Writer – Catherine Tregenna
Director – Andy Goddard
Producer – Richard Stokes
It’s the
morning, and Gwen wrestles her Converse trainer from the grips of her boyfriend
Rhys as he lies in bed. Laughing and
cajoling, Gwen giggles.
“Come on, let’s…”
“No, I can’t, I’m late as it is.” Gwen says as Rhys pulls her back into
bed. “Aargh!” she laughs wrestling her
shoe free of him finally. “Rhys!” She laughs, staring at him as he pins her to
the bed, looking down at her deeply. “I
can’t, I’m late as it is.”
“You’re itching to get back to work aren’t
you?” She pauses and looks away
grinning. “Oh, I’ll take that as a yes
then.”
“Having you to come home to, that’s the best
bit. Aww.” Rhys gags and collapses on top of her as Gwen
squeals with giggly laughter.
In the Hub,
Owen sits in a smart grey v neck cardigan and clean white shirt, his hair
smoothed over and he’s wearing glasses.
Jack enters carrying a large metal container with a Torchwood stencil on
the side. “Unlabelled Class D artefacts.
Tosh, I need you to run a full check.”
“Sure.”
She replies glancing up as she walks into view.
“Owen, you can help.”
“Happy to.”
“Adam, I know how much you love audits.”
“It’s gotta be done.” He replies taking the seat where Owen had
just vacated.
“If you could….”
“Go through the investigation reports, find
out when they might have come through the Rift.” He says interrupting Jack mid flow and
settles down as Gwen enters the Hub.
“You ok with that?” Jack asks.
“I have been for the last three years.” His
eyes settle on Gwen as she enters, his cheery smile fades.
“You’re late.” Jack reminds Gwen as he stands with his hands
on his hips.
“Yes, Paris
“Who the hell is this?”
The team
look confused, surely she’d know that. After
a few awkward moments Adam gets up and walks towards her.
“Just coz that’s what I said to you on your
first day…remember?” He says placing his
hand upon her shoulder. Suddenly a flash
of memories come flooding back, set in, with laughter and basketball and
copious amounts of black coffee. Her
perception altered her attitude changes towards Adam.
“Sorry, couldn’t resist, come here
you.” She pulls him in for a hug. “Good to see you. Hey, Tosh, you're looking
good.” She remarks.
Adam’s face turns from a smile to a sneer,
he’s got them right where he wants them…
Adam sits
at the computer and updates the records, adding his own personal profile. He fills in the blank spaces with his name
as: Adam Smith, Date of Birth ‘16/11/82’ and when he was recruited to Torchwood
Three ‘07/05/05-0000.’ Toshiko calls to
him as he works.
“Adam, what are you doing with your personnel
file?”
“Nothing, just finished updating details of
Rift activity.” He lies.
“Any idea when this came through?” She says holding up an ornate wooden
box. “It’s got a low meson energy
reading.”
“No, I’ll keep looking.” He takes the box from her and sets it
down. Quickly placing his hand on her
neck he creates a series of flashbacks into her memories. Drawn by the emotions stirred within her,
they kiss, passionately.
“A year ago today.” Adam tells her. She smiles mischievously.
“Our
first kiss.”
“You remembered.”
Owen enters
from the Autopsy room and clatters a few metal dishes down. It breaks Toshiko’s momentum and she breaks
from the kiss.
“Are you OK Owen?” She asks confidently, different to how she
might normally behave around him.
Fumbling with his words, rather
embarrassed at being found out, he assures her that he’s fine. “No, no, it’s just…er…kissing at work…I
wasn’t expecting it.” He finally pulls
the latex gloves off and walks away, as Adam sneers.
“We’ll celebrate tonight.” Adam tells Toshiko, kissing her briefly. As she walks away his smile fades.
Jack switches on the lights in the Cells. He strides through the room checking each
cell, his stride is different to usual, there’s less confidence, less
consideration. He snaps at the Weevil in
the middle cell for growling at him.
“Save it.”
As he walks towards the third cell a small boy in sandy
coloured clothing stares back at him.
He’s only about seven or eight years old, it shocks Jack to the core, he
recognises the boy, remembers letting go of his hand in a distant memory, but
why is he there. Before he can do or say
anything more, Gwen enters, distracting him.
“Jack?” Gwen calls.
Distracted Jack looks at her.
“You OK?”
“Yeah fine.” Jack replies, glancing at her, before
returning to gaze at the empty cell.
She slaps him on
the leg, grinning. “Did you miss me?”
“Were you
gone?” He replies attempting to tickle
her. Gwen laughs, heading out of the
cell, Jack in hot pursuit. As he reaches
the door he glances back into the room. His smile fading as Gwen laughs further
up the corridor.
Toshiko
walks in, Gwen and Ianto are on the sofa reading up on paperwork relating to a
metal object in Ianto’s hand. Adam sits
comfortably in his chair watching everyone.
“Just doing a quick check.” She says walking to her workstation, all her
computer screens displaying various blueprints of alien tech. “We had Rift activity two days ago, but
nothing seems to have come through.”
“Apart from me!” A small furry squeaky toy pokes around the
bottom of the computer monitor. Gwen and
Ianto grin, Toshiko looks bemused.
“What’s that?”
Laughing,
Owen peers around the computer. “It’s a
screen cleaner. I thought you might like
it, um…do you…do you like it?”
“Just what I need…a small rodent looking at
me while I work.” She replies walking
away. Owen’s smile fades. “Think I’ll call it Owen.”
Sighing,
Owen walks back to the Autopsy room clutching a folder.
“He’s like a little puppy, bringing her
sticks.” Gwen laughs as she turns to Ianto.
“When’s he going to realise he’s got no chance?” Gwen gets up off the sofa and sets the
paperwork down behind Adam.
“Love’s blind, apparently. He’s idolised her for years now.”
“Oh, leave him alone. I think it’s sweet. He’s happy.”
Evening and
Gwen returns to her flat to find the lights are on in the living room. Puzzled she heads to the kitchen counter and
lifts off her shoulder bag as Rhys enters in his bathrobe, drying his hair with
a towel. A set of keys lie on the
counter beside hers and she lifts them up for closer inspection as Rhys grabs
her from behind.
