Title: Stranded On Halloween
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Owen, Tosh, Ianto, Jack, Gwen, special guests.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 9055
Spoilers: Everything Changes, They Keep Killing Suzie, Cyberwoman, Fragments, To The Last Man
Summary: The team run into a spot of trouble one Halloween and have to seek shelter.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge #98: Haunted.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Back in 2012, I wrote a Halloween drabble about the Torchwood team getting stranded on the spookiest night of the year; I intended to expand on it at some point, but I forgot. Someone reminded me earlier this year, but I’ve been so busy with various challenges that I didn’t think I’d have time. Then along came the perfect challenge, and after nine days and over 9000 words, it’s finally finished.
This also goes back to the original version of the drabble which never got posted because severe storms hit America; it seemed in bad taste to echo that in a piece of fanfiction at the time. Hope you all enjoy the Torchwood team’s Halloween odyssey.
October 31st had seen the whole team traipsing about the countryside chasing a signal that turned out to be a computer glitch. As if that hadn’t been bad enough, as they scrambled into the SUV with the light fading fast, the storm that had been threatening all afternoon finally broke. Rain came pouring down in a solid sheet and the wind hit the SUV so hard it actually rocked on its axles. Owen slumped into his seat.
“Bloody great. Just what we needed.”
“At least we’re not still out in it,” Tosh said, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Small consolation. Now we’re stuck here until the rain lets up.” Owen had to shout to be heard above the sound of rain pounding the metal roof of the SUV. “It’s like bein’ inside a bleedin’ drum!” Ianto twisted in his seat and tossed something into Owen’s lap, where he sat between the two girls. “What the fuck?”
“Earplugs!” Ianto shouted. “Hand them out!” He popped a pair in his own ears.
“I take back everything insulting I ever said about you; you’re a bloody marvel, teaboy!”
Earplugs reducing the deafening racket to a distant rumble, Jack turned the key in the ignition and fired up the SUV’s engine. The only way any of them could tell it was running was from the faint vibration through their seats. With the windscreen wipers on their fastest setting and the headlights on full, Jack pulled out cautiously onto the deserted two-lane road and set off in the general direction of Cardiff. It had taken them nearly two hours to get here with Jack driving in his usual reckless fashion, but it looked like the return journey would take a lot longer. Jack seemed to be taking the treacherous conditions seriously and driving at a more sensible speed, probably because of the poor visibility.
About half an hour later, the rain started to ease off and Jack speeded up a bit. The rest of the team pocketed their earplugs, glad that they could talk to each other again. Time dragged when all you had for entertainment were your own thoughts and the sight of rain pouring down the windows.
The rain might have trailed off to a drizzle but if anything, the wind had only increased. The trees along the roadside were whipping about in a frenzy and they could all feel the SUV being buffeted by fierce gusts. Despite his apparent recklessness, Jack was actually an excellent driver; he kept them at a steady speed, quick reflexes compensating easily when the wind tried to force them off the road. It was these same 51st century reflexes that saved them from what could have been complete disaster.
Up ahead, lightning flashed suddenly, almost dazzling them, and with a loud crack one of the roadside trees, its roots unable to withstand the force of the wind, suddenly toppled across the road barely thirty metres ahead of them. Stamping on the brakes and clutch, Jack spun the wheel, sending the SUV into a skid. They would probably have been alright if the road at that point hadn’t been bordered by wide ditches, which were now full to overflowing thanks to the torrential rain. Try as he might, Jack was unable to prevent the SUV sliding inexorably sideways, coming to rest tipped at an angle and mostly in the ditch. Water immediately began to flood the interior and as if to add insult to injury, the clouds opened once more.
“Everyone out!” Jack yelled as the vehicle settled deeper into the freezing cold water. “Grab what you can.”
Snatching up the kits they’d been carrying earlier, everyone scrambled up and out the passenger side doors, since the driver’s side was mostly underwater. As luck would have it, one rear wheel remained on relatively dry land and with Jack’s help, Ianto was able to open the boot and toss some emergency equipment to the other members of the team. He couldn’t reach everything, but hopefully they’d have the essentials. Right now, their top priority was finding shelter for the night. This far out in the country and in weather this severe, getting a phone signal, even on Torchwood’s alien-tech augmented mobiles, was unlikely.
“We passed a building of some kind about a mile back,” Ianto shouted over a deep rumble of thunder, gesturing back the way they’d come. “That might be our best bet.”
“Okay,” Jack shouted back. “The sooner we get out of this rain, the better. Let’s get moving, people.”
Already soaked through by a combination of rain and ditch water, and feeling chilled to the bone, the team turned and started back along the road, heads down, battling against the fierce wind, hanging on to each other to avoid getting separated.
None of them had any idea how long they’d been walking before they finally saw the building, a darker shape looming against a backdrop of storm-tossed trees in the deepening gloom of approaching night. It was set well back from the road at the end of a long, rutted and overgrown drive, surrounded by neglected gardens and tangled shrubberies. As they stumbled towards it, tripping on roots and rocks, they realised it was quite a lot bigger than it had seemed from the road, a solidly built and once-grand three-storey manor house gradually falling into ruin.
Owen stared at it gloomily. “Here I was, hoping for a nice country hotel or even a farmhouse and what do we get? A ruin. Why’d we have to come here?” He scowled at Ianto. “Couldn’t you pick somewhere better?”
“This could be the only building of any kind in miles; it’s certainly the only one we passed. We should all be thankful, at least we’ll have some shelter from the wind and rain.”
“Yeah, I suppose. What a crap way to spend Halloween! I had plans.”
Jack slapped him on the back.
“Look on the bright side, Owen; maybe it’s haunted!”
Owen glared pityingly at him. “I’m a scientist, I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Suit yourself. Let’s get inside.”
The front door was half-open, hanging by one hinge, so they squeezed through the gap one by one. Owen and Jack did what they could to wedge the heavy wooden door closed against the howling wind while Ianto rummaged through what they’d salvaged from the SUV and produced three torches, handing them out.
“Try to use them as little as possible. We only have one spare set of batteries and we’re going to be stuck here all night.”
“First things first,” said Jack, taking charge. “We should find the best room to camp out in. One with a fireplace would be good. There’s enough broken furniture that we might be able to get a fire going.”
“Assuming the chimneys aren’t blocked. We’d better make a small test fire first, don’t want to fill the place up with smoke,” Ianto cautioned.
A quick check of the nearest rooms provided just what they needed in what seemed to be the front parlour or receiving room, which had a wide stone fireplace almost big enough for a man to stand up in. While Ianto used a broken plank to sweep debris to one end out of the way, Owen stuck his head up the chimney and shone his torch upwards briefly.
“Looks clear to me. I think we’ll be okay if we’re careful.”
“That’s good news. Owen, give me a hand collecting firewood. Ianto, you’re in charge of getting the fire started. The sooner we can get out of our wet clothes the better.” It was testimony to the seriousness of their situation that Jack didn’t even leer when he said that.
“Hey guys, look what we found!” said Tosh as she and Gwen came back into the parlour from the adjoining dining room. They were each carrying a couple of tarnished and slightly bent candelabra and some candles.
Ianto grinned.
“Brilliant! That’ll save the torches.” He tossed Tosh a box of matches. “Find somewhere safe to stand them. I could do with some light so I can see what I’m doing.”
OoOoOoO
Half an hour later, with a roaring fire going in the hearth and the candles providing flickering light the team, stripped down to their underwear, were wrapped in emergency thermal blankets. Their outer clothes, draped over a makeshift washing line, were drying out in front of the fire. As they only had three blankets, Ianto and Jack were sharing one, Gwen and Tosh had the second, and Owen had the last one all to himself. Ianto had shared out the emergency food rations and water, so they were nibbling on energy bars, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate; not the best meal ever but a lot better than spending the night hungry.
As they’d expected, getting a signal on their phones had proved impossible, so in the spirit of both Halloween and making the best out of their situation, they did what any sensible group of people stranded in a spooky house would do. They told each other ghost stories until eventually they all fell asleep.
OoOoOoO
Jack didn’t know at first what had woken him. Everything was quiet and the fire was still burning well so he couldn’t have been asleep all that long. Ianto stirred beside him.
“Jack? Everything okay?” he asked drowsily.
“It’s fine, just thought I heard something. Stay put, I’ll be right back.”
Jack slid out of their blanket cocoon, tucking it warmly back around Ianto, who was already drifting off again. Pulling on his mostly dry trousers and shoving a torch in one pocket, just in case, he picked up his Webley and one of the candelabra, padded silently to the parlour door, and slipped through, closing it behind him. It was colder in the hall, away from their roaring fire, and a draught made the candle flames flicker, throwing weird shadows on the walls.
“Jaaack.”
Yes, that was what had woken him, someone was calling his name; just a breathy whisper of sound but somehow it was clearly audible above the storm that still raged outside. Looking around, he saw a dim light at the far end of the long hallway and walked cautiously towards it, only to see it slip sideways into one of the rooms to the rear of the house. Curious but cautious he followed, stepping into what looked like it had once been the music room. A slender, dark-haired woman stood by a battered grand piano, running one hand lovingly across the dusty top. As if sensing his presence, she started to speak.
“My mother used to play piano. She told me she’d teach me when I was old enough to reach the pedals, but then she died and daddy sold the piano. I hated him so much for that.” She turned away from the piano and smiled sadly at Jack.
“Hello, Jack. It’s been a while. You still look the same.”
“Suzie? How can you be here?”
“It’s Halloween, Jack. The night the dead walk the earth. Well, those of us who have unfinished business anyway. And you can put the gun down; you can’t kill a ghost. I’m as dead as it’s possible to get.” She smiled wryly. “I ended up dying quite a lot, didn’t I? Not as often as you though.”
“What do you want? Why are you here?” He watched her warily, noting that she didn’t cast a shadow.
“I just wanted to see you, and to apologise. Not that it’ll do any good, it won’t bring back the people I killed. That wasn’t me though, not really. The glove did something to me, changed me somehow.” She sighed and shook her head, then looked right at Jack. “It wasn’t your fault, you have to know that. There must always have been some… darkness in me, a kind of hunger, greed, a need to know and understand, to control. The glove… it found that part of me and latched on the first time I touched it. That was entirely my fault; you always told us never to touch with bare hands if we didn’t know what something was. But I did and it got inside my head, took control. It was like an addiction, I couldn’t get enough; it twisted my thoughts so I believed I was controlling it but I wasn’t, it was using me for its own purposes. I think I went mad. Anyway, there was nothing you could have done; from the moment I touched it I was beyond saving.” She shrugged. “I just wanted you to know that. I’m free now; the glove is destroyed. You need to stop blaming yourself.”
