There, Wolf [2/13]

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

Title: There, Wolf
Rating: teen
Characters: Gwen, Ianto, Jack, PC Andy
Spoilers/Advisories: none
Disclaimer: I am apparently a very silly person at this hour

Summary: Torchwood has adopted a stray...

Note: ...Okay, so, this is so not what I needed to be writing right now with all my other deadlines, but Muses are just Like That sometimes, aren't they. No idea yet how much of this there will be or on what sort of schedule...



**********

Not the woods this time, or on some lonely hillside surrounded by tufts of bloody wool; he opened his eyes and saw concrete, drab grey under fluorescent flickers that showed him his own faint reflection in an expanse of shatterproof perspex. His faint, human reflection. "Hullo? Is there anyone... Erm, I can explain --"

Well, he couldn't, could he. Never woken up on the wrong side of a cell-door to know how even without the... complicating factors. At least it wasn't the central Cardiff lockup, that would have been -- even more mortifying, but bless him if he did know where he was. But somewhere they'd been nice enough to leave him a blanket to lie on. Curious, that.

Maybe this was the RSPCA.

He'd seen that film, the one where the American bloke woke up in the wolf pen at the zoo, and thought at the time he'd got off lucky considering; these days any mysterious mammal running about untagged in London would immediately be shot on suspicion of smuggling rabies across through the Tunnel. Having to break out of an animal shelter almost seemed a minor inconvenience in comparison.

(Although, if this was an animal shelter, strange that they hadn't left him anything beyond the blanket, such as a water-dish...)

He was considering how the information that he had about his situation so far fit together, or didn't, when still-heightened hearing picked up on approaching footsteps. He struggled to his feet, wincing with the stiffness and scratches, and wrapped as much of himself in the blanket as he could, trying to order his thoughts into something resembling a plausible explanation that might not give away too much if the morning shift here hadn't seen an enormous gingerish mixed-breed something being brought in the night before. And braced what remained of his dignity to face whatever came.

He wasn't expecting it to be Gwen Cooper.

***

"So, this is where you work now," Andy said, somehow managing to make it sound as if Gwen were the one who'd been perpetuating the more grievous coverup. "The mysterious Torchwood and its bloody dungeon."

"This is the Torchwood Three Hub." Andy raised an eyebrow at the pride in her voice.  "It's sort of a... monitoring station. There's this rift in space and time runs right through the middle of Cardiff; we deal with what falls though. Things from the past, or the future, or other planets..."

"Or werewolves," he finished for her, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"You're the first of those we've seen, actually. Has this, erm... Sorry, I should take the history, let's start at the beginning; do you remember how you... how... this...?"

"Traditional way is to get bitten, I believe?" Oh, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, the sarky bastard. The sarky werewolf bastard. "Don't really know the specifics, if that's what you're getting at. Went on a pub-crawl with some mates and woke up over in Bristol with no trousers and a backful of scratches. Thought I'd just had an interesting night of it, until the next full moon."

That wasn't a story she'd heard anything about, which meant it must have happened since she'd left the force. Not that poor gormless Andy could have kept a secret like this from her while they'd still been partners. Not that poor gormless Andy could have kept it a secret if he'd thought he'd got lucky in the ordinary way, for that matter. "So you'd say it appears to be a classic case of lycanthropy, then? Full moons, silver bullets --"

"I don't know, it's not like it came with the instructions. Have to guess at half of it from what I've seen on bloody late-night telly." Andy sneezed. "Erm, I don't suppose you could see your way to letting me out of here, could you? Only it's a bit cold. And damp. And I smell like whoever brought me in must have caught me out rolling in a dead badger."

"The bins behind Sardini's," Gwen corrected him absently, realising her mistake as Andy's expression went dire. "Erm, no, it wasn't me, Jack and Ianto called me about it last night but I wasn't in position to meet them. Looks as if they did a gentle enough job of bringing you in, no... wolfsbane or anything?"

"Dunno. I never remember much the next morning." Andy stepped out of the cell as Gwen opened the door for him. "Had to hitch home from halfway up the Beacons stark naked once. Not sure I'd want to know what happened that time."

"Not sure I'd want to know how you got anyone to pick you up like that," Gwen replied, motioning Andy towards the stairs. He did smell like he'd been rolling in something like an overenthusiastic puppy. "We have showers, help you feel a bit more -- erm, human before you have to meet Jack?"