Chapter 13

Going Home

After Aidan had let the remaining tears fall, she stood up with her dad.

"So where's Gwen? I didn't see her coming in," Aidan said as she dabbed at her eyes with a hankie.

"I don't know. I haven't heard from her and…" Jack stopped mid sentence, his phone was ringing.

"Hello?"

"Harkness?"

Jack's face went white, "Yes Rhys, this is Jack," he said.

"Have you seen Gwen?" Rhys inquired, he sounded frantic.

"No…she's not at home with you?" Jack asked.

"No, I haven't seen her since yesterday at lunch with your kid and her friend. I can't get a hold of her…I think her phone has been turned off," Rhys answered.

"Have you tried calling her friends? She left here yesterday afternoon pretty upset…I assumed she was going home. I was actually about to call you and see if you knew where she was," Jack said slowly.

Aidan looked worried now as she listened to her dad's conversation.

"Of course I've tried calling her friends!" Rhys practically shouted.

"There is no need for shouting Mr Williams," Jack snapped.

"I'm sorry Jack…I'm just worried about her. She's never done this before," Rhys said, trying to calm down. Jack could tell he was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Alright, have you tried calling her parents? Maybe they've heard from her," Jack said.

"No, I haven't actually! Good thinking, I'll try them and then call you back," Rhys hung up before Jack could say goodbye.

Aidan looked at her dad, the question on her face.

"Gwen's gone missing," Jack said, emotion lacing his voice.

He then quickly dialed Gwen's cell phone number and as Rhys said; no such luck. Jack then rushed over to his desk and pulled out a list of non-emergency numbers, "Hi PC Andy Davidson please."

"Hold please."

There was silence and then Andy's voice came on the line, "Hello?"

"Hi Andy, it's Jack Harkness from Torchwood," Jack said.

"Oh yeah, what do you need?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you had seen Gwen anywhere," Jack answered.

"No I haven't, why?"

"Well because she seems to have gone missing. Rhys can't find her and she isn't answering her phone, and she never came into work."

"Well if I see her I'll tell her to give her fiancé a ring. Alright?" Andy asked, sounding exasperated but he was worried, she had never done that before.

"Yeah thanks," Jack said.

He hung up and almost at once his phone rang again, "Rhys?" he asked.

"How did you know?" Rhys' asked.

"Lucky guess, did you find her?"

"Her parents haven't seen her either," Rhys answered, miserably.

"Well Gwen is tough; I know she can take care of herself. I've called Andy Davidson, he said he'd be on the look out for her," Jack said.

"Alright, bye."

The two men hung up and Jack sunk down into his chair, completely worried, "She's never done this before," he said.

"Well dad like you said, Gwen is tough I'm sure she'll be alright," Aidan said, comforting her dad as best as she could.

Just then Aidan's wrist wrap began to beep, she and her dad both knew what it was and it wasn't just another Time Agent. It was an incoming message from the former leader of the Time Agency. She slowly opened the cover and the man appeared, "Aidan Harkness, we need you to return to home base as soon as possible. There are a series of trials to be held against Matthew Cornwall. We need you to testify as a witness. Thank you." And the image died.

She looked at her dad, "I can't just leave without saying goodbye to Owen and Gina," she said.

"You have a Time Machine installed for a reason. Spend your day with your friend…and you can still leave so only five minutes has passed," Jack said.

Aidan went and hugged her dad, "I love you," she said.

"Love you too," he whispered.

Aidan then turned and teleported out of her dad's office.

XX

Gwen awoke hours later, at this point she was completely refreshed. Her mind was clear and she knew what she had to do. Gwen slowly rolled out of the bed and looked around the bedroom she had grown up in. Nothing much had changed. Her parents had added some things in the corner just for storage, but other then that, anything of Gwen's from when she was a girl was still right where she left it.

Gwen then walked out of the bedroom and slowly down the stairs, it was completely dark outside.

"Mum?" she called.

"Were in the kitchen love," Mrs Cooper called.

Gwen went inside the room and saw her parents eating Chinese take out, "We ordered some food for you, all you have to do is heat it up," her mother said, smiling at her daughter.

"Thanks mum," Gwen went and pulled the food out and heated it up. She then sat down next to her dad and ate it.

"Did anyone try calling looking for me?" Gwen asked.

"Rhys did…we told him we didn't know where you were at," Mr Cooper said.

She sighed, "Yeah…it's probably for the best."

"So do you think your going to leave in the morning? You know you can't hide from everything," Mrs Cooper said.

"Yeah I think I'm going to leave in a few hours actually. Thanks for letting me stay here…I just needed to get out of the city and let my mind clear up," she said.

