Hello again :) this is something new for 'Words have meaning…' a whole story. The fact is that someone said 'what about Sarah Jane's wedding.' I wasn't planning on doing it at all but the ideas kept turning in my mind. Until it bugged me so much that I HAD to write it just to keep sane. Anyway, so here you go. It links with a few other eps and even links to my next stories. The one thing I will say is that if you haven't seen this episode you may not totally understand and it isn't totally necessary to read it. So don't worry too much about that :) I just hope you enjoy it!

'I don't care, it's not happening!' Winter looked up from the files she was reading with Ianto and frowned. Jack really seemed to be in a bad mood. It was ever since this morning when he'd received a call on his mobile. He'd grinned and rushed off to the office but as soon as he came out the three of them knew it hadn't been a good conversation. Now he was yelling into said phone and making no attempt to hide it. Winter glanced over to Ianto who shrugged and whispered, 'He wouldn't tell me, but I think it's something to do with you, he keeps glancing over at you and frowning.' Winter's eyes widened, surely he hadn't found out about the situation with the unit officer and the lorry load of watermelons, she thought she'd covered it up pretty well.

With a sigh she decided that sitting here was going to get her nowhere, she moved decisively towards the office and pushed the door open. Jack looked up and frowned at her.

'Not now Nemo.' His eyes shut in frustration as he growled down the phone. 'No, no you can't speak to her…' Winter cocked an eyebrow and ignored his order by moving closer to the desk. He pulled the phone away from his ear and down to his neck, looking up at her. 'What?'

'Who is it?' she motioned to the phone. He shook his head.

'No one.'

'Right and 'no one' want's to speak to me.' She replied blankly.

'How do you know I wasn't referring to Gwen?' She gave him a sharp 'really?' look and held out her hand for the phone. With the speed of a sloth he handed the device over and she gave him a satisfied look before raising it to her ear.

'Hello?'

'Nemo!' Winter grinned as the Doctor's voice echoed into her ear.

'Doctor! How are you? Where are you? Wait… When are you?' She heard a chuckle down the other end and a bang as the door to Jacks office slammed shut.

'I'm right outside the tourist office as we speak.'

'What! Why? Why don't you just come in?' The Doctor sighed.

'I trust Jack, and if I trust him I guess I trust his friends too but I'm still not sure how comfortable I'd be inside Torchwood.' Winter nodded absent-mindedly before realising he couldn't see her.

'Oh, so, why are you here?'

'Well, I suppose… I just thought maybe… If you haven't got anything better to do I mean.' Winter giggled.

'Well you're either asking me out on a date or on a trip.'

'The latter.' The Doctor replied quickly. She laughed and watched Jack as he paced outside the office.

'Sure, I'll be out in a couple of minutes, I just want to yell at my darling Captain for a second.' She hung up the phone excitedly before composing herself and exiting the office. 'I just got the strangest impression that I was being asked on a day trip and you were keeping it a secret from me.' She spoke calmly and anyone who didn't know her would have thought her perfectly happy but all three of the adults in the room could see a fire glinting in her eyes. Ianto motioned to Gwen and the pair of them sidled off in the direction of the archives. Jack and Winter's arguments had been known to exceed the sound barrier.

'Look I just thought that maybe you'd be better…'

'No Jack! You don't get to make decisions like that. You're not my boyfriend and you're certainly not my dad!'

'But I am your boss!'

'And why does that allow you to keep me locked up in the hub when the Doctor offers to take me out for the day.'

'How do you know it's just a day? First it'll be a day, then a week and before long you'll be with him for so long you'll just not come back. People travel with him, they see the stars and they never want to come home and I wouldn't blame you for wanting that.' Winter frowned.

'But?'

'But… I'd miss you.' Winter shook her head in disbelief.

'Oh for crying out loud Harkness! It's a day trip, I live here, I love it here, I love the work, I love the company…generally… you can use the whole, 'I'd miss you' lark if you want but it doesn't excuse you trying to control my life. I'm going, then I'll come back and if you're not preparing for a month's worth of grovelling when I get home I'll tell Ianto what happed to the blueberry mousse his sister made for him.' Without another word she turned on her heel and walked out of the Hub. Ianto and Gwen re-approached Jack and came to stand by his side.

