A Question of Time

(Author's Note: There is a reference in this story to the Doctor Who Radio Drama "The Ghosts Of N-Space" which I HIGHLY recommend.

The little group of travelers had made their way back to the TARDIS. The Doctor and the Master were standing by the controls, glaring at Ianto Jones, who was standing rather close to the door. Donna was leaning against the back of the jump seat, which Jack and Rachel were sitting on. Jack, Donna and Rachel were watching the others as if it was all a terribly interesting movie, while the Doctor and Master were deadly serious and Ianto looked like he was two seconds away from running away screaming.

“So why didn’t you tell us?” the Doctor asked, breaking the silence which had engulfed the travelers for several seconds after they‘d entered the TARDIS.

“Because one of my parents was an evil megalomaniac, one was a con-man / Time Agent and the other is know as ‘the Oncoming Storm’?” Rachel suggested, receiving a glare from the Doctor, the Master and Jack, while Donna just smirked and fought to keep herself from laughing.

“What I don’t get is why you left the TARDIS…” Jack mused, rubbing a hand over his stomach. “It’s big enough that you could have kids together and we’d never know!”

“I helped raise her!” Ianto almost squeaked. “EXCUSE ME for being a normal human!”

This time Donna couldn’t contain her laughter, which earned her a glare from everyone in the room except for Rachel.

“I just needed some time away from all the insanity!” Ianto continued. “I needed some time to figure everything out!”

“So you joined Torchwood?” Rachel smirked at her “boyfriend”.

“I’d spent almost twenty years of my life on board a time traveling phone box… forgive me if my life couldn’t go straight back to normal!” Ianto replied as the Doctor suddenly started laughing, drawing the confused attention of everyone in the TARDIS.

Seeing everyone was looking at him the Doctor sighed and started to explain. “Why do you think the TARDIS made Jack immortal?”

“Because she has a crush on me?” Jack joked.

“She realized that you were our mate and thus tied your life to ours,” the Master explained. “You can’t die until both of us have run through our regenerations.”


“Wait… are you telling me the TARDIS made me immortal because I’m Rachel’s MATE?” Ianto asked, blinking as he looked between the Time Lords and Rachel.

“In short… yes,” the Doctor sighed as Rachel and Ianto blushed a bright shade of red.

“So…” Rachel looked between her parents and her boyfriend. “What happens now?”

“Life is going to be a little dull for a while… so I think you should go with Ianto,” Jack suggested, standing up and moving towards the controls of the TARDIS, where he pulled the screen around so everyone could see it.

“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked, moving to stand next to Jack. “Why is life going to be dull?”

The TARDIS hummed and a picture appeared on the screen… “Abstract painting of something?” Donna suggested, peering at the images…

The Doctor and the Master were both staring in shock and awe at the screen. “How long have you know?!?” the Doctor asked as he touched the image on the screen.

“TARDIS just found out,” Jack admitted as he found himself swept up into his mates' embrace.

“What’s happening?” Donna asked Rachel, who was hugging Ianto and looking at her parents with a huge smile on her face.

“Jack’s pregnant again,” Rachel explained.

“This time it’s twins!” Jack laughed as the Master and the Doctor placed a hand on his belly and started cooing in Gallifreyan at their newest children.

“Which means the TARDIS will keep you guys bored until they’re born,” Rachel explained. “And then slowly increase the excitement until they’re old enough to handle it.”

“So you’ll want to leave and go have dangerous adventures with Torchwood,” the Master sighed. “I’m sure Ianto can find something for you to do at Torchwood….”

“Living in one place for more then a few days?” Rachel shrugged and looked over at Ianto. “What do you think?”

“It’ll keep you from dying of boredom and Suzie from hitting on me,” Ianto replied, a shudder running through his body as he thought of Suzie’s many attempts to flirt with him.

“Then we’ll drop you two off in Cardiff before going on our way.” the Doctor said, moving toward the controls…. as Jack stalked over to Ianto.

“I may be pregnant… but she’s still my baby girl. Hurt her and I will find someway to kill you.” Jack growled under his breath, leaving Ianto with no response but a frantic nod of his head.

The two Time Lords set the TARDIS in motion, and as it began to shake Ianto reached out to grab something, as Rachel ran back to her room.

Quickly she threw together what she would need and what the TARDIS felt she needed…. clothing, her computer and some random bits of tech. The TARDIS seemed to have gathered everything in once place, even providing a bigger on the inside bag for Rachel.

“You knew this was coming, didn’t you?” Rachel sighed as the TARDIS seemed to offer a fan girlish squee in an affirmative response. “Make sure they come back when my little siblings are born!” Rachel ordered the ship as she rushed back to the Control Room…. Arriving at the same time that the TARDIS landed in Cardiff.

“You didn’t park on the invisible lift… did you?” Ianto asked, looking down at the controls of the strange little ship.

