Like when Fish had entered his flat, Cameron was a little embarrassed. He hadn't been back so the place was still a mess. Then again, Cameron had seen glimpses of what Ianto and Jack called a bedroom. That space looked barely big enough for one grown man let alone two. The minute Cameron put his key into the door, he could hear Six meowing again.

"Bugger," he swore. "I knew I should've dropped more food for her. Thought I'd left enough. I was in such a rush and then Joe said there was that body…"

"I'm sure she isn't going to starve," Ianto said with a smile. The door opened and the cat was packing back in forth in front of it, meowing loudly.

Ianto stopped in his tracks. She was beautiful. She was quite a lot of cat but still very muscular and solid. She certainly did look the worse for wear, like a scrappy out of doors stray. She was black but had a marbled grey tabby pattern that was flecked with white. Her eyes were a sparkling blue. Her white whiskers were extremely long. He blocked the door but the feline showed no signs of wanting to leave. "Where'd you get her?"

"Don't worry, mate, she won't go anywhere. She's obedient for a cat. C'mon in," he said, turning towards the very small kitchen. "I didn't find her. She found me. I was with this foster carer in Glasgow. She was hanging about the back garden all the time. Angry old bat of a woman always chased her away but I'd feed her now and again. When I left that house and moved to another, she followed me."

"She followed you?" Ianto asked, surprised.

"Aye. I was real put out when I had to switch homes and leave her behind but the new people taking me didn't fancy having a pet," he said. "Liked things just so they did. I was over the moon when she was meowing outside my window one night. I kept nicking tuna tins from the pantry to feed her. Got told off a lot for eating in my room. She kept following me. That's why I named her Six. Six houses and she found me every time. I figured that meant she was mine so when I went off on my own I took her with me," he replied with a laugh.

It was quite the story. Ianto couldn't believe how clever this cat was. Cameron reached down and picked the cat up with a slight grunt, putting her down on the worktop. She sat down, patiently waiting for Cameron to pour out her food. Ianto reached out his hand. She sniffed it then dipped her head. He took it as an invitation and began scratching the cat behind her ears.

"She's beautiful," Ianto said.

"Thanks. She's a bit worse for the wear. She likes you," Cameron said. He dug the bag of cat food out from the cupboard and began to fill her bowl. "Eats me out of house and home, she does."

"Have you taken her to the vet?" Ianto asked. "She's not sick is she?"

"Everything's normal," Cameron said as he dropped the full food dish onto the floor. Six immediately abandoned Ianto for her food, tucking in with surprising gusto. "Vet said her tests looked fantastic for a cat her age."

"How old is she?" Ianto asked, curious.

"I don't know. I've had her since I was a lad of seven. So going on a wee bit over twenty years now," he replied. Cameron rolled the bag closed. "She won't eat the tinned stuff."

Ianto raised his eyebrows in surprise. The cat may look scrappy but she looked good for her age.

"The furniture's not yours is it?" Ianto asked.

Cameron shook his head, scratching Six's head one more time before he stood up. "No, some of the crockery but everything else came with the flat. Bedroom's through that door. Well, the only door."

The two men looked down at a sharp meow. Six's bowl was empty. Ianto let out a small laugh. It had been overflowing a few minutes ago!

"I'm surprised she doesn't break into the bag," Ianto said, waving at the cupboard.

"She does sometimes but she knows she's not supposed to," Cameron said. He unrolled the bag, scooping more food out. "When I was in medical school, I put some out before I left. It was a good amount too. I had a late night study group and I didn't get back until past midnight. The bag was in the middle of my kitchen, half empty. It was a bloody new bag too. I thought she was going to be sick but next morning she was sitting by her bowl wanting more. I go through a bag like this every few days."

Ianto was surprised the cat wasn't obese the way she was tucking into her second helping. "She's not ill, is she? Eating like that, she should be fat as all."

"Trust me, mate, I've checked and rechecked. There was a time when every spare pound I had went straight to the vet. It got better when I started buying that grain free food. Expensive it is, though. Bloody cat eats better than I do," he said, shaking his head. "Let's get on then."

It didn't take them long to get all of Cameron's meager possessions packed. It really was nothing more than his clothing and toiletries, some of the crockery and a few boxes of keepsakes. Six watched the two of them curiously. A few times, she jumped into a box, nearly getting herself taped inside.

"You sure this is a good idea? I can't say she'll be safe from Myfanwy," Ianto warned.

"I know," Cameron said. "Jack said the same. I'll make sure she stays in my room."