'So what exactly did happen to that blueberry mousse?' Ianto asked Jack. The older man coughed and glanced at the floor.

'Does this have something to do with Janet's mouth being blue last week?' Gwen put in. Jack waved his hand at his throat for her to shut up but Ianto spun around and caught him. He scratched his jaw thoughtfully and racked his brain for a believable lie.

TTT

The TARDIS stood proud against the darkening sky of Cardiff bay. Winter shivered and ran forwards slipping inside and heading straight across the console room until she could fling her arms around the Doctor. He laughed and squeezed her back before letting go and flicking the switches with a flourish. 'Go on then.' He invited, 'Pick a destination, anywhere, anywhen, just not dinosaurs I don't fancy being chased by a T-Rex today. Not that I've ever woken up in the morning and had the sudden urge to be chased by a T-Rex. Not that I always wake up in the morning, I mean it's the TARDIS there is no…' she put a hand up to his mouth and smiled.

'Doctor, your rambling. More than usual, if that's possible.' She took an educated guess and asked her question kindly. 'Why did you ask me here? You've never done it before.' He looked over to the console and turned away from her, leaning across the bulbous top to turn a green nob. 'Doctor?' she pressed gently.

'It was too quiet.' Ah, he was lonely. Well in that case she was happy to help.

'Well then, you picked the right person to travel with.' He looked up at her and grinned, suddenly back to his previous mood.

'SO! Where to go? How about Venice? No! you like reading, Canterbury, we could meet Chaucer. Ah! Leonardo da Vinci! How would you like to watch him paint the Mona Lisa?' Winter opened her mouth to give a verdict when the TARDIS lurched to the side. She picked herself up of the floor and gripped the edge of the console.

'What's happening?'

'She's responding to a distress signal… No…it's not… it can't be.'

'Get to the point.' She yelled.

'K9 is responding to a reading and transporting me the results. It's an impulse displacement unit.'

'Who's K9 and what's an impulse thingy unit?'

'Displacement. It blocks certain impulses from connecting through your neurones and replaces them with its own, or rather the impulses of the person who made it.'

'So basically it controls minds.'

'Kind of yeah.'

'And that's bad.'

'Very.'

'And K9 is?'

'My dog.' She gave him a confused look.

'Your dog?'

'Well, technically he's not mine anymore but that doesn't matter, what matters is…' A bleep echoed through the room and the Doctor read off a new message. Winter waited patiently and was rewarded when he gave her a playful smile. 'Fancy crashing a wedding?'

TTT

The Doctor exited the TARDIS and smiled at the registry office as Winter stepped out into the hall. 'Nice place. Um…what are we doing here?'

'K9 is with Sarah Jane, something must be wrong.' She strolled over to one of the Doors as the Doctor checked the registry book. 'I just need to find out the right time to jump in.'

'How about the whole, 'speak now of forever hold you peace' bit.' He looked up.

'Yeah that'll do why?'

'They just said it.' She told him. He ran forward and she pushed the door open for him to run through and yell.

'Stop this wedding now!' Winter stepped through after him and tipped the Captain's hat to the audience who had all turned to look at them.

'Yeah!' she told them, 'What he said.' His lip jerked up in a slight smile but he warily moved closer to the couple and away from her. A large metal robot dog began to roll forward and Winter bent down to look at him, keeping an eye on the Doctor. 'You must be K9.'

'Correct mistress.'

'I'm Winter.'

'The TARDIS informed me mistress.' Her mouth formed a slight 'o' but she nodded and stood tall next to him as the Doctor spoke to Sarah Jane and her husband to be.

'I said stop this wedding.' There was a moment of intense silence and then Winter felt the rustle of wind in her hair. She watched the Doctor stumble backwards as the wind blew stronger and stronger, she pushed herself forwards towards him and held onto his arm, he reached out his hand towards Sarah Jane. 'Sarah, get away from him!' the Doctor yelled. Winter attempted to help push him towards Sarah but the wind was too strong. A ball of blue light swirled in the corner and a figure cloaked in white faded into existence. 'Sarah! Trickster let her go.' The Doctor's hand tightened on Winter's arm as she tried to keep a firm grip on the floor.

