DISCLAIMER: How often do I have to actually write a disclaimers? I think this one will be the last for this fiction, if someone don't know by this chapter that I don't own anything, then what the hell have you been reading all this time?

A/N:I'm sorry about the long wait, but I seems to have mucked it up a bit with this story and needed a bit of a help so a big thanks to Shadow for pointing out that the story line was too confusing and maybe people don't read, or review because get frustrated not knowing what is going on with Sam Tyler and the Master's personalities.

So, I think I should also point out that the story is NONE CANNON. If I had to stuck to cannon, I would not be able to write this. The time line for the Doctor and Torchwood is somewhere between the Last Of The Time Lords and before Partners In Crime, and for the A Divison and the Master/Sam is somewhere in the middle of series two of Life on Mars, and ignores the last two episodes.

Cardiff, Wels 2008


The sun was just rising in Cardiff trying to push its way through the usual Welsh, cloudy and rainy early morning. It was the beginning of another usual day in Cardiff, with the normal flow of people running around, drowsily sipping on their coffees and hurrying towards work.

Under the water tower of Roald Dahl Plaza, away from the eyesight of the citizens; among the buzz of the alien tech and cutting edge computers, another normal day was starting for the personal of Torchwood. Well as normal day, as Torchwood could have with the line of work they were in.

Apart from the hum of the machines, the place was quiet and could very well be completely deserted, if you didn't spot the figures of four people completely dead to the world around them. Toshiko, a young Japanese woman was scanning the data on the screen of her high tech computer and analysing the information, which looked as if only she could understand it.

On her left on another work station with screens around it, another young woman, the ex-police officer Gwen Cooper was running through the CCTV footage from the previous night. Further down the other levels of the Hub was the medical station which had an iron examination table in the centre and very bored Doctor Owen Harper, poking at something that looked very much dead.

All this was observed by the head of Torchwood Three, Cardiff, and Captain Jack Harkness. Jack was sitting on the desk in his office, trying to concentrate on doing some paperwork, but getting constantly distracted by the empty place where a hand in a jar used to be and not so long ago either. He sighed and moved his attention back to the paperwork. Moments later a man dressed in an immaculate three piece, dark grey suit, entered the through the glass door of Jack's office, a cup with streaming, black coffee was placed on the desk on Jack's right and the man left the office quietly, almost unnoticed.

Jack smiled to himself and took a sip from the strong coffee. Yes another normal day at Torchwood, until the right monitor at the centre of the Hub started to spark and sent abnormal readings on to Tosh's computer. Suddenly everyone sprang into frenzy of motion, which for outside observer might seem somewhat chaotic, but everyone did their job with absolute precision. Jack was out of his office the moment the first spark came out of the rift.

"Tosh, put the charts to monitor on high alert and scroll back to the last couple of hours. I want to see when the first anomaly started and why did we missed the glitch!" Jack was on full work mod now.

"Already on it Jack." Toshiko Sato answered moving around on her work station and busying herself with all the charts and readings, pressing various buttons on the keyboards to her computers with nearly the speed of the light. "Nothing abnormal on the readings, until the very moment the rift sparked."

"Gwen, check the recent CCTV!" Jack then ran up to the sliding wheel door and opened it to shout to the man inside the tourist shop's office. "Ianto, call the police, see if there are any reports of strange creatures, or persons lurking around the city!"

Jack went to Tosh next and looked over her shoulder at the screen in front of her.

"Nothing, I can detect Jack, I'm sorry." She shook her head. "There are a few changes up and down on the activity, but nothing too significant, or strong enough to cause this."

"Ok, keep monitoring and let me know if anything changes." Jack pushed himself from the back of her chair and made his way to where Gwen stood.

"Anything on the CCTV?"

Gwen looked up from the screen to him and sighed. "Nothing on the CCTV either. Just the normal people going on their way, the most interesting thing so far is the occasional mugger."

Owen finally left the medical area and joined the others in the central Hub.

"So, everyone has a task, but me." Dr Harper whined. "You think. I'm incapable of working with the rift, Jack?"

"'Course not!" Jack smiled thinly at him. "If I ever need the rift open, I'll be sure to ask the expert, Owen."

"I saved you and Toshiko from being stranded in 1942, in case you forgot."

"Yeah…" Jack answered. Of course he couldn't forget, but annoying Owen Harper was too much of a fun to miss. "Only you seemed so engrossed in sticking your tools into this time vortex worm and I didn't want to ruin your fun."

Jack's smile grew. It was hard enough sometimes to work with relatively amicable Owen Harper, an annoyed Owen was next to impossible to handle.

"Found anything you like there?"

"No!" grunted Owen, as he flung himself on the sofa.


