MISS COOPER

Chapter 1 : Gelbin

Author's note : Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. I forgot to mention that this will, of course be a multi-chaptered fic. This chapter took a while to write, in fact, I could really do with a cup of Ianto's coffee. This was written before Re-set, so Owen is still well...normal.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own nothing but Gethin the Gelbin.


2 Days Earlier

"Which one's the one with the spiky hair?"

"Ant, I think," said Owen through a mouthful of pizza.

"No, no; Ant's the one with the big forehead," said Gwen, waving her slice of pizza at him, " and Dec's the smaller one who's always on the right."

Toshiko still looked confused. " So Ant hasn't got spiky hair?"

"No"

"Yes"

"Ant's the one that got married."

"I thought they were both gay"

"Are they not?"

" No."

"Which one is the one with spiky hair?"

Jack Harkness strolled into the Boardroom; his hands shoved into his pockets and took a seat beside Ianto, ignoring the squabbling Gwen, Owen and Toshiko, who all looked ready to kill each other with slices of pizza.

" What are the those three having kittens about? He asked Ianto, gesturing to the rest of his team on the other side of the table as he accepted a cup of fresh coffee, with a smile.

Ianto rolled his eyes and placed a plate of pizza in front of him.

" They're arguing over who is preferable out of Ant and Dec. Gwen says Dec and that she used to watch SM: TV Live on Saturday mornings when she was a student at University, usually with a hangover and a bacon sandwich. Owen says they're both a pair of Geordie idiots though Ant is less nauseating and Tosh…I don't think Tosh knows the difference between them."

Jack raised his eyebrows.

" I dated a Geordie, once. Nice girl; couldn't understand a word she said to me, though," he said, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the table.

" A long time ago," he added, seeing the look on Ianto's face, though he wasn't sure whether it was a glint of jealousy or simply disapproval at his table manners. Both, probably. He took a mouthful of coffee and swilled it around, thinking.

" I like Dec," he said, finally, "he has a cute smile."

"HA!" shouted Gwen, in triumph, lobbing her crust at Owen, "Jack agrees with me; two-against-one."

"Big surprise," muttered Owen, under his breath. There was an unwritten law at Torchwood that whenever there were any lighthearted lunchtime debates, usually involving impromptu food fights, and always over something ridiculous, like Tom and Gerry, Gwen and Jack always agreed with each other and Toshiko always sided with Owen. More often than not, Ianto usually considered such matters too infantile to bother forming an opinion.

The one exception, though, was whenever there was any kind of national event, like the Rugby World Cup, when Ianto faithfully took Gwen's side against Toshiko and Owen; the only two Welsh members of Torchwood against the rest of the team. Actually, at times like those, Jack usually hung somewhere in the middle.

As for the X Factor final, well Rhydian losing was still a sore point…

Owen ignored the bread-shaped missile and took an enormous bite of pizza;

"Anyway," he continued, talking with his mouth full, "the whole reason we started this hellish discussion was because of Alien Autopsy-"

" –It wasn't the best thing they've ever done but," interrupted Gwen.

" Which was a complete waste of two hours of my life, that I will never get back," he said bluntly, cutting her off. "But, getting back to the point," he said, wiping his greasy hands on a napkin and throwing it in the empty pizza box, "I think I found something whilst I was doing the autopsy of that alien we brought in yesterday."

He was speaking to all of them, but looking directly at Jack.

"When you're finished I think you should take a look at it."

Jack took his feet down and leaned forward, his interest thoroughly piqued.

"What sort of something," he asked, watching Owen carefully, a slight edge of wariness to his voice.

Owen hesitated. Sometimes, it was unnerving how quickly the mood could change from relaxed and carefree to sharp and serious.

" Something unlike anything I've ever seen before, in all the time I've worked at Torchwood, and before," he admitted. He gave a wry smile. "It kills me to say this, but I haven't got a clue."

" Ok," said Jack, exchanging the briefest of glances with Gwen and Toshiko, who both looked bewildered, but curious and began hurrying to finish their pizza. "Let's go take a look at our new friend," said Jack, standing abruptly. " But if it turns out to be fossilised dung like the last time, then I will shove it up your nose. Or any other orifice, really, I'm not too choosy."