'Too late Time Lord.' The faceless figure hissed. 'You're mine… Sarah Jane Smith. Mine forever.'

'NO! Sarah!' The wind died down and Winter let go as the Doctor raced up to the table where Sarah Jane had, at one point, been standing. Now…she was gone. Her, her husband, the faceless monster. The Doctor circled on the spot and Winter took in the terrified guests. She pulled her sword out of her belt and brought it down against a metal fireguard. The resounding clang shut everyone up.

'I'm sorry but he's trying to think and you were making a hell of a racket, so if you wouldn't mind just shutting up.' The Doctor glanced up at her as a sudden tremor hit the ground beneath their feet. Winter clanged her sword again and yelled. 'Everyone HOLD ON'. The tremors grew stronger and in a sudden burst almost all the guests disappeared. All that was left was a small group of teenagers sat at the front, herself, K9 and the Doctor.

'Do what she said!' The Doctor ordered, 'Hold on.' Winter dived for the fireplace and gripped the cold marble. There was an almighty flash of light and Winter blinked at the brightness. The Doctor was lying on the floor near the front of the room. She sped over and fell to her knees at his side.

'Doctor? Doctor?' he lay still and she glanced out the window. It was white, she heard a weezing noise in the back of her head and patted his cheeks quickly. 'Oh come on! Wake up! Come on!' looking back around the room she saw no water to help. 'Don't make me do this…' no answer, 'You asked for it then.' She took a deep breath and with both hands surrounding his face she planted a strong kiss on his lips. He sprung forward slightly and she jumped up waving her hands around and moving away as quickly as possible.

'What did you do that for?' he gasped.

'You wouldn't wake up!' she yelped.

'What so you decided to kiss me?'

'Sort of yeah, I don't know.' He shook his head and looked around the room hopping to his feet. Winter turned around and headed over to the windows. 'Changing the subject…why is there nothing but…well, nothing outside.' She turned back around to face the room and frowned. The Doctor was gone, so were the three kids who had still been lying on the floor and where was K9? She shut her eyes and leant back on the window ledge. 'Oh great so just leave me out why don't you, what's the point in picking me up if you swan off without me.'

She felt warm breath on her face and opened her eyes to find the Doctor staring at her.

'What are you talking about?' She jerked back and stood up quickly to see the three children and the metal dog standing just behind him.

'nothing. Just…nothing.' He touched his tongue to the top row of his teeth and nodded. 'Erm, where are we?' she asked. He stood up and looked out of the window. She felt the three children come to stand behind her, peering out at the blank world.

'As I was just about to explain to Clyde here, We're in a dimensional shift.'

'Ah…and for those of us who don't speak science language?' two of the children stifled giggles as the Doctor frowned.

'Time has moved on.' He gazed up into the space where the sky should have been. 'but us…this entire building. We've been left behind.'

'There's nothing out there.' One of the three said. She was the only girl, standing right next to Winter with a bright pink dress on. Garish pink, how could anyone wear THAT much pink? Winter suddenly realised she didn't know any of these people. She turned to the girl in the pink dress and smiled a little shyly.

'Ah, Hi. I'm Winter.' The girl smiled and held out a hand. Winter looked down at her own and realised she was still grasping the sword she had picked up after reviving the Doctor. She slid it back into its sheath and shook the girl's hand.

'I'm Rani, this is Clyde and Luke.' They both smiled and Winter glanced over to see what the Doctor was doing. 'Do you travel with him?' She looked up at Rani's blunt question, wide eyed.

'Oh, Oh no, just a day trip, I live in Cardiff, help out sometimes. I would say I was the muscle but I'm more of the monkey.' The children frowned at her, confused and she sighed, conversing with human life was so much harder than chasing down weevils. Sometimes she felt like it was her that was from a different planet. Clyde looked back out the window and smiled.

'You know what, I told you all along. I knew there was something wrong about all of this.' He turned around to look at the Doctor and started moving over towards him. 'And what exactly is going on?'