She looked like the Suzie he’d known at the start; a strong, vibrant girl, full of curiosity and wonder, not the jaded, hard-eyed woman she’d become. His heart ached at what Torchwood had done to her.
“I don’t know if I can. I should have known there was something wrong, should have seen the signs. You’d changed and I never even stopped to wonder why.”
“Torchwood changes us all over time, it’s gradual and inevitable. None of us are the same people we were when we started. You gave me so much, Jack, showed me that there was more to the universe than I ever could have imagined. You trusted me, and you gave me a purpose. I’m sorry I let you down.” She stepped close, leaning in to lightly kiss his cheek, the touch of her lips barely tangible. “Goodbye Jack, forgive yourself and be happy. If it helps, I forgave you long ago,” and with that, she vanished, leaving Jack standing alone in a dark, dilapidated room. He set his candelabra on the old piano and shoved one hand though his hair, drawing a shaky breath.
“Okay, that was weird.”
“I suspect that was only the beginning.” Jack jumped as a tall figure stepped out of the shadows by the wall. “Good to see you, Jack. You’re looking well.”
“Alex?”
“Looks like you rebuilt the team and carried on after… Well, after the millennium. I always figured you’d just take off, get away from Torchwood at the first chance you got. I underestimated you, but I guess I did that a lot. You would have made a far better leader than I did. I should’ve said no when Hartman offered me the job; I couldn’t handle the stress.”
“What are you talking about, Alex? You were a great leader.”
Alex snorted disparagingly. “I was a mess; depression, paranoid delusions, post-traumatic stress. I was good at hiding it though, had Torchwood One’s psychiatrists completely fooled. Thought I could handle it by myself, then one little vision of the future tipped me over the edge and I… I killed them all, didn’t I? Left you to clean up the mess and took the easy way out. They didn’t deserve to die like that.”
”No, they didn’t. They were good people, Alex; young people with their lives ahead of them. You cheated them out of that.”
“I know, and I’ve apologized to them. Maybe in time they’ll be able to forgive me.”
“You’ve seen them? Since you died?”
“Oh yes. Not that they want anything to do with me. I don’t blame them for being angry.” He looked at Jack with a tired smile. “What about you, Jack? Do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive me? I saw what was coming, the Battle of Canary Wharf, and instead of trying to find a way to prevent it, I took the coward’s way out. You wouldn’t have done that.”
“I couldn’t find a way to prevent it either. Maybe there wasn’t one. I tried to warn Yvonne, but she didn’t listen. She never listened to me, and sometimes I think she got exactly what she deserved, if only she hadn’t taken so many innocents down with her.”
“At least you tried. I just gave up. I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you. I’ve made more than my share of mistakes; I don’t have any right to judge others for theirs.”
“Thank you, Jack, that means a lot. Maybe one day I’ll be able to forgive myself. Take care of your team; they’re good people.” Alex nodded and turned, melting back into the shadows, leaving Jack alone, the silence of the room broken only by the strangely distant sound of the storm outside. He wondered who else he might see tonight; was there anyone else he’d even want to see? Old lovers, former team mates, the original Captain Jack Harkness telling him he forgave Jack for stealing his name? Maybe not, some things were best left in the past where they belonged.
“Jack?”
He almost jumped out of his skin, spinning around.
“Ianto! What’re you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing. You said you’d be right back, but you weren’t. I got worried. Who were you talking to? I thought I heard voices.”
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes. Places like this, on a night like this, I could probably be persuaded. Why?”
“I think I might have just talked to a couple.”
“Just random ghosts, or people you knew?”
“The latter. Just now, it was Alex Hopkins.”
“Your predecessor? The guy who massacred his whole team?”
“Aside from me. Yeah, that’s the one. And before that, I’d swear I was talking to Suzie.”
“Suzie? Seriously? What did she have to say?”
“That what happened to her wasn’t my fault.”
“I’ve been telling you that practically since it happened. Maybe now you’ll believe it.”
Jack smiled faintly. “Maybe I will. Come on, let’s get back to the fire, it’s chilly out here.”
“You’re just noticing that?” Ianto rubbed his arms; he was mostly dressed, but still feeling the cold.
“No, but I didn’t feel it so much when I was talking to… Do you think it really was them?”
“Halloween is supposed to be the night the spirits of the dead come back to visit. If there’s any truth at all in the old myths and folk tales, then it’s possible.” They left the old music room and started back down the hallway side by side, when Ianto suddenly stopped dead. “Did you hear that?”
Jack nodded. “Yeah. Sounded like someone calling your name.”
“Iantoooo.”
It could almost have been an errant gust of wind, it was so low and breathy, but they both knew it wasn’t. Turning around, they saw a faintly glowing figure standing by a doorway, back down the hall.
“Lisa?” Ianto grabbed Jack’s arm. “Jack, that looks like Lisa, the way she was before Canary Wharf.” He turned to the other man. “What should I do?”
“Go and talk to her? I’ll wait here for you.”
“You’re not coming?”
“It’s not me she wants to talk to. Ianto, if that’s Lisa, the real Lisa, then you can’t waste this chance. It might never come again.”
“You’re right. There are things I never got to say to her, things I only said to the Cyberwoman thinking it was still my Lisa.” His voice cracked slightly on the last words and he looked at Jack again. “I still love her, but I…”
“I know. Go on, quickly. She might not stay long.” Jack squeezed Ianto’s hand and smiled encouragingly.
“Thank you.” Ianto hurried towards the doorway as Lisa’s ‘ghost’ drifted into the room. Entering after her, he found himself in a mouldering library. Old books in varying stages of decay clustered in worn, sagging bookcases; leather wingback chairs with the stuffing oozing out sat around an empty fireplace. Lisa was standing by the bookcase on the far side of the fireplace.
“Once upon a time, this must have been a beautiful room. Imagine sitting in one of those chairs, a roaring fire in the grate, sipping cognac and reading one of these books while the wind howled outside.”
Ianto smiled. Lisa had always had a vivid imagination.
“Sounds perfect; I always wanted a room like this.” He looked at the figure before him. “Is it really you?”
“It’s me. It’s good to see you, Ianto. You look good; you’ve filled out a bit and I swear you’ve grown taller!”
“Maybe an inch or so. Lisa, I’m so sorry…”
Moving gracefully across the room, she put a finger to his lips, barely felt. “Hush. I didn’t come to make you feel guilty, love. You have nothing to apologize for. I didn’t suffer for long; it was very fast, as soon as the conversion process started I was gone. All that was left was the machine and some stolen memories. I know what you tried to do, and I’m so sorry that thing deceived you, making you think I was still alive, but in a way, it did you a favour.”
“What are you talking about? It killed you!”
“I know; I was there. But I know you, Ianto Jones; if you hadn’t thought you could save me, you would have just given up, like the other ‘survivors’. Caring for what you thought was me, it gave you a purpose, a reason to keep going, and I can’t help being grateful for that. I died, but you’re still living.” She chuckled. “Jack’s obviously good for you.” There was that old teasing glint in her eyes, the look she always got when she knew something he didn’t know she knew. Ianto started to smile, but then realised what she’d just said.
“Wait, you know about Jack?”
“Of course, idiot! I’ve been keeping an eye on you from time to time, just to make sure you’re okay. I was worried about what you might do after you realised that metal monster had tricked you.”
“So, you’re okay with it?”
Lisa laughed, just the way she used to, happy and carefree.
“Why wouldn’t I be? Ianto, I want you to be happy, to really live and have a good life. You deserve that so much. Jack makes you happy, he’s just what you need. I like him, even if his ego is even bigger than his…” She trailed off with a filthy grin.
“Lisa!” Ianto blushed furiously.
“What, I can’t look?” she giggled. “I’m dead, let me at least have some fun! I would have gone for a threesome with you two, given half a chance.”
“I wouldn’t. I could never have shared you, Lisa. Not with anyone.”
“I know. I love you, Ianto. Always will. But I’m glad you’re getting on with your life, I don’t have to worry about you anymore.”
“What about you? Are you happy? What’s the afterlife like?”
“I can’t tell you that; I think it’s probably different for everyone anyway, but am I happy? Yes. I can look in on you sometimes, and I’ve been granted this chance to talk with you again. Thank you, Ianto. You made me so very happy when I was alive, I wouldn’t trade the time we had together for anything.”
“Neither would I. I still miss you.”
“Miss you too, love. Just remember that I’m watching over you, even though you can’t see me. I’ll try not to stop by at inappropriate moments. Well, not too often anyway. I have to go now.” She backed away slowly, as if reluctant to stop looking at him.
“Lisa, wait!” As she paused, he took a step forwards. “Will I ever see you again?”
“I don’t know. Maybe there’ll be another Halloween when you’re in the right place. The world of the living and the afterlife are very close in this place; it makes reaching across the gap much easier. I won’t say goodbye. Take care of yourself.”
“You too, Lisa. I’ll always love you.”
“You’d better!” She winked cheekily, took a step back and was gone.
Ianto let out a breath and wiped his eyes, happiness at seeing her warring with reawakened grief over her death. Seeing her again, being able to talk with her, was a blessing, but that didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt.
He stood quietly for a few minutes, deep in thought, remembering all the good times they’d shared, before finally turning towards the door. He didn’t want to keep Jack waiting too long. But before he’d taken more than a couple of steps, another voice from behind him brought him to a halt again.
“You must have loved her a great deal.” The voice was vaguely familiar, but Ianto couldn’t quite place it. He turned towards the window and stepped back in shock.
“Annie?”
“Hi, Ianto!” She grinned and gave him a little wave.
“Oh God, Annie! She killed you, and it was all my fault!” Ianto’s guilt at the death of the friendly pizza girl had been eating away at him since she’d become a victim of the cyberwoman.
“Don’t be so daft. I always was too nosy for my own good. My gran used to tell me it would get me killed one day; guess she was right. If anyone was to blame, it was me and the monster that did the deed.”
“The monster wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t hidden her. It.”
“And I wouldn’t have been there if Tony hadn’t called in sick and Simon hadn’t asked me to cover for him. It was supposed to be my night off. Ianto, there are a thousand, maybe a million ways it could have been different and none of them matter. Everything happened the way it did, and maybe there was a reason and maybe there wasn’t, but blaming yourself doesn’t help anything. I’m dead, and honestly? It’s not bad at all. I get to see all the people I love who passed on before me; I’ve been home and freaked Moe out completely! The first time, anyway. He got used to me after that. Cats can see me, how weird is that? People can’t though. Not most of the time, anyway. Doesn’t matter, I can see them. Thanks, by the way. For telling them it was a hit and run. My maniac brother drives a lot more carefully now. I used to worry he’d hit someone, he came close to sideswiping motorcyclists a time or two.”
“How can you be so casual about everything? Your family were devastated!”
“I know, and I’m sad about that, I am, but no one lives for ever, and at least it means I didn’t disappoint my parents.”