“Invisible lift?” the Doctor asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“Last time you visited Cardiff… with the Mayor trying to open the rift.” Ianto explained. “It gave this one square of pavement the same attention transferring properties that the TARDIS has. No matter what you shout or do on the square, no one outside notices you.”

“…I don’t think we landed there,” the Master replied, checking the coordinates. “I think we landed just next to it… still in the same timeline as we were at the ATMOS Factory.”

“So the Team won’t be in,” Ianto sighed in relief. “You’re still Torchwood’s official number one enemy,” Ianto explained, gesturing towards the Doctor, “so it would still be hard to explain why I hitched a ride form you.”

“Guess that’s something we’ll have to fix,” Rachel sighed, adjusting the shoulder strap of her bag. “That and I can’t live in that hole in the ground you call home.”

“Hole in the ground?” Jack blinked.

“Small area of the Hub I took over as my bedroom,” Ianto explained, before turning towards Rachel. “Don’t worry Ray I was… well I’ve actually been planning on asking you to join Torchwood for a while, so I’ve got a small flat now.”

The Doctor stepped forward and gently kissed his daughter’s forehead, before hugging her tightly. “Take care of yourself,” he whispered.

“Don’t worry she’ll be brilliant,” the Master smirked, gently pushing the Doctor aside so he could hug Rachel. “After all she’s our daughter.”

Jack swept Rachel up in his arms, swinging her around as if she was a little girl again. When he set her down, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gun, which only upon closer inspection could be seen as something alien in origin. “Kept this from my Time Agent days… can’t let you go charging into battle with just any old gun, now can I?”

Donna and Rachel hugged each other in a silent goodbye before Rachel moved towards the doors of the TARDIS, where Ianto was standing. “Keep in touch!” Rachel ordered her parents, holding up her phone. “Number’s keyed into the TARDIS mainframe and Donna’s phone, so you haven‘t got an excuse.”

“We keep in contact,” the Doctor assured Rachel, who took Ianto’s hand. The two stepped outside the TARDIS, Rachel closing the door behind them.

The two turned to watch as the TARDIS vanished. “Wonder where they’re off to now…” Rachel whispered before turning to Ianto, her smile threatening to break her face in two. With a high pitched squee, Rachel leaped into Ianto’s arms and kissed him deeply as Ianto spun his beautiful mate around

“So… secret elevator?” Ianto asked as he set Rachel down.

Ianto smirked and took Rachel’s hand, leading her over to the “secret elevator” and pressing a button on a piece of tech he’d taken from his pocket. Rachel gasped in surprise as the seemingly ordinary piece of pavement started to descend, revealing a large underground room where a pterodactyl was flying around!

“You… you have a dinosaur.” Rachel turned to Ianto with a look of disbelief upon her face.

“Her name is Myfanwy.” Ianto said, smiling at the look of childlike wonder upon Rachel’s face… it was odd to see the Time Lady act her “human” age.

“So no one’s here today?” Rachel asked, peering around at the Hub below.

“Nope… which is good because I need to set you up with a ‘real’ identity,” Ianto stated as the lift came to a stop and he stepped off. “Because, technically speaking, you don’t exist… no driving licence, no National Identity Card, no passport… not even a birth certificate!”

Rachel pulled out a small slip of paper in a leather wallet. “Well… I’ve got a piece of slightly psychic paper,” she offered and Ianto just rolled his eyes.

“Where did you get that?” Ianto asked, trying to steal the paper from her.

“Daddy D slipped it to me when he said goodbye,” Rachel explained, keeping the little wallet out of Ianto’s reach.

“Luckily I picked up some of Toshiko’s hacking abilities… I can get you in the system and pretend all your papers were lost in a fire or something,” Ianto sighed as he made his way over to one of the computer work stations which were scattered around the Hub.

“So who are you putting down as my parents?” Rachel asked, leaning over his shoulder to peer at the screen.

“John Smith and Jacqueline Harkness,” Ianto replied, which earned him a giggle from Rachel. “John Smith is a Doctor who works for UNIT, and Jacqueline travels with him.”

“My life simplified…” Rachel smirked.

“It will also explain why you don’t see your parents too often… since they’re in top secret areas,” Ianto remarked as he finished typing on the computer. “There. Those documents will come in a few days… but you can use your Psychic Paper then. We’ll get you a Torchwood ID tomorrow,” Ianto explained, running a hand through his hair as he yawned. “But for now I think we should go home…”

“We walking?” Rachel asked, as she stretched and readjusted her bag.

“Nope… I have the keys to the official Torchwood Jeep. It’s black and mysterious and fast.” Ianto smiled as he led Rachel out through the Hub’s garage.

“So what’s been happening recently in Cardiff?” Rachel asked as she hopped into the passenger seat of the jeep and Ianto got behind the wheel.

