A Question of Time

(Author's Note: I apologize in advance… but I tend to bash Gwen, even when I try really hard not to!)

Ianto and Rachel were looking over some recently acquired alien technology, while Owen finished a dissection on a dead weevil that had washed up on a nearby beach. Toshiko was filling out the last of the forms needed to transfer Gwen to Torchwood… when an alarm went off.

“What is it, Tosh?” Ianto asked, moving towards the young woman.

“Looks like a meteor… but it’s giving off strange readings,” Tosh replied. “It’s going to impact just outside of town.

“Doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen…” Ianto remarked as Rachel leaned over his shoulder. Owen had left his area of the Hub, but was hanging back a bit.

“I don’t recognize it either…” Rachel sighed.

“Well, we better check it out…” Ianto decided, moving back from Rachel. “Tosh! Page Gwen for me.”

“Hell of a way to start working at Torchwood,” Tosh remarked as she followed Ianto’s orders. Owen smirked slightly as he gathered his supplies, still watching Ianto and Rachel out of the corner of his eyes.

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

Gwen didn’t know what to think of her new teammates… Owen and Tosh had told her that Rachel only been there for a day or two, yet the woman (who appeared to be younger then any of them) seemed more confident then Ianto, Torchwood Three’s ‘fearless’ leader.

“Okay… simple locating and clean up operation. Find that meteorite before anyone else gets their hands on it,” Ianto explained as he drove, using the rear view mirror to look at his team. “Good to see you, by the way.” He smiled, making it clear he was talking to Gwen.

Gwen watched as a sort of computer unfolded from the driver’s seat, forming a workstation for Toshiko. “Found it yet?” Owen asked the young woman, looking past Gwen, who had found herself sitting in the middle.

“Almost…’ Tosh remarked as her fingers flew across the keyboard. “This is basic tracking and surveillance,” she explained to Gwen. “With this we can tap into CCTV networks, national databases…”

“That’s CRIMINT,” Gwoen blinked. “You shouldn’t have that!”

“You might want to stop saying ‘you’ and start saying ‘we’,” Rachel smirked, twisting around in her seat to look at Gwen.

Soon the SUV was approaching an area of land were several military trucks and police were parked. “Amateurs got here first,” Ianto sighed as he pulled the SUV over and took the key out of the ignition.

Ianto smirked at the officer who was standing guard by the yellow tape… the man sighed and lifted said tape, allowing the team to pass through, with only a slightly puzzled look directed at Rachel and Gwen.

Somehow Gwen found herself in front of the other members of the team, carrying a tool box Owen had passed her… which mean she almost ran into a soldier, who had a gun in his hands.

“Who the hell are you?” The man practically growled. “This area’s restricted.”

“We’re with Torchwood,” Gwen turned to the side, somewhat surprised she hadn‘t heard Rachel come up behind her..

“Don’t mess with me, little girl… you’re not with Torchwood. And even if you were---” The Solider was cut off by Ianto, who swept back the flaps of the tent and smirked at the numerous military men inside.

“You'd have put out the welcome banners!” He smiled and wrapped an arm around Rachel’s shoulders. “Now, first of all, she's no little girl. From where I’m standing, all the right curves in all the right places…” He motioned to Rachel and Gwen. “They are Torchwood. We all are... and we'd appreciate it if you'd leave us to do the real work.”

Gwen followed her new Boss and Rachel down to the actual Crash Site, where Tosh and Owen were already bent over the strange meteor, which looked pretty much like a large rock.

“What do we know?” Rachel asked, leaning into look at the object.

“Bog standard space debris,” Owen sighed as he rummaged in a tool box.

“So take all the readings and let's get out of here,” Ianto replied, offering a tool to Owen… apparently it was exactly what the Doctor needed, as he snatched the tool from Ianto and moved back toward the object.

