Chapter Text
„Jack, can I talk to you for a second?“, Toshiko looked up from her computer screen when Jack walked past her and towards his office to enjoy the fresh cup of coffee Ianto had just made him.
“What is it?”, he stopped besides her when she pointed at one of her computer screens showing an unregular graphic of rift activity.
“I just checked my records and noticed that there is a lot going on in Tatham Road again. See, this is only the last month!” She started pointing out certain points on the graphic to him, “That’s the second of this month. Here, third. See this? Eleventh. Big increase on the nineteenth. Again, last Tuesday. And the newest activity is only from yesterday.”
Tosh let Jack and Owen, who had overheard their conversation and joined them, have a closer look before she continued, “We are getting more and more regular signals from there and as you see here the rift activity is increasing. If this is going to go on like that, it might become a serious problem!”
Before Jack or Owen got the chance to say anything Gwen appeared behind them as well, “What’s in Tatham Road?”
“That’s the problem. We don’t know!”, Tosh turned around to her teammates again, “We’ve been getting signals of rift activity from there for a bit over a year now. Only faint signals, nearly invisible compared to others, and only occasionally. But they are increasing and as I already explained to Jack and Owen they are starting to appear on a regular basis.”
“Then why don’t we just drive by and check where exactly the signals are coming from?”, Gwen suggested looking at the others.
“Oh, right! Why didn’t we think of that?”, Owen huffed sarcastically shaking his head at Gwen’s idea.
Tosh continued, ignoring Owen’s comment, “We did. Twice actually. Once when we started getting the signals and a second time only a few month ago. But there is absolutely nothing to be found.” She opened another program on her second screen and typed for a moment until a picture of single-family house opened, “The signals are coming from this house. Number 25.”
“Looks pretty normal to me”, Gwen mumbled looking at the picture Tosh was showing them.
“And it is. It’s a pretty good neighbourhood with a lot of families. The family that lives in number 25 couldn’t be any more normal. A young family; mother, father, two kids”, Jack said with a shrug, “We checked them of course, more than once. There is absolutely nothing abnormal about them. Tosh and Owen here even had a little chat with them. Nothing.”
Owen nodded slowly, “We’ve been in the house but we couldn’t find anything at all.”
“What about the houses next door?”
“We observed them as well of course, just in case. But Toshiko’s rift program is pretty exact, so that we can be sure that it is indeed coming from this house,” Jack pointed at the picture that was still showing on Toshiko’s screen.
“Only thing it can’t tell us is on which level above or below the ground the signal is coming from. Theoretically it could be an object floating 50 feet above ground – even though that’s not really likely – on the other hand it could also be something hidden deep down under the house”, Toshiko quickly explained.
Gwen slightly shook her head still staring at the computer screens, “And we have no idea what it is? It could possibly be some kind of explosive device that is going to destroy the entire city and we are not doing anything but sit around and stare at a computer screen?”
“And what exactly do you suggest we should do? Burn the house down and hope whatever it is gets destroyed as well?” Owen crossed his arm glancing at his teammate.
Before Gwen was able to suggest anything to Owen, Tosh’s face lit up, “I guess that’s the point where we get to the other thing I wanted to talk about. I guess I kind of have a plan!”
Jack turned his full attention back to Tosh, “I’m all ears!”
“Okay, but be warned it’s kind of a big thing”, she said taking a short break but continued when the others just looked at her waiting for her to reveal the plan, “Recently the house just across the street got available for rent. I had a look at it online and it is just perfect for observing number 25.”
She started typing on her keyboard again, opening an online real estate listing on one of the screens. Another house, obviously for rent, popped up on the screen. “This is the house. Number 28. Perfect for a small family or a couple”, she decided with a smile, “As you see, it’s right across the street! And because we can’t just go running around in a neighbourhood like that when we don’t know what’s going on, I though two of us are going to move in!”
Her teammates just stared at the screen, then at Toshiko without saying a word.
Jack was the first one who found his voice back, “So, that is the plan?”
Tosh nodded still smiling, “It’s not all of it. I thought it all out of course. Now that Owen and I were already there we are out of this. So, I figured you and Gwen could do it.”
“Wait, wait, wait!”, Gwen looked at Jack then back at Toshiko raising her hands, “First of all I think your plan isn’t that bad of an idea and a good opportunity to figure out what’s going on in number 25.”
“Thank you.”
“But I am definitely not going to move into a young-family-neighbourhood with Jack Harkness!”, Gwen raised her finger warningly for a moment before pointing it at Jack. But before Jack even had a chance to protest against that insult, she continued, “I have a boyfriend and I live with Rhys. I can’t just move out for a while without being able to tell him why. Who knows how long it’ll take! But also, Rhys would probably kill Jack!”
“Fine”, Jack raised his hands in defence, “Calm down. I’m just going to do it on my own.”
“No offence, Jack, but I really don’t think someone like you in a neighbourhood like that would be unsuspicious”, Gwen said.
“Do you have a better idea then?” Jack looked at her arms crossed.
“Ianto”, Tosh decided, “You’ll just take Ianto with you.”
Jack shrugged but then nodded, “Fine with me!”
“We will just have to work on good background stories for the two of you”, Owen said, “Well, and first of all we should actually rent the house!”
“Oh, yes! I’ll work on your background stories. The neighbourhood’s new gay couple. With my background story, they’ll love you! That’s a promise”, Gwen decided, suddenly excited again.
“Right. 21st century categories and labels”, Jack shook his head before calling for Ianto, who walked into the main part of the Hub not even a minute later.
“You called for me, sir?”
Jack just grinned at him, “Ianto, go pack your bags! We are moving in together!"