Author's Note: this is part of the A Different World Series. To understand some of it you need to have read A Different World chapter 29 and 30 and Better with Three chapter 5 but it's not necessary.
Toshiko Sato woke up at seven o'clock without the help of her alarm clock. She got washed, pinned her hair back into a bun with help of a hair clip, dressed herself in her favourite black jeans, deep magenta pink top and brown leather jacket and helped herself to a coffee before brushing her teeth.
Tosh opted to walk to work due to the nice sunny July day; she took a deep breath and smiled. Over a year ago she thought she would never enjoy a sunny day ever again. She walked her usual route and bumped into someone when she was about to cross the road.
"Oh sorry" she said looking down at the person. It was a child. A child no older than ten standing frozen on the curb. She couldn't even tell if the child was breathing he was so still. "Are you ok?" she asked kneeling down to face the child, the child's face was flat and expressionless. "Hello?"
Owen Harper woke up at seven o'clock with a headache. He had drunk himself to sleep the night before. Celebrating the fact he was alive and able to drink for a year. He was hanging half out of the bed and his covers tangled up in his legs, causing him to trip when he tried to walk with them still tangled up. He showered, brushed his teeth and threw on the cleanest jeans and t-shirt he could find before slipping on his leather jacket and leaving his flat.
From the distance he saw Tosh kneeling down in front of a little boy and speeded his walk to see what's going on.
Tosh was snapping her fingers in front of the child's eye while the boy stared out to space unblinking.
"What's up with the kid?" Owen asked causing Tosh to jump slightly.
"I don't know, I literally walked into him and he hadn't moved, or moaned or anything. Nothing I can do can snap him out of whatever it is he's in" Tosh said looking frustrated.
Owen shook the kid. "Oi brat, wake up!" he yelled. "Shouldn't you be in school?"
Suddenly the child blinked and shook his head. He looked up and wretched himself away from Owen. "Don't touch me you pedo" the boy said before crossing the road huffily.
"Lovely, remind me to never have children Toshiko" Owen said glaring at the boy.
"Something's not right" Tosh said staring at the child.
"Really? I would have never guessed"
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
"You're going to get us killed" Ianto said laughingly as he walked in.
"He already succeeded with two of us, so what's new" Owen asked as he spun round in his seat. "And why did you go to the hospital without me? I'm the doctor of the team; I know hospital regulations and could have gotten you in and out without getting caught"
"Good morning to you too Owen, don't you have some porn to read in the autopsy room?" Jack said grinning.
Jack was still unused to seeing Owen and Tosh alive. Again. One year ago, one year, one week and three days since they were brought back. It was a gift for him, Rose Tyler – no Bad Wolf, goddess of Time and Space granted him a gift in return of making him immortal for all eternity. Owen was at first pissed off that he was once again brought back from the dead but soon settled down into his usual routine only this time round he wasn't as oblivious to Tosh's affection as before. In fact he had taken Tosh out 'as friends' much to everyone's disappointment the two of them were still not together yet.
"Something happened" Tosh said intervening before an argument between Owen and Jack or/and Ianto started. "With the children"
"Well I want you to do a check on St Helen's Hospital, more specifically the morgue" Jack said shrugging his coat off, leaning down to kiss Tosh's cheek hello and to ruffle Owen's hair.
"Well there's a computer, do it yourself" Gwen said. "Meanwhile there's been seventeen traffic accidents reporting from across the country"
"Sounds above average" Jack said.
"Well they all occurred at 8:40:41, seventeen traffic accidents happening at the exact minute and all involving children" Tosh said typing rapidly on her computer. "During the school run"
"All of them were just standing in the middle of the road" Gwen said frowning. "Not crossing just standing, I saw it myself Jack, two kids in the market and they...well they just stopped!"
"And it's just not in Britain" Tosh said. "Fifteen road accidents in France all happened at 9:40 so it was the exact time as us since France is an hour ahead"
Jack looked up frowning. "Are they all children?" Ianto asked.
"Yes I'm cross referencing right now. Reports are coming in from Norway, Sweden, Demark, Luxemburg, Germany, India, Egypt, Ghana, Spain, Portugal, Bosnia, Tokyo, Singapore. Even in America when most children were asleep, reports are coming in" Tosh said horrified. "Every child on Earth...just stopped"
"Have you seen anything like this before Jack?" Gwen asked.
"No" Jack whispered.
"Here's an idea" Owen said. "It's a conspiracy, some kid said to another lets stop moving for a few minutes to scare the parents. It got spread on the internet and every single child stopped moving at the time planned to scare us"
"I already thought of that, checked it out and found nothing" Tosh said coolly still typing rapidly. "I'll look through the governments and the UN and see if anything has been found"
"I'll phone Martha and Mickey" Jack said. "Then Rose, Donna and the Doctor. See if any of them know anything or better yet if they can help up"
Everyone moved quickly to work, Jack first dialled Rose's number knowing Rose would pick up immediately. Donna Noble was most likely throw her mobile in the toilet before answer his call, for some reason the temperamental redhead disliked his flirtations towards her. Just because he kissed her without asking.