“Ehhhh.”
Gwen screams and wriggles out of his grip backing away into the
kitchen. It startles Rhys and he quickly
apologises. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to
frighten you.”
“How did you get in?”
“With a key.”
Locating a
carving knife on the draining board Gwen snatches it up and brandishes it at
Rhys.
“This isn’t funny.”
“Stay back alright, stay back!” Gwen says horrified at the man she has no
clue of in her flat. She nears her bag
on the counter, waving the knife for Rhys to take heed of.
“Gwen, what’s going on?”
“How do you know my name? Huh?” She pulls her gun from her bag and snaps a
bullet into the chamber, quickly taking aim she keeps the gun aloft. “I know how to use this, now, who are you and
what do you want?”
“You know who I am.”
“Fine, if you won’t tell me, fine. You stay there.” She roots for her phone in the shoulder
bag. “Don’t you move.” She says as she speed dials the Hub. “Jack, yeah…someone’s broken into my
flat. He had a key and he knows my
name.”
“It’s because I live here with you.” Rhys tries to tell her.
“Shut it!
Shut it! Yeah…can you hurry
Jack? He’s a nutter.” Quickly putting her phone down to take a firm
two handed grip on the pistol she stepped closer to Rhys. “You have picked the wrong girl to stalk,
mate.”
With Adam
in tow, Jack leaps from the SUV parked close to Gwen’s flat and jumps over the
small fence at the front of the building, pressing the buzzer to the flat
seconds after. Their weapons are drawn.
Inside the
flat Gwen edges towards the door her gun trained on a puzzled Rhys.
“Gwen?”
“Stay there.” Lifting the telephone she calls: “Jack?”
“Gwen, it’s us.” She buzzes them inside. Haring up the stairs and into the flat, Jack is
puzzled when they reach the flat to discover no stranger, only Rhys.
“In here, Jack.”
“What’s going on?” Puzzled, Jack glances over at Gwen. Rhys already looking with disgust at Jack.
“You tell me. Look, he’s put photos of us up.” She says grabbing a photo frame nearest to
show them. “He must have done it while I
was at work. He’s deluded. He keeps saying he’s my boyfriend.”
“He is.
It’s Rhys.” Jack confirms while
still keeping his weapon trained on Rhys.
“I've never seen him before in my life!”
“You've been with him for years.”
“See!”
“Give me the gun, Gwen.”
“No! He… he grabbed me, Jack. Who knows what
he was going to do?”
“How can you say that? What have you done to
her?"
“Nothing."
“Oh, come on, I know what kind of sick games
you play. Pills that make you forget... Is that what this is, yeah? Are you fazing
me out so you can have her all to yourself?”
“Hey, stay away from him.” Gwen replies as Rhys looks ready for a fight
– with Jack. Placing his hand over
Gwen’s gun, Jack tries to diffuse the situation.
“We're engaged! I bought you the bloody ring
you're wearing!” Rhys yells at Gwen.
She stops
in her tracks and stares at her hand.
Jack nods towards the ring on her finger. She takes her hand off the gun and stares
quickly at her finger, turning her hand around to stare as if for the first
time, the ring on her finger. Then just as quickly resumes her grip on the
gun.
“Why don’t you come with me to the Hub?” Suggests Adam after a few moments.
“Who the hell are you?”
“He's one of us.”
“We can check you over. Jack will stay and
take care of things.”
“OK?”
Jack asks calmly. Gwen lowers the
gun. Rhys still in shock takes a few
breaths of relief. As Gwen heads to the
door with Adam she turns back to face Jack and Rhys.
“Don’t let him go. If he comes for me again, I’ll kill him.”
Adam looks
pensive as he pauses in the hallway.
“Trust me, I didn’t do this. But whatever’s happened, we’ll put it
right.” Jack assures Rhys.
He nods.
Owen shines
a light into Gwen’s eyes but is puzzled; he can’t find any reason as to why she
can’t remember Rhys.
In Gwen’s
flat, Jack sets up the video camera that will relay the film back at the
Hub. Rhys watches Jack set it to the
right angle.
“Is this really necessary?”
“She needs to remember.” Rhys sighs.
“Where did you meet?”
“Er…college.” Rhys begins.
“Fancied her from the moment I saw her. Er, Not just her looks, you
know, I mean, I mean she is a looker, er...”
It felt a little crazy opening up to Jack, explaining his love for
Gwen. He shook his head, running his
hands over his head, wondering how it had all come to this. At the Hub, Gwen sat and watched the monitor.
“Tell me about your first kiss.”
"Erm,
in the supermarket. I was going to make her spag bol... and then I realised,
didn't I? Bloody garlic. Can't kiss a girl with garlic breath.” He laughed.
In the Hub
Adam crouched beside Gwen as they listened to Rhys.
“Do you remember that?”
“Sort of.
It’s like I’m…I’m seeing what he’s saying but…” Gwen replies listening to Rhys talk more
about garlic breath and kissing. “I
don’t remember how I felt.”
“Believe me when I tell you that that is your
fiancé. Your memory’s just playing
tricks on you that’s all.”
“…she starts to laugh, she calls me Rhys the
Rant and then she kissed me, right there in the queue.” Rhys’ emotions threaten to bubble over as he
speaks. “And I thought then, Jack, I thought,
“I'm going to marry this bloody mad woman, even if it kills me.”
Using the
desk top scanner in the Meeting Room, Owen collects the ornate wooden box as it
slides out of the machine.
“Worked out what that thing is yet?” Toshiko asks.
“No joy yet.” He replies, observing the finer details of
the box a little closer. “But you should
have a look at the detail Tosh, it’s gorgeous. Oh, let me get that.” He says lifting the box and getting up from
the seat at the table. He pauses a
moment as their hands almost meet around the box. Toshiko is aware of how close they are but
thinks nothing of it.
“Have you managed to open it yet?”
“Er, no, sorry. I'm not doing very well, am
I?”
