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Chapter Eleven: Puzzle Pieces

Barry, Wales (UK):

Bobby slid into the backseat of the SUV next to Ianto. The young Welshman was so engrossed in what he was reading on the computer screen in front of him that he barely looked up. Instead it was Gwen who noticed that Bobby seemed distracted.

"You all right?" she asked, turning around.

"Yeah. Fine." He didn't really care if she believed him, but catching Jack looking at him in the rear view mirror, he added, "I'm all right," for the Captain's benefit.

Jack nodded, accepting the answer and pulled back onto the road.

"I've been going through the archives," Ianto said then. "There wasn't anything in the Torchwood database, but I did find an old newspaper report about a meteorite that may have hit ground somewhere around here in May of 1915."

"Are you saying Torchwood didn't investigate?" Bobby blinked in surprise.

"We were stretched thin during the War," Jack told him. "Most of us joined up with the military…" he paused, trying to pull up the memories of names and faces from all those years ago. "Amelia stayed on. Peter stayed with her. He didn't think a girl should be left all alone during wartime… not that she needed his protection," he grinned at the memory.

She'd been the first person in Torchwood he'd actually liked and she had definitely been somebody who could handle herself against anything the War threw at her.

The sound of Gwen's voice brought him back to the present. "How long have you really been with Torchwood, then?" she asked.

"Longer than I ever wanted to be," he admitted without thinking.

"Just up ahead, left turn," Ianto said from the backseat.

"What do you mean, longer than you ever wanted to be?" Gwen pressed.

Before Jack could say anything, Ianto cut in, answering for him. "Torchwood was set up to protect the Crown from alien threats, Gwen. It wasn't the… friendliest of places in the early days."

"So why did you join in the first place?" she wanted to know. It wasn't often any of them got Jack talking about his past.

"My choices were limited," he told her the truth. As he rounded a bend in the road, the coastline came into view up ahead.

"But you stayed. There must've come a time when you had other choices."

"I… was waiting for somebody," he glanced over at her, and then at Ianto in the rearview mirror. Ianto's expression was impossible to read. "Torchwood was founded to protect the Crown from a specific alien threat. The Doctor."

"Your doctor?" Gwen asked.

He nodded.

"What did he do?"

Jack couldn't help but grin, "He annoyed the Queen."

Gwen blinked as if not believing him. "Is that all?"

The grin broadened, "He can be pretty annoying when he puts his mind to it."

"So this Doctor's a Time Agent, then?" her tone was scathing.

Jack shot her a look, "What is it you guys have against Time Agents?"

"Well given the ones we've met…" Gwen let it hang in the air.

Jack sighed. "I think I should be offended."

"You should," Ianto assured him in a dry tone.

Jack looked at him again, but his expression remained unreadable. "The Doctor isn't a Time Agent. In fact… how did he put it…? I don't remember exactly… but it went something like how comparing a vortex manipulator to his TARDIS was like putting a banger next to a sports car.

"He's the one with the sports car," Jack added with raised eyebrows and a grin blossoming on his face once more. He turned onto the road Ianto indicated to him with a light tap on the shoulder.

"So you're saying we got dumped last year for a man in a sports car, is that it?" Gwen's tone was scathing, although it was tempered by a slight bit of a grin; she glanced back at Ianto, too, her eyes betraying her concern for his feelings.

The Welshman just shrugged.

"I came back, didn't I?" Jack's said defensively. He glanced at Ianto, again; if he was bothered by the conversation, he was doing a good job of keeping it to himself.

"Did you find anything more about that meteorite?" Jack asked, steering the conversation back to the original topic and wondering if he and his Welshman were going to have one of those long uncomfortable conversations about this later.

The younger man looked up from the computer screen. "No. But with the War going on, I'm not surprised. It wasn't just Torchwood who were stretched thin. Everything went for the war."

"Look," Bobby pointed towards a gnarled old tree that looked just like the one in the drawing. "This must be the place. And look there," he pointed further up the way. A single large rock jutted out of the water, just like the one in the girls' drawings.

Ianto tapped a few keys on the computer, "I'm not getting any kind of energy reading, but it may be too faint to detect. We only seem to be able to pick it up when it's deadly."

"Great," Bobby muttered.

