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Gwen Cooper was aware of the supernatural. She knew full well that the world existed with vampires, trolls, zombies, ghosts, witches, banshees, demons… did she really have to go on? She wasn't one of those modern Twilight or True Blood fans who were just waiting for their vampire true love to come waltzing in and sweep them off their feet, either. That was just stupid. Besides, Gwen had her own supernatural boyfriend. Not that she had gone searching for a man with extra-human abilities. She hadn't known that the monsters under your bed were real back then.
"Morning."
Gwen smiled and gave a little wave at her boyfriend, who was completely starkers save a pair of long white socks. She continued brushing her teeth and then spit into the sink. Looking up, she saw that he was yawning, scratching himself, and making a cuppa. They both had to be at work in 15 minutes. Bless. But he did have a rough time last night.
See, last night was the first night of the full moon. And Rhys Williams, Gwen's boyfriend, was a werewolf.
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"Thanks Andy." Gwen acknowledged as she raised the extra-large cup of coffee that her co-worker had just handed to her to her lips.
So far today was just paperwork, finishing up the details on solved cases. It was utterly dull but it had to be done.
Andy grinned as he sat across the table from her, scribbling away at the various files. "I have a favour to ask of you."
Gwen joked, "Oh I knew there had to be a special reason why you brought me a Trenta." She leaned back with her arms behind her head. "What's on your mind, Andy-boy?"
"I have a date with this girl, you see. I met her at the gym last week."
"Well good for you!" Gwen lightly punched his arm. "You're one of the most attractive blokes I have ever met. You should be beating them off with a stick!" She leaned forward, batting her eyelashes. "So what's she like? Has she had plastic surgery? Does she dye her hair? Does she think you're fantastic?"
Andy seemed baffled by the barrage of questions. "Erm, no I don't think so. Yes, I think she uses peroxide. And I hope she thinks that highly of me. But that's not the point." He breathed out a sigh. "Enid—"
"Oh, it's Enid is it?" Gwen rather liked Welsh names. She supposed if she and Rhys ever had children she wanted to give them strong, traditional Welsh names. Rhys kept hinting at Anwen for a baby girl. Gwen figured Anwen was a rubbish name for a girl.
"Yes, Enid. She's very confident and I want this first date to go well." Andy paused, waiting expectantly for Gwen to catch on. Moments passed and they continued to stare at each other in complete awkwardness. "Will you and Rhys go on a double date with us? It might help break the ice and she can see what great mates I have. I know Rhys loves horror movies, so we could go see that new one about a mad scientist torturing a group of teens in a haunted house? Enid could, you know, get all scared and cling to me the entire time."
Gwen frowned a bit. It was an overstatement that Rhys enjoyed horror films. He didn't actually like the entire genre, only the portion that dealt with the supernatural like vampires, witches and werewolves. He was constantly curious if 'Hollywood' would ever get it right. They never did. Truth be told, Rhys loved anything to do with the supernatural. He was one of those Potter fans standing in line in costume for hours waiting for the release of the next book. Rhys was that guy you figured was either gay or doing a favour for his girlfriend, because he was the only man in line waiting for the next Twilight book. He was a fan of shows like Being Human, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Merlin. But even though he loved all of those fandoms, he cursed them just the same. Gwen had to listen to each one of his rants on how werewolves don't do this and why do they portray us like that? It got old very quickly. But at the same time she was almost 100% sure that Rhys wouldn't be able to keep his lips shut if they did go see that other newly released film about the warlock's trainer with Andy and his date. Because Andy didn't know Rhys was a werewolf.
She smiled, showing her teeth. "Sure, that sounds great. When would you like?"
Andy scratched his head. Before he could get another syllable about Sergeant Bach came running in their direction. "We got a body, people!"
Gwen quickly grabbed her hat and coat. This is what she lived for.
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She arrived onto the scene, late. Not her fault, traffic was shit. Even though it was Wales everyone wanted to be extra careful while driving in the rain. Gwen spotted Andy immediately standing by his car with another large cup of coffee. She ran over to him, grabbing the cup. "Cheers mate. What do we have here?"
