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Martha grabbed Toshiko’s arm, the movement fluid and familiar after more loops than Martha could count. Her wrist encircled Toshiko’s, and she felt the other woman start. Toshiko spun around, and her mouth flopped open, a shocked expression Martha knew more intimately than her own. Martha wasn’t in Cardiff for any professional reasons, but just to visit Jack. So, she understood Toshiko’s shock. Even if it was frustrating to explain yet again. She spoke before Toshiko could, knowing exactly what she would say before she even thought of it. Her voice was hurried, but not frantic, not like it had been, “Toshiko. I’m in a Time Loop. Your plush toy rabbit as a child was called Usasa, because you struggled to pronounce usagi. You wish Owen would notice you but you think you’re a bad person because he died, so he needs courtesy. You dream of going back to University, but you could never give up Torchwood.”
Toshiko’s eyes widened, and she let Martha lead her down an alleyway, not the nearest, that one had a street cat and Martha didn’t want to get scratched, again.
“You really are in a time loop, huh,” Toshiko seemed more intrigued and impressed than anything else, the same as she had been every other time.
“Yes,” She took a deep breath, “I don’t know what caused it, but it’s making Jack’s wrist strap malfunction. Apparently I shouldn’t exist.” Martha laughed at that, a wry sound, since she knew Jack knew that feeling all too well. “We’ve been scouring Cardiff. I always start at the train station, at 10:30AM, as my train pulls in. We were going to Splott today. I only get today. Time resets at midnight, exactly.”
Toshiko nodded, the concentrated look on her face that never failed to make Martha’s heart beat faster, and stomach flip.
If this loop continued for much longer, Martha was going to take a day off. Maybe Toshiko and her could go to a cafe. Martha scoffed to herself, as they prowled Splott, Toshiko’s sensor on high alert. When she got out of this loop, she could go to a cafe with Toshiko, and then they would both remember.