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Disclaimer: Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Esther Drummond, Rex Matheson, Angelo and Olivia Colasanto, and the extended Cooper-Williams family do not belong to me (not that I'd want to claim Gwen), nor does the concept of Torchwood as a whole. They belong to Russell T. Davies, BBC, and Starz Studios. However, Carlyon Tregarth, his family and neighbors do belong to me. I have no issue with you borrowing them, just please ask first and return them to me reasonably unscathed. Oh, and quick warning? Gwen literally gets slapped a few times.
Ground Rules
Tregarth Homestead, Oklahoma
February 2012
In the words of his older grandchildren, Jack so owed him for this!
Carlyon Tregarth sat in his home office, peering over his spectacles at the dark-haired woman in front of him, and knew that he would have given Jack anything, anything in the world. He just wished that Jack hadn't asked for this. This had the potential to be not just incredibly uncomfortable (Carlyon wanted only people whom he could trust around) as well as incredibly awkward. While only his wife, Rex Matheson and Owen Harper knew officially, since they were the ones who heard the tape Olivia Colasanto made that night, Carlyon had an uncomfortable feeling that Rex allowed a few things to ‘slip' to Octavia during his night-time trysts with Carlyon's middle daughter. Octavia fawned over Rhys Williams and his infant daughter when they arrived, completely ignoring Anwen's mother. Not a good sign from his middle daughter. And judging from the coldness in Esther's brown eyes when the newcomer arrived with her family, it was a good bet that she knew far more than what she'd been told. It was only a matter of time before she told his youngest daughter whatever she did know, since Natalie was her best friend. Nat wasn't normally judgmental, but ... that could get ugly.
For his own part, Carlyon longed to wipe the smug look off the woman's face, the one that said, ‘I always get what I want and I don't care how I get it.' They'd just see about that. He smiled slowly, and then cleared his throat. Half of any op was psychological ... and sometimes, keeping your people under control was an op by itself, especially with a spoiled, self-centered child like Gwen Cooper Williams. He glowered at the woman with his most unimpressed, most disapproving expression and intoned, "There are some ground rules you should know, Ms. Cooper, if you wish to re-join Torchwood. While it's true that I'm mostly a figurehead, there were certain requests I made. Jack already knows about my terms, and has agreed to them. So have Miss Drummond and Agent Matheson. I'm quite familiar with your file and with what has gone before. And frankly, I'm not impressed with your attitude or your antics." He was gratified to see a startled look on the woman's face. Well, they were off to a good start.
In his most supercilious tone, he continued, "First and foremost, Jack is team leader. Not you, not Dr. Harper, not Agent Matheson, not my daughters. Jack is. If he tells you to jump, you ask how high. And if you can't do that, leave now. Bad things happen when people ignore Jack, and I won't have some egotistical adrenaline junkie endangering the lives of my family members or the lives of those we've been tasked to protect." Carlyon found that he was enjoying this role as the hard-ass. Yes, he was a gentleman (most of the time), and at one time, he was an officer, but right now, he was speaking as a boss, as a father, and as a grandfather.
She opened her mouth, but he glowered at her disdainfully, adding, "I am not finished, Ms. Cooper. You will treat others with respect, and you will not assume that just because you believe something, it is fact. You are a visitor to this country and while Allen Shapiro is dead, I do have contacts that will be more than happy to deport your sorry little arse back to Wales if you behave as badly as you have in the past! And that leads me to my next point." Carlyon leaned forward, all but spitting the words out, "If you ever betray a member of this team, as you've betrayed Jack twice, I will turn you over to my wife. Sophia is a gentle woman, but she has no patience for traitors. Further, she loves Jack, and she's venomously protective of him. And if you trot out that tired excuse that you had no options, I will have no choice but to slap you. You had a choice. You had several chances to do the right thing. You took none of them."
