Sci-Fi Big Bang - Children Through Time - Elizabeth's Book
Title: Children Through Time - The Book of Elizabeth
Chapter: 4
Rating: R
Characters: Team Torchwood, Elizabeth Murphy, David Ortiz, OC's
Spoilers: Children of Earth
Disclaimers: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, they belong to the BBC and RTD. Any original characters and places are my property.
Author's Notes: The series of events in Children Through Time take place after Children in Time. It is not necessary to read Children in Time but it can be found here.
Special Thanks: To my awesome beta faithharkness, and to my artist laura_guerin, and great cheerleading from knitchick1979, chicago_girl_07 and all the others. It was rough going this time, but we did it.
Chapter 4
The newspaper headline had said that it was the remains of a meteor that fell to the Earth, but Elizabeth knew better. It was all assumed since no actual fragments of the meteor had been found. All the experts had figured the remains burned up on re-entry. Elizabeth guessed it was the woman in black.
She didn’t know where the woman had come from. Once they got off the alien’s ship, she had handed Elizabeth off to some other person who had taken care of her injuries and gotten her to a hospital. Two weeks later, Elizabeth still had visible bruises on her body, and every time she closed her eyes to try to get some sleep, that never lasted for more than two hours before she was woken up by the screaming. Her own screaming.
Elizabeth’s eyes drooped as she watched the tiny peaks on the neonatal monitor. She looked down through the plastic, past all the tubes, and watched her daughter just breathe. No one could fully explain to the hospital staff what had caused so much trauma to the baby, but because of them and Dr. Wilkerson, and even the lady in black, she was alive. But at what cost?
In the last two weeks, Elizabeth had only been able to hold her daughter three times. To make up for that, any time she could, Elizabeth would find ways to talk to her, to touch her. The couple of times her daughter had opened her eyes, Elizabeth had been surprised at how brilliantly blue they were. Neither she nor David had blue eyes, but there they were, looking at her.
“Mrs. Murphy,” Connie, the nurse, said as she put a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder.
“It’s Ms. Murphy,” Elizabeth corrected.
“Beth,” Connie softly said. “It’s late. Why don’t you go home? You know I will call you if she even moves her leg.”
“She’s not getting better, is she?” All Elizabeth could do was watch her daughter breathe.
“She is, just bit-by-bit. If you keep up this schedule and don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be ready for when she does come home,” Connie said as she checked the baby’s monitors.
“You’re right,” Elizabeth said. Putting her hands on the arm of the chair, she heaved herself up, biting back the groans of pain. She hobbled forward on the air-cast.
“By the way, have you or Mr. Ortiz come up with a name for her?” Connie turned and smiled at her. “It would help her and you if she has a proper name.”
“We had just started discussing names when it all happened,” Elizabeth replied. She hadn’t told David, but she had come up with a name, yet she didn’t know what he would think. The hell with David! “Grace.”
“What?”
“Her name is Grace,” Elizabeth stated. She put her hand on top of the incubator. “For Grace has brought me safe thus far.”
“That’s beautiful,” Connie said. “I’ll put in the paperwork tonight.” She put a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. “Now you need to go home and get some rest.”
Elizabeth nodded her head and took her coat as Connie handed it to her. Se slipped on the coat and picked up her purse, hobbling out the door to the Neonatal ICU. She didn’t want to go, but she had learned Connie could get more persistent if she didn’t even make the appearance that she was trying to take care of herself. She headed for the side entrance of the hospital where she knew a car would be waiting. Some things still didn’t change.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man start following her. He was wearing casual clothes, but moved with military precision. She knew he was a part of UNIT, sent to tail her. They had been openly keeping tabs on her since the whole incident. Dr. Graf said it was for her safety, there could be more of The Cleaners coming, but, in the back of her mind she felt like they were watching her as well.
Elizabeth exited the hospital and recognizing one of David’s regular drivers got into the waiting car. Buckling up, she leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, but did not dare sleep. Instead, her mind started replaying memories from a couple of weeks ago. They had whisked her away to the hospital. Luckily, some of the best neonatal doctors in the world were in Chicago and had somehow been called in right away. As soon as they pulled Grace from her, Elizabeth was immediately taken to Dr. Graf’s offices. Except this time she saw his real offices.