“It's gonna be a long night.” Toshiko says
bringing the laptop screen around to face her.
“Yes, er…which is why I brought... some
sandwiches?” He snatched up two plastic
sealed boxes, and slid the red box along the table towards Toshiko. “One for you... and one for me, so smoked salmon
that is your favourite isn't it?”
“How d'you know that?” Owen faltered, shook
his head and looked away, embarrassed.
It wasn’t as if he were a stalker!
“I'm going to need a beer.”
“What while we're working? Oh, yeah, of
course. Yeah, right, relax, kick back, it's a good idea. Er, not for me though,
thanks!”
Ianto
brings Gwen back to the flat but as Jack leaves both Rhys and Gwen alone, it’s
too much for Gwen and she begs Jack to stay, grabbing him as he passes
her.
“Don’t leave me, Jack.”
“You’ll be ok.” He tells her calmly. Ianto winks at her and
gives a thumbs up before following Jack out.
Nervously she looks at Rhys who smiles softly at her.
Out in the
street Jack and Ianto return to the parked SUV.
“What was that all about?”
“Temporary amnesia. Owen's checking possible causes. Oh... “ He tosses the car keys to Jack who catches
them deftly and clicks off the alarm as he goes around to the drivers
door. As he nears the door the sight of
the young boy from the cell catches him in the throat. “Weevil sighting by the
sewer in Rockall Street
“Can you see him?”
“Who?”
When Jack
turns back, the boy has gone. Swallowing back an age old emotion he pulls open
the car door. “I’ll drop you off and
check out the sighting.” Ianto climbs in
beside him.
“I could come with you. It’s been a while since we went hunting
together.”
“I'll be fine on my own.”
In the
Meeting Room Owen glances up as Toshiko enters carrying two bottles of
beer. She’s confidently dressed, not
reserved as usual, very professional and very much in charge, in control. She sets the beers down on the table in front
of Owen, taking a pew on the edge of the table.
“Go on. Live a little.”
“Well, as it's you.” He says, accepting the bottle opener, as
Toshiko takes a pew on the edge of the table and crosses her leg over the
other. Her smile is radiant.
“Thank
you.”
“Call it a celebration.”
“Oh yes?”
They clink bottles.
“Adam and I have been together for one year
today.”
“Right, right.”
“A whole year. My stomach still flips when
he touches me. I've never known anything like it. The two of us, we just fit.
D'you know what I mean?"
“Erm, not sure I do, no.”
“Don't worry. You'll meet the right girl one
day."
“Yeah. Tosh... Erm... Erm... D'you really
think I look like a rodent?”
Toshiko laughs and slips eloquently off the
table. “Come on, we’re going to crack
this box even if it kills us.”
Climbing
down a wrought iron ladder into the sewers Jack jumps the last step and
splashes in the low lying water. He
shines the powerful Maglite up ahead of him.
Lights along the brickwork walls shine with a cold blueness. The old Victorian tunnel system is damp and
trickling with surface water. Jack shines the torch up and down the tunnel.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Walking through the tunnel, ducking at the
low pipework along the roof, he hears the low growl of a weevil and spins
around, shining the torch ahead of him. “Giving me the run around, huh? You picked the
wrong day, my friend.” He says returning back the way he’d come, but heavy foot
splashes force Jack back along the tunnel.
A few more corridors and he rounds on a shape in the darkness. Focusing on the face he’s horrified to
discover the identity of the man. It’s
not possible!
“Get out! Get out, son.”
“Dad?”
“RUN!”
Jack leaves
the sewer in a blind panic and climbs back out onto safe soil. Leaving the flashlight just at the entrance
to the sewer he struggles to run, his mind racing. He’s overcome by what he saw but equally
taken aback when he sees Adam.
“Jack? Was it down there? The Weevil?”
“No. How did you get here?”
“I came with you, Jack, remember?” Adam says placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Are you OK? Jack, what did you see?”
“My
past.”
Gwen sets
down a picture frame onto the coffee table back in the flat, while she and Rhys
sit on the sofa together.
“If what you say is true... “
“It
is. We love each other.”
“But
how could I forget that?”
Shaking his
head Rhys gets up and heads to the fridge.
“Nothing in. I was going to take you out for a
meal.” He lifts a bottle from the
counter and pours himself a drink.
“Didn’t want the weekend to finish I suppose.” He said, his voice breaking. Gwen looked at him awkwardly before glancing
at the photos on the side of the pair of them together. Another awkward silence.
Stalking
across a car-park towards a row of portacabins in the pouring rain, Adam runs
after him.
“Jack, please. Talk to me.
What about the past? Is it your
childhood?” Jack stops walking and turns
to face Adam who catches up and places his left hand upon Jack’s shoulder. “I’ve always been here for you Jack. From the very beginning. I’m the one you can confide in,
remember?”
“It was meant to be buried. I buried the memory over 150 years ago. Why now?” Jack turns and strides away,
distraught.
“Well, maybe it's time. Maybe up until now,
your subconscious was protecting you. But you can't block out the past
forever.” Jack turns on Adam, growling.
“I can't afford to remember.” He replies
before striding away again. Aware of how
much he needs Jack to remember, he
chases after Jack to the waterlogged astro turf football pitch.
“Jack, talk to me, please?“
“Why?”
“I can help. Trust me.”
“I'm not sure I should do this.”
“Just tell me what you see. I can help you.
That's why I'm here.” Jack closes his
eyes, taking himself back to where it all began. “Where are you, Jack?”
In between
the present to his memory Jack remembers the landscape around him, bathed in a
yellow light he sees himself standing on the shoreline back home. As he searches further he remembers himself
as a boy, dressed in the sand coloured clothing of the boy and the man he saw
earlier that night. Running up the sandy
dunes, a younger Jack in his teens reaches the top of the hill and stares
across at the building over the water, the array of apartments stacked in a
higgledy piggledy fashion, home for more than one or two families. Back in the
present Jack smiles.
“Boeshane
Peninsula
“Who?”
