The Eternal Key

by Moonowl17

What happens when Gwen finds out that she is not who she thought she was? How will she handle the change and the issues that lie ahead? Crossover with Dr. Who. Gwen/Jack. No flames pls, 1st fic. Don't own anything, is BBC's and RTD.

1. Just the beginning

Gwen opened her eyes and looked around. She knew she wasn't at home from her surroundings; she guessed that she had fallen asleep in the hub. She heard footsteps and turned to see Jack in his office. She tried to sit up but couldn't. Her head hurt, and she tried to recall the events of the day. She looked down at her arm and saw that she had a drip in it. The IV had a bag of red fluid, blood she assumed, but why?

Jack looked up from his work and saw her awake and went over to her.

"Gwen, how are you feeling?" he said as he checked the IV and also her vitals.

"Confused Jack, what the hell happened?" she asked as she looked into his eyes. He looked down and smiled that ever reassuring smile at her.

"Nothing, well, not to worry about, I am here to take care of you." He said as he sat down beside her.

She tried to remember, but everything was cloudy. She needed to know, the last thing she knew was that Rhys was leaving her, he had enough of her secrecy and late nights working. She accepted this as she knew that with her job, it wasn't going to work. She felt hurt, had a shower and cried her heart out. She got dressed and came to work, acting as if nothing happened. That was the last thing she recalled, after that moment and until she woke up, nothing but cloudiness. She looked up at Jack "I have no where to go, not tonight…" she said to him. Jack knew what she meant, in her eyes he could see the pain she was in.

"You can stay here, with me." He said. She nodded in agreement and lay back down. The events, the IV and the emptiness in the middle, she needed to know.

"What had happened Jack? I'm scared to hell that I can not remember." She said. Jack took a deep breath, even after erasing the events from her memory, he felt obligated to tell her what had happened.

"We were on a mission, a comet had landed in the forest nearby and we went to investigate. All was okay, until it started to crack and something came out. It attached itself to you, absorbing your life energy, and also drinking your blood at the same time, this is why the IV. I was able to vaporize it, but the damage had already been done and you were unconscious. I picked you up and took you back to the SUV, nothing, no heart beat or pulse, just like an empty shell. I had to do something, so I did the only thing I knew; I gave you some of my life energy. This was not enough, you needed blood. I always carry some extra blood on me just in case, each member's type, so I inserted the IV and put you in the back of the SUV."

Jack paused in the story, allowing Gwen to comprehend what had happened to her. She sat there, trying to recall any of this, but still all she could see was cloud. "Why, I can't remember…" she began to say. Jack sighed. He did it to protect her as to remember something as horrible as that… the image still burnt in his mind, her collapsing, watching as that thing sucked her life energy from her. She didn't need to remember any of this as it was something rare, something that even he never thought possible as all of them were supposed to be dead. He looked at her and held her face in his hands.

"You must understand what I did was to protect you, as to remember what happened would be such a burden on you." He said to her. She looked into his eyes, seeing the seriousness and also the emotions that were there. She nodded and he let out a big breathe. "I erased this mission from your memory; it was too much for any being to handle. That thing that attacked you, it was supposed to have never existed, not anymore." He said, he stood up and walked away from her and continued the story. "I took you back here; calling in ahead to get more of the bloods ready as you had lost a lot and were still losing some. All I could do was get you back here as fast as I could. Owen closed up the wound, and you never woke up. I sent the team home and used the mind wiper to clear your mind of the event." He never once turned back to look at her, he was caught up in his own thoughts.

He didn't want to lose her, and for a few minutes there, he nearly did, and it scared the hell out of him. He laughed quietly to himself, Captain Jack Harkness, dependant on someone. The thought of that, something different scared him. He had never needed anyone, male, female or alien. Holding her in his arms, knowing that she had no life energy, she felt different, empty. He felt the emptiness inside him, something that has never been there before. He knew that he had to do something. Giving life energy to her, making sure that it was pure, no memories from him, just energy. She didn't need a lot, just enough to restore her body. She could create the rest herself he hoped, this was still something that he had to check. He turned and looked at her, still pale. A single tear fell down her cheek. She didn't need to know any of what he had told her, but she wanted to and he felt bad.

She didn't know what to do. She reached down and pushed herself up from the bed she was on. The room was so clean and boring, she hated this part of the office, but it was needed with all of the encounters that the team came across, a hospital was needed in the office. She tried to stand, but her right leg hurt. She fell to the floor and Jack turned. He went over and helped her stand up.

"It attacked your leg, the muscle was damaged and we had to repair it. Owen did a great job; he fixed it and then stitched it back up." Jack said as she leant on him for support. "The muscle may be painful for a while. I would not recommend walking on it for a few days" he continued to say as he helped her back onto the bed. She sighed; she hated being dependant on anything. She was depending on Rhys for a normal life, but she soon found out that in this job, there was no such thing. She turned to face Jack; he was someone who was always there for her. Her heart leapt, for the first time in a very long time. She felt a connection to Jack, maybe due to the life energy, but she felt like she owed him something.

"Without you…" she began to say

"Stop, don't even think about the other side, I was there and things turned out okay." He said to her as tears welled up in her eyes some more. He took her in his arms and held her close. The warmth of his body passed on to her, she was so cold. The other possibility, that he would have lost her if he didn't do anything was still spooking him.

Gwen looked at Jack; he looked tired, and drained. She knew that it was her fault, and that she could not do this anymore. She needed to get away from this, at least for a while.

"I need… I have to go" she whispered. Jack looked down at her.

"No, you need to stay here. What happened has happened and now, you need to rest to recover from all of this. I know that you have the strength to get through; it is just a small set back. Anyway, whatever comes from this may be worth all of the pain." He said, looking into her eyes. He helped her lie down on the bed and started to walk off.

"Jack!" she said as he walked away "don't leave me alone, please!" she begged. She was scared, like a child afraid of the dark. Jack turned and grabbed a chair and pulled it to her bedside. He reached over onto the table and picked up a machine that she had never seen before. Seeing the worry on her face, he looked briefly at her.

"Don't worry; I need to check your life energy, to make sure that your body is making it. Without this energy, nothing can live." He said as he pressed some buttons on the machine. He held it up and a light came over her, scanning body. After a few minutes, it beeped at Jack, signalizing that it was finished. He read the results and smiled. The energy that he had given her was enough and her body was producing more for her to get better. "See, everything is better, nothing to worry about!" he said as he put the machine back on the table and sat down beside her. He took her hand in his and began to stroke it. She looked at him, mesmerized by him and the things that she had done for him.

"Jack, how can I ever repay you?" she asked.

"You don't need to; you just need to be here." He replied. He reached into a drawer that was near the table and took out a syringe. "This will help you sleep for now. I will be here when you wake up." He said to her as he pushed the medication into the IV "sleep well" he said to her as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Gwen woke up, still in the same place as she was before. She looked to her left and saw Jack, asleep in the chair, still holding her hand. She reached over with her other hand and shook him gently and he opened his eyes.

"There was a point where I was not sure if you actually slept!" she said to him. He smiled and let go of her hand.

"I normally don't, but I guess the events of yesterday finally caught up with me!" he said as he checked her over again. He heard the door opening and turned to see Ianto coming in. He looked at Gwen and smiled. He nodded his hello to Jack and went to making coffee. The door opened a second time, and both Tosh and Owen walked in and came straight to see Gwen. Owen checked her pulse and Tosh smiled at her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. Gwen looked at her and nodded. She smiled and went to her workstation; she never was good in these kinds of situations. Owen reached under the blanket and Gwen moved away when he touched her leg. He pulled away and looked at Jack who was also curious about this reaction. He went up to Gwen and held her hand.

"It's okay, remember we are all friends here, he just needs to check your wound" he said. She nodded and Owen pushed the blanket aside and removed the bandage. Gwen looked at the wound and was surprised to see that it was black. She looked at Owen and he said "don't worry, it isn't infected" as he continued inspecting the wound. He then cleaned it and bandaged it back up. "It will be fine; you should go home and get some rest." He said as he threw the rubber gloves into the bin. He could not look at her, he was no longer an intimate part of her life, just a work collogue, and a friend if he was lucky.

Gwen laid in the bed, looking at the ceiling, hearing all of the normal sounds that one could hear in the hub. The machines beeping and the doors opening. She sat up and looked at her IV, the bag empty. Owen came in and removed the IV from her arm and helped her sit up. He went into the cupboard and bought out a pair of crutches. She took one look at them and shook her head "I don't need them" she said to him and she stood up. Owen caught her as she fell to the ground. He helped her up and she laughed. She stood up by herself and limped into the main office. Jack looked out of his window and saw her standing up. He smiled at her and locked his computer and came to help her. He took her from Owen and she smiled at him.

"Come on; let's get you some clean clothes." Jack said, leading her to the door. She stopped, she wasn't ready to go back to the apartment, it was hers, but there were so many memories that she was not ready to face. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bring Jack back either, in case Rhys was there. Jack stopped in his tracks as he felt the pull from her. He went to her and put his arm around her and continued to lead her out of the door. He helped her get into the SUV and drove her to the apartment.

She reached automatically into the glove compartment and got her ear piece and put it in, just in case they were going to be called. Jack saw this reaction in her and her look. He turned on the radio, hoping that it would relieve the tension that she had. They got closer to the apartment and Gwen was getting tenser. Jack pulled into the parking space that her car normally occupied and turned off the engine. He looked and Gwen, who took a deep breath, looked around for Rhys' car and got out. Jack followed her. They went into the apartment and saw that there were some things missing. She knew that Rhys had taken his things, and now, Jack would suspect something. She went into her bedroom and locked herself in there, not wanting to see Jack in this state. She climbed onto her bed and cried her heart out once again.

Jack watched Gwen go into the room, and guessing that she needed some time alone, he went to the sofa and switched on the TV. He heard the ear piece ringing and he answered it.

"Jack, its Owen, if you are near a TV, turn onto channel 1 now and watch the news." He said, and he did as he said. There were more reports of comets landing and people being killed. He could not bring to bear this burden again on Gwen, but he knew that she was the only one that could do this. He sighed. "Okay Owen, get Tosh to send the coords to the SUV, Gwen and I will be on our way!" he said as he hanged up and knocked on Gwen's bedroom door.

Gwen looked up when she heard the knock on the door. She knew that the communicators went off but did not want to answer it. Her face was red from crying, and she wiped her eyes.

"Gwen, we need to go, we have a situation!" Jack said to her. She stood up and went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Give me a few minutes Jack!" she called out as she splashed water on her face. She quickly changed her clothes and unlocked the door to see Jack waiting for her. She forced herself to smile, all the while in the inside; she was breaking up piece by piece. Jack took one look at her and could see her inner pain. He put his arm around her and helped her back to the SUV.

The silence remained between them. Jack was not sure if he should tell her, but he knew he had to.

"There are more of them landing on this planet, three more at the last count, and people are being killed by them. We need to find the last three and destroy them." He said, not turning to look at her, he could not bear to see her reaction to the news. He just drove on. Gwen sat there, trying to comprehend what Jack had told her, that there were more of them? She knew that she had to face them it was something that she had to do. She swallowed hard and focused on fighting back the tears again. She forgot to book out a gun, but lucky for her, Jack had packed a few extras in the SUV just in case. Jack looked at her as they pulled up to the first crash site. She remained looking ahead out of the window and just starred. Jack put his hand on her leg and she turned to face him. She smiled and nodded and they got out of the SUV, went to the boot, grabbed their weapons and also their knapsacks and went.

"Torchwood let us through!" Jack said to the police. They let them both pass without any problems.

"Tell you men to stand down" Gwen managed to say to the officer. The officer looked at her and nodded, signaling for his men to stand down. Jack saw that Gwen was not with him, went back and helped her to the site. Gwen put her knapsack down and pulled out the gun. She knew what was in there and what it was doing to people. Jack stood on the other side and also pulled out his gun. The comet opened and the thing jumped out at Gwen again, she froze for a split second before firing at it. It disintegrated into dust, and it was over. Jack went over to the case he bought and took out a container. With gloves on, he picked it up and put it in the container before sealing it and putting it back in the case. Gwen breathed a huge sigh of relive that it was over one down, two more to go! She thought as she put her gun away. On the way back to the SUV, Jack took Gwen in his arms, hugging her. "You did great!" he whispered to her and she smiled. He let go of her and put the case and also their knapsacks into the SUV and they got in, and drove to the next set of coords that they were given.

They returned to the hub late at night. The only person left in hub clearing up was Ianto as Jack had told the others to go home. Ianto looked up at Jack with his arm around Gwen supporting her to the sofa. He said goodnight to them both and left, jealousy burning inside him, but he knew that this was going to happen. Gwen closed her eyes, relieved that it was all over and that no one else would have to go through what she did. Jack was locking the container with the three comets in the security box. Once he was done, he joined Gwen on the sofa. She knew that she had to do some paper work for this before she would go… go where? Back to the apartment where there is nothing but painful memories? She thought to herself. She could not do it alone, but there was no need for her to stay in the hub once she had finished the paper work.

"Let's go out for a few celebratory drinks!" Jack said, as if reading her mind. She looked at him and nodded. She had a strange feeling as it would just be the two of them, but any distraction to postpone the paper work was welcome at this point.

They went to the bar that was not far from hub. Gwen made a promise to herself that she was not going to get drunk. Jack ordered their drinks and they found a table. Silence again surrounding them, only the juke box in the corner was the only background music that they could hear.

"So, how are you feeling?" Jack asked her, she looked up at him and put on a fake smile.

"I'm okay; kinda have a lot on my mind at the moment." She said to him. Jack knew what she meant; he also had things on his mind, mainly her that she would not get out of his head! He was not sure how to tell her this, so he drunk his drink. Gwen stood up, she couldn't take anymore of this "let's go somewhere, somewhere where everything can be left behind!" she said. Jack looked at her and smiled "I know the exact place!" he said as he stood up and took her by the hand.

Up on the top of the building, she felt free. All of her problems blew away in the wind. She shivered and Jack came up behind her and put his arms around her. The warmth of his body melted away the coldness in hers. She turned to face him, feeling his heart beating against her. She felt like she could confine in him, tell him everything about her.