She had barely a glimpse of her daughter, and then they had her locked up in a room in a UNIT base. They couldn’t hide it from her anymore. Oh sure, Dr. Graf was gentle with her, but they kept poking and prodding, subjecting her to tests day and night. She didn’t recuperate the five days she was in there, she got worse - physically and mentally. Five days after nearly dying and she hadn’t seen Grace, James or even David’s sorry face. They might as well have killed her on that ship.
Next thing she knew, she had been patched up and shipped to the hospital, where nurses who actually smiled helped take care of her. Within two hours of going to the hospital, it was Connie who had helped her sit up, propping pillows around her aching arms, and let her hold Grace for the first time. It was only a couple of minutes, but it was enough. Her heart nearly broke as she looked down on her little girl, her little survivor. Tears fell down her cheeks as she vowed that no one would ever take Grace away from her again, be they aliens, UNIT, or David.
David had stopped by the hospital a couple of times. The last time he had brought James with him. James didn’t understand why his hug hurt his Mommy, and Elizabeth couldn’t find a way to explain it to him. He also said he was sorry she missed his birthday. She had barely spoken two words to David in those days. He had been the one to bring her to Dr. Graf in the first place, saying the man could be trusted. What the fuck had David done to her? Was it some kind of sick fucking joke of his? Then he mentions how it might be best for James to stay at his place, for an indeterminable amount of time.
Elizabeth’s hand was now a fist as she pounded it against her leg, the streetlights illuminating her as the car drove down the road. He couldn’t do that. Her heart sank as she realized how much he could. He had money, she didn’t even have a job. He was James’ father. He could take both of them and the courts wouldn’t bat an eye.
“Driver!”
Being at a red light, the young man turned to face her. “Yes?”
“I’m not going home,” she said.
“But I’m supposed to take you home. I’ve been told-“
Her voice grew cold. “Your job is to drive me around. You are going to drive me to Mr. Ortiz’s office.” She leaned forward, making sure he saw how serious her face was. “Right now.”
She could see his eyes look past her, probably at the UNIT soldier behind them, but she didn’t care. He then nodded his head at her and flipped on his turn signal, heading down into the Loop. Normally a night like this in a city such as Chicago, she would have delighted in people-watching alone, but the only thing she was focused on was talking to David.
The car pulled up outside of his office and without saying a word, she hurriedly hobbled through the main doors of the office building and strode past the security clerk. The clerk tried getting her to stop, to scan her badge, but she just walked on by. There was an elevator open in front of her and Elizabeth hopped into it, just as the doors were closing.
They elevator couldn’t move fast enough to the 28th floor. Elizabeth tried to take deep breaths, trying to keep herself calm. But she could feel a heat rising through her, it was as if she were on fire. No one, and she meant no one, was taking her kids from her or telling her what she could do anymore. She was tired of David pushing her around and she was really tired of just going along with it. Since when did she do that?
It was as if Elizabeth had an express ride up there. The car did not stop on any other floor, and she was glad for that. She didn’t know what she would have done if she had to be face to face with anyone else that day. The doors dinged open and Elizabeth bolted out of them, tromping down the hallway towards David’s office. It was a Wednesday; he was almost always there on a Wednesday night, making some international call or other.
Elizabeth nearly tore the door off its hinges as she burst through it, to see no one in the office. Melissa was not sitting there and she couldn’t hear David grumbling through the open door. She was pissed. Now the bastard decided to take the day off? Before she couldn’t beg him enough to take a day off, and suddenly, when she needs to see him the most, David takes the fucking day off!
Seething, Elizabeth stomped around the room. All of a sudden, on Melissa’s desk, she spied James’ red cap. She thought it had been lost when she was on the alien ship. Elizabeth found herself drawn towards the stocking cap and picked it up gingerly, afraid it was just some hallucination, some dream.
