Just Imagine...

What it Means to be Human (Torchwood's 15th anniversary celebration fic)

The young couple was asleep in front of Sam. She almost didn't want to disturb them, but she knew that beneath this sweet, domestic exterior, these people could very well be dangerous.
Having recovered from her recent knee injury, Sam was ready to prove that she could do this, as it was her first mission outside the hub in weeks. She drew in a deep breath.
"Wake up." She growled, loudly enough to rouse the sleeping couple.
The first of the two to sit up was the young Black woman named Beth. Her dark brown eyes carried a tiredness that made Sam feel a stab of pity for her, but only for a second.
Beth's husband, Mike, sat up beside her in less than a second, his skin pale in contrast to hers in the darkness of the room and the moonlight filtering through the window.
Beth's eyes landed on Sam and she sucked in a terrified gasp, grabbing Mike's arm. Did they know why she was here?
"Now before you scream," Sam murmured in a firm yet calm tone, "I want you to know that the rest of your family is tied up in the living room, and I will start hurting them if you don't tell me why you're on earth."
"What family?" Beth demanded, eyes wide, "we live alone!"
Sam furrowed her brow, letting that sink in. Tosh had said there was only two signals coming from the house, but Sam had assumed the other people in the house were visitors or accomplices her system hadn't picked up.
"You live alo-? Then who the hell were those two men roamin' around your living room?" Sam demanded, pointing with her thumb out the bedroom door.
"THERE ARE TWO MEN ROAMING AROUND OUR LIVING ROOM?!" Mike shouted.
"Well NOT ANYMORE!" Sam exclaimed, then squinted at the young couple in perplexity, "are you both dumb?" She asked, slipping into the same voice she used on Jack when he came to her asking about how to treat Ianto right.
Beth and Mike looked at each other, then back at her. Sam rolled her eyes.
"Here," she said, tossing the cell phone she'd stolen from the kitchen counter onto the bed, "I'd keep that on your nightstand from now on. Call the police. And keep your doors locked." She stood up to leave, wincing at a slight twinge in her knee. "Idiotas, you could've died. You're welcome." She added more gently.
"Umm... thank you?" She heard Beth call uncertainly from the bedroom as she walked to the front door. Sam glanced at the two men she'd tied up in the living room - who she should've known were burglars, not aliens, as they were dressed completely in black  - and smirked.
"Lucky I got here when I did, eh, boys?" She taunted.

"You didn't just leave them there?" Jack demanded.
"Well there was nothing else I could've done!" Sam protested, "they didn't even know their own house was being broken into, they're not gonna start an invasion anytime soon!"
"Did you consider that maybe they don't know they're aliens? They might think they're regular old humans!"
"Well they looked like raccoons caught in the light of a back porch! Aliens or not, if they think they're human, they don't deserve to be dragged outta their beds in the middle of the night and locked in a grungy cell!"
"Jack, Sam's right," Gwen spoke up, stepping between renther and son before the argument could escalate. "Okay, that felt weird to say," she added quietly to herself, "but your renther has a point - if they don't know what's going on, how is it fair to lock them up without even telling them what they've done wrong? They probably think aliens don't exist, and if they do know they're aliens, they're not trying to hurt anybody."
Sam folded her arms over her chest and grinned smugly at her son over Gwen's head. Jack glared back.
"They haven't tried to hurt anyone yet," he murmured, "who knows what might've happened if Mom hadn't shown up to to deal with those burglars for them?"
"But I did," Sam said, "and I did it pretty well, I might add. They never saw it comin', and if Beth and Mike had attacked me, the same would've happened to them."
"Sam, you need to be more careful," Owen cut in, "your leg might be better but you could still get hurt."
"Sounds like you care about me." Sam teased, raising an eyebrow at him.
"No," Owen said, a little too quickly, "I just don't wanna deal with your constant complaining. I only let you go this time because you wouldn't stop whining about being bored. When are you gonna stop being an annoying little twat?"
"Maybe when you admit that you only stick around to listen cuz you like me." Sam taunted.
"Oh, shut up." Owen grumbled. Sam stuck her tongue out at him.
"Okay," Gwen cut in gently, "no squabbling. Jack, what should our course of action be?"
"Well, if Mom really thinks the aliens aren't a threat right now, I say we watch them," Jack responded, fighting a pang of jealousy over how easily Gwen managed to stamp out Sam and Owen's argument before it escalated past teasing, "monitor their movements and behaviours, if they do anything suspicious or potentially harmful, we bring them in. Is that good enough for you, Mom?"
Sam raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk curling her lip.
"Certainly, darling," she murmured, "you're the boss, and you're the right person for the job."