Fic: Putting It Back Together Again - Torchwood - PG 13 (1/7)
Author: Book_Junkie007
Pairing: Ianto/Gwen, Tosh/OMC, team
Rating: PG 13
Wordcount: 2780 words
Warnings: Set between End of Days and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.
Notes:
It took a village to write this fic, so thanks goes out to:
- karaokegal and veritas6.5 for being absolutely fabulous betas
- @kaddison_ on Twitter for sharing her experiences in Nepal and making sure I had Kathmandu accurate
- @CCTerry_ for listening to my rants and giving me feedback on scenes I wasn't sure about
- @AsphyxiaPallida for cheering me on
- @Miss_T2011 for reading things over, giving me feed back, and cheering me on
- My boyfriend for helping me figure out machinery, which I'm useless at
- Everyone on Twitter, LJ, and in real life who have put up with me babbling about this fic for the last six months. I love you all. <3
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood as I am Canadian. I kind of live in the wrong country. :P
Summary: Sequel to It All Falls Apart
Set during the four months between End of Days and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The team is still coming to terms with Jack's abandonment, while Gwen, the new head of Torchwood, is also dealing with the fact that Rhys is truly gone. The Prime Minister's phone call to the remaining members of the team takes them, along with Benjamin Stratford, a new recruit, to the mysterious Himalaya to see if the Yeti is real, and if it needs their help getting home.
Master List
Gwen pushed herself back from the desk and sighed. The past few days had been spent writing reports on the most recent aliens the team had come across and doing other paperwork necessary for Torchwood to keep its funding. She couldn’t wait to finish up so she could go out with the rest of the team for drinks. It had been forty-nine days since Jack had disappeared, and she was doing all she could to keep Torchwood going. Ianto had helped a lot with the day-to-day activities, but she was still ultimately responsible.
“Almost ready, Gwen?” Ianto asked from the doorway.
“Yep,” she replied. “Just need to sign this one last thing,” she added, signing a paper with a flourish. “There, done. Time to drink,” she said with a smile.
“As long as Owen doesn’t get drunk enough to start singing karaoke this time, I think we will be okay,” Ianto replied, offering Gwen her leather jacket.
“Oh, we’ll be fine.”
They walked into the main part of the Hub from Jack’s (now Gwen’s) office.
“All right, Tosh?” Gwen called. “Ready to go?”
“Just let me set the Rift alerts, and then we should be ready,” Tosh responded.
Owen came up from the medical bay, wiping his hands on a towel. “Alien’s in cold storage,” he said. “Let’s drink!”
The foursome headed out of the Hub into the night, laughing and joking along the way. At first, things had been a little rocky without Jack, with all of them having learning curves about how to operate while relying only on themselves, but eventually it had become a lot smoother. There were still bumps and hiccups, though, such as Owen forgetting to tell Gwen he needed more containers, which caused alien bits to fall off the edge of the counter and eat through Toshiko’s shoes, only barely stopping at her feet.
As they settled into their normal booth at their favorite pub, Gwen reflected that they chatted and laughed and acted like a group of twenty-somethings who didn’t save the world on a regular basis.
“Hey, sweet cheeks,” Owen said, addressing the cocktail waitress who had come over to serve them yet another round. “How about you and I have a drink when you’re off, eh? I have some stories to tell that you wouldn’t believe,” he winked.
The bartender rolled her eyes as she served the others. “Honey, by the time I’m off, you won’t be able to walk straight,” she told him.
“Ooo, I like a challenge,” Owen growled and watched as she walked off without giving him a second look.
“So, Gwen, tell us another funny story about Rhys,” Toshiko said, taking a sip of her drink and looking over at Owen with a slight longing in her eyes.
“Okay,” Gwen said, smiling back. “There was this one time...” and she continued her story.
The others had been great about Rhys’ death, getting Gwen to open up when they felt she needed to, and not pushing when they sensed she needed some time to herself. Gwen and Tosh had become close friends, with Gwen spending nights on Tosh’s sofa, both of them enjoying time together.
Working with Owen had been tense at first, with Jack being gone, Rhys being dead, and their past affair piled on top. Even after Gwen had taken over the command of Torchwood, with the others’ permission, there had still been a bit of a rocky relationship between herself and Owen. Things were starting to level out a bit between them, however, and Gwen and Owen were starting to form an almost harmonious relationship. Well, as harmonious as it could be between them: there was still plenty of bickering and arguments.
