I woke up to a buzzing sound in my mind. The buzzing of thoughts that weren't mine, it was a little unnerving since it meant our shields had fallen down in our sleep again. I'm pretty sure that had never happened since we were babies, back before Alex blocked everyone from everything after her first ordeal with Torchwood One. it seems lately in the past two weeks Alex's telepathy was getting stronger which was odd considering while our link was stronger from our separation we still managed to keep our shields up in our sleep.

I hope Alex didn't wander into my dream last night or verse visa....that would be humiliating, last time Alex had accidentally stumbled into my dreams I was having my very first wet dream. It suffices to say that we made sure our link was firmly blocked in our sleep. Groaning I rolled out of bed and rubbed my eyes, Gwen didn't even stir, she was a very deep sleeper my Gwen...once she actually got to sleep that is.

I sent a mental message to my darling sister who was still buzzing in the back of my mind.

Hello Twin. Could you quieten the thoughts, you're buzzing loudly.

I could feel her grin and suddenly I was compelled to grin along with her, she was like that all the time, pure sunshine that makes you smile. Just like Dad, he'll make anyone smile and laugh over the most random things. Partly why he makes loyal friends.

Hello back atcha babe, no promises on the quietening. I'm constantly thinking you know that. See you soon at work.

I sent a mental groan at her and caused her to chuckle through our link before the block came into place, giving me proper peace at last. Getting up, I ran a hand through my hair and yawned, I disliked this part of my age. According to my biology despite my adult body I am still a child and need more sleep, I'm envious of Dad who gets to read so much and see so much because he had no need to sleep all the time. I can just imagine all the paperwork I can get done if I didn't need to sleep like a human all the time. I wandered out into the kitchen, the cold lineal flooring cooled down my feet, sleeping beside Gwen was always like sleeping with a hot water bottle and as much as I love her it's still extremely uncomfortable in the summer.

While I was waiting for the kettle to boil I helped myself to the bananas. I adore bananas, full of potassium yet so tasty, Mum used to laugh and roll her eyes while telling me I was just like Dad. I loved it when she told me I was like Dad, no one really ever does since I'm so quiet and reserved compared to everyone else in my family. Well someone needs to be the stable one with Alex's wild visions, Aunt Donna's temper, Mum's emotional fragility and Uncle Jack being a walking pheromone.

I was probably on my fourth banana when Gwen wandered in, dressing gown covering her small black nightie and delicate pale skin. She was truly beautiful and I do not mean just physically, she was the most compassionate woman I have met more so than Mum and Aunt Donna and Gran who were the three most compassionate women I have known. Gwen's green eyes were always brimming with tears for every sob story from abused children to orphaned kittens to the poor homeless bum who's begging for enough change for a coffee. She feels for all and I love her for it.

"You do realise that I'm not buying anymore bananas until our weekly shop" she said calmly accepting the cup of coffee I wordlessly handed to her.

"I have a feeling I won't have a chance to eat them" I said calmly. "It's too nice out for it to just be a boring day. I don't believe in those clichés where everything has to be stormy and dark"

"It was a dark and stormy night when I first met you" Gwen teased.

"Oh but you're a walking cliché" I said pulling her in for a good morning kiss, she pulled away the last minute and grinned up at me.

"Is that so?"

"Oh yes, it's a cliché to be so gorgeous that people think angels have carved your face. It's a cliché to be so kind that you make Father Christmas look mean and yet be so good in the bedroom you probably beat Jack" Gwen had an amusing red flush in her cheeks, I embarrassed her with my compliments, serve her right for not giving me my kiss."And you're so much of a danger magnet that it's unbelievable" I added quickly, ducking down and pressing my lips firmly against hers before leaving the kitchen whistling with my cup of tea.

It took a while for Gwen to realise what I had just said. While my Gwen is beautiful, compassionate and quite humorous, despite her fast wit and thinking, she's not actually the brightest bulb.

"Hey, what do mean a danger magnet?!"

I chuckled before closing the bedroom door to get dressed.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"Hold on, I need to get some money out just in case" Gwen said pausing on the high street where there was an empty cashier machine.

With our work at Torchwood it is always best to be prepared for anything. If we have some cash on us now we might be able to buy emergency supplies or pay off a witness. You never know with Torchwood, one day it'll be boring as hell with paperwork and the next day the world almost ended and Uncle Jack had died at least a thousand times. I leaned against the cool brick of the wall while Gwen took the needed money out, I didn't feel the need to take any out myself, I saved thousands up in the short years of working in Torchwood – mostly because Uncle Jack my godfather was paying for the rent of my flat, I'm not sure why, probably just Uncle Jack being his usual generous self – and I felt if the world ended that money would be worthless in survival. It's not money you need in emergencies but skill and I'm pretty sure I could become a good shoplifter if I tried.