“What d’you mean?”
“They’re both teachers, so are my brothers, they all wanted me to follow in their footsteps, and I tried, I really did, but I was failing my classes at Uni. Badly. I just wasn’t cut out to teach, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Dying solved quite a few problems. I’m enjoying being dead a whole lot more than I enjoyed my last few months of life. It’s opened my eyes to a lot of things. I think I’m where I’m needed now. That’s really what I wanted you to know: Don’t feel bad about my death, I don’t blame you so you shouldn’t blame yourself. We were friends, yeah? Sort of, anyway. I don’t want my death to weigh you down. You have so much ahead of you, Ianto! If you only knew what I know… But I can’t tell you. Spoilers. See you around sometime!” Laughing happily, she slipped into the shadows and faded from view, leaving Ianto feeling a bit dazed. Turning slowly, he wandered out of the library, frowning a little, and almost walked straight into Jack.
“Whoa there! You okay? You look a bit… I don’t know, confused I think.”
Ianto nodded slowly. “Confused would be an accurate description at this point. Do you remember Annie? Pizza girl, the one Lisa… the cyberwoman killed?”
“I remember. She was pretty. Great body.”
“Of course, should’ve known that would be the first thing to cross your mind.” Ianto rolled his eyes; Jack was so predictable sometimes. “Anyway, apparently she quite likes being dead. How does that even work? She had all her life ahead of her, a family who adored her and were devastated at losing her, but she’s enjoying her death. Oh, and I have a lot to look forward to but she can’t tell me what because of spoilers.”
“Well, as long as she’s happy that’s what matters, right?”
“I suppose. It’s just weird seeing someone shrug off their death as if it was just a momentary inconvenience.”
“I thought you were talking to Lisa though.”
“Yep! Lisa first, Annie second. Must be some sort of two-for-one deal on ghosts. One night only.” Ianto stopped dead in his tracks. “I just talked to ghosts!”
“We both did!” Jack was almost bouncing. “How cool is that? It means there really must be something beyond death!”
Ianto couldn’t help smiling at Jack’s excitement. Anyway, he was right; it was rather reassuring to know that death wasn’t the end. That Lisa and Annie were both happy in death. He dug his elbow in Jack’s ribs. “Lisa’s been spying on us.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, I think she’s become quite the voyeur since she died! She likes you.”
“What’s not to like?” Jack grinned his cheesiest grin. “Come on, let’s get back to the others, where it’s warmer.” He slipped his arm around Ianto’s waist as they made their way back to the front parlour and the warmth of their blanket, managing to settle back in without waking anybody.
OoOoOoO
Owen woke with a start, sure he’d just heard Katie calling him. Rolling onto his back, he lay in the flickering light from the candles and fire, listening intently.
“Owennnn.”
There it was again! He snorted to himself. What was he thinking? He didn’t believe in ghosts. But it really had sounded like Katie. Maybe he was dreaming. Yes; that had to be it. He’d just go and see what Katie wanted; it was always good to see her in dreams, even though his heart just about broke afterwards. Time enough to be sad later, he wasn’t going to miss the chance to see her. Slipping out from under his blanket, he pulled on his clothes, thankfully just about dry by now, then snatched up the blanket and wrapped it around him. He picked up one of the candelabra and tiptoed out of the parlour, pulling the door to behind him.
It was dark in the long hallway, but he could see a faint glow down the far end so he headed quickly towards it, somehow knowing that was where he’d find his Katie. Well, that was the way it was with dreams, right? You just knew stuff without knowing how.
At the end of the hall, he turned left into a massive old kitchen. There were dry leaves piled in corners, the windows were broken but overgrown shrubs blocked them, gnarled branches poking through the gaps and effectively keeping most of the storm outside. Katie was wandering around, examining everything. Owen wasn’t really surprised to find her in a kitchen; she’d loved to bake, had even talked about baking their wedding cake when he’d first proposed.
“Just look at all this!” She gestured around herself, eyes wide and sparkling with delight. “I would’ve loved a kitchen like this. Well, not exactly like it, it would need to be modernised, but the size! Just think what we could’ve done with all this space!”
“Our whole flat would’ve fit in here,” Owen laughed, caught up in her enthusiasm.
“These old houses were built on a grand scale. Wouldn’t want to have to clean it though.” She wrinkled her nose. “Too much like hard work.”
“Oh, so that’s why you always made me wash the dishes after your baking sessions.”
“Fair division of labour, Doctor Harper. One bakes, the other cleans up. You always got rewarded.”
That was true. Katie’s cakes and biscuits were delicious. If she hadn’t insisted that they go jogging, it wouldn’t have been long before none of their clothes fit.
“You look gorgeous,” he told her.
“I wanted to look my best for you.” She turned serious. “Owen, you have to stop. All the getting drunk and getting laid, it’s not good for you. I worry. You’re throwing your life away one night at a time and it hurts so much to see you like that. I’ve been gone more than four years now; isn’t it time you moved on?”
“What if I don’t want to move on? Katie, you’re all I ever wanted! How can I just forget that? Forget you?”
“I’m not asking you to forget, but there’s more to life than one night stands. You deserve better. I know you think you don’t, that you should have been able to save me, but you’re wrong. You’re a good man, Owen Harper, and a great doctor. You should have a family, the life we used to dream of.”
Owen was shaking his head. “It wouldn’t be the same, Katie. Not without you! We had so many plans. Why did that thing have to kill you? Why couldn’t it have been me instead?”
“Because you are a better doctor than I ever could have been. The world needed you.”
“And I needed you! I still need you!” He turned away, pacing the length of the room and staring sightlessly at the tangled twigs that blocked the windows, leaves turned autumn colours.
“Owen, look at me.”
Reluctantly he turned. She was standing a few feet behind him, though he hadn’t heard her approach. His heart ached at the sight of her, face stern and arms folded. It was her ‘no nonsense’ look; he always gave in to that look.
“I was unlucky, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and yeah, when I could think clearly I was angry at the way my life seemed to be falling apart just when everything was perfect. But there was nothing you or anyone else could do. I doubt even your Torchwood could have saved me. I died, but you’re still here. Please, Owen, don’t waste the life you’ve got. She loves you, you know, and you barely even give her the time of day. The girls you waste your nights on, they can’t give you what you need, but she could, if you’d just let her.”
“Who’re you talkin’ about?” Owen sounded defensive, even to his own ears.
“Don’t give me that, Harper. You know exactly who I’m talking about. Toshiko.”
“Tosh? But…”
“You like her. More than you let on, I think. You just don’t believe you deserve her love. But you know what? It doesn’t matter what you believe. She believes you deserve her love, and nothing you do is going to change her mind. So stop pushing her away. Let her in and maybe then you’ll finally allow your heart to heal. You’ve mourned me long enough, Owen. It hurts me to see the way you’re wasting your life. I want to be able to stop worrying about you all the time and I can’t do that until I know you’ve got someone to take care of you. Lord knows you’ve never been good at taking care of yourself. Have you even learned to cook yet?”
Owen dropped his gaze to the floor, shuffling his feet. Katie gave a snort of laughter.
“Thought not. Still living on takeaways and ready meals I suppose. You’re hopeless.” She was silent for so long, he looked up quickly, thinking she must have gone, but she was just watching him, a sad but gentle smile on her face.
“Give her a chance, Owen. Please. For me?”
He couldn’t deny her anything when she looked at him like that.
“Okay, I’ll give her a chance, take her on a date or something. No promises though. No one could ever take your place.”
“There’s room in your heart for more than one love; you don’t have to stop loving me to love someone else. One day the whole of humanity will realise that and stop beating themselves up for moving on after losing someone they still love. Every love is different, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be just as special. I still love you, dying hasn’t changed that. It’s why I want you to be happy with someone else, so you can have love in your life again with someone who can love you back in all the ways you need. Maybe Toshiko will be the one, maybe she won’t, but you have to start somewhere. You’ve buried your head in the sand too long already. Time you took another look at the world.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s just so hard.”
“Nothing worth having is ever easy. That’s what mum used to say, and she was always right. Be well and happy, Owen.”
“I’ll try. I love you.”
“You too. Bye, Owen.”
Even as she turned away she was fading and before he could even blink she was gone from sight.
“Goodbye, Katie love,” he sighed. Pulling his blanket tighter against the chill, he made his way slowly out of the kitchen, heading back to the front of the house.
OoOoOoO
Tosh had been woken by a chilly draft; Gwen must have rolled over, pulling the blanket they shared half off her. Shivering, she got up to see if her clothes were dry yet and noticed that Owen was missing, along with his clothes and his blanket. The draft must have been from the door as he slipped out.
Knowing she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep now that she was awake, especially with Gwen hogging the blanket, Tosh dressed quickly and decided to see if she could find Owen. Perhaps he couldn’t sleep either; the storm had grown even worse as they’d slept and now the wind was howling around the house like a horde of banshees. Even as she pulled on her boots, a flash of lightning lit the room as bright as day, almost dazzling her, and thunder crashed overhead. Gwen muttered something unintelligible in her sleep, pulling the blanket over her head, but didn’t wake. Tosh glanced over to where Jack and Ianto were snuggled close together under their blanket and smiled at the sight; it shouldn’t be possible for two grown men to look so ridiculously cute.
Pulling her now dry coat around her, Tosh checked her watch by the light of the nearest candle; it was just before midnight on all hallows eve and she was in a deserted mansion in the middle of nowhere. Grinning excitedly at the thought of sneaking about in such a spooky place on the most haunted night of the year, she snatched up a torch in case her candles got blown out, picked up the nearest candelabra and slipped quickly and quietly through the door into the hallway, closing it carefully behind her so the others wouldn’t be woken.
The stairs looked pretty rickety so it was unlikely that Owen had gone up there. He’d probably followed the hallway towards the back of the house. There were a lot of rooms back there that they hadn’t bothered to check since they’d been cold and drenched, just wanting to find somewhere they could shut out the wind and dry off. Maybe Owen had decided to explore a bit. Heading down the hall herself, she paused to have a quick look around each room as she passed. The place was a bit of a maze with rooms leading into each other, so she didn’t go too far, not wanting to get lost on her own. She hadn’t realised it was such a huge house. Maybe when she found Owen they could explore together.
Stepping back into the hall from what seemed to have once been a music room, the wind chose than moment to drop briefly to a whisper and she thought she could hear voices coming from further down the hall. She’d just started in the direction she thought the voices came from when a flash of lightning lit the corridor and she stopped dead with a gasp, her hand rising to her mouth. There was a figure standing a short distance away in the doorway of a room on her right, someone much taller than Owen. For a moment, she cursed herself for not bringing her gun, but then the lightning flashed again and as she recognised the now familiar figure her eyes filled with tears.
