'tis i'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

[poshmouthytart]

Characters: Law Enforcement Characters (see tags)
Rating: PG-13 (in case of language)
Time Period: Modern
Location: Public rooms in the castle
Relative Date: After the quarantine and two days after Alex's transmission
Status: OPEN

Comments

POLICE CONSTABLES AND BEAT COPS | DINING ROOM

[poshmouthytart]

[alien_catcher]

Gwen found her way to the room marked for PCs without much of a problem, a little surprised and somewhat disheartened to find it empty. Granted, considering her time with Torchwood, taking up a job as a PC at the castle seemed like a step backwards, but talking to Jack, it had also seemed for the best. His interest had, unsurprisingly, been with special branch, and if Gwen Cooper was good at anything, it was being liaison between the real world and Torchwood. It seemed only right to spread out the team's expertise as much as they could.

The other thing Gwen was really good at, currently, was being pregnant, and she settled into a chair with a groan. She was starting to show, her shirts already tight against her belly and her wardrobe had, blissfully, provided her with maternity clothes. Hopefully no one else interested in the PC team would be put off by working with someone who was ballooning into a bloody tuna as the days went by.

[lostheavensent]

On the contrary, Anastacia's eyes lit up immediately upon seeing Gwen seated there when she stepped through the door. Maybe it was silly, she realized, to be glad for something like that when the baby might end up trapped here, but it seemed a victory in its own little way against the confining nature of the place. Life going on, that sort of thing.

"Am I early?" she asked brightly, as she glanced around the room, moving forward to stand beside Gwen's chair. "Or right on time?"

[alien_catcher]

Gwen clamored to stand up, with a little less grace than she was used to, and offered the woman a smile in return. "Oh, yes, right on time, I think."

She offered her hand. "Gwen Cooper. I was a PC in the South Wales Police for quite a few years, so this seemed like the best place to come. You have no idea how pleased I am to see someone else got that message too."

[lostheavensent]

Anastacia clasped her hand in a friendly grip, and then gestured to help her sit back down. "You don't have to get up."

"Anastacia Duval. It's nice to meet you, Gwen. I was... an officer back in New York City, though I'll admit I'd only just passed out of training. But I can't imagine we can afford to be too picky, although there was a mildly good turnout of law enforcement officers at that last attempt to put people together." An attempt that hadn't gone any further, she thought, mildly frustrated.

[alien_catcher]

Gwen waved off Anastacia's help as gently as she could, settling herself back into the chair with a sigh. "Believe me, I don't think anyone here is goin' to judge too much on experience. I'm wasn't even with the police anymore when I came here."

She looked around, as if waiting for someone else to pop through the door. "Hopefully we'll get a better turnout for this too, yeah? I mean, two police constables patrolling the whole of the castle might get a bit exhausting. Especially seein' as I'll be out of commission for a bit in a few months time."

[lostheavensent]

Not about to let Gwen take a hit in pride, Anastacia acquiesced to her subtle attempts to continue on her own.

"You'd quit?" she asked, curious, and not realizing it might be a touchy subject. She chuckled a bit at the thought of the two of them covering the entire grounds. "I suppose I'd be getting my exercise at least."

[alien_catcher]

Laughing, Gwen nodded. "If it's anything like my old job, whatever we're runnin' after or runnin' away from will keep us right fit." With that, she added in a assuring tone, "And I didn't quit the police, I... transferred."

It was getting to the point that Gwen thought the best thing to do, maybe, was to print out 'Torchwood' flyers and pass them out to the inhabitants of the castle. Oh, Jack would love that. "I ended up with Torchwood, it's sort of... a special operations unit. More of an independent agency that concentrated on very specific types of cases."

[lostheavensent]

"Torchwood," she repeated, a bit distantly. "I feel as if I've heard the name bandied about here before. Are there others of you here from the unit? That might explain..." Anastacia shook her head slightly, as if to dismiss her own question.

"Either way. I'm sure we can use any expertise we have on hand, no matter what the source."

[alien_catcher]

"Well, my whole team was here at one point," Gwen told her. "Maybe you've met them... There's Ianto Jones, he's a bit of a quiet bloke. Welsh, like me. And Captain Jack Harkness, he's an American - sounds like one, anyway, but I don't know how much he really qualifies - and you'd know if you met him. Piercing blue eyes, tall, dark, and handsome, and has a thing for bein' irritatingly enigmatic about everything."

The last bit was said in a light tone, and it was obvious how very fond of her boss Gwen actually was. "There was a Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper, too, but I haven't seen them in ages. It seems like people just fade in and out of this place sometimes..."

Gwen pressed her lips shut, shrugging. "Listen to me, babblin' on. Anyone you know here, then? From your New York unit?"

[lostheavensent]

"Jack," she repeated, pursing her lips together for a moment, and drumming her fingers against the table. "Well, that sounds like a certain unmistakable stranger I met briefly at the first party. I'll admit we didn't get a lot of time to chat though. Perhaps it's that whole enigmatic quality you were referring to." A sly smile crept across her lips.

"I'll admit, there are some friends I've made here who seem to have all but disappeared. I hope nothing..." Anastacia trailed off, not intending to state her fears out loud.

"Anyway. No, no one here from back home. Or from anywhere else I've lived for that matter. And no one who seems to even be from the same world as me."