"Rhys and I broke up." She said to him. He looked down at her and released his grip a bit. "It just wasn't working, I hated lying to him and also, he was like a part of me that just didn't belong once I met you and the rest of the team." She said. Jack listened to her, knowing that this would happen; it was like all of the other team members, single. The job devouring you and taking away whatever part of a normal life that they had left. She walked towards the edge of the roof. The feelings coming back to the surface, the sadness and also the pain that she had faced today and yesterday just took control of her. For the first time, she could not control her emotions; she crashed to the ground and wept. Jack came rushing to her, afraid that something had happened, an effect from the attack from yesterday, He knew the truth, the poison was still in her body, but it wasn't a huge amount, however she needed to be kept under surveillance, at least until there was a cure for it that he was working hopelessly on. He took her in his arms and she held on to him like a child, crying her heart out for the third time in two days.

After what seemed like an eternity for her, she calmed down. Relief all of a sudden washed over her and she felt somewhat normal, just the pain in her leg making it throb. She looked up at Jack, who was still holding onto her, tightly, as if he felt like he could not lose her, not again.

"Tell me something. When that thing took my life energy, how long was I…" she couldn't finish the sentence, she didn't know how to, was she supposed to admit that she was dead, even if it was for a few seconds, the thought alone that there could be nothing after this scared her to the bone. Jack knew; it was too long for him, feeling nothing in her, just a shell of herself, something that no one should be. They were better dead than to be sucked of their energy, the only thing that kept them alive.

"You don't need to know, just don't think about it anymore!" he said as he helped her stand up. "You can stay in the hub tonight if you like; I know that it must be hard to go home." He said. Gwen was shocked at his offer, she thought that he would never have had any sympathy, life goes on and all, she needed to face it. But not now, not after everything. She nodded in agreement and he led her down to the hub.

Empty and huge the hub was. She preferred it with the hustle and bustle of all of the team members. She went to her workstation and started to fill out the report while Jack went to his PC in the office. He turned it on and a picture appeared the DNA structure from Gwen. It was changing due to the poison, but this was not affecting her at the moment. He went back to the samples under the microscope and looked. The blood looked the same, except for one thing, an extra cell that he had no idea what it was. No matter how he tried to purify the blood, he couldn't see the cell by itself. He was running out of time and also ideas. The only one he could think of was a blood transfusion, but then she would know that something was wrong and he was not sure that it would get rid of it 100%, he just wanted a vaccine, to stop the poison and also the mutation it was causing. He looked down at her at her workstation. She was busy doing the reports for the day. He knew that what she faced today was hard, especially since it was the thing that killed her and is still taunting her. He thought about the people that the creature had killed, okay, it not really being the best way to die, but better than what she had to go through now. He needed her to stay here, he could not risk leaving her by herself, even be it at her apartment. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to be staying there long as it had too many memories for her to cope with. Jack went back to the PC and watched the DNA structure change yet again. He knew that this would take some time to happen, but it still wasn't long. He was so distracted that he didn't hear her coming into the room. He looked up as the door opened and changed the interface of his PC, she didn't need to know this for a while.

"The reports are done Jack, just need to go and label the comets that you collected." She said. He looked at her and nodded, handing her the key. Just as she took it, he pulled the key away. "It can wait until tomorrow, you look tired." He said. "Let's take you to a comfortable place." He said as he put the key in his pocket and reached out for her hand.

Gwen gave him a puzzled look, took his hand and he led her down another set of stairs. Down here was a room with a bed and also other things. It was Jack's bedroom. Even though he did not require sleep, he liked to lie down and think while the team was not in the hub. It was strange to show another member of the team this, before it was Ianto who knew about it, but he knew that with Gwen, it was something different, something that he needed, unlike with Ianto, it was nothing important, just someone to keep his bed warm at night. He gave Gwen a t-shirt and left the room to allow her to get changed. He came back a few minutes later to see her already changed looking at his CD collection. She looked up at him and smiled. The t-shirt was very big and drowned her, but she felt comfortable. She picked up a CD and handed it to him. He put it in the player and pressed play. He handed her the bottle of water that he had bought and they sat on the bed.

"This is a nice place." She said to him as she opened the bottle.

"Well, someone always has to be here on call, just in case…" he said, leaving the sentence open, he still had to find the cure.

"Jack, what's going on?" she said as she looked at him. He looked distracted and distant. He didn't want to tell her, this was something that he had to work out himself.

"Nothing, I just have a puzzle to work on at the moment." He said as he helped her lie down. "Now get some sleep." He said as he stood up to walk off.

"Jack, would you mind staying, just until I am asleep. It's like sometimes I am afraid to close my eyes…" she said. Jack looked at her and nodded, lying down next to her and taking her in his arms. She listened to his heartbeat and finally fell asleep.

She couldn't tell him, about the strange nightmare that she had been having since the incident. The dream scared her, but no matter how much she willed herself to wake up, she couldn't. The first one, she was on the comet, inside it, hiding waiting for the perfect time to attack. She felt the creature's emotions. She dreamt its history and also that it had brothers, the ones that they found. There were such a few of them. But the dream that she was having now, was something else. The creature was changing and was happy about something. Gwen forced herself to wake, screaming, kicking, seeing what this creature was doing to people that it had attacked in the past, other beings. She wanted to wake from the nightmare, but she was too deep in it. The creature turned and from what she could guess, it smiled. It started to approach her. She was kicking and screaming, but nothing came out of her mouth and she couldn't move her arms or legs, they were tied.

"Gwen, wake up!" she could hear a voice and she recognized it as Jack, she called out to him and forced herself to wake up. Still nothing, the creature was approaching her. "Come on Gwen, fight it, wake up!" she could hear Jack calling to her. She began to cry as the creature came closer. It was about to touch her when she forced herself awake for the third time and succeeded. She sat up, and felt a hand on her. She turned to see Jack. She was breathing so rapidly and was sweating. Jack put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down to the bed. She allowed him to push her down and he took her yet again in his arms.

Jack had heard her screaming from his office, he rushed as quickly as he could to her side, to see her kicking and waving her arms around. He called out to her, shook her telling her to wake up but she couldn't. She was calling back to him and he understood, something was happening in her dream that was keeping her from waking up. He called to her, telling her to fight it, then all of a sudden, she sat up awake. As he got her to lie back down in the safety of his embrace he was scared. He had never encountered anything like this in his life. The poison was affecting her in her dreams, however not in the physical world yet, it was now only a matter of time. He looked down at her, her breathing slowing down, just fear in her eyes. Jack laid her on the bed and went to get a towel to wipe her forehead. He came back and she was sitting up. He wet the towel and started to wipe her face.

She looked drained, as if something was zapping her of something she needed. Jack put the towel down and went into the hospital side of the hub. He got his machine and went back to her. He activated it and checked her life energy; it was being drained somehow, just a little. He turned off the machine, the need for the cure becoming somewhat greater. He could help Gwen, but for how long? He knew that he had loads of life energy, but to help her for a long period of time could be costly. What if he can't find the cure in time? How could he live with the feeling of emptiness that he had the day of the incident? It wasn't an option, he had to help her, but he knew that she was going to be too scared to sleep from now on, and who could blame her! He took Gwen back in his arms and hoped that his touch would somehow help her calm down.

"I'm scared Jack" he heard her whisper.

"Don't worry, I will make this all better somehow!" he said. She looked up at him and saw the worry and also the love… could it be that he was falling for her? She was not sure if she saw that correctly. She moved her head closer to his and tried to look deeper, to see if what she saw was true. "Jack…" she began to say to him, but his head was moving towards her and he put his lips on hers. The kiss was short, both not knowing the other person's reaction. Jack felt warmth, nothing that he had felt by kissing anyone before. Gwen pulled away after a few seconds and looked at Jack. His reaction was hard to read, it was something new to him. He moved his head closer to hers and kissed her once again, this time she didn't pull away. The kiss grew deeper and Jack laid her back on the bed. Gwen pulled away and looked at him. She could see it clearer now; the feelings that were growing inside of her were also growing inside of him. Jack pushed her hair out of her face and looked at her.

"Is this right?" she asked him

"It feels more than right for me." He said to her "I need to know, what was in that dream Gwen, what scared you so much?" he asked her. She turned away from him and looked at the wall.

The nightmare came flashing back, to her and she closed her eyes. She wanted to show it to Jack; she hated trying to explain things.

"It's hard to explain, but basically the creature was happy and it was something to do with me." She said as she pushed Jack gently away and sat up. "How do I know that the next time I close my eyes that it is not going to be there again?" she asked him. He didn't know how to answer that as he wasn't sure.

"I don't know, but you can not go without sleep for a long time, you will be affected by it." He said. "You can stay here in the hub. I am always here and will be with you to make sure that someone will always wake you up." He said as he took her back in his arms "I promise, that I will not let anything happen to you and that I will fix this." He said to her as he stroked her hair and kissed her on the head. She listened to his heartbeat and started to close her eyes. Jack could tell that she was falling asleep again by her breathing and shook her gently "Gwen, try and stay awake." He said as she opened her eyes. "It should be easy, it's only the first night!" he said as she looked up at him. "Let's order pizza okay?" he asked, she nodded and he took her hand and led her upstairs into the hub to call the pizza delivery.

Gwen wandered back down to Jack's room to put her clothes back on. She felt somewhat stupid being in the t-shirt alone and also guilty about the dreams that she had been having. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that she was still pale. She hated feeling this way, she wasn't sick, but somehow the injury was hurting her more than she could imagine. She heard footsteps and turned to see Jack coming down.

"Pizza is on its way." He said to her, she smiled. It was strange to be here in a different part of the hub that few people had seen. Jack came up to her and pushed her hair out of her eyes again. She didn't know what to do. Her feelings for Jack were growing and she was sure that it was the right thing, but right now? Her head began to hurt and she raised her hand to it. It began to get worse and she let out a slight moan. Jack looked down at her and saw that she was in pain. Gwen closed her eyes as the pain intensified. Jack took her over to the bed and rushed off to the hospital room to get her something. He came back with a syringe in her hand, lifted the sleeve to her shirt and wiped it quickly with an antiseptic pad before she felt a prick and then the liquid going into her. Jack pulled out the needle and applied pressure to the site with a piece of cotton wool. The pain began to subside so she knew that Jack had given her pain medication. She began to slowly open her eyes and saw Jack looking over her. She smiled weakly as the pain began to subside even more. He knew that now it was starting, the dreams were just a warning, and now, the poison was starting to take affect. He had to hurry and find the cure, but at the same time keep and eye on her life energy and as soon as it went lower than what a human needed, he would then need to transfer some more.

The doorbell rang and he left her to go and get the food. She wandered around the room as the pain had completely subsided. She was surprised at how fast the medication took effect, but she was also relieved that it did. The kiss that had happened between her and Jack was playing in her mind. It was like something unreal, but it felt different to her, it was like she had just been really kissed for the first time. Her lips still tingled, reminding her of him. She knew that this was different, but also it felt like, in a way that it was destiny that she stumbled upon Torchwood that rainy day. She smiled as the day came back to her; he looked up at her and asked her what she thought about it. For her it was all strange to begin with, I mean she saw someone who was dead come back to life!

As she remembered, she wandered around the room, touching objects in Jack's room as she passed them. As she touched a stone, she felt some energy coming from it. She removed her hand as quickly as she could. She picked the stone up to look at it more closely and heard Jack coming down the stairs. It was just a rock from what she could tell. Jack saw her with it in her hand.

"It's nice, isn't it?" he asked her, she nodded. It was a rock, but somehow, it was shimmering under the light. She looked at it more closely, but could not see anything strange.

"It's all I have to remind me of the place that I could more than likely call home." He said as he took it from her.

"When I touched it, I could feel some kind of energy coming from it." She said as she watched him putting it back.

"Well, you would be the first person to feel something like that. I think that may be due to the life energy that I gave you." He said as she looked at the rock more. He wasn't sure, but that was the most likely explanation that he could think of. He turned and got the pizza box. Gwen followed him as they went back up the stairs and into his office to the conference table.

They ate in silence. In a way she hated that the hub was underground, because then she could not see any of the outside world. She looked at her watch and guessed that it was nearly sunrise. Sighing, she turned back to her pizza and realised that she wasn't hungry anymore. She knew that the rest of the team would be coming in soon and she was still in the same clothes from yesterday. She knew that she had some spare clothes in the locker, but she also needed to shower, however she was not allowed to get her leg wet due to the stitches in it. She would have to wait for Owen to get in to see if they could be removed, but she knew that it would be too early for that to happen. She put her pizza down on the plate, only half eaten and stood up. Jack looked up at her and she smiled as she went to the locker room to get changed.

Jack was left alone. He was also not that hungry. He put his pizza down and went back to his computer to look at the DNA sample that he had. The structure had seemed to stabilized, but it was different, not human. He had to find out and started to run a search using the database that they had with alien DNA in it to try and find a match. He left the machine running as he went back to the blood sample. The sample was a few days old now, he needed a new one, but also some tissue sample, from around the wound would be the best he thought. The door to the hub opened and he was shocked to see Owen coming in. Owen looked up and nodded his hello to Jack. Jack came out of his office "Owen, I need to see you." He said. Owen turned and looked at him before he entered the locker room, nodded and made his way up to Jack's office. Jack close the door and Owen sat down at the table.

"What's wrong boss?" Owen said.

"I need a blood and a tissue sample from Gwen." Jack said. Owen was surprised; he never asked anything like this.

"May I ask why?" Owen said, knowing that he was not sure if he would get a straight answer from Jack.

"Just to check on her. But don't tell her that I am the one asking; just say that it's normal procedure." Jack said as he turned back to his computer, hoping that the database had found something. He looked up and saw Owen still sitting there "any other questions?" Jack asked him with a serious look on his face. Owen shook his head and left. He saw Gwen coming out of the locker room and she stopped to talk to Owen. Once their conversation had ended, she went to her work station and turned on her computer, activating the messenger service based in the Torchwood system. Jack saw out of the corner of his eye that she was online.