"If she gets loose…" Ianto pointed out, nervous. Six curled herself around his leg. The last thing he wanted was for Six to become Myfanwy's late night snack. Cameron obviously loved the feline and Ianto had to admit that he was already quite fond of her. He'd never been one for cats before.

"She won't leave my room if she knows she's not supposed to," Cameron insisted. He reached behind the battered sofa and took out the large plastic cat carrier. He opened its door and Six, obediently, walked inside. After Cameron fastened the door, they started carrying things down to the car. With Six secure in the backseat, they drove back to the Hub.

Fish and Henry gladly helped move Cameron's things down into the staterooms. They both had a healthy flush to them. While Henry and Ianto unloaded the SUV, Fish and Cameron took the first boxes downstairs. They'd just gone through the stairway door when Cameron leaned in next to Fish, asking in a low whisper, "Will you at least let me know which room you and Henry were shagging in so I don't pick that one?"

The scarlet blossoming across Fish's face was spectacular. He cleared his throat. Cameron let out a wink and surveyed the doors in front of him. Before Fish could stop him, he entered the first door on the left. Fish put the box in his hands down and grabbed Cameron's arm.

"Not this one," Fish warned.

"What? Why not? Looks like it's been fixed up a bit," he said, confused. He waved at the mirror and the thicker mattress.

Fish shifted, nervous. He peeked back out the door. Not seeing any sign of Ianto or Henry, he said, "We had a team member who stayed in here for a while. He's not with us anymore."

Cameron looked around. "Oh, shit, Joe, I'm sorry…"

"It's not like that, mate. He didn't die, he just… he left."

"What?" Cameron asked, confused.

"He buggered off in the middle of the night without a fucking word," Fish said, in a low voice. "A real shit thing to do, if you ask me."

"Wait a minute," Cameron said, turning. He was a bit irritated. "Jack said the only way I could leave was if you lot gave me that drug and took my memories. This bloke just pops off and you're not even looking for him?"

"It's complicated." Fish sighed. He shook his head. He remembered when he'd first started working for Torchwood he received that answer a great deal from Jack and Miranda. He'd always found it so condescending. Now he understood what everyone had meant.

"Oi, I think I've shown I can handle the complicated rubbish flinging about the place. I'm not a bloody child, Joe," Cameron said and Fish winced at the familiarity of the phrase.

"Look, mate, it really is a bad situation…"

Cameron crossed his arms over his chest and gave Fish a glare.

Fish sighed and then popped his head into the stairwell. With no sign of Henry or Ianto, he said in a hushed voice, "He was a time traveller from the future. He's either gone off planet or to a different time or some such nonsense. We'd retcon you if you left because you shouldn't know anything about aliens but taking his memories wouldn't have mattered because he knew all that to begin with."

"Oh," Cameron said. He thought Fish was going to tell him something really daft. Then again, his life really must be upside down if he thought a time traveller from the future wasn't really daft.

"You think he'll come back? Is that why you don't want me using the room?" Cameron asked, still finding the room appealing.

At first, everyone had hoped that Hart would return. Maybe he'd just gotten a bit of wanderlust into him and popped off somewhere or somewhen for a short while but it had been months.

"We don't think he will do. He's a time traveller, mate. If he wanted to come back round he could. He could stay away for ten bloody years and come back not five minutes after he left." Fish waved at the room. "I don't think Evie would like you using his room."

"What? Why?"

Fish leaned back out the door, again to check for Henry and Ianto. "She and him… they were…"

Cameron's eyes went wide, putting it together himself. "What a bastard!"

"Packed his things all while she was sleeping right there," Fish blurted. The moment the angry statement was out of his mouth he'd regretted speaking so. It was one thing to tell Cameron about the situation, it was another to gossip about it and Miranda behind her back. He wished he hadn't said anything now. Fish walked back out into the hallway. "C'mon, let's get you settled in one of the other rooms."

He'd tried to claim the second room on the left but Fish had flushed a spectacular shade of purple as he'd approached it. Instead, he selected the room across from Hart's old room. He sincerely hoped this one had clean sheets. Ianto and Henry were going back and forth, bringing the boxes and sacks of clothes as Fish helped him unpack and settle in. Cameron opened Six's carrier and the feline tentatively stuck her nose out, testing the air. He started setting up Six's things, keeping half an eye on her as she explored her new surroundings. He wrinkled his nose at the litter pan. "Do you think it'd be all right if I put this in the next room?"

"Should be fine, mate. We never use these rooms for anything other than a quick kip. There are plenty," Fish said as he ran a rag through the dresser drawers. "Jack and Miranda swear they've used them to put up alien emissaries and heads of state but I think that's a bunch of bollocks."