Andy shrugged. "I dunno. Some bloke. Stabbed in the back they say."
Together they stood and watched the medical team in their white suits exam the body. Everyone was hushed. It always was oddly quiet at crime scenes. She didn't even really know what to say to Andy right now even though they were friends. All she could think about was that poor man who had just died in a deserted alley way all by himself. His family had to be told soon and that was never a pleasant job.
"What's happening there then?" Andy asked puzzled.
Gwen noticed that a fellow officer was literally shooing the forensics team away from the body. Andy began to order others away from the scene but Gwen charged forward to one of the specialists in white. "Oi, what's going on? Do you know what's happening?"
The middle-aged man squinted at her in the downpour. "I dunno. It's orders from above."
"But the body's still there! We can't just leave it!" This was insane…
"Special access they said!" the man yelled over the rain.
"For who?"
"Torchwood."
At that moment a large, black SUV rolled up to the crime scene. Gwen could clearly see the word 'Torchwood' engraved on the side of the car. Speedily and with grace, four people jumped out of the SUV and strolled onto the crime scene. There were two men and two men. One of the men was very pale and wore a backpack and the other seemed quite dashing and wore a long military style coat. The two women, one who was Asian and wearing a waist length leather coat and the other had curly hair and was carrying a glowing blue box. None of them even made a passing glance at any of the officers. All of them walked with an air of authority.
"Who's Torchwood?" Gwen asked, completely impressed and angry by their arrival.
"Special Ops or something." The man pointed to the coffee in Gwen's hand. "Is that still hot?"
Gwen nodded weakly and handed it off to him. "But they can't be allowed in there. They could—"
"Don't ask me." Irritation rose in the man's voice. "There's no procedure anymore. It's a fucking disgrace." He shouted at one of his collages and wandered off.
This was ridiculous. On all her years on the force this had never happened before. How could this Torchwood, whatever the bloody hell they were, have powers over the police for an ongoing investigation? Things weren't adding up. She needed to find out more about this Torchwood. She wasn't going to do any good standing here behind the tape. Scanning the area she noticed that there were balconies all around. Gwen glanced back at the Torchwood team to see if they were looking in her direction, and seeing that they were more preoccupied with the corpse she ran up at least 3 flights of stairs until she found a good spot to spy on them.
Two team members were impatiently hovering over the corpse. The curly-haired woman was kneelt at the body's head and was opening the blue box. One of the men, perhaps the leader was standing there stoically and rambling off. She could have sworn he mentioned something about estrogen in the rain and... male pregnancy. The woman kneeling by the corpse's head had put on a metal, medieval looking glove. There was a bit of banter and Gwen wasn't exactly sure what they were saying or doing. But suddenly… the rain stopped. Just in that little patch of area. Gwen looked down the street at where all of her fellow officers were and it was still raining cats and dogs. But how was that possible?
A second later the rain stopping didn't seem like the most impossible thing she'd seen that night.
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The next morning Gwen awoke and immediately saw that there was no longer a huge brown wolf in the steel cage next to the bed but instead there was a rather human Rhys, curled up as best he could. She unlocked the cage and shook Rhys. "Wake up sleepy head."
Rhys yawned so wide she could see his teeth. He scratched behind his ears and smacked his lips a few times. Oh she loved him in the morning; he was so cute like this. "Morning love. How was work?"
Gwen sat cross legged in front of him. She wasn't sure how to tell him what she saw last night. Best to just get it out then. "Have you ever heard of Torchwood?"
"Torchwood?" Rhys crawled out of the cage and slipped some socks on. "Nah, should I have?"
Gwen sighed deeply. "Maybe. They were at the crime scene last night—"
"Whoa, whoa! Wait, what crime scene?"
"Center Cardiff. Alley. Dead bloke. Stabbed in the back. Can I move on?" Gwen paused to see if Rhys had anything else to say and when Rhys was silent, she moved on. "This Torchwood came swooping in and took over our investigation for about 5 minutes. Acted like they owned the place."