"Look, I'd never seen it before, I didn't know what it was; it could have been radioactive, or toxic, or anything," began Owen defensively, adopting the face of a hurt schoolboy.

"Whatever," said Jack, waving away his excuses. He turned to Ianto. "Thanks for lunch," he said, grinning widely and giving him a wink, "I'll look forward to dessert."

Ianto watched him stalk out of the Boardroom with an amused smile. With Jack, he thought, everything was an innuendo. He stood up and began to clear away the used plates and empty coffee cups.

"I'll just finish off here-" he began, but trailed off. Turning around he saw that the Boardroom was empty; the others had left him.


It was vaguely humanoid in shape, childlike in size; its skin dark pink and glistening, like raw bacon. It bore no features whatsoever. Where a face should have been was just a blank mass of puckered flesh, yet on its neck was a large flap of skin that resembled something like a mouth. Instead of arms and legs it had four short stumps, blistered and red looking. It looked gross and deformed; at the tip of one of the stumps was a hard, greyish looking growth, oozing thick, glutinous liquid that smelt of rotten meat and body odour. This grey lump was apparently the cause for Owen's concern, as he and Jack were both scrutinizing it looking decidedly nauseous.

"Lovely, isn't it," said Owen sarcastically, " definitely too good-looking to be human."

"Yeah," said Gwen, weakly, grimacing at it, "It's pretty vile."

She and Toshiko were standing on the balcony that ran around the autopsy room, though they could see and smell perfectly well. Toshiko, she noticed had gone a pale green beneath her glasses, though had preoccupied herself with running energy readings on the alien.

Jack was down in the autopsy room, circling the table as Owen used a micropipette to take samples of the greyish liquid.

"Gethin," he said randomly, peering at the sample readings over Owen's shoulder. He caught Gwen's questioning look and smirked, gesturing at the alien. "It's my turn to name it; you named the last one. Unless, you'd rather we called it Gwen?"

She shot him a dirty look. "Cheers," she muttered. "What is it," she asked Owen. "I mean, I know it's an alien obviously, " she said hurriedly as he opened his mouth incredulously, " but where has it come from?"

"That," he said, pointing his scalpel at her," is a very good question, but I'm not the one you want to be asking." He nodded towards Jack. As he did so, a look of fake innocence mingled with grim satisfaction crossed his face.

Jack's eyes flashed warningly at him, but it seemed only Owen picked up on it. He turned to Gwen and Toshiko.

" Gethin, here," he gestured at the alien beside him, "is a Gelbin."

" A Gelbin?" repeated Gwen and Toshiko in unison.

"Yup. Planet of origin unknown, but a Gelbin nevertheless."

" How d'y-"

" I've come across one before," answered Jack, preempting their question. "They're relatively peaceful, docile creatures, really. They live in pairs and communicate telepathically; like Weevils. Their saliva is toxic; to humans anyway, that's their main weapon; get too close and they'll spit on you. I had a boyfriend like that once," he added as an afterthought.

Toshiko nodded slowly, as if trying to process this new information.

" What's the grey thing for?" asked Gwen, trying not to breathe through her nose.

Owen shrugged, "The other one didn't-"

"Sex," said Jack, loudly, drowning out Owen's words. He stopped circling to glare at Owen but then leant on the table to look at Gwen and Toshiko.

"I studied these as a kid," he said, stoutly, not meeting anyone's eyes, "in the same way you might've studied dinosaurs." He took a deep breath before carrying on. " Like I said, they live in pairs; male and female. When they want to reproduce the male grows this greyish-coloured tuber and the female eats and digests it; her digestive juices fertilise it," he ignored the disgusted looks on Gwen, Owen and Toshiko's faces and continued," it then replicates inside the female and grows into several baby Gelbi."

"Gelbi being the plural of Gelbin, I presume?" interjected Toshiko

"Yeah. When it's time for the Gelbin to give birth she just pukes them up," He wrinkled his nose," makes one hell of a mess and, believe me that's putting it simply."

