Hey all! Here is the second chapter, around twice as long as the previous one, so yay for that! Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed/faved/followed this so far, hope this chapter is up to scratch.

Review replies from Ch 1 (at time of publishing)

Sd4ianto: yes, they're so cheeky sometimes. Glad you liked it!

ILoveJanto: I agree, he is, and Jack needs to remember that sometimes (he he he). Thanks friend!

Chapter 2: First Snow

Prompt: The first snow of the festive season brings the promise of making snowmen, snow angels and maybe a few snow aliens too.

After the debacle with the Christmas tree the day before, it should have been clear to the Torchwood team that nothing about this Christmas would be anywhere close to normal. But of course, one wouldn't assume that the presence of snow would be anything odd.

"It's snowing!" came Gwen's cry as she walked into the Hub that morning. Jack and Ianto, who were over by the coffee machine sharing an early cup of hot chocolate, were startled and spun around to face the enthusiastic Gwen.

"What do you mean?" asked Jack, not really having been paying attention to what she had said.

Gwen grinned breathlessly at them, face red from the bitter wind outside.

"I said it's snowing! The first Christmas snow!" she repeated, grinning even wider and taking the coffee that Ianto passed her.

"Anyway, we should have a quiet day today, snow should keep the aliens from getting into too much mischief" Jack noted, taking a sip of his own steaming coffee. Ianto groaned and rolled his eyes.

"You do realise that you just jinxed it, don't you?"

Jack just winked at him, grinning cheekily.

The alarms sounding as the cog door opened turned all their gazes to the door, spying on the newcomer. Tosh walked in, shrugging off her coat and scarf, reaching over her desk and putting on her glasses, checking the rift monitor screen in front of her. Satisfied that there was nothing of note showing on the screen, she sighed happily and brushed the last remnants of snow out of her dark hair, gratefully taking the cup of hot coffee that Ianto had taken down to her.

"Thanks Ianto" she smiled, taking a delicate sip.

It was another half an hour or so until Owen showed up, grumbling under his breath as he shook a few lingering snowflakes out of his hair, slumping in his chair and wordlessly gulping the coffee that Ianto placed in front of him.

"Late night last night?" Ianto asked dryly, quirking an eyebrow.

"Something like that, yeah" Owen replied, digging two painkillers out of his jacket pocket. Ianto shook his head and was about to make some other comment when a sudden beeping from Tosh's computer broke the conversation, causing the team to turn in surprise. Tosh read through the contents quickly and spun around to face the others.

"Reports of some sort of snow creatures in a field just outside of Cardiff" she reported, grabbing her jacket and portable monitor.

Jack – already pulling on his greatcoat and tucking his Webley into its holster – led the way out to the SUV.

"I told you you'd jinxed it!" Ianto called after him, shaking his head.

TWTWTWTWTW

The snow was already ankle deep as they all clambered out of the warm SUV and into the deserted field, soaking their lower legs in the icy slush, chilling them through their layers of clothes.

"Welcome to winter in Wales" muttered Tosh, shaking a particularly large lump of snow off her leg.

"I swear this snow would be much more enjoyable if we were inside, curled up by a roaring fire, watching it fall" added Ianto, turning the collar of his coat up against the breeze.

"Oh, come on! What harm has a little snow ever done?" Gwen asked enthusiastically, practically bounding around the SUV to grin at them.

"Says you, you're used to it" Owen grumbled, shooting her a glare.

Gwen just rolled her eyes. What had happened to the cheery moods of the day before? Now, everyone was just grouchy. Well, except for Jack, was he ever not happy when it snowed?

Speaking of Jack….

"Over there!" the Captain called out, having spotted something over by the derelict hut on the far side of the field. Taking off at a run, coattails flapping in the frigid wind, Webley at the ready, the rest of the team was left standing in his wake, before they too began to run after him.

The creature looked up, stunned by the sudden shout, before turning and sliding away. It looked like it was on a conveyer-belt leading towards the far fence, it had no jarring of movement that one would normally associate with running or any similar movement, it just slid along the snow.

By the time any of the team were close to catch a proper glimpse of the creature, it seemed to have disappeared.

"Bollocks" Owen growled, out of breath.

"Where'd it go?" asked Tosh, glancing at her scanner, clearly trying to find some sort of abnormal energy or trace that could show where the creature had gone.

Jack, Gwen and Ianto raised their guns and glanced around, panting heavily and occasionally looking at Tosh, waiting for an answer.

She shook her head and met Jack's eyes.

"There's nothing, it's disappeared."

