Child of Cardiff

Jack and Ianto paced the streets of Cardiff as fast as they could. Both wanted to get back to Torchwood Headquarters as soon as possible. It had been a very very long day tracking down illegal aliens in Cardiff. Finally they reached the lift and lowered themselves down to where Gwen was waiting for them.

"What a day," Jack summed up how they all felt.

"I've ordered pizza," Gwen told the boys.

"you Gwen," began Jack before breaking off as a light, similar to the one created when a vortex manipulator was used, appeared in a corner of the basement. Inside the light the figures of three people appeared. The man and woman seemed worried but the little girl, who had her eyes tightly shut, was clearly afraid of something. Jack wondered where they had come from. The man and woman had been looking at each other but now the woman turned and looked around her. Then the pterodactyl squawked.

"Why would there be dinosaurs on a spaceship?" Jack asked the question without intending too.

"Silurians," the woman responded with a cheeky smile. Her accent was clearly identifiable as Scottish.

Jack thought this was a rather odd response to his question.

"So if this isn't a spaceship, where are we?" questioned the man.

"Torchwood," responded the girl before a puzzled look crept over her face. "How did I know that?" she seemed to ask no one in particular.

"Who are you?" Gwen's question attracted the attention of the entire group onto the torchwood team. The lady strode forward.

"Amelia Williams," she introduced herself holding her hand out to Gwen to shake. "This is my husband Rory and the child is Harmony." Jack noticed she omitted her relationship to Harmony. He wondered at her reasoning for doing so.

"Captain Jack Harkness, at your service ma'am. This is Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper." A frown crossed Amelia's face as Jack introduced himself.

"Captain Jack Harkness," murmured Rory. "I'm sure HE mentioned that name before." Jack wondered who HE was. "Demon's run. HE wanted Captain Jack Harkness to come to Demon's Run."

Suddenly Jack knew who Rory was talking about. He knew who had wanted him to go to Demon's Run. Normally he would have gone but the timing hadn't worked out.

"You know the Doctor," both Jack and Rory spoke at the same time causing Amelia and Gwen to burst into giggles. Harmony looked confused.

"Who's the Doctor?" she asked. Amelia and Rory gave each other a look that Jack couldn't decipher. Amelia sighed and turned to the girl.

"The Doctor is your father Harmony," Amelia admitted. Harmony's eyes widened in shock. Jack's jaw dropped.

"The Doctor has a kid?" Jack spoke without thinking.

"River wouldn't have had a child with anyone else." Rory stated this in absolute confidence, forgetting that Jack didn't know who River Song was.

"Who is River?" Ianto asked, seeing that Jack seemed to be going into shock and didn't appear able to ask the question himself.

"She's my mother," Harmony explained. "And their daughter," she added after a second of thought, inclining her head in the direction of Amelia and Rory. Who it now transpired were her grandparents. No wonder Amelia had omitted that fact before Jack knew of their friendship with the doctor. Without time travel the age gaps seemed implausible. Suddenly Gwen spoke up.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude but, why are you all dressed like it's the 1930s?" Jack frowned as he realised Gwen was right.

"We were travelling with the doctor," Amelia explained. "There were weeping angels in New York City. They got Rory first and I couldn't live without him so I let myself be taken. We ended up in the 1930s and the doctor couldn't come for us. Harmony turned up a year later. We still don't know how she did it."

"Did what?" Jack asked.

"Travelled through time and space without a TARDIS or a vortex manipulator." Rory's reply left the Torchwood team in total and utter shock.

"Not even the Doctor can do that!" exclaimed Jack.

Harmony's stomach rumbled interrupting the discussion.

"Oh the pizza," Gwen remembered. "It'll be cold by now."

"We should get more anyway," Ianto thought aloud. Walking over to the phone, Ianto rang the well-known number and ordered pizza for the entire group.

