Torchwood: Fanfic: A Christmas Tale - Part eight

[m_findlow]

Title: A Christmas Tale
Author: m_findlow
Characters: Torchwood Team
Rating: PG
Length: 22,304 words
Prompt: Torchwood_fest Prompt #6, submitted by badly_knitted(Members of the team have to assist Santa's elves by temporarily becoming elves themselves)
Summary: Santa is in trouble, can Torchwood save the day?

They left the snowmobiles at the edge of the forest and took to foot.

'How far Tosh?' Owen asked.

'Not terribly far. Maybe three hundred yards.'

Tosh kept her eye on the PDA screen in front of her, whilst Gwen and Owen readied their guns. No one had approved of them bringing weapons to the North Pole, but they were glad to have them at this moment, held firmly out in front, with their torches underneath.

Only fifty yards in and already the forest had become much thicker and denser, the night sky hidden from view by the canopy overhead.

The canopy finally gave way to a small clearing. One that looked like it was recently created by the large object now featuring at its heart.

'Looks like some kind of meteor,' Tosh observed.

'And no one noticed it come crashing down near here?' Owen said, casting his glance towards Sandy.

'We get the northern lights all the time. How can you tell the difference?'

They skirted around its edges, beams of light sparking off its metallic crystalline shell.

'What chance that our mystery virus caught a lift on this?' Owen chipped off a tiny fragment, analysing it.

'You beauty!'

'What is it?' Gwen asked.

'This meteor comes from the Gelvelin galaxy. That means it's heavy in cadmium and sulfur.'

'So? '

'Sulfur in its base form naturally inhibits aerobic bacterial growth. If the virus was present in just a few microbes on the surface of the meteor, the heavy nitrogen, and hydrogen in our atmosphere would have oxidised it into sulfate, causing the virus to come out of its stasis feed on the sulfates, growing and replicating. Our bodies are full of sulfates so it would have been a natural breeding ground for it. All it had to do was find the first living thing that crossed it's path and hitch a ride.'

'How does that help us?'

'Streptomycin,' Owen declared.

'Strepto what?'

'It's like penicillin but stronger. They used to use it to cure tuberculosis. It kills bacterial growth. Chances are it could work on a virus like this.'

'How do we get it?'

'There should be some back at the hub. All I need is some sterilized water to make up the solution. We'd need to test it on samples first, make sure it works on the virus and on elves.'

'How are we supposed to get back? We need a sleigh and we don't have one.'

'We could wait for Santa or Jack to come back, and get one of them to drop us off,' Tosh offered.

'No time, we need to act now.'

'What do you suggest, then?' Gwen exclaimed frustrated.

'Wait,' said Sandy. 'You don't need a sleigh, all you need is a reindeer.'

The two of them seemed startled by the interruption and stared back at her, surprised.

'A reindeer?' Owen said skeptically.

'You need to get through the rift, so use a reindeer.'

'You happen to have a spare lying around in the garage?'

'We can use Rudolph. He's getting on in years but he could still manage it. It's not like he's pulling a whole sleigh and Santa.'

'Okay. I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's go get that reindeer.'

On one of Jack's returns to the Pole, he ran into Ianto, literally. He could tell from the look on the young man's face that he was struggling to keep up with the added workload. It was so unlike him to show any signs of being frazzled.

Despite the urgency to get back into the sky, he couldn't help but stop him in his tracks as he bustled about the place, tablet in hand.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're going to wear a hole in the floor.'

'I'm monitoring fifteen different machine processes, seventeen timezones, another seven which haven't come online yet, eight reindeer, two Santa's...'

'And a partridge in a pear tree?' Jack joked.

'It's not funny, Jack.'

'Oh Ianto,' Jack said, cupping his cheeks. 'It's not the end of the world. We can do this. You can do this. Where's your Christmas spirit?'

'Stuck at home, in the cabinet with the glasses and ice.'

'See, there it is.' He pecked him lightly on the cheek before they parted ways again.

Ianto inhaled deeply and marched on, headed for the gingerbread room to sort out a powdered egg shortage in the icing machine.

Sandy took them down several levels from where they were and across a vast distance of hallways and corridors. Given the size of the building, they were clearly headed to its farthest point.

The stables were much more traditional than the rest of the facility and still had that Devonshire countryside feel about them. The smell of straw and farm animal was strong, and the room was lit with a few dull oil lamps bolted into the support beams.

'Here he is,' she said, walking over to a large wooden gate adorned with a snowflake cut into its top. 'Hello, old boy. Fancy a bit of a midnight flight?'

The wizened animal honked out an affirmative sound, and she stroked the greying fur on his neck. She undid the latch on the gate and stepped inside, leading him slowly out.

'He can only take two of you,' she said, making her way over to the tack shed and pulling out a bridle.

