L.I.F.E. (Torchwood/ Janto)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Absolutely not." Owen insisted to Ianto. They had moved to the conference room but they were still strategically placed in case she made a break for it. Life was in the middle of trying to talk but overlapping voices made it so that she couldn't even hear herself.

"Shut up and let me talk. Tace et me loqui," she stated calmly and noticed Jack glance at her in question then resumed a heated debate with Gwen. "Tais-toi et laisse-moi parler. Cau i fyny a gadewch i mi siarad. Cállate y déjame hablar." As she kept repeating the words in various languages increasing in volume she stood up. Begrudgingly one by one they sat down and shut up.

"I feel like you guys aren't taking me seriously. It's because my outer appearance is 19 isn't it?" Without waiting for an answer Life closed her eyes and started to hum.

Until they realized she wasn't humming, but her body was. It started with her hands. They started glowing softly and Life grimaced. The golden glow got brighter as it inched up her arms and consumed her head and torso. Soon you couldn't even make out her form as it surrounded her. She screamed as the light became blinding. The others threw their arms up to cover their eyes. That's actually kind of what it looks like when the Doctor regenerates, Jack thought to himself as he squinted to see through the light.

The light was gone as soon as it came and Life was in a heap face down on the floor. Jack started approaching her but motioned the others to stay where they are as he crouched down beside her. Owen came up on the other side of her despite Jack's order.

She certainly looked... different. Leaning closer he tried to move aside the hair covering her face. Suddenly Life shot up on wobbly legs.

"Whoa, head rush. Head, not to bad, not bad. Anyone got a mirror?" She tried to take a step but would've fallen if not for Owen steadying her. "That's my bad, thanks babe. Oohh, all the way up here, not used to this height." As she continued to observe her appearance Ianto pulled Jack aside.

"What just happened?" Ianto's breath ghosted Jack's ear and he repressed a shudder. Now was not the time to think about that.

"It's hard to explain."

"Try."

"The closest thing I can compare it to is a Time Lord regenerating." He paused and eyed Life carefully. What even was she?

"Well excuse my lack of knowledge on Time Lords sir, but what do you mean by that?" At this point Jack was just wishing he hadn't come to work today and could've somehow convinced Ianto to stay in bed all day with him because this really just wasn't fair. Having to be around him all day and not really be able to flirt or sneak away for a quickie in his office because there was a mysterious alien predicting their deaths in his conference room.

"If a Time Lord is mortally injured but not yet dead they can regenerate and they come out with a new face, new body, new age, sometimes a new gender. But they can only do it if they're dying. How she just... I haven't the slightest idea." He watched as Owen laughed at something Life said and Tosh and Gwen huddled together occasionally stealing glances at them.

She really was different now, a bit less sure of her presence but a lot more flirty it seemed. Whether it be intentional or not she was slowly looping Owen in. Her hair was now a golden brown and her eyes a bright forest green. Her once tan skin was almost as pale as Ianto's. No don't think of Ianto. Thinking of Ianto in a room full of people he couldn't escape never ended well. While Life had grown from before she still only reached Owen's nose as she was probably about 5' 4 before so six inches must've seemed like a lot.

Turning his attention back to Ianto, probably a really bad choice, he started thinking of an idea. Not necessarily a good idea but one that would entertain him until he could get away from all these people. Making sure no one was paying attention to him Jack stealthily put his arm around Ianto's waist gently squeezing his hip where he knew there were still bruises from this morning. Ianto's head whipped toward him and Jack was barely able to conceal an amused smile.