"Sage, come here!" John called out to me when I was just past halfway down the stairs. Hearing the panic in his voice and the machinery keeping Laura alive beeping madly, I opted to slide down the banister and run, jumping down into the medical area to find Laura fighting against the tube in her throat.

"I need to up the sedatives," I told John. "She can't breathe on her own yet; she just doesn't know it." I tweaked her IV drip and turned off the alarms. John was speaking to her soothingly when I turned back toward her, but she seemed only half-comforted and mostly confused. "Laura, this is John Hart," I told her. She'd only been semi-conscious when Jack had finally managed to pull her in during the world-wide panic of the ATMOS disaster. They hadn't actually met, but John had been taking care of her for most of that day and the night before. "He's a good friend of mine. Blink twice if you understand me, Laura." She did. "He's been taking care of you. Do you recognize his voice?" Twice again. "Good. He doesn't give this kind of attention to just anyone, so it'd be a pity if you'd missed the whole thing. Do you know what's happened to you?" She blinked once. "Do you remember the gas? The poison gas?" Yes. "You can't breathe on your own yet, so we've got you on a respirator. That's why there's a tube down your throat."

Doctor? she thought hard, aiming it at my mind. That was a good sign, her remembering that I'm psychic, trying to make herself heard.

"No, sweetheart, he's not a doctor. We haven't found a medic yet."

Martha left? she tried again.

"Yes, Martha left. UNIT called her in," I reminded her.

Is she okay? she asked.

"She's fine," I said, hoping it was true.

He know what he's doing? she sent into my head.

Yes, he does, I told her. "You're going to be just fine, Laura," I said out loud. "You're in good hands."

Thank you, she sent me, sounding weaker. The sedative was kicking in.

"Your Jedi Mind Tricks are sort of scary, Sage," John remarked, "but the way you flew from the second storey to here in no-point-two seconds... Brilliant. I've never known anyone who could move like you."

"No come-ons, sunshine," I teased him, kissing his forehead in a sisterly fashion, but feeling him inhale from the vicinity of my cleavage as I did so. "I'm a two-man gal," I quipped, moving away from him.

"Tease," he shot back, but he was amused, not angry. Thank goodness. John Hart was the last man in the Universe I wanted angry with me.


"I'm really sorry I kept things from you," I was telling Ianto, "and I'm even more sorry to be telling you in a storage closet. I couldn't risk it being on CCTV more than the once."

"I don't mind the storage closet, Sage," Ianto murmured, his lips brushing the cup of my ear. "It's good to have you completely to myself, even if only for a few minutes," he added, pulling my body flush against his so I could feel his erection. "I know I said we'd take it slow. I still want that. I just want you to know that I still want you."

"I appreciate the reminder," I said with a teasing smile, rubbing the side of his turgid penis with the heel of my left hand as I kissed him to catch his moan in my mouth. "Come on. We've got to go man the desk," I reminded him.

"I don't think I can walk straight," he admitted.

"Wait a couple of minutes, then," I told him. "I'll meet you there."


It had been less than five minutes since I'd set the sign to "Open" when someone came in carrying a black case. "Good afternoon," he said. "My name is Thomas Milligan. I'm looking for Martha Jones."

Shit! Martha's fiancée! She'd told me he didn't know about us, and yet here he was. "Who told you she might be here?" I inquired.

"Letitia Jones," he told me, "her sister. She said to ask for Jack Harkness at Tourist Information, across from the Millennium Centre in Cardiff."

"I'm Jack's sister," I fibbed. "Sage." I forgot and reached out with my injured hand. Luckily he stopped short before clasping it.

"You're hurt!" he gasped. "My God... They told me it was awful, but still... Sorry. I'm a doctor. I was in Africa, coming back, when the whole ATMOS thing happened. Frankly all I saw was the sky on fire."

"I'm sorry," I said. "Martha isn't here."

"But she was," Doctor Milligan said, turning my forearm over as he inspected my bandages. "You're wearing her perfume. The chocolate and orange one. Misfortune."

"She gave it to me," I told him, taking my hand back. "And it's Miss Fortune. Honestly, though, Doctor Milligan, Martha isn't here."

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you, Sage Smith?" he asked me, and I gasped. "You're not really Harkness's sister. Martha told me you're his girlfriend. And his," he gestured toward Ianto as he entered with two coffees, one of them my specially-made chocolate cappuccino with chocolate sprinkles. "Ianto Jones, right? Jones, no relation. She described you to a T. Carries coffee, gorgeous suits, kind eyes."

"W-who did?" Ianto stammered.

"Martha," Tom said simply.

"This is Thomas Milligan," I explained. "Martha's fiancée. Tish told him he might find her here."

"She left night before last," Ianto told him.

"Do you know where she is?" Dr Milligan pressed.

"Last we heard she was at work," Ianto lied.

"She said you were ad hoc, but this is outrageous," Tom further remarked, gesturing to the cramped information booth in which we stood. "Torchwood Three, right?" Ianto grimaced. "Please tell me where she is."

"She's with my father," I admitted.

"You're the Doctor's daughter?" Milligan inquired, finally surprised by something.

I nodded. "Martha will be fine. I'm sorry Tish didn't realise—"

"That was a lie, actually," he admitted. "I wanted to be sure who I was dealing with. Martha sent me an e-mail. Well, programmed an e-mail to be sent to me if she hadn't returned from Operation Blue Sky by today. There was a video attached and she explained about Torchwood Cardiff, who you were, what you do, and where I could find you. She said you'd need a medic if she wasn't back, and asked me to come here. I'm a paediatrician, but she said she thought I could handle it. So here I am."

