Daughter of Torchwood

Caught Off Guard

Leaving her Grandma's that morning, Starla decided to walk to the hub instead of taking the bus. Taking the usual route, she gets to the back alley that brings her out near the bay and hears rattling and scuffling coming from behind a couple of dustbins.

Stopping dead, she looks around seeing she is all alone and slowly approaches them, hand on the can of pepper spray in her bag.

Edging closer she kicks one of the bins aside and immediately removes her hand from her bag, "Oh... Hello," She crouches offering her hand out to a German Shepard puppy looking around 9 weeks old, a bit dirty and scrounging for food. The puppy has little interest in her clearly more hungry than anything else.

Looking back in her bag, she pulls out the ham sandwich she brought for her lunch that day, breaking a few bits off she throws them in the dog's direction and then offers them by hand when it realises she's not a threat.

Once it's okay with her, she gently picks it up checking for gender, a boy and an ID tag or collar, which he doesn't have, "Are you lost, buddy? I can't imagine anyone would abandon you but if they have, rest assured I'll deal with them."

She rechecks the area for signs of anyone owning him but there's no one and the nearest housing estate isn't close, "Come on," She lets him playfully nip at her fingers, "Let's take you to the hub see if we can put out an advert to find your owner."

Before going to the hub, she stops at a shop getting some dog food, poo bags and a tug rope toy, just to keep him occupied until he goes back to his owner.

Using the shop entrance, thankfully Ianto is not sitting at the desk or she wouldn't get the dog any further than that.

Entering the main hub, she steps up to the main platform where Gwen is standing at Jack's office door. Gwen spots her, "Oh my god," She stares at the puppy in Starla's arms.

"What?" She hears Jack asks as she steps into the office where the others all are, "Starla," Jack's jaw drops though a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Your not serious," Owen laughs.

Tosh on the other hand doesn't seem to mind the fluffy visitor and scratches him behind the ear, "Is he lost?" She notes the dirt on him.

"Guys, this is Buddy. I'm not sure of his real name so I'll call him Buddy for now. I found him on the way here scrounging by some bins. He has no collar or tags, I think he's either lost or abandoned. Hopefully, the latter so I can keep him."

"No, because you're not keeping him," Jack warns her.

She pouts, "But he could be Torchwood's sniffer dog and it would give me something to do," Torchwood has been uneventful since Gwen's wedding two weeks ago and there hasn't been much for Starla to do, "Please," She begs, adding puppy eyes to the pout.

Jack sighs mulling it over in his brain, looking to the others to see what they think, "Put out an advert for a missing dog first and see what happens. You can look after him until the owner is found."

"And if no one comes forward I can keep him," She eyes him hopefully lifting Buddy to her face, "Look at that face how can you say no."

"He is cute," Ianto admits fussing him.

"Maybe, that's my answer for now Star."

"Okay, I'm going to give him a bath," She turns to Ianto, "Could I ask you to find him a bowl for some water and his food," She hands him the bag she brought, "He's only eaten the ham sandwich I had in my bag so he'll still be hungry."

Ianto nods and she heads upstairs. "She got you wrapped around her little finger," Gwen chuckles going back to her workstation.

"If I knew puppy eyes worked on you I'd have used that trick a long time ago," Owen sniggers and then continues his conversation with Jack though Jack is thinking about how true his colleague's words are.