Owen stared down at the Gelbin. "Dunno which sounds worse, to be honest; the human way of giving birth or the Gelbin way. What d'you reckon?" he said casually, looking at Gwen. Gwen, though, he noticed looked distracted and more than a little upset.

" You said they live in pairs and grow that," she waved at the grey tuber, "when they're ready to start a family," she shot at Jack, furiously. "Where's its pair now? Where's the female? If they can communicate telepathically then she'll know he's dead. She'll be heartbroken." Gwen sat down on the steps leading down into the autopsy room, trying not to think about what would happen if she went to work one day and just didn't come back. She could die and Rhys wouldn't even know about it until much later. He'd receive the standard house visit, just like she'd had to do so many times in the police force, from Jack probably, plus the official letter stating that all of her possessions would be taken into the care of Torchwood. Poor Rhys would be left with nothing, not even a photograph.

"Hey," said Jack softly, coming over to her and laying a hand on her shoulder, "they're not human, they might not go through the same emotions as us."

He was trying to be reassuring; she knew that, but the offhand way with which he said it angered her. There were times when she felt like he knew her better than anyone. In the past, certain investigations had left her cold, left her feeling too insignificant, questioning whether what she dedicated her life to was worth it. Feeling that Torchwood could only do so much; the Universe was too powerful, too cruel, yet Jack had known exactly what to say, shown her exactly how important she was with one look, one squeeze of her hand.

Other times, he seemed as alien to her and the others as the creatures they hunted. He was a good boss, a good leader, but was he a good man? She couldn't help but remember Jasmine Pierce, a little girl they'd met the year before; Jack had allowed her to be taken away by fairies.

Despite his reasoning, Gwen could not come to terms with the fact that he willingly let a little girl be taken away from her mother by unearthly creatures, creatures not even Torchwood could control. Couldn't accept that the man she so trusted, so admired could be capable of something so horrifying. She knew that he was different, that he was a man unlike anyone she had and ever would meet in her life, an immortal man living out of his own time, yet sometimes it hurt to be reminded of this.

"Human!" she shrieked, staring up at him with tear-filled eyes, " What does it matter if they're human or not? Oh, they're alien so they might not feel loss? It might not matter to them if their pair dies?" Where the bloody hell is your heart, Jack?" she snapped at him, "It might be just another alien to you but to some creature somewhere it matters."

There was a small silence. Owen leaned over and passed her a paper towel, looking slightly awkward. "Thanks," she sniffed. "I'm sorry," she said quietly to Jack, who had not removed his hand from her shoulder. "I…I let my emotions get in the way."

Jack met her gaze; just for a second he could see the sadness in her eyes, before she managed to hide it. There was a small part of him that somehow sensed that it wasn't just the Gelbin that she was upset about, the part of him that sometimes saw a certain longing in her eyes. It was not something he was prepared to acknowledge, even to himself.

He put a hand on her other shoulder and spun her to face him.

" I hired you because you use your emotions, he said quietly, "don't ever apologise for that."

He squeezed her shoulder, his eyes boring into hers. "I told you in your first week that you were brilliant, you've yet to show me otherwise."

Gwen looked back at him, it was hard not to; his gaze was so intense. Staring into his eyes, feeling the warmth of his hands on her shoulders, it was as if they were the only two people in the room. She could feel the tension building up in her stomach; feel the invisible connection between them. Her anger and disappointment with him seemed irrelevant, all that mattered was that he was making it better.

Owen and Toshiko stood, momentarily forgotten on either side of the autopsy table. Owen, looking at the pair of them impatiently, raised his eyebrows at Toshiko ever so slightly. Toshiko simply shrugged her shoulders.

The truth was that she'd long suspected that Gwen might have feelings for Jack. She was good at hiding them though, and was far too professional to act on them, but there were just little things that Toshiko picked up on; like Gwen refusing to leave Jack's side for days after his battle with Abaddon, even when everyone else had given up; or that during their wild-goose chase to the Himalayas, (or "Operation: Waste-of-time" as Owen referred to it) Gwen had cried out for Jack in her sleep. Or like when she'd been about to jump into the Rift with Captain John she'd started to say, " Tell Jack I…" Somehow, Toshiko didn't think her next words would have been "said goodbye." She looked back at Owen, who had gone back to prodding at the Gelbin, determinedly trying to ignore Jack and Gwen. If she had been about to jump into the Rift she reasoned, she would definitely tell Owen that…she loved him. Would Gwen have said that she loved Jack? Toshiko didn't see why not, not if she'd been about to die and thought it was her last chance to.

