A/N: Here's the next bit, there's no Janto action in this part, this storyline focuses more on Jack, Joey and Astra, but the next storyline will have some Janto. I promise! Anja.x ^_^

The Curious Case of Joey Grey 2

Martha lead the two Torchwood Officers through the UNIT base towards the interrogation rooms. It was very clinical, unlike Torchwood, which was more of a mess.

"Colonel," Martha said to a man standing by the window, looking into one of the rooms.

"Doctor Jones," He replied, then looked at Jack, "Captain Harkness," His voice wasn't acid, but there was a definite distaste there. His eyes fell on Astra, "And this is?"

"Torchwood's technical and alien expert," Jack said, "Astra Lifrey."

"Colonel," She replied. Jack watched her carefully. Her eyes burned with a fire he couldn't identify, was it hatred? Her voice had sounded calm and cool, but he was certain her heard something else there.

"We'd like to speak to your prisoner," Jack said.

Colonel Uppington-Smythe motioned to the door, "She's all yours."

Jack lead Astra in and they sat in front of the girl, "Captain Jack Harness," Jack said, introducing himself to the girl, "Head of Torchwood Three. I hear you want to talk to me."

The girl stared at him, "No. You're not..." She stopped. A realisation came over her, "Oh my... It worked... I really did go through the void... I really did get to another reality..." Sadness overcame her, "Knowing my luck not the right one though..."

"The wall between realities is sealed..." Astra said.

"And you are?" The girl asked.

"Astra Lifrey."

The girl shrugged, "They might be now... But I left when the world was dying. When the stars started to disappear!" Martha took a deep breath on the other side of the window. She remembered all too well the mission to save the earth. The Doctor had saved them, "Wait... The walls are sealed... That means... I can't go home... I can't find her..."

"Find who?" Jack asked.

"My mother. The head of Torchwood Three... Romana Grey."

Astra's heart skipped a beat as her alias from the other world tumbled out of the girl's mouth. She wanted to call the girl a liar. To tell her to stop using Joey's name in vain, but something told her not to. Something about this girl told her that everything she said was true.

So she started slowly, "If what you say is true. What's your Torchwood ID and codename?"

The girl looked at Astra, "I never said anything about being Torchwood."

"But you are," She said, "A UNIT officer wouldn't ask for Torchwood otherwise."

The girl nodded, accepting Astra's rationalisation, "Torchwood Officer three-nine-eight-two. Assigned Under Cover inside UNIT. Codename Boshane."

Astra nodded and looked at the girl closely. She looked familiar. She looked like the woman that Grey had called his mother when she'd taken him to Boshane. Jack was looking at her too. His eyes were swimming between what was happening in the room and visions of his mother.

"Not possible..." Astra whispered, "It can't be..."

The girl was looking at both of them too. The one that called himself Jack looked like her father... But he was dead. The girl, she couldn't place. Not her face anyway, but there was something about her. Something familiar. Joey decided to try something.

She started to talk in a language that Jack didn't understand, but he'd heard it before. When he'd first met Romi. It had a musical quality to it and he watched as tears fell from Astra's eyes as she took over from were the girl had started. What ever they were saying was beautiful Jack thought.

"Mum..." The girl finally said, her voice a low, hoarse whisper as she tried to choke back a sob.

"Joey..." Astra replied, her voice also sounding like she was holding back from crying.

"You regenerated...." It was a fact, an observation, not a question, "You promised us only two days!"

"How long has it been?"

"Two years..." Joey replied, "Team's changed. Tosh and Suzie were killed about a year ago. Gwen joined us finally. Jake came down from London."

"Tosh and Suzie are dead? How?"

"Long story... Rose did well though... Can't believe Gwen left the job as top dog though..." Joey laughed sadly.

Jack watched them. This was Joey? He didn't really understand. He'd heard bits about her son, but she'd always been reluctant to talk about Joey, "How'd you get here?" Jack asked.

"When the stars started to go out we realised that the holes were opening again. We had a Chula fighter that Mickey, Sean and I had been modifying with Void Technology, like we did the TARDIS. UNIT stole my fighter by the way!"

"UNIT are the good guys here," Astra said, "Do you ever do anything you're told?" She asked.

Joey shrugged, "Don't know what you're talking about mum!"

"Oh yes you do!" Astra started, "Don't get involved with Aliens. Don't join Torchwood. Don't join UNIT and don't play with the void or the rift!"

"Well... Umm... Rose sanctioned the experiment."

"Don't throw this onto Rose. Now, how about the obvious?" Astra stated.

Jack laughed, "Yeah. I heard you were male!"

"Uh... That..." Joey started nervously, "Well... You know UNIT. Always testing things they shouldn't... Never listening to reason... They... Might have gotten their hands on a Transgenderal Morphus Device."

