aviv_b_artwork | Treachery - Learning Curve

TITLE:   Learning Curve (Part 10 of the Treachery Series)
RATING:  PG-13
WARNING:  None
CHARACTERS: Ianto (John), Tosh, Owen, OCs
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 1355
SUMMARY:  Ianto (John)'s recovery plateaus;  Tosh digs deeper into UNIT's files.

Treachery (Part 1) here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/49816.html
All chapters are linked.

It took Tosh several weeks to ‘borrow’ the face transformation software from the Hub. It seemed as though every time she went to remove it from the archives someone would interrupt her. The first time Jack came down asking if she needed help since Liz was out sick. The next two times, Liz appeared and scolded her for trying to locate things on her own.

“Oi, you mess up my filing, and you’ll be in big trouble. What are you looking for anyway?”

Tosh’s brain raced to form some type of reasonable answer. “Uh, I was looking for that voice translation software that UNIT found some time ago.”

“I thought it didn’t work?”

“Well it didn’t but I was thinking that we’ve encountered about a dozen new species since we last tried it, maybe it might work with some of our newer recordings.”

“Yeah, well you are in the wrong section of the archives. Voice related software is in Section 16; this is the image and video software section.”

“I’m so sorry,” Tosh replied, “I was sure I was looking in the right place and you’ve been so busy…”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Busy or not, this is why you are supposed to submit your requests to me. Can’t have everyone wandering around, taking things out without recording their removal, that’s how things get lost or misfiled. Come on; let’s get you your program.”

Tosh took the software and headed back to her work station. Liz watched her carefully. “That’s so unlike Tosh. That woman has a memory like a steel trap. Wonder if she’s working too hard, or maybe working Owen too hard.” She smirked at the thought.

It was so obvious that something was going on between those two. But they acted so innocent at work, like they were embarrassed for anyone to know. “Yeah, shagging Owen can be pretty exhausting, I ought to know. After the Captain lost interest, he was a nice diversion for a while. Hope she doesn’t get her little geeky heart broken.”

It wasn’t that Liz disliked Tosh; she thought Tosh was nice enough, but perhaps a bit too naive and trusting for someone of her intelligence and experience.

***

While Tosh waited for her chance to steal the UNIT software, she spent her evenings at home hacking into UNIT’s computer systems. Their security was pathetic in Tosh’s estimation. Oh it was better than the stuff the banks and defense industry used, “but really,” Tosh thought, “I shouldn’t be able to hack my way in in less than six hours.”

She moved carefully through the labyrinth of data bases and project reports looking unsuccessfully for anything pertaining to Ianto. She dug through personnel records, detention records, even orders of execution and found no trace.

Days passed and Tosh became increasingly frustrated in failing to find anything remotely connected to Ianto, the Oman assassination, anything at all unusual. Owen noticed her increasing distraction and teased her about it.

“So, I thought may you, me and Lizzy could have a three-way. How about it?”

“Yeah, OK, if that’s what you want,” Tosh answered absentmindedly.

Owen couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

“What, what did I say?” When Owen repeated his initial suggestion to her, her face flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry, sorry, I’m just a bit preoccupied.”

“What? You’ve got yourself a new boyfriend or something?”

Tosh smiled. She had to focus when she was with Owen. She didn’t know if he was involved in Ianto’s disappearance or if so, how deeply he was involved, but best not to take any chances.

“You probably don’t realize that my parole with UNIT is up in less than two months. I’ve been thinking how my life will change once I’m not under threat of being incarcerated by them.”

Owen looked a bit worried. “And what does that mean?” Silently he prayed, “Please don’t her leave Torchwood, not when we’re finally getting something going.”

Tosh laughed. Owen realized that it was the first time he had heard her laugh in weeks. “That’s just it. I can’t figure out a single thing I’d change or do differently. Five years of walking on egg shells, and I finally realized that I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing, with the best team I could imagine and I’ve even found a half-way decent guy to date.”

“Oi, you are seeing someone else,” Owen replied pretending to be put-out. “ ‘Cause if you’re talking about me, I know you’d be saying you’d found the most wonderful bloke on Earth to date.”

“You got me. Let’s go back to your place and you can show me how wonderful you really are.”

***

Finally, Tosh had her chance. Liz was out getting lunch and picking up some of Jack’s dry cleaning and the others got called out on a simple inanimate object retrieval. But as the object was showing up as the size of a large sofa, Jack asked both Gwen and Owen to join him.

“Don’t let Liz eat all the lunch,” Jack shouted at her as they ran to the SUV.

“Do you need me to track you?”

“We’re good Tosh; just keep your earpiece on in case this turns out to be more complicated than we thought.”

Tosh nodded and pretended to be engrossed in a computer program. Once she tracked the SUV as being a mile away from the Hub, she quickly went down to the archives, found the UNIT computer software, put a dummy program in its place, ran back up to her work station and hid the disc in her purse.

Liz returned a few minutes later, looked over and saw Tosh staring at her computer screen and proceeded to take lunch up to the conference room. Tosh finished erasing and replacing the CCTV images from her trip to the archives and then joined Liz a few minutes later. They chatted about trivial things, the weather, that new monster movie coming out next week that everyone was excited about (everyone but Tosh apparently), the latest alien encounters.

“So did that software help you with the new alien languages this time around?”

Tosh smiled. “Not yet, but I feel like I’m getting closer every day.

***

John continued his therapy for another week until he was told that it was time for him to return home and rest.

“You’ll still have therapy twice a week, but we’ve concluded that being in your own residence will be beneficial to your recovery. Take the next four days to rest up, we’ll see you back here next Monday.”

John nodded his eyes tearing up.

The ‘psychiatrist’ patted John on the shoulder. “You’re doing fine. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Everyone has missions go bad on them, but you can return to active duty just as soon as you we get you back to full function.”

“UNIT has done do much for me, I wouldn’t be anything without them, I just worry that I’m disappointing everyone.” John saw the look of concern in his doctor’s eyes. “I know, I need to relax and let the feeling of failure go. I’m trying,” John said sadly.

“We’ll see you next week then.”

John took a taxi back to his flat. He was surprised that the place was so clean. He was even more surprised to find his refrigerator filled with groceries, and his mail neatly piled on his kitchen table. Then he saw the note. It was from the Brigadier explaining that they didn’t want him to have the additional stress of shopping or cleaning when he returned home.

John smiled. “He’s so good to me, just like a father. I’d never have gotten this job if it weren’t for him. I’ve got to get well. I’ve just got to get well.”

He heard a noise from his bedroom. He went to draw his weapon and realized he didn’t have one on him. Of course not, he realized, UNIT wasn’t going to allow him to be armed while he was on medical leave.

He crept to the bedroom and opened the door. He blinked in confusion.

“What took you so long.” It was Carlos. Naked. Lying on his bed, stroking himself lazily.

  Chapter 11 here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/90092.html