The rest of the evening was spent eating pizza and getting to know one another. Jack offered the Williams family a place on the Torchwood team and the three accepted happily. A year passed quickly with nothing out of the ordinary occurring until a sudden energy spike alerted the Torchwood team that the rift was active. A reconnaissance team, made up of Gwen and Amy, headed out to investigate what was happening. The energy spike had come from Canal Parade, so that was where the pair would start their investigation. When the ladies reached St Mary's Church, they saw something rather peculiar.

A lady, who looked rather tree like, was sat on a bench shaking and sobbing. A glance told the two women they were thinking the same thing and both sat on the bench, either side of the odd-looking lady.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked her.

"Am I dead? I don't feel dead but I should be dead and this place is so strange and…" Gwen interrupted before the lady could go any further with her confused ramblings.

"No you're not dead."

"Why don't you tell us what happened?" Amy suggested gently.

"The face of Bo invited us to watch the end of the Earth but the last human, Cassandra, used the event to try and kill all who were aboard the station. Gwen and Amy Exchanged a startled glance. "He had a woman named Rose with him. They defeated Cassandra and saved the station but to do so the doctor had to get through the station's security. I helped him but it was too hot for me; I was giving my life to help the others and then suddenly I was here. Wherever here is?"

"We're on earth, in the city of Cardiff. And probably quite far in the past," Gwen explained. The tree woman's eyes widened.

"We're friends of the doctor. We can help you," added Amy. "I'm Amy and this is Gwen."

"Jabe," the lady introduced herself. The three women stood up and walked slowly back to torchwood chatting and getting to know each other.

Back at the Hub, Jack was trying to get Harmony to play around with her power whilst the torchwood equipment took readings. They hoped that by gaining an understanding of what exactly she could do, Harmony would also gain more control of her power. It seemed though, that Harmony could only use her powers under duress as she couldn't do any of the things Jack was asking of her.

Harmony was attempting for the fifth time since her Gran and Gwen had gone out, to summon her power, when they returned with an unusual looking person. Harmony couldn't help thinking the stranger looked rather like a tree.

"Gwen, Amy, Who's this?" Jack walked over to the new arrivals as he spoke.

"I am Jabe, from the Forest of Cheem," the stranger introduced herself.

"Don't Jack," said Rory.

"You sound just like the doctor when you say that!" Jack exclaimed with a touch of exasperation.

"Well I am his father-in-law," retorted Rory.

"You are Rose's father?" Jabe asked.

"No," replied Rory.

"You know Rose?" Jack's question was simultaneous with Rory's response. A short burst of laughter filled the room for a moment. After the laughter ended, Jack suggested they move to the meeting room where Jabe explained what had happened on Platform One.

A memory flashed through Jack's mind. He and Rose were sat together in the TARDIS console room talking about the things Rose had done with the Doctor before they met Jack. Platform One had been Rose's first trip into the future. Rose had been so innocent then, so different from what she had become. After all Rose was the reason he was alive; the reason he could not die.

Jack had his suspicions about what would eventually happen to him. He had heard mentions of the Face of Boe. There was no way that could be a coincidence. The Face of Boe had been the nickname Jack had earned as a child for his modelling stint.

"Was this Cassandra woman the one who invited everyone who was there?" asked Rory.

"No, it was the Face of Boe who sent the invitations," replied Jabe. Jack would have made a mental note not to organise the future event but that would have changed time so he didn't. Instead Jack made a mental note of who he would be inviting. He didn't want to create a paradox by not inviting someone.

Ianto was giving Jack a look. Ianto knew that Jack had become known as the Face of Boe during his childhood. Ianto also knew that Jack couldn't stay dead. It was clear he was putting the pieces together and coming to the same conclusion Jack had. Ianto opened his mouth to speak but Jack caught his eye and shook his head slightly. Neither man had realised Rory had seen this exchange.

A pinging of equipment alerted the torchwood team that there was another spike in rift energy. This time security footage showed what was happening.

"Those are the aliens we saw in New York," Rory began.

"They're Aarvonians and they're looking for me!" exclaimed Harmony. Gwen noticed that the girl seemed about to have a panic attack. Then she began to glow.