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myotishia · 5 years

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Time hopping part two

Fandom: Torchwood. Trigger warnings: None I don't think but tell me if I've missed anything. Characters: Owen Harper (Past and present), Toshiko Sato, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Elise Carter (oc) Rating: Teen and up Tropes: We’re fixing things right over here.

Blurb: After being swept into Owens plan Elise is going to have to face her own actions and the effect they have on others. Not only that but she’s been given an important duty, to keep Toshiko Sato distracted.

After another time jump that almost ended with Elise losing what was left in her stomach the pair headed to a hotel. Owen, to the receptionist at least, looked like a normal patron. He flashed a credit card and the receptionist nodded as if this happened all the time. Elise followed the woman in an expensive looking suit to a room that was larger than Elise’s own flat. Owen finally broke the silence as he waved off the receptionist.

“You look exhausted. You should get some sleep.”

The brown eyed woman sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off her boots. “What was that about?”

“Torchwood. Sometimes after something went down we all just couldn’t face going home so we have a tab here. Thought you might need it.”

“Yea… I mean I’m practically homeless right now.”

“You can order room service if you want.”

She laughed mirthlessly. “I haven’t eaten in at least twenty four hours but now I can’t even think about food… I’m going to take a shower.”

“Will you be ok on your own?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I’m going to check on the aftermath. I need to relax for a while anyway.” He held up his hand as it dispersed into the air like salt in water.

“I’ll be here.”

She watched him dissolve completely before heading into the bathroom, turning on the shower and attempting to patch clean her jeans, mud from the field dried into the knees. She hung them on the radiator to dry and stepped into the shower appreciating the warmth. The day hit her like a bus. She sank to the floor and sobbed, overwhelmed. It was as if she really had jumped into the bay, drowning in the darkness, pulled under by death himself. She traced the scar on the back of her hand with her fingertips. She wasn’t alone anymore. For the first time in years she wasn’t completely alone. The warmth seemed to finally permeate her core and she pulled herself up, washing away the day and the thoughts that weighed her down. Finally she stepped out and bundled herself up in the fluffy white towels and a very plush dressing gown.

After a short trip as the crow flies Owen drifted watching two familiar figures below.

Gwen leant next to her workmate on the bars dividing them from the bay water.

“Are you ok? You’ve been quiet… I mean quieter than usual.” She asked.

Ianto continued to look out across the water, “I lost someone a few nights ago.”

“Oh god Ianto I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you say? I’m sure Jack would’ve given you some time off.”

“I’d rather work to be honest.”

“Who were they?”

“Someone I loved… She’d been gone for a long time in a way. I just hoped…” He paused, words lost on the wind.

“Oh sweetheart.” She pulled him into a hug that he didn’t fight.

Elise had closed her eyes for only a moment when she found herself in darkness, far from the sounds of the hotel tv. Drifting. Weightless. Far off, huge footsteps echoed, the vibrations hitting her in the chest. She tried to feel which direction it was coming from but it seemed to come from everywhere. A final loud bang pierced the air and a sharp pain bloomed in her chest followed by a falling sensation.

Owen looked up as Elise jolted awake with a loud gasp, as if she’d just resurfaced from a deep pool.

“Woah Elise, it’s ok.”

“Hurts.” She gasped, a hand over her heart.

The doctor took a swift step forwards, watching her carefully. “Take a deep breath. Can you tell me what hurts?”

“I…” She took a few deep breaths. “It’s gone… Bad dream, I think.”

“Are you sure?”

The cocoon of towels and blankets nodded. The worry in Owen settled but a sharp phantom pain shot through his own heart. A pain he thought he’d long forgotten. A pain he wanted to forget.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you… I hate to be a pain but will my debit card work in this time?”

“No. It won’t have been created yet. What do you need?”

“Just a change of clothes and a few other things if you plan on making me run or anything.”

“I think Torchwood can owe you that much but you’ll have to emerge from your blanket fort.”

“No deal.” She pouted, pulling the dressing gown tightly around her as she got up and headed into the bathroom. Her jeans were dry and they hadn’t stained thankfully. As soon as she got something else to wear she’d throw everything away. She didn’t want to look at them.

One new coat, two new sets of underwear, one new pair of jeans, two new shirts and a set of hairbands later Elise was ready to go.