After a couple of hours, and many drinks, the team decided to head for home.
“Where are you sleeping tonight?” Ianto asked Gwen, slurring his words a bit.
Gwen noticed Ianto’s slurring and thought that it was a good thing he was loosening up while around the team. Either that or he was missing Jack as much as she was, and was drinking to forget that he was gone and possibly not coming back. “I think I’m going to try sleeping at home tonight, thanks Ianto,” Gwen replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right,” Ianto said, and called a taxi for her.
Gwen stumbled up the stairs to her flat and looked around. She hadn’t stayed in it much since Rhys died. Or stayed dead. Whichever. She was glad for the silence, though. She didn’t think she would have been able to handle staying with one of the others. Not tonight, when it would have been her and Rhys’ anniversary tomorrow.
However, she hadn’t wanted to stay at home alone tonight either, not when the team went out for drinks on a weekly basis. It felt easier, somehow, to continue her new routine than to stay behind, stuck in the past. Gwen went to the kitchen, and started boiling water for a cup of tea, her custom before going to bed after a night of drinking.
She sat down at the table and looked around the semi-dark flat, illuminated only by the street lamps. The pictures on the shelves only caught bits of light, but it was enough to see vague shapes of figures. Gwen reflected on her memories with Rhys. She felt it was time to move forward with her life. Rhys was gone, and who knew if Jack was going to come back, although Gwen fervently hoped he would. Her purpose now was to keep Torchwood running to the best of her ability.
The kettle whistled, and she got up to make her tea. She drank her tea, still going through memories of Rhys, swallowed a couple of paracetamol, and went on to the bedroom, throwing herself onto the bed and immediately falling into the sleep of the drunk.
The next morning Gwen raced out early to make it to the Hub before the others. She walked into the Hub to the smell of coffee.
“When are you ever not here before me?” Gwen asked Ianto, taking off her leather, as he came out of the kitchen with two mugs of coffee. “It’s like you live here.”
Ianto said nothing, but the guilt in his eyes sent a clear message.
“You don’t, do you?” Gwen asked, putting her hand on Ianto’s arm. “Oh, Ianto,” she sighed. “Do you only go home when I come with you?”
Ianto nodded.
“You do realise you’re of no use to me if you don’t take care of yourself?” Gwen asked. “You helped me, are still helping me, so let me help you.” Gwen gave Ianto a hug, attempting to not spill her coffee or his. Ianto was stiff until Gwen pulled away. “How about this? If ever you feel like talking outside of our normal times, call me, and I’ll come over, okay?”
“All right,” Ianto nodded.
“But you still need to make sure your own needs are met,” Gwen warned.
“It’s a bit difficult when he’s gone,” Ianto replied, subtly twisting her words.
“I know, Ianto, I know,” Gwen soothed. “Come on, back to work.”
Gwen and Ianto walked up to her office to decide on a plan of action for the day, providing no Rift alerts came through.
“How’s your head?” Gwen asked as she sat down behind the desk. “You were almost as drunk as Owen last night.”
“I’m fine,” Ianto said, waving away Gwen’s concerns. “How are you?”
“Fine,” Gwen said, taking a sip of coffee then looking into the distance. “It’s our anniversary today,” she added quietly.
“Ah,” Ianto said.
“So, what do we know about Benjamin Stratford?” Gwen asked, changing the subject.
Ianto pulled out the folder Gwen and he had compiled and flipped it open. “Benjamin Stratford, twenty-five years old, graduated in the top ten percent of his class at the University of Edinburgh three years ago, recently found suspicious matter mixed in with human samples, and tested them. He’s been trying to convince his colleagues that the tissue he’s found is alien, but they don’t believe him.”
“Excellent,” Gwen replied. “It would be nice to have extra help around the Hub. Make it that much less stressful on everybody.”
“Just need to run it past the others when they get here, and I think we will be good to go,” Ianto responded.
Gwen and Ianto continued to work through the paperwork and list for the day before the cog door opened with the siren, and Gwen heard Toshiko and Owen enter, laughing and joking.
“Here they are,” Gwen said. “Team meeting time.”
“Right,” Ianto agreed, and followed Gwen out the door.