“The most horrible creatures you could
possibly have imagined.” Jack’s father
instructs Jack to run with his brother.
“Their howls travelled before them.”
The screeching from an unseen creature could be heard above them.
“Run!
Take Gray. Keep him safe.”
“Take
Gray.” Jack repeats in the present.
“Gray?”
“My little brother.”
“No, no Dad.
Come with us.”
“No, I’ve got to go get your mother. RUN!”
“One minute I was holding his hand.” Jack recalls running but Gray falling and
before he had time to think, he was already in the bolt hole under the tree
roots. “I don't know when he let go.”
“Gray? Gray? Gray! Gray, where are you?
Gray!”
“One minute, his hand was in mine, I don't
know when he let go. I don't think I noticed, I thought he was there, just
behind me.”
“Gray!”
“I retraced my steps, hoping that I'd see
him again.” Jack’s voice breaks as he tearfully remembers running up and down
the Boeshane shoreline calling for his brother, while all around him lay the
bodies of the dead.
“Did
you find him?”
“I ran
all the way home.”
“Gray!
Where are you? Gray!”
“Jack, what did you find?”
Jack
covered his face with his hands. It was
too much to remember. He saw his Dad
lying dead and bleeding outside the large sandstone building. As the boy he ran over and called for help,
begging for help, crying.
“No!
Can someone help? Please?”
“I searched for Gray for years. I never found the body.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“I let go of his hand!” Jack yells pointing at Adam. “It was the worst day of my life. It's the
last thing I want to remember.” Jack
strides out of the waterlogged pitch.
Ianto leans
casually against the pillar just outside the Meeting Room while Owen and
Toshiko solve the puzzle of the box.
“So, according to the molecular breakdown,
this potentially alien complex artefact is, in fact, made out of wood.”
“Well, perhaps it fell in the crate by
mistake. Picked up meson energy from the other stuff.“
“Yeah, right!”
“Oh, yes, sorry, it's a stupid idea.”
“I think Jack brought it in.”
“No, I'm sure Adam found it on an excavation
a few months back.”
“I'll have a look in the diary. I like to
log the interesting stuff.”
“You write about artefacts in your diary?”
“Among other things.” He winks and takes his
leave.
“So, we are done for the night.”
“I guess.”
Tosh replies checking her phone.
“Everything all right?” Owen asks pushing
his hands into his trouser pockets.
“Yeah, just, Adam hasn't rung yet.”
“Ah. Sure he will. I know I would, if it was
our anniversary. I wouldn't disappear. In fact, I would... cherish you.”
“Ah, Owen!”
Toshiko smiles, as she packs up for the evening.
“Yeah, no, no, really, really, I would. In
fact, I wouldn't let you out of my sight, Tosh... because I love you.”
“What?”
She smiles rather abashed as she looks up from her laptop.
“Yeah, there we are. I've said it. I… I love
you. Yes, I always have, actually, ever since we started working together, and
in fact, I actually ache for you, physically. When you're in the room, I when
you’re in the room I just want to reach out and touch you and... “
“Owen!” Her smile has gone.
“No, no, no, you know, I can't keep this
secret any more! My mum said to me, So, seize
the day, and so I am seizing it, and you know I've got so much love to give
you, Tosh, and and you know, you won't know that unless I tell you. So here I
am, telling you that I love you. You know I know there's Adam , OK
Having
listened to Owen declare his love for her, she can take no more. Closing the laptop with a resounding click,
she looks away, her hand on her hip.
“Oh God say something.”
“That is completely inappropriate.”
“Pardon? “
“What are you thinking of?” Tosh says
storming around the table collecting her data.
“I'm sorry, I just wanted you to know.“
“How dare you! I'm with Adam. And even if I
wasn't... you're not my type. Never will be.” She strides out angrily leaving
Owen alone.
“Oh.”
Rhys and
Gwen are shopping for something for tea.
“Maybe I should be on my own tonight.”
“No way. What if you forget who you are?” He
says lifting a frozen bag of something into his basket.
“I know who I am.”
“It's
not just you who's lost something.” He
sets his basket down at the checkout just as the cashier takes a call from his
mobile.
“But
you remember.”
“All you
know about me. You're my girl, my best friend.
Suddenly, all that's gone.” He
watches the cashier wander off into the shop.
“Where's he going now? He just walked off! He knows I'm waiting. Oh,
fine. I'll help myself, then! Here you are.” He tosses some change onto the
counter. “Keep the change. Buy some spot
cream!” Gwen begins to laugh. “I'm not
coming here again. It's overpriced. There's a £1.50 charge on the cash machine.
It's a bloody disgrace. Honestly. Kids these days.” He packs the shopping up as Gwen begins to
laugh out loud. “Don't know the meaning
of hard work. What? “
“Rhys… Rhys the Rant! Always when you're in
a queue, or driving, or when you're on the phone to one of those automated
phone thingies...”
“Hey,
it's OK. It's OK.” He says as Gwen begins to cry. He lifts the shopping from the counter and
takes her hand. “Come on sweetheart.”
It was
dimly lit in the Hub. Ianto thumbs
through his diary, flipping back through the book growing steadily anxious as
he does so. He closes the book and puts
it down on the coffee table and leans forward in silent prayer before leaning
back. Out of nowhere, Adam appears at
the other end of the sofa startling Ianto.
“What’s wrong?”
Ianto
quickly jumps from the sofa. “My diary.”
He points to it. Adam picks it up. “You’re not in it. Everyone else is.” Adam gets to his feet and
walks towards Ianto who backs away. “Why
would I leave you out when you've been here so long?” Adam closes the
diary. “Like I'm remembering a man who
doesn't exist." The book drops from Adam’s hand, his hand begins to flicker as
it loses its corporeal state. Adam uses his other hand to restore it. Ianto looks on. “What are you?”
Adam lunges
at Ianto and shoves him up against the pillar.
“Cross me and I will fill you full of fake
memories until your head is on fire, because that’s how I exist.” Ianto shoves him back.
“Gwen.
What did you do to her?”
