Fanfic: "Revenge is a dish best served cold"

[knitchick1979]

Title: Revenge is a dish best served cold

Author: knitchick1979

Characters: Tosh, Owen, Jack, Ianto

Rating: PG

Summary: Tosh's past comes back to haunt her...sort of ;)

Notes: Unbeta'd, because I wasn't able to get anything written until like, now. All mistakes my own. Written for the tw_lucky_7 challenge, prompt: wrath.



"It can't be!" Tosh gasped, staring at her screen. There was a breaking news story, stating there was a suspect in the recent terrorist bombings of the National Welsh Assembly. Tosh didn't recognize the alias but the face was unmistakable. She knew, eight years ago, that Joseph was bad news. She still regretted staying with him for nearly four years. Getting arrested by UNIT and later joining Torchwood had worked in her favour to break the ties to her ex-boyfriend, but now here he was, suspected of building a bomb and planting it uncomfortably close to where she worked.

"Tosh, are you all right?" Owen called across the room. He was at his desk, watching the news feed from his computer station as well and chewing on a pen.

"I'm fine, I just thought...." She paused, collecting her thoughts. No good letting on to anyone yet that she knew the suspect. "I thought that gentleman was someone I knew, that's all."

"I hope they catch the bloke, he caused a right problem for the staff at St. Mary's," Owen replied. "Listen, Tosh, things are quiet around here. Feel like sneaking off for dinner on the Quay?"

Tosh glanced at her screen again. She was about to turn Owen down but then changed her mind. "Sure, that sounds lovely. Just give me a few minutes, I want to set up a program to run while we're gone."

"All right, I need to wash the dried alien off me anyway," Owen replied. He headed off down toward the showers and Tosh bent over her terminal.

"Time to dig up some dirt on you," Tosh muttered as her fingers flew across the keys, writing a program to sift through the internet and dig up every last bit of information on her ex-boyfriend that existed. Knowing his real name, or at least, the real name he gave her and the alias the television news broadcaster had given, would be a start. She finished up her quick and dirty program just as Owen returned to the main part of the Hub. A more sophisticated algorhythmic program to attempt to find other aliases and compile the data would have to wait.

"Ready, Tosh?" Owen asked.

Tosh hit the enter key to start the program running. "Yes, let's go."

~ * ~

Owen escorted Tosh back into the Hub three hours later, though she suspected it was more because he needed her support to keep from falling over. Tosh dearly hoped the Rift would stay quiet until the morning, as Owen would be in no shape for anything until he sobered up after the countless beers he'd downed during their extended dinner. Still, the evening had been pleasant. It felt good to sit and have a nice meal with someone who appreciated her intelligence. Joseph never had, that was obvious from early on.

"Oooh, I don't feel so good," Owen muttered as they reached the cog door. Tosh pulled him along to the toilet and knelt with him as Owen regurgitated all of the expensive dinner he'd paid for.

Jack walked in as Owen finally leaned back from the toilet. "Ah, that's where you two disappeared to," he said. "Have a good dinner?"

"Had a good dinner," Owen replied. "Where were you?"

"On the roof," Jack said simply. "Tosh, your program is finished running."

"Oh, thank you," Tosh replied. "Come on, Owen, let's get you home."

Tosh helped Owen to unsteady feet, and Jack stepped in on Owen's other side. "I've got him," Jack said. "I'm sure you have work to do," he added with a wink.

"Oooh..." Owen groaned, and dropped back to his knees for another round of vomiting. Jack knelt beside him, taking Tosh's place. Tosh gratefully slipped out, heading for her computer.

The program she had written earlier had run its course. Tosh sat down and slid her glasses on, scanning through the raw data read out. Then she noticed the message blinking in her task bar. The message was from Jack, with a little more data on the details of the bombing and the evidence that the police and crime scene investigators had gathered. Tosh smiled. She should have known she couldn't keep secrets from Jack. She had long suspected that as part of clearing her record with UNIT, he had also set things in motion to break her ties to her ex-boyfriend.

"Coffee?"

Tosh tried not to jump as Ianto appeared out of nowhere beside her, like a ninja on the prowl, holding out a large mug with painted cherry blossoms on it, filled with delicious-smelling coffee.

"Thank you...is this a new mug?" she asked.

"It is, I bought it with you in mind," Ianto said. "Cherry blossoms are your favourite flower, are they not?"

"They are," Tosh confirmed.

Ianto nodded. "They suit you," he said. "Let me know if you need anything else, I'll be in the archives."

"Thank you."

Ianto headed off toward the stairs and Tosh began coding another, more complex program, aimed at digesting the data she'd already gathered, and searching for additional data.


~ * ~

"Tosh? Tosh?"

Tosh woke with a start, looking up to see Jack leaning over her. "Jack... what time is it?"

"Three in the morning. I just got back from taking care of a Rift alert," Jack said. "Did you finish what you were working on?"

"I... " Tosh looked at the screen. "I suppose I have, mostly. All that's left to do is send it."

Jack read the screen over her shoulder. "Looks good," he said. "You need his current address, though."

"I couldn't find it," Tosh said.

"I could," Jack said, reaching around Tosh and typing in an address in a neighborhood in Cardiff known for criminal activity. "Now it's ready to send."

"Thank you," Tosh said, hitting the send key. "How did you find that?"

"I saw your program running while you were at dinner," Jack began. "I recognized the names you were looking for, so I went and did a little digging of my own. I'm sorry it had to be him behind this bombing scare."

"You put him off my trail when I first started here, didn't you? I noticed all the evidence connecting us was gone."

"Maybe," Jack said with a grin. "Now, it's too late for you to head home, plus it's pouring out. Let's get you to bed. I bet there will be an arrest in the morning."

Tosh smiled and let Jack lead her down to his bed and tuck her in. Before she fell asleep, she heard the sound of the cog door opening and had a feeling Jack was heading out to help finish the revenge she'd started.