A/N – This is a fanfiction that I came up with last year and I figured that now was probably a good time to start uploading it. This is the only chapter I have fully written and edited so it may take a while for me to upload the next couple of chapters. In this fanfic Ianto didn't die in Children of Earth so he and Jack are together.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood those are owned, thankfully, by the BBC.
He'd left her stranded in the middle of London with their 6 month old daughter; the Doctor had changed that was for sure. The Doctor that Grace Hallworth had known for the past three years wouldn't have done this to her. He'd promised he'd be right back and that was two hours before, so out of worry Grace had gone back to the corner of Regent Street where they'd ended up to look for the TARDIS: it wasn't where they'd landed. So she was stranded in one of the busiest cities in the world with her daughter asleep in her pram, oblivious to her mother's desperation, and she began to rummage through her handbag searching for her mobile phone. When she eventually found it she went through the possible people she could phone; Martha was in New York so that was pointless, Gwen was probably busy and Clara was still on holiday in Paris; that only left Jack. On impulse she dialled her friend's mobile number and waited as she heard the dial tone.
"Grace, I wasn't expecting to hear from you," Jack exclaimed somewhat shocked by the phone call.
"Hi Jack," she said before blubbering about her entire situation.
"Calm down Grace and explain it to me in English," he told her in as soothing a tone as the ex-time agent could manage.
"He left Olivia and I stranded in the middle of London!" Grace cried as the tears stung her eyes.
"Who did?" Jack asked, confused. The only person it could be was the Doctor but he didn't want to believe it, the man he'd known would never do such a thing.
"The D-doctor," she cried allowing her voice to waver.
"Okay do you have any money with you?" he asked, knowing exactly what she needed.
Grace rummaged through her handbag, trying to locate her purse, once she found it she once again burst into tears as she saw a picture of her then happy family. She quickly attempted to gather her emotions together so that she could make sense of whatever else was in there. She found the Doctor's Visa card and smiled "I-I've not got any cash but I have my visa card with me," she told him hopefully
"Okay I want you to go to the nearest train station and get on a train to Cardiff, I'll pick you up and you and Olivia can stay with Ianto and I until you get back on your feet," Jack told her, he wanted to make up for his friend's pitfall and this seemed like the best way to make up for it.
"Thank you," Grace told her friend feeling a little bit more reassured by her friend's offer. She hung up the phone and walked to Piccadilly Circus and got the tube to Charing Cross Station where she was greeted at the ticket office by a relatively kind ticket officer "One adult ticket to Cardiff Central please, and how much would it be to take my baby with me?" she said, tears stinging her eyes.
"Will that be first class or standard ma'am?"
"Screw it first class," Grace said, knowing that she wanted the Doctor to have the fright of his life when he was forced to pay the rather large Visa bill she'd already racked up at a later date.
"Ok that's forty-four pounds fifty ma'am," the kind man told her.
Grace handed over her visa card, punched in the pin number, gladly took the tickets and proceeded to Platform5. Once she'd sat in her seat on the train she made sure that Olivia was comfortable in her pram and allowed her head to rest in her hands as she sobbed. "Mind if I sit here?" she heard a familiar Welsh accent and flicked her head around to see Ianto Jones.
"Ianto, is that you?" Grace asked unable to believe her eyes.
"Yeah I was in London on Torchwood business and I was supposed to stay the night but Jack called me and told me to get the train to Cardiff after he'd explained your situation, is this Olivia?" he told her concernedly.
"Oh Ianto it was awful, one minute we were having fish and chips and then he said that he needed to go back to the TARDIS to get something and then I waited for two hours in that damned restaurant, so I went to where we parked the TARDIS and it wasn't there, he left me Ianto, I mean I don't know what on earth I did wrong, I've tried to figure it out, I really have, we were always happy and the only thing I can think to do is to blame myself," she rambled before bursting into tears.
Ianto pulled his friend close to him and said "You have done nothing wrong, it is the Doctor's fault, he made the mistake of leaving you and I know you, he'll come back eventually and you'll make him wish he never left you, Grace promise me that you will never blame yourself for his idiocy ever again," he saw the pain in her eyes "Will you promise me that much?"
"I promise," she sighed half-heartedly. They sat on the train for the next three and a half hours until they pulled into Cardiff Central Station and when she got off the train, in order to pull the front of the pram whilst Ianto pushed it, she saw Jack and Gwen and smiled. She was glad that she had such good friends and it was the first thing that had made her smile since seeing that the Doctor had left her.
Seeing her dear friend, Gwen walked over and hugged the unusually fragile young woman. The two had met a few years before in normal time but it had only been a year and the pair had become fast friends sharing pregnancy stories and pictures of their children who in reality only had about a year age gap. "How are you?" Gwen found herself asking.
"Shocked I guess, I think I've cried all of the tears I'm ever going to be able to," Grace replied numbly.
"If Rhys did that down I'd hunt him down and castrate him," Gwen told her earning a slight laugh from her friend.
"It's tempting but that means getting myself a TARDIS," Grace said sullenly.
They got into Jack's Black 4 wheel drive and drove to the house he and Ianto now owned; it was a typical brick and tile house from the outside similar to the ones that covered the entirety of Britain but once they were inside, Grace noticed how different it was from other houses, the lounge was covered in paraphernalia which was quite obviously alien but looked quite lovely considering. It was as she was led into her room that Grace realised that she and Olivia had no clothes and she once again cursed the Doctor for having left her stranded. Before she could even announce such a fact Gwen came to her rescue "I grabbed some clothes for you and Olivia, I figured that given the situation you probably wouldn't have any other than the ones you were wearing, we can go shopping tomorrow"
"Thanks Gwen," Grace said with a slight smile.
"And before you even think of attempting to get a job in this economy I've arranged for you to work for Torchwood, you can start whenever you feel ready," Jack told her and at that point Grace walked up to her friend and gave him a big massive hug.
If there was one thing Grace needed at that point it was a job, something that would keep her mind off her current situation it was Torchwood work "I'll start on Monday if that's okay with you," she told him as she released him from the hug.
"Are you sure?" Ianto asked nothing but concern in his voice.
"I'm not a porcelain doll for god's sake! I'm just going through a bad break-up is all. The sooner I get back to normal the better and currently my version of normal is exactly what I'd be doing at Torchwood, so yeah I am sure, okay guys?" Grace exclaimed out of desperation, she'd never appeared fragile or breakable a day in her life until now and she certainly wasn't going to allow this one day of heartbreak to cause a full on slip up on that score.
"Okay, we'll order in Chinese for dinner then? Your order's still Chinese Spare Ribs, Prawn Crackers, Pork in Plum Sauce and Chicken and Sweet corn Soup I take it?" Ianto asked.
"Yes, thank you guys for everything," Grace said allowing her mouth to curve into a sweet little half smile.
A/N – Just another little note from me, I know what you're all probably thinking "The Doctor probably wouldn't do this to anyone," but I promise you he did leave Grace and Olivia where they were for a very good reason which I'm sure you'll all either love or hate me for.