Title: One Touch
By: AbCarter
Pairing: gen
Rating: PG
Summary: Suzie Costello took the hand home.

***

The hand that can bring back to life. I take it out of my handbag and place it delicately on the counter. I want to stroke its fingers. This hand ...

I shouldn't have taken it home. I should have left it there. But how can we, I, ever perfect this hand if it always stays indoors, under ground? This hand is so powerful. This hand is beyond CPR, beyond defibrillation. This hand is beyond ... anything. God.

If I put on this hand I can give back life. Just for two minutes, now, but imagine the possibilities if I can further develop this hand. I can't do that if the hand never leaves Torchwood. I need to field test it, experiment on real life beings. Formerly life beings. Recently deceased beings. Only those experiments will tell me if it's possible to bring back people who have been dead for longer, or bring back people who didn't die violently.

There's a fly on the window sill. I don't know how long it's been there. I don't know how long it's been dead. Would the hand work on a fly? A fly would probably need much less energy to be brought back to life. Maybe it can live longer after one touch of the hand. Or maybe one touch will incinerate it completely. Only one way to find out.

I slip on the glove. Such power. This hand. My hand. Its fingers: my fingers. One touch and life is restored. This fly, just one touch with my hand. Perhaps better one touch with my finger. It's lying there, all still, dead and helpless. One touch.

I gently touch the fly with my index finger. I wait. I watch. Is that a leg twitching? Yes. Yes, it is. I saw its leg move and another one. The fly is stretching its legs, like someone would stretch and yawn after waking up from a long sleep. It's struggling to get up. Can flies role over? Should I give it a little flick with my other hand?

It's getting up! It got up. It flew away. One touch of my hand, it came alive. I gave it life. This hand. My hand. I.

***