“We found this… well it looks like a Glove from a suit of armor. It can bring people back from the dead for a few minutes,” Ianto sighed. “We’ve been, well… trying it out on various murder victims, both to figure out how it works and to try and help the police.”

“So if there come a call in the middle of the night… that’s what we’ll be going out to investigate,” Rachel sighed, leaning back in her seat.

“With our luck something your first call will be tonight… at midnight,” Ianto sighed as he stopped the jeep in front of a two story building. On the first floor were several shops and restaurants, including a Chinese Place… above those shops were several flats. “Welcome home,” Ianto whispered, leaning over to kiss Rachel’s cheek.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For once Ianto was wrong. Ianto and Rachel were not woken in the middle of the night. They actually managed to sleep through the night…. Rachel woke in Ianto’s arms as his alarm went off, lying in bed she laughed as Ianto sleepily began to change, only realizing that he was changing in front of Rachel when he was half-way naked.

“Guess we’re still awkward around each other.” Rachel whispered. They’d slept in the same bed… but that was all they’d done, sleep. Ianto shrugged as he quickly finished pulling on his chosen outfit for the day… dark blue jeans and a black collared shirt with a white wife-beater underneath. “More casual then your Torchwood One days.” Rachel remarked.

“At Torchwood One I was a glorified secretary,” Ianto smirked as he pulled on a leather jacket that reminded Rachel of the one which she’d swiped from the TARDIS closet, the one which the Doctor had worn in his ninth incarnation.

“And now you’re the dashing leader,” Rachel smiled as she got out of bed and stretched.

“I’ll go start breakfast.” Ianto yawned as he made his way towards the kitchen. “Then we’ll go to the Hub and introduce you to the rest of the team.”

“Anything I should know before we go to…” Rachel paused for a second, as if the words she were trying to say tasted bad in her mouth. “… to work?”

“They don’t know that I can’t die,” Ianto explained. “And for the time being I think it’s best to pretend you’re just a really bright human.”

“I think I can do that…” Rachel mused as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and followed Ianto into the kitchen of the small flat. “After all, I learned subterfuge from the Master.”

“Eventually we’ll tell them… but right now they still think ‘all aliens are evil’,” Ianto remarked, running a hand through his hair in a move that brought the Doctor to Rachel’s mind.

“Well, we’ll just have to fix that, won’t we?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto Jones was glad to find that, as was usual, he was the first person to arrive at Torchwood Three. Alone in the Hub with Rachel, Ianto had some time to familiarize the Time Lady with the Hub. Soon enough his team would be coming in and inspecting the newest member of Torchwood… but now it was time for the two mates to come up with a plan of attack.

Rachel would hide out in Ianto’s office until everyone was there, so that introductions could all be made at once rather then happening over and over and over again…

Slowly the team of Torchwood Three trickled into the Hub, each one greeting Ianto before heading of to their personal work areas… when Owen stumbled in, late and slightly hung over as was usual, Ianto nodded to his medical Doctor and summoned the members of Torchwood to one of the more open areas of the Hub.

“We’ve got a new member,” Ianto stated, before waiting for the commotion that follow his announcement to die down. “Listen… her parents are responsible for getting me this job.”

“Really?” Suzie’s eyes lit up. Ianto had frequently told his team that he’d gotten the job as head of Torchwood because of the personal recommendation of a high ranking member of UNIT.

“Rachel?” Ianto called out, and the team shifted their gaze to focuse on the young woman who was walking down the stairs from Ianto’s office. “This… this is Rachel Harkness.” Ianto smiled as Rachel smiled brightly at the team. Owen, Toshiko and Suzie had all be struck dumb by how young the newest member of the team was, or at least how young they thought she was.

Time Lords aged differently then humans. Their minds grew faster then their bodies, which was why they could start Academy at only eight years of age. Rachel was as “old” as she was ever going to look, which in human terms was a college student… who’d skipped a few grades. However her intelligence put her in the level of geniuses, and she wasn’t fully grown yet, not in the intellectual sense. Ianto knew that his team would underestimate her.

“Owen Harper, Doctor… of Medicine.” Owen blinked in confusion at the seemingly random clarification of his job. “Toshiko Sato, our technology expert.” Toshiko smiled warmly in greeting. “And finally, Suzie Costello, my second-in-command… for lack of a better title.”

“Well then…” Rachel smiled at the members of Torchwood Three and calmly recited the story Ianto had made up for her. “I’m Rachel Rani Harkness. My dad’s a Doctor with UNIT and my mom’s a UNIT Scientist.”

“And your parents got Ianto his job,” Suzie stated as she inspected Rachel.

“UNIT wanted a Torchwood representative and I drew the shortest straw… So I left Torchwood One and started working with Doctor Smith and traveling with them,” Ianto stated.

“Smith?” Owen blinked. “If your dad’s Smith, then why are you Harkness?”

