River "Jack! Wait!" I hurtled past the Millennium Centre, tailing him extremely well considering the height of my heels. He kept running at full pelt for a few seconds, hesitated, and allowed me the time to catch up. "Thought you could use some help," I smiled, attempting to console him. "Wha- err... yeah. Yeah, I could. Thanks," Jack turned to me. He was shivering and glistening tears were dragging down his cheeks. He hung his head, cringing. "You're allowed to be upset," I rested my hand on his shoulder in a gesture of sympathy. He fell apart a little at my touch but then his expression hardened, "No. I'm not. I should be in there helping them contain the Angel and protecting what's left of my team." "It's obvious you love Ianto. You don't have to hide your emotions just because of pride." Jack had visibly flinched at the word 'love', "I'm not proud, I'm just trying to do my job. Gwen needs me. Even if Ianto's gone, I can still look after her." "But Ianto might not be gone. He could just be trapped in the past; he's probably trying to communicate with us right now. How would he do that? How would he try to talk to you from then?" "He would, erm, leave clues somewhere he thought I would look." Jack replaced his determined, focused facade. "Right. Where would that be?" "Erm...I think... The Hub." Jack set off swiftly towards the fountain. Ianto I was behind that wall for around 10 minutes, reeling from the sight of a man I knew so well yet in that moment did not even know my name. It was killing me not to go to him, to explain to him, to hold him in my arms, but how could I? I could destroy all we'd had back in my time and even threaten the very fabric of this universe, maybe others. "Jack!" A girl some way off shouted. She was chasing after my lover desperately, "Wait!" In a split second I decided to intercept, as I recognised her to be a former Torchwood member (well, current Torchwood member in this time period). But what was her name? "Emma!" I shouted, "Emma Morris!" She whipped her head around to stare at me and shook her cascade of ginger curls from her face. "Who are you?" She challenged. "Johnson, Edward Johnson. I work for Torchwood 1 on London." I lied. I was gradually coming to terms with the fact that I had no cover story and I needed one fast. A plan fabricated in my mind: I just had to avoid Jack and get into Torchwood and then I could hop into the freezer and set to wake up within minutes of my disappearance. "I'm s-sorry, we weren't expecting any visits." She smiled warmly and fiddled with a lock of her hair childishly. "Oh, that's all right, I didn't call anyone in advance so you shouldn't have expected me." I debated whether or not I should explain my situation to her so she would understand why I was unable to speak to her sexy first-in-command, Jack. "Did you want anything in particular?" She was grinning in a feeble attempt at flirting. I begrudgingly decided that it was in my best interest to return the gesture, "Well," I raised one eyebrow and gave a small smirk, putting in practise what I'd learned from being so close to Jack for so long, "I was wondering what- err- specialist equipment you have," with every gesture I made towards her, I had to compel myself to think of Jack. "You could... erm... come in and see," She gave a nauseatingly childish giggle. "Ahem. In all seriousness, that would be great. I've been ordered to ensure you haven't been hiding any useful new technology or making any significant discoveries that we don't know about." "I don't know of any," She was leading me towards the (my!) Tourist Information Office, "come to think of it, our resident geek, Adam, was badgering on about some Rift formula thingy..." "Really?" This could be my ticket out of here! I thought. "Adam!" Emma yelled gracelessly, "Come here a sec." "Oh, by the way," I spoke to both Emma and a tall, young man who I recognised from the archives as Adam Carlson, "I'd be more than grateful if Jack could be kept away from me and preferably not find out I was here; we used to be- you know- together and it'd be more than a bit awkward." As much as it pained me to say 'used to', I knew it was the best cover story I could have thought of. "Really?" Adam spoke and I noted a strong Welsh accent, "You don't seem like his type. Not that I've met many of his exes because most of them are six foot under. He isn't one for dumping after long term relationships." "He must have changed. Again!" I frowned, optimistic that the resentful ex-boyfriend act would deter them from further questioning. "So why are you here?" Adam eyed me suspiciously. "Ed's from Torchwood 1," Emma spoke for me, "he's been asking about your stupid Rift thing." "Oh!" Adam's eyes brightened, evidently resulting from my interest in his project, "I'll show you!" He led me across to his desk and turned on a retro-looking computer and I followed the lines of code as they raced across the screen, "I've found a way that I think will let me bring things through the rift to here. The coordinates the object is in go here and the time here," he pointed to respective # symbols, replacing numbers, "and anything within a 1.5 metre radius will be taken to you." He grinned expectantly. "I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it." I lied, I had and it had ended with Abbadon, the Great Devourer being released, along with Weevils, Vikings and the Black Death! "If you promise not to tell your bosses about this then I'll tell you what I'm gonna do with it." I was backed into a corner, I had to agree, "On one condition, don't log my visit and don't tell Jack I was here." "Jack's gone to find some reported Weevils anyway, it's a deal." Adam held out his hand and I shook it.