Gwen was surprised by the request that Owen wanted, but as he said that it was procedure she had no objections. She had never heard of this happening, but she guessed that something like this rarely happened. She waited at her desk for Owen, re-reading the reports that she submitted last night, and also remembering that she had to check the samples. To do that, she would need to get the keys from Jack, and at the moment, she was not sure how to act around him. Owen came out of the locker room and went to Gwen.

"You ready?" he said. She nodded and locked her computer and went to the hospital room with him. Once there, she sat on the bed and Owen put on a pair of gloves. "I just need some blood and a tissue sample." He said as he picked up a prepared blood testing kit. He bought the tray to her and also a stool as she rolled up her sleeve. He picked up the torkey and put it around her arm and tightened it. He started to commence in looking for a vein and wiping the spot with an antiseptic wipe. Gwen turned her head, she hated needles. Owen put the needle in and drew three vials of blood. Once he was done, he removed the needle and gave her a cotton ball to put on the wound. Next sample was going to be harder than that.

"Gwen, I need to re-open the wound to get the tissue sample. I will give you a local so that you will not feel anything and will be as quick as I can. I'm sorry, but this will mean that the stitches will have to stay in for another week." He said. Gwen nodded, understanding what he was saying as she rolled up her trouser leg; Owen went to get the equipment that he needed.

She turned on her side and closed her eyes. "Okay, here is the local, and then we will give it a few minutes to take effect before doing the procedure." Owen said to her as she felt the needle going into her leg. After a few minutes, Owen pricked the skin gently, "did you feel that?" he asked, she shook her head and he commenced in re-opening the wound. He took care to go along the same scar that was created by the creature to get a small tissue sample. When he opened it, he could see that the muscle had healed quite well, and he was proud at the job that he did. He took a scalpel and cut away a bit of the skin and also the muscle that was damaged and put them in a dish and sealed them. Once he was done, he cleaned the wound and stitched it back up. He re-bandaged it and tapped her on the shoulder.

"It's over, you can open your eyes now!" he said as she looked down at her leg. She saw that it was bandaged up and sat up, pulling the trousers over the wound. Owen put the samples in a clear bag and left them on the table. Gwen looked at them briefly, again wondering why they were needed. She stood up and her leg hurt a bit again. She walked as best as she could to her station. She sat down but then remembered that she still needed to look at the samples. She looked up in Jack's office and saw that he wasn't there. He was the only one who had the keys. She heard the door opening and saw both Tosh and Ianto walked in. They saw Gwen at her station and Tosh was surprised, however in Ianto's eyes, there was only jealousy. He went to make the coffee and also to clean up the pizza while Tosh went to her work station.

The day went on as normal; however Jack was rarely to be seen in the hub. It was as if he was hiding something. She saw Owen going into the office once with something, but that was all. She still needed the keys to go and look at the comets, even though she wasn't sure if it was a good idea. She finally looked up and saw Jack in the office. Knowing that she wasn't sure if she would see him for long, she went into the office, knocking on the door before entering. Jack looked up and signaled for her to come in. She opened the door, closed it and sat at the conference table.

"What's up Gwen?" he asked her.

"I still need the keys to check the comets from yesterday." She said to him. He reached into his pocket and threw them to her.

"Take someone with you, and make sure that you both suit up and carry a gun, I don't want the same thing to happen again." Jack said as he looked at his computer.

"That wasn't my fault…" she said quietly as she stood up and picked up the keys and started to walk out of the office.

"I know I just need you to be careful!" he said to her as he walked to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I can't let anything else happen to you, not now." He said to her, looking at her straight in the eyes. "How is your leg feeling?" he asked as he guided her back to the conference table and sat down next to her.

"It's still a bit sore, but its better I guess." She said as she looked at Jack. There was another knock and the door and Ianto came in carrying coffee for the both of them. They said thanks to him and he left them to the conversation. They drunk a bit of their coffee and silence engulfed them.

"You know that you are staying here right?" Jack said to her, she nodded. "In that case, we need to go back to your apartment to get you some clean clothes and other things I guess." He said, she smiled and nodded in agreement. Just then Owen rushed in.

"Jack, we have a situation!" he said to him. The both of them hurried downstairs to Tosh's computer to see what was going on.

There was another report of yet another comet landing. Jack looked at Gwen and wondered if this nightmare would ever end.

"Tosh, hack into NASA's satellites and see if you can find out if we should expect any more of these things. Owen, call the police and get them to block the area ASAP, we don't want people getting hurt. Gwen, suit up, we are off out on this again." He shouted at the team while running to get equipment, some things from his office and guns. Gwen went to her desk and grabbed her stuff and rushed to Jack's side to help him with the equipment. Once they were ready, they went to the SUV and drove off. Gwen handed Jack the headset and he put it on, activating it as she did the same to hers.

"Tosh, we need the coords here now. Owen, how is it going with the police?" Jack asked.

"Our friendly police department was right on the job as soon as I said the word Torchwood, so we must have some power somewhere!" Gwen heard him saying over her headset. The navigation system beeped as the coords were sent to it and they continued driving. Gwen turned to the back seat and grabbed a gun, checking that it was in working order. Jack turned and briefly looked at her doing this and smiled, remembering the day that he had showed her how to load and shoot a gun. After she finished checking, she put it back in the case and tried to not panic about another one of the comets. She needed to know how many were out there, she was hoping that this was already over, but they kept coming back, as if they were tracking something.

"Tosh, how is it coming with NASA?" Gwen asked Jack was surprised at her.

"There seems to be a meteor storm of some kind the past few days. It's nearly at the end from what I can tell from the pictures, but these comets, some look strange. We need a sample."

"There are already three in hub" Gwen said.

"Four." Jack corrected her. Gwen looked at him, he had picked up the comet that attacked her and not said anything. She looked at Jack and he shrugged. She knew that he wouldn't have left it at the site but still…

The SUV slowed down and Gwen guessed that they had reached their destination. She reached over and grabbed her knapsack and also the case that they needed. Jack got out of the SUV and walked over to the crash site that the police had already cornered off.

"Torchwood I assume?" the constable said to him. Jack nodded and he let him pass. "And the other girl?" he asked.

"She is with me." Jack said as he went back to get her, putting his arm around her at the same time. They went down to the crash site. This comet was somewhat bigger than the other four that they had in hub and Gwen felt something.

"Jack, this one inside is more mature than the ones we have seen already." She said. Jack looked at her.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I don't know, I just know!" she shrugged. A feeling of happiness overtook her. She shouldn't be happy she thought, she backed away from the comet.

"Jack, something isn't right!" she said. Jack saw her backing away and he did the same. "Its happy, the thing in there, its laughing." She said. Jack was getting worried; the poison was linking her to these creatures. He knew of a psychic link, but this kind of link? The comet started to open and Gwen readied her gun. Jack moved back some more.

"Gwen, move back!" he said as she had started to walk towards the comet, lowering the gun. Jack readied his gun and moved towards Gwen, trying to pull her back, but she was strong. He saw something moving inside the rock and without thinking, shot it in a second. It disintegrated and Gwen stopped. Jack went up to her and shook her.

"Gwen, come on snap out of it!" he said as he clicked his fingers in front of her. She was stuck in a trance. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. At first there was no response, but after a few seconds more, she started to response. Jack released the tension that was building up in him as she relaxed in his embrace. She pulled away and looked at the comet.

"What just happened Jack?" she said. Jack took her in his arms. The poison was affecting another side of her, this wasn't good.

"Gwen, how many more of them are there out there?" he asked her. She shook her head.

"Three more, but these ones are bigger." She said. Jack looked at her. She was linked to them and they were being drawn to her as he had bought her back. Gwen's eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted in Jack's arms. Jack picked her up and laid her down to the ground away from the comet. He went into his knapsack and got his machine. He checked her life energy. It was getting less. She needed a transfer soon. He couldn't do it here with the police watching.

"Owen, I need that cure!" he said over his communicator.

"I am working as best as I can Jack, the database hasn't really given me much to work with! And keeping it a secret from Gwen as well as me wasn't one of your best ideas!" he said to him.

"I need it, this has to end. Tosh, Gwen said that there are three more big ones out there. See if you can find out which ones."

"How am I supposed to know that Jack?" she said. Jack looked at the big comet lying in front of him.

"It will shimmer a bluish colour in the light of the sun!" he said to her as he pressed his headset off. He went up to his case and got out a box and gloves. He picked up the comet and put it in the box. He looked at Gwen, she was still out. It was better for him this way. Once he was done he went over to her. She needed to wake up. He put his hand on her head, she was burning up. He undid her jacket. "Come on Gwen, wake up!" he said.

She could hear him, and she wanted to do what he said but she couldn't. Where am I, let me out! She said to the emptiness. She could hear a laugh and knew that she was trapped. She had to get out. You are not going to win this; I will make sure of this! She shouted out to the darkness. That is where you are wrong! She heard something say; she looked around and saw nothing. She closed her eyes, hearing Jack's voice telling her to wake up. She remembered the kiss and willed herself to come back.

Gwen opened her eyes and sat up suddenly breathing deeply. Jack took her in his arms and held her. Tears silently fell down Gwen's cheeks as she looked at the box with the comet in.

"They know who I am?" She whispered. Jack heard her and nodded. It was his fault that they could communicate with her in a way. But in a strange way, he needed this link. He helped Gwen stand up and she looked at him. She wanted to scream at him, but she knew that without him, she would be dead. She walked away, picking up her knapsack and gun. She turned to face Jack, looked at him, tears still falling uncontrollably down her cheeks and went to the SUV. Jack picked up the case, his knapsack and also the container with the comet in. He then went to the SUV.

"Situation is now under control, you and your boys can go now. Thanks." He said to the constable as he walked pass him.

"What about your female companion?" the police man asked him.

"She's fine." Jack said and walked away.

Jack put the equipment and container in the boot and went into the SUV. He looked at Gwen. She was still pale and staring out of the window. He reached over and took her hand in his. She looked at him and tried to smile.

"When the last three come and we have them, will anything happen to me?" she asked him.

"The link should be broken once they are all dead. For now, we should try and use it to help us find them. I know that this isn't exactly the best way, but we need this link to do that." Jack hated to admit that, this was killing her again and they, Torchwood needed this to track down the creature. "Let's get you back to the hub so you can lie down." He said as he started the engine. Gwen reached into her pocket and realised that she still had the keys to the security cupboard. She took them out and gave them to Jack, as well as her communicator and got out. Jack looked in his hand. She couldn't go off by herself, with the amount of life energy that she had left; she would be dead in a matter of hours. He stopped the engine and ran out after her.

"Gwen, where are you going?" he said to her as he reached her. He pulled her into his arms and made her stop walking. She tried to push him away but his embrace was too strong. She started to hit him in the chest, hoping that he would let her go, but he only held onto her tighter. Finally, she gave up and started crying.

"Jack, where are you? Give us a progress report." He could hear Owen in his communicator.

"It's done; we will be back in the hub in an hour. How is it going there?" Jack asked as he held onto Gwen.

"The database came back empty. As for the cure, it isn't looking good. How is Gwen?" Owen asked. Jack sighed.

"She could be better. Set up the hospital wing, we need to check what is in these things. Tosh, how is the comet search coming?" Jack asked

"So far I haven't found them, but it's hard, I will keep looking." She said. Jack turned off his communicator and held Gwen tightly in his arms, stroking her head and kissing her lightly.

Gwen calmed down and closed her eyes in Jack's arms and began to sleep. Jack picked her up, hoping that her nightmares would leave her alone just this once and took her back to the SUV. He strapped her in and started the engine and drove back to the hub. Once he got there, Owen was waiting for him. He looked at Gwen sleeping then at Jack.

"Let her be, she needs this it's been hard for her. Lock up the comet with the others." He said to Owen as he threw him the keys. Jack felt Gwen's communicator in his pocket. He pulled it out and put it in the glove compartment and un-strapped Gwen. He lifted her out and took her to his room and laid her on the bed. She was still sleeping, and from what he could tell, the nightmares were not bothering her. He sat down next to her, afraid to leave her in case she woke up. Jack checked her head, she still had a fever. He went and got a wet towel and some cold water. He needed to transfer some life energy to her. He closed the door to his room and locked it. He dug down and pulled out the energy from himself and gave it to Gwen. After a few minutes it was over and he crashed to the ground. He overdid himself, but he needed to make sure that she had enough, as without it, he didn't want to think, but also he knew that this would draw the other three comets to Earth. Gwen's fever had broken more than likely due to the energy transfer and she was still sleeping. He went to the door, unlocked it and went into his office. Tosh, Owen and Ianto came into the office and sat down at the conference room. Jack looked at his team.

"Ianto, I need a bucket of ice water just in case Gwen's fever comes back. Owen, check out the comets, see if you can find anything useful." He said. "Tosh, keep looking for the last three comets. Go with Owen examine the comets to see if it will help you. Both of you suit up and be careful. I can not have another member of this team sick." The team looked at him. He was weary and zapped at the moment, He sat down by his computer and the team left the room. Ianto came back with the bucket he wanted and also some coffee.

"How is she?" he asked. Jack looked up to him.

"It doesn't look good. We need to get her better. Look, I know that we had something, but Ianto you knew it was only something brief. It wasn't going to last." He said to him as he drank the coffee. Ianto looked at him.

"I know, I hope she makes you happy." He said and left Jack alone in the office.

When Gwen awoke, she saw that she was in Jack's room. She sat up and looked at her watch. It was late, the reports needed doing. She went into his office and saw that the team was in the hospital wing looking at something. She walked down the stairs and Jack turned and saw her. He went over to her and took her in his arms. Shocked, she hugged him back and he kissed her on the cheek.

"Never do anything like that again to scare me!" he said, referring to her walking out of the SUV. She laughed and nodded. She looked up at the rest of the team.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing, we were just checking something. Tosh has found two of the three comets in space. Owen and I were just doing the check of the comets. Why don't you go back down and relax?" he said to her, she shook her head.

"No, I should do the reports." She said as she went to her work station. Jack looked at her and went back to Owen.

"So, do you think that this will work?" Jack asked.

"The mineral from the comet should hopefully provide Gwen with a barrier to stop them absorbing her life energy, but it will not break the link they have." Owen said as he looked in the microscope.

"Are you sure? If she gets worse…" Jack said threatening him.

