Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Jack, Gwen

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 786 words

Content notes: none

Author notes: Written for Challenge 353 - Welcome

Summary: Gwen isn't sure what kind of welcome she expected.


Returning to Torchwood wasn't quite the warm welcome Gwen imagined might happen now that she was officially a member of the team. Today wasn't really about it being her first day on the job, it was more like an orientation, building upon the one she'd had the first time she stumbled into their secret base, trying to unravel that mystery of the strange team that had taken over her crime scene.

Jack took pride in giving her a far more detailed tour of the hub, explaining everything as he went - as if she'd remember even half of it. He seemed to take pride in the place, which was a hodgepodge of eclecticismo, held together by Victorian age architecture and alien technology. As workplaces went, this was right up there in the bizarre category.

Gwen's first day in the police force had been a series of training programs interspersed by tea breaks that ran longer than the actual sessions. This was more like she was assumed to already have an array of knowledge about process and protocols. And there'd definitely been no morning teas. Everyone looked like they worked day and night without ever stopping - except perhaps for pizza.

The young Welsh lad, Ianto, he'd made her coffee, and it was a very nice coffee at that. He seemed nice enough. I mean, they all did, she supposed. They hadn't retconned her again, but maybe they were just taking their lead from Jack. He struck her as the kind of boss you didn't argue with. Not when it came to things like that, anyway.

At least they didn't seem to blame her for the fact that one of their colleagues was now dead, and that Gwen had immediately taken her place. It wasn't Gwen's fault. She'd killed herself, although she might have made a clean getaway if Gwen hadn't been there, allowing Jack time to intervene. Suzie had chosen death over whatever Jack had in store for her as punishment, which either said a lot about what Jack might do to her if she ever crossed him, or perhaps that Suzie had never understood Jack in the first place. Until Gwen crossed that line herself she might never know the real answer.

If she'd expected an effusive welcome wagon, she was always going to be disappointed. Everyone kept working even as Jack toured her around, occasionally stopping to ask one of them how a particular project or report was coming along. They didn't give her much of a look, so at least she wasn't an exhibit for them to gawk at. Tosh paused only long enough to set her up with some login credentials, and Owen gave her an up and down look, suggesting that at some point he'd like to give her a baseline medical. She must have raised an eyebrow at the suggestion because Jack interceded, assuring her that it was standard practice, and that samples of all their blood and DNA were kept on file as reference samples. In this line of work, normal - or what appears as normality - is sometimes tricky to distinguish from actual normality. She wondered if he was referring to Suzie specifically or if it was a general comment, but his face betrayed no emotion.

At this point her mobile phone - which had been confiscated at the beginning of the morning - was returned to her by Ianto, now with added security, and all of their contact details pre-loaded and programmed in as speed dial numbers. 'Keep it charged and don't switch it off,' Jack told her. 'You never know when we'll need to hustle.'

She slipped it into her back jeans pocket and nodded. 'Is this everything, now?' she asked, feeling like they'd walked three miles around the labyrinthine passages and rooms.

Jack gave her a smile. 'Not even close. Didn't want you feeling overwhelmed.' She didn't feel right correcting him by the fact that she was completely overwhelmed.

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. 'So, that's about it for today. Just wanted to make sure you were ready to hit the ground running tomorrow.' He cocked his head at her. 'So, plans for tonight? Or is it an early night before the big day tomorrow?'

She wasn't sure if that was a test or not. Instead she found herself excitedly babbling about the date night she had planned with her boyfriend Rhys - bowling, a movie, then dinner. It was his way of celebrating the fact that she was being promoted into special ops.

Jack just nodded in acceptance. 'Enjoy. We'll see you tomorrow.'

Maybe tomorrow would be different, and maybe the team would realise he was here to help them however she could. Only time would tell.