'Tosh,' Owen said, electing her. 'You're the lightest. No offense, Gwen.'

'Always appreciate the backhanded insult,' Gwen countered, but was secretly glad not to have been chosen.

Tosh was slightly surprised to have been picked.

Sandy began strapping up Rudolph. Owen was glad she was up and about again, but there were the slightest hints that underneath it all she was only just holding it together. The earlier rest had helped, but the spots on her arms were still prominent.

'You make it look easy,' commented Gwen. 'Have you done this before?'

'My dad was a master strapper. He taught me everything he knew about caring for reindeer.'

'But you ended up a doctor?'

'Not much demand for strappers. Dad didn't want me to end up refilling inks on wrapping machines so he made me get a proper qualification. There you are, all set. Just tell him where you need to go and leave the rest to him. Old Rudolph can find his way anywhere and in any weather.'

Owen looked dubiously at the creature.

'No saddle?'

'No need, just hop on.'

Owen attempted to clamber up onto his back unsuccessfully. He was rather much taller than first appearance would have him believe.

'A little help here?'

'But you're so light!' Gwen jibed, enjoying the moment.

'Har har.'

Sandy fetched a low stool and with it, Owen was able to mount the reindeer. He helped pull Tosh up to sit behind him.

'Ianto?'

'What's up, Gwen?'

'We need to use the rift to get back to Cardiff. Owen and Tosh are taking a reindeer back to get medical supplies. Any openings?'

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

'Sorry, did you just say Owen's taking a reindeer back to Cardiff?'

'Shut up, Teaboy,' Owen interrupted.

'Okay, give me a second. Yes, from your position, head two miles south and six hundred yards east. There should be an opening near Merthyr. That's as close as I can get you on short notice.'

'Okay thanks,' Gwen said, following the others into the night air outside.

'Right. See you soon,' said Owen, gripping the reins.

Tosh wrapped her arms tightly around his middle for a lack of anything else to hold. Under any other circumstances she might have enjoyed it.

'Have I ever mentioned that I really don't like flying!'

The reindeer leapt high into the air and Tosh couldn't suppress the scream that issued from her mouth.

Jack peered inside the sack and found a whole bunch of presents still there. He looked around and was confused. All the houses were done and yet there were still gifts left over. He checked some of the tags. Nope, no names that matched any of the houses he'd just been to.

'Ianto? I think the reindeer are confused. Or lost. I've got gifts but no houses.'

'What names are on the labels?'

'Uh, I've got a Becky Wilson, Johnathan Wilson, must be siblings, and this one's for an Ava Saunders. There's another two dozen beyond that.'

'Hang on.' Jack could hear Ianto clicking away. 'Okay, Becky Wilson, Johnathan Wilson, Ava Saunders, all listed as address "transient".'

'Transient. What does that mean?'

Ianto furrowed his brow in thought. 'Where did you say you were again?'

'Dublin, somewhere on the edge of the city. But there's nothing out here. Just a rubbish tip in the middle of nowhere.'

'They're homeless.'

'What?'

'The kids on you list. That's why there's no address. That's why the sleigh ended up there.'

'You think they're nearby?'

'Makes sense.'

'Okay guys,' Jack said, addressing the reindeer. 'I hope you're right.'

Jack began wandering around the area. The whole place had the persistent smell of rotting food and old rubber tyres. He spied a faint light coming from behind a large mound of detritus. What Jack found on the other side shocked him.

The light was coming from an old oil drum, burning wood and paper filling it, and sparking embers into the night sky. A half dozen people in various filthy rags were huddled around it for warmth, sleeping with flattened cardboard boxes underneath them and more covering them overhead.

Nearby a burnt out car looked to be full of bundles of blankets. That's when he realised what it was. Those tiny bundles were children, sheltered from the worst of the winter chill by the car's outer shell. It broke Jack's heart to know that these kids had no home and nothing to celebrate on Christmas morning.

'Oh God,' Jack sighed despondently.

'You found them?'

'Yep.' He sighed again. 'It's not fair. What did they do to deserve this? Forgotten or ignored by the people in their warm homes and their bright city lights.'

Ianto could feel Jack's pain and wished he could be there.

'Kids from broken homes, missing parents or orphans, forced to eke out an existence on the streets. Never knowing when they'll eat next. Makes you grateful for what you have. At least Santa hasn't forgotten them.'

'I suppose. I just wish there was more we could do.'

Jack carefully and quietly laid down the presents, tucking a teddy bear under the tiny arm of one child before pulling the blankets tightly around her sleeping form and disappearing once again into the night.

When Owen and Tosh returned, Gwen was on her own and the expression on her face suggested bad news.

'Where's Sandy?'

'She collapsed just after you left. She's been in and out of it, but it doesn't look good. Several of the other elves have slipped into comas too. Two others died.'