"This is Rose, I can't answer right now. Either I'm being chased by a goo covered monster or taking down a tyrant...or the Doctor broke my phone again"
"Roooooooooooooooooooooooose that was an accident!"
"Five times? I think not. Leave a message after the beep"
Jack laughed. "I can't believe you still have that. Look when you stopped running or whatever I need you to come to Earth, something's happening with the children, they all just...well stopped. Speak to you soon Rosie and send a big kiss to my favourite redhead and Doctor"
He hung up and quickly dialled Martha's number, knowing full well wherever she was Mickey was.
"This is Martha, I can't get to the phone right now but leave a message and I'll get right back to you"
Jack grumbled and tried to call UNIT. They informed him stiffly that Dr Martha Jones and Corporal Mickey Smith are on their honeymoon and refused to pass on any information about the children. Gwen out right refused to let Jack pester Martha and Mickey, reminding him what a difficult start they had to their relationship and that they need their honeymoon.
Even if they had eloped three months ago.
Doctor Rupesh Patanjali, a man that Jack and Ianto had encountered at the hospital was "pulling a Gwen" Owen said watching in interest. The four teammates including Tosh took great joy watching the young doctor wander round the plaza.
"Well it's not like I'm going to hire him" Jack said grinning evilly. "I just need to keep in mind who's good to hire so I won't end up like I did before I hired you lot"
"You bastards" Gwen said. "This is what you did to me! Well sod this; I'm promoting myself to recruitment officer. After all we need more than five to survive properly"
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
The children stopped moving again. They let out a scream, so high pitched that it sent shivers down the team's spines. Ianto pulled out his mobile to film for reference why Owe and Dr Patanjali were checking over the children trying to see what could be hurting them. The children stopped screaming.
"We. We. We. We. We. We. We. We. We" they chanted in a deep voice. "We. We. We. We. We Are. We Are. We Are. We Are. We Are Coming. We Are Coming. We Are Coming. We Are Coming"
"Oh my god" Gwen said eyes wide in horror and shock.
"Shitting hell" Owen muttered.
"This is...this isn't right" Tosh said shaking her head.
"We Are Coming. We Are Coming. We Are Coming. We Are Coming. We Are Coming"
"Who's coming?" Gwen asked gently. "Who are you?"
The child blinked and looked down at her mother. "Come on then" she said cheerfully to her mother.
They ran back to the Hub after getting rid of Dr Patanjali. Tosh began to hack into every system she could get her hands on and soon found a video of an old man in a home doing the exact same as the children. Gwen chose to go and interview him and left with a quick goodbye, hugging both Tosh and Owen tightly. It pained both of them to see Ianto, Gwen and Jack being a bit clingy even after a year. It was agreed that they needed to get hold of a child, Jack, Ianto and Owen both left the Hub with the intention of getting hold of one.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
"Owen Harper, I never thought I would see you here again" a nurse said cheerfully. She was rather pretty with warm brown eyes and mousy brown hair that was fading to a grey colour tucked into a pony-tail. "It's been what? Five years?"
"Six" Owen corrected kissing the nurse's cheek. "Nine since I interned here. It's good to see you again Janie"
"You were always good to the children here" Janie said leading Owen through the ward where some laid half-asleep and others were playing. "You remember little Mitch? The boy with cancer, the one that you-"
"Made paper airplanes for, yeah I do" Owen said looking away, his cheeks a faint pink of embarrassment.
"Well he was discharged a month after you left and he got back up on his feet. He's now preparing for his exams for a grammar school. Can you believe it? He wants to be a doctor just like you he said"
"That's brilliant, the world needs more doctors" Owen enthused, flattered that he inspired someone to do some good in the world instead of the opposite. "Look Janie...you know that the children are acting weird today"
"It gave me such a fright, I didn't know what to do and none of the doctors had any idea. We've had parents coming in and out pale with fright"
"I need a kid, one that's not too ill and the parents won't be causing a big fuss. Just for the afternoon I need to work out what's going on" Owen said quickly.
Janie gave him that look, the one where someone was incredibly disappointed in you. Jack and Tosh had given him that look so many times and as always it made his insides squirm.
"I had hoped the rumors about you were not true" Janie said. "They say you work for the government, getting up to all sorts round Cardiff. I kept saying not Owen Harper; he would rather die than join the government. Owen Harper wants to help the people not hurt them"
"I am helping people Janie" Owen whispered furiously. "It's not part of the government, Torchwood is outside, we have powers over the government we just choose to co-operate with them. I can't tell you what we do but it's to protect the world"
"Well the answer is still no Owen Harper. All of these children deserve to be left alone in peace and besides the law suits from the parents would get me fired" Janie hissed. "Leave and find someone else that would happily deliver a kid to you"
"Goodbye then Janie" Owen said sadly. "I'm sorry for this"
Janie's face softened. "Come back again soon. When the children aren't in danger"
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Gwen called in with information. The old man whose records say Timothy White was actually Clement MacDonald from Scotland. Tosh needed to find records of what happened to him in the 1960s, Tosh frowned at Gwen's voice whatever happened with Timothy White most have shocked the welsh woman because she sounded numb and shell-shocked.