Feeling the wool with her fingers, it was still as soft as the day she had made. Her fingers ran around the edge of the cap, over and over again. Maybe, if she could hold on to this just long enough she could hold on to her children. Elizabeth had lost too much in her life, and was not going to let them slip though her fingers. She could feel the pinpricks of tears starting behind her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to keep from crying. She was done crying.
Clutching James’ red cap to her heart, a thought suddenly occurred to Elizabeth. David would never leave his office open. She walked right in, not even using the pass code for the security system. That meant David and / or Melissa were somewhere nearby. Well then, Elizabeth decided she could just wait to see David. Still holding the cap, she waltzed through his slightly open office door, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was sitting behind his desk, in his chair.
The woman in black had a gun. All the scary men had big guns, and they were pointed at her. Caron held tight to Rhys, her little fingers squeezing around his shirt, pulling at it. He kept whispering to her that everything was going to be all right, and whispered in her ear the special name only he called her. Myn.
Caron looked down at Akira as Auntie Tosh pushed him back to Rhys. Rhys put a hand on Akira’s head and Caron inched around Rhys, trying to get closer to Akira. But her eyes never left the woman in black. The woman in black’s eyes were mean, very mean. Caron hoped Uncle Owie and Auntie Tosh didn’t believe her.
The woman in black craned her head upwards, moving very elegantly, and peered at Elizabeth. Elizabeth couldn’t believe the woman who had saved her, the woman she kept seeing in her dreams, albeit more and more infrequently, was sitting right in front of her. The woman leaned back in David’s chair, steepling her fingers in front of her. Elizabeth had had enough!
“Who are you?” she asked, trying to hide the fact that her whole body wanted to break down into the shakes, leaving a quivering pile of goo, and then to get up again and bitch slap that woman so hard she would forget what day it was until it was Friday. The woman did not answer. “I said,” Elizabeth stated, stepping up to the edge of David’s desk, facing the woman in black. “Who are you?”
“You can call me Agent Johnson,” she stated rather succinctly. “How are you doing?”
“How am I doing? Oh just fucking great,” she said, reminding herself she needed to spend less time around David. Well, that would be easy in the future, since she never wanted to see him again. “I especially love how you saved my baby and then your guys took me away and put me through living hell after living hell. As if the Cleaners weren’t bad enough! UNIT could sure give them a run for their money!”
Agent Johnson regarded Elizabeth a moment, her eyes never leaving Elizabeth's. Johnson stood up in one fluid motion and slowly walked around the desk towards Elizabeth. It was then that Elizabeth noticed the woman was older than she seemed: hints of grey in her dark hair, a slight wrinkle by her eyes.
Standing in front of Elizabeth, Johnson took a deep breath. "UNIT was not my plan. I have nothing to do with them."
"Bullshit."
"No," Johnson said, her hand snapping up, pointing a finger at Elizabeth. "My mission was to secure your safety and then take care of the threat if possible. My men were to stabilize you and transport you to the hospital. What happened then was not my doing."
"Right. You expect me to believe you had nothing to do with all the tests they did on me?" Elizabeth stood firm, despite the fact that her left foot was beginning to throb from standing too long. She was not going to back down.
"I don’t expect you to believe anything," Johnson succinctly stated. "I did my job and then some," she said as she walked back around behind David's desk.
"What the hell do you mean?" Elizabeth snapped out. She clenched her teeth as her foot protested standing and walking so much.
"Have a seat, please," Johnson said, indicating the chair next to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth stared at it a moment and then glared at Johnson. Finally she relented and sat down in the chair, figuring if she needed to fight this woman she would need some of her strength. Easing down in to the chair, Elizabeth watched as Johnson sat down on the end of the desk. Johnson picked up the digital photo screen David kept there and stopped it on one picture. She turned the picture towards Elizabeth. It was a picture of Elizabeth and James in Lincoln Park from that summer. For as much confusion there was about what happened to them, things seemed so much simpler then.
"You love your little boy?"
"Yes. I would do anything to protect him," Elizabeth said, gripping the chair arms.