'Jessie?' Owen asked fearing she'd become the first casualty.

'No, she's still the same. It was two other elves, one older lady and a little boy. He was only ten.' Her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. 'I didn't know what else to do.'

'It's okay,' Owen reassured her. 'I don't know know that there's much any of us could have done in the circumstances.'

She sniffed loudly and tried to compose herself. 'You've got the cure?'

'We've got the supplies. Still no telling if it will work. I'm just about to head down to the lab and start testing it.'

'Please hurry.'

Rhys wasn't expecting to see Gwen again that night, it was just another typical Torchwood mission. Jack running off to save the day, the rest of the team busy at work in this thing or that, and Rhys left to carry the can in whatever boring and relatively non life threatening job there was. This time though, he didn't mind it so much. There were no aliens, well, not of the dangerous, take over the world sort, no guns, and no one trying to kill them.

And Fletcher was a good egg in his books. A little eccentric, but, if you were an elf working at the North Pole,  he supposed that was to be expected.

'Hey,' came the small voice.

He turned around and saw Gwen standing in the doorway, hands jammed tightly into the pockets of her jeans.

'Hey you, not home time is it?'

'Not yet.' She tried to smile but the expression was strained on her face.

'What's wrong?' He reached out a hand and she took it, pulling him towards her for a hug. He held her tightly while she buried her head against him. He didn't have to know the details of what was bothering her.

'Everything's going to be fine,' Rhys assured her.

She pulled back to face him. 'I know.' This time her smile wasn't so forced.

'You know what you need? You need to see the wrapping room. Four hundred gifts per minute. It's bloody marvelous. Took me twenty minutes just to wrap Ruth's kris kringle present.'

'That sounds lovely. I could use a bit of Christmas cheer.'

Owen returned from the lab to check on Sandy. He was pleased to see that she was awake at the very least.

'You're back,' she croaked.

'Thought you'd gotten rid of me?' he joked, checking her vitals.

'Only hoping,' she joked back. 'You got what you needed?'

'It's a long shot and it hasn't been tested. I'm waiting for the results. There's no telling how an elf might react to these drugs.'

'Use me'

'What?'

'Test them on me.'

'I can't.'

'Yes you can! If they don't work then we try something else.'

'It could kill you. At best it could cause cranial nerve and kidney damage.'

'Or it could cure me. Jessie and Osman and dozens of others are dying. Wouldn't you take the chance if it could save you friends?'

For once Owen couldn't argue with her. Anyone at Torchwood would have done exactly the same thing. Regard for ones own life came second to everything else.

'Okay.'

'How will you know if it's working?' Tosh asked, as she watched Owen preparing the solution.

'The virus is currently overloading a whole bunch of internal systems, but white blood cell counts should give us the best indication. We should be able to get a first run reading about two hours after administering it.'

'That's good.' She didn't know what else to say, but the silence was killing her.

'So, did you have any plans for Christmas?'

'Why do you ask?'

'No reason,' she responded quickly, 'just, you know me, always with the questions,' she laughed nervously.

'Planning on spending it with my three favourite people and a very large bottle of scotch.'

For a moment Tosh thought he must have meant Jack, Ianto and Gwen, and she felt hurt that she was being left out. 'And who would they be?' she asked awkwardly.

'Me, myself and I.'

'Oh,' she replied, her voice a mixture of surprise and relief.

'You?' Owen asked.

'All the family gathering at my parent's house in London. I never know how Mama can manage to fit sixty people in their tiny house, but she does. You don't see your family at Christmas?'

'We're not exactly close.' His reply seemed tinged with some small amount of regret. She couldn't imagine Christmas without family.

'Well, I'm sure whatever you do you'll have a nice day.'

'Yeah, if we're lucky, aliens might take over Newport and give us something to do,' he replied as he exited the lab, syringe in hand.

'Have you seen Ianto anywhere?' Gwen asked.

'He was here about twenty minutes ago,' Rhys replied, 'something about the gingerbread icing being pink instead of puce. He seems very upset about it. I can't tell the difference, to be honest, but he did leave a few samples,' Rhys added, offering her the plate of decorated men. She gratefully accepted one. When had she last eaten?

'What about you, love?'

'I thought I'd come give you a hand if you need it. Owen's busy upstairs and Tosh is there to help. I feel a bit like a third wheel, really.'

'And you thought you'd come see a master at work?' he said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. Now would have been a really bad time for him to lean too far back and fall out of it.   

'Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Rhys Williams. Do too good a job and Jack might want you working for Torchwood permanently.'

'Serious?'

'Not a chance.'

Jack was about ready to take back his earlier comments about enjoying being Santa.