The streets of Cardiff were cold and wet and not the most pleasant place to walk through if you don't have to, you should at least be dressed warm and water proof. The autumn was on its peak and the weather, although not yet biting cold was far away from comfortable. Yet strangely enough, through one of the many streets, there was a woman walking, dressed only in light red dress, with bare shoulders and no back; her feet were without shoes, but this weather did not seem to affect her.

She was walking almost in trance, seemingly just floating through the streets, towards the place where the Millennium Centre was. Her look was near vacant and she was swaying slightly as if the wind would pick her thin body up at any moment and blow her away with the fallen leaves from the trees. Her blond hair was flying around her face and shoulders, the hair might once have been neatly and stylishly clipped on a loose bun, or around the temples, but now it was in complete disarray. But much stranger than all was the fact, that despite this woman's strange appearance, no one paid her any mind.

Lucy was determinate to reach the Roald Dahl Plaza and do her part of the work. She knew what exactly was expected from her. She gripped the ring in her hand tightly, her frozen fingers ached, but she knew that soon everything will be alright. Soon, when her Harry was back, the cold will go away. Soon, she will be warm in her husband's arms once again. She wished the rain would stop, it was ruining her hair and her dress; and she was in the red one, because her Harry always loved her in this colour.

She knew, others were mean to resurect him, but she knew that if others do it they will bring back the Master, not her Harry. She needed Harry, her loving husband, the one who found in her someone that no one else did. She didn't want the Master, he wasn't her Harry, he was mad and uncaring, and most importantly he forgot about her the moment he had his Doctor to play if she was careful, if she did it right, then she would have him back only for herself. He had explained to her about the rift and the Time Vortex, and they hoped that when she throw the ring into the rift, it will grand him his life back. If the Vortex could grand life to the Torchwood Captain, then it could do the same to her husband.

She had to hurry up, or she might miss the moment when the rift is weak, but she couldn't move any faster. Her legs were cold and felt heavy; everything seemed to move in slow motion, only she was flying through the streets, between the buildings and around the trees. The rain was beating down on her, biting on her bare skin and made her shiver, but she just kept going, she knew what she had to do. It was strange how the rain muffled not only the sounds were, but also the colours. The trees with their missing leaves seemed even duller on this October morning, than they ever had before. Only the occasional red (the red always seems to be such a strong and bright colour) stood apart from the rest, brighter than ever, almost as if grey and red were the only colours left in existence.


Meanwhile, back in the Hub, everyone was still trying to find the reason for the sudden rift activity but without much success.

The entrance door rolled open and Ianto joined the rest of the Torchwood in the main area, holding a tray with cups of coffee, to the great relief of everyone present. Sometimes the only thing that held the Torchwood team intact and sane was Ianto's famous coffee.

Gwen rubbed her eyes, which stung after staring at the screen watching endless scrolls of CCTV footage. She sighed contently and took a sip from her cup, turning to the tea boy.

"Ianto, you are my saviour, always knowing what I need." Gwen smiled at him and received one smile and a curt nod.

"Nice coffee for sore head and good sight for sore eyes, that's my Ianto Jones!" Jack Harkness winked at him, reaching for the cup of coffee.

Ianto didn't seem to be affected by any of the comments and not missing a beat, he turned to offer Toshiko her coffee, tossing over his shoulder at the Captain.

"This is sexual harassment, sir."

Looking back at her screen Gwen hastily put her mug down and zoomed in on the image.

"Jack!" She shouted. "Come and see this!"

Not only Jack, but almost the entire team apart from Tosh joined Gwen on her station. To Jack's utter disbelief, there on the screen was the image of a woman dressed in red, kneeling on the ground almost on top of the Hub.

"I don't believe this!" Jack exclaimed shaking his head. "How can she be here? She was in a mental hospital."

"Who is she, Jack?" Gwen asked surprised by her boss' reaction to this strange woman.

"Lucy Saxon, the late Prime Minister's wife." Ianto answered the question.

"Wasn't she the one who killed him?" Tosh asked, not leaving her work place even for a moment.

"Yes, and that's why, she can't be here. She is locked up." Jack sounded bit scared, but mostly angry, because Captain Jack Harkness did not do well with strange.

"Jack!" Tosh shouted from her place." The rift is powering up. The readings are going off the scale."

Jack left Gwen and ran to Tosh's place to look at the rift activity readings; they were changing constantly and the rift was opening again. Moving around trying to find the cause, he missed the woman placing a ring into a crack of the pavement, which coincided with the exact time the rift opened.

The ground started to shake and the light in the rift started to move up and down. There were red lights flashing and the Hub was filled with the blaring of alarms.

"Ianto, go and try to turn off this noise!" Jack shouted, trying to make himself heard over the alarms. "Tosh, stay here and keep trying to find the cogs to close the rift back! Gwen, Owen, with me and get your guns ready!"