"I am the last person who wants to see her get worse Jack. This should work. If you are saying that you have to transfer energy to her, this will stop them absorbing it as this mineral was stopping them from absorbing it. It was as if they were trapped in them." Owen said as he readied the mixture. "But it's going to take a while, and then we are not sure if this will stop her being sick, but we can hope." He said as he mixed the solution in a saline bag. "I need an hour then we can give this to her." Owen said. Jack looked at her. She had more colour in her face now, due to the fact that she had more life energy. He had to trust Owen on this and he kept his fingers crossed.

Gwen couldn't concentrate on the report, but it had to be done. Ianto came over to her with some water. She looked up at him.

"Thank you." She said.

"Jack said to take care of you. I know about you both, and I just wanted to say that I hope you and him are going to be happy." He said and walked off. Gwen looked at her computer screen, an IM from Jack popped up.

Jack: How are you feeling?

Gwen: Better, no nightmares this time.

Jack: That's a good sign, I think they took what they needed from you already.

Gwen: Thanks for the reassurance Jack!

Jack: You know how important you are to me, just be careful and try to finish the report!

Gwen: How did you know?

Jack: I'm the boss can access the computer system and see you report.

Gwen rolled her eyes and went back to the report. She briefly looked up at Jack in his office. He was busy talking to Owen about something. It was strange that the team was still here, but they all seemed to be working on the finding of the comets. She went back to the report and finished it as best as she could, consider that she couldn't remember much of it. She knew that Jack didn't need to know that. Her IM flashed again from Jack and she read the message:

Jack: come to my office please.

Gwen locked her computer and went up the stairs to his office. Owen was still there and he had a few saline bags in his hand.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she sat down. Owen went up to her and put the bags in front of her.

"We need to give you this; it's just a saline drip, to make sure that you are hydrated enough." He said. He hated to lie to her. She looked at him; she knew there had to be something else.

"There's more, isn't there?" she asked him. Owen looked at Jack; he had to explain this one. Owen walked to the door.

"When you are ready, I will bring the infusion kit and we can put you somewhere comfortable as this will take all night." Owen said and left them. Gwen turned her attention to Jack. There was something that he wasn't telling her.

"Jack, what is in this stuff?" she asked. Jack looked up at her from his computer.

"There is a solution that will stop the creatures absorbing your life energy." He said to her.

"But I thought that you said that wasn't happening anymore?" she asked.

"It was, but slowly. Today the time that you fainted, it was because these bigger ones were absorbing more. We found a mineral in the comet which was stopping them from absorbing, that was why the first ones were so small. These ones were bigger because they had a new link and source, you." He said. He was feeling guilty as he had a role to play in this, but he had to bring her back, holding her in his arms, she was empty, nothing there. It hurt him more than anything, and he should know he had been shot in the head and dead for several days. "This will stop them from taking your life energy. You should feel fine once it is complete." He said as he walked over to her.

"And the nightmares?" she asked.

"This will not stop them that is a different link which I am still working on." He said as he sat down beside her. "We will set it up so that you can have the infusion here. It is going to be a long night, a total of five of these bags.

"Why so many?" she asked.

"As we are not sure of the strength and also of human body reaction, we are only giving you a small amount per bag." He explained. Gwen nodded, not being able to comprehend this; she just went to her work station, leaving him alone in his office.

Jack sighed. One problem was solved but the other one was still there. He was glad that the link would not be damaged; he didn't understand how as the poison was creating both problems, but they could only fix one with this. The other link was another part of the poison, it was like half killing a creature and it still lived. Jack went out of his office and shouted to Owen to set everything up. Owen went over to Jack and took the bags from him.

"Did you tell her about the other link?" he asked.

"Yes, but not about the poison, I think she has enough on her mind, and I don't want you to go around telling her either!" he warned Owen before he left him. Owen went to Gwen and took her to the hospital room.

"Why is this happening? I mean I can't sleep for fear of the nightmares and now this." Gwen said as Owen inserted the needle in her vain. Once he covered it, Gwen turned to look at him "What did you find in my blood Owen, there has to be more to it than this?" she asked. Owen had his back to her as he was throwing the gloves that he used away. He sighed and Gwen could tell as his shoulders dropped.

"I'm sorry Gwen, I can't tell you anymore than what Jack has already told you, but you are in no danger. Let's just hope that this works okay. It's going to be a long night and we have everything here just in case.

As the night progressed, Tosh and Ianto went home, leaving Jack and Owen to look after Gwen. Jack hadn't come down to see her since he told her about the treatment. So far, three bags finished she was feeling fine. Owen was always with her and he bought a television into the hospital room so that they had some entertainment.

"No way, how can you say that!" Gwen said to Owen as he made a comment about Eastenders.

"How can you watch it?" he asked her. Gwen's expression changed. It was something that she watched with Rhys. She hadn't thought about him in a few days due to what was going in here.

"It was something Rhys and I used to watch and I would make fun of him wanting to watch something like that." Gwen said as she looked up at the drip. "Owen, I need to get out, can we stop this please?" she asked. Owen shook his head.

"We should finish it; this is the right amount that you need to stop them from hurting you. I'm sorry Gwen; I know you want to get out." He said to her as he turned the TV off.

"It's just, I feel like a human guinea pig, being stuck here in the hub with this medication going into me, and we are not sure if it is going to work or if I am going to react to it. I mean what if they still drain my energy?" Gwen said as she lay on the bed and faced Jack's office. He was in there, but he wasn't looking at her. Her heart fell. She knew that he felt guilty about what was happening to her, but that shouldn't stop him from coming down to see her. Owen could see her looking at him.

"He feels guilty about all of this." He said to her.

"He doesn't have to, if it wasn't for him, I would not be here at all. He should be glad that he was able to bring me back to life. And now, when I feel like I need him, he hides I his office." She said as she watched his every move.

"He doesn't know how to handle this." Owen said to her. "I'll be back okay, just close your eyes and relax." She laughed, she couldn't close her eyes she was scared about the second link, but she turned the other way as looking at jack was upsetting her.

Owen left Gwen and went to Jack's office.

"If you really had feelings for her, you would be at her side right now. Do you have any idea what is happening to her, how she is feeling?" Owen yelled at Jack.

"Her DNA is changing! Of course I know what she is going through I see it happening in front of my face and feel guilty that I could hurt someone that I love!" he yelled back at Owen. Owen looked at Jack shocked.

"You love her? If you really felt like that, you would be telling her the truth, not watching her being in pain." Owen said as he walked towards the door and left. He knew that he was right, but he couldn't admit it to himself. He let out a huge sigh; it was time to talk to Gwen.

Owen came back down after talking to Jack. "Sometimes he shocks even himself, but he needs to learn." He said as he checked Gwen's vitals. "Let me take some blood. I want to see how this is going." He said as she sat up.

"It can wait Owen; I need to talk to Gwen please." Jack said. Gwen turned and saw him next to her, surprised that she didn't hear him coming. Owen nodded and left them. Jack turned and faced Gwen. He sat down next to her on the bed and put his arm around her.

"I'm sorry for all of this…" Jack began to say.

"If you didn't, I would be dead Jack; you have nothing to feel sorry or guilty for. I owe you my life." She said to him Jack looked into her eyes and saw so many emotions. He moved his face to her and kissed her. The kiss was the most passionate one that Gwen had ever experienced. She wrapped her arms around Jack and he pushed the kiss deeper, making her melt. She moaned as the kiss intensified more and more. She had never felt such passion. Jack then slowed the kiss down. He couldn't let it get any deeper, not here in this part of the hub anyway.

"I am never going to let you die, just trust me with everything Gwen and I will get you through this." He said to her. She nodded. She was in love with him and that kiss confirmed it more than ever.

"Jack… I…" she began to say.

"I know me too." He said, he didn't want their first declaration to be here in this situation. "You can tell me another time." He said as he smiled his amazing smile. She nodded in agreement and leaned on his chest.

"Okay Owen, you can come in now." Jack said loudly, knowing that he wasn't far. Owen entered the room, looking at Jack. He had overheard everything, and Jack still hadn't told her the truth about the poison, but he had to respect that. He took the bloods and left the hub to get some air. Jack really hoped that this was work, but Gwen started to cough. Jack stood up and got her some water.

"How are you?" he said, as she drunk some water.

"I feel fine." She said in between coughs. She looked into her hand and saw some blood, this wasn't good. She didn't want to scare Jack so she wiped it away on a tissue she had in her pocket while Jack poured her another glass of water. She took it and began to drink. She continued coughing. She felt sick and reached over the side and vomited. This time she was unable to hide the blood that was coming up. Jack looked at the floor just as Gwen passed out on the bed. Jack grabbed his communicator and hoped that Owen had his as they agreed on earlier.

"Owen; get down here now!" Jack yelled as he checked to see if Gwen still had a pulse and stopped the drip from putting the medication into her body. It was there and also she was breathing, so he had no idea where the blood was coming from.

Owen ran in and looked on the floor. Seeing the blood, he went to Gwen. He checked her pupils, she was out.

"What happened?" Owen asked.

"She was coughing, so I handed her some water. She drunk it so I gave her another cup and then she was sick and passed out." Jack explained as he checked to see if her life energy was being affected.

"How does it look?" Owen asked as he tried to wake up Gwen.

"Fine, stronger than before in fact. The medication is working, but it must be affecting the mutation." Jack said. He tried to wake Gwen up as Owen checked the blood. Gwen's eyes opened as she looked at Jack.

"One of them is here." She said to him. Jack couldn't leave her alone, not now.

"Where Gwen, tell me where?" he asked. The least he could do was call in a huge favor from the police. Gwen closed her eyes; she needed to see if she could use the link the other way.

"Nearby, a forest, close to where the first one landed." She said as she re-opened her eyes. "Jack, you have to get rid of it, don't worry about me!" she said. He looked into her eyes, she was fighting a huge internal battle but he knew he had to get to it before anyone else.

"Okay, Owen call and get Ianto and Tosh to come back in. All of you, keep the communicators on, even you Gwen, I need your help to guide me there." He said as he threw her communicator to her. He grabbed his knapsack, gun and case and left the office in the SUV. Owen was busy on the communicator with the other two team members. Gwen was about to stand when she heard hers ringing in her ear.

"Don't get any stupid ideas while I am gone, I want to see you awake!" Jack's voice said to her in her ear.

"Jack, this one is stronger; I guess it must have been the last one to drain my energy. What is your ETA to the scene?" she asked.

"Truthfully, about three minutes." He said, Gwen was shocked, it was about 20 minutes from the hub and he left five minutes ago. "I broke a few speeding laws, am sure that the government wouldn't mind!" he said and she smiled a little. She felt something, she was happy; she knew that this meant that he was close. "Jack, stop the car, you're close!" she said to him. Jack did what she said as she could hear him getting the equipment. "It's about 500 meters to the right of you." She said. She had no idea how she knew this, but somehow, the link was working for her. Ten minutes of silence passed and then she heard a gun shot and assumed that it was over.

Owen was looking at Gwen's blood. It was better, but then what was she coughing up? He took a sample off the floor, knowing that he may be lucky or not to find anything. He blinked, he wasn't sure if he was seeing correctly. The blood that she had coughed up had the alien cell in it. Somehow, the medicine was separating the bad cells and she was being sick to get them out of her system, but why did she pass out.

"The second link." She heard Gwen say. Owen turned and saw her standing behind him. "I can feel them, in the comets, the ones we have here. They scream to me, telling me to release them from the prison. The ones in space, all they want is freedom. She moved towards him. "They are getting hard to resist Owen, I must have that key." She said, Owen realised she was being controlled by them, they were speaking through her.

"Gwen, this isn't you, you know what those things did to innocent people. They must be stopped." Owen said as he held her and shook her. "You need to take control of it, stop listening to them…" but he was cut short as she pushed him away. The door to Torchwood open and Ianto and Tosh walked in. They stop when they saw what was happening. Tosh knew where the medication was, including the sedatives and went to get one.

"Gwen stop this, break the link, you can do that, just tell them to stop…" Owen said

"No, they just want to be free, what are we doing to them is wrong." She said to him

"Gwen, they killed you, don't you remember that?" Owen said. Gwen looked at him, as if trying to remember who he was just as Tosh put the needle in her arm and pushed down the syringe. Owen caught Gwen just as she fell. "Thanks Tosh." He said. He picked her up and put her on the bed.

"We need to restrain her." Ianto said. Owen didn't want to, but knew that he was right. He got them out and restrained her arms and legs to the bed. He then put the IV back on and watched the medicine go into her body. "Jack is not going to like this." Owen said as he heard the SUV coming back.

Jack got out of the car and looked around the hub. The team came to meet him.

"Tosh, Ianto, get the comet out of there and lock it up." He said as he threw them the keys. He walked on to be stopped by Owen.

"Jack, the medicine is working; she was coughing up the alien cell, so I continued treatment." Owen said as he held Jack out of sight from Gwen.

"That's great, so why won't you let me go?" he asked as Owen held him tighter.

"We had to restrain Gwen; the second link is getting stronger. We are killing one, but at the same time, the other one is taking over. She is sedated and restrained to the bed. I am not taking off the restraints, if it wasn't for Tosh, I don't know what she would have done." Owen said. He let go of Jack and he rushed into the hospital room. Jack looked down at Gwen. He couldn't believe what she did to Owen, but he had no reason to lie. He heard Owen coming in.

"When will she wake up?" Jack asked.

"In a few minutes, it was a mild sedative, but it was enough." Owen said.

Gwen opened her eyes. She blinked and looked over at Jack. She moved her arms but she couldn't. She looked down and saw that she was restrained.

"I told you not to do anything stupid!" Jack said to her. She looked at him puzzled. She didn't know what he meant. "You don't remember?" Owen asked her.

"The last thing I remember was hearing the sound of Jack's gun on my communicator." She said. "Let me go, please." She said to Owen.

"Jack, if I take off her restrains, you are going to be the one to look after her, okay?" Owen said "I don't want to be blamed or held responsible for anything she does." Jack nodded and he removed the restraints. Gwen put her arms around Jack and he hugged her back. "You need to lock away the keys to the cupboard so that she doesn't get to the other comets, also when she does go into a trance again, just use one of these and she should be out for about 15 minutes." Owen said as he handed Jack some syringes. Jack nodded and put them in his pocket. Tosh came back and handed him the keys, which he automatically gave to Ianto. "Lock these away for the time being" he said to him. Ianto nodded and left the office to lock them away. He helped Gwen stand up. "How many left Owen until she can move around?" Jack asked.

