m_findlow

Title: Valued member of the team
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: SUV, Torchwood team
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 971 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, a valued member of the team" at fic_promptly
Summary: The SUV finally gets its own fic

The SUV purred as it trundle down the suburban Cardiff street. The morning was cool without being wet, which meant she could easily grip the road underneath her tyres. It wasn't strictly necessary at the moment, because Jack was driving her at a speed that could be considered fairly sedate.

She appreciated these quiet moments when they weren't all in a rush to be somewhere. Jack had driven her longer than any of the others, so she was accustomed to his rather ad hoc and reckless style of driving, and she tried to compensate for it where possible. It was one thing that he might crash her and hurt himself in the process, but she didn't want him accidentally hurting the others who didn't seem to share his ability to heal himself. He really should be more considerate, she thought.

Once upon a time she hadn't minded the thrilling speeds and the sharp turns into corners, relishing the challenge and showing him she was built for this line of work, but the years had worn on and she'd seen a lot that made her change the way she viewed this world she existed in. It didn't mean she wouldn't pull out all the stops to help them catch their quarry or to hurry them somewhere to save the world, but she'd matured, even if sometimes she was convinced Jack hadn't.

That said, he wasn't the only lead foot. Owen was equally guilty of thrashing her engine on occasion, and sometimes merely because he was having a bad day. There was really no need for it, and once she'd even stalled on him on purpose. The slamming of her door as he stomped off down the road in protest seemed fair recompense for avoiding a fate far worse. No, for the most part, she begrudged Owen because he was forever leaving mess inside her. Drink bottles and sweets wrappers she could live with, but the bloodied bodies of aliens were something she'd never get used to. The only thing worse was the horrid smell of weevils, which were forever being dumped in her boot. That smell would be never come out, not matter how hard Ianto tried.

Ah, Ianto. Bless his kind soul. He was her favourite. He always drove her carefully, although Jack accused him of driving like an old nanna, he knew how to throw her into a turn at speed and come out the other side unharmed. He'd often been left in charge of her while the rest of them were in pursuit on foot, and somehow the two of them together had traced through the maze of local streets to meet up with the team in just the nick of time. He knew the streets almost as well as she did.

And, he was the only one who ever cleaned her and kept her dutifully stocked. Even when the others were responsible for whatever mud, slime, blood, dust or dirt now encrusted her exterior, or seeped into her interior, he always took it upon himself to make sure she was spotless. He'd smiled as he looked into her freshly polished mirrors and she wished that she could smile back. That earned him extra brownie points. It even awarded them concessional treatment when he and Jack decided to have some adult fun on her leather upholstery. She wasn't about to let just anyone get away with that. Even she had standards.

The other two girls didn't get to drive her very much at all. Gwen sometimes drove if Jack was feeling like taking a back seat, pardon the pun, and also sometimes when there was just Gwen and one of the others. She could sense that when Gwen was without Jack, she liked to take the lead, and part of that meant getting to drive the SUV. However, it did mean a lot of adjusting seats and mirrors when they had to switch places again. She supposed that was one of the reasons they didn't drive so often. Jack and Ianto were similar height, and Owen, though shorter, could probably still reach her pedals easily enough without adjustment.

She wouldn't mind having the chance to drive with Toshiko a bit more often. She was always so quiet and reserved, and if the way she handled the car's electronics in the back seat was anything to go by, she would be equally gentle and unhurried behind the wheel. She'd also been the first person Jack had let sit beside him in the passenger seat many years ago, so she must be pretty special.

As careful as any of them were, or even when they weren't being quite so careful, she didn't appreciate being crashed. Sometimes they couldn't help it though, try as she might, the road was too slick or icy, or they were going too fast to stop, or sometimes another car, or a person, or a stray dog would simply appear from nowhere. It wasn't pleasant, but she did what she could to prevent her passengers from harm, taking as much of the impact and the damage as she could. It didn't mean that they didn't always walk away with cuts and bruises, even a broken leg once, but it still seemed far better than the alternative.

She hated having to be sent off to the repairers, feeling ugly and unloved with her dented panels, broken headlights and gashes where her paintwork had been scraped off. She felt ashamed to have let the team down. Despite that, she eagerly awaited collection once she'd been patched up and repainted. It didn't matter which of them came to collect her, there was always a look a joy that she she'd been missed and was coming home again, well again once more.

Like any valued member of the team, the place just wasn't the same without her.