“Conference room in five minutes,” Gwen called to the others before heading there herself.
Five minutes later, the rest of the team gathered and the meeting began. Tasks were handed out, progress reports made, and other daily items accounted for. Finally the topic of Benjamin Stratford came up.
“Let’s begin,” Gwen said. “We’ve had reports of a man who found alien matter,” she reiterated what Ianto had told her. “We’re also interested in recruiting him to Torchwood. Here’s the file on him,” she said, passing folders to Tosh and Owen to peruse. “What do you two think?”
Owen finished reading first. “He sounds like an okay bloke. Course, I would have to make sure the tissue is actually alien, and that he’s not completely off his rocker, but he could be useful.”
“I like the sound of him,” Toshiko said, setting down her file, “and the University of Edinburgh is a good school. It would be nice to have an extra person around. The balance has been...off since...” Toshiko’s voice trailed off.
Gwen nodded. “That’s sorted, then. Ianto and I have already set up a meeting with him, we just wanted to make sure he was okay with you.”
“Come off it, Gwen,” Owen said. “You just wanted to make sure we would be okay with moving on. This is what it is, in a way. After all, it’s not like anything worse could happen without him,” he continued bitingly.
“Thanks, really,” Gwen said, gathering up files and papers. “Meeting’s over. Ianto and I are going out, but you know what to do.”
Ianto helped Gwen into her leather jacket before getting into his own and they walked out of the Hub. “Think they’ll be okay?” she asked as they walked to the SUV.
“Yes,” Ianto said. “And if they’re not, it’s not like we haven’t dealt with the end of the world before.”
Gwen laughed as she climbed into the passenger seat.
~TW~TW~TW~TW~TW~
Benjamin accepted his cup of tea from the barista and went to sit at a corner table in the coffee bar. He wasn’t quite sure why he had been called and asked to meet with a mysterious person whom he knew only as Gwen. Maybe this had something to do with the tissue he’d found. He thought back to the first time he had discovered aliens.
Benjamin had woken up in the middle of the night. It was the summer holidays, so it wasn’t imperative to go back to sleep right away. After trying to fall back to sleep for a bit, he gave up and crept downstairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. He turned on the television and turned down the sound until it was only a slight murmur. He flipped through the channels, trying to find something interesting. Stopping on a program which showed humans on an alien planet with a space ship, he quickly became engrossed with the story, and fell asleep on the sofa.
His father had found him the next morning, still sprawled out on the couch.
From then on, his life had become consumed with aliens. He learned everything he could about them, through books and the late night programs he was able to sneak in. Later, he devoured science-fiction books from the classic authors such as Philip K. Dick and Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as current authors. He watched everything related to aliens that he could, regardless of whether it was based in fact or not. Science-fiction became his constant companion through the ups and downs of life.
He looked up when a man and a woman came through the door and walked up to the counter. The man had on a suit and the woman wore dark clothes and high boots. Her hair was long and dark. Benjamin continued to watch as they accepted their orders and walked over to his table.
“Benjamin Stratford?” the woman asked.
“That’s me,” Benjamin said, perplexed.
“I’m Gwen Cooper, and this is Ianto Jones,” she said, nodding to the man beside her. “I asked you for a meeting. May we sit down?”
“Yeah, of course,” Benjamin said, watching them as they settled themselves on the other side of his table.
“Not as good as yours,” Gwen addressed Ianto, taking a sip of her coffee. “It may be as good as Tosh’s.”
Ianto smirked. “I think that’s a compliment to their coffee,” he said, taking a sip of his own.
“Tell us about the alien tissue,” Gwen said to Benjamin, getting right down to business.
“Hang on,” Benjamin said, slightly startled. “How do you know about the alien tissue?”
“We have connections,” Ianto said, with a smile Benjamin couldn’t quite figure out.
“All right...” Benjamin said slowly, not quite believing him. “I received a sample in the lab that I wasn’t quite sure about. I did a gross examination on the tissue then sliced and stained it, examining it with a light microscope. I’m fairly sure it’s not of this world,” he finished, “but no one else is willing to believe me. I think they’re starting to think I’m crazy.”
Benjamin watched as Gwen and Ianto gave each other a glance he couldn’t quite decipher.
“So, tell us what your duties are at your present job, in general,” Ianto said.