Toshiko glanced side-ways and looked at him; he was gripping Gwen by the shoulders and gazing down into her eyes, whilst Gwen had tentatively grabbed a hold of his sleeve, looking utterly lost.

Toshiko was reminded of the incident at the abattoir all those months ago; Gwen had been upset and had refused to Retcon Rhys; even threatened to leave Torchwood, when Jack had calmly walked over to her mid-rant and stood close to her just like he was now. She had thought, as had Owen and Ianto, that Jack would have laid down Torchwood law, but he hadn't. When Gwen had claimed that she wouldn't know anything different if she went back to her old life, Jack had been shaken, had looked at her intently and said, chokingly that "he would."

Toshiko had seen the look on his face as he'd watched her walk away and then stomped back to his office. It had displayed a mix of emotions that she was not sure she could describe. He had looked hurt, certainly. Hurt and furious, though who he had been furious with, she didn't think he even knew himself. He had looked…like a child; a scared child awakening from a bad dream, craving love and comfort, wanting to have someone tell him what to do, to be looked after rather than having to look after everyone else. Seeing Jack look like that had been disconcerting to say the least, and to think it was Gwen, or rather the thought of losing her that was the cause of this anxiety…Toshiko mentally shook herself. No. She had tried once before to read Jack's thoughts, tried to understand him but she'd been unable to. He was a closed book to her, which, she thought, was probably exactly how he liked it. Toshiko knew, though, that his relationship with Gwen was different from his relationship with anyone else; his feelings for her were different. Different and definitely a million times more complicated.

Looking at the pair of them, it was like she was intruding in on something private; seeing something she wasn't supposed to see. She averted her eyes and went back to her energy readings.

Owen, it seemed, felt just as uncomfortable, because after he mimed stabbing at the Gelbin with his scalpel, he let it drop to the floor with a clatter.

This seemed to alert Jack and Gwen to their presence, as they both broke eye contact, and Jack took his hands from her shoulders, however reluctantly.

" Look," he said finally, " we'll make sure it's got rid of properly, with respect, alright? Like you said, it's still a living creature; it matters to someone." Just for a split-second he looked in Owen's direction, " But I don't see what else I can do."

Gwen nodded, mutely.

There was another pause, before Toshiko spoke up.

"So," she said, forcefully keeping her voice light, "how did Gethin the Gelbin end up here?"

She and Gwen hadn't been present when Jack and Owen had brought the alien in the day before; they'd been investigating a suspicious artifact found in someone's back garden in Splott, which had turned out to be a rogue piece of alien technology.

Fortunately, after a cup of Retcon-spiked tea and a jammy dodger, the owner had had no recollection of her findings and Gwen and Toshiko had taken the alien artifact back to the Hub. There, they'd walked in to find Jack, Owen and Ianto looking decidedly green, Owen with his own vomit splattered down his jacket, playing rock/paper/scissors over who was going to be the one unfortunate enough to have to carry the alien in from the SUV and prep it for further examination as it " smelt like something that had lived and decayed in a fish farm."

" It got on a bloody bus, Tosh. Thought it'd be nice to take a little day trip to Cardiff, how d'you think it ended up here?" said Owen, acidly, shaking his head at her.

Jack frowned at Owen and smiled, if a little patronizingly at Gwen and Toshiko.

"It must have come through the Rift, like everything else, he said, patiently," whilst you two were investigating that alien weapon- good job by the way," he added, we got a call from the police, who thought they'd found a decayed body in an old warehouse in Butetown and were about to start a murder investigation when their forensics realised it wasn't quite…human. Cue Torchwood," he said, smiling up at them, "minus two of it's most beautiful members of course."

Gwen smiled at his shameless flirting.

"Oh really?"