"Alright, as long as you think you'll be okay driving all night," Mr Cooper said next.

Gwen nodded, "Yeah I'll be fine…I drove all night to get here," she said.

"And just remember love, no matter what you do…ever, we will always stand by you and support your decisions," Mr Cooper replied, smiling.

"I know, thank you dad," she said.

XX

"Gina, do you want to meet me at a bar or something?" Aidan said into her phone that evening as she walked around Cardiff, wondering what to do.

Owen had phoned and said he would be a bit late getting out of work due to the stuff he didn't get done the night before.

"Yeah I suppose so, let's just please make sure this one speaks English," Gina replied.

"Alright," Aidan said.

The two made plans to meet at a local bar, the same one Aidan had gone to on her first night in Cardiff. Gina was closer to it then Aidan was so when she walked into the place, Gina was already there, sitting at the bar.

"Hiya," Aidan said as she sat down next to her friend.

"Oh thank God you got here, now tell me…is it just me or is that guy over there staring at me in some sort of weird stalker way?" Gina asked.

Aidan looked to where Gina was referring to, "Yeah he is actually, oh ew, he's creepy looking," she said.

Her eyes then went wide, "Oh God…he's coming over here," she said next.

"I'm gonna kill you," Gina muttered.

"Hey darlin, can I buy you a drink?" he asked Gina.

She looked up at him then to Aidan and then to the man again, "Um no…because if you do my…fiancé might get mad," she said.

"Well where is he then?" the man asked, looking around.

Gina looked to Aidan who at this point was texting and didn't see her friend's pleas of help.

"Thing is though, I'm pregnant…and were getting married next week," Gina said quickly.

"Well then why are you drinking? Don't doctor's say pregnant women aren't supposed to drink?" the man asked.

Just then, in the nick of time, Owen came walking up, "Oi mate, do you mind not chatting up my girl?" he said.

The man looked at Owen, "Sorry mate, I didn't know she was taken," the man then walked off, and Gina heaved a sigh of relief.

"I hope you don't expect any sexual favors for that," she then said to the stranger.

"Oh right sorry, Aidan texted me and said her friend needed help because she was getting chatted up. I'm Owen," he said.

"Oh! Owen, I know who you are then!" Gina said, happily as they shook hands.

"Thank you for that," Aidan said next to Owen.

"Ah well it gave me a chance to get out of there, your dad is driving me nuts with work to do," he said.

"Yes well…he's under a lot of stress. Have you heard from Gwen?"

"Nope, no word from her yet," Owen said with a sigh.

"That doesn't sound good," Gina commented.

"She'll be fine," Aidan said, trying to sound sure.

"Yeah, of course she will," Owen assured her.

She smiled, "Look I'll meet you outside. I need to talk to Gina for a minute," she said.

Owen shrugged and left the bar.

"The thing is I've got to go out of town for a bit. When I come back, if your still here I want to hang out again. Everything you've done for me has meant soo much to me," Aidan said.

"Why do you have to go out of town?" Gina asked.

"It's because of Matthew, he's in trouble and they want me to testify as a witness," she answered.

"Have you told him yet?" Gina asked, nodding towards the door and Aidan knew she meant Owen.

"No, I'm going to when we go back to his flat," she answered.

"Well I'm going to be staying over in Europe for a few more months. I talked to my mom this afternoon and she and my dad are letting me travel some more over here…surprisingly enough," Gina said, muttering the last part of her sentence.

"I'm not going to be gone long though, so that's good then. We can still hang out," Aidan replied, smiling.

"Well…you better go then so you don't keep your boyfriend waiting. I'm glad I met you, and I look forward to hanging out again," Gina said.

The two friends hugged and then Aidan stood up, she paid for her drink and left the bar.

Outside she took Owen's hand and they walked back to his flat.

XX

Gwen left her parents home about two hours after she had eaten her food. They had spent the time visiting and talking for awhile and then Gwen decided it was time for her to leave. So she climbed in her car with a big thermos full of coffee and drove home, but she didn't drive to the flat she shared with Rhys, she drove to the Torchwood Hub…

XX

A/N- So as two of you said…Aidan is leaving…you guys are such smart cookies! I hope you all are liking how this is going so far, like I said in the last chapter I'm going to be wrapping it up soon.

Will Owen and Aidan have a happy ending? Will Jack and Gwen have a happy ending? Well you'll never find out unless you review! Lol…and while your at it go and read LadyGwen31291's story 'Revelation' and 'Revelation Part Two'.

She finished part two today…and left me in tears and screaming at the computer…she's a fantastic writer! ;)

She gave me the idea about Rhys calling Jack…so Anywhos…review, spread the love and go read her story

:D

Much love, Beccs! ^_^