Gwen watched with fasination as the four worked on investigating the object. Every now and then Tosh would toss something to Owen or Ianto would toss an object to Rachel…

“Hey Gwen?” Gwen looked up, seeing Rachel smiling at her. “Pass me the big chisel from the toolbox?”

Gwen nodded and reached into the box, pulling out a large chisel and tossing it to Rachel…. Unfortunately Gwen wasn’t as experienced in chucking tools, so the chisel didn’t travel far enough and instead of ending up in Rachel’s hands, created a large hole in the pod.

Torchwood Three watched as, within a couple of seconds, a purple gas of some sort leaked out of the pod from the hole. As soon as they caught sight of the gas, everyone pulled out masks, Ianto quickly passing one to Gwen.

The gas turned into a sort of pink-purple cloud, which hovered above the pod for a few seconds before spreading out and sort of pulsating… then the cloud zoomed up, vanishing into the night sky.

“That’s not good,” Rachel sighed, pulling down her mask so that it hung around her neck like some sort of punk necklace.

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

By the time Torchwood Three got back to the Hub, Gwen must have apologized a hundred times… so much that even Ianto was telling her to stop, even though Owen was still giving Gwen a hard time about her slip.

“Didn’t they teach you Health and Safety in the police?” Owen grumbled as he handed Toshiko the results he’d gotten from the ‘Pod’.

“Stop it Owen,” Rachel snapped, earning her a glare from the Doctor.

“Who died and made you Captain?” Owen asked, glaring at Rachel.

“Suzie died and I made her Second In Command,” Ianto replied, leaning over Toshiko’s shoulder to look at the data she was entering into the computer. “We know anything yet?”

“Not really… but I’m willing to bet that ‘gas’ was sentient,” Tosh sighed. “So far the info isn’t matching anything in the archives.

A phone rang nearby and Ianto picked it up, listening to whoever was on the other end of the line. “We’re on our way,” he sighed before putting the phone back in it’s cradle. “Nightclub death been phoned in to 999. Circumstances sound... a little unusual.”

“You think it’s connected?” Tosh asked, looking up from her computer.

“I’ve been working here too long to believe in coincidences,” Ianto sighed.

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

Rachel had gone into the Nightclub bathroom, expecting to see a dead body, perhaps a weird looking one… only to find a little pile of brownish dust. “I thought a death had been phone in?” Rachel said, looking up at Ianto.

“That’s all that’s left,” Ianto noted. He’d been talking with the Club’s owner, who looked horrified.

“How is that possible?” Gwen whispered in shock and awe.

“The more important question is how did you know this used to be a body?” Ianto asked to Owner of the Club.

“We have cameras… for security,” The man stammered.

“We’re going to need to see that CCTV.” Rachel replied and the Owner nodded…

The video, despite showing a man dying…. Was kind of hilarious. A man and woman were ---well having sex, when all of a sudden the man turned into a sort of gold dust and seemed to be sucked into the woman.

“…wow?” Ianto whispered, staring wide eyed at the monitor.

“Oh my God…” Tosh was holding a hand over her mouth, her eyes just as wide as the other members of the team. “He just…” she trailed off.

“Came and went,” Rachel deadpanned.

“That’s the way I’d like to go…” Owen laughed.

“Oh I’m sure we could arrange it,” Tosh smirked, earning a grimace from Gwen and the Cub Owner.

“How can that be? It doesn't make any sense. It's not possible.” The Club Owner was almost moaning, holding his head in his hands.

“Do you know the girl’s name?” Gwen asked the Club Owner, who shook his head. “Did the two of them arrive together? Is she a regular? Would any of the other staff know her?”

“I dunno! We get hundreds of people here every weekened! I don’t keep tabs!” The Owner growled defensively at Gwen, who took a step back from him.

“Thanks for your help,” Ianto stated, stepping between Gwen and the Owner. “We’ve got all we need….” he waited until the Owner left he Team alone to add the last part of his sentence, “…from you.”

“So what do we do now?” Gwen asked, looking over at Ianto.

