Torchwood: Fanfic: A fresh start

[m_findlow]

Title: A fresh start
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Tosh, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,454 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for theruinedcastle's prompt "Any, any, first day on the job" at fic_promptly
Summary: Torchwood is unlike any induction Tosh has ever had

The city rushed by her in a blur as she sat in the passenger seat of the big, black car, its driver silent. Part of her was relieved, but the other part was terrified. She'd never expected to be released from that UNIT prison, but now here she was. Then again, perhaps it was all a ruse, and they were only taking her out to give her a false sense of security, before turning the car around and taking her straight back. Or worse, they'd let her go, knowing that the punishment he had in store for her was worse than anything they could give her.

She'd said yes - of course she'd said yes - when he'd offered her the job. Anything to be out of here. Still, it filled her with a small sense of dread that perhaps she'd made the wrong choice. What if the man turned out to not be all smiles and charm, but a heartless, ruthless man, who would force her to do terrible things? He said he was building a team though, that had to count for something. If she was part of a team, didn't that mean something good? Then she remembered, no contact with her mother, postcards only. It wasn't quite freedom. She risked a question of the man.

'Can I ask how many people you have in your team?'

He didn't look away from the motorway in front of him, car rushing along it at speed.

'At the moment, just you.'

'Oh.'

'S'pose that makes it more of a partnership,' he said. 'Math was never my strong point.'

'Lucky I'm good at math, then,' she muttered, trying to make a joke to see if he had a sense of humour, terrified of what would happen if he didn't.

He smirked. 'See, I knew there was a reason I hired you.'

They continued for a while in silence before he turned off the motorway and onto a maze of busy city streets.

'Ever been to Cardiff?' he asked, making a smooth left turn.

'Never,' she replied, having watched the river Severn snake underneath them as they'd cruised over the bridge and into Wales.

'Nice little city.' He sighed. 'Just a shame about the aliens, sometimes.'

'Aliens?'

'Yep. Whole city full of them. Most are fine, just the odd troublemaker. And the weevils of course. Never gonna be able to get rid of all the weevils. They're just part of the furniture now. Stay out of the sewers, and watch your back at night, that's all I'm saying.'

She frowned, unable to understand how tiny little insects were a bigger issue than aliens.

'Don't people know about the aliens?' She could hardly believe the words were coming out of her mouth.

'Sometimes. Welsh people aren't as stupid as they sometimes look, but we have ways of dealing with that. Not like you Londoners.' He laughed. 'Giant spaceship hovers over the sky on Christmas Eve, mannequins marching the streets killing people, and you lot deny the whole thing. People in Cardiff are used to weird stuff happening.'

She frowned and he caught the look of concern on her face.

'That's what we do, Torchwood,' he clarified. 'We keep an eye on the rift that sits over the city. Sometimes it spits out alien stuff from other parts of the universe, and sometimes it's just plain old junk. Our job is to keep an eye on it, keep the alien stuff out of harm's way, help those who need helping, and send anything nasty packing.'

'We?' she asked. 'I thought you said it was just you?'

His expression darkened and she wished she hadn't said anything.

'There's Torchwood in London too, but we don't have much to do with them. Call it a clash of leadership styles. Then there's Torchwood Glasgow, which is really just an outpost manned by a crazy Scotsman. You like golf?'

'No.'

'Me neither. I wouldn't say I avoid Archie, but he's more of a hermit kinda guy anyway. Then there's Torchwood Four. It's... well, let's just say we'll find it again one day. Cardiff is Torchwood Three.' He paused. 'There was an incident a while back... actually it was nearly three years ago. The people I worked with were killed.'

Tosh was taken aback by the admission. 'What about you?'

'I wasn't there at the time.' He looked like he wanted to say more, but didn't.

'Have you been there all this time on your own?'

He shrugged. 'Mostly. Like I said, it's dangerous job. If you still want want to change your mind, I won't be offended.'

And go back to prison? If she'd known this before when they'd been sitting in the interrogation room, she might have declined, but now that she'd been reminded what it was like to see the sky and talk to another human being, there was nothing she wouldn't do to keep things that way.

'I don't ever want to go back there. Please. I'll do whatever you want me to.'

'Okay then, Toshiko,' he said. 'So long as you work for me, they can't touch you. I promise.'

He pulled up outside a small three story terraced apartment block. 'This is us,' he said, turning off the engine and hopping out of the car.

It didn't look like any secret organisation base of operations she'd ever seen, but then again, she'd never seen a secret organisation base of operations. Maybe they all looked like this. If you wanted to hide something, wouldn't you make it look as plain and boring as possible?

She followed him up the narrow stairs, following his tall frame, and stood there as he jangled a large pile of keys from his pocket, finally locating the right one and slipping it in the lock, pushing open the door.

She blinked, stepping over the threshold and inside, seeing the sleek modern apartment, furnishings in chrome and white, hardwood floors and neat little kitchenette.

'It's a flat.'

'Uh, yeah,' he replied, shoving his hands in the pockets of his large grey overcoat. 'What were you expecting?'

What indeed? she thought.

He tugged the key off his keyring and held it out for her. 'It's yours.'

She looked down at the small silver key. 'Mine? I don't understand.'

'Well, you need somewhere to stay, don't you? Unless you're planning on bunking at the hub, and I wouldn't recommend it.'

She looked around, impressed by the furnishings, and the way everything looked like it was already prepared for someone to move in.

'But, my bank accounts, they froze them. I can't afford a place like this.'

'You can. I've already organised a new one for you. You'll find your first paycheck in there, plus, you don't have to pay rent. It's mine.'

'But where will you live?'

He laughed. 'I should have clarified. It's one of mine. Bit of a collection really. Can't help myself. It could use a responsible tenant. No crazy parties on a Saturday night, you hear?'

She shook her head vehemently. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd been to a party, let alone hosted one.

'Now, I know you won't have much in the way of clothes, and that UNIT prison getup is really not flattering anyone, so take this,' he said, handing her a card, 'and go buy yourself a few things. Whatever it is that nice ladies require. And groceries, though I'd suggest sticking to stuff with a long shelf life. Work gets kinda crazy sometimes and you really don't want a fridge full of rotting food to greet you when you get home. We'll sort you out a car in due course, but call a cab and just tell them to head for Queen Street Mall.'

She felt stunned. Was he really suggesting she could go out on her own?

'You're not worried I might escape?'

He raised his eyebrows at her. 'Planning on it?' he asked, as if he expected her to say yes.

'No!' she cried, suddenly fearful.

'Then I've got nothing to worry about. I'll come back later and bring round a pizza and we can talk about what happens next. You do like pizza, right?'

'Uh huh,' she mumbled, casting her eyes around her brand new apartment, still not quite sure she could believe everything that had happened so far.

'First day on the job tomorrow?' she asked nervously, dreading to think what this Torchwood place would be like given everything he'd already told her. What if she didn't fit in, or she was no good at what he needed from her. Would he send her back, then?

'Nope,' he replied, smiling again. 'That was today, and you did great. Tomorrow will be even better.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Awwww, I love this! Poor Tosh, so worried about what she's getting into, and about the possibility of getting sent back, and so utterly confused about all the freedom she's being given. It must be pretty overwhelming after who knows how long locked in that tiny cell.

[jo02]

Ah, I loved this.