“Well,” Benjamin said, thinking it was an odd question to follow up with, more in line with a job interview than casual conversation, and explained the procedures he followed, the techniques he used, and how he recorded the results he found.
“Describe your work style,” Gwen said with a slight smile.
As Benjamin told them, and they alternated asking him questions, his sense that the conversation had turned into a job interview grew.
Finally Gwen and Ianto exchanged a look, and stood up.
“Thank you for your time,” Gwen said. “If you have any further questions, here’s my card. You can call me at any time.”
Benjamin watched from the table as they walked out of the coffee bar. He turned the card Gwen gave him over and over in his hands.
~TW~TW~TW~TW~TW~
“Do you think he’s going to call?” Gwen asked, slipping into the passenger’s side of the SUV.
“Oh, definitely,” Ianto said, starting the SUV. “We’ve been the only two people who are willing to listen to him about his alien nonsense. Of course he’s going to call.”
“It will be nice to be back to normal numbers,” Gwen said thoughtfully as Ianto pulled the SUV out and headed back to the Hub. “Things have felt unbalanced since Jack left.”
“Maybe this will give us back our balance,” Ianto suggested.
“I hope so,” Gwen said, leaning back in her seat.
~TW~TW~TW~TW~TW~
Benjamin spent the rest of the day at work, running through the samples again, although they gave him the same results no matter how many times he ran them, and eventually went home to his flat. He ate dinner, thinking about the mysterious Gwen and Ianto who had come to talk with him. They had seemed unsurprised at his claims of the samples being alien, and had almost seemed sympathetic. He thought about how the meeting had become a job interview in a sense, and that intrigued him more than anything. Why were they asking him those questions if they didn’t want to hire him?
Working in a different place wouldn’t necessarily be such a bad thing. His colleagues already thought he was losing his marbles; if he were working at a different company, they wouldn’t be able to whisper about him. And they seemed like interesting people, if a bit secretive. Neither of them was bad looking either, which was always a plus.
He pulled the card out of his pocket, which was starting to become worn along the edges from the many times he had read it and replaced it. He found his mobile and dialed the number on the card.
“Hello?” Gwen answered.
“Yeah, hi,” Benjamin said. “You said I could call you...”
Section 2
Pairing: Ianto/Gwen, Tosh/OMC, team
Rating: PG 13
Wordcount: 2780 words
Warnings: Set between End of Days and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.
Notes:
It took a village to write this fic, so thanks goes out to:
- karaokegal and veritas6.5 for being absolutely fabulous betas
- @kaddison_ on Twitter for sharing her experiences in Nepal and making sure I had Kathmandu accurate
- @CCTerry_ for listening to my rants and giving me feedback on scenes I wasn't sure about
- @AsphyxiaPallida for cheering me on
- @Miss_T2011 for reading things over, giving me feed back, and cheering me on
- My boyfriend for helping me figure out machinery, which I'm useless at
- Everyone on Twitter, LJ, and in real life who have put up with me babbling about this fic for the last six months. I love you all. <3
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood as I am Canadian. I kind of live in the wrong country. :P
Summary: Sequel to It All Falls Apart
Set during the four months between End of Days and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The team is still coming to terms with Jack's abandonment, while Gwen, the new head of Torchwood, is also dealing with the fact that Rhys is truly gone. The Prime Minister's phone call to the remaining members of the team takes them, along with Benjamin Stratford, a new recruit, to the mysterious Himalaya to see if the Yeti is real, and if it needs their help getting home.
Master List
Gwen pushed herself back from the desk and sighed. The past few days had been spent writing reports on the most recent aliens the team had come across and doing other paperwork necessary for Torchwood to keep its funding. She couldn’t wait to finish up so she could go out with the rest of the team for drinks. It had been forty-nine days since Jack had disappeared, and she was doing all she could to keep Torchwood going. Ianto had helped a lot with the day-to-day activities, but she was still ultimately responsible.
“Almost ready, Gwen?” Ianto asked from the doorway.
“Yep,” she replied. “Just need to sign this one last thing,” she added, signing a paper with a flourish. “There, done. Time to drink,” she said with a smile.
“As long as Owen doesn’t get drunk enough to start singing karaoke this time, I think we will be okay,” Ianto replied, offering Gwen her leather jacket.
“Oh, we’ll be fine.”
