A/N: see chapter one for the disclaimer and fyi Lydia and Max are talking about the band 'Asia' and not the continent. review please!

The bar was full of people chatting away with their dates or the group they came in with, music playing in the background, the lighting just dim enough for all sorts of things to go unseen, and as Max made her way through the crowd towards the bar she couldn't help but think that this was a nice way to end their trip.

"You must be new to the area, 'cause I would've seen you here before."

Surprised to hear the American accent, Max looked to her side and saw the man next to her grinning. Shaking her head she replied, "Nope just here for one more night."

"Really?" the man stuck out hand while saying. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Maxine Wainwright." Max replied, returning the handshake. "Any relation to the Jack Harkness from World War Two?"

"Maybe, why?" Jack asked while raising an eyebrow, hardly anyone nowadays made the connection and when someone did they were mostly part of the older generation.

"I did my graduate paper on the British Military Infrastructure during the Blitz and mentioned how he was instrumental in training the Welsh division of the RAF."

"That's a mouthful, hope you didn't get tongue-tied when you had to present it."

Max shrugged, "Sort of, but that was mostly nerves. You never answered my question; any relation?"

"My grandfather. Are you here by yourself? I could buy you a drink and we could talk." Jack asked turning up the charm and deliberately steering away from the topic of "his" past.

"No thanks, already got some." Max said just as the bartender set the glasses filled with beer down in front of her.

"Aw, c'mon; what's the harm in one drink?"

Max raised an eyebrow at Jack's persistence and shook her head, "Sorry, my friends are waiting and I'm engaged." After speaking she picked up the items and then walked away from the bar, but smiling to herself as she did so; it had been awhile since someone had flirted with her and it felt good to know that it could still happen.

"Who was that?" Alex asked as Max carefully set the glasses down.

"Just some guy trying to pick me up." she replied sitting down.

Jack watched Maxine return to the table where her friends were and saw them laugh. Picking up the drinks his team had ordered, Jack weaved his way through the crowd and knew that they had been watching the entire exchange and that he'd never hear the end of it the rest of the night.

"Look who just got shot down." Owen smirked as Jack drew near.

"It's still early and she's got friends." Jack stated as he set the glasses down.

"...that's why he says that Asia is a death omen."

"But Asia is awesome." Lydia protested.

"Sure if you don't want to die." Max replied as another round of pints were set down on the table. They all looked up in confusion because they still had half of their second one left and hadn't ordered any more.

"From the guy over at the bar." The waitress said.

All four women looked over to that direction and saw Jack looking right at them, smiling. "You're kidding me." Lydia muttered as she stood and made her way towards him.

Jack watched Lydia make her way towards him and put on his most charming smile, the one that he knew always worked. "I see you got the glasses." He stated when she was near enough.

"Yeah we did. Why'd you send it over?"

Jack shrugged and leaned casually against the bar, "Didn't want you to have to stop the fun just because you needed a refill."

"What makes you think we were going to need a refill?"

"Seemed like the four of you were having quite a time."

"Well it is our last night here-"

"Last night, huh? Looks like you're really tearing up the town."

Lydia smirked, "That's later after we hit the strip club. It was a nice thing to do, but we're not interested and I'm sure that there are more girls in here that are dying to turn you down."

Jack just laughed, he loved nothing more than a girl with spunk; something this one had plenty of. "You're feisty."

"And you're a flirt." Lydia replied without batting an eye.

Jack grinned even wider and was about to suggest that both of their groups sit together when he saw Maxine and her other friends walking towards them.

"We hate to break up the thrilling conversation you two seem to be having but we need to go." Crysta said when they were closer to the pair. "You know early flight and all that."

"You never told me your name." Jack said as Lydia started to walk away from him.

Lydia paused and looked back at Jack before replying, "Lydia Winter. And yours?"

"Jack Harkness."

"Well, Jack Harkness, have a nice time getting turned down by girls the rest of the night." Lydia replied before walking away with Alex, Crysta and Max.

"He's cute."

"He's such a John Sheppard. I'd be surprised if they weren't somehow related." Lydia responded as they stepped out into the night.

Jack watched Lydia, Max, and their other two friends walk out and wondered what exactly they did. He'd have to ask Tosh to look them up tomorrow.

"What do you mean our flight's cancelled?!" Lydia asked Crysta as they stood by the terminal. They had made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and had gotten through security with little trouble but now it looked like all that waiting and standing in line was for nothing because of the fact that it looked like they weren't leaving as originally planned.

Crysta shrugged, "The only thing I could get out of them was that UNIT and Torchwood had the tower ground all flights and they have no idea when they'll start up again. And that was after showing my U.S. Government ID by the way."

Lydia closed her eyes while sighing, "Damn Torchwood, if I ever get to meet them then I can't insure that they'll have all their body parts when they leave."

Opening her eyes she saw that her three friends were staring at her. "So what do we do until then? I'm sure that all the hotels are booked by now and I do not want to stay in a hostel again…that one time was bad enough."

"We could try the one we were at, see if they had at least one room open." Alex offered up.

"Or we could try Heathrow; see if they have any flights before Thursday." Crysta suggested.

"And what if they don't? We're supposed to leave on Saturday and I highly doubt that we can get the Daedalus to swing by and pick us up." Lydia replied, while gently massaging her temple in an attempt to stave off the headache that she knew was starting to brew.

"I have a friend in London; maybe she could let us crash at her place if we can't get a flight here and have to wait for one in Heathrow." Max offered up. "Although I don't know if she's still at the same flat, it's been a few years since we've talked."

"Call her, at this point I'll take whatever we can get."

Max shrugged, pulled out her phone and looked up the number. Hitting 'send' she waited for the other end to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Martha? It's Max. I might need a favor…"

Jack sped down the road towards the airport and as he did half listened to what Tosh was telling them about the Trilobites. They had come through the Rift last night and the team had been racing since then to contain them. The "bastard Tribbles" (as Owen called them, but Jack thought they were more like Gremlins) liked anything mechanical and so far had gotten into some of the more important machinery in Cardiff but had been gotten rid of easily.

It had been so easy that Jack had wondered if there wasn't something more to them when Tosh's computer had detected a disturbingly large number of the things at the airport, turns out they loved the type of metal the planes were made out of and it didn't take a genius what they had in store for the airport.

So in true Torchwood fashion Jack got on the phone to Martha and had asked for a favor; get all the flights grounded so they didn't end up crashing to the ground. She had been only too happy to help, but said that he owed her one; what that meant Jack didn't know but got the feeling that he'd find out soon enough.