“Because my parents liked Harkness better as a last name,” Rachel sighed, rolling her eyes. “My dad’s always getting jokes thrown at him cause of his name… people keep thinking it’s fake.”

“And Rani?” Suzie asked. “Quite a strange middle name…”

“It’s something to do with UNIT… I always fell asleep when Mom and Dad started explaining it,” Rachel laughed and caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. “Oooo!” she squeaked and dashed over to the Rift Monitor. “Brilliant! There must be twenty different species represented in this tech here!”

“Rough estimate has about twenty-three different planets of origin, of those Torchwood only has names for about fifteen,” Ianto replied as Rachel started poking around the machine.

“Ianto… shouldn’t you stop her?” Suzie almost spat at, glaring at the young woman. A couple times in the past she’d wanted to examine the Rift Monitor, but Ianto had always shooed her away.

“Rachel grew up in UNIT,” Ianto explained. “Despite her age she knows more about aliens and alien tech then anyone else in this room… even me.”

“So all this stuff came through the rift?” Rachel asked Ianto, pulling herself away from the Rift Manipulator for a few seconds as she looked over the room… her eyes only lingering on a strange sword over by Suzie’s desk for a fraction of a second before she directed her complete attention on Ianto.

“Yes. Sometimes we get random bits of technology… other times we get aliens and well… Myfanwy.”

“And weevils,” Tosh added. “We get a lot of weevils.”

“Well… I’ll get Rachel set up with a firearm,” Suzie volunteered.

“No need.” Rachel yawned, stretching her limbs a little. “Mom gave me a gun before I left.” Rachel reached into a pocket and took out the gun Jack had given her. “Don’t ask me where it’s from or who made it… Mom probably nicked it from UNIT Archives.”

Suzie and Tosh’s eyes went wide at the weapon Rachel was holding in her hands… and when she put it back in her pocket, the two women’s eyes lingered upon the pocket for a little while.

“So what do you think?” Ianto asked, extending his arm to Rachel… and drawing a slight gasp out of his team when Rachel instantly went to his side and was enveloped in a one arm hug as the two walked back towards Ianto’s office.

“I thought I’d be bored… but there’s so much technology! Some stuff I don’t even really know what it is! Ianto… you’re brilliant!”

“So what… Rachel’s parents gave Ianto a recommendation as an early wedding present?” Owen huffed, moving off towards his desk as Tosh did the same.

Only Suzie remained, staring up at the strange young woman who was now in Ianto’s office, conversing animatedly with Torchwood Three’s leader. “There’s something off about that girl…” Suzie whispered to herself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The day passed quickly, Ianto introducing Rachel to Torcwhood Three and getting the Time Lady set up as an official member of the team. Despite only being in Cardiff for less then twenty-four hours, Rachel had already become fast friends with Toshiko and had even managed to get a sort of respect from Owen, if only because Rachel had quite a bit of medical knowledge floating around her head… even if the Doctor wasn’t really a ‘medical Doctor’ he still knew a fair bit about human and alien medicine.

During the day a storm had rolled in… brining a torrential downpour. Owen and Suzie had both gone home and Tosh was about to follow their lead, when a call came through the tap Tochwood had on the Cardiff Police’s radio… a new murder had been reported.

Soon Tosh and Rachel were sitting in the SUV while Ianto drove to the sight of the crime, having already informed Suzie and Owen to meet them there… the body was lying in a sort of large alley, with police around them and bright lights illuminating the crime scene.

Several police officers and police technicians were standing around the scene, either doing work or making sure no one wandered on to the crime scene… Rachel watched as a few words from Ianto had the police moving back, leaving Torchwood to their work.

“So they just obey you?” Rachel asked, looking down at the body… it wasn’t the first she’d seen, although it was probably the first death she’d seen that didn’t involve aliens.

“Cardiff Police know that if something’s weird then it’s probably best to allow us in… or they’ll just end up with annoying investigative journalists pouring in,” Ianto sighed as Suzie pulled out the Glove.

Rachel’s blood ran cold as she looked down at the Glove. It seemed strangely familiar… yet at the same time completely foreign to her. As Suzie pulled on the Glove and placed it at the back of the dead man’s head, Rachel swore she could see a sort of energy transfer… energy flowing out of the surrounding area into Suzie, before going down, through the Glove into the dead man.

Trying to focuses on something other then the strange Glove, Rachel looked around and spit some water out of her mouth… turning to Ianto she smirked. “Can you taste it?”

Ianto raised one eyebrow and licked some of the water off his lips. “No… what am I supposed to be able to taste?”

“Estrogen!” Rachel replied and Ianto smirked, sensing that Rachel was searching for something to keep her looking ‘innocent’ while her mind tried to work out the riddle of the Glove. “Definitely estrogen… you take the pill, flush it away and it enters the water cycle. Then it feminizes the fish and it goes all the way up into the sky and then falls all the way back down on to us… contraceptives in the rain.”