“Tommy.”
He smiled at her, that sweet, warm smile she still saw in her dreams.
“Hello, my beautiful Toshiko.”
“But you’re dead, how can you be here? Is this another dream? I’ve dreamed about you so many times.” She walked towards him, unable to resist the temptation, reaching out, wanting to touch, but he stepped back, beckoning to her as he passed through the doorway behind him. She followed without thinking.
“It’s not a dream, it’s All Hallows Eve. I’ve been waiting for this night for so long, Toshiko. It’s only been four months for you, but for me it’s been 90 years. I wanted to see you again, I never really got to thank you for everything you did for me.”
Tosh shook her head, tears spilling from her eyes.
“I sent you to your death! I knew what would happen but I did it anyway!”
Stepping closer, Tommy reached out, brushing her tears away with a barely perceptible touch. “You had no choice, Toshiko. There was a job to be done, and I was the only one who could do it. I remember everything and I don’t regret it, because I saved all of time. I saved you. I got to be a hero, to do something that truly mattered, and even if only a few people will ever remember what I did, I left my mark on the world. What more can any soldier ask for? I enlisted because I wanted to fight for my country, but I ended up saving the world. More importantly, I got to meet you; that made everything I went through worthwhile. I wish we’d had more time together, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Everything happened the way it had to. Don’t be sad, sweet Toshiko; remember me and smile. You gave me the best four days of my life, showed me things I never would have imagined. I lived more in those four days than I did in all of the rest of my life, and it was all because of you. I wish there was some way I could repay you.”
Tosh was smiling and crying at the same time. She’d longed for a chance to see Tommy, just one more time, and now here he was, she could tell him what she hadn’t been able to the last time she saw him, because then he hadn’t remembered her.
“There’s nothing to repay; everything I did was because I wanted to. You made me feel special, beautiful, and I loved the time I spent with you; never doubt that. I could have fallen in love with you, you know. It would’ve been so easy. You will always be my brave, handsome hero, Tommy Brockless, and I’ll never forget you as long as I live.”
“What more could any man ask than to be remembered by a beautiful woman? I hope I made you proud.”
“You did. Thank you.”
“It was an honour. Until we meet again.” Tommy saluted smartly, head held high.
“Will we? Meet again, I mean.”
“I don’t know. I hope so. Anything’s possible.”
“That’s true. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through working for Torchwood, it’s to keep an open mind. Goodbye, Tommy.”
Whistling a jaunty tune, Tommy turned, lightning flashed, and when her vision cleared, Tosh was alone. Thinking bittersweet thoughts of what might have been, she wandered back into the hallway, head bowed, not quite sure what to do now. Maybe she should just go back to the others. She almost screamed when a hand grabbed her arm, the relaxed as she saw it was just Owen.
“Owen, what did you do that for? You almost scared the life out of me!”
“Sorry, I called your name a few times, but you didn’t answer.” Owen sounded out of breath. “God, I never would’ve believed the hallway could be so long. I swear the house didn’t look this big from the outside. I feel like I’ve just run half a bloody mile!”
Tosh couldn’t help giggling. “Well, it can’t be east running with a blanket wrapped around you and a candle in one hand.”
“Yeah, nearly tripped myself up a couple times,” he admitted. “What are you doing wandering around this place alone?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Actually, I woke up and came looking for you. Thought it might be fun to explore the spooky old house together, but I got a bit sidetracked before I could find you.” She looked down, embarrassed, remembering that Owen didn’t believe in ghosts.
“Who did you see?”
The quiet question surprised Tosh, and she glanced up to see Owen just looking at her, no trace of sarcasm in his face or voice. Still, Tosh didn’t want to give him a chance to make fun of her.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I came out here because I heard Katie calling my name. I thought it was a dream, but it’s not. She was real, Tosh. I talked to her. Just, please don’t tell the others, I’d never hear the end of it, not after what I said about not believing in ghosts.”
“I won’t tell a soul. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think I am. It was so good to see her, Tosh. She was just like when I first met her; funny and bubbly and so full of life. Lately, every time I’ve thought of her it’s been as she was just before she died and it scared me that I was forgetting the way she used to be, before she got sick. But that’s stupid ‘cause I could never forget. She’ll always be with me in here,” he tapped his head, “and in here.” He laid his hand over his heart. “She’s right though, it’s time I stopped livin’ in the past, I’ve gotta get on with my own life. Promised her I’d try anyway.” He smiled wanly. “I’ll never stop lovin’ her, don’t think I could if I tried but maybe I can find someone else and love them as much, just differently.”
Tosh looked thoughtful. “I think every love is different, because every person is different. No one can feel exactly the same about two completely different people.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. So… who did you see?”
“It was Tommy.”
“Tommy Brockless? That Tommy?”
Nodding, Tosh leant against the wall. “I’ve felt so guilty about making him go back, knowing he was going to be executed for cowardice. I know there was no other choice, he had to use the key, but I just wanted there to be another way. He didn’t deserve to die like that.”
“No, he didn’t. He was a hero, even if hardly anyone will ever know. Was he angry?”
“Not at all,” Tosh said softly, shaking her head in bewilderment. “He just wanted to thank me for making his last few days so happy and giving him a chance to be a hero. Can you imagine that?”
“I thought Katie would be mad at me for not being able to save her, but she’s only disappointed with me for the way I’ve been livin’ my life. Well, not really livin’ when you think about it, more existing day-to-day.”
They were walking slowly side by side, back towards the room they’d all set up camp in.
“You still want to go exploring?” Owen asked after a moment’s silence.
“Not really, I’m a bit tired now.”
“Yeah, me too. Time enough to explore in the morning when we can see better. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a signal on our phones once the storm’s blown itself out. Might as well try to sleep until then.
Slipping back into the front parlour, everything looked exactly as it had when Tosh had left, Ianto and Jack fast asleep in each other’s arms, Gwen cocooned in the blanket she was supposed to be sharing with Tosh. Owen chuckled.
“Sorry you got stuck with the blanket hog. You can share my blanket for the rest of the night if you want. Promise I won’t grope you or anything. Scout’s honour!”
“You were never a scout,” Tosh teased, blushing a little.
“Yeah, you got me. How about it though?”
“Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind…”
”Nah, we can keep each other warm.”
“Okay then.”
A few minutes later, coats and shoes discarded, they were snuggled under Owen’s blanket.
“G’night, Tosh. Sweet dreams,” Owen mumbled sleepily. Tomorrow, when they were back at the Hub and he’d had a chance to shower so he looked less like a drowned rat, Owen thought he’s ask Tosh out on that date. Who knew where it would lead?
“Night, Owen,” Tosh replied through a yawn. Within minutes they were sound asleep.
None of the team stirred again until the autumn sun shone through the window the following morning, rousing them.
OoOoOoO
Waking proved somewhat disorienting. The storm had clearly blown itself out during the night, hence the bright sunlight, but there were other differences that were less easily explainable. As they sat up and looked around in bewilderment, it was Owen who said what they were all thinking.
“What the fuck? This isn’t the room we were in last night!”
He was right. Oh, it was a parlour of sorts, and there was a stone fireplace containing the ashes of their fire, even some candles burned down to almost nothing, but that was where the resemblance ended.
Scrambling to their feet, they looked around at the rather cramped little room they were in. It had two doorways, one leading into a small kitchen, the other into a tiny entrance foyer containing a narrow staircase and two more doors. The fireplace was less than a quarter the size of the one they’d lit their fire in the previous night and their ‘candelabra’ were now plain metal candlesticks, each holding the remains of a single candle.
“This isn’t possible!” Gwen stated firmly. “How did someone move us and all our gear to another house while we were asleep? Were we drugged somehow?”
“No,” said Jack quietly. “No one moved us anywhere, this is where we came last night.”
“No it’s not! Last night we were in a ruined mansion, I remember it clearly!”
“We all do, it was the archetypal haunted house,” Ianto smirked. “I suppose the spirits of the departed have a certain sense of what’s proper. It was Halloween, after all. They wanted the right setting so they provided it.”
Jack, Tosh and Owen were all nodding, smiling slightly at each other. Gwen looked from one to another, confused.
“What are you on about?”
“You mean you didn’t see any spirits last night?” asked Jack, surprised.
“Of course not. It’s like Owen said; ghosts don’t exist.”
Ianto shrugged. “Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but I know what I saw last night, and I know who I talked to. It felt real to me, not a dream or an illusion.” He looked at Gwen. “Maybe you didn’t see anyone because you’re the only one of us to have never lost a loved one or felt responsible for the death of a good person. Maybe there aren’t any spirits out there who feel the need to communicate something important to you. And maybe you should be thankful for that.”
Gwen nodded slowly. “I am, I still have my parents, my grandparents, Rhys. So who did you all see?”
“I think,” Jack said, “who we saw and what was said should remain private. The messages we were given were for our ears alone. Let’s leave it at that. Come on, better find the SUV and see what the damage is. I want to be back in Cardiff by lunchtime. Okay?”
Filing out, carrying all the gear they’d brought with them, they glanced back at the small, derelict two-storey farmhouse that had been their shelter in the storm. As they looked around, Ianto pointed out the weathered remains of older walls, ridges in the ground that could mark foundations of a much larger building.
“This isn’t the first building to stand on this spot; whatever was here before, maybe that’s what we saw last night. Perhaps even houses have a spirit that lingers and can return on Halloween if the circumstances are just right.”
“A ghost house?” Tosh asked.
“Good an explanation as any, isn’t it?”
OoOoOoO
They found the SUV a couple of hundred yards down the road, seemingly abandoned on the wide grass verge that ran alongside it. The front wheels had come to rest in a shallow dip rather than the deep, water filled ditch they remembered. Of the fallen tree, there was no sign.
Jack laughed and shook his head. “Our ghosts went to a lot of trouble to get us right where they wanted us. I guess they must have been really determined to talk to us.”
“They had good reasons,” Ianto said, starting to load their gear back into the boot.
“They did,” Tosh agreed, moving to give her friend a hand. “There were things we needed to say to them too.”
“Yeah, and you know what?” said Owen, handing his backpack to Ianto. When everyone turned to look at him enquiringly, he grinned. “Best Halloween ever!”
“I’ll second that.” Ianto slammed the boot shut and moved towards the driver’s door as Jack slid into the passenger seat. “I vote we stop somewhere for breakfast on our way back.” There was a general murmur of agreement as the others piled in and fastened their seat belts. “Looks like we’re all agreed then.” He turned the key in the ignition and pulled back onto the road, heading for home.
If anyone had thought to look back, they might have seen a faint shimmering where a majestic manor house had once stood, and the indistinct outlines of six people standing together.
“D’you think they’ll be okay?” Katie asked.
“Yeah,” Lisa replied, smiling. “I think they’ll be just fine.”