"I think after this one more for now and then we can check the blood after a few hours." Owen said to him. Jack nodded and led Gwen to his office. She had to see the surveillance of the office to see what happened. He went to his computer and put it on the screens. Gwen watched as she saw the events unfold. She was shocked and wanted to go and apologise to Owen. She listened to the audio and understood why the keys needed to be kept away from her.

Jack watched the video with her, looking every now and again at her reaction. The link was working to their advantage, but also to the creatures' advantage as Gwen was in Torchwood. He needed it though, it was valuable in finding the last comet, just two more and then it should be broken. Jack changed the bag to the last one and Gwen watched the video. He reached into his pocket and felt the syringes in his hand. Once the video was over, Gwen turned to Jack.

"This has to stop, I can't use the link anymore, and I hurt Owen and am a danger to be here too close to the other comets." She said.

"No, you can't leave. I need you here." Jack said to her as he wrapped his arms around her. "We can't break the link, not until the last two are destroyed." He said.

"But the comets in the storage here, they need to be destroyed, maybe then I am less dangerous?" she asked.

"We need to keep one, just in case for the medication for you. But I am not sure about destroying them, I can take them to another Torchwood hub if its still there." He said as he went to his computer to check. He knew that the other Torchwood hub wasn't near here; this was Torchwood three, hub one was destroyed on the attack in London and as for hub two, well last time he heard it was close to being closed down. The only other thing he could do with them was to lock them in the underground basement. He hated that part ever since the cyber woman was found there. He had no choice; he had to hide them down there. He would get Ianto to do it, he was the one who put her there, and he deserved to be fired for that. Jack pushed that memory to the back of his head and looked at Gwen. She began coughing again and he reached over for a sick bowel just in time as she once again vomited the cells out of her body. Jack stroked her head as she continued to be sick. Once she was finished, she felt drained.

"I need to sleep Jack." She said looking at him.

"Not a good idea at the moment, anyway the medicine is nearly finished, and then I will take you out to get some air." He said to her as he removed the bowel. She smiled weakly and nodded. Jack went down to Owen who was in the medical room.

"Here, she has just been sick again. The IV has finished, go and remove it please." Jack said as he handed Owen the bowel.

"Thanks, what I always wanted!" Owen said as he put it down and left Jack. Jack went to Tosh who was looking for the comets.

"The one I found is still up there, so that means that one is missing." She said to Jack. He nodded.

"Thanks for sedating Gwen." He said and he left and went to the sofa.

Owen went into Jack's office and saw that the IV was finished. He walked up to Gwen and started to pull out the needle.

"Owen, I'm sorry, I would never hurt you on purpose. What I saw in the surveillance, that wasn't me." She said. Owen looked at her.

"I know Gwen; I could see that in the eyes. Its okay, it's not your fault that it happened." He said as he put a plaster on the IV site. "All done, just don't go too far!" he said and he left her. Jack came into the office and picked up his coat "Let's go then." He said as he handed her his hand. She put her hand in his and stood up, picking up her coat on the way out.

"Jack, not too far and long. Stay in contact and I need her back in four hours!" Owen shouted at him as they left the hub.

"Sure thing boss!" Jack replied sarcastically and they left.

Gwen smiled as she felt the air hit her face. It was only yesterday that she was out, but under the circumstances of the comet. She looked up at the sky and smiled. It was just the beginning of the sunrise. Jack came up behind her and took her hand, leading her up to the roof. Once there, he took her in his arms and kissed her as passionately as he did in the hospital room. Gwen allowed herself to relax and melt away in the kiss while Jack probed deeper into the kiss. After a few minutes, Gwen pulled away and turned in Jack's arms to watch the sunrise. She felt the warmth of the morning sun on her face and had never felt so alive. As she looked up at the dark part of the sky, she saw a star shooting across. Making a wish with her eyes closed, when she re-opened them, she looked up at Jack. He was watching the sunrise too. His grip tightened around her and he smiled. Gwen looked and saw something else going across the sky, she knew what it was before it hit the ground. Her eyes closed and she could see it crashing. She looked at Jack, she really didn't want to spoil this moment then don't; just stay there, everything's fine she heard a voice in her head say. She wanted to obey, but another part was shouting at her. She looked up at Jack. She had never been happier with someone, and she knew that he would like to know.

"Jack, we have to go, its here." She said. He looked at her.

"Just a few more minutes with you here." He said as he pulled her closer and kissed her yet again.

They both came down from the roof after ten minutes. They went into the hub, gathered the equipment quickly and went to the crash site. Gwen could sense when they were close to the crash, so there was no need for coords. Once they were there, Gwen decided to lock herself in the SUV just in case and she watched Jack going down to the comet. After about fifteen minutes, he came back and she could see the rock. It was the biggest one they had collected so far. As soon as it was in the SUV, the voices started to take control in her head again. Gwen turned on her communicator and started to have a conversation with Owen, anything to not let the creature take control.

"Owen, it's going to happen again." She said as soon as he answered.

"Well, there are two options, fight the link or for Jack to give you a sedative now!" Owen said to Gwen, she winced at the sound of the second option. The voices were trying to push their way forward, wanting to take control. Gwen closed her eyes and let out a slight moan.

"Gwen, if you can't fight them, Jack has to give you the shot!" she heard Owen saying. Tears fell down her cheeks, she didn't want to. Jack turned and looked at her.

"Owen, no, please I can fight it." She said whimpering. Jack looked at her, pressing on his communicator to hear the conversation.

"Gwen, you need to have it, otherwise it will happen again!" Jack heard Owen say. He looked at Gwen; she closed her eyes and let out a louder moan.

"No, I can't let them control me like this!" she shouted. Jack stopped the SUV at this point and reached into his pocket. Gwen opened her eyes.

"Jack, please I need to fight this." She said as she looked pleadingly at him as she saw him get out the syringe. She closed her eyes again and let out another moan, they were really hurting her.

"Jack, she can't fight it, even if she does succeed, she is going to be weak, just sedate her." Owen said over the communicator. Jack looked at Gwen once more and saw that she was relaxing.

"It's okay, they stopped, just drive Jack." She said as she looked at him. Jack could see that she was drained and tired. He put the syringe on the side and started the engine, driving back to the hub as fast as he could.

Once the SUV stopped at the hub, Gwen ran out of the car as quickly as she could. She needed to get away from them, just run as far as she could. She could hear Jack calling her name as tears ran down her cheek. She was a danger to herself and to Torchwood, she had to run. Her communicator beeped in her ear, she ignored it and kept running. She had no idea where she was going; she just wanted to go as far as she could. Her lungs started to burn as she ran, knowing that she was pushing herself beyond her normal level of fitness, but she didn't care, she just kept running. She could hear Jack closing in on her, but she didn't care. She ran into the forest of the first crash site and fell to the ground. Jack came a few minutes later and saw her crying. She was on the exact spot where the first comet had crashed. He looked at her and felt his heart cry out. He went to her and took her in his arms.

"I have to leave Jack, I can't be here anymore. I am better off being dead!" she said in between sobs.

"No Gwen, don't say that! I need you, without you I'm empty. You fill the void that no one else could." Jack said to her, trying to calm her down as her sobs intensified.

"I can't Jack; I am a danger to you and the team being here." She said as she tried to push him away. Jack tightened his grip on her.

"Gwen, don't you understand, I love you. I have never loved anyone before. This scares me and to lose you, I would be nothing!" he said to her as he forced her to look at him.

"I am not strong enough Jack." She said to him as she looked into his eyes. Jack pushed his lips against her, kissing her, hoping to take away her fears. Her sobs became less and less as the kiss grew stronger. Jack heard his communicator beeping in his ear and he turned it off, allowing Gwen to relax in the kiss, watch as her worries melted away. He pulled away and smiled to her.

"You know, that wasn't really the way I wanted to tell you that I love you and for you not to say that in return…" he was cut off as Gwen forced a passionate kiss on him. No one had ever kissed him with such intensified passion that he was shocked. Jack let out a small moan as Gwen pushed her tongue deeper into his mouth, probing him with it and teasing him. She pulled away slowly, leaving Jack in a trance. She moved her head to his ear and whispered "I love you too" to him and rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her.

Jack was stunned by the passion that he had just felt from another person. He looked down at her in his arms. She was completely destroyed from recent events that had happened. His communicator beeped in his ear again and he answered it.

"The comet is locked away and I need Gwen for the blood samples. Where are you?" Owen asked him.

"I found Gwen, we should be back at the hub in thirty minutes, walking is a lot slower than running!" he said as he pushed the button on his communicator, ending he call. He stroked Gwen's hair and she looked up at him.

"Time to go back." He said and she nodded as he stood up. Jack helped her stand up and they walked back to the hub.

The doors opened and Jack and Gwen walked in. Owen went up to them and took Gwen tightly by the arm.

"Owen, you're hurting me, let go please" she said as he pulled her to the medical room.

"What do you think you were doing?" he asked her "You were risking Jack's and your own life by trying to fight that link!" he said as he let go of her.

"I was able to stop it Owen, isn't it better for me to be able to stop the link rather than pumping more drugs in me. Don't you think that I have been through enough?" Gwen yelled at him as he got the tray that was already prepared to do the blood samples. Gwen rolled up her sleeve and sat down. Owen found a vein and pushed the needle in harder than normal. "Ow, do you mind not butchering my arm in the process!" Gwen said to him as he took the vials and removed the needle. "Just because you are pissed at me for doing something for myself for once. Jack wasn't in any danger, do you really think that I would let something happen to him after all that he has done for me and also all the stuff that he is doing for me!" she said to him. Owen put a plaster on her arm and she rolled down her sleeve.

"This link is dangerous Gwen, no matter what Jack thinks it needs to be destroyed." He said as he took the vials to the microscope.

"Well, unless you can destroy those comets in the basement of the office and also the one in space…" she started to say.

"How did you know that they are in the basement?" Owen turned and asked her.

"I can sense them; hear their whispers in the back of my head. They are waiting for the last one. It's coming, soon it will be here and then…" Gwen shook her head, pushing the voices back. They were annoying her. She looked at Owen and saw how scared he was.

"You should be completely sedated until this is all over!" he said to her. Gwen looked at him and walked away.

Jack had heard the whole thing from the side. The comment that Owen had made was running in his head you should be completely sedated until this is all over! That was what he said. He went into his office just before Gwen had left the medical area. She was now at her computer, head in her hands. Jack could see that she was suffering. Jack called up the images from NASA and saw that the last one was still in space, but he was not sure how long it would take until it entered the Earth's atmosphere, maybe a day, maybe longer, but he really hoped that it was soon so that this nightmare for Gwen would be over. He could see her shoulders moving up and down, and could tell that she was crying. She was at wits end and she didn't know what to do and Jack couldn't blame her. He wanted to hurt Owen for suggesting something like that, but he had a point, the link was dangerous, but they needed it. He looked back at Gwen and saw that she had calmed down and was typing up the report. He hated that she had to do it, considering that she was not there. He heard a knock on the door and saw Owen standing there. He signaled for him to come in.

"Her blood is back to normal, so you can do whatever other tests you need." Owen said to Jack as he sat down at the conference table. "But Jack, this other link it's getting dangerous. She should be…"

"Completely sedated until this is over." Jack said repeating Owens' words that he heard. "I know what you said to her, but I make the choices for the good of the team. We need that link to know where this last comet is going to hit. We destroy all of them now that we know that she is better." Jack said to him.

"She knows where you hid them; she says that she can hear them calling her. Jack, as soon as she closes her eyes, we can't stop them from controlling her." Owen said standing up and walking towards him. "No matter what your feelings for her are Jack, you can not let them interfere with the mission. She needs to be put to sleep." Jack looked at Owen straight in the eye.

"No, I need this link, without it we don't know when the last one will come. The images only show us so much. I am not going to let you sedate her Owen, and that is my final word!" Jack said to him. Owen starred at Jack for a bit longer before walking out of the office.

Gwen looked at her computer screen through her tear stained eyes, trying to write a report for something that she wasn't there for. She accessed the old report and thought that not only was it easier but wiser to copy and paste the same report into today's, and that was just what she did. She knew that Jack wouldn't mind this once, and anyway, all of the comets had been the same except for the size. She starred at her computer screen thinking about them. The voices grew inside her head, but she had to resist them. Gwen wanted to sleep, but was scared that closing her eyes and the link being the way that it was at the moment, it would be more of a danger especially being in the hub. She decided to go where she always went when she wanted to be alone. Grabbing her communicator and her keys, she left the hub and got into her car and drove.

After twenty minutes of driving, she got out and began to walk the short way to her favorite place in the world. She remembered how she came across this place, when she was a child. She was so hypnotized by the sound of the water and also the silence that she didn't want to leave. She walked up to the river bed, and sat down. Here, she knew that she couldn't do anything to hurt anyone, so she closed her eyes and let the voices in her head grow louder. You can't control us for much longer, the next one is the big one! She heard in her head. And once this is here, we are going to take control of your planet! It continued to say. No, we killed you, we saw you disintegrate as you came out of the comets! Gwen replied in her head. She could hear a shrill laugh from the creature as it engulfed her. Do you really think that will stop us? As long as one of us is alive, we will never die! It said to her. She had heard enough and tired to push the creature's thoughts to the back of her mind. She opened her eyes and looked at the river. She could hear her communicator beeping, but she didn't want to talk to them, she didn't know why she bought it in the first place so she took it out and laid it down beside her. She knew Jack's orders; she wasn't supposed to be left alone.

Her thoughts went back to Rhys. She knew then that she couldn't stay in her apartment anymore, she needed a new one as the memories were too painful for her to contain with. Her thoughts then turned to Jack, and him telling her that he loved her. She had never been with anyone and felt so much passion burning inside of her in her life. When he kissed her, it was as if she had never been kissed properly in her life. Just thinking about Jack made her feel like she could melt. The flowing river bought her back from her thoughts as she looked at her communicator. She saw it flashing and knew that they were trying to find her, but as the other comet hadn't landed yet, she knew that there was no immediate danger. She was also sure that Jack would have some other way of finding her if the problem was urgent. She was never surprised at what he could do. With all of the alien technology that they had in the hub, she knew that he was capable of doing a lot of things.

