[TM] 316 - What were you doing ten years ago?

Really? Do we really want to go there? Fine. That would have been...January 2000, yes?

Shall I tell you the pleasant lie? Say I was sitting in a cell on Level 2 of the Company's cells, bored out of my mind with the atrocious books Bob dropped off now and again, twiddling my thumbs while I stared at the four walls that had been all I'd known for 22 years? Let's see...Elle was, what? 16, still in January, yes? So, I was watching her, waiting for her to turn 18, of course, but she was lovely, and I had been shut up in there for 22 years without any view of the outside world, so I think I can be excused for looking. It was dull, it was boring, but it had been for a long time. There was nothing really special about it.

Or would you rather the truth? What do you know of the Company? What do you know of what they did to those in their charge? Do you think they had me sit there, in their clutches, for 30 years without seeing just what the limits were to my ability? And do you really think that, having found them, Bob patted me on the head and let me be after? Oh no. There were agents to train, after all, and I made a very good training tool. There were new scientists to show what was possible, and I made a very good demonstrative aid. So, yes. There were stretches of boredom broken only by books and visits by the, let me tell you, not so innocent Elle, and before you get all righteous at me, I'm pointing out that I can hardly be expected to know that the age of consent had been raised to 17.* It used to be 16. And I was in a cell already, anyway. Stripped of privacy, stripped of possessions, stripped of self for longer than I'd ever been before. I distracted myself with plotting my revenge, but I'd no idea how to even begin to effect it. All I wanted was out, and them dead for what they'd done to me. You cannot even begin to imagine.

So what was I doing ten years ago? Living in Hell, with occasional visits by my own personal dark angel. And I'd rather not say anything more about it.

*My personal canon, not binding on any Elles who don't want it to be and want to stick to 18 instead of 16.

[WM] 118.2.A - Paracelsus Quote

[ooc: Follows and is companion piece to this. BB!Angela is seemynightmares and Martha is notquiteadoctor and both are mine to use. Jack referred to is onlysayinghello. Other Torchwood muses do not yet refer to any specific muses, though we're in negotiations as we set up verse fully. ;-)]

"Time is a brisk wind, for each hour it brings something new... but who can understand and measure its sharp breath, its mystery and its design?" - Paraclesus

Santa Clara, California, 1961

The earthquake came unexpectedly, as earthquakes often do. Daniel's eyes widened, and he immediately moved toward safety. Adam's eyes shot toward the shop Angela had disappeared into, and he sprinted that way, getting back up when the rolling earth knocked him off his feet. There were more than a few advantages to rapid healing. The door to the shop flew open and Angela emerged with a dark haired woman clasping her arm, just as dust seemed to explode from inside, only to be sucked back in just as sharply. For a moment, the strange phenomenon caught his eye, but his attention snapped back to the scared girl in front on him quickly.

"Are you all right?" he asked, as the earth seemed to right itself.

Angela gave him a shaky nod, reaching for him as the woman let go of her arm. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It was just...there was so much stuff falling..."

Adam wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, then gave the woman a look. "Thank you."

Something dark flashed in the woman's eyes as she turned back from looking at her shop, but she nodded, a smile turning her lips up that he thought looked forced. "Of course." Glancing at Angela, her eyes dropped to the necklace. "You can keep it if you want. Maybe it will help with your dreams."

Angela and Adam both looked at her sharply. "What?" Adam asked.

The woman just smiled, and the look in her eyes disturbed him even more this time.

"Give her the necklace, Angela," he ordered quietly, and Angela unhooked it with shaky fingers, turning it back over. A flash of displeasure went through the woman's eyes, but she took it with a nod.

"I'm glad no one was harmed."

"Yes," Adam replied, pulling Angela a little closer. "So am I."

The woman gave him another half smile, and moved back to her shop. He thought about warning her about instability possible in the building, but then shut his mouth. Something about her was off, but he couldn't put a finger on what.

"Let's go find the boys and go home," he suggested softly to the girl in his arms, and she looked up at him, clearly troubled by something, but then nodded.

* * *

Cardiff, Present Day

Everyone else was gone for the night except Martha. Getting Jack to head home had been a monumental task, but Adam had finally managed it by sheer dint of bribery. The other man had his own tendency of running himself too ragged, and while neither of them needed as much sleep as others, Adam insisted that some was necessary. Martha's trouble getting Owen to leave had been more in line with him not trusting her alone with his instruments, still convinced she was after his job, but Tosh had gotten him to leave, finally. Gwen was on her honeymoon and Ianto was...Adam had no idea where Ianto was and cared even less. It wasn't like they were besties. Probably Adam coming in and sweeping Jack away had something to do with that, but he wasn't apologizing. Nearly four hundred years and no, he hadn't learned to share. Look where it had gotten him last time?

( He winced slightly as Martha slipped the needle in his arm, drawing his blood out smoothly. )