(A Year and a half ago)

"What in the name of all things holy is that thing?" Sean McGann cried out, looking at the latest arrival in their work room.

Chrissie stared at it from her work station before getting up to examine it closer. She walked around it carefully. Then looked up at Sean and shrugged, "No idea," She turned to Joey, "What about you?"

Joey looked up from his current project and came over to look at the odd looking piece of technology. At first glance it didn't seem familiar, "Document it as always. Rose will want to know about it-" He started, but stopped, a memory from years ago hitting him like a boulder hurtling from outer space, "Oh no..." Joey examined the odd device closer.

"He knows what it is!" Sean announced.

"You do?" Chrissie asked, looking for confirmation from their friend.

Joey nodded, "At least I think I do. I was like six when I saw it... But there should a record of it..."

"So?" Sean pressed on, "What is it?"

"From memory, it's a Transgenderal Morphus Device... I'd really prefer not to relive my last encounter with a TMD..."

"Transgenderal Morphus Device?" Chrisie asked, "And... Please tell me it doesn't do what I think it does?"

Sean was laughing, "Oh boy... Who the hell is going to volunteer for that testing?"

"No one," Joey announced, "We're going to get it to Rose!"

"Exactly what was your last encounter with one of these things?" Sean asked.

"Never mind!" Joey growled, "Just work!"

Chrissie laughed at them then returned to her work station for her notepad.

Astra looked at Joey, "UNIT has a TMD?"

"Not anymore!" The girl announced, "But we couldn't move it. They were on to us, so we had to work carefully and that meant not removing it."

Astra sighed, "Why didn't Rose and Owen or even UNIT in their infinitely non existent wisdom reuse it and fix their mistakes?"

"Oh... That... It kind of broke after they used it. We sabotaged it. I didn't think after the report that everyone gave on the machine that the Colonel would actually use it! Or that he hated me enough to make me be the guinea pig!"

Jack laughed and the both looked at him. Astra was scowling, "Sorry... But I haven't seen a TMD in... God, years..." He looked at Astra, "Where was that? Where John got caught in one?"

Astra laughed, "Oh yeah! That was... Umm... Meracutia Zete. And we had to break back into the facility to reuse it and change him back!"

"And we were calling him Joannie for months after that!" Jack recalled, still laughing, "By the way, what was your first encounter?" He asked looking back at the young woman across from him.

"Not you too!" Joey exclaimed.

Astra laughed, remembering fondly, "Oh that was bad... But it never got used on you then!"

"It nearly did!"

"So, what happened after the experiment?" Jack asked curious.

"I demanded to be released from duty for the afternoon and went to find Owen. Of course Suzie tried to shoot me thinking I was an intruder, but Sean and Chrissie showed up."

"Besides for the obvious," Owen announced, "Genetically this girl is our Joey."

"I was there!" Sean reminded him, "It was... He just started to change... And..." He looked wearily at the women in the room, "Grow..."

Toshiko slapped him in the chest, "Careful buster!"

"Sorry sorry! But he did!" Sean cried, "I mean-"

"Enough!" Rose put a stop to the argument which was without a doubt about to start, "Is there any chance of getting our hands on this machine so that we can reverse this?"

"Uhh, due to not being able to move it, we kind of sabotaged it..." Chrissie admitted, "It won't work anymore."

"Ok..." Rose thought, "What about plans for it and building our own? Between you three, Mickey, Suzie and Tosh we have to be able to put something together right?"

Suzie shrugged, "We can try I guess."

"Well, they did try... And nothing worked. We couldn't make anything remotely similar, all I got was bunch of serious electric shocks," Joey explained, "I kept Owen in business for months."

Jack sighed sadly, hearing about his old team members. Long dead all of them. To hear about them so alive and... Loyal... Suzie loyal, it seemed unbelievable to him. And Tosh, part of an argument? And no snide remark from Owen... They seemed so alive and yet so very different.

"And what did UNIT have to say about this?" Astra asked.

Joey scoffed, "They wanted to charge me for going AWOL," She laughed. There was a similar quality to it that she remembered, but it was more lady like now, "Look at us mum! You're younger then I am for heavens sake!"

Astra laughed, "Don't I know it..." She looked at Jack, "Have her released to Torchwood."

Jack nodded and started out of the room, but couldn't help overhearing them.

"He looks like my real dad!" Joey whispered.

Astra nodded, "I know he does Grey... Jack's also from the Boshane Peninsula..."

"Do you think..." Joey started.

Astra shrugged, "I..." She closed her eyes, "I..."

"You see things mum!"

"I need to talk to Jack first."

Jack turned back to look at the girl. She looked like his mother, when she'd been a young woman. Could it be possible that this girl, the child Romi had saved years before was his brother... He stepped out of the room and found Martha, "Martha. She is UNIT, from the alternate universe that Rose lives in and she's also Astra's family."