“Memory is a very delicate thing. Feeding myself in wiped other memories
out. It's a side effect of what I have
to do in order to survive.” He tells Ianto as he follows Ianto slowly around
the workspace.
“Jack has to know.”
Before he
can react, Adam grabs Ianto and slams him against the wall. Placing his hand against Ianto’s forehead he
causes Ianto to gasp as if he’s suffocating.
“Remember this.” He tells Ianto as he forces a dark and
distressing memory into the young Welshman’s head. He sees himself throwing a young woman down
onto a mattress in a cold dark alleyway against her will, ignoring her
desperation as he strangled the life from her.
“I know you didn't mean to kill her. You just couldn't stop yourself.
Remember this.” Again he sees another
woman struggle to survive against the torturous grip of the coffee boy. Adam continues to pour dark thoughts into
Ianto’s mind until Ianto slumps to the ground.
“I didn’t do that.”
“Oh yes you did, and she wasn’t the first.”
Adam stands
out in a dark alleyway as the rain continues to beat down. Ianto sees the memories of a woman who tries
to run but reaches a dead end. Ianto is
blocking her escape route. Terrified she
begs for her life.
“Please don't hurt me!”
“Good old Ianto, loyal Ianto. Roaming the
streets at night for bait.” Another
image as he sees himself following another, his fists clenching and unclenching
as he stalks the unwitting victim.
“My. . .diary!”
Adam drags
Ianto down the alley, tossing the diary over his shoulder. “All human record is a lie. You twist it into
what you want to believe.” From the cold
wet alleyway, Ianto is back in the Hub, edging away from Adam, scared of his
own shadow. “But we know the rot in your
heart. You crave flesh.”
“No. Please.”
Adam grabs
Ianto in the Hub, his hands pressed against his temples and they’re back in the
alley.
“Remember it.”
“Aaargh!”
Ianto wraps his gloved hand around the trapped woman’s throat and
squeezes tightly, choking her. He
screams as she screams. He’s in control
in the distorted memory. “Remember it.” Adam
stares at him as the shadows show Ianto punching a female victim. Ianto gasps and shakes as another memory is
forced into his head, removing all the good memories. “Remember it! Remember it! Remember it!”
Ianto
screams in the Hub. “Aaargh!”
With a
carpet end a piece Ianto and Adam carry the corpse wrapped in the carpet and
dump it in a large metal bin down an alleyway in the dead of night as the rain
hammers the ground.
“I helped you dump the bodies. It's me you
call.” Ada
Terrified
of his own shadow, Ianto’s mind is broken.
He doesn’t know what is down or up, one minute he’s in the Hub the next
he’s in the alley with a dead woman and the rain running like a steady flow of
tears. It’s like a nightmare he can’t
wake from. He cries loudly at the women
he’s killed. He can’t believe he could
do it, but the evidence is all around him.
He curls up and cries his heart out.
Up on a
rooftop, the wind buffeting his face, Jack stares out across the city, his mind
cast back to his teenage self in the Boeshane peninsula. He’s sat as before beside the body of his dad
as his Mum rushes over to them both.
Distraught at the loss of her husband she looks up and enquires after
her youngest son, Gray, who she suddenly realises isn’t with young Jack.
“Where's Gray? Where's Gray? Where is he,
son? Where is he?”
“We
were running so fast. One moment, his hand was in mine...”
“No, not my little boy! Not my little boy!”
Young Jack
gets to his feet, the older version stands behind him.
“Why now?” As he stares across the dark city
he asks the question again. “Why now?”
Gwen enters
the bedroom wearing a pink dressing gown and grey pyjamas. Rhys sits at the end of the bed till Gwen
pulls back the covers and climbs into bed.
“Anything?”
“It's
still a bit of a blur, but I'm getting there.”
“That's
all we've got, really. Memories. That's what brought us to here. To this point.”
“We
found it before, we'll find it again.”
“You
know, I, um, I always worried that you'd... that you'd just settled for me, you
know. Cos if you met me now, Gwen, with all that goes on in your life, could be
that you wouldn't look twice at me.”
“Don't
say that.” He kisses her suddenly.
“Do you remember that?”
“No.
It felt like the first time. But it was nice.” She smiled, raising his hopes.
He kisses her neck. “I like that.”
“I know.”
He grins.
“Remind me some more.” She says nodding back at the bed. Smiling, they lie back together.
In
Toshiko’s flat, Adam is in a state of undress as both passionately kiss and
embrace in her bed. Taking control
Toshiko pushes Adam onto the bed and crawls seductively up his body kissing his
naked flesh till she reaches his lips.
He rolls them over and now he’s on top, taking control as they kiss
hungrily, before he pulls away.
“What's wrong?” Toshiko asks stroking his
face.
“How far would you go for me?” She reaches
down to the zipper on his trousers. He stops her. “I need to know. Would you die for me?”
“Yes.”
They return to passionately kissing again.
It’s dark
in the Hub when Jack returns from his rooftop.
As he climbs the stairs to his office he hears someone whisper his name
and turns to see who it is. He relaxes
when he sees who it really is.
“Ianto.
Hey, what’s wrong?” He smiles
walking over. Ianto is less than his usual self. He’s lost, pale and sweating.
“You'll have to put me in the vaults. Lock
me up. I killed three girls.” He sniffs.
“Strangled them.”
“Stop kidding around!” If this is a game,
Jack’s not impressed.
Ianto’s
voice changes to a man in control revelling in the murderous spree
earlier.
“I'm serious. I murdered them, in cold
blood. I took their bodies, and...” Out of nowhere he jumps, startled scared of
his own shadow. “You have to lock me away... before I turn on you. None of you
are safe.” He says walking quickly away
from Jack, in case he inflicts harm upon him.
“Hey, hey, come here, come here.” Jack grabs
hold of Ianto and studies him, it’s unlike Ianto to act in this way. He’s concerned. “What's happened to you?” He pulls him close,
gently stroking his fingers through his hair.
After a
moment’s pause where Ianto can hardly bring himself to admit it, he whispers in
Jack’s ear. “I’m a monster.”