'I'll explain later on.' The Doctor replied uninterested. He looked up from the window he was studying in amused frustration as all three children began yelling at him at once. Winter shrugged at him and hid her smile by turning away to look back at the registrar's table. She laughed as he shushed them and answered all their questions. He glanced over to her and winked. 'Right, come one we can use the TARDIS.' He began to run but turned at a moment's notice. 'I assume everyone knows what the TARDIS is, unless you've really not been paying attention.' She checked the hat was still firmly on her head and began to wander over to the door. What was the rush, the kids would spend fifteen minutes proclaiming how big it was inside the blue box before they could go anywhere. 'NEMO!' the Doctor yelled.

'Yeah, I'm coming.' She replied.

'No! NEMO..!' his voice almost seemed to trail away and she sighed, coming out of the room and into the hall way. No TARDIS, no Doctor, no kids.

'What?' she pulled her sword from her belt, suddenly on edge, 'What is going on here?'

'That's the TARDIS? It's just a wooden box!' Winter span around and held the sword up dangerously close to Clyde's neck.

'Hey less of the 'just', we're so much more than that.' The Doctor turned to see her and then back to the TARDIS and Clyde raised his hands in the air. The Time Lord ignored them.

'Come on, you can do it, more power come on.' Winter felt woozy as the Blue box faded in and out of existence and the sword started to slip in her sweaty grip.

'Trying…' she gritted her teeth, 'Trying.' The Doctor turned on her and pressed his fingers against her temples.

'She can do, let her know that, more power we just need.' He muttered. 'Hold on Nemo!' she shut her eyes, 'no, no don't do tha…' When they opened she was alone. She let out a gasp of air and placed a hand on her side to counteract the stitch beginning to form.

'No!' Winter looked at the closed door of the registrar's room. That was Sarah Jane's voice. She headed towards it and threw the door open.

'WOO! How did you do that?' She looked out at the empty room and then turned slowly to see Clyde staring at her like she had three heads. 'One second you're standing with us and the next…well the same second but looped a few times. You're over here.' She was totally bamboozled.

'What on earth is he talking about?' The Doctor looked up at her from his position on the floor next to K9 and smiled.

'Hello. Nice to see you again.'

'What is going on?' everyone shouted at him. The Doctor sighed and stood up to face the children and Winter, flipping his brown jacket back and tucking his hands into his pockets.

'My friend here is connected with the TARDIS, what happens to it, affects her. The TARDIS can't land properly, it's trying to but it can't. Leaving her stuck flicking between now and another dimension.' He turned to Winter and then explained. 'And what you've missed is that we've worked out that been trapped in a single second on loop.' Winter looked up at the clock and watched as the hand showing each second pass flicked back and forth between the same two numbers. She put her hand to her forehead and looked at the floor.

'So basically, we're trapped in this second with no TARDIS just us and K9 and we you don't even have me because I'll be coming and going until the TARDIS can land…which she can't' the Doctor rolled back on his feet and nodded slowly.

'Yup,' he replied popping the 'P' , 'pretty much.'

'And Jack warned me I'd never want to leave. Now I'll keep coming and going for all eternity. Fun. I guess Fawks would appreciate the Irony.' The Doctor frowned and pointed at her.

'We are going to discuss that statement later on. Right now I have a wedding to finish crashing.' He rushed off up the stairs and Winter waved her hand at the children.

'Don't worry about him. He always gets excited when he gets to do something he's never done before.' They frowned, 'What? Crashing a wedding wasn't exactly what I had planned for today.' There was an awkward silence for about 30 seconds until Rani wandered forwards from the bottom of the stairs. Winter sat down on the pinky red carpet and twirled her sword like a baton.

'So we've been kept behind in this second.' Winter rolled her eyes, that was the conclusion they had come to yes.'

'Affirmative mistress Rani.' K9 replied.

'But the rest of the world, Mum and Dad and everybody else, they've moved on from here, going forwards in time, why has the trickster trapped us here?'

'Oh come on Rani, you know the answer to that.' The Doctor replied fiddling with his glasses and failing to look at her.

'Who are you Rani? To Sarah I mean.' Winter prompted. The Doctor raced up the stairs and chucked his coat to her. She didn't even flinch, just grabbed the material and slipped it on herself as the girl in pink looked up at her and shrugged.