Ianto swore under his breath.

"Simple law of physics; nothing can just disappear" he panted, loosening his tie.

"Since when has physics applied to Torchwood?" Jack asked, not really expecting an answer. Turning to Gwen, he frowned.

"You okay, Gwen?"

Gwen didn't answer, she was staring at something over his shoulder, looking up at it with a mixture of surprise then determination with a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Owen caught the look as well and sighed.

"It's behind us isn't it?"

"Uh huh" Gwen replied, abruptly coming unfrozen and pulling out her gun and aiming it at the creature, sprinting away as it growled and slid back into the shed.

The rest of the team quickly followed suit, struggling to keep any sort of pace in the deeper snow.

"How're we supposed to go about catching a snow alien, anyway?" cried Ianto, pulling up beside Jack, who didn't answer.

They had chased the creature into a corner of the abandoned hut, and had it trapped. Tosh and Owen stood on Jack's right, while Gwen was on Ianto's left. All had their guns out and were ready to fire at the slightest sign of conflict.

"Please, just let me go" hissed the creature, a hole in its face (at least, it looked like a face, none of them were really sure) widening into a smile.

"And let you get on with all sorts of madness?" Jack growled, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"You're already spooking the locals, isn't that enough? Why don't you just leave?" Gwen asked, not really wanting to shoot the creature that stood before her.

"Because snow is all about having fun. And we need someone to have fun with: it's a bit hard to have fun with snow when that's all that you're made of" replied the creature, a subtle note of sadness creeping into its icy voice.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" queried Owen, frowning at the creature.

The creature turned to him, still smiling that icy, creepy smile.

"You don't."

"So, if you don't want to hurt anyone, then why are you here?" Tosh asked, feeling sorry for the lonely creature.

"As I said, no one we ever meet wants to play with us when it snows. They say we scare them, but all we want to do is to find someone who will play and have fun. We live alone all winter, only coming out when it snows, and no one wants to play with a creature made of snow" it replied, looking even sadder.

Jack slowly lowered his gun, still looking suspiciously at the creature.

"If all you wanted was to play, then why did you run away from us?"

The creature's expression turned sheepish, like a child who was about to be told off.

"I was afraid of you, and you surprised me. You were running towards me instead of away from me, like people usually do. I wasn't sure how to react, so I just tried to get away" it replied.

The team was silent for a moment, before Gwen walked over and put a gloved hand on the creature's arm.

"Don't worry, if you like, we will play with you" she said, giving the creature a kind smile, heart breaking as it looked up at her hopefully.

"Really? You really want to play with me?" it asked, sounding every bit like a lonely little child.

As Gwen nodded, she tapped Jack on the shoulder and sprinted away yelling "TAG!"

A very surprised Jack was left gaping in her wake. He turned to the rest of the team only to see them sprinting away into the distance. The creature was laughing happily, and he realised that it had been telling the truth, and shrugged as he ran after his friends.

TWTWTWTW

The game of tag lasted around an hour or so, with Jack claiming victory for the quickest catch. As they lay in the snow, side by side, as the afternoon wore on, it was cheery all around. The creature stood above them, smiling happily now, having enjoyed the game immensely. The team had no regrets about believing it now, and hoped that they wouldn't have to take the creature back with them to the Hub.

A bright light shining down through the dense snow clouds cut short their joy though. As it shone through, the creature looked up sadly.

"That's my ship" it mumbled, turning its face back to the team, who all stood abruptly.

"Oh no, do you have to go?" Gwen asked, genuinely disappointed. The creature smiled at her.

"It's alright, I'll come back next winter. I know that there are people who will play with us" it replied, smiling wider as Gwen grinned happily.

"Maybe you should play during the night though, don't want you scaring off the locals again" Jack joked, laughing as the creature giggled in agreement.

"Yes, I think that would be wise" it agreed.

The team exchanged their separate goodbyes with the strange creature, before it gave them all one last smile.

"Thank you, you've made me the happiest snow creature in the universe. I hope to see you all again."

The team gazed up at the sky with varying degrees of sadness, watching as the bright light slowly disappeared – taking their new snowy friend with it – and soft, delicate snowflakes began falling from the sky once more.

Owen was the first to speak.

"I can't believe we made friends with a freaking SNOW MONSTER!"

The absolute absurdity of the situation set the whole team laughing as they trudged back to the waiting SUV, keen to get home and out of the snow.

As they pulled away from the field and back onto the road, Jack glanced at his team in the rear view mirror and grinned.

"Well, you can't say we we'll forget this snow day in a hurry."

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