Watching the river flow, she hoped that it could take her problems with her. She let out a loud sigh and allowed her thoughts to go back over the past few days. She remembered Jack telling her about the incident after wiping her memory. When he told her about it, she sat there in shock, not knowing how to handle any of the information. The events that followed; more comets landing and the link that had been built between the creature and her thanks to Jack bringing her back to life. If Jack didn't bring me back, I wouldn't have this problem, but then again I would be dead! She thought to herself. She had no idea how long she was dead, and Jack wouldn't tell her, but she knew what was there waiting for her; nothing. She remembered his words, that she felt empty, like a shell. She shuddered at the thought of someone being empty. She then learnt about life energy, the thing that kept things alive.

Her thoughts went back to Jack, the sacrifices that he made for her to keep her alive, the feelings and also the problems that she has caused him due to the link. She stood up and looked at the communicator flashing. She picked it up and looked at the river. She wanted to get rid of it, to get away from Torchwood, just until the link was gone. She looked at the river, the water was clean here. She felt the tears fall down her cheek as she held the communicator in her hand. She looked at it; it was her line to Torchwood, to Jack. She closed her eyes and sighed. She listened to the whispering voices of the creatures in the back of her head. She put the communicator in her ear and answered it.

"What do you think you are doing? Where the hell are you?" she could hear Jack shouting. She heard him take a deep breath before speaking again. "You know that you are not supposed to be out of the hub, not alone." He said as his voice lowered. "I need you here so that I can keep an eye on you." He said, she rolled her eyes, she hated to feel trapped but she knew that he was right, she couldn't always control the link and if they took control, she had no idea what they were capable of. She stood in a trance, looking at the river. "Gwen, answer me!" she could hear Jack, but as she tried to speak, she couldn't. The tears were flowing uncontrollably down her cheeks as she tried to think of what to say to him. Should she tell him where she was? Tell him about the creature's thoughts? Or to tell him that she wished that he never bought her back to life? She knew she told him that she wanted to die, but to regret being alive? She crashed to the ground; she didn't know what to say to Jack. "Gwen, come on, tell me that it's really you." She heard him say. She could tell that he was scared. This was something that he couldn't control and it scared him. "Please, Gwen, just say something, anything so that I know." She could hear him say.

"I just need to be alone." She said as she pressed the button on her communicator turning it off.

She didn't know why she was crying, it was something that she needed to do. The last few days had been filled with so many bad things, but also the good thing, her and Jack however the thought of that could not stop her from crying. For the first time in several days she felt alone and empty. She knew she had to go back to the hub; she couldn't avoid that no matter how much she tried she was only running away and making the situation worse. As the sun set, she started to get cold. Wrapping her arms around herself, she knew that it was time for her to go back to the hub before Jack sent a search party after her. She stood up and went back to her car; she got in and drove back to the hub, hoping that by the time she got there, the tears would stop flowing down her cheeks.

Jack was pacing up and down in his office. He had no way of finding or tracking Gwen and he was starting to get worried sick as she had been gone for so long. He heard the doors of the hub open and saw her walking in. He ran out of his office and took her in his arms. Gwen, a bit surprised by this reaction put her arms around him after a few seconds. She was expecting him to yell at her, not to hug her. Jack pulled away and checked her over.

"I'm fine Jack; I just needed to get away." She said as she watched him. He looked into her eyes and he could see that she was still suffering. Jack took her back into his arms and held her as tightly as he could.

"If I could take it from you Gwen, I would." He whispered in her ear and kissed her on the head. Gwen pulled away and went to her desk.

The hub was empty as there was no reason for the team to be here as the comet was still in space. Gwen wanted to leave and go back to her apartment, but she still wasn't ready for that. She saw Jack coming up to her. He stood before her and reached out his hand. "Come on Gwen, you need to face them." He said.

"No, I can't." She said to him, turning away and looking at her computer. Jack crouched down beside her.

"It scares me, to see someone as strong as you admit defeat. I think that you need to do this." He said to her. Gwen let out a loud sigh.

"When they take over, I can't control them. They push me to the back of my mind, locking me away and I fight so hard to take back the control but they are too strong, there are too many of them talking, whispering, saying things that I don't understand. Do you know what it is like Jack, to have someone take control of your mind, take control of your thoughts and actions? I have memories that are blank because of them and I won't let them do it. I can't!" she said as the tears began to flow again. Jack wrapped his arms around her neck.

"No, I don't know as each Torchwood leader is trained to stop things from getting into our minds and reading our thoughts. But you Gwen, you have this link and we should use it to get as much information about them as we can." He said as he wiped away her tears. She didn't know what to say, she didn't want to go down there and see all of the comets together. If she did, she would have no control over them, being so close to their prisons. She nodded, one way or another, Jack would take her there, better to go willingly than by force. Jack stood up and took her hand and led her down to the basement.

The last time she was down here was when the cyber woman was here. She hated it. The voices grew louder, getting excited. She shook her head, trying to push them back, but she wasn't sure how long it would last. Jack led her towards the door. She looked through the porthole and saw them, all six of them in the room in separate containers. They went in and she saw that there was a chair with restraints. She looked at Jack.

"You planned this?" she asked, he nodded.

"Gwen, trust me. I need you to sit down and I am going to restrain you. As soon as I see that you are back to normal, I swear that I will let you out. I need to talk to them, to find out more about them." Jack explained as she sat down. Jack put on the restraints as tightly as he could, but not so tight to cause her pain. Once he was done, he looked at Gwen in the eyes and saw that she was fighting the battle. He kissed her hard on the lips.

"I am always going to be here," he whispered "if you hurt her in any way, I swear that it will be the last thing that you do on this planet!" he continued to say as she let out a loud moan and let her head fall forward.

"And how would you know that?" the creature responded as Gwen lifted her head. Jack could see that her eyes had rolled back into her head.

"Because I can do things to you that would make you wish that you never took over her body. Now tell me, who are you?" Jack said.

"We are the only ones of our kind. Our creator didn't like us, so he banished us to space."

"You absorb life energy and kill living things. No wonder why you were banished! But why didn't your creator die?"

"We couldn't kill him, he bought us to life, so we gave him the same gift back only for him to banish us!" the creature said in anger. "We floated in space, hungry and all the time getting smaller. The mineral stopped us from absorbing, but you already know that as you have treated this thing." The creature said in disgust. "The crash on your planet helped weaken the prison walls, allowing us to get out. But the atmosphere meant that we could not assume our real forms. When we saw her and absorbed her energy, you bought her back to life, something that no one has done creating the link." It said as it looked hungrily at Jack. Jack smiled his ever charming smile.

"Think about it, and I swear I can come up with many ways to make you wish that you stayed in those things!" he said pointing to the comets.

"What will you do, you love her? It was luck for us that she was the one chosen. You wouldn't do anything to see her in pain like this would you?" the creature asked him as Gwen let out a scream. Her eyes returned to normal and she looked at Jack.

"Please, don't make them angry!" she said breathing rapidly as she screamed again and the creature took control yet again. It laughed and Jack looked at it. He couldn't do anything while it was still in Gwen's mind.

"Where are you from, what have you called yourself?" He said with his back turned.

"We are from a galaxy about two light years away. We called ourselves the Enshi. We will talk again." The creature said as Gwen's eyes began to close. Jack let out a huge breath.

Gwen woke up, her head was hurting. The voices of the creature were quiet. She looked at Jack who was looking at the comets.

"Jack, let me go." She said to him. He looked up as if coming out of a deep thought and walked over to her.

"I'm sorry Gwen." He said as he undid the restraints. "I shouldn't have done this to you." He said as he took her in his arms.

"Did anything happen?" she asked him as he carried her to his room. She could walk, but she wanted to feel close to Jack.

"Yes, it did help." He said as he laid her on the bed. Sleep started to take over her body and Jack could see it. He took off her shoes and then lay down next to her. "But now, you need to sleep. You shouldn't have any bad dreams tonight." He said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Gwen felt her eyelids get heavy and for the first time in a long time, she fell into a deep sleep. Jack lay awake with her in his arms. He wasn't going to lose her. He stroked her head and looked down at her; he kissed her lightly on the lips and pushed her over onto the pillow, turned off the lights and closed his eyes to think.

Jack awoke and saw Gwen still sleeping, hugging him. He started to sit up, trying not to stir Gwen. He fell asleep, he rarely slept, in fact he never slept, there was no need for him, but with the fear for Gwen and also giving his life energy, heck even he needed sleep sometime. He looked at her; she was sleeping like an angel. He bent down and kissed her on the lips. Gwen let out a soft moan as she was still sleepy and started to respond slightly to the kiss. Jack realised this as he moved her into his arms and started to allow his tongue to probe Gwen's mouth. Gwen starts to wake up more as she felt Jack beginning to grow against her. She started to undo his shirt and she felt his chest. His body felt amazing as she pushed off his shirt. Jack put his hand up her t-shirt and put his hand on the small of her back, pushing her closer to him. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. He wanted to take her t-shirt off, to see her body, but they were interrupted by the sound of the hub door opening. Jack pulled away and sighed.

"To be continued I hope my little kitten very soon." He said to her as she looked at him disappointed. He pulled her into his arms again and kissed her as she let out a moan. Jack pulled back, leaving Gwen in a trance.

Gwen lay on the bed as Jack went to have a shower. She hated the fact that they could in a way never be alone. She heard a knock at the door and went to answer it.

"Gwen, I was looking for Jack." She saw Ianto at the door.

"He is having a shower." She said. Ianto looked at her, she was still dressed. Jealousy ran through his body, but he had to remember what Jack said to him. He nodded and left. Gwen closed the door and went back to the bed. She heard the water stop and knew that Jack had finished. He came out with a towel wrapped around him and Gwen could see his chest. Jack looked up at her and smiled.

"You know that it's not fair that you have more clothes on than me!" He said as he walked over to her and took her in his arms. She could smell the soap from his body and also see the water dripping from his hair. She ran her hands through his hair and kissed him.

"You know that can be solved." She whispered in his ear as she began to kiss her neck. Jack let out a small moan and she could tell that he wanted her. She then remembered that there were people in the hub above them and she pulled away. Jack pulled her back towards him as he started to nibble on her ear.

"Don't start what you don't intend on finishing." He said in her ear and he began to kiss her neck. Gwen closed her eyes, allowing Jack to do this. She quickly snapped back to reality when she remembered again that people were in the hub.

"Ianto came looking for you." She said as she pulled away. Jack let out a loud sigh. He was hoping that he would have left them alone, but he knew it would take him some time until he got used to the idea. Gwen had her back to Jack, she wanted him so badly, but yet again, she would have to wait. The feelings boiled inside her, making her want to jump on Jack, forget about the fact that someone else was here. Jack came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head on his arm and he held her tight.

"Soon kitten, I promise!" he said as he kissed her head. She nodded and went out of the room, allowing him to get dressed.

She sat in his office at his computer. She heard the door open and saw him coming out of the room. He looked up and saw her at his computer and smiled. He reached out to her and took her hand. She took it and Jack lead her out to get some coffee. Ianto was making them a fresh pot. As soon as they got there, they said thanks and went to the sofa. The rest of the team entered the hub just as the three of them had settled and finished the coffee.

"I will make a new one then." Ianto said as he stood up and Owen and Tosh joined them on the sofa.

"So, I bought bagels for everyone just in case and here is hoping that today we have a quiet day for once!" Owen said as he handed out the bags. Gwen looked and smiled, Owen still remembered what she liked for breakfast. He knew the order as he did it many times for the hub. They ate their breakfast and talked at the same time, the whole team actually enjoying each others company without any alcohol involved. Gwen was sitting there quietly and she could hear the whispers in her head. They were calling to her, asking for her help. She closed her eyes and tried to block them out.

"Are you okay?" Jack whispered in her ear as he put his arms around her. She opened her eyes and looked at Jack and smiled.

"I'm fine." She said as she looked at him. Jack's grip on her grew tighter as they returned to the conversation. Gwen tried to relax in Jack's embrace trying to ignore the whispering voices in the back of her head.

The day went on; Gwen left the images of the comet on her computer. She wanted to know when this nightmare would be over. She wondered if Jack would still be with her after all of this. She shook that thought from her head as it was stupid. Her phone vibrated on her desk. She saw that she had a message from Rhys. She hadn't spoken to him since the fight and he wanted to see her. If the comet is in space, I am sure that Jack wouldn't mind! She thought to herself. She sent him a reply, saying to meet at the coffee place that they liked. She locked her computer, picked up her communicator, keys and purse and walked out of the hub, shouting at Owen that she would be in reach if they needed her. She looked up at Jack's office quickly and saw him leave it to chase after her. She waited at the door so that he didn't have far to go. When the door re-opened, it was him.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"Look, the comet is still in space and not going anywhere, I just need to do some things okay." She said, she wasn't sure if she should tell him that she was meeting Rhys or not. Jack looked at her and nodded.

"Stay in contact at all times. And please, be careful and as soon as you think… no, I should go with you!" he said, she took a deep breath.

"Jack, I am going to see Rhys, I don't think that is a good idea, remember the last time you met him you took me away from dinner. He doesn't like you. I don't think that I am ready to tell him about us either." She said. "Listen, I have my communicator, as soon as anything and I mean anything happens, I will call you and you can come and get me okay?" she said as she wrapped her arms around him. "Please Jack; you have to trust me this time." She knew that it was going to be hard for him. He kissed her on the lips hard. She responded to the kiss and allowed herself to melt once again in his arms. Jack pulled away and looked at her.

"Okay, but I want you back here soon. I need you here." He said as he let go of her. Gwen nodded and walked out of the hub, leaving Jack to watch her as she left.

The drive to the coffee place wasn't too far. Her communicator was active and Jack had her number, as always so she knew that he could get hold of her. She found a parking space and sat in the car. She listened to the whispering at the back of her head, she hoped that nothing would happen. She got out and walked the short distance to the coffee place and saw Rhys sitting outside waiting for her. When he saw her he smiled and stood up to greet her.