“Least you won’t get pregnant… You’re mom’s horror stories are bad enough!” Ianto smirked as he looked down at Suzie. “How’s it going?” he asked her.

“Nothing yet… It’s got to connect, I’ve just got to feel it,” Suzie muttered.

“Then hurry up and feel it! I’m freezing my ase off here!” Owen huffed, wrapping his arms around himself.

“I can’t just flick a switch!” Suzie practically growled at Owen. “It’s more like… access… it grants me access.”

“Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps it's brains,” Rachel muttered under her breath.

“Harry Potter?” Tosh asked.

“Doesn’t make it any less true,” Rachel replied… and the Glove made contact.

“Positions!” Ianto ordered.

“If I get punched again, I’m punching it right back!” Owen muttered.

Then the dead man gasped for breath and started to look around at the group.

“There was... what was? I was ... Oh, my God, I was going home,” The Man muttered and, without really thinking, Rachel darted forward and kneeled next to the man, staring into his eyes. “Who… who are you?” the man whispered as Rachel helped the man to see that she was different… that she wasn’t human.

“My name is Rachel Harkness… you’re dead.”

“Dead?” the man whispered, his eyes not leaving Rachel’s.

“You were stabbed.” Rachel gently held the man’s hand. “I’m so sorry. We brought you back, but you don’t have very long… who did this to you?”

Suzie, Owen and Tosh watched in confusion… every other time the deceased hadn’t believed them! But somehow Rachel had managed to calm this man down and actually get him talking!

“I… I don’t know. I didn’t see anything. There was… something behind me,” the man replied.

“That’s okay…” Rachel smiled sadly. “What’s your name?”

“John… John Tucker.” John seemed to freeze, then he looked back up at Rachel with terror in his eyes. “Nothing… I saw nothing. Oh, my God! There’s nothing!”

“No, John… you’re wrong.” Rachel gently ran a hand over John’s face. “I know there is more… can’t you see it? The light?”

John’s eyes seemed to dim, as if he was focusing on something far away and close by at the same time. “It… it’s beautiful.”

“You can hear them… can’t you?” Rachel seemed to be leading John… showing him where to go.

“Yes.” John was crying now “They… they want me to go with him.”

“Then go,” Rachel whispered. “They’ve waited long enough.”

Suzie shot back as the Glove seemed to glow… and John Tucker passed away. Gently Rachel leaned forward and closed John’s eyes. She slowly stood up and looked over at Ianto.

“Rachel?” Ianto asked, moving closer to his mate. “What is it?”

“We can’t use the Glove anymore,” Rachel told Ianto, before she gestured upward, her body hiding the gesture so that only Torchwood could see her do so.

As one the team looked up, catching sight of a young police woman looking out of a parking structure at them. The woman gasped and darted back… but Torchwood didn’t follow her.

“Why can’t we use the Glove? Every time I use it the person lasts a bit longer!” Suzie protested, the glove still on her hand.

“If I hadn’t been here John wouldn’t have really passed on… he’d have been stuck in N-Space. You’ve already got a rift in time and space in Cardiff! Do you really want a rift in N-Space as well?!?!?” Rachel practically shouted at Suzie.

“The Glove reaches into N-Space to get the person it’s used on,” Ianto realized as he looked down at the glove. “I… I didn’t know.”

“What’s N-space?” Tosh asked.

“When we get back to the Hub… I’ll explain it.” Rachel sighed as they moved towards the SUV.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Beyond this dimension, there is a sort of “non-dimension” one that doesn’t really exist, yet still impacts this dimension. It’s called Null- Space or N-Space. When you die you pass through this dimension… and sometimes you get stuck. People stuck in N-Space can be felt as ghosts.”

The Team was back in the Hub, sitting on a couple of old couches while Rachel explained N-Space to them… Ianto at her side, his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

“What do you mean… pass through?” Tosh asked.

“You go into N-Space… when that happens you see a sort of tunnel of light, the sort people talk about when they’d had near death experiences,” Ianto answered. “After a short stay in N-Space, this happens again, leading you away…”

“So heaven’s real?” Suzie asked.

“There’s something beyond this life… that’s all anyone can know for sure,” Rachel replied. “Near death can only take you into and out of N-Space… no one’s really been to the other side and come back to tell about it.”

“But then what does the Glove do?” Toshiko asked.

“It takes people who’ve died out of N-Space… and once they die again, unless they have someone to get them back on the right track, they’ll be stuck in N-Space.” Rachel said. “Get enough people in one area that are trapped in N-Space and you get a rip…” She shuddered.

“UNIT dealt with one… they needed the Doctor to close it up,” Ianto explained. “A rip in N-Space means a lot of monster running around which we can’t kill or even hurt…. which means that we’re locking the Glove away until we can find a way to destroy it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day found Rachel sitting in Inato’s office, looking down at the Glove which was lying on Inato’s desk… Ianto, Suzie, Tosh and Owen had gone out to deal with a weevil while Rachel stayed back, trying to figure out what to do with the Glove.

