Torchwood fanfiction - 51°29°38.3°“N 0°07 ’32.2“W
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She never saw him that first year, too occupied with getting to know the ropes of her new job, too aghast to actually work here.
He was only a flash of blue fabric that second year and she didn’t catch his face.
Another spring and she knew she’d seen this coat before, she just couldn’t place it.
“Do I know you?” she asked him, when she passed him on the stairs.
“No,” he said with a sad smile. “I hope not.”
She didn’t think of him the fourth year, didn’t see him behind her stack of papers, trying to get the world back in order.
She had an office of her own when she crossed path with him again. She walked the corridor with coffee in her hand and caught his stare following her. She only remembered him because of his sad smile.
He looked even more sad and worn the next year and she didn’t know why her heart hurt so much when she saw him.
When she spotted him six years after she’d first moved into the building, sitting on a bench, she gathered all her courage and sat down next to him, handing him a cup of coffee.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“No,” was the only reply she got.
He brought her coffee the next year.
And the following year as well, still with the sad smile etched into his face.
“I want to help you,” she said in earnest when he came back a third time.
“What makes you think I need help?”
She snorted in her coffee and just raised an eyebrow.
“I just need,” he paused, “time. Just a little more.”
“Okay.”
She had her own team of assistants that tenth year of their acquaintance, but they weren’t there when he sat down on the other side of her desk, shoving a cup of coffee towards her, the setting sun shining brightly through her big window.
“I need your help.”
“Okay.”
“I need the keys to the room.”
“To wha - oh.” She sipped on her coffee for a few minutes before she got up. “Follow me.”
Together they took the stairs, she typed in a few codes where doors were locked, and finally they stood in front of the door, behind which lives had been changed forever.
“Thanks,” he simply said and she didn’t know what to do.
“Do you want me to … ?”
“No, go home. Kiss your husband, say goodnight to your children, enjoy the evening.” He smiled at her, and for once it wasn’t drenched in sadness. “You’re a good woman.”
She never saw him again, but the next year, when the frost was gone and the first signs of life showed up outside her window another man came into her office, bringing her coffee.
“Thanks,” he said, nervously playing with his tie. “Thanks for all.” He straightened his jacket and took the few steps to the door.
She didn’t dare to ask the important questions on her mind, the hows and whys, but she could ask one question at least.
“Is he happy now?”
The man turned to her again, a shy smile slowly spreading over his face. “Yes, he - we, we are happy now.”
They nodded at each other and he left her office.
She never saw him again.
- fin