Chapter six yay! Sorry 'bout the delay :)

Lots of love to my beta, Lara (theraggedyblog on tumblr), and my reviewers, RosiePendragon and eek99

Chapter Six

The summer flew by alarmingly fast. Before Jenny even knew what was happening, the start of autumn was almost upon her, a season which Luke had assured both her and Sky, was a beautiful sight to behold, whatever that meant. Gwen and Rhys had become the official guardians of Luke and Sky (merely to prevent questions and anyone discovering that neither of them were human), and the latter had been enrolled into a local school. Their jar had been filled to the brim with coins and the occasional flimsy paper note that, for some reason, qualified as money. Of course, it was not enough for them to buy a flat, or even pay for a deposit on one, but they continued to save nonetheless. Their wages were going on helping Gwen with the bills and buying themselves clothes. The savings for the flat rarely ever came from there, though Jenny had resolved to try and put five pounds in every day. Saving for a laptop appealed to her more, however. Gwen and Rhys' computer was slow and tedious, and she generally had to wait until someone else had finished using it.

Anwen had almost doubled in size, and was now running around the house in dirty white socks, her dark hair flying behind her, often crashing into peoples' legs, and she often held nonsense conversations with Sky, who seemed to understand her, perhaps it was because she, in actual fact, was so young herself. Luke would soon be returning to Oxford, and was (secretly, for some strange fear of what Jack would say) looking into a career at UNIT once he had finished his education. Jenny knew she would miss him, as he was the first friend she had ever had (perhaps excluding Donna) and Sky had taken to hugging him every time she saw him. He had shown them both how to use the webcam on Gwen and Rhys' computer, so that they could talk to each other. He had promised to contact them as soon as he had arrived at the university and settled in. And, all the time, they were dealing with more and more dangerous things at Torchwood; so much so that Sky had been left behind three times now, to 'keep an eye on things', which she didn't mind so much, as she spent the time surfing the internet for the silly human things that made her laugh (and destroyed the electrics).

Jack had died so many times that Jenny could no longer keep track. It had been an extremely odd experience, the first time it had happened. Gwen had barely batted an eyelid, as she, of course, was by now used to this happening all the time, and she kept her gun trained on the frightened young man who had killed Jack (Jenny suspected that he was under the control of an alien, and was not at fault at all) until he dropped his own weapon. Sky screamed, while Luke reminded her that he wasn't actually dead. Jenny had almost cried out, before remembering what Jack had told her, the first time they'd met; he was immortal. And, sure enough, after a moment or two, he gave a huge gasp and sat up, perfectly healthy.

Now she was curled up on the sofa, the fluffy throw on top of her, watching the television. Everyone was doing something else; Luke and Sky were doing something on the computer; Gwen had gone shopping and taken Anwen with her; and Rhys was doing a delivery in Liverpool, which he would most likely return from in the middle of the night. He and Jenny had bonded over the fact that she was usually still awake by the time he came home. She had taken to making some hot chocolate as soon as she heard the sound of an approaching vehicle, and they sat together, talking, before Rhys went to bed. Tomorrow was her day off, and she was going to spend the day in London with the Ponds, Martha and Mickey. She was extremely nervous at the prospect of introducing them, for some reason. Perhaps because they all knew more about her father than she did.

Shaking her head, she turned her focus to the television screen. The programme she had been watching was over, replaced by something called How I Met Your Mother. It appeared to be the last episode so far. She watched it with mild interest, until Sky emerged from the hallway, sitting down next to her and robbing some of her blanket. She did all of this silently, until she asked, "What are you watching?"

"How I Met Your Mother," Jenny replied. "It looks good. What do you want to watch?"

"I'll watch this, it's ok."

They watched it together, Sky with her head resting on Jenny's shoulder, shaking with laughter when the jokes came on.

"They seem like a sweet couple," said Sky, once the credits rolled up. "But I thought he was engaged to that blonde girl ..."

"Quinn. Yeah, he was. They must have broken up."

"People are funny."

"Aren't they just."

