Torchwood: Fanfic: Calling in your chips

[m_findlow]

Title: Calling in your chips
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Kathy Swanson, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,264 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any,"And getting stuck in the evidence locker overnight?" "All part of my cunning plan."" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack has to call in the big guns

She spotted the number on the caller ID and seriously considered not answering it. Nothing good could possibly come from a phone call at three am when the number read "Torchwood". Still, there was every chance that not answering it was going to land her in hot water with the brass tomorrow morning. Torchwood had a way of messing things up that always left her to pick up the pieces. Treat this city's law enforcement like rubbish, she thought, building up a head of steam before answering. Perhaps if she left it ring long enough, they'd go away, but no such luck. It just kept ringing. Finally, reluctantly, she hit the answer button.

'This had better be really good,' she said, not bothering with the niceties.

'Detective Swanson! Always so nice to hear your delightful voice on the other end of the phone,' Jack chirped. Oh yeah, he wanted a favour. A really big favour if his sweet talk was anything to go by.

'What do you want this time?'

'Who me?' he replied innocently. 'I don't want anything. Well, no, actually that's not strictly true. I did want something, but I've got it now. That's kinda why I'm calling.'

She'd already lost her patience in dealing with Jack Harkness. That he wanted to talk in riddles only infuriated her more. 'What?' She couldn't manage more syllables whilst keeping things reasonably polite.

'I was wondering if maybe you could meet me down at the station?' he asked.

'Cardiff Bay, Queen Street or Grangetown?'

'No, I mean the police station.'

Oh, because nothing good ever came out of Torchwood wanting to meet her on her own turf. This must be a really, really big favour.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, her feet already going cold as they dangled off the edge of the bed. 'Can't this wait until morning?'

'Afraid not.'

'What's in it for me?'

'More than you know. Just get here quickly as you can, and call me back when you're there.'

He hung up on her before she had a chance to do the same to him. That was Torchwood all over. Couldn't even give you the pleasure of hanging up on them.

She crawled back into the bed, pulling the duvet up tight around her neck, determined not to give in to Jack's demands. Let him stew for a while, she thought, but eventually her sense of duty got the better of her. She didn't have to stoop to their level. She could prove that she was better than them. It was impossible not to growl as she threw back the covers and tiptoed gingerly across the freezing floorboards. Bloody Torchwood!

She shoved her hands even further into her pockets as she made the short trip from her car and up the front stairs of the police station, scarf still wrapped tightly around her neck. Inside it was silent, a lone clerk just about asleep on the front counter, and not another soul to be seen. There were no beat coppers dragging spaced out junkies in for processing, no screaming girlfriends, and no shaken couples who'd just come home to find their house burgled. It was a Tuesday, after all. Nothing exciting ever happened on a Tuesday.

She pressed her key card against the security scanner on the door and let herself in through the side door, slipping past the man in office, the interview rooms and the lockup, skipping up the stairs to her own office on the floor above. Perhaps she could nip to the kitchen and grab a coffee first. Lord knew she needed one. Instead, her phone rang again.

'Are you coming or not? You said you'd call when you got here.'

'Yeah, yeah,' she huffed. 'I'm here. Thought you'd be waiting out the front.'

'Not exactly,' he replied.

'What's that supposed to mean? Where are you?'

'Downstairs. Evidence locker.'

'Who the hell let you down there?'

'I did. Now hurry up.'

She stomped all the way, like a petulant child, thinking up all the vitriolic, lecturing things she'd say when she got there. As she got to the doorway that lead down the hall to the evidence locker, she couldn't hold herself back anymore.

'If you think you can just call me up in the middle of the night because you want to go shopping in our evidence locker...'

She expected him to be standing there, looking ten kinds of smug, waiting for her to open the door and let him in. Instead he was standing there, looking smug, waiting for her to open the door and let him out.

'Took your time,' he said.

She had to smile. It was quite satisfying seeing him on the wrong side of the cross hatched metal bars. Almost worth getting up at three am for. Almost.

'Someone pick you up at a crime scene?' she teased.

'I'm the hottest thing going around at any crime scene,' he replied. 'But no, one of your lovely bobbies didn't pick me up. More's the pity.'

She crossed her arms, considering him. 'Do I want to know how you got in there?'

He smiled back. 'It's not so much a question of how I got in. I cracked the code on the lock. The more annoying thing is that you didn't bother to tell me you changed your system so that it automatically locks again after thirty seconds. Never used to have this problem. If I'd known, I'd have jimmied it open with one of these lovely boxes of illegal firearms.'

She smiled, enjoying the moment, ignoring the insinuation that he'd done this before. 'That's why we always have two officers to take custody of evidence. One to fetch the evidence, one to unlock the door.'

'And now there's two of us here, so,' he said pointing suggestively at the keypad on the other side of the door with his eyebrows.

Kathy perched herself on the small side table where they usually singed off the paperwork for taking evidence into custody. 'Oh, so you mean you want me to let you out?'

'That would be nice,' Jack said, his charming facade slipping just a little bit, annoyance beginning to shine through.

'So you thought you'd just come in here when no one was around and take anything you like?'

'Well, not anything. I was very specific.'

'And... getting stuck in the evidence locker overnight?'

He leaned forward, grinning, tying to regain the upper hand in their battle of wits. 'All part of my cunning plan,' he whispered.

'Yes, I can see you've thought this out down to the last detail,' she taunted.

He cocked his head at her, letting out a little vexed sigh. 'I could lie and tell you that this device is going to explode if I don't get it out of here in the next thirty seconds, but I suspect you wouldn't believe me if I did.'

'Not now. And where are your charming cohorts? Couldn't you get them to spring you from the slammer?'

'I prefer to go through the proper channels. Plus the device I used to crack the code on the lock is now stuck inside with me.'

'Ha!' she laughed. 'There's irony for you.'

Jack frowned, no longer enjoying their tete a tete. 'Can we just skip to the part where you let me out?'

She stood up, standing right opposite him, fixing him with a firm stare.

'And how much humble pie are you prepared to eat for me to let you out?'

'Bring me a spoon and we'll find out.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Heehee! Jack didn't think that one through anywhere near as well as he thought he had!

Still, I hope Kathy lets him out soon, because he might be needed...

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

He wanted to go it solo, only it hasn't worked out so well, and there's a little thing called pride getting in the way....