Jack had gotten used to the stares and glares of his team. He'd returned to Torchwood via the TARDIS, which had been retrieved from Selt by the Shadow Proclamation and he tried to carry on as normal; but he knew that one day that call would come.
He could feel Gwen's eyes boring into his back, and he knew what she was thinking.
What had happened after he'd gone off with the Doctor and why had he returned without him, and who was the person he had returned with?
But he wasn't going to answer them, it was better that way.
Gwen eventually moved and stood in front of him, but before she could speak, he said.
"I've already said no, Gwen. How many more times do I have to say it?"
Gwen's eyes narrowed. "Until you tell us."
"No."
"Why not?" We can help you, whatever it is."
Jack looked up at her. "No, you can't, not this time."
Gwen put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't shut us out, please Jack. Let us help."
The phone saved him this time and he escaped out of the Hub, but he knew he would face it again when he got back.
Ash stood outside, leaning against one of the pillars. He rarely went inside the Hub, the hostility and the curiosity was too much for him. Besides, he was out of his time and this was history to him.
Gwen and Ianto were legends and knowing when and how they died and when Jack finally abandoned them, made him keep his distance.
His thoughts on the Doctor were fuzzier. He was sure of his feelings for the Time Lord. But he still had no idea if the Doctor felt the same.
When the time came, he would get his answer.
He straightened when he saw Jack approaching; the time for introspection was over.
Jack greeted him with customary nod; their relationships were more professional than choice.
"Detective," Jack said.
"Captain," he replied.
"So, what have you got for me?"
"You said anything weird...Torchwood weird. I think I've found something."
He handed Jack a view screen. "Found it on the internet, that shouldn't be here."
Jack handed it back. "No, it shouldn't."
"Then we need to deal with it."
"Yeah, one problem, it's going to take more than two people."
"Don't think so," Gwen said.
"No way," Ianto said. "Not until you explain a few things."
Jack shifted in his and he felt Ash tense beside him. He looked at Ash, who raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
Jack sighed; what choice did he have. When the time came, it would only be himself and Ash that would be going.
He couldn't blame them for being angry, but to his surprise they agreed to help and then they were in the thick of it and up to their ankles in alien.
The roar of the creature was loud enough to be heard above ground; they had to kill it quick.
"Gwen, how close are you!?" Jack yelled into his com. "I need those charges!"
There was no reply, only static hissed in his ear and he had the feeling something was very wrong.
"Ianto, Ash," again nothing but static.
Another roar echoed round the sewer, the creature was getting closer.
Then Jack felt it, the familiar tingle of a teleport and then the sewer dissolved and was replaced by the sight of several Judoon and the surprised faces of Gwen and Ianto, and Ash standing to one side.
"It is time, Captain," one Judoon said.
Seska wrinkled his nose at the smell of cooked flesh.
The explosion had brought himself and half the guard running.
His mother had arrived seconds later.
"Isn't that?"
"Sisrai's nanny," his mother said, in that tone of voice the Seska had come to fear.
The Doctor turned to one of the guards. "I want to know if this was an accident. And believe me, if it's not people will get hurt. My daughter could have been in there."
"Easy mother," Seska said. "I'll organise it. You go and see to Sisrai."
Seska could almost sense the relief in the people around his mother as he left. He could understand his mother being short-tempered.; but it seemed his fuse was even shorter since his sister had been born.
He'd been as surprised as his father at her birth and her subsequent quick growth, and it had made him wary of her; so he watched her from a distance.
He knew something wasn't quite right but he didn't dare voice his suspicions, he knew his mother wouldn't see or hear no wrong.
If he wasn't a logical Time Lord, he would say he was enchanted. But he didn't believe in magic; no doubt his mother doted on Sisrai because of what had happened to Jakaar.
He organised the removal of the body to his laboratory and sealed off the ruined rooms.
He decided he check on his mother, try and calm his foul mood, before it erupted into murderous rage.
The Doctor made his way to Sisrai's room and tried to quell his anger. He entered her room quietly, in case she was asleep; it was amazing what children could sleep through.
However she was wide wake and looked and sounded decidedly unhappy. He rushed over and took her in his arms.
"Ssh now, little one, it's all right. Did the noise upset you?"
She nodded and sniffed. "Don't like it here mamma."
"You're just scared, it's safe here."
"No mamma, I want to go."
"No, there's nothing to fear," he said again and looked into his daughter's eyes and saw not fear but something else.
Then his daughter spoke again and her voice was decidedly not upset. "No mother, we need to go and go now...it is time."
"Yes, you're right, it is time."
"Bring the crystal."
"Of course."
"Hurry mother, I need the crystal."
The Doctor nodded and hurried to his room and quickly found the crystal and ran back.
His daughter smiled at him. "Now we have to leave."
The Doctor picked her up and no-one questioned him as he carried his daughter out of the house and through the gates and into the night.
He carried her through the city and out of one of the many side gates and into the rocky dessert that surrounded the city.
"Stop," his daughter said. "Put me down and kneel."
He did it without questioning.
"Hold out the crystal, mother."
Again he did it without questioning.
"I need to grow and for that I need energy...your energy mother."
She placed her hands on the crystal and it began to glow, an unnatural black light. It reached her hands and then it reached the Doctor's.
He suddenly arched and both he and his daughter let out a gasp and then the black light expanded, engulfing them both and the seemed to be sucked back into the crystal, leaving the Doctor and Sisrai, who was no longer a small child but a grown woman.
She was the first to wake, but she wasn't dazed or confused; she knew exactly who and what she was.
She moved over to the still unconscious form of her mother.
"Time for us to go, mother," she said and raised her hand and both of them began to fade away and then the desert was empty again.
Seska walked the short distance back to the wing that his parents shared and as he approached he sensed that something was definitely not right...he no longer felt the presence of his mother and Sisrai.
As he got to the door it opened and his father stepped out and his face was set in a mask of concern and anger.
He looked straight at Seska and said. "What is going on and where are your mother and your sister?"