Rhys cocked an eyebrow. "Five minutes? Usually if someone takes over don't they do it for the remaining of the case?"
"Yeah, tell me about it!" Gwen held up her hands. "But that's not the best bit. I kind of spied on them a little…"
"Spying, Gwen!?"
"Hush, hush! They had this glove and they brought the dead bloke back to life!" She covered her mouth with her hands after she got it out, relived to have finally said it out loud.
Rhys stared at her and blinked. "Like a zombie?" he asked in disbelief.
"No," she shook her head. "Definitely not a zombie. He was only alive again for about 2 minutes. And they were asking him questions like if they knew who killed him, did he see his murderer? And after the two minutes he… well." Gwen gulped. "It was like nothing I had ever seen Rhys. How could they do that? Is there more to the world? Do you think?"
Rhys said nothing, just stared ahead, his face set in deep concentration. "I think… we need to do some digging on Torchwood."
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The next time Gwen arrived home from work she was really exhausted. This had been one of the most shitty days she had ever had. First she had to break up a bar fight with Andy and ended up in hospital herself, getting some stitches in her head. Then at the hospital, she saw the man, Captain Jack Harkness was his name, climbing the stairs. She had followed him into an abandoned hallway. Instead of the Captain, Gwen came across someone in a blue jumpsuit wearing an elaborate Halloween mask. Whoever it was refused to give her any information, or even talk. And when a porter came to check on Gwen and saw the person in the mask, the person in the mask lashed out at the porter's neck, blood was everywhere. At that moment, Captain Harkness jumped out from nowhere and ushered her out of the hallway. Gwen followed their black SUV all over Cardiff, even gave their plate number over the radio, but the plate came back as not being on record. And that was the same with Captain Jack Harkness. The only Captain Jack Harkness on record disappeared in the 1940s. Then worst of all, when she saw Torchwood exit the SUV and walk to the fountain at the Plass… they disappeared. Just vanished! And now everyone at work thought she was crazy. Just fucking great.
"Rough day?" Rhys asked from the stove. He was completely naked. It wasn't unusual to see him in the nude. Werewolves apparently ran higher temperatures than 'normal' humans. He often thought even the tiniest bit of clothing was too hot to bear.
"That's an understatement." Gwen flopped onto the couch and put her arm over her eyes. She told Rhys about the events of the day and how close she had been to touching Torchwood.
"I couldn't find anything at work, myself." Rhys sighed. "Mind you it was just your basic internet search. I even went onto some of my forums and asked if anyone knew what Torchwood was. No one had a clue and now I've sparked all these conspiracy theories."
Gwen sat up as her boyfriend handed her a plate of pot roast. "Well if your fellow werewolves have no idea what this Torchwood is… than that makes me even more curious."
"Me too, Gwen. Me too." Rhys spooned some of his meal into his mouth. "We'll keep looking. I know we're going to find out soon."
Maybe sooner than you think. Gwen thought as she ate her dinner.
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I can't believe I'm doing this. She thought as she carried two large pizzas in her arms down to the Plass. Gwen could hardly believe her notion of asking one of the local pizza places if they had any customers under the name of Torchwood was correct.
Gwen knocked on the door to the Tourist Office like the man at the pizza shop said and entered. It seemed like a regular place. All around her were brochure stands and postcards of the skyline of Cardiff. The circular desk was slightly messy and could do with a bit of a cleanup but nothing major. A sign designated 'Staff Only' was next to an archway with a beaded curtain. There was no one around though. No sign of life at all.
Abruptly, a man in a suit holding a coffee cup came through the Staff Only entrance. He had a tentative, safe smile. His face was boyish, still a little chubby.
"Oh, hi. Sorry I'm late." Gwen stumbled, trying to remember her excuse for being here. "Someone ordered pizza?"
The man raised his eyebrows and looked slightly puzzled. "Who's it for?" He was Welsh. Good.
"I think it's…" Shit! Gwen was sweating bullets. "A Mr. Harkness." Ah fuck was that right? Had she given herself away?