Sitting
opposite Jack and wired up to an elaborate device on his desk Jack is
determined to get to the bottom of this.
A green light flashes on top of the device.
“Best lie detector on the planet. If
something's untrue, the light turns red. Go.”
“My hands on her throat. And it felt so good.
Squeezing the life out of her. It reads
as true.“
“I don't believe it. OK, tell me about the
second girl.”
“She tried to get away... but I was too
quick. Pleading... And I... I didn't care. Something in me wants to kill.”
“No.
This is not you.” Jack switches off the machine, lifting the light stalk from
the top of the device. “Something's changed you. You're not a murderer.” Jack
gets to his feet and strides across the office, passing Ianto he lightly places
a hand on his shoulder before striding from the room. “I'm certain of it.”
Ianto is
less convinced.
The only
way something could have changed is if something had entered the Hub while Jack
was out. He pulls up the CCTV files of
the Hub and discovers Adam with Ianto.
‘All
human record is a lie. You crave flesh. Remember this.’ Ianto screams as Adam forces the dark
memories into him. Jack brings up more
CCTV data, this time it’s Toshiko’s turn.
'A year ago today... you remembered.'
In a flashback, Jack remembers hearing. “Do
you remember that?” He taps in another
moment, Gwen arriving and enquiring after Adam. 'Who the hell is this?'
'Just cos that's what I said to you on your
first day, remember.'
Jack
rewinds the tape and hears the same words with the same actions. 'Remember? Remember?' 'Well, I came with you,
Jack, remember. Remember, remember. I
can help you - that's why I'm here. 'Remember this.' Jack pulls Ianto towards
the computer and shows him the results.
“Come here, come here, just look, look."
'Remember
it.' Ianto watches himself suffer as a
victim and grows angrier by the minute. 'Remember
it, remember it, remember it. Remember it.'
In the
Autopsy room Jack pulls out blood samples from the fridge and checks through
them.
“Where's Adam's blood sample?”
Ianto gets
up and brings up Adam’s personnel data on the computer. “Everything's in order here.”
“When was it last updated?” Jack asks
glancing over Ianto’s shoulder.
“Er... 24 hours ago.”
The lights
burst into life, the door alarm echoes around the Hub. Quickly covering up what they’ve been doing,
Jack moves away from Ianto and selects a book.
Owen appears behind a large bunch of flowers. Ianto stares in surprise at Owen before
moving away. Owen quickly places the
flowers on Tosh’s desk before going to work, Jack watches him go before walking
to his own office as Toshiko and Adam arrive.
Tosh
notices the flowers on the desk. “Oh...” Adam shrugs as he walks past her to
his own desk. Tosh sniffs the flowers
and lifts the card off the bouquet as Owen comes over. “Owen... “
“About last night, um, it was selfish of me.”
“Owen, I think the world of you...”
From his
office Jack watches Adam very closely.
“I know. I'm really sorry. I don't want to
jeopardise our friendship. The most important thing is that you're happy.”
“Thank you.”
“Tosh... You are... you are happy with Adam,
aren't you?”
“Completely.”
“OK.”
Ianto
watches from the walkway beside the painting of the Welsh dragon. Gwen arrives, relaxed but still a little
nervous.
“Hey. “
“Hey, how are you today?” Toshiko asks her.
“Um, things are coming back slowly. Rhys
thought I shouldn't come into work but...”
“Hey, we'll look after you. You just have to
give yourself time. Come on, group hug.“ Says Adam walking over to them both
encouraging Owen over, strengthening his control over the team. Jack and Ianto remain vigilant.
As Ianto
comes down the stairs, watching the camaraderie between the four he heads
towards the office. Adam breaks from the
hug intending to go after Ianto.
“Hey Ianto, come here. You all right, mate?”
Ianto pulls away from Adam’s outstretched hand.
Countering the rebuke he changes tact.
“Listen, I could murder a coffee.” He takes a seat back at his
desk. Leaning back in his seat, Adam
hears a gun cock and feels the barrel press against the back of his head.
“Talk to me, Adam. If that's even your name.”
“What?“
Adam laughs turning in his seat to face Jack.
“What are you doing, Jack?”
“He's not who you think he is. He's been
feeding himself into our memories, by touch.”
“Is this some kind of sick joke?”
“He didn't
exist until two days ago.”
“Can
somebody tell me what's going on, please?”
“Jack,
we've known him for years. He is part of the team.“ Owen says under the impression that Jack has
forgotten, just like Gwen.
“No. He just made you think that.”
“Come on, Jack.” Adam says reaching out to
Jack.
“Ah, you don't get to me like that.”
“Jack, you know me. You recruited me three
years ago.”
“All I know is that when I think of my team
I see you there. But I don't feel anything for you. No pride, no warmth... You,
the one who I can confide in, the one who unburied the dead.” Jack growls.
“Jack, maybe you've just forgotten him. Like
I did with Rhys, yeah?”
“Oh I should have spotted it then. That
wasn't stress. That was him. By making us think we know him, he disturbs our
real memories.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about. “
“I'm taking
him to the vaults.” Jack growls grabbing hold of Adam and pushing him towards
the cells.
“Jack, this is ridiculous.” Adam yells backing away as Jack stalks
towards him, gun aloft. A gun cocks behind the two men as Tosh yells.
“NO!”
“Tosh!” Gwen tries to calm the situation.
“Tosh, that's not gonna help.” Owen replies.
“It's fine.”
“Toshiko.”
Jack calls calmly to her. “I'm
just going to lock him up.”
“Let him go.”
“I'm not going to harm him.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Tosh, Tosh, we can talk about this.”
“Drop the gun, Jack.” Quickly Ianto grabs
Toshiko and forces the gun down. Gwen
quickly retrieves the weapon as Toshiko struggles to wrestle free of
Ianto. It’s a fraught few moments as
Adam stares down the barrel of Jack’s gun, while Jack looks on at his team,
fighting to protect their colleague who is fighting to protect the man she
thinks she loves.
“Shit!“
“Get off me!”