The End
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Owen, Tosh, Ianto, Jack, Gwen, special guests.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 9055
Spoilers: Everything Changes, They Keep Killing Suzie, Cyberwoman, Fragments, To The Last Man
Summary: The team run into a spot of trouble one Halloween and have to seek shelter.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge #98: Haunted.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Back in 2012, I wrote a Halloween drabble about the Torchwood team getting stranded on the spookiest night of the year; I intended to expand on it at some point, but I forgot. Someone reminded me earlier this year, but I’ve been so busy with various challenges that I didn’t think I’d have time. Then along came the perfect challenge, and after nine days and over 9000 words, it’s finally finished.
This also goes back to the original version of the drabble which never got posted because severe storms hit America; it seemed in bad taste to echo that in a piece of fanfiction at the time. Hope you all enjoy the Torchwood team’s Halloween odyssey.
October 31st had seen the whole team traipsing about the countryside chasing a signal that turned out to be a computer glitch. As if that hadn’t been bad enough, as they scrambled into the SUV with the light fading fast, the storm that had been threatening all afternoon finally broke. Rain came pouring down in a solid sheet and the wind hit the SUV so hard it actually rocked on its axles. Owen slumped into his seat.
“Bloody great. Just what we needed.”
“At least we’re not still out in it,” Tosh said, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Small consolation. Now we’re stuck here until the rain lets up.” Owen had to shout to be heard above the sound of rain pounding the metal roof of the SUV. “It’s like bein’ inside a bleedin’ drum!” Ianto twisted in his seat and tossed something into Owen’s lap, where he sat between the two girls. “What the fuck?”
“Earplugs!” Ianto shouted. “Hand them out!” He popped a pair in his own ears.
“I take back everything insulting I ever said about you; you’re a bloody marvel, teaboy!”
Earplugs reducing the deafening racket to a distant rumble, Jack turned the key in the ignition and fired up the SUV’s engine. The only way any of them could tell it was running was from the faint vibration through their seats. With the windscreen wipers on their fastest setting and the headlights on full, Jack pulled out cautiously onto the deserted two-lane road and set off in the general direction of Cardiff. It had taken them nearly two hours to get here with Jack driving in his usual reckless fashion, but it looked like the return journey would take a lot longer. Jack seemed to be taking the treacherous conditions seriously and driving at a more sensible speed, probably because of the poor visibility.
About half an hour later, the rain started to ease off and Jack speeded up a bit. The rest of the team pocketed their earplugs, glad that they could talk to each other again. Time dragged when all you had for entertainment were your own thoughts and the sight of rain pouring down the windows.
The rain might have trailed off to a drizzle but if anything, the wind had only increased. The trees along the roadside were whipping about in a frenzy and they could all feel the SUV being buffeted by fierce gusts. Despite his apparent recklessness, Jack was actually an excellent driver; he kept them at a steady speed, quick reflexes compensating easily when the wind tried to force them off the road. It was these same 51st century reflexes that saved them from what could have been complete disaster.
Up ahead, lightning flashed suddenly, almost dazzling them, and with a loud crack one of the roadside trees, its roots unable to withstand the force of the wind, suddenly toppled across the road barely thirty metres ahead of them. Stamping on the brakes and clutch, Jack spun the wheel, sending the SUV into a skid. They would probably have been alright if the road at that point hadn’t been bordered by wide ditches, which were now full to overflowing thanks to the torrential rain. Try as he might, Jack was unable to prevent the SUV sliding inexorably sideways, coming to rest tipped at an angle and mostly in the ditch. Water immediately began to flood the interior and as if to add insult to injury, the clouds opened once more.
“Everyone out!” Jack yelled as the vehicle settled deeper into the freezing cold water. “Grab what you can.”
Snatching up the kits they’d been carrying earlier, everyone scrambled up and out the passenger side doors, since the driver’s side was mostly underwater. As luck would have it, one rear wheel remained on relatively dry land and with Jack’s help, Ianto was able to open the boot and toss some emergency equipment to the other members of the team. He couldn’t reach everything, but hopefully they’d have the essentials. Right now, their top priority was finding shelter for the night. This far out in the country and in weather this severe, getting a phone signal, even on Torchwood’s alien-tech augmented mobiles, was unlikely.
“We passed a building of some kind about a mile back,” Ianto shouted over a deep rumble of thunder, gesturing back the way they’d come. “That might be our best bet.”
“Okay,” Jack shouted back. “The sooner we get out of this rain, the better. Let’s get moving, people.”
Already soaked through by a combination of rain and ditch water, and feeling chilled to the bone, the team turned and started back along the road, heads down, battling against the fierce wind, hanging on to each other to avoid getting separated.
None of them had any idea how long they’d been walking before they finally saw the building, a darker shape looming against a backdrop of storm-tossed trees in the deepening gloom of approaching night. It was set well back from the road at the end of a long, rutted and overgrown drive, surrounded by neglected gardens and tangled shrubberies. As they stumbled towards it, tripping on roots and rocks, they realised it was quite a lot bigger than it had seemed from the road, a solidly built and once-grand three-storey manor house gradually falling into ruin.
Owen stared at it gloomily. “Here I was, hoping for a nice country hotel or even a farmhouse and what do we get? A ruin. Why’d we have to come here?” He scowled at Ianto. “Couldn’t you pick somewhere better?”
“This could be the only building of any kind in miles; it’s certainly the only one we passed. We should all be thankful, at least we’ll have some shelter from the wind and rain.”
“Yeah, I suppose. What a crap way to spend Halloween! I had plans.”
Jack slapped him on the back.
“Look on the bright side, Owen; maybe it’s haunted!”
Owen glared pityingly at him. “I’m a scientist, I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Suit yourself. Let’s get inside.”
The front door was half-open, hanging by one hinge, so they squeezed through the gap one by one. Owen and Jack did what they could to wedge the heavy wooden door closed against the howling wind while Ianto rummaged through what they’d salvaged from the SUV and produced three torches, handing them out.
“Try to use them as little as possible. We only have one spare set of batteries and we’re going to be stuck here all night.”
“First things first,” said Jack, taking charge. “We should find the best room to camp out in. One with a fireplace would be good. There’s enough broken furniture that we might be able to get a fire going.”
“Assuming the chimneys aren’t blocked. We’d better make a small test fire first, don’t want to fill the place up with smoke,” Ianto cautioned.
A quick check of the nearest rooms provided just what they needed in what seemed to be the front parlour or receiving room, which had a wide stone fireplace almost big enough for a man to stand up in. While Ianto used a broken plank to sweep debris to one end out of the way, Owen stuck his head up the chimney and shone his torch upwards briefly.
“Looks clear to me. I think we’ll be okay if we’re careful.”
“That’s good news. Owen, give me a hand collecting firewood. Ianto, you’re in charge of getting the fire started. The sooner we can get out of our wet clothes the better.” It was testimony to the seriousness of their situation that Jack didn’t even leer when he said that.
“Hey guys, look what we found!” said Tosh as she and Gwen came back into the parlour from the adjoining dining room. They were each carrying a couple of tarnished and slightly bent candelabra and some candles.
Ianto grinned.
“Brilliant! That’ll save the torches.” He tossed Tosh a box of matches. “Find somewhere safe to stand them. I could do with some light so I can see what I’m doing.”
OoOoOoO
Half an hour later, with a roaring fire going in the hearth and the candles providing flickering light the team, stripped down to their underwear, were wrapped in emergency thermal blankets. Their outer clothes, draped over a makeshift washing line, were drying out in front of the fire. As they only had three blankets, Ianto and Jack were sharing one, Gwen and Tosh had the second, and Owen had the last one all to himself. Ianto had shared out the emergency food rations and water, so they were nibbling on energy bars, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate; not the best meal ever but a lot better than spending the night hungry.
As they’d expected, getting a signal on their phones had proved impossible, so in the spirit of both Halloween and making the best out of their situation, they did what any sensible group of people stranded in a spooky house would do. They told each other ghost stories until eventually they all fell asleep.
OoOoOoO
Jack didn’t know at first what had woken him. Everything was quiet and the fire was still burning well so he couldn’t have been asleep all that long. Ianto stirred beside him.
“Jack? Everything okay?” he asked drowsily.
“It’s fine, just thought I heard something. Stay put, I’ll be right back.”
Jack slid out of their blanket cocoon, tucking it warmly back around Ianto, who was already drifting off again. Pulling on his mostly dry trousers and shoving a torch in one pocket, just in case, he picked up his Webley and one of the candelabra, padded silently to the parlour door, and slipped through, closing it behind him. It was colder in the hall, away from their roaring fire, and a draught made the candle flames flicker, throwing weird shadows on the walls.
“Jaaack.”
Yes, that was what had woken him, someone was calling his name; just a breathy whisper of sound but somehow it was clearly audible above the storm that still raged outside. Looking around, he saw a dim light at the far end of the long hallway and walked cautiously towards it, only to see it slip sideways into one of the rooms to the rear of the house. Curious but cautious he followed, stepping into what looked like it had once been the music room. A slender, dark-haired woman stood by a battered grand piano, running one hand lovingly across the dusty top. As if sensing his presence, she started to speak.
“My mother used to play piano. She told me she’d teach me when I was old enough to reach the pedals, but then she died and daddy sold the piano. I hated him so much for that.” She turned away from the piano and smiled sadly at Jack.
“Hello, Jack. It’s been a while. You still look the same.”
“Suzie? How can you be here?”
“It’s Halloween, Jack. The night the dead walk the earth. Well, those of us who have unfinished business anyway. And you can put the gun down; you can’t kill a ghost. I’m as dead as it’s possible to get.” She smiled wryly. “I ended up dying quite a lot, didn’t I? Not as often as you though.”
“What do you want? Why are you here?” He watched her warily, noting that she didn’t cast a shadow.
“I just wanted to see you, and to apologise. Not that it’ll do any good, it won’t bring back the people I killed. That wasn’t me though, not really. The glove did something to me, changed me somehow.” She sighed and shook her head, then looked right at Jack. “It wasn’t your fault, you have to know that. There must always have been some… darkness in me, a kind of hunger, greed, a need to know and understand, to control. The glove… it found that part of me and latched on the first time I touched it. That was entirely my fault; you always told us never to touch with bare hands if we didn’t know what something was. But I did and it got inside my head, took control. It was like an addiction, I couldn’t get enough; it twisted my thoughts so I believed I was controlling it but I wasn’t, it was using me for its own purposes. I think I went mad. Anyway, there was nothing you could have done; from the moment I touched it I was beyond saving.” She shrugged. “I just wanted you to know that. I’m free now; the glove is destroyed. You need to stop blaming yourself.”