Jack winked at them, "Really. We left Myfawnwy and Janet here."

"So," said Gwen, getting back on the subject, " you found one Gelbin; what about the other one? What about its pair, have you found her?"

Jack shook his head, "They must have got separated by the Rift," he said, solemnly, "but we're still looking for her," he assured her.

Gwen didn't look convinced.

"It came through the Rift and just randomly happened to find a deserted warehouse?" she said, disbelievingly, studying Jack's body language for any signs that he was lying to her. She found none.

He shrugged, holding up his hands, as if to emphasize his innocence.

" My guess is that the Rift brought him out somewhere near the warehouse and it was the first place he could find that was cold, dark and deserted. If I remember correctly, they prefer the cold and dark to being in the sunlight."

"How original," muttered Owen.

" How did it die?" asked Gwen, but neither Jack nor Owen answered her.

She narrowed her eyes at them, looking from Jack to Owen, who both avoided her eyes and said nothing.

"Well? Cause of death?"

Toshiko looked up from her readings, surprised. " You don't know how it died?" she asked, incredulously.

Owen ruffled at that. " Course I do, I just need to carry out a few more tests. I could have been anything. Allergic to our atmosphere; intolerant to oxygen or-" He trailed off. He was bluffing, and they all knew it.

"That's why I wanted you to take a look at it," he said quietly to Jack, " there's no signs of there being anything wrong with it other than the fact that…it's dead," he waved a hand at the Gelbin, helplessly. " I don't know what to suggest."

" I suggest," said Jack, sharply, " that you do your job and determine its cause of death. Things don't just drop dead of their own accord."

"Right," he muttered mutinously

Jack turned to Gwen and Toshiko, " You two have paper work to do on that alien artifact. Get it done," he said, suddenly becoming more businesslike.

Gwen and Toshiko knew enough to recognise a dismissal when they saw one, though they did not necessarily have to be happy about it. Exchanging dark looks, they made to leave.

"Gwen," said Jack suddenly, calling her back.

She turned back towards him, hovering on the steps.

" No rude doodles like the last time," he smiled, his tone softer, "I had to get Ianto to tipex them out. I don't think he was impressed," he said, his eyes twinkling at her. " After you've finished that we," he indicated himself, Owen, Gwen and Toshiko, "are finishing early and going for a drink."

Owen noticeably perked up at that prospect and snapped on his surgical gloves with an improved enthusiasm,

Gwen bit her lip. " I'd love to but…I told Rhys I'd be home so that we can go over wedding stuff," she faltered, "I think I should give it a miss."

" You should," said Owen, looking up at her from where he'd begun scraping a skin sample from the Gelbin, "but that doesn't mean you will, does it?" He smiled at her, smugly. After working close to her for over a year and being more than a little intimate with her on occasion, he really did know Gwen better than she was comfortable with.

She glanced at Jack, who was smiling at her expectantly, "One drink," she said, giving in.

"Good girl. Toshiko? You coming?"

Toshiko was frowning down at her energy readings, totally absorbed in them, "Hmm?" she said, distractedly.

"Are you coming for a drink?" repeated Owen"

" What?" she gabbled, tearing her eyes away from the energy readings, "yes, alright," she said, vaguely. She then walked out of the autopsy room briskly, taking great care to tread on Gwen's foot as she did so, giving her a meaningful look.

Owen stared after her, open mouthed, " Don't get me wrong; she's a genius but she can be an absolute fruitcake too. He looked at Gwen, "then again, so can you," he said, diplomatically.

Gwen opened her mouth to retort scathingly but Jack stopped her.

" Oi," he pointed at the door. "Paperwork."

Rolling her eyes at him, she left the room, flicking a finger at the two men behind her.


Owen waited until Gwen's footsteps had died away before rounding on Jack.

" The first thing they'll do is check yesterday's Rift activity," he started.

Jack faced him with his arms crossed, " And they will find that the Rift was active at 4:34 pm yesterday afternoon," he said forcefully, glaring at him.

" That is a false reading! " said Owen, hotly, " if they find out-"

" They won't"

Jack and Owen scowled at each other.

