Chapter Text
Sydney often tagged along with her parents to UNIT. The base in Big Ben was essentially a second home to her after all the wandering around she’d done. She’d gotten to know some of the other employees at UNIT, too; former Preachers, members of Torchwood, and even President Harriet Jones.
Whenever Rose spotted a new face at UNIT, she tried her best to make them feel welcome. Sydney always tried to follow her mom’s example, so when Sydney saw an unfamiliar boy at UNIT one day, she walked right up and introduced herself.
“Hi! Haven’t seen you around before. You new?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah. First day of my summer internship,” he replied. Looking at him, Sydney guessed he and her were around the same age.
“I didn’t think they accepted people that young,” Sydney said.
“You don’t look any older than me.”
“I don’t work here.”
“How’d you get here, then? This is a government installation, you don’t just waltz in.”
“My mum and dad work here. Dad’s the Chief Scientific Advisor!” Sydney explained.
“Nepotism, then. Got it,” the boy half-joked. He didn’t look impressed.
“M’name’s Sydney Donna Tyler,” she introduced, ignoring his attitude. “Bit of a mouthful, so just ‘Sydney’ is fine.”
“Trent Waris,” Trent responded. “Does everyone here at UNIT have three first names, or is it just you?”
“Well, ex-cuse me for trying to be nice,” Sydney mocked. “Whatcha up to, Trent Waris?”
“Intern stuff.”
“How very specific.”
“Will your daddy fire me if I don’t tell you?” Trent teased, moving from one end of the room to the other. He sat down at a computer.
“No. Just trying to make conversation,” Sydney noted as she followed Trent. “Make ya feel like part of the UNIT team.”
“If you must know,” Trent said sarcastically, “I’m doing some coding. Basic stuff.”
“Coding! You’re a programmer, then?”
“I guess. It’s not my full-time job, or anything.”
“You like working with machines?”
Trent sighed and stared at Sydney with a dissapointed look on his face. Sydney couldn’t imagine why. Had she said something wrong?
“Should’ve seen this coming. Go on. Say it,” Trent said.
“Say what?” Sydney asked, genuinely confused.
“That I shouldn’t be working so closely with computers.”
“Why shouldn’t you?”
“‘Trent, this obsession you have with technology is getting out of hand.’ ‘Your dedication to your work is admirable, but shouldn’t you spend more time away from your machines?’ ‘This was just how that mess with Cybus started!’ Something along those lines, yeah?” Trent listed off, mimicking the various voices of those who’d said these phrases to him.
“No,” Sydney stated matter-of-factly.
Trent looked away.
“Oh. Well, that’s alright then.”
Sydney pulled up a chair next to Trent and sat down.
“I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with that,” Sydney apologized.
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for. I’m the one who got worked up over nothing.”
“I’d compliment your impressions if I knew what those people actually sounded like.”
“My school counselor, my principal, and my dad, in that order.”
“Ouch. How’d you convince your parents to let you work here, then?” Sydney wondered.
“Biggest thing was that the Preachers work here. They’ll teach me some good old fashioned anti-cyber values.”
She’d only just met him, but Sydney couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. He clearly wasn’t in the most supportive environment. Her parents were the definition of supportive. What would they do in this situation?
“So, what’s that you’re coding?” Sydney questioned, pointing at the computer screen.
“You really wanna know?” Trent responded.
“Why not?”
For the next half hour, Trent explained his work to Sydney. He started out slowly; what he was trying to code, the language he was using, that sort of thing. As he went on, he started to open up. He talked about why he liked working with machines and his robotics hobby, then abstracted further into his grades and school life. Sydney started to join in, bringing up some stories about her own homeschooling. By the end of it all, Trent was smiling.
Sydney considered that a win.