Ianto had then walked in looking humiliated.
"I lost the car" he confessed. Tosh blinked. She then rubbed her eyes. "Tosh are you ok?"
"Something must be wrong with my eyes because I see Ianto Jones but I just heard him admit to do something very Owen Harper-ish"
Ianto glared.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Owen met Jack and went with him to the other hospital that Rupesh Patanjali worked in. Jack was already making promises of retcon when they were informed of another death. Another Chinese man who came in with a nosebleed and died with a brain hemorrhage, they went to the autopsy room and began to examine the body.
"Well he hasn't gone missing" Jack commented.
"I can see that" Dr Patanjali said calmly.
"I need to take him to the Hub" Owen said not looking at either the men as he gently examined the body, his fingers dancing over the cold skin as he prodded and poked. "To get several tests and scans done to see exactly how he died. We got better equipment than NHS ever will, hmm...the pupils are blown but that could be caused the brain hemorrhage, no trauma to the skin apart from the bruising but that's-"
BANG!
Owen whirled round in time to see Jack fall to the floor and Patanjali knock him out with a forceful blow to the head with the side of his gun.
"You wanker..." Owen mumbled before everything went dark.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Gwen ran in when Tosh had just discovered that Clement MacDonald was an orphan and had been transferred somewhere else with twelve other children. Gwen ran straight into the autopsy room.
"Where's Owen?" she asked looking desperate and terrified.
"Not here, he went to see Dr Patanjali with Jack" Ianto said coming out with a cup of coffee for Tosh. "I lost the car"
Gwen ran over and pulled out the alien x-ray machine, she put her hand on it and the hologram lit up showing a red dot beeping gently. Tosh and Ianto stared at it transfixed.
"Is that...?" Tosh whispered and Gwen nodded. "Rhys'?"
"Well I haven't shagged anyone else in the past two years" Gwen said numbly, not able to bring any anger or annoyance in her tone.
"A Torchwood baby" Ianto murmured. "I better start looking for cots" Jack entered the Hub looking pissed off and terrified. "I lost the car" Ianto said.
"Yeah well I lost Owen" Jack shot back.
"What?!" Tosh yelped. "What do you mean?"
"Someone killed me and Rupesh Patanjali. Probably knocked Owen out and dragged him away, the bastards" Jack clenched his fist. "I need you to start tracking Owen through the tracker in his filling" Jack said as he stepped down the stairs. "Gwen...my god is that?" he ran down the stairs. "How long?"
"Three weeks" Gwen croaked.
"That's....that's good isn't it? It looks good from where I'm standing" Jack said softly staring at both Gwen and the hologram in shock.
"Bloody hell...it's brilliant" Gwen said grinning.
Jack grinned back. "Ianto, Tosh, we're having a baby" Jack yelled excitedly.
"We know its exciting isn't it? Ianto's already thinking about the cot" Tosh squealed over the balcony temporarily forgetting Owen for one second. "Does Rhys know?"
Gwen shook her head. "Oh he's going to love that" Jack muttered.
"It's bloody spectacular" Gwen whispered. "But what about my job?"
"Don't worry, we'll manage we always do" Jack said gently putting a hand over Gwen's. Suddenly the alarm went off and the lights began to flash red.
"What was that?" Gwen said flatly.
The hologram before them showed inside Jack was a bomb, everyone stared at it horrified. "My god" Jack whispered. "It's a bomb"
"Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown"
"There's a bomb in your stomach" Ianto said shocked.
"How is that possible?" Tosh asked.
"Get out" Jack said pushing Gwen to the stairs. "GET OUT NOW!"
"Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown"
"NO!" Gwen screamed. "There's something we could do, we can get it out Jack just give us a chance"
"Get out now" Jack hissed.
"Two minutes" Ianto informed them looking at the computers.
"Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown"
Jack clutched Gwen by her face. "You're pregnant" he said firmly, Gwen shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "Tosh is here. She's alive, we lost her once and we can't lose her again" Jack said desperately playing the only other card he knew that would get Gwen out to safety.
"Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown, Torchwood Lockdown"
Gwen pulled away, she grabbed Tosh's hand and held it tightly as the pair ran out of the cog door and up to the reception, they ran across the plaza when suddenly-
Gwen felt herself pushed through the air, her hand still in Tosh as the ground behind them exploded and the heat of flames could be felt.
The two women collapsed on the ground. Hand in hand.