However the Glove wasn’t the only thing on Rachel’s mind… she’d hacked into the Cardiff Police department, wanting to know how the investigation of John’s murder was going… wanting to see if there was anything she could do to help. The Cardiff Police were working on figuring out the knife which had been used to kill John and several others… they were just now admitting that a sort of serial killer was present in Cardiff.

When Ianto returned to the Hub, with his team, they had a weevil with them… Rachel stared at the alien as it was taken down to the cells below the main floor of the hub. “Do you know where it’s form original?” Ianto asked his mate.

“I have no idea… it might actually be from an alternate dimension.”

“Like where… what’s her name… Rose is?”

“Exactly,” Rachel replied. “What do you do with them?”

“Well every now and then one gets violent… we hold it for a few weeks and then release it into the sewers… although we do have one permanent resident.”

“Really?” Rachel blinked.

“I call her Janet.” Ianto smiled. “We let her go… but she just keeps coming back.”

“So was that Janet you just brought in?” Rachel yawned, leaning back in Ianto’s chair.

“Nope… just a normal weevil,” Ianto replied, sitting on the edge of his desk. “However we saw that Police officer again.”

“The one from last night?” Rachel asked and Ianto nodded. “What are you going to do about her?”

“Retcon.” Ianto reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a pill bottle with some little white pills inside of it. “Dissolves in water and erases memory.” Ianto explained. “This is the reason why there isn’t a mass exodus from Cardiff.”

“Ianto?” Tosh poked her head into the office. “That woman’s outside… looks like she’d trying to find a way to get in.”

“She followed us back from the hospital?” Ianto sighed… while Rachel smirked somewhat evilly.

“I have an idea…” Rachel began.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The young woman entered the Hub… carrying a box of Pizza and saying that it was for Rachel Harkness… who was sitting in Ianto’s office, pretending to look over some papers.

Slowly Gwen Cooper (Tosh had looked up her name on Torchwood’s computers) walked across the Hub… looking around at everything with a sort of scared awe. She was half-way across before Tosh giggled which caused Owen to start laughing.

“I can't do this, I'm sorry.“ Owen laughed, his hands in the air as he swung his chair around to look at the others. “I'm rubbish. I give up!” He sighed.

“He set me off,” Tosh protested, pointing at Owen like they were a pair of naughty school children.

“Well, that lasted no’ point two seconds.” Suzie sighed, moving aside the objects she had been pretending to work on.

Owen looked at Gwen and smirked. “She’s actually carrying pizza!

“Oh, come on!” Rachel blew a lock of hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her face and mock-glared at the others as she and Ianto came down from his office. “She was gonna say, ‘Here's your pizza’ and I was going to say, ‘How much?’…”

Ianto stepped around Rachel, who had stopped a little distance away from Gwen. “…and she says, ‘Oh, whatever, twenty quid,’ and Ray says, ‘Oh, I don't have any money.’”

“I was working on a punchline. I'd have got there. But it would've been good!” Rachel sighed, shaking her head at Owen and Tosh.

“There's your pizza. I'd better go,” Gwen Cooper whispered, holding out the pizza.

“We've gone past that stage,” Ianto sighed, taking the pizza and handing the box off to Rachel who opened it and smiled.

“Straight Cheese… why mess with the classics?” She asked herself, taking out a slice and starting to eat it.

“You must've been freezing out there,” Suzie remarked. “How long were you walking around? Three hours?”

“You could see me?” Gwen stuttered and Suzie nodded.

“Before we go any further, who the hell orders pizza under the name of Torchwood?” Ianto asked, glaring at his team as Rachel snickered around a mouthful of pizza.

“Uh, yeah. That would be me. I'm sorry. I'm a twat,” Owen sighed as he lazily spun around in his chair.

“That man, at the hospital, that porter, what happened to him? That was real, wasn't it? He was attacked.”

“He’s fine,” Ianto replied. “We got there in time, he only has a few scratches.”

“But no one’s seen him,” Gwen protested.

“We took him home, retrospectively changed the work rota, planted a false witness who saw him leaving the hospital, giving him an alibi for the next 48 hours…” Tosh replied. “So he’s got some time to heal up.”

“So you covered it all up?” Gwen asked, still staring in wonder at the strange objects all around her.

“That's my job,” Toshiko shrugged.

“And that other man, John Tucker? Last night in the alleyway, I saw you…” Gwen paused, as if searching for the right word.

“And what did you see?” Ianto asked, raising one eyebrow.

“You revived him,” Gwen stated.

“No.” Ianto sighed. “What did you see?”

“You resuscitated him,”

“No…” Rachel sighed and moved to stand next to Ianto, placing the pizza on a table nearby. “What did you really see?”