"I've heard people say that; that they would do anything to protect the ones they love, to protect strangers, to protect humanity, but it takes a remarkable person to actually do it." Johnson put the picture down and folded her hands in her lap, looking at Elizabeth. "David Ortiz means it. He hired me. Not that many people know about me."
"Not that many people living, you mean?"
Johnson continued to stare at Elizabeth. "What does Torchwood mean to you?"
"Nothing. I never heard the word before."
"Haven't you? You muttered in my ear that 'Torchwood was the answer' while I was getting you off the alien ship."
Suddenly it hit Elizabeth what Coop said to her last. "Torchwood is the answer…" She looked up at Agent Johnson, shocked. "But I don’t know what Torchwood is or why he said that."
"Who said it?"
"Coop, the alien on the ship who helped me," Elizabeth stuttered. "He could read my mind, that's how he communicated with me, understood our language; he stole it from my mind."
"Interesting little alien," Johnson stated. She stood up from the desk slipping on a pair of black leather gloves. "Perhaps you should check into his insight."
"Why?" Elizabeth heaved herself up out of the chair, standing equal with Agent Johnson.
Johnson turned and looked straight at Elizabeth. "You and your friends disappeared from Cardiff 22 years ago, correct? You have had several run-ins with supposed alien species, correct? The word Torchwood is so buried in your psyche that it took another alien to unearth it, correct?" Johnson placed a small data chip on David's desk. "Have your friend check that out when he gets a chance. It's data taken from the Cleaners' ship: it might prove to be an interesting read."
Elizabeth didn’t know what to say as Johnson exited the office. She turned to the agent, her mind barely able to form words around the questions Johnson had posed to her. Could there be a possibility of answers after so long? Elizabeth then thought of Grace in the hospital. But at what cost?
"Wait!"
"Your friend has kept me waiting too long," Johnson said. "He needs to look at that information. And a piece of advice?" Johnson looked over her shoulder at Elizabeth. "I don't come cheap, and I'm good at what I do. For your friend to hunt me down, he cares about you." With that Agent Johnson left the office, Elizabeth staring after her.
Chapter: 4
Rating: R
Characters: Team Torchwood, Elizabeth Murphy, David Ortiz, OC's
Spoilers: Children of Earth
Disclaimers: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, they belong to the BBC and RTD. Any original characters and places are my property.
Author's Notes: The series of events in Children Through Time take place after Children in Time. It is not necessary to read Children in Time but it can be found here.
Special Thanks: To my awesome beta faithharkness, and to my artist laura_guerin, and great cheerleading from knitchick1979, chicago_girl_07 and all the others. It was rough going this time, but we did it.
Chapter 4
The newspaper headline had said that it was the remains of a meteor that fell to the Earth, but Elizabeth knew better. It was all assumed since no actual fragments of the meteor had been found. All the experts had figured the remains burned up on re-entry. Elizabeth guessed it was the woman in black.
She didn’t know where the woman had come from. Once they got off the alien’s ship, she had handed Elizabeth off to some other person who had taken care of her injuries and gotten her to a hospital. Two weeks later, Elizabeth still had visible bruises on her body, and every time she closed her eyes to try to get some sleep, that never lasted for more than two hours before she was woken up by the screaming. Her own screaming.
Elizabeth’s eyes drooped as she watched the tiny peaks on the neonatal monitor. She looked down through the plastic, past all the tubes, and watched her daughter just breathe. No one could fully explain to the hospital staff what had caused so much trauma to the baby, but because of them and Dr. Wilkerson, and even the lady in black, she was alive. But at what cost?
In the last two weeks, Elizabeth had only been able to hold her daughter three times. To make up for that, any time she could, Elizabeth would find ways to talk to her, to touch her. The couple of times her daughter had opened her eyes, Elizabeth had been surprised at how brilliantly blue they were. Neither she nor David had blue eyes, but there they were, looking at her.
“Mrs. Murphy,” Connie, the nurse, said as she put a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder.
“It’s Ms. Murphy,” Elizabeth corrected.