She looked like the Suzie he’d known at the start; a strong, vibrant girl, full of curiosity and wonder, not the jaded, hard-eyed woman she’d become. His heart ached at what Torchwood had done to her.
“I don’t know if I can. I should have known there was something wrong, should have seen the signs. You’d changed and I never even stopped to wonder why.”
“Torchwood changes us all over time, it’s gradual and inevitable. None of us are the same people we were when we started. You gave me so much, Jack, showed me that there was more to the universe than I ever could have imagined. You trusted me, and you gave me a purpose. I’m sorry I let you down.” She stepped close, leaning in to lightly kiss his cheek, the touch of her lips barely tangible. “Goodbye Jack, forgive yourself and be happy. If it helps, I forgave you long ago,” and with that, she vanished, leaving Jack standing alone in a dark, dilapidated room. He set his candelabra on the old piano and shoved one hand though his hair, drawing a shaky breath.
“Okay, that was weird.”
“I suspect that was only the beginning.” Jack jumped as a tall figure stepped out of the shadows by the wall. “Good to see you, Jack. You’re looking well.”
“Alex?”
“Looks like you rebuilt the team and carried on after… Well, after the millennium. I always figured you’d just take off, get away from Torchwood at the first chance you got. I underestimated you, but I guess I did that a lot. You would have made a far better leader than I did. I should’ve said no when Hartman offered me the job; I couldn’t handle the stress.”
“What are you talking about, Alex? You were a great leader.”
Alex snorted disparagingly. “I was a mess; depression, paranoid delusions, post-traumatic stress. I was good at hiding it though, had Torchwood One’s psychiatrists completely fooled. Thought I could handle it by myself, then one little vision of the future tipped me over the edge and I… I killed them all, didn’t I? Left you to clean up the mess and took the easy way out. They didn’t deserve to die like that.”
”No, they didn’t. They were good people, Alex; young people with their lives ahead of them. You cheated them out of that.”
“I know, and I’ve apologized to them. Maybe in time they’ll be able to forgive me.”
“You’ve seen them? Since you died?”
“Oh yes. Not that they want anything to do with me. I don’t blame them for being angry.” He looked at Jack with a tired smile. “What about you, Jack? Do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive me? I saw what was coming, the Battle of Canary Wharf, and instead of trying to find a way to prevent it, I took the coward’s way out. You wouldn’t have done that.”
“I couldn’t find a way to prevent it either. Maybe there wasn’t one. I tried to warn Yvonne, but she didn’t listen. She never listened to me, and sometimes I think she got exactly what she deserved, if only she hadn’t taken so many innocents down with her.”
“At least you tried. I just gave up. I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you. I’ve made more than my share of mistakes; I don’t have any right to judge others for theirs.”
“Thank you, Jack, that means a lot. Maybe one day I’ll be able to forgive myself. Take care of your team; they’re good people.” Alex nodded and turned, melting back into the shadows, leaving Jack alone, the silence of the room broken only by the strangely distant sound of the storm outside. He wondered who else he might see tonight; was there anyone else he’d even want to see? Old lovers, former team mates, the original Captain Jack Harkness telling him he forgave Jack for stealing his name? Maybe not, some things were best left in the past where they belonged.
“Jack?”
He almost jumped out of his skin, spinning around.
“Ianto! What’re you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing. You said you’d be right back, but you weren’t. I got worried. Who were you talking to? I thought I heard voices.”
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes. Places like this, on a night like this, I could probably be persuaded. Why?”
“I think I might have just talked to a couple.”
“Just random ghosts, or people you knew?”
“The latter. Just now, it was Alex Hopkins.”
“Your predecessor? The guy who massacred his whole team?”
“Aside from me. Yeah, that’s the one. And before that, I’d swear I was talking to Suzie.”
“Suzie? Seriously? What did she have to say?”
“That what happened to her wasn’t my fault.”
“I’ve been telling you that practically since it happened. Maybe now you’ll believe it.”
Jack smiled faintly. “Maybe I will. Come on, let’s get back to the fire, it’s chilly out here.”
“You’re just noticing that?” Ianto rubbed his arms; he was mostly dressed, but still feeling the cold.
“No, but I didn’t feel it so much when I was talking to… Do you think it really was them?”
“Halloween is supposed to be the night the spirits of the dead come back to visit. If there’s any truth at all in the old myths and folk tales, then it’s possible.” They left the old music room and started back down the hallway side by side, when Ianto suddenly stopped dead. “Did you hear that?”
Jack nodded. “Yeah. Sounded like someone calling your name.”
“Iantoooo.”
It could almost have been an errant gust of wind, it was so low and breathy, but they both knew it wasn’t. Turning around, they saw a faintly glowing figure standing by a doorway, back down the hall.
“Lisa?” Ianto grabbed Jack’s arm. “Jack, that looks like Lisa, the way she was before Canary Wharf.” He turned to the other man. “What should I do?”
“Go and talk to her? I’ll wait here for you.”
“You’re not coming?”
“It’s not me she wants to talk to. Ianto, if that’s Lisa, the real Lisa, then you can’t waste this chance. It might never come again.”
“You’re right. There are things I never got to say to her, things I only said to the Cyberwoman thinking it was still my Lisa.” His voice cracked slightly on the last words and he looked at Jack again. “I still love her, but I…”
“I know. Go on, quickly. She might not stay long.” Jack squeezed Ianto’s hand and smiled encouragingly.
“Thank you.” Ianto hurried towards the doorway as Lisa’s ‘ghost’ drifted into the room. Entering after her, he found himself in a mouldering library. Old books in varying stages of decay clustered in worn, sagging bookcases; leather wingback chairs with the stuffing oozing out sat around an empty fireplace. Lisa was standing by the bookcase on the far side of the fireplace.
“Once upon a time, this must have been a beautiful room. Imagine sitting in one of those chairs, a roaring fire in the grate, sipping cognac and reading one of these books while the wind howled outside.”
Ianto smiled. Lisa had always had a vivid imagination.
“Sounds perfect; I always wanted a room like this.” He looked at the figure before him. “Is it really you?”
“It’s me. It’s good to see you, Ianto. You look good; you’ve filled out a bit and I swear you’ve grown taller!”
“Maybe an inch or so. Lisa, I’m so sorry…”
Moving gracefully across the room, she put a finger to his lips, barely felt. “Hush. I didn’t come to make you feel guilty, love. You have nothing to apologize for. I didn’t suffer for long; it was very fast, as soon as the conversion process started I was gone. All that was left was the machine and some stolen memories. I know what you tried to do, and I’m so sorry that thing deceived you, making you think I was still alive, but in a way, it did you a favour.”
“What are you talking about? It killed you!”
“I know; I was there. But I know you, Ianto Jones; if you hadn’t thought you could save me, you would have just given up, like the other ‘survivors’. Caring for what you thought was me, it gave you a purpose, a reason to keep going, and I can’t help being grateful for that. I died, but you’re still living.” She chuckled. “Jack’s obviously good for you.” There was that old teasing glint in her eyes, the look she always got when she knew something he didn’t know she knew. Ianto started to smile, but then realised what she’d just said.
“Wait, you know about Jack?”
“Of course, idiot! I’ve been keeping an eye on you from time to time, just to make sure you’re okay. I was worried about what you might do after you realised that metal monster had tricked you.”
“So, you’re okay with it?”
Lisa laughed, just the way she used to, happy and carefree.
“Why wouldn’t I be? Ianto, I want you to be happy, to really live and have a good life. You deserve that so much. Jack makes you happy, he’s just what you need. I like him, even if his ego is even bigger than his…” She trailed off with a filthy grin.
“Lisa!” Ianto blushed furiously.
“What, I can’t look?” she giggled. “I’m dead, let me at least have some fun! I would have gone for a threesome with you two, given half a chance.”
“I wouldn’t. I could never have shared you, Lisa. Not with anyone.”
“I know. I love you, Ianto. Always will. But I’m glad you’re getting on with your life, I don’t have to worry about you anymore.”
“What about you? Are you happy? What’s the afterlife like?”
“I can’t tell you that; I think it’s probably different for everyone anyway, but am I happy? Yes. I can look in on you sometimes, and I’ve been granted this chance to talk with you again. Thank you, Ianto. You made me so very happy when I was alive, I wouldn’t trade the time we had together for anything.”
“Neither would I. I still miss you.”
“Miss you too, love. Just remember that I’m watching over you, even though you can’t see me. I’ll try not to stop by at inappropriate moments. Well, not too often anyway. I have to go now.” She backed away slowly, as if reluctant to stop looking at him.
“Lisa, wait!” As she paused, he took a step forwards. “Will I ever see you again?”
“I don’t know. Maybe there’ll be another Halloween when you’re in the right place. The world of the living and the afterlife are very close in this place; it makes reaching across the gap much easier. I won’t say goodbye. Take care of yourself.”
“You too, Lisa. I’ll always love you.”
“You’d better!” She winked cheekily, took a step back and was gone.
Ianto let out a breath and wiped his eyes, happiness at seeing her warring with reawakened grief over her death. Seeing her again, being able to talk with her, was a blessing, but that didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt.
He stood quietly for a few minutes, deep in thought, remembering all the good times they’d shared, before finally turning towards the door. He didn’t want to keep Jack waiting too long. But before he’d taken more than a couple of steps, another voice from behind him brought him to a halt again.
“You must have loved her a great deal.” The voice was vaguely familiar, but Ianto couldn’t quite place it. He turned towards the window and stepped back in shock.
“Annie?”
“Hi, Ianto!” She grinned and gave him a little wave.
“Oh God, Annie! She killed you, and it was all my fault!” Ianto’s guilt at the death of the friendly pizza girl had been eating away at him since she’d become a victim of the cyberwoman.
“Don’t be so daft. I always was too nosy for my own good. My gran used to tell me it would get me killed one day; guess she was right. If anyone was to blame, it was me and the monster that did the deed.”
“The monster wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t hidden her. It.”
“And I wouldn’t have been there if Tony hadn’t called in sick and Simon hadn’t asked me to cover for him. It was supposed to be my night off. Ianto, there are a thousand, maybe a million ways it could have been different and none of them matter. Everything happened the way it did, and maybe there was a reason and maybe there wasn’t, but blaming yourself doesn’t help anything. I’m dead, and honestly? It’s not bad at all. I get to see all the people I love who passed on before me; I’ve been home and freaked Moe out completely! The first time, anyway. He got used to me after that. Cats can see me, how weird is that? People can’t though. Not most of the time, anyway. Doesn’t matter, I can see them. Thanks, by the way. For telling them it was a hit and run. My maniac brother drives a lot more carefully now. I used to worry he’d hit someone, he came close to sideswiping motorcyclists a time or two.”
“How can you be so casual about everything? Your family were devastated!”
“I know, and I’m sad about that, I am, but no one lives for ever, and at least it means I didn’t disappoint my parents.”
