Chapter Text
Melody hadn’t been exactly thrilled at the idea of learning self defence. Not because she didn’t want to be able to, but she knew it would show just how physically weak she was. The fact that she knew how every crack in the ceiling looked was just rubbing it in. Gwen offered a hand to help her up.
“Is there any chance I can just live the rest of my life in a bunker?” Mel said, catching her breath as she took Gwens hand and got up.
She chuckled and helped steady her friend. “You’ll get it. We just need to find a style that works for you. What were you good at in school when you did PE?”
“Mostly sitting on the sidelines, walking around the field, telling teachers that no I couldn’t run with the others.”
“Ah.”
“Yea. I nearly got a substitute teacher fired once.”
“Ok.” She took a drink from her bottle of water. “How?”
Mel leaned against the wall. “Well, this substitute didn’t have any sympathy of the kids that weren’t sporty, you know? She insisted we each had to sprint two hundred metres before the end of class. I told her my doctor said I shouldn’t be sprinting at all. She told me to stop making excuses. Even the other kids who were usually arseholes to me were telling her it could hurt me but she didn’t believe them either. They said I should just walk it and noone would laugh at me or anything for it. I gave it my all. My friend Sarah said this teacher had this self satisfied smirk on her face right up until I hit the floor. Now, me and my friends knew that sometimes when I overdid it I’d cough up blood. Two of the lads run back and help me sit up. My knees were grazed, my elbows were skinned and I was wheezing like a pack a day smoker. That’s when the coughing started and this teacher goes pale. My other friend had run to the office to call an ambulance and my mum. While the paramedics are dealing with me my mum marches into the school. My mum’s a force of nature when she’s angry and she was ready to destroy this teacher. From what I heard, she went into a meeting with this teacher and the head teacher and there was a lot of shouting. The school nurse was listening outside the door and said she heard the head teach absolutely explode when he heard what happened.”
“I like your mum.” She snickered. “Isn’t there anything that can be done to help your lungs?”
“Short of a transplant, no. Don’t tell Jack but to save me the doctors had to take a chunk of my lung that was too damaged and what’s left has a few nasty scars. The alien parasite had really dug its spines in.”
“Does Owen know?”
“Yea, but the whole doctor patient confidentiality thing means he won’t say anything unless it’s an emergency. I’m not doing too badly for how damaged I am.”
“I’m surprised you’ve been keeping up at all.”
“It’s why I walk everywhere, just for the exercise. I can even jog for a little while. It’s just running for any length of time that’ll put me out.”
“I’m surprised Owen cleared you to work.”
“Do you often go sprinting when you’re filing papers? Or ordering food?”
“Ok, ok, I asked for that. Have you spoken to Jack about what happened last month?”
Mel frowned, sighing. “No. I haven’t found a good time to bring it up. Not that it’s any of my business… No one else has a power like that, do they?”
“No. It’s just him.”
“It explains a lot but… It was a shock but I’m kind of glad. I mean for a moment I thought he was dead.” She reached for the pendant that usually sat around her neck but it wasn’t there. The glass had finally cracked when she’d been holding it as Jack had revived. She’d only just gotten around to replacing the glass surround but hadn’t had time to finish putting it together before work. She’d spent the night before carefully blotting away a blood stain on the paper component. It wasn’t gone completely, but it was a lot less noticeable.
Gwen squeezed her shoulder lightly. “Come on, let’s try a few more moves and call it a day. I’ll teach you a few dirty tricks.”
Ianto couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The weevil that they’d removed from Tesco was back after being released miles away, and had gorged itself on a good portion of the refrigerated meat section in ASDA.
“Tex… Are you serious?” He said like a grumpy teacher.
Jack looked over. “Tex?”
“Well, Tesc didn’t really sound right so I called him Tex.”
He chuckled and shook his head, almost judging the weevil.
Tex whined as if he was regretting every decision he’d ever made. Going by how the studs of his jumpsuit were straining he probably was. He’d been stuffing his face for hours by the looks of it. Jack crouched next to the creature, made docile by its overeating, and clamped its hands behind its back. It made a show of growling at him and baring its fangs but it was all bark and no bite. Both men helped it onto its feet and led it out, past the confused looking manager whos day was only going to get worse when he saw the level of cleanup necessary. Tex seemed quite happy to get into the boot of the SUV for a nap as it was warm and he recognised it.
“That went pretty well.” Jack smiled.
Ianto rolled his eyes. “Maybe for you. I’ve got to add him to our permanent residents list.”
He found his boyfriends exasperation endearing and didn’t even argue when he decided it was his turn to drive. The roads weren’t busy but they were slow, as if they were intentionally throwing every red light they could at the SUV. Usually that would be a problem but Tex was fast asleep.
“Have you talked to Mel about what happened last month?” Ianto asked, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited at yet another red light.
Jack was pulled from his thoughts. “No. Is she having trouble?”
“Not that she’s mentioned but… Finding out you’re immortal is something that people don’t usually take so well.”
“She seemed ok with it at the time.”
“She was relieved you weren’t dead and she was being rescued. You can’t make a judgement on that alone.”
“If she wants to talk about it then she knows where I am. She’s been dealing with impossible things since she was a kid. This isn’t going to be as much of a shock to her as it was for all of you.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
“Will it make you feel better if I talk to her?”
“Only if you think it would be necessary.”
“Ianto.”
“Yes, it would make me feel better. Still no word on Osiris snooping around?”
“No. They covered their tracks pretty well. We’ll have to be more careful about them in the future. Tosh updated one of her search algorithms specifically to find them.”
“I don’t blame her after the concussion they gave her.”