For all the good parts, he'd fallen down stairs, been threatened by someone's German Shepherd who happened to be sleeping by the tree, was nearly strangled by a wayward string of lights, set off the GPS alarms on several gifts, managed to dump a roof load of snow off someone's roof with the sleigh, which was now piled five foot high against their front door, set off a trip wire from some child's Santa catching trap, resulting in the world's fastest present drop,  and had, despite everything, managed to eat his way though more treats than his stomach could handle. The food coma he was going through threatened to put him to sleep for a week.

'Are we there yet?' Jack asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

'Did I just hear you yawning? Since when do you get tired?'

'I get tired!' he argued.

'I'll remember that the next time you wake me up at three in the morning.'

'Maybe I wouldn't get up if you weren't snoring.'

'I don't snore, I snuffle,' Ianto replied indignantly.

'Call it what you like, but right now I couldn't care how much you snuffled. How many more to go, dare I ask?'

'According to this, your lucky last shift for the night is Cardiff. I also have it on good authority that your last house happens to be 26 Westaway Close.'

'Good to know David and Mica both made the nice list this year. Okay, well, we're almost done here. I'll see you back for a final pickup of gifts soon.'

Owen wandered into the room and up to Sandy's bed, clipboard in hand.

'You've got the results?'

White cell count is rising. And the fact that your other symptoms haven't worsened, I'd say it's working.

'That's great news.'

'We're just about to start administering the cure to some of the sickest elves. If your results are anything to go by, we should have turned a corner.'

Sandy smiled up at him. 'I don't know what to say to thank you.'

'It's me who should be thanking you. You took a big risk being our guinea pig.'

'All part of the job.'

Owen smiled back at her.

When Jack's sleigh finally pulled in to the dispatch area, there were four faces there to greet him. Santa, Gwen, Rhys and Ianto. He felt relieved that he'd completed his final delivery and exhausted at the same time. It was definitely one of the longest all nighters he'd ever done. In fact, they all looked exhausted.

'Well done my boy!' Santa exclaimed, clapping him on the shoulder as he stepped out of the sleigh. 'We couldn't have done it without you. Without all of you.'

As he was gently undoing the bridle on the reindeer, Blitzen even licked his face as he passed.

'I had a lot of help,' he said, returning the favour with a scratch behind the ear.

'And us,' Ianto added.

'How are the elves?' Jack asked. He hadn't had time for an update practically all night.

Just as he asked the question, Owen and Tosh appeared in the doorway.

'Jessie is awake and on the road to recovery. The worst of them are showing marked improvement and the rest are being given the cure as we speak. They should all be back to full health in a matter of days.'

'What was the problem?'

'Several allergic reaction to an airborne agent. Good news is that now that they've been exposed to it, their bodies should develop an immunity to it.'

'You mean like chickenpox?' Ianto asked.

'Same principle. Once you've had it, you can't get it again. That's why it didn't affect us.'

'And you say it was a meteor? Must have come through the rift to have traveled from that far away.'

'That's the theory.'

'Great work everyone. There are a lot of kids out there tonight that are going to wake up tomorrow morning very happy indeed.'

'Yes, thank you all very much indeed,' agreed Santa. 'I don't know what we would have done without you. The Doctor chose his companions well.'

Each of them blushed at the unrivaled compliment.

'Now, speaking of morning, I should be getting you all home so that you don't miss Christmas either!'

Once they'd made their goodbyes to Fletcher, and to Brady and Sandy who were resting in the infirmary, who also thanked them profusively for their efforts, they were bundled once more into Santa's sleigh, and not long after, were cruising above the pre dawn heights of home.

Once Tosh and Owen, Gwen and Rhys had been dropped home, Jack asked for one final favour from Santa.

The view from the sleigh was better than any rooftop, and almost better than any spacecraft Jack had ever ridden in. The air was chill but the spectacular rainbow shower of light of the Aurora Borealis over the snow clad hills of Norway made them completely forget the cold. Before he hadn't had the chance to properly admire the view, too busy with making sure he didn't tumble himself out of the sleigh, and now he had someone to share it with.

Jack wrapped an arm around Ianto and pulled up the blanket draped over their laps.

'This is the best Christmas ever.'

'Mmm,' Ianto agreed, snuggling against Jack. He closed his eyes and began to feel sleepy. As amazing as the view was, saving Christmas was exhausting work.

Jack leaned his own head in, drowsiness settling on him as the cool air brushed over his face and through his hair. He didn't remember falling asleep.

Concludes at part nine...  http://m-findlow.livejournal.com/81547.html

Comments

[bk_forever]

I cried for the homeless people, no one should be without a roof over their head. =(

Love Owen and Tosh riding Rudolph though!

On the other hand, Jack's learned that being Santa is almost as hazardous as being Torchwood! Still, Torchwood saved the day, or night, as well as the elves, Jack won Blitzen over, and now they all get to go home and enjoy Christmas. Yay!