Disclaimer: Anything that looks familiar isn't mine.


5:49 am

Gwen inhaled deeply as soon as she lay down. Her pillow smelled like lavender. The scent washed over her and she smiled. Rhys must have changed soaps, knowing lavender was her favorite.

She opened her eyes. Rhys' mouth was open and there was a wet patch spreading on the pillow just below his lip. His short hair stuck up at odd angles, as it often did when he tossed and turned at night. Suddenly overwhelmed with tender sympathy and fondness, Gwen reached out a hand and smoothed his hair down. Rhys wrinkled his nose a tad and snorted as his eyes slowly opened.

"Gwennie?" he whispered, still half asleep.

"Hey, you big lump."

Gwen felt his hand grasp her hip and pull her closer. "When'd you get in, then?" he asked her, his voice surprisingly void of the accusatory tone she would have expected.

"Only a few minutes."

His face fell as she saw him glance at the clock over her shoulder. "When are they gonna let you take a holiday?" he asked grumpily. She smiled, continuing her ministrations through his hair.

"Soon, love. I promise."

Guilt seemed to tap her on the shoulder; ithat's/i another promise to be broken. She was lucky to have him at all; working at Torchwood tended to abolish any hope of a normal life. She only wondered how much longer she would be able to hold onto him. Or how much longer he would be able to hold onto her.

5:45 pm

"Jack, come in here a moment?"

Gwen having called in sick and Ianto expecting a pizza upstairs, the hub was quiet with only three team members in today. Looking up from the paperwork from UNIT that he was skimming, Jack glanced out at Toshiko. She was holding up a small device, about four inches long, metal with a blue tip and buttons around what seemed like the handle.

At her side in an instant, he grabbed it. He clutched it at eye level, gazing at it was like he was witnessing someone who had awoken from death.

"What, have you seen it before?" Tosh asked, turning back to her computer which had just completed analyzing the results of the scan of the object. "Came through the rift this morning. Made of some kind of metalloid-"

"Where did you find it?" Jack interrupted harshly. Tosh shrunk slightly under his piercing look and the hardness in his voice.

"Just outside, funnily enough," she muttered, feeling as though she were being accused of having stolen it. "It was just lying on the ground." She returned to her computer. "It seems to be able to-"

"I know what it does," Jack said quickly, hurrying back into his office.

Bewildered, Tosh considered for a moment whether or not to press him about it. She found it and she wanted to know what it was, exactly. And how Jack knew about it. It could use sound waves to apply physical force on an object, could detect radiation, and a number of other things. It was unlike anything she'd seen on Earth or beyond. And she'd seen plenty. She found it magnificent.

Tosh glanced to where Owen was sitting, a miniature telescope under his nose and his fingers twiddling the dial on the side. "Don't bother," he said, without looking up. "If it's something from his past, he's not gonna talk about it. 'Specially not to you."

Stung, although unsurprised, Tosh turned away from him. Typical Owen. Typical, scathing, painfully honest Owen. "Like he tells you anything more," she whispered, half hoping he would hear her.

"What's that, Toshie?" Owen's voice hit her right between the shoulder blades. The nickname was anything but endearing. She stiffened, suddenly wracked with nerves at the possibility of confrontation.

"Nothing," she said innocently, smiling at him over her shoulder. And to her surprise, he dismissed it, resuming the study of his specimen, forgetting. Tosh grinned warmly to herself, savoring her own secret little triumph.

6:00 pm

"Martha, its Jack. I found his screwdriver. The sonic-screwdriver. It came through the rift into Cardiff."

There was a pause.

"I- I don't know what this means. See if you can contact him. Anything. Just… just call me back and give me some good news?"

The suggestion sounded overly-hopeful. Faux-casual.

"Uh, hope you're well."

Martha Jones knew at once that something was wrong. For one, Jack always greeted her with a large and unnecessary "Martha Jones!" There was always so much exuberance in his voice, or else the unmistakable sense of drama and danger if it was bad news. Martha had never heard her old friend sound so worn. So worried. And on top of the news he presented, it was probably one of the worst messages she'd ever gotten.

After dialing her old mobile number, Martha crossed to the large window in her office. She looked up at the half-moon that hung in the sky like a glow-in-the-dark Christmas ornament and almost smiled as she remembered that that was where she first met him. But the frown remained plastered on her face as the phone just rang and rang.

He would have the phone on board; sitting right on the main console in case she could call. She could just see him now; jumping at the chance to answer it.

Right?

Martha ended the call and braced herself against the windowsill. For all she knew, he could be out on another adventure. Out in some wonderful time period, meeting amazing people. Or off on some distant planet, sprinting down corridors away from dangerous aliens. She smiled now. She wouldn't call Jack back just yet, but she would try the call again tomorrow.

6:36 pm

It was back. Twice as strong as the first time.

So, the Jack was back in the SUV, the excitement from the first time having diminished. He'd told Owen and Tosh to stay at the hub. He had gone over with Ianto that morning, only to find no one home. He figured the source would disappear AGAIN once he arrived, but he had to check it out.

And he knocked this time.

He was surprised when Abigail answered the door. She was tall and thin, straggly ginger hair; plain looking, except for a light scar across her forehead. Her eyes held a level of sadness and defeat that didn't suit her youth, although she's witnessed more than she would have preferred to.

"Torch-"

"Torchwood, I know," she said with a shadow of a smile, not even looking as Jack pulled out his badge.

"It's gone again, Jack," came Tosh's voice from his earpiece. Jack's heart sank.

"You know… I think I've dreamt about you lot."

"S-Sorry?" Jack sputtered, this news taking his mind momentarily away from their mysterious alien Houdini.

"Yes, just a few moments ago," she said, handing him a cup of tea. They were seated in the Sanderson's living room and Abigail had insisted on making him a drink. "I'd just gotten home from work and I was taking a nap. Strange dreams I've been having lately…"

"What about?" Jack asked, not touching his tea.

Abigail frowned. Her gaze fixed on something out of the window and she seemed to be struggling. "I don't remember now," she breathed. "They're always like this. I forget so quickly after I wake up."

"It's okay," Jack said at once, leaning forward in her direction. She seemed troubled and he attempted to utilize that old Harkness charm to alleviate whatever it was that was unsettling her. "Why don't you just tell me about you."

Abigail didn't redirect her attention from outside, but spoke. "I'm going to University. Studying internal medicine. Working in a shop so I can move out of my mums' place. That's it, really. That's all there is to me." She looked at Jack and smiled sadly.

"What about your mom?" he asked, trying to keep her going. Whatever was going on in the house seemed to be somehow connected with her. It was one of those gut feelings, devoid of any form of evidence or support that would persuade the others. But Jack knew this girl was important. Harmless, but in some way linked.

"She works as a receptionist at Tardis Gallifrey, down on Main."

"What?"

Abigail blinked at him. "Trades Gallery. It's on Main Street."

"Oh." It must have been his concern about his former companion that tricked his ears. But his heart beating a frantic tattoo against his ribcage said otherwise. He could have isworn/i…

"My mate's in the police," Abigail said suddenly. "She told me about Torchwood. How you swoop in whenever something weird is going on and solve it all. 'Special operatives' she said." Life suddenly returned to Abigail's eyes and it was like she had been set on fire. "What kind of weird things do you find?"

Jack stared at her; that gut-instinct stronger than ever and her words pulled the truth out of him. "Alien things," he said, and he began to explain everything to her. The rift, Torchwood, all the things they find and the one curious source that they were hunting at the moment. She drank in his words hungrily, listening eagerly. The delight that covered her face seemed oddly, scarily, familiar.