There, Wolf [3/13]

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

Title: There, Wolf
Rating: teen
Characters: Gwen, Ianto, Jack, PC Andy
Spoilers: post-Exit Wounds
Advisories: if you think about the werewolf thing a little too hard, um... yeah, but not on-screen
Disclaimer: I am apparently a very silly person at this hour

Summary: Torchwood has adopted a stray...

Note: ...Still so not what I needed to be writing 3,000+ words of when that's what I'm still short of this BigBang fic by... {sigh}



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Andy looked as if he was feeling a small fraction better about his life, clean and dressed in some old scrubs that were way too short but at least something approaching decent. He appeared to be making a heroic effort not to scowl at Gwen's colleagues. "The blanket was a nice touch, very thoughtful. Almost made up for waking up alone in a bloody cell."

"Hey, you could have been one of those guys who's cranky in the morning on a good day. Thought you might need some time to cool off before the questions started." Jack was far too amused by this whole situation, Gwen rather thought. Although that it was Andy was probably what had saved him from being left in the vaults to rot with the weevils; not so much compassion for him, per se, as the fear of what she would have had to say about it...

Ianto had brought Andy a coffee and the tin of biscuits, which he'd been going through like a man who'd spent the night as a wolf nosing around in the bins behind an Italian restaurant, and then in a cell without a proper breakfast until just this moment. Now he drained the last sip and set the mug onto the table with a look as if he thought trying for a refill might be pushing his luck. "Suppose now you're going to lock me back up to run tests. Or just dissect me."

"Torchwood's not going to dissect you, Andy." Gwen shot a warning glare at Jack. "Well, Owen might have tried, but... No one here is going to hurt you. In any way."

"So you're going to let me walk out of here, right. Bollocks. You know I'd have to explain why I'm late for work and I've already made up too many sick aunties for excuses with this."

"I was thinking we could take away your memories from the last few hours, but actually I'm not sure now if that's the best idea," Jack said with a thoughtful frown. "Only leaves us with an amnesiac werewolf running around to have to worry about. An amnesiac werewolf cop."

"Sounds like it'd make a smashing film, though," Ianto murmured. "Fur On The Force? Or Fuzzy Fuzz --"

Andy pushed up from the settee. "Right, so you obviously can't let me go, we may as well stop pretending you're not about to walk me back to those cells. Can I at least have a water-dish this time?"

"Torchwood is outside the government and beyond the police," Jack said, sounding as if his own reasoning was leading him to a conclusion he wasn't familiar with having to look at. "But I'm not sure how well that would translate into making an actual member of the police force disappear. We're short-handed as it is, I don't think we need Gwen spending half her time fielding questions about where you might have got to. In fact..."

He had that look again -- "Oh, Jack, you're not."

"Think about it. Twenty-eight days out of the month he's a productive member of society, and for one night he needs a secure place to take a little him time. I'm thinking I can see a win-win here."

"Not to work for us?"

"I nicked you off the force. And you won't even let me give you a fleabath."

"But, as an agent, he's a werewolf --"

"And Owen was a zombie," Ianto pointed out pragmatically. "We have always prided ourselves on our inclusive hiring policies."

Jack pulled a so-there-you-go sort of a shrug. "Couldn't pass him over on the fine points of his species status when we've already established that even having a pulse is optional. He could sue us."

"I think it's more that Gwen doesn't want to work with me," Andy said.

"Oh, Andy, it's not that, it's... Would you really want to do this?" Or is that a silly question... "Well, I suppose working for Torchwood wouldn't be any more dangerous for you than being a werewolf to start with, would it. And, you know, we could study you, too, maybe we can try to find you a cure. -- That is, if a cure would be what you want, erm, maybe you..."

"I'd rather not get my hopes up," Andy said bleakly. "But if you could at least help me manage it. I..." His gaze dropped to his toes, bare on the concrete. "All this time I've been thinking, how long before I kill someone? Or worse?"

He didn't need to specify worse. Gwen reached out to squeeze Andy's hand reassuringly. "All right, so, you're not alone with this any longer. This is what Torchwood is for, really. To help. And sometimes that means helping the monsters, too."

Andy cracked a tiny smile. "Not going to be a good dog and wear a collar, though, not really into that sort of... Erm." Jack was giving him that Yeah, you went there so far as I'm concerned look of his. "Right, forget I said that, don't want Captain Overshare getting the wrong ideas about me I haven't been here five minutes --"

Jack was already arching a speculative eyebrow. "Hey, he said those scratches were on his back, right?"

"Can we not, please --"

And the penny dropped, finally, straight through into Gwen's shoes: "Oh, my god. You had sex with the werewolf?"

Andy shrugged, trying his best to look casual even as he slowly turned scarlet. "He seemed like a nice bloke."

There was an awkward silence. "It's always the quiet ones," Ianto observed finally.