They walked into the main part of the Hub from Jack’s (now Gwen’s) office.
“All right, Tosh?” Gwen called. “Ready to go?”
“Just let me set the Rift alerts, and then we should be ready,” Tosh responded.
Owen came up from the medical bay, wiping his hands on a towel. “Alien’s in cold storage,” he said. “Let’s drink!”
The foursome headed out of the Hub into the night, laughing and joking along the way. At first, things had been a little rocky without Jack, with all of them having learning curves about how to operate while relying only on themselves, but eventually it had become a lot smoother. There were still bumps and hiccups, though, such as Owen forgetting to tell Gwen he needed more containers, which caused alien bits to fall off the edge of the counter and eat through Toshiko’s shoes, only barely stopping at her feet.
As they settled into their normal booth at their favorite pub, Gwen reflected that they chatted and laughed and acted like a group of twenty-somethings who didn’t save the world on a regular basis.
“Hey, sweet cheeks,” Owen said, addressing the cocktail waitress who had come over to serve them yet another round. “How about you and I have a drink when you’re off, eh? I have some stories to tell that you wouldn’t believe,” he winked.
The bartender rolled her eyes as she served the others. “Honey, by the time I’m off, you won’t be able to walk straight,” she told him.
“Ooo, I like a challenge,” Owen growled and watched as she walked off without giving him a second look.
“So, Gwen, tell us another funny story about Rhys,” Toshiko said, taking a sip of her drink and looking over at Owen with a slight longing in her eyes.
“Okay,” Gwen said, smiling back. “There was this one time...” and she continued her story.
The others had been great about Rhys’ death, getting Gwen to open up when they felt she needed to, and not pushing when they sensed she needed some time to herself. Gwen and Tosh had become close friends, with Gwen spending nights on Tosh’s sofa, both of them enjoying time together.
Working with Owen had been tense at first, with Jack being gone, Rhys being dead, and their past affair piled on top. Even after Gwen had taken over the command of Torchwood, with the others’ permission, there had still been a bit of a rocky relationship between herself and Owen. Things were starting to level out a bit between them, however, and Gwen and Owen were starting to form an almost harmonious relationship. Well, as harmonious as it could be between them: there was still plenty of bickering and arguments.
After a couple of hours, and many drinks, the team decided to head for home.
“Where are you sleeping tonight?” Ianto asked Gwen, slurring his words a bit.
Gwen noticed Ianto’s slurring and thought that it was a good thing he was loosening up while around the team. Either that or he was missing Jack as much as she was, and was drinking to forget that he was gone and possibly not coming back. “I think I’m going to try sleeping at home tonight, thanks Ianto,” Gwen replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right,” Ianto said, and called a taxi for her.
Gwen stumbled up the stairs to her flat and looked around. She hadn’t stayed in it much since Rhys died. Or stayed dead. Whichever. She was glad for the silence, though. She didn’t think she would have been able to handle staying with one of the others. Not tonight, when it would have been her and Rhys’ anniversary tomorrow.
However, she hadn’t wanted to stay at home alone tonight either, not when the team went out for drinks on a weekly basis. It felt easier, somehow, to continue her new routine than to stay behind, stuck in the past. Gwen went to the kitchen, and started boiling water for a cup of tea, her custom before going to bed after a night of drinking.
She sat down at the table and looked around the semi-dark flat, illuminated only by the street lamps. The pictures on the shelves only caught bits of light, but it was enough to see vague shapes of figures. Gwen reflected on her memories with Rhys. She felt it was time to move forward with her life. Rhys was gone, and who knew if Jack was going to come back, although Gwen fervently hoped he would. Her purpose now was to keep Torchwood running to the best of her ability.
The kettle whistled, and she got up to make her tea. She drank her tea, still going through memories of Rhys, swallowed a couple of paracetamol, and went on to the bedroom, throwing herself onto the bed and immediately falling into the sleep of the drunk.
The next morning Gwen raced out early to make it to the Hub before the others. She walked into the Hub to the smell of coffee.
“When are you ever not here before me?” Gwen asked Ianto, taking off her leather, as he came out of the kitchen with two mugs of coffee. “It’s like you live here.”
Ianto said nothing, but the guilt in his eyes sent a clear message.
