Chapter 1: Fallen Through the Rift

The team was glad that the Rift was quiet for a long time. Especially since the last big incident with the death of Ed Morgan. It had been several days before, until the alarm rang out.

Jack stepped out of his office and asked Tosh, "What is it this time?"

He really hoped that it was only some non-dangerous tech that fell through the Rift.

Tosh looked at him, realizing what he was thinking. She spoke as the others came up to her desk. There was Rift activity along the waterfront, strangely right in front of the hub.

"Is it a living thing?" Owen asked, he was still exhausted from the entire mess. And slightly guilty from the last incident too.

"I think so. But I cannot be sure since there's only people on the camera."

And the team saw that there was indeed only people.

"Wait!" Gwen said, and pointed to a figure with black hair, who was looking around the area.

"Is it her? She's acting like a lost person."

The girl was looking around a little too much like she was panicking.

"I got this. Ianto, prepare some coffee please." Jack said.

Ianto then asked, "retcon?"

Jack shook his head. He didn't want to risk it. If this person was just a normal citizen, they completely missed what fell through the rift.

Jack stepped out of the tourist office and stepped behind the girl. He could see her almost start to panic a little too much.

"Hello. You look a little lost. Do you need help?" He asked.

Interestingly though, he saw the girl freeze. He would have laughed if it wasn't for her facial expression when she turned around.

"No way." She muttered. The girl began stepping back, as if to run away from Jack.

Confused, Jack just held out his hand to calm her down.

"Now there's no need to panic. I'm a nice guy, I promise. Captain Jack-"

"Harkness" The girl finished.

That definitely caught Jack's attention.

He stood up a little straighter, giving her a wary look.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

The girl rubbed her eyes as if in she was not believing she was really seeing the man.

"You're not real." She replied.

Jack gave her a confused look, and smiled a little. "No sweetheart, I'm real. All flesh and blood. If you want to find out-"

"No thanks." She replied quickly.

Jack laughed a bit too. The girl was funny.

Then he asked her, "are you really lost, or are you stalking me?"

The girl looked confused, her mouth open, making her look like a fish. For a minute, that was all she did and then she slowly closed her mouth. It was as if she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if she could say it.

"Uh, I'm really lost. I was back home near Seattle, going back home, and then I found myself here. I know this is Cardiff. I could explain that a little later, but… I don't know if I just fainted and this is all a wishful dream or not."

Jack looked at her. Either she was lying, or she was a victim of the Rift. Another victim. He sighed, and looked at her again. She seemed fine, she wasn't traumatized or anything. He then spoke to the team,

"get ready for a guest."

The girl looked up in surprise. "Are you going to retcon me?!" She blurted out. She quickly covered her mouth in surprise.

Jack looked down at her, narrowing his eyes.

"How do you know about retcon?" He asked.

"I can explain that a bit." She caught the suspicious look from the man and immediately explained.

"Ok, I know because I might be from a different universe. Unless this is a dream or if this is a horrible prank pulled on me. I can explain the details a little bit, but I'll hand you my ID and my phone, and my-" The girl said quickly, grabbing things from her backpack and getting ready to hand them over to Jack.

He laughed again. This girl was a little too innocent. Or at least he hoped.

He just motioned her to go towards the tourist office, which she did, without asking for directions. She then proceeded to go down to the Hub as if she knew all about it. Jack was confused, hoping that the girl would be telling the truth.

"Tosh! I need you to come over for a minute. Find out if she really fell through the Rift."

The lady came up to the girl and introduced herself.

"Hello, I'm-"

"Toshiko Sato!" The girl exclaimed. Once again, the girl covered her mouth. But Jack saw the glimpse of extreme joy in the girl's eyes.

Toshiko looked surprised for a bit, before scanning the girl for any signs of the Rift. Sure enough, the girl was covered with the energy that came with falling through it.

Toshiko looked up at her boss and nodded.

Jack then proceeded to say, "Well, mysterious young lady, you did seem to have fallen through the Rift."

The girl looked back at him with doubt. Jack saw that face before, the face that followed with devastation.

"Ok…. So you're saying that you" as she pointed to Jack, "and you," as she pointed to Tosh, "and him" as she pointed to Ianto who was bringing her coffee, "are real? Torchwood is real? The Doctor is real?"

Jack looked at the girl again in shock.

"How do you know about him?" He asked, almost angry that she knew something about the Time Lord. She may be human, but if she was a threat, he wouldn't hesitate.

She got the hint, and gulped. She looked down at her hands and started fidgeting a bit. If the team found out the real reason, she wasn't sure if she could deal with what followed. The responsibility that left her with.

"Uh… if I really fell through the Rift, then I'm from a parallel world. A parallel world where you guys are fictional characters from a television show." She quickly and quietly muttered.

Tosh froze and looked at the girl.

And of all times, Gwen and Owen chose that time to come up.

"So who is our mysterious guest?" Gwen asked.

The girl looked up and saw the two. With Gwen, a look of admiration appeared. Upon looking at Owen, Jack saw a rather complicated face. He couldn't read it since her poker face came up and a large, embarrassed smile was plastered on it. He knew that she wasn't sure whether she should speak in front of the team when she looked at him.

"We'd better talk at my office." Jack said, moving towards it.