“We’ll get a body from the cryo-chamber… as close a match to the dead guy as we can get. Then we disfigure the face and dump it somewhere, make it look like a suicide,” Ianto stated as they walked out of the Club, heading back to the Hub.

“You have a stash of bodies?” Gwen blinked, looking at the members of the Team… finding it odd that Rachel didn’t seem surprised about this.

Before anyone could answer Gwen’s question, there was a strange beeping sound… the Team looked at each other for a few seconds when Rachel practically squeaked and reached into one of her pockets pulling out a strange little device that looked like a cross between a pen and a flashlight.

“What is that?” Tosh asked, raising one eyebrow as Rachel fiddled with the device.

“Tracking device… well sort of!” Rachel answered as she apparently followed whatever the little device was tracking into a nearby alley.

“Gift from her parents,” Ianto offered by way of explanation as he (and the team) followed Rachel.

The little device ended in one area of the alley. “Same elements we recorded at the crash site,” Rachel said, gesturing to her device. “There were traces all over the club, but it’s strongest in this area… something happened here.”

Ianto gestured up to a CCTV camera that was on the alley wall. “Tosh, can you pull up this camera?”

Tosh nodded, heading back to the SUV and pulling out a laptop. “I’ve got someone!” She told Ianto, moving to one side so that the Team could look at the CCTV footage…

It showed a young woman in the alleyway… apparently talking on her cell phone when, all of a sudden, the purple cloud seemed to slam into her. “Let’s take this back to the Hub… see what we can get using our tech,” Ianto told Toshiko, who nodded and placed her computer back in the SUV.

“It’s all my fault…” Gwen whispered. “If it weren’t for me… he’d still be alive.”

“That’ll get you nowhere,” Rachel remarked as she got into the SUV, the strange little device still in her hands. “At least now we know a little more… the alien’s taken on a host body.”

“We can’t let her kill again,” Ianto sighed as he turned the SUV towards the Hub.

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

Back at the Hub, Gwen watched as Ianto and Rachel were leaning over what appeared to be a map of the universe.

“What’s this supposed to do?” She asked the two.

“We’re using satellite-tracking data to try and determine the inward trajectory of the meteorite,” Rachel explained.

Ianto smirked. “She means that we’re trying to find out where it came from.”

“Hey!” Rachel playfully punched Ianto. “Sometimes techno babble is good for the soul!”

“So this is a route planner?” Gwen laughed. “Rhys, my boyfriend, is a transport manager. He does this sort of stuff. On a slightly smaller scale, though.”

“You have a boyfriend?” Tosh blinked.

“Yeah. Have you?” Gwen asked the team.

“Don't have time with this job,” Tosh sighed.

“You've gotta be joking. I can get all the grief I need here,” Owen replied.

Rachel sighed as Gwen, Owen and Tosh’s turned to look at her. “Its…. complicated,” Rachel shrugged.

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

“I torture people in happy relationships,” Owen joked before heading off to his area of the Hub.

“I’ve got confirmation on the gas traces,” Tosh declared, avoiding the question. “Vorax and Suranium.”

“Can we do a check, and find out what we know about them?” Ianto asked.

“I'm all over it.” Owen said, sitting down at his computer.

“What's this doing?” Gwen asked, looking at one computer screen.

“I've taken an image of the girl from the CCTV. This cross-checks her face with the UK population,” Tosh explained.

“You can't have every face in the UK on there. That would be against civil liberties, data protection, all that stuff …” Gwen said as she stared at the computer program.

“Still doing that "you" instead of "we" thing,” Rachel remarked. “… well we have one hundred and nineteen possible matches.”

“The CCTV was too low res. I've tried magnifying and augmenting but it just breaks up. Which means that the software can't function properly,” Tosh explained.

“It's narrowed the numbers down…” Ianto remarked. “We could check through the rest. You know, the old fashioned way - with our eyes.”

Rachel bit back a snort of laughter at the looks that got from the rest of the team… give humans technology and they never wanted to go back to the basics.