Owen swallowed, trying to calm himself down; it wasn't often that he let his frustration get the better of him, but this was different.

" This…doesn't feel right. I don't like lying to them; they're not stupid…"

" They don't need to know," said Jack, firmly, "it's better that they don't know."

" Oh yeah?" Owen walked away from Jack so that they were both standing on different sides of the autopsy table. He picked up a probe absent-mindedly and twirled it round his fingers. " How long can we keep this hidden from them? If they realise that the Gelbin didn't come through the Rift, if they realise what we've been doing."

Jack made to interrupt him but Owen held up his hand. "When you were away," he began, refusing to meet his eyes, " Gwen had to take over. She was scared shitless without you, but she managed."

Jack remained silent; he knew that Gwen had taken over Torchwood whilst he was away but he'd never heard anyone talk about it before. When he'd returned, everybody had just slipped back into their old roles, as if he'd never been gone.

"I followed her up a mountain, Jack," continued Owen, his eyes earnest, "and-don't tell her this-but I'd do so a hundred times again," he said, banging his fist against the table to emphasize his point. " Because she made us realise that all we have is each other. We have to be a team. She didn't keep secrets from us, she didn't lie to us," Owen paused, trying to keep the accusing tone from his voice. " She was bloody amazing."

Jack listened to Owen, half-patiently; it wasn't often he said what he was feeling; yet hearing that Gwen was amazing wasn't news to him. It was something he'd known for a very long time.

" What's your point," he said, at last

Owen waved the probe around frantically, as if trying to search for the right words. " My point is," he said slowly, thinking carefully, "that this," he gestured at the Gelbin, " isn't us working as a team. If you're running a torture chamber; Gwen and Tosh have a right to know."

"It is not a torture chamber," hissed Jack, furiously, looking ready to hit him. Owen had touched a nerve; he had rarely seen him react to anything so badly. Feeling slightly abashed, he went silent and took a step away from Jack, warily.

" It's not a torture chamber," repeated Jack, quietly, but there was a slight plea in his voice, like he was trying to convince himself as well as Owen.

He sighed, shakily, "If Gwen were to find out what we're doing," he said softly, "it'd kill her. You've seen how she can get."

" Yeah. Yes I have," replied Owen, " and I've been her shoulder to cry on, too," he said, closing his eyes at the memory. When Gwen had first started Torchwood she'd been unable to talk to Rhys about everything she had seen, everything she was feeling; it was part of the reason why she'd begun an affair with Owen. He had listened to her pour her heart out to him, feeling utterly useless; it was not something he felt comfortable remembering.

" Fine," he said, after a few minutes silence, " I agree with you; Gwen and Tosh can't find out," he blew out his cheeks, sounding resigned.

" Thank you," said Jack, softly. He and Owen exchanged the briefest of glances in acknowledgement, before he made his way to the door, guilt weighing heavily in his stomach.

Owen returned his attentions to the Gelbin, swirling a handful of its skin cells in an isotonic solution. " You're going to lose her, you know Jack?" he said quietly, not looking up from his work.

Jack froze, one foot already out the door, " What?"

"Gwen," said Owen, simply, not looking at him. " If she finds out, then that's it. She'll leave you. Leave Torchwood," he corrected looking at him to see his reaction.

Jack made no answer, but nodded grimly before walking out, his face pale. It was a thought he'd had already.


"Tosh?"

Gwen made her way over to Toshiko, who was sitting at her workstation staring down at her scanner, apparently deep in thought.

" Any particular reason why you tried to break my toe?" she asked good naturedly, eyebrows raised.

Toshiko looked up, "Yes, I'm sorry, are you alright?" she smiled guiltily at Gwen, minimizing her screen.

Gwen pulled a chair over to Toshiko's workstation, " I'm fine, I'm only joking. What's up?" she said curiously, peering at Toshiko's screen.

Toshiko tutted at her scanner, " I…nothing," she replied, sounding puzzled, " I just thought I'd found something odd but… obviously I'm wrong," she sighed, laying her scanner aside.

"What was it?" prompted Gwen, " C'mon; tell me." She leaned in closer to see what Toshiko had been doing on her computer; monitoring Rift activity.