“Is this next job a little nicer?” she asked.

“Depends how it goes. Hopefully you can just keep Tosh distracted while I keep track of someone.”

“How would I keep her distracted?”

“Easy. Tell her you know about Torchwood.”

“And when she asks how?”

“Improvise”

“I’m not good at lying.”

“Then don’t. You are from the future, just show her your phone or something.”

“My phone’s old.”

Owen stared at her for a moment before the pin finally dropped. She pulled the phone from her pocket and compared it to the ‘new’ models in a nearby shop window.

“How did people deal with having less than a terabyte of storage at least. Even this old piece of junk has three.”

“Exactly. You can use the money I gave you just don’t get drunk. I don’t want to have to wait for you to sober up. Just keep her away from the blond at the bar.”

“I need to send a message. Will you be ok on your own?”

“I’m not a bloody child!”

“Says the woman who was found in a blanket fort.”

“Just go.”

Gwen leant back in her chair. “Just admit it, you left me the note.”

“I was with you, when would I have had time? I’ve checked the cameras.”

“You mean the ones that conveniently glitched out?”

“There was a sudden wave of electromagnetic interfearence. They didn’t glitch.” Tosh interjected. She was sick and tired of this conversation. It had been going on for over a week and it sounded like Owens usual nonsense.

“See? Right from the expert. Wasn’t me.” Owen threw a ball of paper into the bin that sat across the room.

“Then who was it?” Gwen continued, as stubborn as ever.

“Fuck if I know. I’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

“Like what?”

“I got a new body this morning.”

“Shouldn’t you be working on it then?”

“It’s just bones. Not as if whatever did it is still walking around.”

“Maybe.”

Owen paused before standing. “Ok, if you’re so smart you can tell me what happened.”

“What?”

“I’m serious. Come on.”

Gwen shook her head but followed anyway.

Tosh moved to grab her coffee but it had long gone cold. It was just the last part of a very frustrating day that had given her a stress headache. She couldn’t concentrate. Pulling her bag onto her shoulder she headed out. If Owen was going to act like Gwens best friend then maybe she’d find someone who actually wanted her around. That or at least get a drink.

Elise sat down next to the woman Owen had pointed out to her and smiled.

“Hi.”

Tosh jumped as if she’d been pulled from a daydream. “Oh sorry. Hi.”

“I’m Elise. You’re Toshiko, right?”

“How do you know that?”

“I know about Torchwood. How’s Ianto holding up by the way... Don’t worry, I don’t mean you any harm.”

Tosh had gone quite pale but she kept her composure. “Slow down. How do you know about Torchwood?”

Elise took a sip of her drink. “An agent stopped me from doing something I’d regret. He was drifting through time and long story short I ended up travelling with him.”

“Do you have any proof?”

The brown haired woman placed her mobile phone on the bar. “Go ahead. If you have a look at the news sites they should have a short history saved. I can’t connect to the internet here but maybe you can.”

Tosh turned the unfamiliar phone over in her hands, checking the ports and any brand naming. Nothing she recognised. Even opening it up didn’t show her anything she’d seen before, at least not in such a compact form. The sim card and memory cards had names she’d never heard of printed on them. She wanted to double check but at that moment she realised that, in her frustration, she’d left her own mobile on her desk. Next she switched the device on and hit a roadblock. It needed to be unlocked.

“Sorry. One second.” Elise said, taking the phone back and holding it up. “Retinal scanner. A bit much I know.”

Once it was unlocked Toshiko immediately hit the web browser and it did bring up well known news sites but all the dates were for over twenty five years in the future.

“Can I keep this?” She asked.

“The speaker doesn’t work very well. I had to resolder a few of the connections more than once but go ahead. It’s not as if I have anyone I can call. Even in my time the only one to answer would be my roomba.”

“You still have those?”

“Yea. I got mine from a friend who worked at my local scrap yard. It was old but it still worked. Just needed a bit of care and attention.” Elise smiled softly at the memory. “I reprogrammed him because he was oversensitive. He’d make his little warning beep whenever he hit the doorframe or got stuck under my bed. I gave him a little AI that could tell where he was. It went a bit far when I walked in on him humping the base of a lamp.”

Tosh nearly choked on her drink as she laughed.

“I’m serious. I think he just hadn’t worked out that it wasn’t a ramp with an obstacle. Of course I gave them my blessing. At least he could get a date.”