But the need to shoplift has never come up.

It was the school rush and I've seen many children walk by in various school uniforms. I pitied them; they probably hated it and won't see its worth until it was too late. I hated school with a passion that rivalled Alex Rose's hatred for everything. The children were vicious bullies who were envious of mine and Alex Rose's intelligence, there was nothing that we didn't know in the school curriculum and we had been moved up years beyond our actual age. I finished a university degree at the age of seventeen though I admit I did it online since by that time none of my parents would let me out of their sight. I missed out on all of the socialising and confidence I could have gained in university and I envy those who can go out and make thousands of friends. I have very little and even then I'm not close to them.

My best friend will always be Alexandra Rose Jacqueline Tyler but I can't say the same for her. my sister was always more confident and outgoing than I'll ever be, she had more chances I think or she had so much charisma that she just attracts people like a flower attracts bees.

It took me a while to realise that the child in front of me has been there for over a minute now. Completely frozen, not a single muscle twitched under the strain, I, a Galifreyan, had more control over my body at that age and even I could not help but fidget while playing dead. I reached out and touched the child's shoulder, he didn't even flinch.

"Jay" Gwen breathed her name for me; an even shorter version of my nickname if that was possible. "What's happening?"

"I don't know" I said frowning as I examined the little boy in front of me. "He's just....frozen" I moved my finger back and forth, his eyes didn't follow. "Everything is just frozen in time, even his mind"

And then the child blinked. "Excuse me sir, I need to go to school" he said politely, I backed away and he ran off.

"That was creepy" Gwen muttered.

"I think we need to go to work now Gwen" I said taking her hand into mine and dragging her down the street.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

We bumped into Owen and Tosh as we headed to the information desk that hid our secret underground base. Not that it was that much of a secret; the local workers in this area have seen us duck in and not come out for hours for years. They know there is something hidden and they known Torchwood exist but they just pretend not to know. Humans like to block things out that don't make sense to them; they've been doing it for years. Which is a shame really since they could have made an alliance with an alien race at least a century ago.

"Did you see the children?" Tosh asked with her usual timidity. I enjoyed Toshiko Sato's company, she was a good friend and often makes wonderful conversation but she was quite shy compared to everyone including me though she's gotten more confident with her slowly blossoming relationship with Owen. Our local twat. "Owen almost ran some of them over on our way here"

I was tempted to make a teasing remark about Tosh and Owen waking up together but once again my confidence failed me. I was not comfortable enough with Tosh and Owen to make such remarks, I admire Owen for his medical knowledge and courage in battle, he shall always be the man who saved my sister when she was sixteen and terrified to me. But I find Owen far too sarcastic and prickly and whining to be true friends with him, my sister has made a strong friendship with him but I cannot.

He's really too annoying really.

I opened up the cog door and we began to walk down the dark tunnel as Owen began to complain about the children. "Honestly, I could have killed one of those brats if I hadn't pressed on the brakes in time. What the hell are they thinking? Is it some new fad, to try and get killed and annoy all adults? I swear if it happens again I shall strangle the brat that dares stand in the middle of the road"

"Owen, do us all a favour and shut up" Gwen said tiredly. "Some of us haven't had our morning coffee and wouldn't mind strangling you" I know that was a lie, Gwen had a morning coffee but Owen's whining was annoying to her as it was to me. She would need one of Ianto's ultra-fantastic brews to keep her going through the morning. Otherwise she might murder Owen before lunch.

"Yes Owen, please be quiet" Tosh said quietly. "There was obviously something unnatural about this and we need to start researching it immediately"

At her workstation a blonde woman was waiting impatiently for her computer to load up, I smiled fondly. "I believe Alex is ahead of you there, Tosh" I said.

Alex met my eye and we grinned at one another. It's been six months but I still couldn't believe she was back – and blonde! We looked like proper twins now, matching eyes and freckles, though she'll always be smaller than me and her blonde hair probably came from Mum or Dad's other incarnations, we're not sure, our younger sister Jenny looks the splitting image of Dad's fifth body, so it's possible.

"Hello Little Brother" she said cheerfully.