“Wait…” Rachel looked over at Tosh. “The CCTV must have picked up her arrival at the club. Tosh, can you reformat the image recognition software to trace her journey backwards via the street camera network?” She asked. “I know it’s a longshot…”

“It'll take a while to process. Every possible turn on every street corner means hundreds of thousands of probabilities,” Tosh explained.

“Have a go. At least we'll know where she started the evening,” Ianto shrugged.

“We could cross reference that with the addresses on the remaining face matches,” Gwen suggested.

“Good one, newbie! That's a bit more like it!” Owen smirked at Gwen.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
That was how Torchwood Three found themselves staring at a man and woman who had their pants around their ankles… although the woman seemed to be more into it then the man…

Toshiko and Ianto had guns aimed at the woman, the alien wearing Carys body, while Owen, Gwen and Rachel covered the exits… every member of the team was wearing a sort of jumpsuit with a gasmask on top.

“The air qualities okay.” Tosh announced, pulling off her mask as the rest of the team did the same… only to have Carys take advantage of this momentary distraction and dash past Toshiko, running towards Rachel.

“Ray!” Ianto called out… as Carys dashed past Rachel. Owen dashed forward to catch Carys… only to suddenly find that the woman was imprisoned in some sort of force field.

“What?” Owen whispered, leaning forward to touch the invisible wall that surrounded Carys.

“Found it in the archives… it’s an inflatable cell,” Rachel replied, moving forward and pointing her little hand held device at the source of the cell which looked like a metallic sea shell. The cell vanished as Rachel reached out and slapped a pair of cuffs on Carys.

“I thought none of the stuff left the Hub without Ianto’s permission,” Owen grumbled.

“I forgot I had it in my pocket until we were already here,” Rachel smirked at the angry look upon Owen’s face as they lead Crys to the SUV.

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

Owen, Toshiko and Gwen were sitting at one of the tables in the Hub, trying to hide the fact that they were watching Ianto and Rachel. The reason they were doing this was to try and figure out what the two were talking about.

“So where’s she from again?” Gwen asked, turning towards Toshiko although her eyes stayed on Rachel.

“Ianto says her parents work for UNIT…” Owen replied, chewing slightly on his lip.

“Even I‘ve heard of UNIT, although of course I thought it was all set up if aliens make contact…” Gwen mused.

“No, they’re active. Ianto’s liaison with them a few times,” Toshiko said.

“Like when the skies filled up with that weird gas?” Gwen asked and Tosh nodded.

“It’s weird though… she doesn’t look old enough to be out of college,” Owen pointed out.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Gwen whispered and the other two shrugged as Ianto walked towards them, without Rachel.

“Where’s Rachel going?” Toshiko asked her boss, who leaned forward and flipped over to the Hub’s CCTV, which showed the area of the cells where they’d put Carys.

“You normally do integrations!” Owen objected

“Normally being the key word,” Ianto sighed, turning the volume up.

By now Carys had noticed that Rachel was approaching her. “Are you MI-5?” She practically whispered as Rachel came to a stop in front of her cell, however she was only met with silence.

“Where am I?” Carys whimpered. “What do you want?”

“I think you know… Carys,” Rachel replied, her face deadly serious.

“How d’you know my name? I've never been in trouble. What do you want from me?” Tears were running down Carys’ face and although Rachel’s face was dry, she somehow seemed to be feeling the young woman’s sadness.

“At 3:07 this morning Matt Stevens died… he was an only child. I know that whatever is inside you killed him,” Rachel replied.

Suddenly Carys fell to the ground, screaming in pain she looked up at Rachel… and even over the CCTV cameras they could tell that it wasn’t Carys anymore

Straightening up, the alien stepped forward. “She broke my ship,” the alien replied, its voice strangely childlike.