Tosh crouched by the tide pool and placed two objects down just by the side of the water. Owen wandered down beside her, curious as to what she was up to. The objects unfurled into two robots, each around the size of a duck. They rolled forward on tracks and began swimming in circles, bobbing up and down as they went. They made happy beeping noises as they looked up at Tosh.
“What are they?” Asked Owen.
She smiled brightly. “This one’s Syn and that one’s Tax. They’re robotic pets.”
“Where did you get them from?”
“Remember that ship we found about a year ago that we thought was just full of rubbish. Well, I found a gift box with these two in. They were damaged but not irreparable so I’ve been working on them on and off for a while. Just a little side project. I got them working before but they were still damaged enough that water could get into their casings. Now they’re watertight and I think they like it.”
“So they’re toys.”
“Yes and no. Their AI is far more advanced than anything we could imagine right now. They can learn and actually get lonely. That’s why they come in pairs.”
He had to admit that her enthusiasm was adorable and something he welcomed after how worried he’d been about her. A concussion is not a mild injury. She’d spent days constantly nauseous and dizzy. He’d taken a week off just to take care of her as she could barely function. By week two she didn’t need him to help her but she’d still had to take the time off. He’d been scared. Terrified. No matter how many times she said she felt fine he couldn’t help it, but seeing her smiling at these two little robots made him feel a bit better.
“Think they can learn to do my paperwork for me?” He smirked.
“I know you’re joking but technically they could. Not that I’ll let you.”
The robots used their stubby arms to help pull themselves out of the water, trilling a simple little tune. The green one, Syn, rolled its way towards the stairs. Gwen stopped as she saw the little thing.
“Tosh, is this yours?” She asked.
Syn waved its stubby arm and made a happy beeping noise before returning to where Tax was sat.
Tosh chuckled lightly. “They are. Watch this. Syn, Tax, back to your station.”
The two robots beeped their confirmation and clumsily made their way up the steps to the underside of Toshikos desk where their docking station was left.
“They’re adorable.”
“I’m going to teach them how to take notes and solve simple problems.”
“Make sure Myfanwy can’t get hold of them.”
“That’s why they’re under my desk. How did your lesson go?”
Gwen gave a noncommittal “ehh” noise.
“I told you it wasn’t going to go well.” Owen said flatly, wandering up to his own desk.
“Yes, but you didn’t say why.”
“I couldn’t say anything, you know that. Anyway, you should trust me on that kind of thing by now.” He shrugged. “How long did she last?”
“She lasted the whole lesson. I just don’t think she has the strength to put it into practice. I resorted to teaching her all the dirty tricks I usually tell people not to do.”
“If you were going to do that I could have taught her.”
Tosh was a little lost as to what they were talking about. She thought that it was maybe something they’d spoken about when she was away. She’d ask Owen about it later. Her computer beeped as a warning popped up on her screen. She trotted over to check it. Unusual rift activity.
“That the end of our down time?” Asked Owen, turning in his chair.
“Possibly …Nothing’s travelled through but I’ll have to keep an eye on it.”
“Should I risk calling Jack?”
“He’s only out hunting down a weevil.”
“No, he’s weevil hunting. I still don’t know if that’s a euphemism and frankly I don’t fancy finding out.”
Gwen laughed to herself. “Never heard of you wimping out of anything Owen.”
“I will happily face down an alien invasion but Harkness answering the phone in the middle of nailing the tea boy, no chance.”
“I’d never be rude enough to answer the phone half way through.” Jack grinned as he walked up from the cells. “That just kills the mood.”
After a relaxed day Melody headed home. She often got to leave a little early as long as everything she needed to do was done. Stepping into her now furnished flat she pulled off her jacket and tossed it over the back of the sofa. She’d just settled when her phone rang at her. She clumsily grabbed it and answered.
“Hi mum, what’s up?”
A voice that wasn’t her mothers answered. “Hi.”
“Persephone? Is mum ok?”
“Yea, mum’s fine. I just don’t have my phone. Not that you’d answer if I did.” Mels sister sneered.
She rolled her eyes. “What do you want to talk to me about then?”
“Weeelll, I need a bit of a favour.”
“From me? I’m not Delilah.”
“So?”
“So last time we spoke face to face you said I ruined your life and you wished I’d never been born.”
“I was angry and I shouldn’t have said that. You’re my little sister. You know I love you.”
“What favour do you need?”
“Me and Kyle kind of broke up and now I have nowhere to go. Mum and dad don’t have space. Nan and grandad don’t have space. I just need a place for a few days.”
“Can’t you get a hotel room? I don’t really have space either.”
“I don’t have the money for that. Please. I promise I won’t make a mess.”
She shook her head, actually considering it for a moment. “How about I just send you the money for a week at a hotel.”
“When did you get enough money for that?”
“I got a bonus from work. Do you want it or not?”
“Yea. I’ll text you my bank details… And thanks.”
“It’s ok.” She frowned before hanging up. She wouldn’t be able to stand having her sister living with her even for a short time, especially as there would be a few things that would be hard to explain about her work. She’d just transferred the money when she got another call. Thankfully this one was from Ianto.
“Hi, did I leave something at work?”
“No. Listen, is anything strange happening around your building?”
“Not that I’ve noticed. Why?”
“We just picked up a huge rift activity spike and your building is right at the centre.”
“Of course it is.” She mumbled to herself. “What should I do?”
“Stay where you are until we get to you. If it’s had no effect on you yet you might be in a safe zone. Just be on guard.”
“I will.” She rubbed her temples and decided that staying on the sofa would be the best thing to do, that was until she heard something move in the hallway.