"You look tired Gwen." He said as she sat down.

"Work has been busy at the moment, haven't had much time to sleep" she said to him. She ordered her coffee and something to eat and they sat there. "I saw you took some things out of the apartment." she said as her coffee and cake arrived. She looked at it, suddenly not hungry for it anymore and she pushed it away. Rhys looked at her; this was something that she normally wouldn't do.

"Gwen is everything alright?" he said. She looked up and smiled.

"Just not hungry after all!" she said as she gave him the cake. Rhys looked at her and saw her communicator.

"So you always on call at the moment?" he asked as he pointed to her ear. She reached up and touched it.

"I have to be at the moment, we are waiting for something to happen." She said to him as she drank some of her coffee. She wasn't going to tell him about her and Jack, it was too soon. The whispering in her head grew a bit louder and she closed her eyes and let out a slight moan, trying to push them back some more. Rhys saw this and went next to her.

"Gwen, what's wrong?" he asked. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Nothing, I'm fine, stop worrying about me!" she said and he sat back down, surprised by her outburst.

"I have moved into my own place Gwen, this was why I wanted to see you. I also wanted to give our notice on the apartment. I just wanted to make sure that you had somewhere to go before I did anything." He asked her. Gwen looked at him. She was surprised that he had moved so quickly. She knew something, that there was more.

"Who is she?" she asked. Rhys looked at her surprised. "I mean I know you, there has to be someone for you to do something so fast. How long were you cheating on me?" she asked him. He couldn't hide it any longer.

"Since the night I met your boss. I saw the way he looked at you, and you just went off and followed him…"

"He needed my help Rhys that is part of my job being on call!" she said to him, he held his hand up, not wanting to hear her explanation.

"I met her in a singles bar that night after you left me. We hit it off instantly, and since you were always busy at work, you never knew." He said, she wanted to hit him so hard but then she remembered what she did with Owen, she told Rhys about that, but drugged him so that he didn't remember.

She looked at her coffee and wished more than anything that Jack would call her.

"I am glad that you are happy." She said as she smiled at him. "I will be able to stay somewhere so go ahead and do it." She said to him. She then knew that she had to start looking for a place of her own. Rhys couldn't feel anything but guilt.

"Gwen, I'm sorry, but I can't afford two places." He said and she nodded.

"I understand Rhys. I will be fine, don't worry about me!" She said as she looked up and saw Jack coming. She knew that he was nearby; he never left her alone apart from that one time when she ran off. Gwen saw him coming to her and wondered how he knew where she was. She reached up and took out her communicator and saw that it was on the whole time but I never pressed the button, unless Jack triggered it in the hub when we were hugging… Jack came up to Gwen and she stood up to confront him. This wasn't possible as Jack took Gwen in his arms and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"What do you think you are playing at?" she whispered in Jack's ear.

"I am not going to let him hurt you Gwen, you mean everything to me." He said as he turned to Rhys. "Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He said as he held out his hand to Rhys. He looked at them shocked.

"How long has…" Rhys couldn't finish his sentence; he was still in shock to see that Gwen had moved on too.

"A few days now Rhys, after we broke up." Gwen emphasized. Jack wrapped his arm around her waist. Rhys shook his hand and they all sat down.

"So you're the big man of the special ops crew." Rhys asked him.

"Correct, but now, I'm afraid I am going to have to break up this little party as I need Gwen back at the hub. The images have changed." He said to her. She nodded and the voices in her head grew louder. They knew it was coming; it should only be a matter of a few hours. "It was so nice to meet you and let me say that I will take great care of her, maybe even better than you!" Jack said to Rhys as he stood up to leave. Jack walked off a bit to give them some time alone.

"I guess that this is goodbye then. Let me apologize for Jack, he has been extremely concerned about me lately." Rhys nodded. She stood there awkwardly, wondering if she should hug him.

"Gwen, we need to go." She heard Jack calling her. Gwen let out a sigh.

"In a second Jack, we still have some time." She said and Rhys looked at her strangely.

"How do you know that, he is your boss, if he says you need to go, and then you better go?" He said as she stood up. Gwen wanted to explain, but she knew that she couldn't tell him about what she did.

"Jack, I will see you back at the hub, I have my car." She said to him. Jack didn't want to leave her. "Please Jack, we still have time." She said. Jack said something in his communicator to her and she nodded as he left them. Gwen knew she had to go soon. She looked at a shocked Rhys.

"I see you have him under control." He said and she shook her head.

"He knows that I need this Rhys, closure from you so that I can continue. He left us alone, but if I don't leave in the next five minutes, he will be back. I know Jack." She said to him. "So I hope that you are happy, and I guess that I will move out my stuff this week." Gwen said as she walked off.

"Gwen!" she heard Rhys say as she turned around "I'm sorry." He said, she nodded and went to her car and cried over Rhys for the last time.

She drove back to the base and saw that Jack was already there. She wanted to yell at him, tell him that he had no right to do what he did, but she knew that with him being there it was better for her. She found out the truth, he cheated on her and she did on him, but he hid it, but she also made him forget that she told him. Who was the better person? She stopped her relationship with Owen; it was only a physical one, nothing more. With Jack, he knew her live and he was part of it if only small to begin with, but now, he wanted to be a bigger part in it and she wanted that so badly. She saw that the rest of the team was in the conference room, waiting for her to join them. She closed her eyes and listened to the whispering voices of the creatures in the back of her head. She could hear the footsteps of someone approaching; she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Gwen, come on, we need to see how we are going to deal with this last one. After this, it should be over and then we can concentrate on us." She heard Jack say. All of her anger for him went away as he took her in his arms. Gwen tried to open her eyes but she couldn't she was hypnotized by the voices. She felt someone shake her. "Gwen, snap out of it." Jack said to her, she tried to force her eyes to open again, fighting the battle for control and after a few more seconds, she was able to succeed. She looked at Jack as he let out a sigh of relive.

"It's near, I thought we had longer but I was wrong. The link is pulling it towards me Jack; I can hear them, happy, talking, knowing that soon they will all be together. They want control over me more than ever at the moment." She said to him. He held Gwen in his arms, wishing for this to be over and led her to the conference room.

"Okay, so we know that the comet is going to hit soon, we need to know where and how long we have." Jack said to the team as Gwen sat down. "Tosh, any luck on the satellite images?" he asked.

"Nothing Jack, all I know is that I guess it is entering the Earth's orbit, in which case, we have something like two hours to get a location on it before impact." Owen was looking at Gwen who was in some sort of a trance.

"Jack, are you sure it's wise for her to be awake at this point?" he asked. Jack went over to Gwen and shook her.

"Gwen, come on, stay with us for a bit longer!" he said. She blinked rapidly before looking up at Jack. She looked at him and nodded. "Right, I don't know about all of you, but I can't sit here and wait, we need to deal with this now. Owen, the other comets, how are they coming along?"

"As long as Gwen's blood is fine, we can disintegrate them in the furnace." He said.

"No!" Gwen shouted out in a voice that wasn't her own. She screamed as the voices grew louder at hearing this. She put her hands to her head and pushed them back as far as she could. Owen reached into his pocket; he already had a sedative in his hand. Jack put his hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. "Let her do this Owen, we need her awake now and if you give her that, she is out and we have no way of finding it." He said as he went over to Gwen. "I know you can hear me Enshi, leave her alone or I swear that when we find the last one of you, not only will we destroy your entire existence, but I will make sure that this link will never be used again." Jack whispered into her ear. She let out another scream and passed out.

Jack caught her before she fell off the chair. "Shit!" Jack swore as he carried Gwen to his room and laid her on his bed. "Gwen, fight it, wake up please!" he said in her ear. She moaned but didn't open her eyes. Jack sighed; he had to leave her in here and hoped that it would be her when she wakes up. Jack locked the door and went back to the team in the conference room.

"Owen, we need to wake her up, I don't care about how dangerous the link is at the moment, we need her." Jack said to him.

"If she has just passed out, she should wake up normally." Owen said, Jack sighed.

"I don't think that this was normal. It's trying to take her and I can't lose her, do you understand me?" Jack said. Owen looked into his eyes and saw the burning and pain in them. He nodded and went to the medical bay to see if he could find something. Jack looked at Tosh and Ianto.

"Tosh, any idea about the comet, how can we find it?" Jack asked and Tosh shrugged.

"I'm sorry Jack, if it is in the Earth's atmosphere; there is no way for me to track it. I can't believe I am going to say this, but we need the link to find it. We need Gwen to wake up." Tosh said as she looked at her laptop. Owen came back into the room with a syringe. Jack looked at it questionably.

"This will wake her." He said as he handed Jack the syringe. Jack looked at Owen and then at the syringe. "Yes, we have this stuff in the hub; I try and make sure that we have every medical supply on hand in case of… well anything." Owen said as he sat back down.

"How long will it take to wake her up?" Jack asked.

"A minute or so, it doesn't take long." Owen said. Jack nodded and went into the room he had left Gwen.

She was still asleep, Jack was not sure if it would be her or the creature which will come but it was a risk that he had to take. Jack took the cap off the needle, wiped a site on Gwen's arm and put in the needle, pushing down on the plunger allowing the medicine to enter her body. Jack waited for the medicine to take effect and saw Gwen starting to open her eyes. Jack took her in his arms and looked at her.

"Gwen?" he asked, he wasn't sure who would come. Her eyes fully opened and he could see that it was her. Relief washed over his face as he helped her stand up. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"My head really hurts and I don't know how much longer I can fight it Jack, it is as if they are breaking my will and they keep saying something about me being the key to this." She said as she sat up. "I shouldn't be awake, Owen is right I shouldn't be awake for this." She said and Jack stood up.

"I can't put you to sleep Gwen; we need to find this comet before the creature hurts innocent people. We need to get to it before it lands; we need to use the link to draw it to us." Jack said. He couldn't look Gwen in the eyes as he said this, it was hard for him. Gwen sighed and went up to Jack.

"Okay, let's go then." She said. Jack took Gwen back to the conference room.

"Okay, Owen, Gwen and Tosh, you are all with me. Get the knapsacks, check out a gun and also get a contamination box to put this thing in. We are going out for a drive, to draw it to Gwen." He said. They moved into action and soon were in the SUV.

It was getting dark and the field was scary with the ground mist approaching. Gwen looked around; the other team members were watching her from a distance as she needed to bring the creatures out. She put her communicator on and closed her eyes.

"If anything happens to me or them…" she said as they began to take over. Jack wanted to rush in and get her, but he had to fight the urge to do anything. He could hear the alien talking in the communicator, wondering what it was doing here. Jack looked up at the sky and saw the comet flying towards them. He was started to get doubts about this, but he knew he could not back down now, it was too late. He hoped that his plan would work as he was putting Gwen's life in danger for this, for the sake of the human race. Gwen wasn't herself at the moment and no matter how much he wanted to go to her and protect her, he had to let her do this. The comet landed about a mile away and Gwen moved towards it, all the time Jack could hear what the creature was saying in the communicator. Gwen stopped as she got to the comet and went and touched it. She smiled as she felt the creature's heartbeat inside of it. Jack wanted to pull her away and protect her; he was not sure what they were going to do. He heard a moan in the communicator and knew that Gwen was trying to take back control.

"Jack…" he heard her say, she collapsed in front of the comet as it began to open. The team ran in and Owen pulled Gwen away from it as the final creature came out. This time it was in a different form from the others and Jack assumed it was the leader.

"Give her to me." It said to Jack.

"She stays here Enshi. You can't have her." Jack said as he held the gun up at it. "This ends now!" he said and shot it. The bullet went through it and the Enshi laughed.

"That will not work on me, I have adapted thanks to that creature there." It said as it pointed to Gwen as the wound healed. "My brothers and sisters will be alive once again and we will destroy this planet." And then it evaporated into the air.

Jack went to Gwen, she was still out.

"Owen, how does it look?" he asked.

"I'm sorry Jack, she is in a coma, and I am not sure if or when she is going to wake up this time." Owen said as they looked down at Gwen. Jack swore in a language that Owen didn't understand and looked in the air. He could see the path that the monster was heading and hoped that Tosh had set up the machine in time.

"It's heading your way Tosh, a greenish vapor. I hope that this works." Jack said.

"I see it; machine is ready and active Jack. Powering up… and on." She said and Jack heard a buzzing noise. "We have it contained for now." Tosh said.

"Okay, we are on our way. Put it in the container, this one is different." Jack said as he picked up Gwen. "Owen, suit up and put the comet in the box, it goes with the others back to the hub." He said as he looked down to Gwen. "I am sorry my kitten. I didn't expect this. Let's get you in the hub." He said in her ear and kissed her head "Fight them; I know you can do it." And he carried her to the SUV.

Jack took Gwen to his room and allowed Owen to come in a check her over. The creature was contained in its vapor state in a containment area and Jack had no idea what to do with it. The comet was locked up with all of the others and left in the basement. Jack didn't care; all he cared about was Gwen. The days turned into a week, and Gwen showed no sign of waking up. Owen was getting worried and wanted to take her to a hospital, but Jack was against it, she was breathing by herself and everything seemed okay, she just wasn't awake. Jack and Ianto had moved Gwen's stuff for her and put it temporary in storage. He kept telling himself that she wasn't dead; she was just sleeping which was true. He saw Susie's stuff in boxes in the storage unit and the memories came flooding back on how Gwen had died that time. Rhys kept trying to contact Gwen, but Jack didn't want to call him, but he knew that he had to say something, so he sent a message from Gwen's phone saying that her stuff was out and that she was too busy at work.

Apart from moving Gwen's stuff, Jack rarely left Gwen's side. Once in a while, he went down to the creature and talked to it, trying to make some sense in what it was telling him as it spoke in riddles most of the time. The only time it made sense was when it demanded Gwen and every time, Jack said no. The creature stayed in the mist form, not returning to the form that they saw when it landed. Jack decided it was time to destroy the comets, so he sent both Tosh and Ianto with the comets to the furnace. The screams from the creature could be heard throughout the whole base as one by one its brothers and sisters burnt to death. Once it was over, there was nothing but silence. Jack stayed by Gwen's side the whole time, hoping that in doing this, she would wake up, but still she slept. Jack played music in his room, talked to her and told her stories about his past hoping that she would wake. Owen came in everyday and checked on her, and saw how drained and destroyed Jack was. Owen couldn't take it anymore and took Jack out of the hub. They stood on the roof, looking over the town.