Toshiko regarded Gwen for a moment, as if unsure whether to tell her or not, but then gave her the scanner. " These are the energy readings I took from the Gelbin just before," she said, pointing with the nib of her pen.

Gwen looked at where Toshiko was pointing; it all looked like a mess of lines to her. " Yeah?"

" This," said Toshiko, pointing to a very faint red dot on the screen, " is residual Rift energy.

" Which means it came through the Rift?" finished Gwen.

" Yes," said Toshiko, nodding fervently, " but it's very light residue, which means it didn't come through recently.

Gwen frowned at her, then at the energy readings.

"But…Jack said the Gelbin came through yesterday?"

Toshiko took off her glasses and chewed the end, thoughtfully." I know," she said absently, " and there's registered Rift activity for yesterday too," she said, maximizing her screen to show Gwen, " Rift spike at 4:34pm; registered thoroughfare…one Gelbin," she read aloud.

Gwen read the identification code on the log.

" This was logged in by Jack yesterday," she pointed out. She glanced over to the autopsy room, where she could see Jack and Owen standing around the Gelbin, talking quietly. " Maybe it's a different Gelbin," she said, desperately. She was beginning to get a headache. How could it have come through the Rift yesterday, but have no recent Rift traces? Rift activity was hardly her line of expertise.

" No," said a low, male voice directly behind them, causing both Gwen and Toshiko to jump.

Ianto was stood there, smiling, holding a neatly wrapped, rectangular package and a sheet of paper in his hands.

" Believe me, we'd have known if there'd been another Gelbin," he said smoothly," it smelt worse than…"

" Owen's feet?" suggested Gwen mischievously

"Owen's feet," confirmed Ianto, grinning at her.

He presented her with the package, " this is for you, madam," he said, with a slight bow.

Gwen's face lit up. Smiling widely, she took the package from him.

"You," she said, giving him a quick hug, "are lovely. In fact, if I wasn't already marrying Rhys I think I'd have to marry you!" she joked.

" Hmm, is that so?" said Ianto dryly, " then I'm very pleased you've got Rhys"

Side-stepping Gwen's playful hit, he gave Toshiko the piece of paper, " I'd hate to leave you out; this is for you. Enjoy your paperwork, ladies."

He gave them a small salute and retreated back to the Tourist Office.

" What's that?" asked Toshiko, looking curiously at the package in Gwen's hands.

Gwen smiled, " An early wedding present; every day this week Ianto's been giving me a DVD. So far he's given me My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Muriel's Wedding, My Best Friend's Wedding and today's is…" she tore open the wrapping paper, "Wedding Crashers!" she laughed.

" Ah, that's so sweet," said Toshiko, fondly, "do you want to see what he's given me?"

Gwen widened her eyes in mock-surprise, " It wouldn't be paperwork by any chance, would it?"

" Correct!" she gave Gwen the piece of official looking paper, " the guidelines for writing the preliminary report on that alien artifact we found yesterday."

" Oh, the joys," said Gwen, sarcastically, wheeling over to her workstation, " the most boring part of being a police officer; filing reports, and I still can't get away from it!"

Toshiko didn't answer her; she was gazing horrorstruck at her screen.

" Tosh?" said Gwen, cautiously.

" I've been so stupid," she whispered, turning to Gwen, realisation dawning on her face." The Rift readings are wrong! They're fake, look," she jabbed her finger at the screen.

Gwen hurried over.

"Look at the time the Rift was reported as being active," she said, disbelievingly.

Gwen looked, trying her best to focus her eyes on the endless list of times and dates, " 4:34pm, yesterday afternoon," she murmured.

Toshiko gave a twisted smile, " Now look at what time the report was logged into the database," she prompted.

" 5:01 am, yesterday morning," she said slowly. " The Rift spike was recorded nearly twelve hours before it actually happened? How is that possible?" asked Gwen, gaping at the screen.

"It isn't," replied Toshiko, grimly. She grabbed a scrap piece of paper and proceeded to scrawl complicated-looking sums across it, her pen moving so fast it was a blur. She then began to type furiously, dismissing various dialogue boxes, all the time muttering to herself with her pen wedged between her teeth.