“Beth,” Connie softly said. “It’s late. Why don’t you go home? You know I will call you if she even moves her leg.”
“She’s not getting better, is she?” All Elizabeth could do was watch her daughter breathe.
“She is, just bit-by-bit. If you keep up this schedule and don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be ready for when she does come home,” Connie said as she checked the baby’s monitors.
“You’re right,” Elizabeth said. Putting her hands on the arm of the chair, she heaved herself up, biting back the groans of pain. She hobbled forward on the air-cast.
“By the way, have you or Mr. Ortiz come up with a name for her?” Connie turned and smiled at her. “It would help her and you if she has a proper name.”
“We had just started discussing names when it all happened,” Elizabeth replied. She hadn’t told David, but she had come up with a name, yet she didn’t know what he would think. The hell with David! “Grace.”
“What?”
“Her name is Grace,” Elizabeth stated. She put her hand on top of the incubator. “For Grace has brought me safe thus far.”
“That’s beautiful,” Connie said. “I’ll put in the paperwork tonight.” She put a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. “Now you need to go home and get some rest.”
Elizabeth nodded her head and took her coat as Connie handed it to her. Se slipped on the coat and picked up her purse, hobbling out the door to the Neonatal ICU. She didn’t want to go, but she had learned Connie could get more persistent if she didn’t even make the appearance that she was trying to take care of herself. She headed for the side entrance of the hospital where she knew a car would be waiting. Some things still didn’t change.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man start following her. He was wearing casual clothes, but moved with military precision. She knew he was a part of UNIT, sent to tail her. They had been openly keeping tabs on her since the whole incident. Dr. Graf said it was for her safety, there could be more of The Cleaners coming, but, in the back of her mind she felt like they were watching her as well.
Elizabeth exited the hospital and recognizing one of David’s regular drivers got into the waiting car. Buckling up, she leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, but did not dare sleep. Instead, her mind started replaying memories from a couple of weeks ago. They had whisked her away to the hospital. Luckily, some of the best neonatal doctors in the world were in Chicago and had somehow been called in right away. As soon as they pulled Grace from her, Elizabeth was immediately taken to Dr. Graf’s offices. Except this time she saw his real offices.
She had barely a glimpse of her daughter, and then they had her locked up in a room in a UNIT base. They couldn’t hide it from her anymore. Oh sure, Dr. Graf was gentle with her, but they kept poking and prodding, subjecting her to tests day and night. She didn’t recuperate the five days she was in there, she got worse - physically and mentally. Five days after nearly dying and she hadn’t seen Grace, James or even David’s sorry face. They might as well have killed her on that ship.
Next thing she knew, she had been patched up and shipped to the hospital, where nurses who actually smiled helped take care of her. Within two hours of going to the hospital, it was Connie who had helped her sit up, propping pillows around her aching arms, and let her hold Grace for the first time. It was only a couple of minutes, but it was enough. Her heart nearly broke as she looked down on her little girl, her little survivor. Tears fell down her cheeks as she vowed that no one would ever take Grace away from her again, be they aliens, UNIT, or David.
David had stopped by the hospital a couple of times. The last time he had brought James with him. James didn’t understand why his hug hurt his Mommy, and Elizabeth couldn’t find a way to explain it to him. He also said he was sorry she missed his birthday. She had barely spoken two words to David in those days. He had been the one to bring her to Dr. Graf in the first place, saying the man could be trusted. What the fuck had David done to her? Was it some kind of sick fucking joke of his? Then he mentions how it might be best for James to stay at his place, for an indeterminable amount of time.
Elizabeth’s hand was now a fist as she pounded it against her leg, the streetlights illuminating her as the car drove down the road. He couldn’t do that. Her heart sank as she realized how much he could. He had money, she didn’t even have a job. He was James’ father. He could take both of them and the courts wouldn’t bat an eye.
“Driver!”
Being at a red light, the young man turned to face her. “Yes?”
“I’m not going home,” she said.