Cameron laughed. "Probably'd want to put them up somewhere a wee bit more posh."

"Well that too. We're a level five planet - a planet that hasn't made first contact," Fish explained. "Most contact with us is forbidden. Don't get me wrong, it happens, but most time current aliens keep their distance."

Cameron snapped out, "Oi!"

Fish jumped at the noise.

"Sorry, Joe, not you." The cat had started to poke her head out of the doorway. "Don't you even think about it. You stay in here unless you want to be something's midnight snack, got it?"

The cat tilted her head and gave him an angry look.

"She should be fine if she doesn't go upstairs. That door is the only one back up. It's just the staterooms, the two washrooms and the laundry on this level." Fish looked at the cat, jerking his head towards the door. "It's okay, go on."

Six looked up at Cameron for permission and when he nodded she ventured out into the hallway.

"Do not go up those stairs. I mean it!" He followed her so he could shut the door to Hart's old room. He didn't want her to throw up a hairball in there or something. He also dropped her food, water and litter pan into the next room over. He put another water dish by his own door. He looked at Hart's closed door and shook his head.

"Not right to treat a nice woman like Miranda that way."

"Don't let anyone know I told you. It's still a bit raw for all of us," Fish said. He began slitting open the boxes. Six walked back into the room and jumped onto the bed. She sniffed at the box, and finding its contents uninteresting, jumped off the bed again. "We all want to tear him a new one if he ever comes back. Evie's been in a right state. Unlucky in love she is."

"Shame, gorgeous woman like that," Cameron said, shaking his head. He started to help Fish slit open the boxes, looking for his clothes. It was all he really needed right now. "Was she why you came here?"

Fish handed a pile of jumpers to Cameron. He shook his head and said, "No." And then corrected himself, "Well, actually yes."

Cameron laughed. "It's either one or the other."

"It's a long story," Fish said, shrugging. "I chatted her up in a queue one night in a corner shop."

"Oh, mate, you didn't?" Cameron asked, scandalised.

"I took her to a Chinese restaurant for our first date. We chatted so long, they chucked us out. We went back round to her place." Fish blushed deeply remembering the evening. He'd known something was off straight away after that first kiss. The sex had been intensely awkward. "What a mistake. We were better of as friends."

"With benefits?" Cameron asked with a laugh.

Fish returned the laugh and shook his head, nearly disgusted with the idea. "No, it was just the one time. Felt a bit like I'd shagged my sister or something to be honest. We lost touch after I moved here. She rang me out of the blue, had me consult on a Torchwood case but, at the time anyway, I didn't know it was a Torchwood case."

"Caught the bug, eh?"

Fish nodded. "It wasn't Torchwood that did it. A few years after she and I lost touch, a mutual friend told me she'd died in a RTA."

Cameron's eyes went wide. "And then she rang."

"Yup," Fish said, popping the 'p' a bit. "Caught my attention, that did. So I did some digging into 'Evie'. Wasn't long before I figured it out she'd been creeping about for a while and came knocking. Jack offered me a job here on the spot. Guess my work on that case or digging into Evie impressed him. Never understood why he was so keen on me staying."

Henry came into the room with two sacks of clothes in his hands. He handed them to Cameron and said, "These are the last two."

Then, he turned to his lover, "Jack needs to ask you something, Joe."

Fish nodded. He gave Henry a quick peck on the cheek as he went past him, heading towards the main Hub.

"Thanks, Henry," Cameron said, taking the sacks from him.

"You're most welcome," he answered with a smile. "Can I assist you with anything else?"

"I think I've got it all under control. I just wanted to get most of my clothes and shoes set," he replied. He opened a few of the sacks and started putting the clothes into the drawers. He nodded at the boxes. "Probably going to have to stack those in the other room."

Henry walked towards the boxes. "These?"

"Aye, thanks, Henry," Cameron replied.

Ianto leaned into the room before Henry had a chance to pick up the boxes. "Jack wants us all in the boardroom."

"Six?" Cameron called out. The cat wasn't in the small room. He walked out into the hallway. She was staring at Hart's closed door, sniffing the gap between the door and the floor. "Six, c'mon. I have to go upstairs. Back in, now."

Cameron waved at the door but the cat refused to budge. He walked over to her but she ran off. "SIX!"

"It's all right, leave her, mate. The only way out is through this door," Ianto insisted.

Nervous, Cameron backed towards the stairway, ensuring the door was tightly closed behind him.