Wishes to Reality

Chapter 3
After a few more comments from Gwen and myself, we arrived at the scene.
The SUV got there before I did, so by the time I got there, Gwen was grabbing her kit while Jack and the rest were already halfway there. i followed just behind Gwen and blocked her before she said that ‘I’m Special Ops’ line and jack had to come to her rescue.

“We’re Torchwood,” I said, putting a hand on Gwen’s lower back and pushing her past the military idiots just as the Captain walked up.

“There you two are, I thought I’d have to come to your rescue!” he teased. I smiled and chuckled along while Gwen looked all flustered.
We made our way to the alien artifact, where Jezebel was arguing with Owen about the medicinal qualities of herbs.
All was going well, mostly like the episode, until Gwen tossed the object right into the stone. A pink substance emerged, seemed to be going for me, but decided to go after Carys when I put my hands over my mouth, disregarding the gas mask Jack tossed my way.
I wasn’t cool with gas masks.

We returned to the hub, Gwen repeating apologies throughout the ride.

“Gwen, shut up before I smack you,” I finally said when we got there and she hadn’t yet stopped. She looked at me with her wide, beaten puppy look and I rolled my eyes. Seriously, could this girl be any more bothersome?
I could swear she was awesome in the show!

“But I am! I mean, really, I mean really, really sorry. God, I can't believe it.” she said, looking between me and Jack and Owen.

“Didn't they teach you Health and Safety in the police?” Owen said.

“You two chucked tools at each other, so I-” he cut Gwen off.

“We didn’t miss,”
I rolled my eyes at his typical lack of niceness. I turned to Jezzy, opened my mouth to ask for duct tape, and promptly tripped and fell into the water.
I did that, sometimes.

Gwen paused in her ranting and stared at me with wide eyes matched by everyone else, the entire hub was shocked into silence.

My head broke the surface and I spat out the water that had ended up in my mouth, wiping the substance from my eyes as well and shivering a bit as the iciness of it hit me through my clothes.

“Can we get back to the case now? Please?” I asked.
Gwen nodded and Owen rolled his eyes and we all went to work identifying the alien rock.
Gwen kept throwing kicked puppy looks everyone's way, so I turned towards her and snapped.

" We all make mistakes. Get over it. Now we find and recover whatever came out of there." Saying Jack's line from the ep.

Jezzy smirked at me. Ianto cleared his throat from the top of the steps and everyone turned to look at him. I noticed him holding a clipboard.

"This might help. Nightclub death been phoned in to 999. Circumstances sound... a little unusual." He said, waving the board a bit.

Gwen hurries up the steps to look at the clipboard report.

"Might be connected," the admin finishes as Gwen runs out the door.
I halt Jack in his steps.

"Hey, I'll let you guys sort this out, k? I need to write a few things up," I said. Jack had a curious look in his eyes, but he nodded and left with the rest of the team.

I strolled up to his office, pulling out some paper and what looked like a pen before sitting down and writing the important plot points that I remembered.
I took another writing implement that had the red of crushed beetles and set to work making changes to the timeline. I saved as many lives as I could, or rather, I will if I catch my cues on time.
I sighed.

I skipped over Abaddon creating Jack’s death, I’d get back to that one. I had been thinking about it since I saw the episode and cried my eyes out until Jack came back, gasping, from the dead. I was gasping for breath myself, in relief and because I’d been crying so hard.

I sketched out an outline of a plan for my sister and I to follow and I had just finished when Owen and Tosh came strolling in, deep in discussion.
Something about a dead body and faking a death. I was kind of disappointed I’d missed the “Came and went” line, but this had been necessary.

I returned my focus to my paper and continued outlining my plan.

When Jack and Gwen came back, our beloved Captain set to work triangulating the possible origin of the alien lifeform we were trying to retrieve. I assume he was doing so to figure out what exactly we were dealing with.

“So, what's this supposed to do?” Gwen asked, her arms crossed. She was frowning at the transparent map-board-thingy Jack was pointing a laser at.

“I'm using satellite-tracking data to determine the inward trajectory of the meteorite,” he answered her without looking away from what he was doing.

“He means he's trying to find out where it's come from,” Toshiko clarified from where she was looking over papers at a nearby desk. Jezebel, who was standing beside her, snickered a bit.

“Hey! Sometimes a little techno babble is good for the soul,” Jack said, waving his laser pointer around to amplify his point. Owen smirked from where he was taking notes of the map Jack was working on.

“So this is a route planner,” Gwen concluded smugly.

“Not far off,” Tosh chimed, handing Owen some more papers. Jezebel stood out of her way, coming closer to me.

“Rhys, my boyfriend, is a transport manager. He does this sort of stuff. On a
slightly smaller scale, though.” I held back a grin at Jack’s scoff.

“You have a boyfriend?” Tosh asked, curiosity written all over her.

“Yeah. Have you?” Gwen was smiling, clearly happy at the thought of her boyfriend. Toshiko shook her head, shrugging.

“Don't have time with this job.” You could feel the air tensing with awkwardness. Or, well, I could. No one else really seemed much bothered, besides Gwen. She turned to Owen.

“What about you? You seeing anyone?”

“You've gotta be joking. I can get all the grief I need here.” Owen answered, amusement clear in his voice. Jack had gone back to work, and was listening to the conversation as silently as I was. Jezebel had taken a few sheets of paper and was scribbling something down.

“None of you have partners?” Gwen asked, looking slightly confused and out of place.

“Just you, newbie,” Owen said offhandedly. He and Tosh had returned to their respective paperwork. Jezebel was still not paying attention.

“I'm not being rude or anything...” everyone turned to look at Gwen, “Well, maybe I am, but ... how do you switch off from all this stuff? What do you do to relax?”

Jack looks at Owen who looks at Toshiko, who quickly looks to her computer screen. This left Owen to answer the question, which was honestly a terrible idea.

“I torture people in happy relationships,” he teased, smirking a bit. Gwen looked slightly traumatized, so I poked Owen in the side, causing him to squeak.
This had the intended effect and released some of the tension from the room.

“Everyone has their own coping mechanisms, whether or not it’s healthy,” I answered seriously, “I intend to change that. Would you like to help me? After this case, I mean.”
I look to Gwen, my eyes and smile inviting.
She nodded timidly and everyone went back to work.

Jezzy and I shared a look, before returning to our own paperwork, which was a completely different case than the rest of Torchwood was working on.