Ok, This is my first try at writing fanfic, so please be nice. All comments are welcome though

Part 1

Jack dropped the thick folder onto the table in front of him with a loud thud, pushing back his chair as he did so. His light brown hair was in its usual untidy style, and his long blue/grey jacket was draped over the back of his chair. He stood up and looked around at the other people in the room.

"Well, I guess that's that case wrapped up." He said as he looked around, "Ianto, if you could store the file with all the others I'd be grateful."

Ianto nodded, pushing his own chair back and walking round the table to pick up the folder. The other Torchwood members began picking up their jackets and pens, standing up to head back to the main room of the hub. Owen slid a second file full of his own medical notes on the alien creature they had picked up only a few hours ago on the edge of Cardiff. The Ilnæd had been causing the Torchwood team no end of trouble over the past few weeks, kidnapping a number of children from their homes and taking their energy as its food source. Luckily all of the ten children that had been taken had been found alive, and returned to their homes by Ianto, Toshiko and Gwen earlier that day, a little tired but unharmed.

Ianto nodded gratefully to him, picking up the second folder along with the one Jack had given him. Catching Jack's eye, Ianto flashed him a shy smile, which was returned warmly.

"Is it alright if I go now?" Gwen's voice cut into their look, making both of them snap their gaze to another part of the room, "Only I'm supposed to be meeting Rhys later, he's cooking me dinner" Her accented voice gave away her happiness and excitement whenever she spoke of her Fiancé. Toshiko smiled at her friend and colleague's excitement.

"What's he making you?" She asked Gwen in her quite voice.

"Hopefully not a big mess" Gwen joked, "He's not the most talented person when he comes to the kitchen. Half the time he tries to make something ridiculously complicated, and we end up having to order in a pizza or something!" The two of them laughed, and Ianto and Jack smiled. Owen rolled his eyes at them all, pulling on his favourite black leather jacket over his shirt.

"Yeah, mind if I go too? I've got some stuff to do." Owen asked

"You can all go if want to." Jacks American voice was filled with amusement at his team. "Nothing unusual has appeared on the monitors for days apart from our little Ilnæd problem, and I doubt he's going to be bothering us again any time soon."

The team had been too late to bring the creature back alive. It had consumed too much energy from the children it had taken, and become ravenous and insane. The only safe way for everyone to stop the creature had been to kill it, though none of them had been happy about it. They had brought the body back to the hub so that Owen could do a final analysis on it, before they had wrapped up the case.

"Thanks Jack!" Gwen called to him, grinning as she hurried out of the door.

"Yeah, thanks Jack" Owen said in his usual uninterested and distracted voice.

"Are you sure?" Toshiko asked uncertainly, edging towards the door, obviously keen to leave their work place and get back to her familiar and comforting apartment. Jack nodded to her encouragingly.

"Go on, you've earned it. Just make sure you're all here on time tomorrow. Preferably without a hang over Owen!" He called after the retreating figures.

"Sure, whatever!"

Jack rolled his eyes at this, before turning back to Ianto, who was still standing behind him.

"Feel like staying for a bit longer?"

Gwen stepped out of the dim lighting of the fake shop and out into the bright sunshine of a fading summer day. Behind her, Owen and Tosh followed her out into the fresh air, and the three of them stopped in the doorway for a moment, just enjoying the feel of the warm sun and cool breeze of the day, so wonderful and refreshing after hours shut up in the hub below ground.

"Well, I guess I'll see you both tomorrow then." Tosh said, smiling in her own, shy way and beginning to head off to the right, towards her apartment.

"Yeah, see you later Tosh, Gwen." Owen said, also starting forwards towards the main road and his own home.

"Bye guys. See you tomorrow" Gwen called after them, watching them go for a moment, before beginning to make her own way home. She smiled as she though of Jack and Ianto back in the hub, most likely soon to be oblivious to the rest of the world. The two of them seemed to think that the rest of the Torchwood team hadn't noticed their relationship, but to be honest, they couldn't have made it more obvious if they had tried.

Hurrying across the busy road, she pulled her jacket closer around herself as a bitter wind sprang up as she entered the shade of a side street, pulling at her clothes and hair. As she walked past one of the many side alley ways that held the rubbish of the large houses either side, a movement caught her eye, and she glanced sideways. A girl sat cross legged in the centre of the alleyway, a short way back from the entrance. Her long black hair fell over her face slightly, shadowing her features from Gwen's view. Her head was tilted downwards, and she seemed to be looking past the floor, at something deeper below the earth's surface. She wore a dark blue jacket over a high necked, dark rusty red coloured top, and black trousers. Her feet were bare, and revealed her strangely pale skin. Her hands rested gently in her lap.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" Gwen asked her curiously, slowing to a stop and watching the girl from the edge of the alleyway. She remained motionless, not reacting in the slightest to Gwen's voice. The growingly cold wind rushed down the small alleyway, blowing Gwen's dark hair all over the place and making her clothes flap about, but the girl in front of her remained untouched, almost as if she were…in another time…

Gwen took another step forwards her, and called out again in a louder voice: "Excuse me? Can you hear me, are you alright?"

The Girl looked up.

Black eyes bored into her mind, piercing into her innermost thoughts and laying bare all of her memories. Gwen gasped in pain, clutching at her head, and fell to her knees. Everything turned to confusion. Thoughts, feelings, memories. All surfacing at random moments, as if someone was rifling through her head, reading her memories. Gwen felt herself fall backwards onto the ground, but she could barely see or feel anything anymore. The vivid flashes of images danced across her eyes.

Then just as suddenly, it was all over. Breathing hard, Gwen looked up. The girl was still sitting in the same place, dark eyes still staring fixedly at her. Cautiously, Gwen pulled herself to her feet, watching the girl in front of her all of the time.

She blinked.

Suddenly, with no movement, the black, haunted eyes were mere inches away from her own. Gwen let out a scream and stumbled back away from the girl, who was now leaning against the wall of the alleyway, watching her. Gwen's eyes darted back and forth from where the girl had been sitting mere seconds ago, and where she now stood. No one could move across an alleyway in the time she took to blink.

"What are you?!" Gwen stuttered at her, pulling back out into the street, which was still deserted.

"I watch. I wait. I listen to your thoughts, your dreams, your wishes. And then I come."

Her voice was soft, like an echo in the dark. The girl crept forwards, lithe as a cat whilst still leaning heavily on the wall, stopping at the exit to the narrow gap. Gwen took another step back. She was now standing in the middle of the road, but the entire street was deserted except for them. She could hear the faint roar of the traffic on the main road, but it was too far away for anyone to hear her shouts.

"He never made this much fuss" The girl said suddenly, her voice wondering and cold.

"What do you mean?" Gwen demanded, "Who's he?"

"Many people know him. Not all like him. He's suspicious of some."

"Who!?"

"Your friend. Rhys"

Gwen ran.