'We're her friends, all of us. Her best friends.' Realisation dawned.

'We are now officially hostages.' Winter proclaimed, 'Welcome to my world.'

'I've been a hostage a few times.' The Doctor reminded her.

'Not to the children you raised from toddlers or your own mother.' She replied glumly.

'K9.' The Doctor called.

'Yes Master.'

'Go to Nemo.' The metal dog rolled closer to Winter and she smiled and petted his head. The Doctor was busy and yet there was always a way to cheer his friends up.

'We've met the trickster before, but we never actually found out what he is.' Clyde turned pointedly to the Doctor who was busy surveying the area but still ready and willing to share his knowledge.

'Trickster is a creature from beyond the universe. Forever trying to break into our reality and manifest himself. He's one of the pantheon of discourse.' Winter stood up and leant on the Doctor's shoulders as he came to stand at the bottom of the stairs.

'That's a good name for a band.' Clyde mentioned. The Doctor frowned as if thinking and glanced down.

'Actually not bad.' Winter grinned. 'He's an eternal exile who exists to wreak havoc. But we can beat him the 6 of us. And we can win.'

'Five.'

'Pardon.' The Doctor span around as the Winter pulled back.

'Five of you. I think I'm off.' The Doctor held onto the top of her arms and shook his head.

'Oh no you're not. Come on, hold on.' She shook her head and closed her eyes. Screaming filled her ears and she looked around to see the frightened guests.

'Oh great.' She moaned as they all turned on her suddenly. She held up her hands and frowned. 'All right you lot how do you fancy being useful and getting some answers.' They continued to jabber away and Winter frowned. She dug her hands into the pockets of the Doctor's Jacket and pulled out… a bird whistle. Oh that might do. With a sigh she brought it to her lips but at the faintest blow the twittering sound filled the room and without warning the whole sea of people collapsed. 'oops.'

She steadily made her way down into the crowd of limp figures and bent down to make sure they were alright. Steady pulse, just asleep as far as she could tell. She fingered the tiny bird whistle and put it away. Well, it had done its job. They were quiet. She got up and headed back towards the registrar's room. 'Now what?' she sat down on one of the chairs and thought. To be honest there was nothing she could do until she got the…the TARDIS. If she was being dragged towards it then it must be around her somewhere. But it wasn't in the hall. Maybe that was it, she kept missing it so it continued to try and drag her towards it.

'Child you have defied me, but I shall have my time.' She span around and came face to face with the faceless creature from before. It had changed from its white robes to a black version and it stepped forward towards her.

'I take it you're the Trickster. I'm Winter.'

'I know of you.' Her hand fluttered towards her sword but she rested it on the hilt and watched the Trickster step closer.

'Really?' she resisted the urge to step back and wiped her sweaty palms on the Doctor's jacket.

'Yes, just another time line I can't tempt away from its natural path… but not everyone has my extensive knowledge.' He stepped forth and grasped her arm she pulled her sword and drove it through his body, he cried out but the screech of pain melted into a chuckle, the chuckle became a laugh and she pulled the sword back out to reveal next to no damage. 'I am…invincible.' He told her, 'and you. Are coming to the end of an era. We will meet again. And there will be no one to save you from the choice that must be made.' With no warning the Trickster disappeared and Winter was left staring into space.

Winter glared at the empty space and growled at the spot where the Trickster had stood, he was just trying to scare her. Unfortunately it was working. Why would he be coming for her, what good was she to him. But right now he was heading out to frighten the Doctor or Sarah Jane and she couldn't have that. She wouldn't have it. She shut her eyes and growled with the effort of calling to the TARDIS she felt the link burn brighter and brighter, hotter and hotter until a jarred grating sound filled the room. She ran forwards and pushed through the door using Jack's key, stolen from months back. The Doctor looked up from the console and smiled.

'You see! I told you, you could do it.' She waved a hand and nodded.

'Yeah yeah, I'm amazing now what are we doing?' he pushed her down onto a seat.

'Let me do the talking.' She rolled her eyes and sat back to get her breath back.

TTT

'Well, just us then.' Winter commented as they sat in the TARDIS later on. 'We didn't even get to save the day. Just upset Sarah Jane for a while.' The Doctor looked affronted.