“You brought him back to life,” Gwen said, not looking at Ianto or Rachel. “Who are you?” She suddenly asked, practically glaring at everyone in the Hub.

“Torchwood,” Ianto replied.

“What's Torchwood?”

“This is Torchwood. All around you,” Ianto said, indicating the room and everyone around them.

“And what happens to me?” Gwen asked. “I'm police. Constable Gwen Cooper. You can't do anything…”

“Right then, PC Cooper ... d'you want to come see?” Ianto asked, leaning slightly forward towards Gwen.

“See what?”

“You saw the attack… so come see the attacker,” Ianto offered, before moving off towards the cells that were further down in the Hub… no one but Gwen followed him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

While Ianto dealt with Gwen Cooper, Rachel went down to the Archives and worked on classifying some of the objects which had been in Torchwood’s possession for years, but had never been properly identified… there were one or two surprises, such as some bits of mangled tech which were most likely ejected from the Doctor’s TARDIS, but most of it was ‘ordinary’ space trash. Little bits and pieces of technology from every conceivable point in time and space.

The rest of the Team had stayed at the Hub for a little while after Ianto left with Gwen, but eventually they drifted off, heading for their own homes or, as Owen had loudly proclaimed, off to get drunk in some Pub.

After what seemed like hours of digging through literally PILES of stuff that was in the Torchwood Three Basement, Rachel emerged, covered in a fine layer of dust. She’d only just entered the main area of the Hub, when Ianto entered the Hub through the Tourist Office.

“How it’d go?” Rachel asked, moving to meet Ianto halfway, so they ended up standing next to the Invisible Lift.

“Retconed,” Ianto frowned slightly. “I have a feeling this isn’t over though…”

“So what did you two talk about… before the retcon?” Rachel asked as Ianto grabbed his things and they moved towards the Invisible Lift.

“Told her a little about Torchwood… then she brought up the Glove, said we should liaison with the police on the serial killer.”

“I think she’s right,” Rachel sighed as the lift started to go up. “Think about it… the Glove shows up, a few days later Tosh manages to figure out what it is… and then these murders start.”

“You think it’s connected,” Ianto sighed. “Just what we need…a Torchwood Serial Killer.”

“So if this is Torchwood Three…” Rachel trailed off.

“Then where’s Torchwood Two and how many are there?” Ianto smirked. “Torchwood One was London, which you know as destroyed in the Battle. Torchwood Two is a small office in Glasgow, a very strange man runs it… We’re number Three and Four… we’ll it’s kinda gone missing.”

“Missing?” Rachel blinked.

“My guess is they got caught in a paradox or trapped in a time loop.” Ianto replied as the lift came to a stop at street level. “… You’ve allreay looking into the police files on the serial killer, haven’t you?” He asked, turning to look at Rachel.

“Not much information, but they are identifying a strangely shaped knife off the victims… I’ll check in on it,” Rachel replied as the two walked towards the Torchwood SUV. “What if Gwen writes everything down?”

“We have a hacking program set up… I fixed it before we left,” Ianto explained as he got behind the wheel. “The program lets us go in and delete anything we want to.”

“… Ianto?” Rachel asked after a few seconds of silence. “What if she does it the old fashion way? You know… pen and paper?”

“She stopped typing in the middle of the document…. I think she fell asleep on the keyboard, it started typing nonsense.” Ianto sighed as he turned the SUV around a corner. “Somehow I doubt she typed and scribbled at the same time…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day Rachel found herself observing how Ianto interacted with this team… and more importantly watching the Team Members: Suzie, Owen and Toshiko. Something was wrong, Rachel just couldn’t quite put her finger on what exactly was wrong with Torchwood.

It was late at night when Rachel pulled up a file on her computer and froze for the slightest fraction of a second. Then she was up, out of Ianto’s office (which she was now sharing with him) and looking down on the main area of the Hub… where the other Team Member’s desks were.

Only to find Ianto stalking over to the invisible lift. “You saw it?” Rachel asked, looking down at her boyfriend.

“Yes… I’m heading up,” Ianto replied, stepping on to the lift.

“I’ll be watching,” Rachel told Ianto, before dashing back to a computer monitor, so that she could do just that.

Gwen was standing outside the Millennium Center… with Suzie in front of her, holding the knife which the police had identified as the murder weapon. “I knew something was wrong!” Rachel whispered to herself.

Meanwhile, Gwen was trying to figure out how she knew Suzie and arrest her for murder.

“I thought you might’ve saw it. And that can trip the amnesia, one image, if you're clever. He said you were good,” Suzie was half-laughing, half-sobbing. “Anyway. It's not much good now, I can't really ... But you're gonna put up a fight. So I've got …” The dark haired woman reached into her bag and pulled out a gun, which she pointed at Gwen. “There… that’s better.”

“Put it down,” Gwen almost whimpered.