The door to the Tourist Office slammed shut behind her and Gwen jumped. She stared at the man in fright but he only smiled. Behind one of the displays of postcards the wall actually started to slide open before her eyes. Gwen looked between the wall and the Welshman in complete shock and awe.
"Don't keep them waiting." The man chuckled as he took a sip from his cup.
She took a step toward then stopped. This was crazy, just crazy. Gwen looked back. The Welshman mouthed 'Go' with some annoyance. She nodded and summed up all the courage she had in her body and proceeded on.
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Gwen was sitting at a bar next to Captain Jack Harkness. After he had given her the grand tour of their facility and introduced the staff he invited her out for a pint. Gwen was keeping up her guard. She was aware that Toshiko Sato had said that they covered up the death of the porter. Torchwood could easily do the same with her. She had to be careful.
It was still slightly odd to get her mind wrapped around all this, aliens and stuff. When Rhys had come out to her that he was a werewolf her natural reaction was 'you're joking right'. But once she saw him transform… you can't exactly deny it any longer. And over the last couple years others supernatural things like mermaids, elves, and dragons were just the norm. But somehow aliens still seemed… preposterous.
Gwen put down her pint. "The thing is I just don't understand—"
Jack gave her a smile that wouldn't have been out of place on a toothpaste commercial. "I'll tell you what I don't understand. You're about to ramble on about on about 'how can aliens be true' kind of shtick? What's it going to take for you people? If you want evidence for aliens what about that spaceship on Christmas Day? What about the Battle of Canary Wharf? A Cyberman in every home!" The man genuinely looked frustrated.
Gwen gave him a bit of a smile and decided to play along. "My boyfriend says it's like terrorism. Like they put drugs in the water supplies causing mass hallucinations and stuff."
The Captain seemed repulsed. "Well your boyfriend's an idiot." he said in complete seriousness.
"Oh, you've met him?"
Jack laughed into his drink.
Gwen was surprised that she was actually enjoying this man's company. He had quite the charisma. And wasn't that bad looking. She wouldn't mind hooking up with him. Too bad for the whole mate-for-life thing that werewolves had. "So… you catch aliens then?"
"Yes," Jack said with a bit of pride in his voice.
"You catch aliens for a living?" Gwen was on the edge of her seat now. They were getting to the good stuff.
"Yes we do."
Okay, it was now or never. "Catch anything else? Like werewolves?"
The Captain raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?" He laughed a bit, a nervous laugh. "You don't actually believe in all that spooky Halloween stuff do you? Vampires and Werewolves?"
Gwen honestly wanted to burst out laughing. Instead she leaned forward slightly. "Why yes, I do. And I have an excellent reason to believe in all that Halloween stuff too."
Jack leaned in, their foreheads were inches apart. God, Gwen could smell him. He smelled… so divine. "Oh really? Why?"
She gave him a wicked smile. "Cause my boyfriend's a werewolf."
A bark of laughter came from the Captain. He leaned back and let out a howl and began to clap his hands. Gwen looked around the bar to see if they were drawing attention from anyone but apparently everyone was more intent on the match on the telly.
"You really had me there for a second. Let me guess. You dress up on Friday nights in a tight black dress that's two sizes too small and wear cheap fishnets, thigh high leather boots and dark make-up. You go to those 'trendy' gothic vampire bars and pretend that you are a vampire and suck the blood from willing donors." Jack gave her an awful grin. "Or is it you who likes to be the submissive one, getting sucked?"
Gwen had the strongest urge to slap this man. She honestly had not been this insulted since… shit she really couldn't remember. Her lips were in a tight, thin line; her brow furrowed. "Scared to find out that there's something on this planet you know nothing about Mr. Harkness?" She gritted through her teeth.
Jack seemed incredibly amused. "I just showed you the best night of your life." He had an air of arrogance about him. "And you can't handle it." He licked his lips as he eyed her up and down.
It was Gwen's turn to yelp out a laugh, which shocked Captain Harkness. "For someone who is the head of a secret organization that catches aliens and can easily commandeer an active police investigation—"
"Torchwood is beyond the government, outside of the police. We track down alien life on Earth, arming the human race against the future. The 21st century is when it all changes and you gotta be ready."