She didn't sleep much, which was normal, and got up as early as she possibly could, creeping around the house to make herself breakfast, having a shower when she knew that the others would be awake, and leaving the house after several quick goodbyes. She had a half hour before she had to catch her train, and had decided to act on the decision to buy a laptop. She could use it on the train ride to London, which was several hours long and frankly boring. There was no one but a huddle of bleary-eyed staff in the shop when she entered it, and the least sleepy of the lot came to help her, walking through the laptops on display, going through the pros and cons of each one. Eventually, Jenny left the shop with a laptop that had been recommended to her for its portability and speed, in a carry case, with ten minutes to spare until her train.

There were very few people waiting at the platform. She sat on her own, awaiting the arrival of the train, nervously checking her pocket to make sure she still had the ticket. She still had not quite got the hang of travelling by train. She preferred the peace and quiet of her own spaceship (the ruins of which were now at Torchwood, and Jack had kindly offered to try and rebuild it, though she knew there was not much hope for it), but she liked trains.

She found a seat easily, choosing one with a table and a socket. She unboxed the laptop, freeing the power cord and plugging it in. She was by now used to earth technology, and the laptop was relatively easy to set up. The sun had begun to shine feebly through the window and she was feeling better about the journey ahead.

"Excuse me?"

Her eyes snapped open. She had not recalled closing them. Her laptop was still 'initialising' and the train had begun to move, quickly picking up speed.

She looked up to see a woman, with dark red hair that made her think vaguely of Amy's. She had a kind face, outlined with striking purple lipstick, and a 'beauty spot' (as Jenny believed they were called) on her chin. She was wearing a long brown leather jacket. Jenny couldn't believe it.

She just about refrained herself from asking, "Donna?", and arranged her feature into what she hoped was a friendly smile. She couldn't do anything to trigger Donna's memory. "Yes?"

"Would you mind if I sat here?"

"No, not at all."

Donna smiled, sitting down across from Jenny. "Thanks. I'm Donna, by the way. Temple-Noble."

"Jenny," she smiled back.

"You got a last name?"

"Song," she said immediately, surprising herself. Well, it was logical; her father didn't have a name (or at least one he was willing to share) and Song sounded much better than Pond or Cooper or Smith with regards to her name. She could have invented a new name, she supposed. But Song fit.

"That's an unusual name."

"My father's an unusual man."

Silence lapsed between them.

"Where are you headed?" Donna asked eventually.

"London. I'm visiting m- some friends of mine. What about you?"

"Me? I live in London, so I'm off home. I just came down for some sea air. My husband made me. Shaun. He dotes." She smiled fondly. "Have you got anyone special?"

Jenny shook her head. "Just close friends. I don't really want a relationship at the moment."

That was what people said, wasn't it?

"Ah, I see. Bad breakup?"

"Something like that," she muttered, quickly turning her attention to her new laptop. She was unsure how to navigate this conversation. A human who looked her age would obviously have experience in these matters. She had to keep acting the age she looked so as not to arouse suspicion. Perhaps she could ask Luke for advice.

Donna was now leaning her head against the window, staring out the window. Her eyes seemed to glow faintly orange for a moment, or perhaps it was just the early-morning sun.

"Tell me about your husband," Jenny requested.

Donna inclined her head slightly so as to get a look at Jenny without moving from the window. "Shaun? All right."

She sat up properly, launching into an explanation of how they had met and what his personality was. Jenny half-listened, smiling as she tapped lightly on the laptop keys, trying to find the wi-fi that was apparently present on the train. It was obvious that Donna loved her husband. Jenny was glad that she was happy, even if she couldn't remember.

Jenny frowned at the computer screen. "Wait, you're a temp, right?"

Donna frowned. "How d'you know that?"

Dammit. "Uh ... your hands."

"You fancy yourself as some sort of Sherlock, do you?"

"I guess so," she grinned sheepishly, glad that she had wriggled her way out of the situation. Luke had shown her the Sherlock Holmes stories, which she had enjoyed immensely.

"All right. Yeah, I am. Doesn't pay that well, but we get by."

"Could you help me out? It says there's wi-fi on this train, but I can't find it."

"Give it here."

Jenny slid the laptop across the table, and watched as Donna worked quietly, before looking out the window. They were blurring past countryside now.