“What d’you mean?”
“They’re both teachers, so are my brothers, they all wanted me to follow in their footsteps, and I tried, I really did, but I was failing my classes at Uni. Badly. I just wasn’t cut out to teach, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Dying solved quite a few problems. I’m enjoying being dead a whole lot more than I enjoyed my last few months of life. It’s opened my eyes to a lot of things. I think I’m where I’m needed now. That’s really what I wanted you to know: Don’t feel bad about my death, I don’t blame you so you shouldn’t blame yourself. We were friends, yeah? Sort of, anyway. I don’t want my death to weigh you down. You have so much ahead of you, Ianto! If you only knew what I know… But I can’t tell you. Spoilers. See you around sometime!” Laughing happily, she slipped into the shadows and faded from view, leaving Ianto feeling a bit dazed. Turning slowly, he wandered out of the library, frowning a little, and almost walked straight into Jack.
“Whoa there! You okay? You look a bit… I don’t know, confused I think.”
Ianto nodded slowly. “Confused would be an accurate description at this point. Do you remember Annie? Pizza girl, the one Lisa… the cyberwoman killed?”
“I remember. She was pretty. Great body.”
“Of course, should’ve known that would be the first thing to cross your mind.” Ianto rolled his eyes; Jack was so predictable sometimes. “Anyway, apparently she quite likes being dead. How does that even work? She had all her life ahead of her, a family who adored her and were devastated at losing her, but she’s enjoying her death. Oh, and I have a lot to look forward to but she can’t tell me what because of spoilers.”
“Well, as long as she’s happy that’s what matters, right?”
“I suppose. It’s just weird seeing someone shrug off their death as if it was just a momentary inconvenience.”
“I thought you were talking to Lisa though.”
“Yep! Lisa first, Annie second. Must be some sort of two-for-one deal on ghosts. One night only.” Ianto stopped dead in his tracks. “I just talked to ghosts!”
“We both did!” Jack was almost bouncing. “How cool is that? It means there really must be something beyond death!”
Ianto couldn’t help smiling at Jack’s excitement. Anyway, he was right; it was rather reassuring to know that death wasn’t the end. That Lisa and Annie were both happy in death. He dug his elbow in Jack’s ribs. “Lisa’s been spying on us.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, I think she’s become quite the voyeur since she died! She likes you.”
“What’s not to like?” Jack grinned his cheesiest grin. “Come on, let’s get back to the others, where it’s warmer.” He slipped his arm around Ianto’s waist as they made their way back to the front parlour and the warmth of their blanket, managing to settle back in without waking anybody.
OoOoOoO
Owen woke with a start, sure he’d just heard Katie calling him. Rolling onto his back, he lay in the flickering light from the candles and fire, listening intently.
“Owennnn.”
There it was again! He snorted to himself. What was he thinking? He didn’t believe in ghosts. But it really had sounded like Katie. Maybe he was dreaming. Yes; that had to be it. He’d just go and see what Katie wanted; it was always good to see her in dreams, even though his heart just about broke afterwards. Time enough to be sad later, he wasn’t going to miss the chance to see her. Slipping out from under his blanket, he pulled on his clothes, thankfully just about dry by now, then snatched up the blanket and wrapped it around him. He picked up one of the candelabra and tiptoed out of the parlour, pulling the door to behind him.
It was dark in the long hallway, but he could see a faint glow down the far end so he headed quickly towards it, somehow knowing that was where he’d find his Katie. Well, that was the way it was with dreams, right? You just knew stuff without knowing how.
At the end of the hall, he turned left into a massive old kitchen. There were dry leaves piled in corners, the windows were broken but overgrown shrubs blocked them, gnarled branches poking through the gaps and effectively keeping most of the storm outside. Katie was wandering around, examining everything. Owen wasn’t really surprised to find her in a kitchen; she’d loved to bake, had even talked about baking their wedding cake when he’d first proposed.
“Just look at all this!” She gestured around herself, eyes wide and sparkling with delight. “I would’ve loved a kitchen like this. Well, not exactly like it, it would need to be modernised, but the size! Just think what we could’ve done with all this space!”
“Our whole flat would’ve fit in here,” Owen laughed, caught up in her enthusiasm.
“These old houses were built on a grand scale. Wouldn’t want to have to clean it though.” She wrinkled her nose. “Too much like hard work.”
“Oh, so that’s why you always made me wash the dishes after your baking sessions.”
“Fair division of labour, Doctor Harper. One bakes, the other cleans up. You always got rewarded.”
That was true. Katie’s cakes and biscuits were delicious. If she hadn’t insisted that they go jogging, it wouldn’t have been long before none of their clothes fit.
“You look gorgeous,” he told her.
“I wanted to look my best for you.” She turned serious. “Owen, you have to stop. All the getting drunk and getting laid, it’s not good for you. I worry. You’re throwing your life away one night at a time and it hurts so much to see you like that. I’ve been gone more than four years now; isn’t it time you moved on?”
“What if I don’t want to move on? Katie, you’re all I ever wanted! How can I just forget that? Forget you?”
“I’m not asking you to forget, but there’s more to life than one night stands. You deserve better. I know you think you don’t, that you should have been able to save me, but you’re wrong. You’re a good man, Owen Harper, and a great doctor. You should have a family, the life we used to dream of.”
Owen was shaking his head. “It wouldn’t be the same, Katie. Not without you! We had so many plans. Why did that thing have to kill you? Why couldn’t it have been me instead?”
“Because you are a better doctor than I ever could have been. The world needed you.”
“And I needed you! I still need you!” He turned away, pacing the length of the room and staring sightlessly at the tangled twigs that blocked the windows, leaves turned autumn colours.
“Owen, look at me.”
Reluctantly he turned. She was standing a few feet behind him, though he hadn’t heard her approach. His heart ached at the sight of her, face stern and arms folded. It was her ‘no nonsense’ look; he always gave in to that look.
“I was unlucky, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and yeah, when I could think clearly I was angry at the way my life seemed to be falling apart just when everything was perfect. But there was nothing you or anyone else could do. I doubt even your Torchwood could have saved me. I died, but you’re still here. Please, Owen, don’t waste the life you’ve got. She loves you, you know, and you barely even give her the time of day. The girls you waste your nights on, they can’t give you what you need, but she could, if you’d just let her.”
“Who’re you talkin’ about?” Owen sounded defensive, even to his own ears.
“Don’t give me that, Harper. You know exactly who I’m talking about. Toshiko.”
“Tosh? But…”
“You like her. More than you let on, I think. You just don’t believe you deserve her love. But you know what? It doesn’t matter what you believe. She believes you deserve her love, and nothing you do is going to change her mind. So stop pushing her away. Let her in and maybe then you’ll finally allow your heart to heal. You’ve mourned me long enough, Owen. It hurts me to see the way you’re wasting your life. I want to be able to stop worrying about you all the time and I can’t do that until I know you’ve got someone to take care of you. Lord knows you’ve never been good at taking care of yourself. Have you even learned to cook yet?”
Owen dropped his gaze to the floor, shuffling his feet. Katie gave a snort of laughter.
“Thought not. Still living on takeaways and ready meals I suppose. You’re hopeless.” She was silent for so long, he looked up quickly, thinking she must have gone, but she was just watching him, a sad but gentle smile on her face.
“Give her a chance, Owen. Please. For me?”
He couldn’t deny her anything when she looked at him like that.
“Okay, I’ll give her a chance, take her on a date or something. No promises though. No one could ever take your place.”
“There’s room in your heart for more than one love; you don’t have to stop loving me to love someone else. One day the whole of humanity will realise that and stop beating themselves up for moving on after losing someone they still love. Every love is different, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be just as special. I still love you, dying hasn’t changed that. It’s why I want you to be happy with someone else, so you can have love in your life again with someone who can love you back in all the ways you need. Maybe Toshiko will be the one, maybe she won’t, but you have to start somewhere. You’ve buried your head in the sand too long already. Time you took another look at the world.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s just so hard.”
“Nothing worth having is ever easy. That’s what mum used to say, and she was always right. Be well and happy, Owen.”
“I’ll try. I love you.”
“You too. Bye, Owen.”
Even as she turned away she was fading and before he could even blink she was gone from sight.
“Goodbye, Katie love,” he sighed. Pulling his blanket tighter against the chill, he made his way slowly out of the kitchen, heading back to the front of the house.
OoOoOoO
Tosh had been woken by a chilly draft; Gwen must have rolled over, pulling the blanket they shared half off her. Shivering, she got up to see if her clothes were dry yet and noticed that Owen was missing, along with his clothes and his blanket. The draft must have been from the door as he slipped out.
Knowing she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep now that she was awake, especially with Gwen hogging the blanket, Tosh dressed quickly and decided to see if she could find Owen. Perhaps he couldn’t sleep either; the storm had grown even worse as they’d slept and now the wind was howling around the house like a horde of banshees. Even as she pulled on her boots, a flash of lightning lit the room as bright as day, almost dazzling her, and thunder crashed overhead. Gwen muttered something unintelligible in her sleep, pulling the blanket over her head, but didn’t wake. Tosh glanced over to where Jack and Ianto were snuggled close together under their blanket and smiled at the sight; it shouldn’t be possible for two grown men to look so ridiculously cute.
Pulling her now dry coat around her, Tosh checked her watch by the light of the nearest candle; it was just before midnight on all hallows eve and she was in a deserted mansion in the middle of nowhere. Grinning excitedly at the thought of sneaking about in such a spooky place on the most haunted night of the year, she snatched up a torch in case her candles got blown out, picked up the nearest candelabra and slipped quickly and quietly through the door into the hallway, closing it carefully behind her so the others wouldn’t be woken.
The stairs looked pretty rickety so it was unlikely that Owen had gone up there. He’d probably followed the hallway towards the back of the house. There were a lot of rooms back there that they hadn’t bothered to check since they’d been cold and drenched, just wanting to find somewhere they could shut out the wind and dry off. Maybe Owen had decided to explore a bit. Heading down the hall herself, she paused to have a quick look around each room as she passed. The place was a bit of a maze with rooms leading into each other, so she didn’t go too far, not wanting to get lost on her own. She hadn’t realised it was such a huge house. Maybe when she found Owen they could explore together.
Stepping back into the hall from what seemed to have once been a music room, the wind chose than moment to drop briefly to a whisper and she thought she could hear voices coming from further down the hall. She’d just started in the direction she thought the voices came from when a flash of lightning lit the corridor and she stopped dead with a gasp, her hand rising to her mouth. There was a figure standing a short distance away in the doorway of a room on her right, someone much taller than Owen. For a moment, she cursed herself for not bringing her gun, but then the lightning flashed again and as she recognised the now familiar figure her eyes filled with tears.
“Tommy.”