“You don’t, do you?” Gwen asked, putting her hand on Ianto’s arm. “Oh, Ianto,” she sighed. “Do you only go home when I come with you?”
Ianto nodded.
“You do realise you’re of no use to me if you don’t take care of yourself?” Gwen asked. “You helped me, are still helping me, so let me help you.” Gwen gave Ianto a hug, attempting to not spill her coffee or his. Ianto was stiff until Gwen pulled away. “How about this? If ever you feel like talking outside of our normal times, call me, and I’ll come over, okay?”
“All right,” Ianto nodded.
“But you still need to make sure your own needs are met,” Gwen warned.
“It’s a bit difficult when he’s gone,” Ianto replied, subtly twisting her words.
“I know, Ianto, I know,” Gwen soothed. “Come on, back to work.”
Gwen and Ianto walked up to her office to decide on a plan of action for the day, providing no Rift alerts came through.
“How’s your head?” Gwen asked as she sat down behind the desk. “You were almost as drunk as Owen last night.”
“I’m fine,” Ianto said, waving away Gwen’s concerns. “How are you?”
“Fine,” Gwen said, taking a sip of coffee then looking into the distance. “It’s our anniversary today,” she added quietly.
“Ah,” Ianto said.
“So, what do we know about Benjamin Stratford?” Gwen asked, changing the subject.
Ianto pulled out the folder Gwen and he had compiled and flipped it open. “Benjamin Stratford, twenty-five years old, graduated in the top ten percent of his class at the University of Edinburgh three years ago, recently found suspicious matter mixed in with human samples, and tested them. He’s been trying to convince his colleagues that the tissue he’s found is alien, but they don’t believe him.”
“Excellent,” Gwen replied. “It would be nice to have extra help around the Hub. Make it that much less stressful on everybody.”
“Just need to run it past the others when they get here, and I think we will be good to go,” Ianto responded.
Gwen and Ianto continued to work through the paperwork and list for the day before the cog door opened with the siren, and Gwen heard Toshiko and Owen enter, laughing and joking.
“Here they are,” Gwen said. “Team meeting time.”
“Right,” Ianto agreed, and followed Gwen out the door.
“Conference room in five minutes,” Gwen called to the others before heading there herself.
Five minutes later, the rest of the team gathered and the meeting began. Tasks were handed out, progress reports made, and other daily items accounted for. Finally the topic of Benjamin Stratford came up.
“Let’s begin,” Gwen said. “We’ve had reports of a man who found alien matter,” she reiterated what Ianto had told her. “We’re also interested in recruiting him to Torchwood. Here’s the file on him,” she said, passing folders to Tosh and Owen to peruse. “What do you two think?”
Owen finished reading first. “He sounds like an okay bloke. Course, I would have to make sure the tissue is actually alien, and that he’s not completely off his rocker, but he could be useful.”
“I like the sound of him,” Toshiko said, setting down her file, “and the University of Edinburgh is a good school. It would be nice to have an extra person around. The balance has been...off since...” Toshiko’s voice trailed off.
Gwen nodded. “That’s sorted, then. Ianto and I have already set up a meeting with him, we just wanted to make sure he was okay with you.”
“Come off it, Gwen,” Owen said. “You just wanted to make sure we would be okay with moving on. This is what it is, in a way. After all, it’s not like anything worse could happen without him,” he continued bitingly.
“Thanks, really,” Gwen said, gathering up files and papers. “Meeting’s over. Ianto and I are going out, but you know what to do.”
Ianto helped Gwen into her leather jacket before getting into his own and they walked out of the Hub. “Think they’ll be okay?” she asked as they walked to the SUV.
“Yes,” Ianto said. “And if they’re not, it’s not like we haven’t dealt with the end of the world before.”
Gwen laughed as she climbed into the passenger seat.
~TW~TW~TW~TW~TW~
Benjamin accepted his cup of tea from the barista and went to sit at a corner table in the coffee bar. He wasn’t quite sure why he had been called and asked to meet with a mysterious person whom he knew only as Gwen. Maybe this had something to do with the tissue he’d found. He thought back to the first time he had discovered aliens.
Benjamin had woken up in the middle of the night. It was the summer holidays, so it wasn’t imperative to go back to sleep right away. After trying to fall back to sleep for a bit, he gave up and crept downstairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. He turned on the television and turned down the sound until it was only a slight murmur. He flipped through the channels, trying to find something interesting. Stopping on a program which showed humans on an alien planet with a space ship, he quickly became engrossed with the story, and fell asleep on the sofa.