"There you go," Donna smiled, after a stretch of time that Jenny couldn't gague. She slid the laptop back across the table, the google homepage staring at her when she looked at the screen.

"Thank you. I -"

"Don't mention it," Donna waved it away. "Word of advice; download google chrome."

"... Ok."

Donna smiled at her like she was her favourite niece. Jenny wondered if she remembered her subconsciously, somewhere deep in her mind.

She went to facebook, finding that Luke was online. She clicked on his name, and a box popped up, cursor blinking at her.

'Hi' she typed, after several long seconds.

He responded the same, adding a smiley face, quickly followed by 'You on the train?'

'Yeah. Sitting across from Donna, if you'd believe it.'

'Really?'

'Yup.'

'And she really doesn't remember?'

'Not athing.'

'That sucks.'

Whatever the cyber version of silence stretched between them. She could hear the people sitting nearby talking amongst themselves, and Donna tapping a painted fingernail against the table absentmindedly, staring out of the window.

'Where are you?' Jenny typed at last.

'Torchwood with Sky.'

'No Jack or Gwen?'

'No. They're looking into a call they got. Space junk that fell through the rift.'

'Oh.
Tell Sky I said hi.'

'Sure thing.
She says hi back.'

The conversation slipped away from them after that. Jenny idly searched for stories of things she knew her father had to do with. Newspaper articles popped up, and she read them. They all contained mention of a 'strange man' who had refused to give a name. One of them suggested that it had been him who had saved them, without giving away too much. She smiled as she saw the name on the bottom. Sarah-Jane Smith. Investigative Journalist.

The train slowed to a stop at a station. Jenny couldn't read the sign for it, so she had no idea where they were. The doors hissed open. Two left the train, and the group of people who had been waiting at the station climbed in. The doors hissed shut again, and the train began to move. Donna sighed, leaning her head against the window for the second time, closing her eyes.

Jenny bit back her "are you ok?", and turned her attention back to her laptop. She had received a message from Jack. She frowned at it, unsure as to why it should be there.

'Enjoying your day off?' it read.

After quite a pause, she typed, 'Not particularly.'

She imagined that he was laughing at that, but the reply was merely, 'Why?'

'I'm sitting on a train across from Donna. Trying not to say anything. But she thinks I'm some kind of Sherlock Holmes now because I knew she was a temp.'

He must have been really laughing by then. 'He would've liked you.'

'He wasn't real.'

'Well, yeah. But old ACD would've liked you, and that's the same thing, isn't it?'

'Not really,' Jenny replied, and left it at that. It had hit her, once again, that Jack was easily as old, if not older, than her father. She started at the screen for several long moments. A new message popped up.

'Gotta go. Space junk to find. See ya tomorrow.'

'Bye.'

She was extremely surprised by it all. Jack had just used one of his high tech, possibly alien, gadgets to talk to her on facebook. How could she even begin to wrap her head around that? Perhaps Gwen had put him up to it. That, at least, made sense.

She looked up instinctively to see Donna open her eyes. They were definitely glowing orange now; it couldn't be a trick of the light.

"Are you ok?" she voiced her earlier question.

"My head," said Donna, shaking it a little. "I get headaches, that's all."

Her eyes were back to their normal green now. She smiled faintly.

"How long have you had them for?" Jenny asked conversationally.

"A few years now. They started up all of a sudden."

"That's strange."

"I know. They're manageable, though. It's ok."

"That's good, then."

Donna nodded.

The remainder of the journey was spent in silence. At some point, Donna fell asleep, her head pressed against the window. Jenny remained online, finding things to do to busy herself.

At two o'clock by the time in the bottom right corner of the laptop, the train pulled into the station in London. Jenny packed away her laptop in the carry bag that had come with it, and shook Donna gently awake, leaving before she got a chance to say goodbye.

She was the first to arrive at the café, which was called Kaffeine and chose a cosy seat by the window where the others could see her easily. Her nerves surfaced again at the prospect of introducing two of the couples that had travelled on the TARDIS to each other. She was assuming - hoping - that they would get along, and didn't know what she would do if they didn't.

Thanks for reading! =]