Clara leafed idly through the pages of her magazine, not really able to concentrate on any of the stories, as a very small occupant of the next table made her increasing unhappiness known.
"Come on, then…Mummy will be right back. Hush now, that's a good girl," the baby's father nattered on in a musical Welsh accent. He was a large-boned man with an open, pleasant face, and Clara found herself smiling at his bumbling attempts to calm his daughter. He noticed her scrutiny and grinned. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. Her Mum's just popped off to the loo and she's a bit grumpy just now."
"Don't worry about it," Clara reassured him. "She's beautiful."
"Isn't she, though?" he remarked with a new father's pride. "Her name's Anwen."
"Hello, Anwen," Clara said softly, wiggling her fingers at the baby.
Little Anwen stopped fussing for a moment, then gave a happy little gurgle and grabbed at Clara's hand, enthralled by her charm bracelet.
"Oh, she likes you."
"Well of course she does," the newly returned Doctor interjected, leaning over Clara's shoulder. "She is obviously a young lady of very refined taste. Hello! I'm the Doctor, and I see you've already met Clara."
"Rhys Williams, and this is my daughter, Anwen."
"Very pleased to meet you Rhys Williams…from Cardiff, is it?" the Doctor asked curiously.
"Accent sorta gives it away, dun'it? I'm just waitin' on my wife, and your friend here was kind enough to help distract the fussy little one."
"Makin' new friends, is it?" smiling voice interjected.
"There you are!" Rhys exclaimed. "This is my wife -"
"Gwen Cooper," the Doctor exclaimed warmly.
"I'm sorry…have we met?" Gwen replied, a shadow of worry flickering across her lovely features.
"Well, we were never properly introduced, and I only saw you on a vid screen, and I did look very different at the time, but you helped me save the world!"
"He's the Doctor," Clara supplied, smiling sympathetically.
Gwen stared at the manically grinning face before her. "You're Jack's Doctor?"
He nodded happily.
Gwen immediately tensed up, scanning the area for possible danger. "What's wrong? Why are you here?"
"Nothing!" the Doctor protested. "Not a thing. We're on holiday, I promise."
"Really," Clara added. "He promised me this time…no ghosts, no aliens, no weird walking robots…"
Rhys looked at her quizzically. "You too...huh?"
"Watch it, you," Gwen muttered, smacking him lightly on the arm.
Anwen picked that moment to point at the Doctor and suddenly shriek with laughter.
"No it's not," he muttered indignantly. "Bowties are cool!"
"You get used to him," Clara offered.
Gwen settled into the seat next to her husband and cuddled Anwen against her body. She stared at the Doctor intently for a few moments, trying to reconcile the image of the joyfully eccentric loon before her with the almighty Time Lord of Jack's stories. It was there, in his eyes, she finally decided - ancient eyes in that boyish face.
"I used to ask myself sometimes, when things were really bad, and you were nowhere to be found, why?"
"And have you found your answer?" the Doctor asked gently.
"It's just so big out there, you can't always be here, and so we need to be able to stand on our own," Gwen answered.
"That's right," the Doctor affirmed.
"Why d'you keep coming back here?" she asked.
"I suppose, now, it's the closest thing I've got to a home." Unconsciously, his hand sought Clara's. "And there's just something about you humans. Of all the races in all the galaxies I've traveled, I've never once found your match for curiosity and cleverness and compassion. And hope. Always, hope."
Gwen looked down at her baby. "Yes."
"I am so proud of you, Gwen Cooper," he said suddenly and sincerely.
"How'd you mean?"
"Torchwood was founded in fear and ignorance of the unknown, and that's how it was run for a very long time. But you, you and your friends changed that. You made Torchwood into what it should have been all along - humans defending your planet, helping where you can, and making the world safe for the future. For her."
"It's the only world we've got. Maybe the only world she'll ever know."
Rhys looked curiously at Clara. "You travel with him? Out there?"
She nodded.
"I can't imagine that. No-" he said holding up a hand to forestall a rebuttal. "I know it's real an' all. I've seen enough for that. It's just…I can't imagine wanting to go out there. I've got all I want right here."
"That's as it should be," the Doctor said wisely. "You're her lodestone. You keep her centered, so that no matter how dark things are, she always knows who and what she's fighting for."
"Him and Anwen…they're why I do this," Gwen said softly.
The Doctor glanced once at his Clara, squeezing her hand. "They've given you the best possible reason for saving the world."