2007

Date: January 3

Jenny stopped smiling the moment she heard her phone go off.

She glanced down at the caller ID before she answered. "I'm not coming in, Gwen."

"I know you said you needed a break after all the madness that happened on Monday, but we really need your help here, Jen. No one can find Jack and everything has fallen to pieces." Jenny heard something crash in the background, followed by Owen's loud cursing.

She half smiled and glanced over at where Mara, Sierra, and their other friends were happily playing a videogame. Part of her was sorely tempted to drop everything and go running back to the Torchwood team. Her time with Jack and the others had not only filled the aching hole in her hearts where her parents should be, but also satisfied her need to always be running. Chasing down aliens on Earth hadn't been nearly as exciting as traveling in the TARDIS, but it had been enough that Jenny had finally settled into the more domestic side of her life. Part of her was unwilling to give that up.

But there was another, stronger, part of her that knew that she couldn't be with Torchwood right now. Not for the year that was about to happen. She wasn't talking about her dad, the Master, and Martha Jones in the year-that-never-was; no. She knew she couldn't be there because this was the year that Jack would save her from falling through the void. This was the year that would lead to the great paradox of July 5, 2008.

She bit her lip. "Gwen, you all can handle this. I need to take some time off for my sister's sake." Jenny smiled when Mara threw her arms up in triumph for winning the videogame. "You can understand that."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before Gwen sighed. "S'pose I can. But if there is an emergency that we need you for—?"

"You can call," Jenny reassured her. "I'll come."

"Alright, well, I s'pose I'll see you soon then," Gwen said.

"Right," she answered, and hung up.

Date: June 20

Jenny couldn't sit by and allow her sister to sneak out anymore.

She'd waited patiently for Mara to come to her on her own and admit what she had been doing. She'd thought it was only fair—it's not like any of the other kids' guardians were able to telepathically sense when they did something wrong. Or at least, not as literally as she could. But as time had gone on and Mara had continued to sneak out and refused to come to her, Jenny decided to take matters into her own hands.

She straightened up in her seat by the window when she heard Mara's key enter the lock of the front door. Her hearts were pounding against her ribs, but she maintained the smokescreen between her and Mara that made it look like she was sleeping. She still wasn't sure what she was going to say once her sister opened the door. She had never had to really confront Mara for any major transgressions. Up until now, Mara had been a model of good behavior. Well, besides small mischief, of course. She wouldn't be a Tyler if she wasn't a bit of a handful.

Jenny waited until Mara was in the hallway to turn on the lamp beside her.

Her sister froze mid-step, and slowly turned to face her with wide eyes.

Jenny sat and stared at her as she tried to think of something to say. And as she sat there the feelings of betrayal and disappointment rose to the surface within her. She couldn't help but feel hurt by Mara's actions, and that realization made her want to hide from the guilt that came next. Why was her sister doing this? Was it something Jenny had done? Did Mara not think she could come and talk to her about anything?

Mara swallowed and looked down to her feet. "How long have you known?"

"The whole time," Jenny kept her voice even, and deflected Mara's attempt to read her emotions. She didn't want to share with her sister how her actions had affected her.

Mara bit her lip. "Oh."

"How do you think Mum and Dad would feel about this?" Jenny asked, and cursed herself when her voice broke.

Her sister's jaw ticked and her eyes shot back up to Jenny's. Jenny had to bite back the guilt she felt over the anger and hurt she saw there. "Well I wouldn't know, would I?"

The room settled into a tense silence then. Jenny wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't tell her about why their parents weren't around. That would only put Mara into more danger. On the other hand, the guilt over telling her so many lies and keeping so many secrets was going to eat Jenny up alive.

Mara finally pulled in a breath to speak. "Jenny—"

Jenny stood to keep her from speaking and held out her hand. "Give me your key."

Mara flinched away from her, but handed the necklace over. Jenny shoved it into her dressing gown pocket and turned to go back into her room.

"Jenny," Mara whispered, "I'm sorry."

She stopped, and squeezed her eyes shut before she glanced back at Mara. She only then allowed a small portion of the emotions she was holding back to show through. "I know. That's what makes it worse."

Neither of them slept that night.

Date: June 24

She supposed she should have expected that Jack would show up at her door as soon as he got back from the year-that-never-was.

She opened the door to find him leaning heavily against the frame with a look in his eyes that she knew all too well. It was that turbulent, far off look that said he'd seen too much.

She swallowed, and opened the door. "Come in."

He passed her silently and immediately walked over to collapse on the couch. Jenny followed, and sat down beside him. She didn't speak, didn't take his hand, or make any other move towards him.

She waited.

"He killed me," Jack said flatly. "Every day. For a whole year."

She let out a slow breath. "I know."

He turned his eyes on her then. "You weren't there when I got back."

Jenny pursed her lips. "I know," she said again.

"Gwen said you're taking some time off."

She nodded. "For my sister."

He cocked his head to one side. "I don't buy that," he said. "There's minimal Angel activity on the scanners, so that's not why. The job is dangerous, but not any more dangerous than your life on the TARDIS would be, so you can't be protecting her…"

Jenny looked away from his probing gaze, and she knew that's when it clicked for him.

"You know about something that's going to happen," he said in a low voice.

She sighed heavily. "Jack, do you remember what I told you about how my mum reunited with my dad? About the Sycorax war on Earth in Pete's World?"