“This is what you've done to us.” Growls Jack
to Adam. “Move. “
“No! Adam!!!”
Locked in
the Cells there’s no escape for Adam. He
slams his hands against the window and begs to be kept alive. Jack walks into
view, arms folded and glares at the man in the cells.
“Don't kill me. I had to become part of your
memories in order to survive. I didn't mean any harm.”
“You've changed us. “
“For the better! You didn't remember who you
were. I helped you. Look at Owen, all his cynicism gone. He's a different man
now. Selfless, happier. And Toshiko, too - she's never been more confident.”
Jack
strides towards the cell window and growls at Adam.
“How did you come here? Why us? “
“All of you have such unique memories,
specially you, Jack. All those extraordinary memories you hold - some hidden,
some absent. Your singular mind. That's what drew me here.”
“Good job. It's what we do best... wipe out
aliens.” Jack replies smugly before
backing away from the screen dividing the pair.
“You can't shoot me. You made me live. And
you always remember what you killed…” He
calls after Jack, who stops aware of what he means. “Don't you Jack?” Adam growls after him,
aware of the nerve he’s caught.
In the
Meeting Room Jack once again strikes the same stand offish pose, arms
folded. On the screen behind him is the
monitor showing the image of Adam in the cell, before him the team around the
table.
“Our memories define us. Adam changed those
memories changed who we are. Now I have to help you all go back, find a memory
that defines you. Rediscover who you are. If I'm wrong…” he says staring back at the screen as he
walks around the table. “…he'll still be
here when we've done this.” Jack changes
the screen to a ever decreasing circles of blue calming ripples and soft
ambient sounds. “Let me take you back to
before we all met. Feel around for anything
that makes you what you are, the hidden and the forgotten. Tell me where you
are.”
Around the
table the team dig deep in their thoughts, concentrating hard. Gwen finds one first.
'The college canteen... Rhys is sitting
opposite me, telling stupid jokes.' She recalls to memory. Rhys makes her laugh. 'Where do you find a tortoise with no legs?
Where you left it.'
Jack sees
her laughter and smiles.
Owen
recalls his birthday. “I’m ten.” His Mum
spends the whole day screaming. “I love you because you’re my son.” Yet he
remembers her adding those crushing words ‘but that doesn’t mean I have to like
you.’
Toshiko
recalls Maths club. “Something so
reliable about maths…” ‘Always the right answer.' She tells herself.
Ianto
smiles as he remembers meeting Lisa.
“Falling in love.” ‘Never felt so
alive.’
'I turn 16. She packs my bags.' “That is the
nicest thing you've done for me in years, Mother.” Owen laughs.
'Kissing him in the supermarket.' “The look
on his face.” Gwen recalls.
'My first flat.' “I don't have a
flat-warming.” 'There's no-one I want to invite.'
The smile fades as Ianto remembers 'Losing Lisa.'
“Like the world had ended.”
“The way he looks at me sometimes.” ‘As if
he's scared of what he feels for me,’ “I love him.But not in the way I love
you.” Gwen says looking up at Jack.
Jack moves
towards her his hand containing the Retcon pills outstretched to her, he
instructs her to take it and as she closes her hand around the pill, not
contemplating taking it straight away, his hand gently brushes against her
cheek, acknowledging her feelings towards him.
‘Knowing there has to be more to life than
this. Knowing I'm special,’ “Waiting for someone to see it.” She says
tearfully.
Jack’s
hands place lightly upon her shoulder as he looks down at her seated, a smile
of admiration upon his face.
“I saw it.”
He places a pill on the table in front of her
“You save one life, 100 lives but it's never
enough. Who'll save me?”
“I will.”
Says Jack placing a hand on Owen’s shoulder and setting a pill upon the
table in front of him.
'Coming here' “gave me meaning again.” Ianto
glances up at Jack as he reaches him around the table. “You.”
Jack gently
reaches down and kisses him on the forehead, placing the pill on the table in
front of him as he has with the others, his hand gently caressing the back of
his neck, gently strokes his chin before passing around the table again. These feelings are real, far greater than the
feelings any of them felt for Adam, real memories, real thoughts.
“You each have a short-term amnesia pill.
It'll make you forget Adam. We have to wipe out the last 48 hours from our
memories, go back to who we were.” Ianto
takes his almost instantly.
In the cell
Adam can feel a shift in belief, they’re letting go and it’s starting to have
an effect upon him.
In the
Meeting Room nearly all the members of the team have taken the pill. Owen removes his spectacles after he’s done
so. Only Jack and Toshiko remain. Tosh reaches for the remote and flicks the
screen back to Adam in the cells and can feel the building regret if she takes
the pill. That feeling of being loved,
how alive it made her feel.
“I’m going to lose so much.”
“None of it was real.”
“He loved me…and I loved him. It’s no different from real memory.”
“He forced it on you. You have to let it go.”
Taking the
pill from Jack again, composing herself, Toshiko retakes her seat at the table,
Jack gently remains beside her his hand upon her shoulder in gentle soothing
rhythm as she takes the pill. Glancing
towards the screen she says her final farewell to Adam before resting her head
on the table.
Jack
quickly reaches Gwen as sleep overcomes her and rests her head gently on the
table. All four team members are asleep,
with only Jack remaining, the Captain makes his way back to the cells, ready to
‘wipe-out the alien’.
Exhausted
and slumped on the stone seat in the cell Adam glances up at Jack as he faces
him through the glass.
“Just me left.” Jack tells him, casually, hands in his
pockets, comforted by the fact that his team are safe upstairs.
“Jack, I know what it's like not to exist.
Please don't send me back there.”
“I have to.”
“What are you gonna do?”
Jack holds
up the little Retcon pill. “This will
wipe out the past two days.”
“Well, you'll still keep the bad memories because
they were always yours. But what about the good times, Jack? What about the
last good memory of you and your Dad?”
“It's
lost.” Jack growls regretfully.
“I can help you find it. I can take you back
there. Before I die.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I was in the void for so long, the colours
of this world almost blinded me Jack. It was so beautiful after the darkness
and the stench of fear. You gave me that. Let me do
this for you. Come on. You want this.”
