Chapter 2

His words pounded in my head as I tried to keep this consciousness. Jack and the woman (whose name I now knew was Gwen) stood calmly in the corner of the room, staring at a screen. I had been moved to a bed in a smaller closed room, beneath the main part of the "hub".

I felt somewhat stronger. I now realized that I could feel more. I concentrated hard until I felt my energy build up in my stomach. I moved the energy throughout myself until I felt almost alive. My body lurched upwards and into a sitting position as I gasped loudly for air.

Almost instantly, Jack and Gwen were by my side. Jack helped support me, as I was very weak. Gwen grabbed my arm and felt for my pulse. I fell backwards ten seconds later. I suppose it does take a lot of energy to come back from the dead.

I was confused, but not nearly as much as the others, as I could see by the bewilderment in their eyes. Owen came running through the door. They must have called him, though I hadn't heard anyone do so. Jack was yelling for me to stay awake, but the world started to blur and fade, and everything I heard sounded cloudy and inaudible. Slowly my mind seemed to drift away, and everything went dark.

When I awoke, I was surrounded by five people. Owen was flashing a light in my eye and holding it open. His hand snapped back when I blinked and widened my eyes. I just stared at them for a while, being slightly amused by the intrigue on their faces.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack said taking a step forward and sticking his hand out.

"Yeah, I know." My voice was dry, and I started to cough. Another man handed me a glass of water. I took it with gratitude and drank the glass in a matter of seconds.

"How… How do you know?" Jack stammered slightly with a quizzical look plastered to his face.

"I heard you talking when you first found me. I heard them use your name." I said, and then gestured towards the others, pointing at each one while speaking their names. "And she is Gwen, Owen, and I don't know you two." I pointed to the other two.

"Toshiko and Ianto," Jack began. "You were conscious this whole time?"

I nodded, then looked around the room as I sat up. "Though I doubt that is the strangest thing you've seen." I was intrigued until I started to think of my family. A tight knot grew in my stomach. "Where is my family?"

Jack exchanged a nervous glance with Ianto, and then returned his gaze to me. "You're family thinks you are dead."

Scared as to where he was going with this, I tried to act sarcastic, though it just made my head hurt more. "So did you."

"Yes, but we work with these kinds of things everyday…" Ianto said, but Jack placed his hand on his shoulder as though telling him to hold off.

"What are you saying?" My widened eyes slowly began to fill with tears as the reality set in that my family thought I was dead. They were probably mourning my death, yet here I am alive. My sister most likely stayed home from school, and my parents probably left work.

Jack did not respond aloud, but his expression proved my thought true. I would never be able to return to my family. I am dead to them, and always will be. The tears in my eyes were released, and a stream of them poured down each cheek. Jack crouched beside me, and tried to comfort me, but my sadness won over comfort.

They all acted nicely toward me, out of pity I am sure. I was brought food, though I

never ate, and water which I drank only when I got very thirsty. Owen and Gwen came in many times to try explaining everything to me. I listened, but didn't care. I only wanted to go home. I didn't want to act so immature, but I was thirteen. I missed my family and friends.

I sat up one morning. It was a week since my initial death. I guess I had finally realized my stupidity. That, or hunger was finally winning. I stood up and walked dizzily to the closet on the wall parallel to the bed. I pulled out a shirt, some jeans, and a sweatshirt, all of which seemed to fit me relatively well. I rubbed my drowsy eyes and opened the strange metal door before proceeding to stumble down the endless hallways.

I tried many different paths until one finally led me to an open area. Everything was so high-tech. The entire room was also cluttered with papers, medical instruments, and weapons. I saw two figures standing across the room, but everything was hazy from remaining in bed for a week. I blinked hard until my eyes finally focused. Jack and Ianto stood there, speaking in a rather soft tone to one another.

"Hey!" My hoarse voice called to the men.

Both spun around to face me. "Well it's nice to see you finally up. I die all the time, but I don't take a week to recover." A smirk appeared on his face as though his odd statement had hidden a joke I could not find. Ianto laughed, but tried to cover it by faking a cough.

"Ianto, I see your terrific eye worked once again for sizing clothes." Jack remarked studying my clothes. "It's a little casual though, don't you think?"

"It's what I would usually wear." Why was I even partaking in this conversation?

Jack shrugged his shoulders, causing his blue button down shirt to wrinkle around his waist. I looked at him closely. Hadn't he been wearing precisely that when I had first seen him?

"So what are you going to do with me?" My voice creaked as I hoped his answer would not include my dying a second time.

Once again, he raised and lowered his shoulders. "I honestly don't know… Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, a bit." Something about the grin he gave me made me smile a little.

"Gwen, Owen, and Tosh are out getting food. Do you like Chinese?" I watched Ianto's excitement when he heard that it would be Chinese food.

"Of course I do!" I exclaimed just the circular door rolled open and the three walked through.