He smiled at her, that sweet, warm smile she still saw in her dreams.
“Hello, my beautiful Toshiko.”
“But you’re dead, how can you be here? Is this another dream? I’ve dreamed about you so many times.” She walked towards him, unable to resist the temptation, reaching out, wanting to touch, but he stepped back, beckoning to her as he passed through the doorway behind him. She followed without thinking.
“It’s not a dream, it’s All Hallows Eve. I’ve been waiting for this night for so long, Toshiko. It’s only been four months for you, but for me it’s been 90 years. I wanted to see you again, I never really got to thank you for everything you did for me.”
Tosh shook her head, tears spilling from her eyes.
“I sent you to your death! I knew what would happen but I did it anyway!”
Stepping closer, Tommy reached out, brushing her tears away with a barely perceptible touch. “You had no choice, Toshiko. There was a job to be done, and I was the only one who could do it. I remember everything and I don’t regret it, because I saved all of time. I saved you. I got to be a hero, to do something that truly mattered, and even if only a few people will ever remember what I did, I left my mark on the world. What more can any soldier ask for? I enlisted because I wanted to fight for my country, but I ended up saving the world. More importantly, I got to meet you; that made everything I went through worthwhile. I wish we’d had more time together, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Everything happened the way it had to. Don’t be sad, sweet Toshiko; remember me and smile. You gave me the best four days of my life, showed me things I never would have imagined. I lived more in those four days than I did in all of the rest of my life, and it was all because of you. I wish there was some way I could repay you.”
Tosh was smiling and crying at the same time. She’d longed for a chance to see Tommy, just one more time, and now here he was, she could tell him what she hadn’t been able to the last time she saw him, because then he hadn’t remembered her.
“There’s nothing to repay; everything I did was because I wanted to. You made me feel special, beautiful, and I loved the time I spent with you; never doubt that. I could have fallen in love with you, you know. It would’ve been so easy. You will always be my brave, handsome hero, Tommy Brockless, and I’ll never forget you as long as I live.”
“What more could any man ask than to be remembered by a beautiful woman? I hope I made you proud.”
“You did. Thank you.”
“It was an honour. Until we meet again.” Tommy saluted smartly, head held high.
“Will we? Meet again, I mean.”
“I don’t know. I hope so. Anything’s possible.”
“That’s true. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through working for Torchwood, it’s to keep an open mind. Goodbye, Tommy.”
Whistling a jaunty tune, Tommy turned, lightning flashed, and when her vision cleared, Tosh was alone. Thinking bittersweet thoughts of what might have been, she wandered back into the hallway, head bowed, not quite sure what to do now. Maybe she should just go back to the others. She almost screamed when a hand grabbed her arm, the relaxed as she saw it was just Owen.
“Owen, what did you do that for? You almost scared the life out of me!”
“Sorry, I called your name a few times, but you didn’t answer.” Owen sounded out of breath. “God, I never would’ve believed the hallway could be so long. I swear the house didn’t look this big from the outside. I feel like I’ve just run half a bloody mile!”
Tosh couldn’t help giggling. “Well, it can’t be east running with a blanket wrapped around you and a candle in one hand.”
“Yeah, nearly tripped myself up a couple times,” he admitted. “What are you doing wandering around this place alone?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Actually, I woke up and came looking for you. Thought it might be fun to explore the spooky old house together, but I got a bit sidetracked before I could find you.” She looked down, embarrassed, remembering that Owen didn’t believe in ghosts.
“Who did you see?”
The quiet question surprised Tosh, and she glanced up to see Owen just looking at her, no trace of sarcasm in his face or voice. Still, Tosh didn’t want to give him a chance to make fun of her.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I came out here because I heard Katie calling my name. I thought it was a dream, but it’s not. She was real, Tosh. I talked to her. Just, please don’t tell the others, I’d never hear the end of it, not after what I said about not believing in ghosts.”
“I won’t tell a soul. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think I am. It was so good to see her, Tosh. She was just like when I first met her; funny and bubbly and so full of life. Lately, every time I’ve thought of her it’s been as she was just before she died and it scared me that I was forgetting the way she used to be, before she got sick. But that’s stupid ‘cause I could never forget. She’ll always be with me in here,” he tapped his head, “and in here.” He laid his hand over his heart. “She’s right though, it’s time I stopped livin’ in the past, I’ve gotta get on with my own life. Promised her I’d try anyway.” He smiled wanly. “I’ll never stop lovin’ her, don’t think I could if I tried but maybe I can find someone else and love them as much, just differently.”
Tosh looked thoughtful. “I think every love is different, because every person is different. No one can feel exactly the same about two completely different people.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. So… who did you see?”
“It was Tommy.”
“Tommy Brockless? That Tommy?”
Nodding, Tosh leant against the wall. “I’ve felt so guilty about making him go back, knowing he was going to be executed for cowardice. I know there was no other choice, he had to use the key, but I just wanted there to be another way. He didn’t deserve to die like that.”
“No, he didn’t. He was a hero, even if hardly anyone will ever know. Was he angry?”
“Not at all,” Tosh said softly, shaking her head in bewilderment. “He just wanted to thank me for making his last few days so happy and giving him a chance to be a hero. Can you imagine that?”
“I thought Katie would be mad at me for not being able to save her, but she’s only disappointed with me for the way I’ve been livin’ my life. Well, not really livin’ when you think about it, more existing day-to-day.”
They were walking slowly side by side, back towards the room they’d all set up camp in.
“You still want to go exploring?” Owen asked after a moment’s silence.
“Not really, I’m a bit tired now.”
“Yeah, me too. Time enough to explore in the morning when we can see better. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a signal on our phones once the storm’s blown itself out. Might as well try to sleep until then.
Slipping back into the front parlour, everything looked exactly as it had when Tosh had left, Ianto and Jack fast asleep in each other’s arms, Gwen cocooned in the blanket she was supposed to be sharing with Tosh. Owen chuckled.
“Sorry you got stuck with the blanket hog. You can share my blanket for the rest of the night if you want. Promise I won’t grope you or anything. Scout’s honour!”
“You were never a scout,” Tosh teased, blushing a little.
“Yeah, you got me. How about it though?”
“Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind…”
”Nah, we can keep each other warm.”
“Okay then.”
A few minutes later, coats and shoes discarded, they were snuggled under Owen’s blanket.
“G’night, Tosh. Sweet dreams,” Owen mumbled sleepily. Tomorrow, when they were back at the Hub and he’d had a chance to shower so he looked less like a drowned rat, Owen thought he’s ask Tosh out on that date. Who knew where it would lead?
“Night, Owen,” Tosh replied through a yawn. Within minutes they were sound asleep.
None of the team stirred again until the autumn sun shone through the window the following morning, rousing them.
OoOoOoO
Waking proved somewhat disorienting. The storm had clearly blown itself out during the night, hence the bright sunlight, but there were other differences that were less easily explainable. As they sat up and looked around in bewilderment, it was Owen who said what they were all thinking.
“What the fuck? This isn’t the room we were in last night!”
He was right. Oh, it was a parlour of sorts, and there was a stone fireplace containing the ashes of their fire, even some candles burned down to almost nothing, but that was where the resemblance ended.
Scrambling to their feet, they looked around at the rather cramped little room they were in. It had two doorways, one leading into a small kitchen, the other into a tiny entrance foyer containing a narrow staircase and two more doors. The fireplace was less than a quarter the size of the one they’d lit their fire in the previous night and their ‘candelabra’ were now plain metal candlesticks, each holding the remains of a single candle.
“This isn’t possible!” Gwen stated firmly. “How did someone move us and all our gear to another house while we were asleep? Were we drugged somehow?”
“No,” said Jack quietly. “No one moved us anywhere, this is where we came last night.”
“No it’s not! Last night we were in a ruined mansion, I remember it clearly!”
“We all do, it was the archetypal haunted house,” Ianto smirked. “I suppose the spirits of the departed have a certain sense of what’s proper. It was Halloween, after all. They wanted the right setting so they provided it.”
Jack, Tosh and Owen were all nodding, smiling slightly at each other. Gwen looked from one to another, confused.
“What are you on about?”
“You mean you didn’t see any spirits last night?” asked Jack, surprised.
“Of course not. It’s like Owen said; ghosts don’t exist.”
Ianto shrugged. “Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but I know what I saw last night, and I know who I talked to. It felt real to me, not a dream or an illusion.” He looked at Gwen. “Maybe you didn’t see anyone because you’re the only one of us to have never lost a loved one or felt responsible for the death of a good person. Maybe there aren’t any spirits out there who feel the need to communicate something important to you. And maybe you should be thankful for that.”
Gwen nodded slowly. “I am, I still have my parents, my grandparents, Rhys. So who did you all see?”
“I think,” Jack said, “who we saw and what was said should remain private. The messages we were given were for our ears alone. Let’s leave it at that. Come on, better find the SUV and see what the damage is. I want to be back in Cardiff by lunchtime. Okay?”
Filing out, carrying all the gear they’d brought with them, they glanced back at the small, derelict two-storey farmhouse that had been their shelter in the storm. As they looked around, Ianto pointed out the weathered remains of older walls, ridges in the ground that could mark foundations of a much larger building.
“This isn’t the first building to stand on this spot; whatever was here before, maybe that’s what we saw last night. Perhaps even houses have a spirit that lingers and can return on Halloween if the circumstances are just right.”
“A ghost house?” Tosh asked.
“Good an explanation as any, isn’t it?”
OoOoOoO
They found the SUV a couple of hundred yards down the road, seemingly abandoned on the wide grass verge that ran alongside it. The front wheels had come to rest in a shallow dip rather than the deep, water filled ditch they remembered. Of the fallen tree, there was no sign.
Jack laughed and shook his head. “Our ghosts went to a lot of trouble to get us right where they wanted us. I guess they must have been really determined to talk to us.”
“They had good reasons,” Ianto said, starting to load their gear back into the boot.
“They did,” Tosh agreed, moving to give her friend a hand. “There were things we needed to say to them too.”
“Yeah, and you know what?” said Owen, handing his backpack to Ianto. When everyone turned to look at him enquiringly, he grinned. “Best Halloween ever!”
“I’ll second that.” Ianto slammed the boot shut and moved towards the driver’s door as Jack slid into the passenger seat. “I vote we stop somewhere for breakfast on our way back.” There was a general murmur of agreement as the others piled in and fastened their seat belts. “Looks like we’re all agreed then.” He turned the key in the ignition and pulled back onto the road, heading for home.
If anyone had thought to look back, they might have seen a faint shimmering where a majestic manor house had once stood, and the indistinct outlines of six people standing together.
“D’you think they’ll be okay?” Katie asked.
“Yeah,” Lisa replied, smiling. “I think they’ll be just fine.”
The End
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