'OH! Yes we did. If it hadn't been for us she would have married him in the first place and then where would the world be.' She shrugged but he knew she understood. 'tell you what, let's go for a visit.' He let the engine come to a stop and let her walk out of the TARDIS into an attic space. She felt the Doctor stand behind her as the Three children and Sarah all looked up in joy. She smiled and waved.

'Hello again.'

'What do you take me for Sarah? Just thought I'd go the quick way, oh, I like it in here.' Winter laughed and looked up at him happily. Jack was right, she could see how people could get attracted to living this life. But she would be glad to get back to her own for a while.

'Can we have a look?' Rani asked, looking up at the TARDIS. Winter opened her mouth to speak but the Doctor butted in.

'What in the TARDIS?' he sounded affronted. 'MY TARDIS.' The children shrunk back but Winter kicked him and he smiled, 'yeah, 'course you can.' They both stepped aside and the children filtered inside. Winter followed them giving the Doctor and Sarah some space. She approached the three as they came together at the console and smiled gently.

'Ah, you might not see me again, at least, not for a while. But it was nice to meet you even if we didn't spend much time together.'

'You never said.' Rani replied, 'Who are you then?' Winter smiled and shrugged.

'I'm… The Torchwood mascot.' She grinned at the confused looks on their faces and skipped out into the expanse of rooms. She needed some coffee.

TTT

'So they're not tagging along then?' The Doctor collapsed onto the squidgy sofa in the library next to Winter and shook his head.

'Apparently, they're grounded by the Jadoon.' She snorted and shut her book. Looking up she blinked back in surprise when she realised the Doctor was looking right at her.

'Go on then ask away.' His eyes narrowed a little.

'How do you know of Fawks. That is, if we're talking about the same Fawks.'

'Universal criminal, with a nasty reputation and a deadly sense of paranoia.' He snorted and nodded.

'Yes, I think that's almost right, although from what I've heard that's a nice description.' Winter smiled evilly and flicked through the pages of her book.

'She's my girlfriend.' She commented in an off-hand manner.

'What!' Winter laughed at the look of total shock on the Doctor's face. Hoping to preserve his blood pressure she launched into their story and the Doctor sat patiently, umming and ahhing. 'You've had quiet a busy time then since I've been gone.' Winter smiled and turned back to the book but the Doctor pulled it down to her lap. 'But my real question is…what did the trickster say to you?' her mouth opened but no words came out. 'Oh don't be daft, of course I know he came to talk to you. He just about threw it in my face that I couldn't look after you properly.' She frowned and crawled over to lie by him. He wrapped and arm around her and sighed. 'Besides, you've been wearing that coat since I chucked it to you but it's very warm in here so it's obviously more for comfort.'

'He basically said see you soon.' Winter replied, cutting off the Doctor's analysis. 'It's all very well when you're hanging around but you know Torchwood. Something alien attacks you find the biggest gun possible and shoot it. That won't work on him.' The Doctor nodded and patted her shoulder.

'Don't worry, I don't think it will be for a while, he's too weak at the moment.' She nodded tiredly and he jumped off the sofa pulling her into a hug. 'Alright, come on then, time to get you back to the Captain.' She nodded and stumbled into the sofa. She was so tired, the day had been hard and her eyes were heavy. The Doctor laughed quietly and lead her over to the door. They just about managed to get through the corridors and the Doctor keyed in the co-ordinates for the trip home. A minute later Winter felt arms around her removing the Jacket and leading her out into the cold. 'She's shattered.' She heard the Doctor say.

'If she can't work tomorrow I'm blaming you.' Jack, so they were home. She moved her head gently away from the Doctor's chest and kissed his jawbone before stumbling forwards into Jack's arms. Both the Captain and the Doctor laughed and Jack swung her up into his arms. 'Thank you.' Jack told the Doctor. 'For bring her back. I guess she told you I was worried.'

'I wouldn't do that to you Jack. I hope you know that.' It was at this point that Winter drifted off to sleep and heard no more of the conversation.

More ideas for this story would be welcome. What do YOU want to see? Yes you sitting there reading this!