"That isn't fair! My back was against the wall!" the little traitor cried out, tears filling her eyes. Really? She thought tears would sway him? Pathetic. Just pathetic. Almost casually, Carlyon reached across the table and slapped her across the face. Well, he was a man of his word. She recoiled in her chair, staring at him in horror, and blurted out, "Jack has never struck me!" Privately, Carlyon thought that was his old friend's greatest mistake. He should have turned this selfish little harpy over his knee years ago. Carlyon loved Jack, but he had this foolish notion that he was losing his humanity. Rubbish.
"Then I congratulate myself for being the first to put you in your place. If you behave like a child, then I will treat you like a child. You will not be treated better than I treat my daughters or grandchildren. I believe in keeping my word, although I realize ‘honor' is a foreign concept to you. Now, if your back was to the wall, it's because you put it there. And, since it's entirely possible that your parents never taught you to think things through, or to show respect to people, I'll take you through your mistakes, step by step. First mistake: answering the page under your own name when you were traveling under an alias. That was a very foolish error, child. Your husband would have called you on the cell phone or waited until you were likely back at the safe house," Carlyon replied, ticking the first error off on one hand.
She started to protest, but Carlyon leveled his most potent Glare at her and she blessedly kept her mouth shut. He continued, "Your second mistake, upon answering the page, was not calling Jack and informing him of the breach in security. And please don't try to tell me that your child was in danger, because at that point, you didn't know that. At that moment, in time, you only knew that your husband wasn't answering the phone, which could have meant anything. And when the Colasanto brat called, you were told only to put in the lenses. You had sufficient time to call Jack on the way to the ladies' room and inform him that someone else had the technology to use the lenses. Instead, you blindly did what you were told, which brings me to your final mistake. You simply accepted what Olivia Colasanto told you and abducted Jack." He almost hoped that she asked how he knew about how things played out that day, but really, Carlyon doubted that she was intelligent enough to wonder that. At the age of thirty-seven, Gwen Cooper still believed that the world revolved around her.
"THEY HAD MY DAUGHTER!" the woman in question screamed at him, her eyes bright with angry, unshed tears. Carlyon simply stared at her coldly. She still didn't understand. She proved that with her next words, saying, "They had my baby, my Anwen, and I was willing to do whatever it took to get her back! ANYTHING! I didn't want to hurt Jack, but I didn't have a choice! And any mother would have done the exact same thing I did that day!" She gasped as Carlyon slapped her across the face again, only much harder this time. Really, she was such a tiresome child. And Jack endured her strident tone and belligerent attitude for the last several years? He needed to have a talk with the boy (blithely ignoring the fact that he was a child himself when he met Jack). There were times when he just tried too hard to be nice.
"And you have proven yourself to be a selfish child once more, to say nothing of being stupid. I could have forgiven you if you said you wanted her safe, but no, you said, you wanted her in your arms. With your actions on that day, you placed your Anwen in even greater danger! Now if anyone wants to attack this organization, this institute, all they need to do is kidnap your daughter and you'll fall apart like a badly-made omelet! You will destroy anyone, you will kill anyone, you will betray anyone, and there is no doubt in my mind that under the right circumstances, you would betray your child even worse than you already have! You have placed your child in far greater danger than that foolish bitch Olivia Colasanto did! And it was partly your own fault, for not following your husband back to the house! But no, you put your ego above your family ... you had to play the heroine!" Carlyon fired back.
He would hold in reserve his aces in the hole for the moment: namely, Octavia and Natalie's brushes with the same decision Gwen Cooper faced. Octavia was a former cop, just like Cooper, but made a far better decision when Lucas and Jason were abducted by that little weasel. And his youngest daughter had no police training, but found a better way as well when the Pharm took her Ailsa. That was why he wouldn't buy any of her excuses ... because his daughters once faced the same choice as this stupid bint, and unlike Gwen Cooper, they both made the hard choice, the right choice. Cooper reeled against the onslaught of his words, tears pouring down her face. Carlyon shook his head in disgust. The idea that this mewling twit could remind Jack of things he never forgot ... dear heaven, what had they done to him that he could believe such foolishness? Was this what he did, when he demanded that Jack turn those children over to the 456, when he threatened to drop that burden onto the shoulders of Lucia Moretti if Jack didn't comply with his wishes? He would worry about that later. Right now, he had to finish putting the fear of Torchwood into this foolish child.