“Do… Do you want to get something to eat?”

“I’m starving. You lead the way. I doubt any of the places I went to are here yet.”

Owen, his future self at least, had enjoyed watching the creature known as Mary get exactly what she deserved. Eons of looking back had amplified his bitterness, remembering how heartbroken Tosh had been. The feeling of broken trust around the hub. It had been the same with Ianto, doubting every interaction. They deserved a win before the next case that would fall to them. Of all the monsters and eldritch abominations they’d faced somehow humans were the worst. There was no one thing he could do to change the events to come, like a perfect storm it would blow through, unstoppable. He just had to do his best to limit the damage of the aftermath. He knew the notes he’d left for both Gwen and himself wouldn’t be enough to stop his past self being an idiot. He just hoped the anonymous message he’d sent to Rhys would be. “Gwen’s been given a sensitive project at work but she doesn’t want to go to counselling. When she gets back I've set up a date for you both to try and help her decompress from the whole thing. Below I’ve included all of your reservation details. Everything has been paid for. She may not be able to talk about her work but maybe a night to forget about it all will help.” It was a risk to leave evidence of his existence and he was sure it would end with them investigating his activities but it had to be done. Owen had to fix his mistakes, for his own sake if no one else's.

“-And he’s spending all of his time arguing about notes like a schoolchild.” Tosh continued over a spoonful of sorbet.

“Sounds a bit desperate if you ask me. Didn’t you say she had a boyfriend?”

“Exactly. Who does that?!”

“It’s not worth stressing out over. I mean you’re smart, beautiful, you’ll find someone worth your time.”

She blushed lightly at the compliment. “Not in this job.”

“And you have people who love you. That’s worth way more than a few dates.”

“Didn’t you have anyone?”

Elise paused and took another bite of her cheesecake. “Not really. I haven’t spoken to my parents in years. Not that I’d want to. All they ever did is put me down and use me. I fell out of contact with my school friends long ago and my workmates just aren’t into the same kinds of things I am. They go out drinking and I’d rather go home and build something. Nearest thing I had to a friendship was the guy at the junkyard and I didn’t even know his last name. The night before I met… The agent… I came home to my flat and it’d been ransacked. Everything was gone… Sorry. I brought the mood down.”

“No. It’s ok.” She leant down to her bag and pulled out the phone. “You should keep this.”

“Are you sure? I’ve got nobody to call.”

“Yes you have.” She let Elise unlock it and started typing her number in. “Now you can call me.”

“I hope I can… Tell you what. I’ll give you all of my details and we’ll see if we can keep in contact even when I’ve time jumped again.”

“That sounds good. Thank you for tonight. I think I needed this.”

“Me too. Just remember, even if I don’t answer right away I’m still out there somewhere and after whatever Jobs we need to do get done I think I want to come back. We can go out for dinner again or something.”

“I’d like that.”

They were interrupted by a waiter stopping at their table. “I’m sorry to bother you miss. There’s a gentleman outside looking for you.”

Elise’s heart sank slightly. “Ok. Thanks could you tell him I’ll be out in a minute?”

“Of course miss.”

Elise grabbed a napkin. “Do you have a pen?”

Tosh grabbed one out of her bag and handed it to the woman as she stood.

“This is my number, my email address and my backup email. I’ll see you again Tosh. I promise.” She handed over the napkin with the money for their meal before turning and heading out with a smile on her face.

Owen was waiting just outside but out of sight of the windows. “I said distract her not take her on a date.”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“You were giving her the fuck me eyes the whole time.”

“I was not! Were you watching us the whole time?!”

“Not the whole time. Anyway, we have work to do. Time’s already been shifting so I’m having to compensate. Originally this nights events were set to begin in another three weeks. They’re all going to be called out to the brecon beacons so we have time to sneak into the hub and fix a few things. I can introduce you to Janet.”

“Who?”

“The hubs resident weevil.”

“I’ve seen bugs before.”

“Janet isn’t a bug. You’ll see when we get there. Ready for a time jump?”

“I’ve just eaten.”

“Lucky you.”

“If I throw up I’m going to aim for you.”

“I’m a doctor. We’re trained to dodge vomit.”

“You’re such a dick.” She punched him gently in the arm.