Jack pulled the SUV to the side of the road, giving Ianto one last look in the rearview mirror. Ianto met his gaze, but his eyes betrayed nothing. Right, Jack thought. If he could count on Ianto for anything, it was that he would always keep his promise about not letting whatever happened between them affect his job performance.

He got out of the SUV, "Bobby, you're with me. Gwen, Ianto," he nodded to them to head the opposite way up the beach. "Do we have any idea what we're looking for?" he asked the Australian.

"Miller's granddaughters said they found coloured stones here somewhere… between that tree and…" he looked around. Off in the distance he spotted a large rock jutting out of the water. "Probably that rock."

"What about the other victims?" asked Gwen.

"For the time being, let's assume the same thing," Jack told her. "Remember, we have no idea what actually sets these things off, so be careful," he looked at each of them but was aware that his glance lingered on Ianto the longest; he found himself thinking of Amelia again. She'd been just about Ianto's age when she died.

"You realize I'm just playing hunch," Bobby told him quietly after they'd walked several paces from the others.

"Sometimes hunches are all we have to go on," Jack told him. He was using his wrist strap to scan for the energy signature; Bobby was using one of the hand held detectors to do the same. So far neither one of them was getting anything.

It's like looking for a needle in a damned haystack, the Captain swore silently.

"So what was all that about Time Agents?"

"I used to be one. Or will be one," he flashed a wry grin, "It kinda depends on how you want to look at it."

"What is a Time Agent?"

"Nothing that matters to the here and now," he continued to sweep the area, but still got nothing.

He cast his glance up and down the beach. There were a few knots of people enjoying the day. He found himself envying them, just a little. They had no idea of the dangers around them, maybe right under their feet…

The thought filled him with urgency, however. They had to find out what was had killed those three people before he ended up with more corpses in the vaults.

"What happened to no secrets?" Bobby was standing there, staring at him.

Jack felt his jaw tighten. "It was just a job. I did for a while, then I quit. Sometime after that, the Agency fell apart. I don't know why and I don't care," he said before Bobby could ask. "It doesn't matter any more." He turned in a circle, scanning 360 degrees, but still nothing.

"It's just that you talk about time travel as if it's nothing."

"Humans start experimenting – successfully – with time travel in about another two thousand years. By the fifty first century, it's been perfected. No big deal." He realized he was sounding defensive; the truth was it was a big deal, he just didn't need to be having this conversation right now.

"Sorry. I just never…"

"I know. It's a lot to take in. Sometimes I forget that the things I take for granted are pretty incredible to you people." He got a small ping on his wrist strip, "Yes! Come on,"

Jack led the way jogging up the beach towards a large outcropping of rocks. The signal was faint, but it was definitely there.

……………………………………………

Princeton, NJ (US):

Allison barely looked up as House sat down – uninvited as usual – at her table.

"Somebody hasn't been getting her beauty sleep. Or has the raccoon look become sexy?" he inquired.

She didn't answer.

He helped himself to her Danish. "Hot date keeping you up all night?" he asked, stuffing half of it into his mouth.

"You know, if you're going to keep making a habit of this, I'm going to start getting two breakfasts," she grumbled half heartedly.

He smirked, "People might start talking about us if you did that."

"Are you here for a reason, or is it just to annoy me?" It was awfully early for House to be in to work.

"Isn't annoying you reason enough?" he shoved the other half of her Danish into his mouth.

"House…"

"Hey, at least I'm not the one sitting around here pining for some guy I let go. Not that I would actually be letting go of a guy, but… well you get the idea." He flashed a condescending smirk.

"So what? You think I should go chasing off to Cardiff after him?"

"That would be one option. Or we can do this again tomorrow morning. Only next time, don't get the cheese Danish. Try the apple. I like those better." He ambled off out of the cafeteria.

…………………………………………………………….

Barry, Wales (UK):

Jack tapped his com link. "Gwen…Ianto… I think we've found it," he said. "Get down here now."

"Right," Ianto answered first. "We're on our way."

Jack watched him in the distance looking his way, a dark figure against the pale sand and light blue sky. Gwen was standing next to him.

He turned towards Bobby, who had been the one to find the entrance into a small cave in the outcropping. "Wait here. I'm going to have a look inside."

"Jack…"

"Come on," the Captain smirked, "it's not like anything in there can kill me..." he paused a moment and slid out of his coat. "On second thought," he handed it to Bobby. "Just in case. Wouldn't want to lose that," he winked and disappeared into the darkness.