Captain Jack and Captain Jack [for slayers_desire]

[fractured_agent]

It's been a few months since the team got their first lessons in psychic shielding, and once again, the Hub is open to April's expertise. Though he knows they're having guests, Jack doesn't push anyone to clean up the clutter so it looks better. The Hub is still a work space, and a chaotically changing one at that. They're all used to it by now, and Jack knows April won't mind.

Ianto is manning the tourist information office upstairs, as usual, and he knows that April is coming.

Comments

[fractured_agent]

"Things went to shit, I solved it," Owen says bluntly. "And no one's even said so much as a thank you."

[slayers_desire]

"It might not mean as much, but I appreciate the fact that a solution was found. It would have been difficult to be separated from my husband and children for too long a period..."

[fractured_agent]

"Well that's better than I got from bloody Jack and Ianto, isn't it?" Owen's foul mood likely isn't going away, as his gunshot wound is a constant throbbing reminder of Ianto's perceived ingratitude. But he does appreciate that someone said thanks.

[slayers_desire]

"Unfortunately, Jack had to deal with his own problems in the past. We all did..."

"My concern is that you were manipulated."

[fractured_agent]

"Sure, whatever. Turned out fine though," Owen insists. "No crazy Rift spikes, no end of the world."

[slayers_desire]

"The chaos will come Owen. Just not today."

"Where did you find that missing piece of the Rift machine?"

[fractured_agent]

"Attached to a grandfather clock's pendulum," Owen says grudgingly.

[slayers_desire]

He is so mad. It radiates off him.

"Did you ever interact with Bilis Manger?"

((bed))

[fractured_agent]

"No, I never saw the bloke. Well, maybe once, but we didn't talk. Gwen did most of that."

[slayers_desire]

"Did everything strange happen today?"

[fractured_agent]

"You mean besides the part where my boss and two women got sucked through to the nineteen forties and we had to poke a rift in space and time with a stick? Nah, can't think of anything."

[slayers_desire]

She can sympathize that he feels unappreciated. "Perhaps you should work out your aggressions. It would help clear your mind."

[fractured_agent]

"Last time I tried that, no one else seemed to like it," Owen says, thinking of the Weevil fight club Torchwood broke up several weeks ago. He entered himself as a contestant not for the job, but because he wanted to fight the Weevil. Almost got himself killed for it.

[slayers_desire]

"I would be willing to spar with you," April shrugged. He doesn't know it, but she is harder to fight than a Weevil.

[fractured_agent]

"Yeah? Maybe once I don't have a hole in my shoulder, love." Owen's a bit skeptical of whether or not she'd be a challenge, but he's not that physically strong either. He's always relied more on his smarts to come out on top.

[slayers_desire]

"You could still vent your anger. It might help."

[fractured_agent]

Owen narrows his eyes a little. "You aren't a shrink in disguise, are you?" Like many doctors, he dislikes being treated by others, especially for psychological issues. He doesn't think Jack would be able to get someone both psychic and a psychologist in to see Torchwood but you never know.

[slayers_desire]

"No. Definitely not. But empathic enough to sense your anger."

[fractured_agent]

"I'll take that under advisement," Owen says grudgingly. He's at least taking these psychic lessons partly seriously, although he doesn't believe anything he does is going to do much good. But venting his anger is certainly something he's open to regardless of whether or not it will help with the matter at hand.

[slayers_desire]

"I want you to reflect on your stressful situation, earlier today. I want to get a sense for your mental shields..."

[fractured_agent]

If it was anyone else, Owen might think she was digging for dirt on him. "You wanna see what happened?"

[slayers_desire]

"Yes. And how you handled it, so I can advise the best way to strengthen your shields."

[fractured_agent]

"Fine." He's not happy about it, but the sooner he gets to go home and take some painkillers, the better. So he'll cooperate for now.

The Rift monitors went off about half an hour after Jack left with the ladies. Ianto attempted to reach them via comms, with no response, so they sent in Gwen while the two men in the Hub went through Tosh's files for clues.

Owen came across Tosh's files on when Diane came through, and the spike when she left, flying away in her antique airplane to face her next adventure without him. It started him thinking...

Then Ianto found the photos, taken in the dance hall the night of January 20th, 2941. Jack, Tosh, and April are in the background. As well as Bilis Manger.

Without the other half of the equations, Owen begins setting up the Rift manipulator, hoping it can work it out on its own, and that the lack of coordinates might reach out and grab Diane instead. But there's a piece missing, to Ianto's relief. And he sends Owen to help Gwen find any clues left behind.

[slayers_desire]

April thinks that Owen coming across Diane's files is not as coincidental as he may believe. "You wanted to find her again..."

She wonders if she could discern Diane's fate. If it would do any good, and projects out so that her voices could guide her.

[fractured_agent]

"Of course I bloody do." Owen only knew her for a few days but he thinks he loves her. He thought she'd felt the same way, and then she left him.

Diane is a free spirit, always looking for her next adventure. Going through the Rift didn't faze her as much as the others, looking at 2006 like another exciting trip to a faraway land, and she didn't want to stay tied down to one place. So she flew back into the Rift and let it take her wherever it wanted.

She's been in several times and places since then, some past, some future. She never stays for long, just a few days to explore and experience something new. She only occasionally thinks of Owen, though fondly when she does, like a favorite fling.