Owen was caught off guard by it actually connecting but found himself smiling. It had been so long since he had any real human contact.

After a jump and a short walk Owen switched on the lights in the hub. They didn’t have to sneak like the last time they had visited so Elise took a moment to walk around. She looked over the desks and anything that had been left out stopping at a large jar containing what looked like a severed human hand inside.

“Owen… What the fuck.” She said, pointing at the floating limb.

“Yea, we need to take that with us too.”

“I say again, what the fuck?!”

“It belongs to Torchwoods most wanted. Known only as The Doctor. He’s a time traveller and Jack is more than a little bit obsessed with him. The bigger the problem the more likely it is to be connected to captain Jack fucking Harkness.”

“Right.”

“I’ll deal with it. Come over here.”

Elise made her way over to where Owen was standing, looking up. She followed his gaze to see something moving far above them hidden by a balcony.

“Myfanwy!” He called.

The thing moved over to the edge before revealing itself as a large pteranodon. It flew in a spiral before landing clumsily, chirping and snapping its beak.

“That’s a dinosaur.” Elise gasped as if it weren’t obvious.

“A pteranodon. She’s the hub pet.”

“Can I touch her?”

“If she lets you. She won’t hurt you but she gets bitchy if she hasn’t been fed recently.”

She reached out a tentative hand towards the creatures beak. It tilted its head and sniffed her before nudging her hand gently, or as gently as a large creature can.

“Easy girl. It’s ok. Good girl.” cood Elise as she pet Myfanwy's beak.

“When you’re done we can go down to the cells so you can meet Janet.”

“Isn’t Janet as friendly and this big soft bird?”

“Depends what you mean by friendly. It’s a weevils nature to bite whatever they see. They leave nasty bites too.” Owen tugged at the neck of his shirt, showing a large set of scars etched into the skin of his shoulder.

“Christ!” She walked away from Myfanwy who launched herself into the air and back to her nest. “Is that what… killed you?”

“No. I spent a while in hospital after it. Luckily Jack dragged me out of there and stopped me bleeding out. I should have died then.”

“What did ... um…”

“Kill me? An arsehole with a gun. Shot me in the chest. Fucking cops didn’t search him.”

“At least it was quick.”

“Not as quick as you’d think. Come on, I’ll show you the cells.”

Owen was quiet in the lift down to the cell block, staring at the wall.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“I know. Just forget it.” He walked through the door the second he could and towards a cell that was lit up. Each had a clear glass wall and a metal security door at the other end of the room. An odd sound rose from the cell that Owen stood in front of. It was a whimpering or crying but it wasn’t human. It was similar to whale song but rougher.

“This is Janet.” He said. “She’s afraid of me now. As soon as I came back from the dead she started reacting like this to me. Usually she growls and tries to charge at whoever goes past.”

Looking into the cell Elise finally saw what was making the noise. A humanoid figure dressed in a blue jumpsuit cowered in the far corner. It had dark eyes and wrinkled skin, its lips pulled back in a snarl that showed pointed, shark like, teeth as soon as it saw the woman.

“What is it?” She asked, transfixed on the figure.

“She’s a weevil. They fall through the rift and gather in the sewers. Sometimes they come out at night to hunt anything that moves. They don’t need to, they can eat pretty much anything but they seem to almost enjoy it. From what I could tell Janet was… Is old. Kicked out of her group and left alone. We tried to send her back to the sewers but we found her on the doorstep the next morning.”

“She sounds lonely.”

The viewing area once again filled with weevil whale song.

“Come on. We have more we need to do before we go.”

Elise followed silently, her mind trying to process what she’d seen. Owen snapped her out of her daydream by waving a hand in front of her face. She realised she was sitting down and had completely missed how she’d gotten there.

“Sorry. I’m saying that a lot today.” She said, rubbing her eyes.

“Too much if you ask me. Have you ever been in a fight?”

“What? No.”

“Ever fired a gun before?”

“Of course not!”

“Shit. I’ll have to teach you that too. Right, first we need to grab a couple of things from the archive and then I need to walk you through disposing of one of the bodies we have in cold storage.”

“I didn’t follow anything you just said but ok.”

“We haven’t got time to let things settle, just try and keep up.”

#torchwood #jack harkness #ianto jones #toshiko sato #owen harper #gwen cooper

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