“Now I’ve seen a lot of things… but never anything like you,” Rachel remarked, crossing her arms as she tilted her head. “So where are you from… and why are you here?” Suddenly she stopped, holding up one hand in front of her to stop ‘Carys’ from answering. “It’s the climax isn’t it?” Rachel asked. “You live off that energy.”

“There’s nothing else like it… you taste so good. The best hit there is,” Carys sighed… before her body convulsed in pain once more and the real Carys screamed out.

“You’re killing her!” Rachel shouted, stepping forward so that she was just in front of the bars. Another violent convulsion shook the young woman’s body and, in what seemed like a second, Rachel was through the door of the cell, trying to help Carys…

When suddenly the alien got back in control and darted forward, pressing Rachel against the wall and kissing her.

Up above, in the main area of the Hub, every single member of Torchwood was staring in shock at the computer, while Ianto found himself blushing… when there was a harsh smacking sound and Carys flew backwards after being slapped across the face by Rachel.

“Don’t do that,” Rachel sighed, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt.

“Who are you?” the alien inside Carys asked, looking up at Rachel with wide eyes. “I thought to distract you…”

“Not pretty enough for you?” Rachel joked.

“We are not compatible,” the alien huffed. “I tried another female of your species… it didn’t work,” There was a moment of silence and then the alien in Carys leaned forward, searching Rachel’s eyes. “So who are you? There was so much energy…. ”

“I don’t care that I taste good to you,” Rachel sighed. “All I care about is Carys, the real Carys. You’re killing her.”

“I thought it needed to be a man…” the alien remarked, still staring at Rachel.

“YOU ARE KILLING HER!” Rachel growled. “Now there are two choices you have. You leave her and we’ll find a way to get you back on your way… or we’ll force you out of her--- even if we have to kill you… whatever you are.”

“Why do you care?” The alien laughed. “Why do you care if this human dies?”

Rachel glared at Carys, or more specifically at the alien that was inside Carys’ body. Her eyes were hidden from the CCTV cameras, so only Carys saw the golden glow which filled Rachel’s eyes for the briefest moment. “Because she’s innocent… and I don’t think you are,” Rachel replied.

The alien inside Carys stared in what could only be described as horror at Rachel. “I’ll leave,” the alien whispered.

Owen, Gwen and Toshiko jumped when Ianto was suddenly on his feet and running towards the cells. Not understanding what was happening, the team followed Ianto, who had grabbed something off a desk as he ran down to where Rachel was.

Carys and Rachel were staring at each other, as Ianto stepped forward, motioning for the rest of the team to stay back. “This is a specially built containment unit… you’ll leave Carys and go in here,” Ianto stated, opening the containment unit.

“What will happen to me?” the Alien whispered, looking at the containment unit.

“We have contacts… we can get you traveling again,” Rachel replied. “Now, leave Carys.”

Carys shuddered and fell backward as the purple mist left her body… it seemed to hang in the air for a few seconds, before moving towards the containment unit, only to suddenly stop and rush towards Rachel.

“Ray!” Ianto screamed, dropping the containment unit and dashing forward to catch Rachel before she fell. Rachel’s eyes rolled back up into her head and her entire body shook as if Rachel and the Alien were fighting for control. “GET OUT OF HER!” Ianto screamed as the team rushed forward, Owen pausing only a few seconds to make sure Carys was okay…

But before any of them could touch Rachel, Ianto had gestured for them to stay back. He’d gently laid Rachel on the ground, backing slightly away from the young woman. “She’s fighting it,” Ianto whispered.

“What do you mean?” Gwen asked.

“Rachel’s trained in psychic defense,” Ianto explained as Rachel slowly stopped shaking. “Her dad’s the one who trained me…”

Suddenly Rachel’s mouth fell open and the mist flew up and out… before disappearing. Somehow Gwen, Owen and Tosh knew that something Rachel had done had not only expelled the alien presence form her body, but she’d also managed to kill it.