"—And yet, I've just told you something you can't handle." Gwen retorted, crossing her arms.
Jack stared her down intensely. In the background the local team scored and the bar erupted in cheers and clinking of glass. "Show me."
Wordlessly, Gwen slipped down from her bar stool and watched as Captain Jack Harkness paid the barman. She thought she noticed that the Captain had a small pill in the palm of his hand and he had stealthily put it into one of his coat pockets. Gwen cocked an eyebrow. She could be overreacting. The pill could simply be for a headache or something. But she kept thinking back to what to Toshiko Sato said with ease, "I get rid of bodies. It's my job.".
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The cab ride to her apartment was rather silent. Since it wasn't Torchwood itself or a loud bar they couldn't exactly discuss the same subject matter as before. Gwen did sneak some questions in, however.
"So who are you?"
Jack glanced at her from his side of the cab. "Captain Jack Harkness."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but you except can't be. I had people run a search on Captain Jack Harkness and there's no one. The last man alive with that name disappeared during the Blitz in 1941."
The Captain grinned. "Well that can't be me, can it?"
Gwen just shook her head. Just dodging every bloody question she asked him. When there was something she really wanted to know besides 'oh so you catch aliens and use their technology for advancement of the human race' he'd clam up and use some sly remark to end the conversation.
She gazed down and noticed that their hands were mere inches apart. Gwen couldn't help but stare, and wonder what his hand felt like. If Captain Harkness' touch would be rough or if it would be gentle? Would feeling him send a shock through her body like Rhys' did? She imagined his hands caressing her and mapping every curve and erogenous spot on her body… Gwen whipped her head from side to side and nonchalantly put her hand on her lap. She couldn't be thinking about things like that. She was bound to Rhys. Werewolves could only have one mate during their lifetime and Rhys had chosen her. Gwen had decided long ago that if he had to make that kind of sacrifice, so should she.
The cab stopped abruptly and Jack handed the cabbie a fistful of notes. Gwen was already out of the car and running at a fast pace. "Hurry! We don't have much time!" she called behind her.
She caught a glance at her wristwatch as she opened the door to their building. They had 2 minutes to get to Rhys for his transformation. She took the stairs 2 at a time, hoping that would save some time. Gwen didn't look back to see if Jack was on her tail, she was pretty sure he could hold his own. Finally they reached their floor. Why, of why did they have to choose a flat that was at the very end of the corridor?
Gwen was roughly stopped when she bumped into one of her neighbors, Mrs. Voyle.
"Oh hello, Gwen dear." She smiled sweetly. "Where are you going in such a rush? Going back home to cook that lovely man of yours some dinner? And who's your handsome friend?"
Before Gwen could come up with some excuse, Captain Harkness held up a piece of paper in front of Mrs. Voyle. "Sorry m'am. It's official business. You're going to have to go back into your flat."
"But… but the Queen! Will she be okay?" Mrs. Voyle cried desperately as Jack gently escorted her into her apartment.
"Don't worry, ma'am. It's all been taken care of."
Once the door closed, Gwen exclaimed, "What the hell was that?"
Jack grinned and held up the paper. "Psychic Paper. Tells people what they want to see. Apparently your neighbor thinks I'm the Queen's sexy bodyguard or something…"
Gwen looked down at her watch. "Shit! Forty-five seconds!" She dashed down the hallway pulling out her keys from her pocket. She fidgeted with the lock cursing to herself until the lock finally opened.
"Gwen?" Rhys called from the other room. Naked as usual, he walked into view, turning red in the face when he saw that Gwen had company. Hurriedly, he grabbed a pillow from the sofa to cover himself. "Holy shit Gwen! Who's this!? I should be—" He stopped short, clenching his fists. He took a deep breath then began to gesture wildly with one of his hands. "What the fuck are you thinking?! I'm dangerous like this! You know better than--"
Gwen's hands were outstretched. "Rhys, calm down, please. He's from Torchwood—" was all she could get out before it started.
