Spoilers for Children of Earth. PG/K+. It's about Lois in case it's not clear.
At first she was frightened.
She was nervous and she was scared and the people in front of her were the most important people in the country and what the hell was she doing?
But she kept talking, and she saw the fear on their faces, some of the most powerful people in the world and they were scared of her, and she found confidence hidden somewhere deep inside her, and her voice came out tough and strong and powerful. Even the end, which wasn't the most forceful of endings, satisfied her as she sat down and saw their fear.
But once she was in her cell, with the door locked safely behind her, she realized that she didn't want this.
Christ, who did she think she was? Who cared if she might have just helped spare the lives of a good chunk of the world's population, she was going to spend the rest of her life rotting away in a cell somewhere and eating horrid prison food and dressed in an ill-fitting orange jumpsuit and there wasn't a goddamn thing she could do about it.
She had spent years visiting her father and she had sworn she would never, ever have to look out on anyone from the other side of the glass the way he had looked at her, longing for freedom and touch and air.
Probably she wouldn't even be allowed visitation rights. Probably she would be executed for treason. Oh God.
She spent hours formulating wild escape plans that could never work. And even if they did, where would she go? What could she possibly do?
But suddenly— no. She was free to go. No charges at all. She'd lost her job but nothing else. She thought about Gwen's offer but she couldn't. She just couldn't. It had been exhilarating and wild and amazing but she didn't want to be Torchwood. Once was enough.
She packed her things and was gone that night. She couldn't really afford to move but she didn't care, she didn't want to be in Britain anymore.
She decided on Canada. No particular reason, only that it was far away and she could just afford the ticket. So she went and that was that.