I've finally succumbed to the voice in my head. You'll get what I mean in a few chapters :P

This doesn't really fit anywhere any more; it must be fairly early in the run, but The Doctor has already gone back to Cardiff on his own and knows about Jack - his "can't die" thing and that he's in Torchwood - but the whole point of the story means that most of series three and all of series four would not have existed. Oh, and apparently (talk to the voices in my head) The Doctor has only met Jack and none of the others. And he's not seen the Hub. But you see, this story's been in my head for such a long time, and I couldn't bear to let it die!

Also, if they're all hopelessly OOC I'm sorry, but I can't cope with so many characters! Lol.

Oh, and it's gets better. Honestly.

TIME SHIFT

THE MEETING

Martha followed The Doctor eagerly out of The TARDIS, to be greeted by the sight of a large bronze building.

"Captain Jack lives here?" Martha questioned doubtfully.

"Yep. Well, sort of. C'mon. This way." The Doctor led her around the side of the building and down the street until they reached a small tourist information centre. He pushed the door open and entered. Martha saw a small room, with a counter on the wall facing them and a man in a smart suit standing behind it. Her eyes skipped over him - she knew it wasn't Jack from pictures The Doctor had shown her - and took note of the many information leaflets on the counter. The Doctor was grinning expectantly at the man, as though he expected him to recognise him. The cheery smile faltered as the man narrowed his eyes at him. The Doctor raised his eyebrows hopefully. The man's eyes suddenly widened and he stood up straighter.

"Doctor?" he said. The grin had returned to The Doctor's face.

"That's me!" he announced. "Jack in?"

"Of course," the man replied. "I'm Ianto, by the way. Come right in." Martha stared as a hidden door to their right swung open. She poked The Doctor in the ribs.

"Ow!" he cried, following Ianto through the door . "Oh, right. This is Martha. Martha Jones."

"Hello," she said, smiling warmly at Ianto.

-

The Doctor had brought Martha here to see an old friend of his, Captain Jack, after they had landed in London. They had come out in the Powell Estate, and The Doctor had got a sad look in his eyes and showed her a picture of Rose at her tentative request. She hadn't looked like anything special to Martha. Then what loosely resembled a tiny yellow cat had appeared in front of them; though Martha hadn't been particularly surprised when The Doctor had told her it was an alien. He had fixed its ship for it, it had left, and then The Doctor had announced that he wanted to see his friend. Apparently, his steering had been accurate for once, because here they were.

-

Ianto led them through a series of dark, slightly damp corridors, until finally they reached a lift, and then at the bottom of the lift there was, Ianto said, the last door. As it opened - rolling away sideways - an enormous space was revealed.

"This is…under Cardiff?" Martha said, as she took in that it was several floors high, the water tower continued right to the bottom, and that there was a large…something flying around.

"Yes," Ianto said, sounding proud. Martha saw the contrast of modern technology and old brickwork, the one man and one dark-haired woman sat at computers. Another woman was walking up some stairs with a mug in each hand.

"Visitors, Ianto?" she called down.

"For Jack," he replied, leading The Doctor and Martha to the foot of the stairs that the woman was nearly at the top of.

"Is that a pterodactyl?" The Doctor asked interestedly as they climbed.

"It is," Ianto confirmed, pushing open the door to reveal a man Martha knew was Jack, leaning back on his chair with his feet on the table, taking a sip out of his mug. He almost spat it out as they walked in, and Martha noticed, as he choked "Doctor" that he spoke with an American accent. He quickly stood up and came over to them. He pulled The Doctor into a hug and said, "Hello!"

"Good to see you," The Doctor said cheerfully. "You're not dead yet?" This seemed to be a great joke, because Jack laughed loudly. Martha smiled awkwardly and held out her hand.

"I'm Martha Jones," she said. Jack took her hand and shook it firmly, fixing her with his warm brown eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones, I'm Cap'n Jack Harkness," he replied with a smile.

"Stop it!" The Doctor told him warningly.

Jack turned to him. "You don't let me say hello to anyone!" He seemed to suddenly notice that it was not just the three of them in the room. "Doctor, Martha, this is Gwen Cooper," he said, gesturing to the woman they'd seen with the mugs walking up the stairs. She smiled at them and Martha gave her a small wave. "Gwen, why don't you show Martha around?" Jack suggested. "Ianto, that shop'll be missing you," he added to Ianto, still stood by the door.

Gwen took Martha down the stairs again and took her over to the man she had seen at the computer.

"This is Owen Harper," Gwen said, and the man span around on his chair to face her. "He's our doctor."

"I'm a great doctor, thank you very much," Owen replied dryly.

"I'm a doctor as well," Martha told him. "Well, nearly. So, what do you people…do?" She looked at his computer screen.

"You play games?"

"Well, no, not most of the time," Owen said, minimising the screen. "Most of the time we actually…do stuff. Weevils, mainly; they're the big problem."

"I'll take you to see one in a minute," Gwen promised, and steered her over to see the dark-haired woman. She was obvious doing something useful, alternating between typing rapidly and staring closely at a small black box. "This is Toshiko Sato," Gwen said. "She's the only one who ever does anything useful."

"You do as well," Toshiko replied.

Martha smiled. "My name's Martha."

"Anything interesting happening with the Rift, Tosh?" Gwen asked.

"There's been a few energy fluctuations in the last few hours, but I don't think it's anything major. I was just about to tell Jack anyway; we'd better keep an eye on it."

"Come and see a Weevil," Gwen told Martha. "It's an alien. Takes a while to get used to."

"Oh, believe me, I've seen a few aliens!" Martha assured her.

To be continued…

TIME SHIFT

What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Think I should take a long walk off a short precipice? Think I should carry on? Makes no odds whether you think I should or not; I'm still writing it, so there -blows raspberry- review please

Oh, and updates will probably be few and far between, cuz I'm writing it as I go along, but I'll try and do at LEAST 1 a week. And the best way to make sure you avoid missing it is to add it to your alerts -angel smile-