Rhys' body began to shudder as if he were having some sort of a seizure. His hands were in tight fists, the knuckles white. He looked up at the two of them, and Gwen wouldn't have jumped five feet in the air if she hadn't already seen this a million times… Rhys' eyes had turned completely black. Suddenly, brown hair began to sprout all over his body. His body began to hunch over preferring to be on all fours. Gwen began to back away from him, pushing Jack with her. Rhys' mouth opened and a stream of drool came out. His white, long, canines were revealed.
"Still think I'm some kind of Goth groupie?" Gwen asked, trying to break the tension slightly as they backed away and Rhys crept closer.
"Gwen Cooper, I could kiss you." He paused. "Should we make a run for it?"
"Oh yeah."
They dashed down the hall, not daring to look behind them because they knew Rhys in his werewolf form was chasing them.
"Is there anything that can stop him?" Captain Harkness cried. "Like a tranquilizer?"
"Ah, no!" Gwen answered. "This hasn't exactly happened before!"
They had reached the ground floor and quickly exited the apartment complex. The eerie sound of shattering glass signaled that Rhys has just smashed through the doors and was hot on their trail.
"You know if he likes chocolate?" Jack asked.
Gwen whipped her head around. "What?!"
"Nevermind. I'm going to try something and I hope it works!" Immediately Jack spun around and stood tall as he faced a gigantic werewolf bent on destroying him.
Gwen finally stopped a few feet ahead as she noticed Jack's disappearance. "Jack! What are you doing!?"
"My job!" Jack held up a spray bottle confidently. As Rhys sprang forward Jack pulled the trigger on the bottle and a mist sprayed all over Rhys' muzzle. Rhys stopped, twitched, howled and fell over.
Gwen ran over and knelt down by Rhys. "What the fuck did you do to my boyfriend?" She began to pet his fur and listened for a heartbeat and breathed a sigh of relive when it was evident that it was still there.
"Weevil spray," Jack stated as the only way of explanation. He lightly touched a bud on his ear and began talking. "Ianto? Change of plan. Coming back to the Hub with a couple surprises. Oh you naughty boy! Just come around with the SUV." Jack looked down at Gwen and smiled. "Don't worry Police Constable Gwen Cooper; everything is going to be alright."
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"I don't know why you are asking me all these questions," Gwen said in a huff. When they had arrived back at 'the Hub' Ianto Jones, Jack and herself had heaved Rhys into one of the cells. Then Jack had practically ordered her to answer any and all questions he asked her. She agreed, with the requirement that they stayed next to Rhys' holding cell.
Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Because you are close to him. And right now he's incapacitated."
"And he's the only werewolf you know of." Gwen knew that's what he meant by 'him'.
"Well, yeah."
Gwen used the skills they taught her at the academy to study Jack. He seemed anxious, not the strong man before. His walls were breaking down. Jack wanted information about werewolves and wanted it badly. Perhaps he was desperate. Perhaps, just perhaps, Gwen would be able to strike a deal.
"I want to make a deal."
Captain Harkness barked out a laugh. "You want to bargain with Torchwood? Who do you think you are?"
Gwen folded her hands together on the table and leaned forward. "I know that me and my boyfriend are the only two you have ever met that know anything about werewolves. I know you want information. I know that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get the information you seek. And right now, from where I am sitting, if you don't give me what I want, you won't get your answers, Captain."
He stared at her in complete amazement. He blinked and blinked again; then let out a chuckle. "I like you Police Constable Cooper. You really have some balls." Jack leaned in close. "So what's your hold over me?"
"You don't harm Rhys. You don't harm a hair on his body. If you do, there's no more information for you."
"Agreed." Jack put his hand out but Gwen gently put it down.
"And, I want to join your team."
He laughed. "Oh you are damn good." Jack eyed her and held out his hand again. "Welcome to Torchwood."
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Gwen told Jack everything she knew about werewolves. Everything from the mating bonding ritual to that Rhys claimed he could trace his werewolf lineage back all the way from the 1800s. Jack had found everything fascinating and Ianto refilled their coffees frequently.
