Chapter Text
Cardiff, Wales
Early 2009
Suzie Costello wanted one thing made absolutely clear: she hated cemeteries. She hated them with a passion. It reminded her too much of her darkest days, when she was obsessed with death. Oh, she could dress it up in pretty language as much as she liked, but that was the truth. She was obsessed with death ... even if it was cheating death, she was still obsessed with it. And since learning of her boss' inability to die (or rather to stay dead), Suzie's desire to manipulate life and death ... well, died permanently. When she saw what immortality did to Jack ... when she saw the lovers and children and grandchildren whom he lost, when she realized she would have killed innocents ... everything turned to ash.
None of these facts explained why she was here in this cemetery today. Which wasn't to say that Suzie didn't have a reason ... she did. Namely, her young teammate Esther Drummond wanted to put flowers on the graves of her lost friends in her first urban explorer group. Oh, Esther could have gone by herself, but everyone was feeling ... fragile after those damnable murdering pepper-pots showed up, and that included Jack. It also included Suzie. She could have lost everything, everyone she loved. The members of Torchwood were scattered to the four corners of the earth, or so it seemed: Tosh and Gray were on their honeymoon; Alice accompanied Suzie and Owen to a conference in London; leaving Jack, Esther, Steven and Ianto alone in the Hub when all hell broke loose.
Surprise, surprise, Jack's Doctor saved the day (with considerable aid from Jack, naturally), but evidently, a sacrifice was needed because a few weeks after things were put to rights, Jack left his office with a troubled frown. He still hadn't told her about whatever worried him, but right now, he wasn't talking to Ianto or Esther ... or even Gray, something that worried the younger Harkness brother deeply. On this particular day, the newest member of the team was at Flat Holm, trying to get more information out of his former friend Aaron. Suzie wished him luck. As she knew from nearly spinning out of control, people would talk when they wanted ... especially if they wanted to gloat or justify their own behavior.
Maybe that was the real reason she accompanied Esther ... not just because she was reluctant to allow any of her friends out of her sight, but because her most recent trip to Flat Holm shook her so badly. She saw entirely too much of herself when she looked into Aaron's eyes. Suzie could have so easily taken another path, something that was constantly on her mind (especially since Gray's arrival and Jack was buried alive). Regardless of the reason, she did wander about the cemetery while Esther quietly paid her respects to the rest of her urbex group.
And that was how she encountered the dark-haired man standing before a stone. While Esther was placing bouquets at each grave, Suzie looked out across the rows and rows of stones, a veritable field of stones, something that never failed to make her shudder. Of course, it also allowed her to keep an eye on Esther. What she thought might happen to the younger woman in a cemetery, Suzie really couldn't have said. Then again, just like her two lovers, trouble tended to find Esther. Not that Suzie had any room to talk ... or any other member of Torchwood, for that matter. Trouble always seemed to find them.
As Esther turned back to make the hike away from her friends' graves, shoulders hunched, Suzie quietly turned in the opposite direction, to give her friend time to compose herself. And it was then that she saw him. He stood with his back to her, head bowed as he lightly caressed the top of a stone. Suzie took a step back, startled, because he wasn't there when she arrived. Not good, Suzie, she chastised herself, you should have heard something. However, the man was only staring down at the headstone, paying no attention to anyone or anything else ... at least until a noise distracted him and he turned to face Suzie. The two stared at each other for a long moment, until the man cleared his throat, murmuring, "Sorry to disturb you, miss."
Suzie offered a small smile, answering, "I was just about to say the same to you." What exactly did you say to someone in a graveyard when you (or something) just disturbed their mourning? It was one reason why she left Esther alone when they came here ... that, and she didn't really understand why her young friend was so determined to visit the graves of people she barely knew on a regular basis.
He waved his hand with a tired smile, saying, "No problem. I was just here visitin' my fiancée's grave." Suzie swallowed hard, remembering how Owen finally opened up to her about the death of his fiancée Katie during those first three months without Jack. Their physical relationship had long since ended, but they were finally becoming actual friends. The stranger gestured a bit to the headstone, saying, "The stone says she's only been gone about eight months. But it's still too long." She's been gone too long. She remembered Owen saying something similar.
Suzie was struggling with what to say next, when she actually looked at the headstone. Before she joined Torchwood, she thought the saying ‘my blood ran cold' was just added for dramatic effect. She learned otherwise (again) when it felt as if her blood turned to rivers of ice in her veins. Esther joined her and began chatting with the stranger. Just as well, because Suzie couldn't take her eyes off that headstone. Esther asked softly, "Suze? You okay? Mr. Williams wanted me to say good-bye for him." What? Suzie looked up and realized that the dark-haired man was trudging away. For the first time, she noticed that he was massaging his shoulder, as if it pained him. Esther asked, looking at her with obvious concerned, "Suzie? What is it, you look like you've seen a ghost?"
She finally followed Suzie's line of sight, and the young woman inhaled sharply as she read the name on the stone. Her brown eyes snapped back to the second in command of Torchwood Three, mouth rounding into a silent ‘oh.' Suzie looked at the solitary, departing figure once more and removed her mobile from her jacket pocket, hitting ‘speed dial' and a particular number. When her boss and friend answered, Suzie said, "Jack, it's us ... Suzie and Esther. You were talking about someone named ‘Gwen Cooper' in your dreamscape? I've found her. No, we're still here at the cemetery. Yeah. We'll wait for you."
Suzie hung up and replaced her mobile in her pocket, returning her attention to the headstone. But it was Esther who murmured, "Gwen Elizabeth Cooper, beloved daughter. This shouldn't be as shocking as it is. Everything else Jack saw during his coma is either true or a warped version of reality." Suzie nodded and reached out numbly to put her arm around Esther's shoulders. It wasn't that Esther needed the comfort ... but right now, Suzie did. It wasn't just that Jack was right (again) ... it was her old question, returning to haunt her. Until now, she could dismiss the coma dreams (as they'd taken to calling what Jack dreamed while buried alive) as just that: dreams, a warped view of reality. But with this new information, Suzie was forced to acknowledge that something else happened. Until Jack was returned to them, none of them heard Gwen Cooper's name. So the question remained: how did Jack find out about a police constable who died shortly after the paradox was reversed?
TBC