His father had found him the next morning, still sprawled out on the couch.
From then on, his life had become consumed with aliens. He learned everything he could about them, through books and the late night programs he was able to sneak in. Later, he devoured science-fiction books from the classic authors such as Philip K. Dick and Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as current authors. He watched everything related to aliens that he could, regardless of whether it was based in fact or not. Science-fiction became his constant companion through the ups and downs of life.
He looked up when a man and a woman came through the door and walked up to the counter. The man had on a suit and the woman wore dark clothes and high boots. Her hair was long and dark. Benjamin continued to watch as they accepted their orders and walked over to his table.
“Benjamin Stratford?” the woman asked.
“That’s me,” Benjamin said, perplexed.
“I’m Gwen Cooper, and this is Ianto Jones,” she said, nodding to the man beside her. “I asked you for a meeting. May we sit down?”
“Yeah, of course,” Benjamin said, watching them as they settled themselves on the other side of his table.
“Not as good as yours,” Gwen addressed Ianto, taking a sip of her coffee. “It may be as good as Tosh’s.”
Ianto smirked. “I think that’s a compliment to their coffee,” he said, taking a sip of his own.
“Tell us about the alien tissue,” Gwen said to Benjamin, getting right down to business.
“Hang on,” Benjamin said, slightly startled. “How do you know about the alien tissue?”
“We have connections,” Ianto said, with a smile Benjamin couldn’t quite figure out.
“All right...” Benjamin said slowly, not quite believing him. “I received a sample in the lab that I wasn’t quite sure about. I did a gross examination on the tissue then sliced and stained it, examining it with a light microscope. I’m fairly sure it’s not of this world,” he finished, “but no one else is willing to believe me. I think they’re starting to think I’m crazy.”
Benjamin watched as Gwen and Ianto gave each other a glance he couldn’t quite decipher.
“So, tell us what your duties are at your present job, in general,” Ianto said.
“Well,” Benjamin said, thinking it was an odd question to follow up with, more in line with a job interview than casual conversation, and explained the procedures he followed, the techniques he used, and how he recorded the results he found.
“Describe your work style,” Gwen said with a slight smile.
As Benjamin told them, and they alternated asking him questions, his sense that the conversation had turned into a job interview grew.
Finally Gwen and Ianto exchanged a look, and stood up.
“Thank you for your time,” Gwen said. “If you have any further questions, here’s my card. You can call me at any time.”
Benjamin watched from the table as they walked out of the coffee bar. He turned the card Gwen gave him over and over in his hands.
~TW~TW~TW~TW~TW~
“Do you think he’s going to call?” Gwen asked, slipping into the passenger’s side of the SUV.
“Oh, definitely,” Ianto said, starting the SUV. “We’ve been the only two people who are willing to listen to him about his alien nonsense. Of course he’s going to call.”
“It will be nice to be back to normal numbers,” Gwen said thoughtfully as Ianto pulled the SUV out and headed back to the Hub. “Things have felt unbalanced since Jack left.”
“Maybe this will give us back our balance,” Ianto suggested.
“I hope so,” Gwen said, leaning back in her seat.
~TW~TW~TW~TW~TW~
Benjamin spent the rest of the day at work, running through the samples again, although they gave him the same results no matter how many times he ran them, and eventually went home to his flat. He ate dinner, thinking about the mysterious Gwen and Ianto who had come to talk with him. They had seemed unsurprised at his claims of the samples being alien, and had almost seemed sympathetic. He thought about how the meeting had become a job interview in a sense, and that intrigued him more than anything. Why were they asking him those questions if they didn’t want to hire him?
Working in a different place wouldn’t necessarily be such a bad thing. His colleagues already thought he was losing his marbles; if he were working at a different company, they wouldn’t be able to whisper about him. And they seemed like interesting people, if a bit secretive. Neither of them was bad looking either, which was always a plus.
He pulled the card out of his pocket, which was starting to become worn along the edges from the many times he had read it and replaced it. He found his mobile and dialed the number on the card.
“Hello?” Gwen answered.
“Yeah, hi,” Benjamin said. “You said I could call you...”
Section 2