He went on, in a much quieter voice, "I could have forgiven Esther Drummond, had she made the same decision. I would have been furious, but I could have understood and forgiven. She worked for the CIA, but she wasn't a trained agent. You were once a police officer, Gwen Cooper, and you were a trained Torchwood operative. And even more damning were your ugly comments; how you were glad when the others died, because it made you special ... made you a survivor. I have no use for your former team, although Dr. Harper has proven himself, but that was utterly despicable. I can't help but extrapolate that to include Jack; after all, if the deaths of the others made you feel special, then Jack's death would have made you feel even more special. Oh yes. Yes, you've proven that you care only for yourself. You never loved Jack. You never cared about the other members of your team. I have my doubts whether Rhys and Anwen matter to you. So listen very carefully. I will have my eyes on you, and I won't be the only one."
"How dare you? How dare you judge me when you did the exact same thing, forty-five years ago? Do you think I don't know about the choice you didn't make, the first time the 456 arrived? You could have spared so many children, but no, you sacrificed children and your best friend!" Gwen fired back. Carlyon steepled his fingers, smiling faintly. She sat back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest smugly, ignoring the fact that the pose made her like a sulky teenager. Or maybe no one ever told her. Regardless, it was time for the gloves to come off.
"Oh, aren't you adorable? There you sit, thinking yourself so superior, ignoring how utterly stupid it makes you look. As to the past? Well, that's why I can judge you, little one. Because I made the exact same mistakes, I have every right to judge you. Now. This will be the last time I will say this. If your selfishness and arrogance result in harm to my children or grandchildren, I will utterly destroy you. As it is, I wish to Christ that Jack let you, your idiot husband and your spawn die when the Families tried to take you out at the onset of Miracle Day!" Carlyon snapped. He didn't really enjoy this part of the confrontation, but she didn't respond to anything else but violence, so he would give her what she wanted.
For the second time, Gwen recoiled, eyes wide with horror. He smiled at her unpleasantly, continuing, "Let me explain something, child. You and your little playmates accused Jack of being a monster, because he couldn't save everyone, much less people who didn't want to be saved. But the truth is, I am the monster. I will destroy you, and when I finish with you, I'll turn you over to Priscilla and she will completely annihilate your life. By the time she's finished with you, no one will hire your husband, your daughter will have no friends, and people will cross the street to make sure nothing about you taints them. Ask around in town, or better yet, ask our neighbors about what happened to the fools whose feud nearly cost the life of my youngest daughter sometime. I am quite sure that you will find it most enlightening."
The Welshwoman stared at him for several minutes, her face wet with tears, as she realized he meant every word he said. Carlyon held her gaze steadily. There was no doubt in his mind that when she left this meeting, she would whinge at her long-suffering husband about how cruel and autocratic he was. That was fine. As long as she left Jack alone, he didn't mind taking that hit, especially when he met with Rhys later, and showed him the side of Carlyon that his family saw. At last, she whispered thickly, "What do you want from me?" Well, they were making progress. It was slow, but it was progress. He mentally apologized to Sophia for not saving this for her, but this was entirely too important to wait.
"First and foremost: you start at the bottom, and work your way up. There is no task that is beneath you. That's where my children started. That's where Agent Matheson and Miss Drummond started after they began here. You start at the bottom, you work your way up, and working your way up has as much to do with earning the trust of your teammates as it does with how well you do your job. Jack started lower than the bottom, because people didn't accept that he was a human being," Carlyon began. Her jaw clenched, but she kept silent. He glared at her steadily, reminding her that he was in charge here, and then continued, "You listen to my daughters, you don't make assumptions, and as I said before, you don't betray our trust. If you find yourself in a situation like you did last year, you figure out a way to let us know that something's wrong. You consider yourself so smart and so superior to everyone else, I'm sure that's not such a tall order for you."