"Jack, I am not sure how long she is going to be like this for, but you need to continue…" Owen began to say.

"She isn't dead Owen, so don't you dare talk like she is." Jack said to him. Owen nodded. Jack seemed to lock himself in there with her, blaming himself and sending the team out on the missions, but taking no interest about what was happening around him, just her.

"She wouldn't want you to stop your life for her Jack; we still have a mission to fulfill." Owen said to him, Jack sighed.

"Emptiness is all I can feel Owen, nothing else there. The other missions that you have had the past week were nothing without Gwen. The new alien technology that you have found hasn't excited me one bit. I look at her and she doesn't move, I talk to her, play music and hope that she will wake up, but still nothing. She lies there, unmoved, faced with god knows what in her head and what are we doing? Nothing, we destroyed the comets, she didn't wake up. If we kill this creature will she wake up? We don't know and I can't risk it." Jack said. "Tell me Owen, have you ever watched someone you love die right before your eyes and you could do nothing to save them?" Jack asked him, Owen, shook his head. "I've seen people who I thought I loved die before me, but the pain is nothing compared to this." Jack said to him as he walked off.

Back in the hub Jack was pissed off. He had enough of the riddles from the creature and went to it.

"Your family is destroyed and you are the only one left." Jack said to it, the creature let out a hissing sound.

"Do you have any idea what it is like to be the last of your kind?" the creature asked, Jack nodded.

"Do you have any idea what it is like not to know who or what you really are?" Jack asked it. The creature stayed silent and then it morphed. Before Jack stood the image of Gwen. He blinked to make sure. He wanted to let her out, but he knew it wasn't real.

"I am the last of my kind, release me." It said, Jack shook his head, he knew that it would be too dangerous.

"You would destroy the human race by killing them the most inhumane way anything could die, by absorbing their life energy. There is no way I am going to release a terror like that on this planet." Jack said to it.

"Then let me join my brothers and sisters in death." It said.

"What will happen to Gwen?" he asked.

"This human, you wouldn't want anything to hurt her would you?" the creature said to him.

"I can show you ways to torture beings like you that you have never seen before. I'm not going to kill you, I am going to weaken you, and then once you think it's going to be over, I am going to do even worse!" Jack said to it and left.

Jack went into the medical room where Owen was there.

"Did you extract the mineral as I asked before destroying them?" Jack asked and Owen nodded. "Make it into a mist; let's make this creature wish that it had never come to Earth." Jack said, Owen nodded again and went to work. Jack grabbed his arm and looked at Owen. "One more thing, no matter how much that creature looks like Gwen, it isn't her. Don't fall for it or do anything stupid Owen." Jack left the medical room and went to Tosh.

"Is it ready?" Jack asked.

"Nearly, I need about thirty more minutes and then it should be done." Tosh said.

"Whatever happens down there, remember that it is an illusion. Once it is broken we need to trap it in here. Soon enough it will wish that I did kill it!" Jack said and went to his office. Ianto came in with coffee and looked at Jack.

"Sir, I know that this is hard, but I know what it is like. I know you didn't approve of my actions with… love can do crazy things and she meant…" Ianto didn't know what to say, it was something that he did wrong, putting Torchwood in danger for his feelings. Jack looked at him, he still hadn't forgiven him and he didn't know how to, that thing had nearly killed his whole team, and now with Gwen still being in a coma, he had to concentrate. Ianto left Jack alone.

Jack looked at his computer and entered a web page.

"Password please." The computer said.

"Torchwood Captain Jack Harkness 40351" Jack said to the computer.

"Access granted: Welcome Captain Jack Harkness." The computer replied as it loaded a different screen. A picture appeared in the screen as Jack sat down at his computer.

"What can I do for you Jack?" The person asked.

"I need permission to send something into the time vortex commander." Jack said to the person.

"You know how dangerous this is, explain the situation." The commander said.

"An alien calling itself the Enshi is killing one of my team members. Allow it to live on this planet and it will destroy the human race." Jack said. "This creature needs to be away from this planet to break the link that it has with my team member."

"And how was this link created?" The commander asked.

"I am not sure commander, the reports are being sent to you as we speak. We have dealt with the comets and now we just need to deal with the last creature. It was somewhat more advanced than the other ones we had encountered before." Jack said as he typed a few things on the computer. The commander looked at the reports and then at Jack.

"Jack, this is something not to be taken likely. Permission granted, let's hope that that thing does not survive the trip through the vortex. Access code is on its way." The commander said.

"Trust me commander, I intend to see that it does survive the trip. I want it to live the horror of nothing on the other side." Jack said as he saluted the screen and the picture faded.

Jack went to Gwen's desk and saw her holodisk lying there. Each Torchwood employee had one to record things on. He picked it up and took it to his office. He pressed the play button and the hologram of Gwen appeared.

"If you are watching this, then something mush have happened to me. I activated it so that if I did not access it in over five days, then it was to show itself. Jack, you took me from a boring life and introduced me to a world beyond my imagination. For this I can not thank you enough. The past few days being with you, close to you were more than I could ever ask for. If it wasn't for you… well I would not be leaving this message. I knew that before we went to the last comet, something bad was going to happen. The voices kept saying to me that I was the key and without me, they would never have been able to find so much energy. Know this one thing Jack, I will always and forever… " Jack paused the recording as he saw Tosh at the door. He could not watch anymore and he pushed it to the side.

"Owen is ready, so is I Jack." She said. Jack nodded and turned the hologram off, placing it in his pocket.

He took the team to where he had contained the creature. They looked at the containment unit and then at Jack.

"This unit is designed to stop this monster from escaping." He said as the creature still as Gwen snarled at him. "No matter what you see here, it is not what it appears to be. The real creature's form is the one we saw that night." Jack took the syringe from Owen. It had a misty cloud in it. The creature looked at the syringe and changed its form once again to resemble Owens mum.

"Would you really kill me son?" she asked. Jack had to stop Owen from moving towards the unit.

"Owen, it is just an illusion!" Jack said as it changed once again back to Gwen.

"I like this form… you know Jack, if she was dead you could pretend that I was her!" the creature said to him. Jack took the syringe and pushed it into the hole that was connected to the unit. He pressed the button and the mist was released into the unit. The creature looked worryingly around it as the mist took affect and began to choke and fall to the ground.

"Don't you ever say anything like that about her again, you hear me Enshi!" Jack said as the creature referred to the mist form and changed colour. Jack knew that it was being weakened. He took the capsule from Tosh and attached it to another opening. As soon as the mist turned black, he pushed another button and it entered the capsule. He took the other syringe that Owen had and pushed it in the small outlet in the capsule. The cloud grew smaller. He put it on a table and pressed a few buttons on his wrist communicator.

"Voice recognition code" it said.

"Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood." He said. The communicator beeped and then a green light appeared.

"Enter access code." Jack typed in the number that the commander gave him. The communicator beeped and again went green "code accepted: transporting pod." There was a beam of light and Jack covered his eyes. Within a few seconds, it was gone and the capsule with it.

"What was that Jack?" Tosh asked "Where has it gone?"

"Into the time vortex, to be trapped for all eternity in emptiness. A little payback for what it did to me." He said. He ran to his room, hoping that this would have worked.

Gwen woke up; she was in Jack's room. She had no idea how she got there and also how long she had been out. "Jack!" she said as she stood up and pulled out the IV needle. She opened the door and saw no one in the base. As she walked down the stairs from Jack's office, she saw him coming up from the basement. She looked at him and he looked at her. He ran towards her and took her in his arms as she cried. Jack held her in his arms tightly and kissed her head.

"It worked, thank the stars it worked!" He said as he stroked her head hoping that she would stop crying. Gwen looked up and saw the rest of the team. Jack let her go and she went up to each of the other team members. They each hugged her as they were surprised to see her awake. Gwen came to Owen last of all.

"How are you feeling?" he asked

"Like I have been asleep for too long, but not really asleep do you know what I mean?" she said, Owen nodded.

"I need to check you out in the medical room before I can give you a clean bill of health, but I am so glad to see you back Gwen!" he said as he hugged her. Jack came behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and smiled. "With your permission boss." Owen said and Jack nodded. Owen went into the medical room to get things ready and Gwen was about to follow him when Jack grabbed her hand. He gave her the holodisc. Gwen looked at him.

"Did you watch it?" she asked.

"Some of it, I couldn't watch it all." He said honestly. "I couldn't bear the thought that if I watched it all; it would be like making myself believe that you would never wake up." Jack said to her, she nodded and went into the medical room to see Owen. Owen looked at Gwen, sort of surprised that she could walk around the room. She sat on the bed and he did a full physical.

After about thirty minutes, Gwen was getting restless. "Owen is this going to take much longer?" she asked.

"Gwen, I need to ask you a few questions and tell you some information about what has happened." Owen said.

"I'll do that Owen; just tell us if she is healthy?" Jack said as he stood around waiting for him to finish.

"Physically she is fine. Take her then Jack, but try not to scare her too much." Owen said as Gwen jumped down from the bed. Jack took Gwen's hand and led her out of the base and onto the roof.

"I remember when you first took me up here; it was my first day…" Gwen said as she looked over the city. It was night time and the lights were dancing.

"Gwen, I know you have a lot of questions, so just let me explain. Once I am done, you can ask any other questions that I didn't answer okay?" Jack said to her as she sat down on the edge of the roof. Gwen nodded and Jack explained to her what had happened. Gwen listened intensively while Jack explained to her the past week that she was in a coma and the things that took place during that time. Once he finished, she sat there and tried to think on how she should tell him her side of the story.

"Gwen, are you okay? I know that this is a lot to take in but it's over now." He said as he took her in his arms. She sighed.

"I wish that my side of the story was as eventful, but it wasn't." she said to Jack.

"What had happened Gwen, what happened while you were sleeping?" he asked.

"I remember, feeling the heartbeat through the comet, the creature's mother, the one that took control of them, and then, they tried to pull my spirit away. I remember fighting against them for a long time before I heard screams, and then there was only one left, their mother. She allowed me to explore my mind, but wouldn't let me wake up. She said that me being asleep was helping her get what she wanted and what she needed to survive, but she had a weak point, she was turning into a human. She began to feel emotions, my emotions. She didn't know what they were so I explained to her the feelings that she was having. She wanted to know everything about me, so I told her. Time passed, but I was not sure how much, as far as I was aware, it could have been longer than a week. She told me about her family and that they were all dead. I knew this, they left me alone, but her link was stronger than the ones before her. She was able to absorb my spirit, become a part of me and this made me feel scared Jack. What do you do when someone takes away a part of you that makes you who you are? I had to fight her, to get back what she was trying to take from me. So I did. I fought her Jack and I took my spirit back and just in time, as she was getting weak. It must have been the time when you introduced her to the mist. She didn't like this, but it gave me my chance. I heard her scream in my head and then, she was gone. I was free and I opened my eyes and saw where I was. I took out the IV needle and came to find you as I just wanted to see you again." She said as she ended her story. Jack sat there and listened to the internal battle that she had to fight to break free of the creature's control. The sun began to rise. Gwen closed her eyes and allowed the sun to warm her face. There was one thing that was bothering her.

"Jack, what is the time vortex, what's there?" she asked. Jack looked at her.

"The time vortex is nothing, it is emptiness. The journey there is dangerous and to get out of it… only one person has been able to escape the time vortex and he closed it. But there is always a link still so that things can be sent there, but they never come back. It is eternal banishment into nothingness." He said to Gwen. She nodded, understanding the horror of being left with nothing would want to wish that it was dead.

She stood up and sighed. "Well, I guess I better start looking for place to live." She said, Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her onto his lap. She sat there on his legs and laughed. Jack smiled, how he had missed seeing her face light up.

"Stay with me." He said as he kissed her face, Gwen let out a little laugh at this suggestion.

"Your place is way too small for two of us Jack, and like you said, someone has to be ready all the time. I know you won't leave the hub as you feel it's your duty to, and I respect that. I can't live in the hub Jack." Jack smiled at her.

"Then there is a secret that I have to show you!" he said as he pushed her up to her feet. She looked puzzlingly at him as he stood up and reached his hand out to her. "Come on." He said he was like a child in the toy store; he had something that he always wanted. Gwen took his hand and Jack led them back down to the hub.

"Ianto, Owen, Tosh?" Jack called out the teams names. None of them were there; they all went home to finally sleep. Jack smiled at Gwen, and all she could do was look puzzled. Jack took her into his office and down into his room. He stopped in front of a wardrobe and Gwen looked at him.

"Welcome home!" he said as he pushed the wardrobe away, reveling a door. Gwen looked at him still puzzled, but Jack took her by the hand. In it, there was a key. She went to the lock and unlocked the door, looking at Jack. He signaled for her to continue and she pushed the door open. Jack took the torch and they went inside. Gwen was surprised to see a big empty room. Gwen walked in and starred and Jack came in behind her, wrapping his arms around her.

"This could be our bedroom and the other room will be a common room for the both of us. What do you say Gwen, is it a good idea?" he asked as he looked around for the light switch. Gwen looked around the room amazed.

"Only if we get a big fish tank in here!" she said.

"Is that a yes then?" Jack smiled at her and she nodded. Jack took her in his arms and swung her around before bringing her down and kissing her passionately on the lips. Gwen couldn't believe that this was happening, she expected Jack to help her find somewhere, but not to move in with him, and in the hub? She laughed to herself, she knew her job would take over her, but was she really ready for it to take this much control of her.

Jack looked at her as she looked around the room. He saw something in her from the start. She gave this team something that they had all lost a long time ago; she showed them what it was like to care about what was happening and to treat things more as real people, not as objects. He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Come on; time to get some rest after all of this." He said and she nodded. "We will get your things tomorrow and you can go furniture shopping if you like?" he said. He could tell that something was bothering her, but she smiled and nodded. Jack led her to his bed and she immediately closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.