Across Broken Glass
Chapter Two: Addiena
Four Years later
Jack awoke with a scream, his heart racing and the sweat coating his body glistening in the dark of the room. Gasping his eyes snapped open, his blue eyes bringing him back to the safety of his bedroom, away from the haunting images of the past.
He lay silently as he waited for his erratic breathing to calm down and regain normality.
After a few moments he sat up and ran a hand through his hair removing it from where it had become plastered with sweat to his forehead.
A small knock sounded on the visible manhole in the ceiling, his eyes briefly darted to it before he spoke.
"Come in" He called up closing his eyes.
The sound of the plastic disc, that covered the manhole, opening filled the room along with a sudden burst of light. A small figure suddenly appeared and made their way down the stairs carefully, making sure to close the door first.
"Daddy" the voice whispered.
Jack opened his deep blue eyes and stared back into the lighter blue eyes of his daughter who sat neatly, legs crossed on the edge of his bed.
She was dressed in a white collared dress that had a red logo on the top right hand corner.
"Yes Addiena" Jack said with a small smile.
"Time for school!" the little girl cried happily.
Jack let out a small chuckle, he was certain he had never been this excited for school, in fact he could distinctly remember hiding in the closet so that his father wouldn't find him.
"Come on we're going to be late!!" The small girl exclaimed jumping up and down. Her long dark brown hair, twisted into plaits, was bouncing up and down with her.
Jack glanced at his clock, which lay on the bedside table to his right amongst other things.
"You're right" he said with a grin titling his face and sending a loopy expression towards her making her giggle.
Just as he was about to climb out of bed, an evil thought passed through his mind, and he gave a small fake yawn.
"I'm just so tired, maybe you can go tomorrow" he said coolly lying back down and covering himself with his blankets.
"DADDY! YOU CAN'T SLEEP NOW!!!" the little girl screamed as she leaped on him.
Jack remained perfectly still holding back a smile.
"Daddy?" Addiena whispered as she crept closer to him, believing that he really was asleep.
"Daddy??" she whispered again poking him in the face.
"Ow! You little monkey" Jack exclaimed opening his eyes and leaping up to tickle her.
She let out a giggle as she leapt off of the bed, ran up the stairs, struggled to open the plastic disc for a moment, and dashed out of his office into the rest of the hub.
Jack gave a peaceful sigh as her giggles faded into the distance. He climbed out of bed, grabbed a set of clothes from his cupboard and went to go and change.
The Torchwood SUV sped up the Queen's walk street and sharply turned left onto Glossop Road, before it came to a screeching halt outside of Tredegarville C.W Primary School.
Jack opened his door and stepped out of the car only to find dozens of parents standing in the playground staring at him.
He paused for a second and realized that the combination of his strange attire, an all black SUV with the word "Torchwood" on the side of it, and his reckless driving had attracted attention.
He turned away from the people, closed his door and walked over to the passenger door so that he could let Addiena out.
As soon as the door opened Addiena flew out the car and landed right next to Jack, her eyes wide as she took in the sight of all the other kids playing.
"Come on!" she cried happily as she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the playground.
Jack groaned, he wished Ianto were doing this; Ianto in his suit would blend in better than he did, and at least he would know what on earth he was supposed to do.
However, Ianto had left two weeks ago for his honeymoon with Kate, which left Jack with a four year old in a school playground absolutely clueless.
"Daddy, there's a strange woman coming here" Addiena said quietly tugging at his hand.
Jack followed her eyes and sure enough, heading towards them, wearing a black skirt, a plain tucked-in white shirt, and a black blazer, was a woman who he had never seen before.
She held an air of authority, commanding respect from those around her. Her grey hair in a tight bun, and dark brown sharp eyes told Jack that this elderly woman stood for propriety. From the scowl on her face, Jack could tell that this woman had seen Jack's reckless driving, and she must have noticed that Addiena was sitting in the front seat.
Blast, Jack thought. He could tell this wouldn't be good.
The pair stopped walking and stood still for a moment, waiting for the strange woman to finally reach them. This unfortunately did not take very long.
"Good morning. I'm Ms. Evelyn," the woman introduced herself with a less than polite smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"I'm Addiena, and this is my daddy," Addiena said enthusiastically before Jack could get a word in.
"Nice to meet you," Jack said to the woman outstretching his free hand.
The woman briefly took her eyes off of Addiena to shake Jack's hand before she turned back to the small girl.
"Addiena, why don't you go and play with all the other children?" Ms. Evelyn suggested, eyeing Jack suspiciously.
Addiena looked from the woman back to Jack not wanting to leave him alone with this strange woman.
However, he gave her a small nod encouraging her to go. So with a large smile spread over her face she released her father's hand and ran off.
"Do you know who her teacher will be?" Ms. Evelyn inquired stiffly.
"Ms. Demes," Jack replied reaching into his jacket to pull out the white piece of paper the school had mailed him. Or rather, had mailed the tourist center.
Jack handed the woman the sheet of paper that contained all the information that he thought the woman could possibly need or ask for.
Unfortunately for Jack all she did was glance at the paper for a brief moment or two, reading a few pieces of information, before she folded it and placed it in her breast pocket.
"Where's her mother?" Ms. Evelyn asked, wanting to speak with the woman on her choice of husband.
Jack took a deep breath before he spoke.
"She's dead"
"Oh, I'm sorry for your lost" Ms. Evelyn replied with a small nod.
She did feel bad for the man, as she knew what loss was like, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this poor girl wasn't getting proper care. She put this ill feeling down to her sixth sense trying to tell her something.
"It's fine," Jack lied quickly, breaking eye contact for a moment.
"So you're a single parent then, do you have any help raising Addiena?" She continued quickly.
Jack gave a quick nod. Ms. Evelyn saw that his look was still glazed from when she inquired about Addiena's mother. She glanced at her watch discreetly and decided to give up for now. She would look into his background later.
"School finishes every day at precisely two o'clock. Children who are not picked up by two-fifteen, will be taken into the school gym where they wait until their parents arrive."
"And school begins?"
"Nine-Twenty, which means I need to go now as it is already nine-fifteen"
"Well, it was nice to meet you Ms. Evelyn" Jack said warily, shaking her hand.
"And you Mr. Harkness" She responded, using his last name which she had read on the sheet, before she turned and walked over to a group of teachers.
Jack turned his gaze from the woman and back to the children until finally he found Addiena. Upon finding her he quickly he headed over to her. She was currently playing hopscotch with another little girl who had long blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail.
"Addiena," Jack called.
"Yes Daddy" Addiena replied as she stood on one foot in the center of a small square box marked with the number three.
"I'm going to go now," he told her.
Addiena turned to him, a sad look on her face at the idea that her father was leaving. Seeing her expression Jack walked over to her and knelt down in front of her.
"Be good now," he said softly as he hugged her.
"I'm always good," Addiena remarked cheekily as she flung her arms around his neck.
After a few seconds she pulled away and Jack placed a small kiss on the top of her head.
"I'll see you later" He said with a smile, before he turned and headed back to the SUV, the wind blowing the ends of his jacket. Today was going to be a long and lonely day.
Author's Note: Well there we are another chapter. The name Addiena is a Welsh name meaning "beautiful," I thought it would be fitting to have his daughter have a Welsh name because after all Gwen is Welsh. The purpose of this chapter was basically to outline the father-daughter relationship Jack has with Addiena. Don't forget to review and constructive criticism is always welcome. More soon.