Martha looked to the Colonel who nodded, "Release her."

-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-

Astra paced Jack's office, waiting for him to come in. Joey was downstairs with Martha and the rest of the team, comparing the two hubs and absolutely loving the idea of Myfawny. Astra remembered that he'd... She'd loved dinosaurs as a child.

Jack came in, "You wanted to talk to me?"

She nodded, "Yeah..."

"So..." Jack started after a few minutes of silence.

"Do you know what Xyorinagons are Jack?" She asked not looking at him.

"Only what you've told me. Uhh... Void beasts, and rather foul?"

She nodded, "They're one of the few creatures that can naturally travel the void without tearing a hole through space and time," She explained, "The can also bring people into the void. Their nests aren't actually in the void, but they're covered in void stuff. You've seen them before Jack. As a child."

"I'm not following Astra," He walked up to her and stood in front of her. She didn't look at him though.

"Years ago I met a small boy, Joey. But his name wasn't Joey then. It was Grey, Jack. He'd been taken by the Xyorinagons after his hand had slipped from his brother's and he couldn't keep up..." Tears pricked Jack's eyes, but she continued, "I searched for his family, but they never had a second son... and..." She was crying herself, "I should have told you back in the academy," She cried, turning away from him.

"Are you saying?" Jack managed, "Romana... What are you saying?" He was getting confused, but he was staring at her intently. When she didn't reply to him, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her to him roughly, "What are you saying?" He yelled, as he shook her.

Neither of them noticed the figure standing in the doorway to Jack's office until she was on top of them. The girl's fist collided with Jack's jaw and he released Astra as he stumbled backwards. She didn't stop there though. She pushed him backwards until he was backed up against his own desk, her fists curled through his blue shirt. He had to admit. The girl was strong, "Don't you ever touch my mother like that!" The girl cried.

"Grey!" Astra yelled at the girl, "Let him go!"

The girl's hands dropped to her sides as she backed away from Jack. Romana only ever called him... Her, Grey when he was in trouble, "But he-"

Astra shook her head and the girl stopped talking, "I deserve it."

"Grey... You called her Grey..." Jack started, "Romi.. I..."

Joey kept her stare intensely on Jack as a silent warning, but said nothing. The tension in the room was thick.

"Joey, wait downstairs," Astra ordered.

"But-" The girl objected.

"Now," Astra ordered.

Joey frowned at her, but nodded, "Fine," She shot a warning look at Jack. He didn't move though, his mind was reeling with everything that was being said. Astra shut the door after Joey left. She didn't turn back to Jack though.

"You're saying that... That girl is Grey..." Jack started. His voice was emotionless, hard, cold as steel, "And that you've known that Grey was safe since I mentioned him at the Academy?"

Astra nodded. His voice scared her. She'd never heard him like that and it was then that she knew, he could never forgive her for what she'd done. Hiding that knowledge from him.

"Why? Why would you hide that from me?" He asked, "If you're so good that you can tell that, just by looking at us, why the hell didn't you tell me all those years ago?" His voice was rising as he spoke. Jack didn't often yell in anger and never at her, "Why Romana?"

"I..." She took a deep breath, "Back then... You would never have believed me..." She said softly.

"You don't know that!" He yelled.

"What in the name of Rassilon did you want me to say Jack?" She cried as she spun around to him, "Boe, you know what, I'm actually from another reality and an alien to boot! I was travelling around in my space ship when I found a little boy. I think he's your brother! Oh, and I have no way to get home!" When she finished, her voice had risen to meet Jack's in volume and anger.

"What about now?" He asked her.

"Now? What did you want me to say now Jack? Sorry but the Grey that killed Toshiko isn't actually your brother? That your brother is in an alternate reality, with, one of your best friends and I've known this since I met you? Oh yeah, and The Doctor sealed the void so I still can't go home?"

"ANYTHING! You could have told me anything!"

She shook her head, "I searched for years for Grey's family! With him, without him. When ever I got the chance. Meeting you broke my heart in more ways then you could possibly imagine. After you told us bout Grey. I made a plan. I was going to find the Doctor, then come back for you. I was going to take you with me. Take you to him!"

Jack shook his head, "I can't believe that you... You of all people did this... You could have still told me... When you got your memories back..."

"I was coming to terms that I could never go home! That I would never see my son again!"

"MY BROTHER!" He yelled back at her.

For several moments neither of them spoke. The silence dragged on uncomfortably for both of them. Tension still filled the space between them. Jack's eyes showed nothing but anger, hatred and betrayal.

"Get out," He finally said.

She looked at him, horror covering her face, "Jack..."

"Get out," He repeated. He turned away from Astra. Not wanting to see her face.

She looked down to the ground. Took a deep breath then turned, she opened the door to his office and stepped out. Without turning back she closed the door behind her.