was missing," Gwen said.
"It went online minutes after the alarm sounded." The general paused. "Torchwood Three recognizes it, but can't connect."
Ianto entered the conference room. Baby Trefor was crying, kicking and hitting him. Ianto handed him to Gwen.
"You're better?" Ianto asked.
"Yeah." Jack hugged him.
Ianto held Jack and glared and the general. "Trefor gets to explain why he didn't tell us he's connected to the Rift and his sister."
"Don't know what you mean."
"The version of you that's not an arse started screaming before the alarm went off. He can sense Anwen." Jack held onto Ianto. "That makes him an abduction risk."
"No, it doesn't."
Jack held up his free hand. "Gwen, we know where Anwen is. We will get her back. Go with Bree up to my office. If we don't have any immediate concerns, I need a summary of what I've missed." A beat. "Pass me Trefor."
He waited until the door closed behind them, and kissed Ianto. "Have you had enough sleep to drive?"
"Yeah."
"Will you run home?"
Ianto nodded. "Clothes, shoes." He pushed up his sleeve, revealing Jack's wrist-strap and quickly removed it. "He's wearing your boots."
"Thank you."
Jack sat across the table from the older version of his son after Ianto left with the younger version on his lap. "Anwen has told me more than once that the baby senses Rift energy. I figured you would tell me at some point."
"I didn't want to worry mom."
"Can you control the Rift?"
"No. I can detonate chronons and Rift energy."
"Detonate?"
"Yeah."
"Which means you can sense the energy?" Jack stared at his son. "A space fleet commander who can sense enemy ships."
"Ships, aliens, debris." The general kept his eyes on the table.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
The general looked up. It was like looking at himself in the mirror. "Do you have any idea how many people, aliens, creatures that means I have killed in defense of this planet? I'm not Miriam. Or Luc. I don't wade through bodies and wipe off blood without a second thought."
"You're like me. You remember everything you kill."
"Yeah, I'm like you. I view sex like a parlor game. I couldn't maintain a healthy, intimate relationship if my life depended on it." He balled his fist. "And I have completely buggered ethics and morals." Tears welled in his eyes. "Do you have any idea what baby Trefor is facing? Rhys stopped being able to handle it when I really started looking like you. I was still in primary school. Mom tried to get through to me as a teenager, but her own issues with fidelity and buggered coping mechanisms didn't help. Anwen is the only reason I didn't wind up an alcoholic or an addict."
Which explains why he hated John, and Anwen didn't.
Gwen Cooper sat at the conference table next to Jack. When they were unable to contact to Torchwood Four, Jack found a way to contact John and Anwen via wrist-strap. She wasn't sure what had happened, but the general had insisted he needed time and took off. Jack wouldn't answer her questions.
"Anwen."
"I'm okay. We found a couple maintenance bots that aren't as cool as the Roombas. If we can get them working, we can repair the building. John thinks the damage to the main power source caused the temporal displacement."
"Does John know who you are?"
"Yeah." Anwen's tone said she was hiding something.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Anwen Williams, what happened?"
"John's memory problems and my epic tantrum." She hesitated and then explain the memory exchange.
"Is John there?" Jack asked.
"I have to agree with Anwen about the wrist-straps. If its the same for you and the general, it might be hard to tell, if you're exchanging personality traits and not memories."