In the morning, Rhys had transformed back to man, was given some spare clothes and brought up to speed. Before the rest of the team came into work, Gwen and Rhys quietly left. Gwen had to go into work and submit her letter of resignation. She knew Bach wouldn't be happy, but to hell with her. Rhys had decided to take the day off and have a lie in.
When she entered the station she found it in chaos.
Andy ran up to her holding a piece of paper. "Gwen, where have you been? Have you seen this? They're putting it all over the news!" Before Gwen could answer Andy thrust the paper into her arms. "It's a drawing of the weapon the serial killer has been using! Isn't it wicked?"
Gwen looked at the sketch and paled. The knife was absolutely bizarre. The analysts said it was 8 inches deep and 3 inches wide. But… the knife had two additional blades. It looked scary, more than scary it looked… inhuman. The thought frightened her more than anything.
"Andy, I have to go. I'm sorry." And she ran out the door.
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When Gwen jogged up to the Plass it was already dark. She was surprised to see Jack's second in command, Suzie Costello standing there casually as if she was waiting for her.
"Hello again." Suzie smiled, though it seemed sad.
Gwen didn't say a word.
"You know I think I was the only one who listened when you told Jack we should liaison with the police." Suzie carefully took something out of her purse and held it up in front of her face. Gwen gasped. It was the knife, the knife in the drawing. "I think they got a good description, don't you think?"
"Oh, Suzie what have you done?" She pondered for a moment. Gwen remembered that it was Suzie who wielded the glove that resurrected that man. It was Suzie who had killed all of those people… "Was all this for that glove?"
Suzie looked as though she were going to sob. "He said you were clever." She began to put away the knife. "Well, I can't exactly use this." Ungracefully, she pulled out a handheld revolver pointed it at Gwen and threw her bag to the ground.
"Please, Suzie, put it down," Gwen started to plead, trying not to let the emotions show on her face.
"Why did you have to be so special? Why couldn't have Jack just given you the damn pill and make you forget all of this? Right now you are the only one who can make the link… well the only one in public." She made a terrible sounding sob. "Torchwood will find out in the morning but I will be long gone. I don't know where. Maybe I'll go to… I don't know. Why I am telling you?" Tears began to fall down Suzie's face. "What the fuck am I going to do? I love this job. How can you do any other job after this one? It gets inside you…" Suzie began to wave around the gun in her state. "You think how come we get all the shit? Is that all alien life is? Filth? There's got to be beautiful stuff, amazing stuff out there. And all we get is the shit."
"Suzie, why did you do it?"
"The glove needs violent deaths. And it was so easy…" Suzie was starting to get excited now. "You see, you gotta get inside this stuff to fully understand it. To control it. And that's why the perception filter won't work on me, Jack." Suzie swiftly turned to her left and pulled the trigger of her gun.
Gwen let out a scream as she saw Jack, bullet in his head fall to the ground. "Suzie, look what you've done!" she cried.
Suzie spun and aimed the gun at Gwen's head. "I'm sorry, Gwen. We could have been friends. Fantastic, great friends. But I've got to do this."
"Please, don't." Gwen began to cry like child. "Please, don't."
Suzie took a step closer, than another. "I've got to."
Gwen looked up, and opened her mouth in shock. Jack was standing there, bullet still lodged in his brain, behind Suzie.
"Put the gun down," he ordered, sorrow filled his voice.
Suzie whirled around, facing Jack.
"Suzie, it's over." He held out his hand. "Come with me."
Suzie turned from Jack to Gwen and shrugged. She lifted the gun to her chin, pulled the trigger, and fell softly to the ground.
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Rhys held Gwen in bed as she cried endlessly that night. He didn't ask her any questions. He knew that while she worked for Torchwood Gwen would have terrible, unspeakable experiences. She would come around when she was ready. Gwen was his mate, and they understood each other completely. He had a feeling they would make sacrifices in the upcoming years while she was employed under Torchwood, but Rhys knew whatever obstacles came their way, they would make it through them together.