“You had to come back!” Suzie shivered, still pointing the gun at the Cop. “You're the only one who can make the link. Well, the only one in public. Torchwood's gonna find out by morning, but I'll be gone. I don't know where. Far away,” Tears were running down Suzie’s face. What am I gonna do? I loved this job. I really loved it. And now I've got to run. Oh, Christ. How can you do any other job after this one?”

Rachel suddenly realized that she hadn’t heard the invisible lift start up… but before she could poke her head out of Ianto’s office to look, Suzie started talking again.

“Cos it gets inside you. You do this job for long enough, and you end up thinking, How come we get all the Weevils and bollocks and shit? Is that what alien life is? Filth? But maybe there's better stuff out there, brilliant stuff, beautiful stuff. Just ... they don't come here. This planet's so dirty, that's all we get- the shit!”

Rachel bit back a growl as something that the Doctor had told her ran through her mind. In life you find what you look for…

“Why did you kill those people?” Gwen whispered.

“For the glove,” Suzie replied, as if she was talking about the weather. “I needed the bodies. That's how it works. Violent death. And it was so easy. To bring them back, I'd position myself behind the head, so they'd never see me twice!” Now it was Suzie’s turn to growl. “I only need a little more practice! Then I could get it to work, all the time…”

Suzie had taken a hesitant step closer to Gwen, whose eyes were wide with fear. “I don’t understand… what glove?”

“Then that… that girl skips in and Ianto stops listening to me! He tells me to shelf the glove… to stop looking into a device which could help humans live forever!”

On the Monitor Rachel could see the lift start to rise… the little cover that kept people from falling in was retreating. Without knowing why, Rachel found herself holding her breath as she watched Suzie.

“Resurrection on demand for the whole world, isn't that good? Isn't it though? Well, that's what I've been working for, all day and all night. The rest of them go swanning about, but I'm working. You've got to get inside this stuff. Surrender yourself to it. I did, with the knife, and the glove…” Rachel knew something was going to happen a mere second before it did…. “And that's why the perception filter isn't gonna work on me!”

Suzie turned and fired her gun, the bullet hitting Ianto in the center of his head, sending him crashing to the ground. Before Ianto had even hit the pavement, Rachel was on her feet, pulling the gun Jack had given her from it’s holster and racing up through the Tourist Center exit….

Thanks to Time Lord speed and all the running she’d done with her family, Rachel made very good time from the Base up to the square above… and managed to stay just out of Suzie’s line of sight. Gwen wasn’t paying attention to the Time Lady ---she was too busy staring in shock at Ianto’s dead body.

“What have you done?” Gwen whimpered.

“I can’t let you go,” Suzie hissed, cocking the gun and pointing it at Gwen. “I’m sorry.”

Suzie was too busy getting up the nerve to shoot Gwen that she didn’t notice Ianto standing up, or Rachel moving to stand next to her boyfriend… but Gwen did. The Cop stared in amazement at Ianto, which lead Suzie to turn slowly around and gape at her boss in amazement.

“Put down the gun,” Ianto practically whispered as the bullet hole in his forehead closed up, leaving only a few drops of blood to show that he’d even been wounded.

“It’s over, Suzie,” Rachel added, one hand reaching out to grasp Ianto’s and squeeze it tightly.

“Now…” Ianto reached out with his other hand, offering it to Suzie. “Come with me.”

Suzie froze, her eyes darting between Gwen and Ianto.

And then, before Ianto or Rachel could stop her, Suzie turned the gun around and pointed the muzzle at her own chin… the shot which tore through her head sounded strangely quite, seeming no more then a whisper when compared to the sound of her body hitting the pavement.

Gwen too had fallen to the ground, tears running down her face as she looked up at Ianto and Rachel. “I remember,” She whispered as Ianto wrapped his arm around Rachel, pulling her to his side.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was the next day. Ianto and Rachel were standing near Ianto’s desk, looking down at a metal box, which resembled a small cage. After Rachel placed the Glove and the Knife inside the box, Ianto locked it, placing a small Torchwood Seal which read “Not For Use” in large red letters.

Owen and Toshiko watched as Ianto placed the locked box upon a shelf of a safe, before locking the safe with a complex password. After this was done, Ianto turned to look at the remaining members of his team. Without saying a word, Owen and Toshiko each placed a small object on the desk… apparently they’d taken some alien tech out of the Hub.

In the Torchwood Hub’s Morgue Suzie lay in a body bag. Rachel had found herself at Ianto’s side as the Immortal placed his former Team Member in her final resting place.

The next day was to be Gwen Cooper’s start as a member of Torchwood Three… she’d been right, it would be good to have someone connected to the area on their team, and another pair of hands was always handy during an alien emergency.

Rachel and Ianto weren’t sure how long they could keep Ianto’s immortality a secret from Owen and Toshiko… Gwen already knew, and Rachel had a feeling that today wouldn’t be the last time that her beloved died in front of her.

TBC