Inwardly I flinched. I hated it when she called me that, ever since she woke up from her surgery that is what she calls me at times. She won't admit it but I was the eldest, I have always been the eldest, she was my little sister. Even if technically she's probably thirty two or so while I'm still twenty two, I was born first and she is my little sister. Instead of wording this dislike I merely kept grinning and replied. "Hello Alex"

"Heya Kid, looking up on the brats? Where's lover-boy, I need my coffee" Owen said turning his computer on and sitting back in his chair.

"Lover-boy is making your coffee" Ianto said coolly passing coffee to everyone, we all murmured our thanks as we headed to our workstations. "Jack has gone to St Helen's hospital; there's been another death by alien that he needs to sort out"

Tosh was rapidly typing; she had the fastest computer in the Hub and worked faster than anyone when it came to searches. Also she had the better idea where to look than the rest of us.

"What have you got me?" Alex Rose asked.

"Seventeen traffic accidents reporting from across the country all occurred at 8:40:41, seventeen traffic accidents happening at the exact minute and all involving children" Tosh said immediately.

"All during the school run" Gwen mused. "Think it means something?"

"Most likely" Alex Rose said. "They're probably being controlled by a telepathic alien that's parked right on top of Britain, again. Why is it always our country that gets the aliens?"

"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"

"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"

"Bloody hell" Owen swore. "Is it possible for it to be a conspiracy?"

"I doubt it, who would want to scare people by making children not move?" Gwen said.

"The traffic safety people?" Ianto suggested causing all of us to snort.

"It's not a conspiracy" I said quietly. "Children would fidget and be unable to keep the act up if it was. That boy, he was frozen....as if time itself stopped just him and only him"

"Great just great" Alex muttered. "So we have some sort of powerful race of alien that's probably using blood control or something orbiting the planet and controlling the children, how are we going to solve it?"

Everyone sat there in silence, all in thought. I, myself, was wondering what we could do. I had no experience in something so large and subtle like this and I was the subtle twin. Often when Earth is about to be invaded they're so....aggressive and forward that we could easily take them out and celebrate with pizza. The last time we had a subtle attack was probably the Sontarans, they wanted to make our planet into a breeding ground for them....Alex Rose almost died at that time....she almost burnt to a crisp with no possibility of regenerating if it wasn't for Rattigan, boy genius who had actually been part of the cause of the mess in the first place. I rather he died than my sister but it was still a loss of a wonderful life. My depressive musings were cut of short when the cog door opened up once more and my godfather entered the room with his usual confidence.

"Something has happened with the children" Ianto said reporting to Uncle Jack immediately.

"Well I want you to do a check on St Helen's Hospital, more specifically the morgue" Uncle Jack said shrugging his coat off, he leant down and kissed my forehead before moving to Alex Rose and giving her a hello kiss. Uncle Jack was the only parent left on Earth right now, Mum and Dad are travelling with each other in time and space and Aunt Donna is camping out in the 51st century under the impression that her name was River Song.

"Well do it yourself, the world's about to be invaded again I think that's more important than a couple rotting bodies" Alex retorted. "Tosh will catch you up but I think we might need to call Mum and Dad in for this"

The room was silent. Everyone had met Mum and Dad at several points, Owen had even flirted with Mum in the early days before Uncle Jack had threatened him off. Mum was capable of fighting off the next weevil as anyone in this room, her immortality had given her the advantage that only Uncle Jack had and she was fierce as anything when it came to protecting her children, the mother wolf protecting her cubs. The Bad Wolf in its golden glory. Dad was something else all together; he was everything, fire, ice, rage, immortality and the most powerful electric current all in one body. The Oncoming Storm. I think Dad intimidates everyone but me, Alex and Uncle Jack. I know Ianto had been warned by Dad himself to never hurt Alex.

But the thing is, if Alex Rose who can save the world single handily if she wanted to, believed she needs the Doctor and Rose to help with this case....then it's bad. It's more than bad it means the next few days will be chaos and destruction all rolled into one. We might die.

I suddenly had a feeling of death breathing down my neck.

"I don't think we do" Uncle Jack said lightly. "We could call Martha or Mickey to help out. We're going to need backup and some UNIT insider to feed us some info"

"Oh no" Gwen said sternly. "We are not going to interrupt them. They're on their honeymoon, remember?"

Vaguely. It was all unexpected if you ask me, they had only known each other for what a year? And not been in each other's company until six months ago but all of a sudden they got married (we were invited, so was Mum and Dad but they didn't turn up) at a registry office last week and left for two weeks in the canary islands for some sun, sex and sea.

"Well then" Uncle Jack said cheerfully. "Just us seven then"

Suddenly, the breath of death against my neck and turned into a complete sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. We're going to die. I just know it.