“But I’m supposed to take you home. I’ve been told-“
Her voice grew cold. “Your job is to drive me around. You are going to drive me to Mr. Ortiz’s office.” She leaned forward, making sure he saw how serious her face was. “Right now.”
She could see his eyes look past her, probably at the UNIT soldier behind them, but she didn’t care. He then nodded his head at her and flipped on his turn signal, heading down into the Loop. Normally a night like this in a city such as Chicago, she would have delighted in people-watching alone, but the only thing she was focused on was talking to David.
The car pulled up outside of his office and without saying a word, she hurriedly hobbled through the main doors of the office building and strode past the security clerk. The clerk tried getting her to stop, to scan her badge, but she just walked on by. There was an elevator open in front of her and Elizabeth hopped into it, just as the doors were closing.
They elevator couldn’t move fast enough to the 28th floor. Elizabeth tried to take deep breaths, trying to keep herself calm. But she could feel a heat rising through her, it was as if she were on fire. No one, and she meant no one, was taking her kids from her or telling her what she could do anymore. She was tired of David pushing her around and she was really tired of just going along with it. Since when did she do that?
It was as if Elizabeth had an express ride up there. The car did not stop on any other floor, and she was glad for that. She didn’t know what she would have done if she had to be face to face with anyone else that day. The doors dinged open and Elizabeth bolted out of them, tromping down the hallway towards David’s office. It was a Wednesday; he was almost always there on a Wednesday night, making some international call or other.
Elizabeth nearly tore the door off its hinges as she burst through it, to see no one in the office. Melissa was not sitting there and she couldn’t hear David grumbling through the open door. She was pissed. Now the bastard decided to take the day off? Before she couldn’t beg him enough to take a day off, and suddenly, when she needs to see him the most, David takes the fucking day off!
Seething, Elizabeth stomped around the room. All of a sudden, on Melissa’s desk, she spied James’ red cap. She thought it had been lost when she was on the alien ship. Elizabeth found herself drawn towards the stocking cap and picked it up gingerly, afraid it was just some hallucination, some dream.
Feeling the wool with her fingers, it was still as soft as the day she had made. Her fingers ran around the edge of the cap, over and over again. Maybe, if she could hold on to this just long enough she could hold on to her children. Elizabeth had lost too much in her life, and was not going to let them slip though her fingers. She could feel the pinpricks of tears starting behind her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to keep from crying. She was done crying.
Clutching James’ red cap to her heart, a thought suddenly occurred to Elizabeth. David would never leave his office open. She walked right in, not even using the pass code for the security system. That meant David and / or Melissa were somewhere nearby. Well then, Elizabeth decided she could just wait to see David. Still holding the cap, she waltzed through his slightly open office door, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was sitting behind his desk, in his chair.
The woman in black had a gun. All the scary men had big guns, and they were pointed at her. Caron held tight to Rhys, her little fingers squeezing around his shirt, pulling at it. He kept whispering to her that everything was going to be all right, and whispered in her ear the special name only he called her. Myn.
Caron looked down at Akira as Auntie Tosh pushed him back to Rhys. Rhys put a hand on Akira’s head and Caron inched around Rhys, trying to get closer to Akira. But her eyes never left the woman in black. The woman in black’s eyes were mean, very mean. Caron hoped Uncle Owie and Auntie Tosh didn’t believe her.
The woman in black craned her head upwards, moving very elegantly, and peered at Elizabeth. Elizabeth couldn’t believe the woman who had saved her, the woman she kept seeing in her dreams, albeit more and more infrequently, was sitting right in front of her. The woman leaned back in David’s chair, steepling her fingers in front of her. Elizabeth had had enough!
“Who are you?” she asked, trying to hide the fact that her whole body wanted to break down into the shakes, leaving a quivering pile of goo, and then to get up again and bitch slap that woman so hard she would forget what day it was until it was Friday. The woman did not answer. “I said,” Elizabeth stated, stepping up to the edge of David’s desk, facing the woman in black. “Who are you?”
“You can call me Agent Johnson,” she stated rather succinctly. “How are you doing?”