Rachel blinked slowly and sat up… and in an instant Ianto was by her side, whispering to her, making sure she was okay. She looked over at Carys and the other members of Torchwood. “Is Carys going to be okay?” She asked, her voice weaker then normal, but still surprisingly strong.

“Yes… a little retcon and she won’t even remember it,” Toshiko replied. “Owen should check you over…”

“No… I’m okay. Maybe a slightly elevate pulse…” Rachel laughed as Ianto helped her to stand up.

“What did you do?” Gwen asked. “How did you stop that… that thing from taking control of you?”

“Certain aliens are psychic… or more psychic then the majority of humans. UNIT trains as many of their staff as possible in psychic defenses,” Rachel explained. “My Dad was really good at it…”

“Some humans are more psychically inclined then others,” Ianto added as the group started up towards the main area of the Hub, Toshiko and Gwen helping get Carys up to Owen’s medical area. “Since Ray’s dad took to it so well, he was asked to help train other soldiers.”

“You said he trained you?” Gwen asked as Ianto and Rachel sat down on the old faded couch that was in the “break” area of the Hub.

“Yes… I wasn’t a very good student. Took him a while to even teach me the basics,” Ianto laughed.

“I grew up on various UNIT bases,” Rachel explained. “Mom and Dad wanted me to be protected, so he started teaching me to defend myself around the same time I was learning how to talk.”

“So you threw it out of you?” Toshiko asked, an interested look upon her face.

“Yes… I think it was too weak from transferring bodies and having both me and Carys fight it,” Rachel mused, leaning back in her chair.

“Probably… I don’t think the journey here was a peaceful one…” Ianto sighed and looked around at his team. “So… whose up for a bite to eat?”

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

It was a little bit less then an hour later… a bit of retcon and some water and Carys was off, thinking she’d gotten too drunk and been taken care of by some nice strangers… Torchwood Three had ordered some Chinese Food, and the group were sitting around the large meeting table, eating and laughing about some of the aliens they’d encountered in the past.

Ianto was just finishing up telling a story about a woman and an alien he’d encountered. “And she said ... she said, ‘If I'd known that's what he was, I never would have married him!’”

“She knew! She knew all along!” Toshiko giggled.

“She didn't care,” Owen smirked.

“Until he started leaving black piles of mucus in the bathtub,” Ianto smirked. “Always the big giveaway. Seems like all the aliens we encounter have no sense of household hygiene…” Ianto pulled back from the table and excused himself… and instantly Owen and Toshiko turned to look at Gwen and Rachel.

“So what's he told you?” Owen asked the two.

“What about?” Rachel blinked, looking over at Gwen.

“Himself!” Toshiko practically whispered.

“You've been here longer than we have,” Gwen sighed.

“We were banking on you!” Tosh sighed, pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail.

“You're a copper, trained to ask questions,” Owen stated, gesturing at Gwen with his chopsticks.

“You don't know anything?” Rachel mock gasped.

“Not who he is, not where he's from. Nothing, except him being gay,” Owen shrugged and Rachel lost it. She’d been drinking a soda and only just managed to keep herself form spitting out said soda.

“No, he's not,” Rachel smirked at the look that declaration got her.

“How do you know?” Toshiko asked, leaning forward. “We don’t know anything about him!”

“We even looked him up on our computers!” Owen remarked. “Normal childhood, nothing interesting. Worked for Torchwood One for a few months and then he vanished!”

“He was working under my parents,” Rachel sighed, rolling her eyes. “They were introduced to him by…” She paused, pretending to be trying to remember the name. “Harold Saxon I think…”

“Harold Saxon? Wasn’t he Minister of Defence?”

“Something like that,” Rachel shrugged. “He was sort of an honorary uncle.”

Before Toshiko, Owen or Gwen could ask Rachel any more questions, Ianto reappeared and sat back down next to Rachel, smiling at her for the briefest of moments… just long enough for the rest of Torchwood Three to see Rachel return the smile.

Just enough for Gwen, Toshiko and Owen to start to wonder just how well the two knew each other….

TBC