I walked around the desk, past Ianto, and put my arms around Tom Milligan's shoulders. "I'm so glad you're here," I murmured. "We do need you, very much. You weren't even sure if she was still alive when you came here, were you." I felt him shake his head.

"Thomas Milligan?" Jack spoke up behind me. I moved out of the way. "Captain Jack Harkness."

Tom shook his hand. "I'm so sorry for your losses," he said. "Martha explained."

"I knew she was considering this option, but frankly I never expected her to go through with it," Jack admitted.

Now who's been keeping secrets? I shot into his mind.

Save it, Jack shot back. "Come on in," he told the young doctor, and that's how Tom Milligan came to meet Laura Harding. And John Hart.

"I'm sorry," Tom apologized upon their introduction. "I'm generally good with names, but I don't recall Martha mentioning you."

"We haven't met yet, actually," John said. "Just missed each other, like ships in the fog."

"Who set all this up?" he inquired, gesturing toward the medical equipment surrounding Laura.

"Sage and Ianto, mostly," Jack said. "Sage was a nurse, and Ianto... Well, he's Ianto. He can learn just about anything by watching someone, and he picked up a few things from our medic."

"Why are her sedatives set this high?" Tom asked, looking directly at me.

"She was trying to pull the tube out," I explained, blushing. Had I done something wrong?

"With this level of toxicity, it's amazing she's regained consciousness at all, never mind trying to get the tube out. She's absolutely not ready to be taken off the ventilator, and this is exactly the dosage I would have recommended," Dr Milligan stated. "Well done." He smiled at me, and I smiled back. Martha was right; he was very cute. "Did she recognize you?"

"She was coherent," I told him. He frowned, John chuckling from his seat next to the gurney. I can read minds, I sent into Tom's head, trying not to giggle when he stared at me wide-eyed. "Don't worry; I can't go into your head like it's a filing cabinet. You usually have to direct a thought at me for me to catch it, unless you're thinking very hard... Yes, I'm an alien," I answered the question he'd been forming in his mind, "but don't worry, I'm the good kind."

"Could I have a look at those stitches?" he gestured toward my arm. "You're bleeding." I dropped into the med bay, landing like a cat.

"Oh, Ianto, my coffee," I protested, remembering the treat I'd left behind. He smiled at me, part amusement and part melancholy, then went off to fetch our mugs. "I'm not so good at resting when I'm injured," I told Tom Milligan frankly as he began cutting away the gauze. "I guess I must have split the stitches."

"Probably when you rode the handrail earlier," John remarked. "Laura was choking," he explained when Tom gave him an odd look. "You're pretty," John said teasingly. "I like you."

"Johnny," I admonished, chuckling, "please behave."

"All right, but only because he's taken," he conceded. "Next pretty boy who walks in here, I call first dibs."

"What on Earth got you?" Tom asked me, staring at the deep scratches on my palm and the puncture wound in my wrist.

"A rose is a rose is a rose," I quipped. "Thorns."

"I'd have guessed razor wire," he said. "Still, you've only split two stitches, and this is excellent work. It shouldn't leave much of a scar... Who stitched you up? I know you were a nurse, but you're right-handed."

"Excellent observation," Jack put in. "We did," he pointed to John and himself. "We were soldiers. Picked things up along the way."

"Don't bother with the anaesthesia for just two," I told Tom as he was fishing for a hypodermic. "I didn't even feel them split," I admitted. "I don't feel pain the same way you do."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. Tattoos hurt worse than my arm does, and I've got two."

"Don't ever tell anyone I stitched up a patient with no anaesthesia. I'll never live it down," he said before puncturing my arm.

"You sound just like her," I chuckled. Just then Ianto came up beside me with my coffee. "Thank you, Ianto," I murmured, kissing him on the cheek.

"You drink your coffee like she does. Cappuccino with chocolate sprinkles," Tom noted.

"Mine has a secret weapon. There's a teaspoon of chocolate syrup in here," I said.

"Well, now it's not a secret," Tom pointed out.

"That's not the secret," I said enigmatically, then smiled at Ianto again.

"Oh," Thomas said, mildly amused, and more than a little touched. "Love." After he'd finished stitching my arm up and was putting on a fresh dressing, he said, "Martha told me to take special care of you, Sage Smith. She asked me to keep your secrets, all of them, whatever they may be." I was speechless. "She said she loves you like a sister." I smiled at him, trying to hold back the tears that had sprung to my eyes. "I'm sorry I made her feel bad about that perfume. Truth is, I just didn't like it on her. Suits you, though," he told me. "Done. I think your friend Laura is going to be receiving better care than any other ATMOS victim on the planet with friends like you," he said, and smiled at all of us, even John (who had just hit on him).

Thomas Milligan wasn't at all what I'd expected, He was so much more...

"Ianto," I said softly, "we should get back to work. Doctor Milligan, it's a pleasure to have you here."

"Tom," he said, "and the pleasure is mine. Unexpected, practically unbelievable, but a pleasure nonetheless."

I returned his smile, took the arm Ianto offered me, and made my way back up to floor level. Jack gave me an odd, inquiring look as I passed him, but he didn't ask whatever it was he wanted to know, vocally or otherwise.

Ianto and I spent a few hours together in the Tourist Information office, sitting in comfortable silence together, every so often indulging in a tender kiss. I was dozing against his shoulder when the other two people I was hoping would come finally arrived.