Cardiff, Summer 1991
Jack stretched, wishing he hadn't volunteered to work the bank holiday solo so everybody else could have a day off. The Hub was damn boring most days, except for the occasional weevil-chase. He was contemplating whether it was worth it to force down a cup of his own coffee, or if casual suicide was a quicker option, when one of the proximity alarms went.
Jack was surprised to find it was the invisible lift on its way down. Dock workers crossed that thing a hundred times a day and Jack had never seen anyone able to trigger it before, not even accidentally. One literally had to know it was there. So Jack was even more surprised when it wasn't one of his colleagues, but a young boy looking amazed on the ride down.
Jack considered his track record when it came to British school children, and considered just sending the lift right back up and locking it until he was sure the kid had gone back to his parents. Cardiff Bay wasn't exactly a place to bring a little kid anyway, Jack thought. It would be a few years yet before development kicked off.
The kid didn't seem especially upset that he was suddenly in a great underground facility and coming down on an invisible lift, though. That made Jack curious.
"Hi," Jack called out, emerging from his vantage point in the lounge area.
"Hello," replied the child.
"Who are you?" Jack asked.
"Jones."
"Um… what are you doing here?"
The kid shrugged. "Looking."
'Talkative little thing,' Jack thought. He discreetly scanned the kid for alien life and was relieved to find it was just a regular 20th century Earth kid.
"Alright… how did you get here? That's kind of not an obvious entrance."
The kid shrugged again. "I'm waiting for tad. I thought that this bit looked… different. Just came to look, and it went down."
"Do you always see things other people don't see?"
The kid shrugged. "Sometimes, I guess. I read a lot. What is this place?"
Jack thought for a second. They didn't need kids running around telling tales about Torchwood, but retcon was definitely safe for kids – and the parents would probably be glad their little lad was taking a nap instead of tearing up the house for a couple hours.
"This is Torchwood," Jack said.
"What's that?"
"We catch aliens."
"Aliens? What do you do with them?"
"Try to help them get home," Jack said. "Like in ET."
"I didn't care for that film," the boy frowned.
"Really? It was pretty popular with kids, wasn't it?"
"I thought it was a bit silly. I don't think real aliens are like that. It was a bit sad as well."
"Some aliens are nice. They aren't all scary."
"Who are you, please?"
Jack couldn't help grinning. The kid was thoroughly disarming. "Captain Jack Harkness," he replied, standing a bit straighter.
"Are you a policeman?"
"I guess I'm a sort of an alien policeman. Where are you from?" Jack asked, trying to get the conversation back to the kid… Jones or whatever.
"Cardiff, sir. Where are you from?"
'Ok,' Jack thought, 'I'll play.' "I'm from outer space."
The kid frowned a bit. "Really, where?"
"Really. Far away, and in the future. I come from a place called Boeshane."
"Does that mean you're an alien?"
"Kind of. I'm a person, but I happen to be an alien, sort of."
"Did they catch you, then, here?"
"Yeah," Jack said, nodding. He hadn't thought of it that way before, but it was pretty accurate.
"Are you sad, being caught here?"
"Do I look sad?" Jack asked with a smirk.
The kid looked at him for a moment and said, "A bit."
That stopped Jack and he considered his earlier question about whether the kid saw things other people didn't. "I do lots of important things here, and I have a lot of fun, too. I get to help aliens and people."
"Because you are an alien, and a person. But you're still a bit sad, sir," the kid said.
"Maybe sometimes I miss my friends," Jack said. "Hey, you should probably be getting home, somebody's going to be missing you, too, I'm sure."
"I don't think so. They'll just be angry with me."
"They'll be scared you were missing, that's all. Come on, I'll take you back up where you were waiting, ok?"
"Can't I stay here?"
"I'm afraid not. You're not an alien. How about a bit of candy before you go?"
"Not meant to take candy from strangers," the boy frowned.
"This is safe, I promise," Jack said, handing him a child's dose retcon-laced red m&m.
The kid took the candy and considered it for a moment, before popping it in his mouth. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Jack said with a smile. "What did you say your name was again?"
"Jones, sir. Ianto Jones."
Jack led the kid out through the normal entrance that let out by the mudflats. The lad was almost asleep before they got in the elevator and Jack picked him up to carry him.
Up on the docks, Jack found a man shouting for his son and waved to him.
"He's fine, sound asleep though," Jack said, passing the kid to his father. "Not the best place to leave a kid on his own," Jack added.
"What do you know about it?" the man snarled. "Bloody Americans."
Jack just sighed and walked away, hating to leave that bright, inquisitive kid with someone of that disposition. At least now Jack had something to do on his day off – retrieve and edit the CCTV tapes before the rest of the crew got back the next day.