They all saw the girl follow along with Ianto. He handed her the coffee he made, and she grimaced a little bit.

"Thank you Ianto." She said and smiled again. Ianto looked surprised a little bit, but then he returned to his polite self.

"Is there a certain way you would prefer it to be?" He asked politely.

"You caught me." She giggled.

"If it's alright, can I get two sugars and a lot of cream please?" She asked, almost a little too excited.

If it really was an alternative universe, she would finally be able to taste the famous coffee Ianto brew.

"Of course" and he went out to fix the coffee.

"So, I heard something about us being a television show?" Jack said, grabbing the girl's attention.

"Yeah… about that, I can prove it if you want. I can give facts about you that they don't know." She told him as she pointed towards the team.

"Why should I believe you?" He asked.

The girl blushed as she pulled out a lanyard that had "Torchwood" and "Doctor Who" written over it.

Jack looked up at her in shock. He then nodded for her to proceed.

"You are originally from the 51st century, you lost two years of your memory while working at the Time Agency. After that, all I know is that another person from the Agency is John Hart, and that you became a con man. Or at least was until you ran into Rose and the Doctor's 9th incarnation during World War II. Then Rose became the Bad Wolf and she gave you your immortality because she couldn't control her powers. Since then, you tried finding the Doctor, but your Vortex Manipulator gave out and you were stuck on Earth for over a hundred years."

Jack looked at her impressed. "Ok, so is "Doctor Who" referring to the Doctor?" He asked.

The girl nodded. "I didn't watch the episodes for his first seven incarnations. I know all their faces, their clothes, their mannerisms, but I wasn't able to get the full thing. Considering that the show started during the 1960s. I really only watched from his eighth incarnation. And even then, I don't know all of the eighth incarnation's story. It was still in the process of being published anyway."

She replied.

"Ok, then ID them for me." He said and pulled out their faces.

The girl noticed that the 11th incarnation and the 12th incarnation, along with the War Doctor, were missing.

She then pointed them out, in correct order, named the actors' names too, along with the year they played the role. Who their main companions were.

Although she did stop at Rose, Mickey, and Jack.

She looked up at the immortal man once she reached him. He noticed that she knew more than she spoke.

"You know his future? And ours?" He asked.

"Only the ones that aired. I don't know what happens between the big stuff that they air. You know, like you see a TV show, and suddenly in the next episode, 5 days have passed? It's kinda like that." She said.

"So, I believe you. I really do. But I still don't have your name." He said, as Ianto came in with the coffee.

She then smiled brightly and replied,

"Iris Kim. I'm 22-years-old, worked for a video game company for computer graphics, and other techy stuff. Female, obviously, uh…." She then looked up at Jack to see what else he needed.

The face she had was so innocent and lost that Jack laughed. She became very confused.

"So Iris, you came from a parallel universe through the rift, and know about our lives, and our potential futures?" He asked.

Iris nodded in reply.

Jack then leaned back into the chair and thought for a moment, then decided.

"How would you like to work here?" He asked her.

Iris almost spit the coffee that was in her mouth out of shock. She looked at Jack as if he was serious. The fangirl in her was screaming in joy, but the more, calm side of her was turning wheels, thinking about all the dangers. Eventually the fangirl won over, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes please!" She said with joy.

Jack laughed a little. But then he stopped when she became a little too serious.

"When is this?"

"Excuse me?" He asked in response. He wasn't sure what Iris was asking.

"What was the last big case you guys had?" She asked specifically.

"Ed Morgan, a tech that let's you see-"

"Ghosts." She muttered out loud.

Jack looked at her, and asked. "You know what happens after this don't you?"

She looked at him with a pained smile, "I know a lot that happens after this. It does stop at a certain point, so surely, one day, if I'm still here, I might run into a dead end of foresight and eventually be as clueless as all of you." She said quietly. She looked at the team with a wistful look.

Jack hoped that nothing too bad happened.

"Look, Iris, don't tell the team too much. Just tell them that we were fictional legends or something alright?"

"Like Robin Hood?" She asked while smirking. She knew he wouldn't get the reference, but she was trying her best not to laugh out loud.

"Yeah, something like that." Jack replied.

"Time to give you a tour!" He said and reached out for her hand.

She retracted a little bit from that.

"No touching me." She said while smirking and ran out the office excitedly.

"Fine." He said, raising his hands as if surrendering to her.

After the tour, Iris was given a new ID, official job at Torchwood as another Technologist, replacing what Suzie had left behind, and a room in the Hub to sleep in until she was able to find enough money and a flat to live in.

Iris grimaced at the fact that she had to stay in the Hub. She really did not want to get stuck here while Jack was in the hub a lot of the time. Nobody saw the wary look Ianto flashed while he passed by the team to go wash Iris's coffee cup. Her eyes trailed after his walking figure, knowing what was coming up. Once everything was settled and a lot of them left for the drinks, Iris was setting up her sleeping spot when she could not take the curiosity anymore and decided to go to her new desk.

That was when she saw Ianto and a Japanese man go in the direction where Lisa would be.

She sighed, knowing the presence of the cyber-woman in the Hub. She decided to follow Ianto and the man. Iris really hated the episode that took place, and felt terrible for Ianto's loss. If anything, she would help him a little bit, share the blame.