Gwen made no further comment, but instead let Toshiko get on with it. She couldn't help but marvel at her and how fast her brain worked, fitting all the pieces together.

" Here," said Toshiko after a while, as a new screen popped up, "these are the original readings," she quickly scanned the columns of numbers," and there's no recorded Rift activity for yesterday whatsoever."

Gwen squinted, "Are you sure?" she asked, pointlessly as she already knew the answer.

"Positive," said Toshiko, firmly.

Gwen struggled to take it all in. " So, the energy readings from the Gelbin show that it did come through the Rift at some point, but definitely not yesterday because the Rift was inactive yesterday?"

" Right," said Toshiko, darkly, a shiver going up her spine. They stared at each other, helplessly. " I'm sure there's some logical explanation," she said shakily, but Gwen could tell from the tone of her voice that she didn't really believe it.

Gwen stood with her knuckled pressed to her forehead, eyes squeezed shut, as if desperately trying to hold onto a train of thought that was escaping her.

"Tosh," she said suddenly, " that alien artifact we found yesterday, did you write it in as a weapon?"

Toshiko frowned, unsure where Gwen was going with this." No, I wrote it in as an unidentified object, why?"

Gwen rubbed a hand over her face, tiredly." Just something Jack said before."

She could feel something niggling at the back of her mind. Just before, in the autopsy room he'd said something like, " Whilst you two were investigating that alien weapon-good job by the way…."

" He referred to it as a weapon," she said slowly, " but I didn't write it in as a weapon…"

" No, me neither," she said, looking over to the autopsy room, where Jack was still talking to Owen, Owen though, didn't appear to be too happy. " So how did-?" she trailed off as Gwen flew over to her own station and began rifling through files, a look of absolute determination on her face.

" The artifact. What's its catalogue number?" she demanded. Ever the policewoman, she had accessed the Vault's online catalogue system.

Toshiko flicked wildly through the paper work on her desk, before finding yesterday's preliminary report. " 3685," she called

" Cheers,"

The Hub was silent for a moment; all that could be heard was the whirring of Gwen and Toshiko's computers as they waited for the catalogue to load.

" Object 3685," she read aloud as Toshiko hurried over to join her, " 'first logged in by J. Harkness, 1959. Described as being silver and cylindrical in shape, made of Arcadian steel. Thought to have been used as a weapon in the Time War', whatever that means," said Gwen, dismissively, raising her eyebrows at Toshiko, who looked just as clueless.

She scrolled down further, "' Withdrawn by J. Harkness in 2008. Logged in a day later by T. Sato.'"

Gwen fell quiet, feeling slightly sick. Why had Jack released an alien artifact from the Vaults and then ordered Gwen and Toshiko to retrieve it from somebody's back garden? Also, if the Gelbin hadn't came through yesterday, why had Jack told them it had, and planted a false Rift reading?

Gwen stood up, adrenaline coursing through her body, as if she'd been chasing a Weevil, not merely sitting at her computer.

" Something's going on," she said, in a hard voice, trying to keep her breathing and her temper under control. " Where the hell did they get that alien from?"


Ianto entered Jack's office without knocking, looking pale and agitated.

" Ah, Ianto," said Jack, pleasantly, not looking up as he walked in, " what do I have to do to you to get a cup of coffee?"

" Sir," he said, tentatively, " the police have evacuated Ty Enfys; a Nursing Home about fifteen minutes away," he explained at Jack's questioning look, " Ten murders; the victims have had their faces digested."

" Go get the SUV," ordered Jack, who was no longer smiling, " I think we may have found our Gelbin's pair."

He pulled on his greatcoat and followed Ianto out of his office at a run, taking the stairs two at a time.

However, he and Ianto stopped short once they got to the main area of the Hub.

Owen was kneeling on the floor, still in his lab coat and surgical gloves, clutching his groin in pain, as if he had been kicked.

" I've been wanting to do that for ages," breathed Toshiko, before turning her attention to the new arrivals. There was a loud, resounding click as both she and Gwen cocked their guns and, both looking as livid as each other, pointed them squarely at Jack.

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