He nodded, and waited for her to go on. She bit her lip. How much could she tell him? She knew there was at least one piece of the story that he needed to know.

"Well," she said, "to stop the war, Mum and Dad sent all of the Sycorax on Earth to the Void. When that happened, I started to fall in until someone caught me and brought me back to this world. That person was you."

Jack blinked. "So...you can't be around because you'll run into yourself?"

She nodded.

"But by telling me that I'm going to save you, doesn't that also cause some kind of paradox?"

Jenny laughed and let her head fall into her hands. "Oh, I don't know how Mum and Dad deal with all of this. It gives me a headache." She looked back up at him. "In August of this year, I will use the Vortex Manipulator to come back in time to stop a paradox caused by the Master that will start to eat the universe. When I do, I run into you. You help me find my parents, and then you go to save me from falling into the void while my parents and I go to Messaline to save the universe from the Master."

Jack reached up with one hand to massage his temple. "I think I'm starting to get a headache now."

She laughed again. "Oh the life of a time traveler. It's all such a terribly complicated ball of wibbily-wobbily, timey-wimey..." She was quoting her dad, and tried to think up a better word than "stuff" to describe the complex nature of time travel, but failed. "…stuff."

He laughed with her. "You're preaching to the choir here." He looked up at her then with hope in his eyes. "Does that mean I get to see your mum again?"

Jenny felt a slow, sad smile spread across her face. "Sooner than you think."

"Fantastic!" Jack crowed, and clapped his hands happily.

"Jack," she said, "I will need you to do me a favor."

He paused, and sobered up when he saw the seriousness in her eyes. "Anything."

She took his hand. "When you go to catch me—don't miss."

Date: November 23

Now that the younger versions of Jenny and her parents had safely come and gone, she returned to work at Torchwood, where she was immediately greeted with cheers and pizza.

Gwen had been the first to give her an enthusiastic hug. "We're so glad to have you back."

Jenny had laughed. "Well, after helping Martha save Owen from near certain death, I knew you lot couldn't go on without me anymore." She had winked at Owen then.

The usually crass doctor only laughed. "Oh, so that was your first clue? I thought it would be the giant slug aliens that nearly took over Cardiff. That one made headlines."

Jenny had only rolled her eyes. "Oh trust me; it's not the first time that's happened."

It was later that day when she felt it. It was late into the evening, so late that only she and Jack were left in the hub. She had just been about to bring Jack his fresh cup of tea so they could continue working when she felt time and space pause for a moment. She nearly dropped her tea—someone had just opened a tear in the very fabric of the universe. She only knew one being that had enough power to do something like that.

Her mum was there.

Her mug slipped from her hand and crashed on the ground. Seconds after it shattered, she heard another, louder, crash. Without thinking about the consequences, she took off running for the main room of the hub. She could see her now—she had just tumbled down onto the grating. Jenny's hearts pounded out a frantic rhythm, and she opened her mouth to call to her, but paused. She knew it would be so easy to run to her mum and tell her about everything. She could go back home with Jenny and see Mara. She could reunite with their dad, and then the four of them could find a way to fix everything. Together.

Jack appeared in her line of vision then. "You can't," he said in a low voice.

Reality came crashing down then and froze Jenny. The hope in her hearts snuffed out as she thought through everything. If she went out there now, then everything would just be harder on all four of them. She couldn't reunite her mum and dad, or Mara with them. If she did, the Angels would immediately find them and all the time she had spent here on Earth would be for nothing. And regardless, her mum would have to leave still to save the older version of her sister, and her leaving again would only hurt her younger sister even more.

She swallowed, but nodded.

Jack released her then, and nodded back the way she had come. "Stay out of sight."

She ducked out of the doorway, and slid down to the floor.

She heard Jack gasp. "Rose?"

Her mum laughed, and Jenny closed her eyes against the beauty of the sound. "Well of course I'd find you first."

Jenny could hear Jack walk over to her mum and help her up. "I felt it when you came through. It was like…an electric charge was running through my chest."

She pulled in a deep breath. She supposed it would be, since Jack and her mum were connected. Rose had been the one to bring her uncle back to life at the Game Station.

She tuned back in to their conversation. "So when are we?" Jack asked.

"Mm, the last time I saw you, the universe was trying to destroy itself because of a massive paradox the Master caused. You saved my daughter, Jenny." Her mum had no way of knowing that none of that had technically happened just yet. At least, not the paradox itself.

"You have a daughter?" Jack asked, and Jenny snorted. He was, truly, a very good liar. Sometimes that fact made her wonder how many times he'd lied to her. Then again, she lied to him all the time. She supposed any lie he told her was for good reason.

She sat against that wall and listened to her mum tell Jack about everything he had missed since the two of them had parted ways at the Game Station. She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that were threatening to fall, and forced herself not to peek out to get another glimpse of her mum. She knew even the shortest of looks would destroy all of the will that she had left to stay away.

Finally, finally, her mum reached the end of her story.

"So what are you going to do now?" Jack asked.

Jenny opened her eyes as she heard her mum let out a tired sigh. "I'm gonna save her." She knew that she meant Mara.

She shut her eyes again, and waited until after her mum had left to reopen them, only to find Jack standing above her with an outstretched hand.

She took it, and let him haul her to her feet. "Come on," he said. "We've got work to do."

Jenny nodded, and wiped away the tears that had escaped before she followed him back out to the hub.