ERIN SWANN

‘Colours of the world, spice up your life, every boy and every girl, spice up your life, people of the world spice up your life, ahhhhhhh slam it to the left if you’re having a good time, shake it to the right if you know that you feel fine, Chichas to the front, uh huh, go round…’ I sang quietly to myself, tapping my foot against the floor.

            Since being locked in here I’d one a one woman rendition of Les Miserable and gotten about halfway through Legally Blonde before I realised I was an alto and the role of Elle Woods would not be played by me. Ever. Since the lockdown had been lifted I thought I’d be out of here but because it was an interrogation room I was in, it would take longer to come back online.

            It was only when I heard a loud ka-thunk from the door that I looked up from the desk, seeing Ianto stood there.

            ‘All things considered I think you’d make a good Velma Kelly.’ He smirked.

            ‘Well if I ever become flexible I’ll hand in my notice and hit Broadway.’ I laughed, taking his arm as he led me up the stairs.

            As we came back to my desk however, what I hadn’t expected was for Tosh to be speaking worriedly in Japanese down the phone. Fuck had something happened with her mum? It wasn’t anything to do with last time was it? They weren’t trying to blackmail her again, right?

            However what caught my attention more was the pale figure of Gwen, who wore a tired smile at her station.

            ‘Are you alright?’ I asked, pulling over a chair. ‘You idiot what were you thinking?’

            ‘I wasn’t,’ She admitted. ‘I just thought taking her to see her dad one last time would be good for her, he’s dying of cancer.’

            What? Jack had never told me that – wait why the fuck would he give her a Glove that could bring people back from the dead if her family was dying? That’s fucking cold.

            ‘Well at least now you know not to believe the dead.’ I joked .’Cause evidently the dead lie too.’

            ‘Erin.’ Tosh called, waving me over, saying something in Japanese again.

            ‘One sec.’ I told Gwen, rubbing her arm.

            When I reached Tosh however, she took my arm, dragging me into the toilets.

            ‘Fuck what’s happened?’ I asked, almost scared to hear what she had to say.

            ‘It’s my mum, she wants to talk to you.’ Tosh said handing me the phone. ‘She heard about you getting shot and wants to see how you’re doing.’

            ‘Huh?’ Well that certainly wasn’t what I thought she was going to say.

            ‘Just tell her.’ She nodded.

            I put the phone to my ear.

            ‘Hi Mio, listen I’m alright, really and it was months ago-’

            ‘It’s Chris.’ My husband cut me off. ‘Dom speaks Japanese, listen it’s a long story but I think Suzie Costello’s dad nearly died on us tonight, then you weren’t answering the phone.’

            ‘Oh no I was just stuck in a cupboard really, the phone service went down because the building went into lockdown but I’m fine and Suzie…Suzie’s taken care of, I promise I’m okay.’

            A knock sounded at the bathroom door.

            ‘You alright in there ladies?’ Owen asked.

            ‘Yeah we’re fine, we’re just having some girl time!’ I shouted, girl time being the first thing to come to my mind.

            ‘You know I am a doctor, I know what a period is.’ Owen said snidely. ‘Anyway, Ianto is wanting some records on Suzie if you have them, he’s writing up her file for the morgue.’

            ‘So she’s dead again?’ Chris asked in my ear.

            ‘Yip.’ I whispered. ‘Listen I gotta go Mio, I’ll give you back to Tosh.’

            I handed the phone back to a very confused Tosh, to which I threw my arms out since I had no clue Chris’ friend spoke Japanese, or how he got her phone number. I was a little angry at Chris just handing it out and calling Tosh but I knew he meant well. I just hope he hadn’t divulged his little discovery along with everything else.

            I tried not to let my blood run cold at the thought of Suzie in the same hospital as Chris, she could of done anything to him. She could of slit his throat and I wouldn’t of known, I would have been helpless, stuck in that little room.

            Don’t play the what if game Erin, I thought, it wasn’t worth it.

***

It was another two hours before I got home and it was to an empty house, Chris had texted my phone to explain why he had Dom call, who apparently was equally as confused as Toshiko. Chris hadn’t told Dom anything I hadn’t already divulged except that our work were holding some strict boundaries and they didn’t know we were still getting married.  

            First it was a fake secret service number and now it was ‘Tosh’s mother’ calling to talk to me, what would we think of next?

             As I lay back down in my bed though, I revelled in having all the space to myself, spreading out and pulling the duvet around me like a cocoon. I loved having Chris in bed with me don’t get me wrong but there was just something about having the whole bed to yourself that made it extra special. I popped in my headphones, chucking on some Buzzfeed unsolved and settled down to go to bed. Chris had told me he was just going to stay on at work so I wouldn’t see him until the afternoon, which meant I had all morning to figure out what the hell I was going to get for his birthday.

            Wasn’t that strange, I thought, that even after a woman came back from the dead, then died again after her master plan had failed that I wasn’t fazed.

            I was thinking about how comfy my bed was and what to get Chris for his birthday – shouldn’t I be up worrying about the Glove or how Gwen was doing? Shouldn’t I be more concerned about how we got into this situation in the first place? Or how bad things really could of gotten?