“How am I doing? Oh just fucking great,” she said, reminding herself she needed to spend less time around David. Well, that would be easy in the future, since she never wanted to see him again. “I especially love how you saved my baby and then your guys took me away and put me through living hell after living hell. As if the Cleaners weren’t bad enough! UNIT could sure give them a run for their money!”
Agent Johnson regarded Elizabeth a moment, her eyes never leaving Elizabeth's. Johnson stood up in one fluid motion and slowly walked around the desk towards Elizabeth. It was then that Elizabeth noticed the woman was older than she seemed: hints of grey in her dark hair, a slight wrinkle by her eyes.
Standing in front of Elizabeth, Johnson took a deep breath. "UNIT was not my plan. I have nothing to do with them."
"Bullshit."
"No," Johnson said, her hand snapping up, pointing a finger at Elizabeth. "My mission was to secure your safety and then take care of the threat if possible. My men were to stabilize you and transport you to the hospital. What happened then was not my doing."
"Right. You expect me to believe you had nothing to do with all the tests they did on me?" Elizabeth stood firm, despite the fact that her left foot was beginning to throb from standing too long. She was not going to back down.
"I don’t expect you to believe anything," Johnson succinctly stated. "I did my job and then some," she said as she walked back around behind David's desk.
"What the hell do you mean?" Elizabeth snapped out. She clenched her teeth as her foot protested standing and walking so much.
"Have a seat, please," Johnson said, indicating the chair next to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth stared at it a moment and then glared at Johnson. Finally she relented and sat down in the chair, figuring if she needed to fight this woman she would need some of her strength. Easing down in to the chair, Elizabeth watched as Johnson sat down on the end of the desk. Johnson picked up the digital photo screen David kept there and stopped it on one picture. She turned the picture towards Elizabeth. It was a picture of Elizabeth and James in Lincoln Park from that summer. For as much confusion there was about what happened to them, things seemed so much simpler then.
"You love your little boy?"
"Yes. I would do anything to protect him," Elizabeth said, gripping the chair arms.
"I've heard people say that; that they would do anything to protect the ones they love, to protect strangers, to protect humanity, but it takes a remarkable person to actually do it." Johnson put the picture down and folded her hands in her lap, looking at Elizabeth. "David Ortiz means it. He hired me. Not that many people know about me."
"Not that many people living, you mean?"
Johnson continued to stare at Elizabeth. "What does Torchwood mean to you?"
"Nothing. I never heard the word before."
"Haven't you? You muttered in my ear that 'Torchwood was the answer' while I was getting you off the alien ship."
Suddenly it hit Elizabeth what Coop said to her last. "Torchwood is the answer…" She looked up at Agent Johnson, shocked. "But I don’t know what Torchwood is or why he said that."
"Who said it?"
"Coop, the alien on the ship who helped me," Elizabeth stuttered. "He could read my mind, that's how he communicated with me, understood our language; he stole it from my mind."
"Interesting little alien," Johnson stated. She stood up from the desk slipping on a pair of black leather gloves. "Perhaps you should check into his insight."
"Why?" Elizabeth heaved herself up out of the chair, standing equal with Agent Johnson.
Johnson turned and looked straight at Elizabeth. "You and your friends disappeared from Cardiff 22 years ago, correct? You have had several run-ins with supposed alien species, correct? The word Torchwood is so buried in your psyche that it took another alien to unearth it, correct?" Johnson placed a small data chip on David's desk. "Have your friend check that out when he gets a chance. It's data taken from the Cleaners' ship: it might prove to be an interesting read."
Elizabeth didn’t know what to say as Johnson exited the office. She turned to the agent, her mind barely able to form words around the questions Johnson had posed to her. Could there be a possibility of answers after so long? Elizabeth then thought of Grace in the hospital. But at what cost?
"Wait!"
"Your friend has kept me waiting too long," Johnson said. "He needs to look at that information. And a piece of advice?" Johnson looked over her shoulder at Elizabeth. "I don't come cheap, and I'm good at what I do. For your friend to hunt me down, he cares about you." With that Agent Johnson left the office, Elizabeth staring after her.