Work Text:
Emotional Connection
She couldn’t wait to see him again. She knew she was supposed to be terrified of him after what happened in that fighting ring a few months ago (or was it a year, she wasn’t sure) but she found it even more exciting. Ianto had fed her yesterday and she had had enough of him, all he did was talk, talk, talk, believing she couldn’t understand what he was saying ‘You’re just a Weevil, nothing but a low life alien’ but of course she could understand, she understood English perfectly, and she was so fed up with his indecisiveness about his feeling for his boss.
So much she almost bit him.
And so she had to be sedated.
And that’s when he came. Owen Harper. The medic. How wonderful he was with his nasal voice and bright eyes. He understood her and she understood him. She knew he was coming back to her cell today, he was going to check on her, see if she was ok.
He cared about her and she cared about him even more.
Her cousins were laughing in the other cells. Their telepathic field allowed them to feel what she was feeling and it was making them laugh. She could feel what they were thinking of her. ‘A maggot like you, in love with a human!’ And the pain those thoughts inflicted on her made them laugh even more.
They couldn’t understand, they weren’t human enough. She felt she was more human than them, she liked taking care of her appearance, she used to wash when she was still living up there. That’s how Torchwood caught her in the first place, she was simply swimming in the park in the early morning.
Now that she was thinking about it, it was Owen who had seen her. Oh she felt so bashful, naked in front of a man, but now that she had realised who it was, she could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. She had grabbed her Torchwood jumpsuit (given to her by her mother when she died), had dressed quickly and fled as fast as she could. She thought she was saved when she made it to the hospital, but later that day, they caught her.
She would have been released if she hadn’t killed that human, but he was making fun of her appearance and she was very self-conscious.
She could hear her cousins snicker and she growled loudly, making them understand they were nothing. They didn’t even have their own personal cell like she had. The earth would be better off without them. Her thoughts made them bang on the cell loudly, growling to appear bigger than they really were.
‘You are nothing.’ she thought with a low guttural growl.
That’s when she heard someone coming down the ladder leading to her corridor. She turned her head and was greeted with the beautiful face of Owen Harper.
“Quiet down here!” he yelled. “I can’t hear myself think!”
She immediately tried to connect with him but he was not concentrating on her enough, she couldn’t get to him. Her cousins quieted down, not wanting to be sedated for the day.
He walked up to her cell and opened the door. He was never scared of her like Ianto was, he would walk to her and set her meal on the floor instead of throwing it through the hatch. He was not bringing her food though, he was just looking at her to see if she was ok.
“Hello, Janet!” he said with a grin that made her heart flutter.
Torchwood was calling her Janet now, she liked that name. Being a telepathic life meant they had no name given at birth like the humans do. She was told they used to have names when they first appeared around the docks, but she never understood their origin, she was told she was both human and alien and that was enough for her, she didn’t need the details.
She raised her upper lip in a polite greeting and lowered her head. She kept eye contact with him, letting her know she was friendly. He walked closer, closer than any human had been near her without the intention of killing or catching her.
He raised his hand and brought it confidently on her cheek, she was feeling so warm, she could barely breathe with him so close to her, she could smell his perfume and other products humans used to cover their natural smell, but she could smell his odour so clearly, it was intoxicating.
He was touching her, she had never felt so alive.
“We’re working on an important mission, and I’m down here taking care of you, can you believe that?” he whispered looking at her eyes. “They even brought in a doctor from UNIT… As if I wasn’t brilliant enough for them.”
She wasn’t too sure of what he was doing looking at her like that, maybe looking for some kind of trouble linked to the sedative or maybe he was just thinking about how beautiful she was.
She could feel her cousins judgment but she didn’t care, she was with Owen and it was all that mattered.
That’s when she felt it.
Him.
She felt him, she felt Owen in her thoughts, she was hearing his thoughts.
‘Why am I here, couldn’t Martha do it if she’s so good at her job?’
‘She probably doesn’t even understand Weevils like I do.’
‘I’m the only one Janet trusts here’
They were closer than they had ever been. She couldn’t control it, all of her thoughts came pouring down on him and he removed his hand quickly breaking the connection. She took a step back, she was so embarrassed, she never expected him to join her telepathic field like that. Last time it was just empathy and a little bit of emotional exchange, nothing as strong as this.
He had just felt her confessing her love for him.
He looked down at his hand then back at Janet.
“Katie?” he said in what felt like a whispered.
He looked so confused. She didn’t know who Katie was but she might have loved him as much as she did. Owen smiled.
“It’s that telepathic field, isn’t it?” he shook his head. “I connected telepathically with a fucking Weevil.”
She tried to walk closer to him but he was backing off.
“Sorry, lady, I don’t love you back,” he said grinning raising his hands and showing his palms in front of his chest.
She knew that. She didn’t need his love, she just needed to tell him how much she loved him.
“But that is fascinating!”
He narrowed his eyes and raised his hand towards her again. She took a step forward and he touched her forehead, smiling. He ruffled her hair quickly and removed his hand. She didn’t even have time to blink before he was out of her cell, door closing shut.
“When we’re done with this mayfly business, we’ll try something new, you and me!”
She put her hand on the glass and growled, mouth wide opened.
“Yes, love! See you later!”
She couldn’t be happier, he had seen her true self and he didn’t reject her, he wanted to know her better.
Not even her cousins, who were sending hateful feelings towards her, could take that happiness from her,
Or so she thought.
That night, she felt her link with him shut down sharply and painfully.
Because that night, Owen Harper died.