It was a
risk, even for Jack to even contemplate, but a final chance to remember his
Dad, that memory, there was nothing that could damage it, nothing….right? Closing his eyes, taking himself back to a lifetime long before Torchwood and
Earth, Jack recalled his last memory and smiled as he saw it just as it had
been all those years ago.
“It's early evening... “
On a wide
open expanse of beach on the Boeshane Peninsula, where wind turning toys spin in the breeze, a
young Jack and his Dad play a game of baseball in the setting of the evening
sun. Jack bowls. Franklin
“Ah... You know, one day you won't want to
play with your old dad any more.” Franklin
“Never.”
“Are you there?” Adam asks from the other side of the
cell. Jack nods.
“Yeah.
Me, Dad and Gray.” He says as a
younger child runs into view, reminding them both that he wants to play too. Excited to see his younger brother he lifts
him up and spins him around laughing, as siblings do. Franklin
In the
Cells Jack laughs. “I’m running for the
ball.” Adam isn’t ready to let go of
Jack and the colourful world of the Torchwood Hub, and all the delights of the
world outside. As young Jack reaches the
top of the sand dune, he sees another figure and he’s got the ball. “Some other boy is there, I don’t know who.”
“Can I play?” Asks the boy in the memory.
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Adam.”
“Let me play, before it gets dark?” Adam asks from the cell at the Torchwood Hub.
“There’s lots of room.”
Young Jack
shoves Adam backwards abruptly, when a shout goes up on the ridge. Franklin
“Hey, what are you doing? Are you all right?”
“I just want to play.”
“He can play.”
“No! He doesn't belong here. I don't want
him playing with us.”
“I'm
Adam.”
“Don't
touch my dad.” Young Jack retaliates pushing Adam away, the boy falls back
down.
“Hey,
easy! Are you all right, Adam?” Franklin
“Yes, he just doesn't want to share.”
“Right, well, if you're going to behave that
way, we're going home.”
“What?!”
“Come on, Gray.”
“No, we don't leave yet. We play some more,
it gets dark, we light a fire... Mum joins us.” Older Jack calls to his Dad and
Gray as they stride away back up the sand dune.
“Come on, son. I'll race you.”
“Race
you!”
“Dad!” Young Jack turns angrily to face the
grown Adam now forever in the memory. “You
did this. You spoilt it.”
“I
made it happen.” Adam tells Jack from
the confines of his dark cell.
“Dad! Dad, I love you.” Calls out the young Jack as he races over the
sandy ridge to be with his family.
“Dad, wait... Dad!!!” Yells Jack as he
charges down the other side of the sandy ridge as a sandstorm threatens
overhead. Gasping back the tears he begs
Adam for the old memories back as he opens his eyes once more.
“Then let me live. That box you found
contains my last good memory of you, your dad and Gray. You see, I'm a part of
it now and I'll always live as long as you remember it.”
“That's why you took me back.”
“Wasn't it lovely? Playing in the sand,
no-one knowing what was ahead... your dad laughing. Gray, safe and happy.“
Sickened by
the damage he’d allowed to have happen to him, by the only real memory he had
of his Dad and brother Gray, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the pill
holding it up in his fingers for Adam to see.
The look of fear upon the condemned mans face telling a thousand
fears.
“I don't want to die! You take that pill and
you will lose everything I've given you. Wipe me out now and you will lose all
your memories of your father. He will cease to have existed for you.”
“Goodbye,
Adam.” Jack pops the pill into his mouth
and watches as Adam begins to feel the result of his actions. The effects of the Retcon begin to take their
effect upon Jack who begins to feel light headed.
The
sandstorm begins to whip up around Jack as he calls to his brother and Dad in
the distorted memory.
“Dad! Gray! Come back! It wasn't like this!”
On the Cell
floor Jack sobs before slumping forward unconscious.
48 hours
pass, the skies are blue, the sun is bright and the world is safe for a while
longer. In the cells of Torchwood Three,
Jack wakes up with little clue how he came to be down in the Cells and more to
the point sleeping beside and empty cell.
Upstairs it’s business as usual although…
“Jack, how have we lost two days?”
“What d'you mean? “ He asks looking at the
computers.
“The last 48 hours. None of us can remember
a thing.”
“The system's blank, the CCTV's been wiped.
What's been going on? What've we been doing?”
“I don't know.” He admits
“Great! That's two days of my life that I'll
never get back!”
“Looks like Toshiko got herself a secret
admirer, though.” Jack notes at the bunch of flowers on Toshiko’s desk.
“Oh, yeah?”
“To Tosh, love and apologies, Owen. They're
from you!” Tosh reads from the inscription on the card.
“In your dreams, Tosh. I think someone's
winding you up, darling... No, I don't do flowers... “ Owen takes the card to read before handing it
back. “And I definitely don’t do apologies.”
In his
office Jack pulls out the wooden box contained inside the clear plastic
Torchwood bag. A portion of it falls to
the ground. Picking it up he stares at
the piece as Ianto enters the office.
“Did you call?”
“Found your diary.”
“Yep, been looking for that.”
“And for the record... measuring tapes never
lie.”
Ianto rolls
his eyes and mutters ‘fuck’ under his breath before walking quickly away, as
Jack yells again from something that’s just caught his attention.
“Hey...”
“Yep?”
“Who's
Adam?” He asks holding up the plastic
bag stating: Adam’s Property.
“Don't know.” Ianto replies before ducking
back out of the office again. Jack puts
the bag down, picks up the oddly shaped wooden piece and fiddles with the box
till he finds where the piece slots into.
He waits for something to happen but nothing does. Putting it down, he walks away, just as the
box reveals its secrets. Jack turns back
and collects up the box that holds a red light inside and tips out the
contents. It puzzles Jack why an ornate
box would hold a handful of sand inside.
After some thought he dispenses with the sand onto the floor.
The End
Next month…
“We’ve got
a murder victim and a survivor both attacked with hypodermics, both with
medical records wiped….”
'Reset'
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