He was pleased to see twin spots of red staining her cheeks. Good. That was what he wanted. It was his impression that no one ever said ‘no' to Gwen Cooper, except perhaps her mother. That ended now. It was long past time that she learned that the world didn't revolve around her and that she wasn't entitled to anything. She whispered, "All I've ever wanted to do was help people. I don't see how that's so wrong. Torchwood had resources that we didn't in the police, and Jack said that wasn't Torchwood's job."
"And he was right. The police have their job and Torchwood has theirs. There's nothing wrong with wanting to help people. The trouble is, what seems compassionate is in reality cruel, and what seems like cruelty is in fact compassionate. There is an old saying: give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for life. Your idea of helping is giving someone a fish. Jack's idea of helping is teaching a man to fish. He accepts there are times when you can simply give someone a fish ... but you've never accepted his perspective. Even after so many years in Torchwood, you still think that you're always right," Carlyon replied. And that attitude was ending right now.
He was silent for several moments, allowing her to process that information. When he was ready to continue, Carlyon went on, "When Jack hired you, he told you that he didn't mind if you argued with him, if you stood up to him, correct?" She nodded hesitantly and Carlyon observed, "But you never stopped there. You would scream at him, attack him as being a monster, and did it do any good? Was he more inclined to listen to you? No. No, I didn't think so. People don't listen very well, don't respond well when they're on the defensive. Natalie and Esther often disagree with Jack. However, they point out where they think he's wrong and provide back-up. And do you know how often he modifies his plans, based on what they tell him? At least half the time. I know it's hard to remember, but Jack is a human being. And many adult human beings respond more positively to reason than they do to bullying."
She looked mulish, but didn't interrupt, and Carlyon added quietly, "And this is my final point. You must know by now that we have a transcript, not just of the lens entries, but of your conversation with Jack in the car." He had the distinct pleasure of seeing Gwen pale with horror. Somehow, that escaped her notice earlier. He nodded and continued, "Right now, the only people who know about it are Agent Matheson, my wife, Dr. Harper and me. It must stay that way. I fear Esther may already know the truth. There is wariness in her eyes when she looks at you, and my grandchildren already distrust you. There is something else to consider. If you find Torchwood toxic, then you brought the poison with yourself.
"Oh, I won't say that Torchwood is bright and sweet and shiny. It's anything but. But when you add your own baggage into the darkness, it truly becomes toxic. And you, Gwen Cooper Williams, have a great deal of baggage. You broke the Retcon once, thanks to Suzie Costello. The Families dragged both you and Jack into the Miracle after he left. Each time, there was a choice ... and you chose to stay. So, you don't have the right to blame Torchwood, or Jack, for ruining your life. If your life is ruined, then you did the ruining. You will learn to take responsibility for yourself and your bad choices, or you will perish, because I will not have anyone else dying for your foolishness. Nor will I tolerate you choosing one child over the world. Do you truly think that your daughter would thank you for destroying the world and saving her? Can you imagine what kind of life she would have had, if the Families succeeded?"
Cooper paled and Carlyon hissed, "She would have hated you, Gwen Cooper Williams, for forcing her to live in such conditions. She would have hated you for turning Jack over to Olivia Colasanto, because I'm not convinced that she wasn't working for the Families. She was Angelo's granddaughter, she should have realized that appealing to Jack's curiosity was a far better way to get his attention than having his so-called best friend stab him in the back, again. But she knew your weaknesses, and you proved her right."
"Oh God," Gwen moaned. Ahhh, now she was beginning to see. Whether she continued to see or not was another matter. The brunette asked, "And Jack? Does he know about ...?" She gestured to his office. Ah. She wanted to know if Jack knew about the tongue-lashing he intended to give the Welshwoman. And the answer, of course, was ‘no.' He was afraid his old friend would try to defend Gwen, and take the blame on himself again. No more. It was long past time Gwen Cooper Williams grew up and started taking responsibility for herself. If she betrayed his family, blood or otherwise, the consequences to her would be devastating.
He was more right than he knew.
FIN