Jack walked up to Bella who had just finished talking to Tim and got everything she needed, "I need Bilis's camera. Photographs last, don't they?"
"Sure you don't want me to come with you?" Jack asked not sure about her going off on her own. Bella started to leave but the Captain interrupted them,
"Oh, you can't run out on me. I've just got you a drink." Jack smiled at the Captain and Bella noticed.
"I'm fine. You carry on." She said smiling at the pair. She left the talking.
"To a fellow captain." He said raising his glass to him, they clinked glasses and drank.
"She seems like a good kid." The Captain said looking over in the direction that Bella had just left.
"Yeah, she is, so much like her mum," Jack said smiling.
"Where is her mum?" The Captain asked interested. Jack's mind quickly made up a back story.
"She was living in London with Bella, then one day the planes came and Anna died. So Bella came to live with me." Jack said thinking if Anna ever heard him, she wouldn't be very happy. "So, what brings you down here?" They both started to walk up the stairs.
"Well, I had to rest up. Injured my back bailing over Kent." The Captain explained. Nancy had appeared behind them.
"So that's his excuse for not dancing. Mind if I join you?"
"Sure." Jack said.
"Why not?" The Captain said agreeing with Jack and the three of them walked up the stairs.
Bella walked back into Bilis's office and was relieved to see it empty, she picked up the camera. But she didn't notice the office door open. She took a photo of the formula and pulled out the photo out of the camera.
"Starting to be a habit." Bilis said from behind her. She turned around and he got closer, she hid the photo behind her.
"I just wanted to try it out." Bella said,
"This little beauty is very unusual and rare, not unlike yourself."Bilis said to her, she raised her eyebrows and was a little creped out, so she turned to leave. "Don't go without this." He picked up the paper with the formula on it on the desk. Bella went to take it but he pulled it back from her.
"I could think of better things to photograph than numbers, my dear." He said, she took the paper from him and headed quickly for the door. "Do call again." Bella quickly left the room he was being too much of a creep for her to stay in there for much longer.
Owen pushed the floor grating away. "What are you doing?" Ianto said watching him; Owen ignored him and pulled out wired so he could see what he was doing. "Owen!"
"We haven't got the missing numbers. We'll improvise with the Rift Manipulator." Owen said working frantically images of Bella briefly going through his mind but will replaced by Diane.
"We can't. It's risky enough with the equation. If we don't do it properly, anything can happen." Ianto tried to convince him.
"Bombs are falling. They're stuck in the middle of the Cardiff Blitz. It's our duty to get 'em out." Owen said grabbing a cable and heading back to the workstations.
Gwen was walking through the dance hall, she headed for the door. She stopped and turned when she heard Jack's laughter echo.
"Jack?" She shouted, behind her a couple danced but when Gwen turned around they weren't. She backed away and headed out the dance hall.
"Open the rift and the world could suffer. We could all get sucked in. Who knows what will come out?" Ianto talked to Owen but he wasn't having any of it. Owen carried power cables across the hub to the workstations, "This is about Diane! When will you accept she chose to leave you?"
Owen stopped and glared at Ianto, "Whereas your cyber-girlfriend stuck around. Course, not that she had a choice, wired-up in the cellar."
"That was different." Ianto said quietly.
"Yeah, it was. Mainly because Diane didn't try and kill us and, oh yeah, she also happened to be a human being." Owen said digging at him a little bit more.
"Stop it." Ianto warned
"Not some souped-up monster." Owen spat.
"I thought she was still Lisa. I loved her. You only knew Diane for a week." Ianto said back just as spiteful.
"And it wasn't enough. Maybe the Manipulator can calculate the missing figures." Owen said finishing up writing on the computer as Ianto paced and waited.
"It isn't working." Owen said he face dropping slightly.
"Good. Jack would never have wanted us to use it this way." Ianto said please, Owen looked at the machine and noticed something.
"There's a piece missing. We've got to find it." Owen said and moved to look for it. Ianto grabbed his arm to stop him but Owen pulled away.
"Maybe you should go home." Ianto suggested.
"You don't have any power over me. Okay, Ianto, we'll play it your way - safe and boring." Owen shrugged.
Jack, the Captain and Nancy were sitting at a table drinking and talking.
"So, what's your next mission?" The Captain asked,
"Careless talk costs lives."Jack said putting his glass down on the table wondering what was keeping Bella.
"I should go anyway." Nancy said standing up.
"No, I didn't mean that to..." Jack started to apologise.
"It's all right. I can get a lift if I leave now."Nancy said,
"I'd better stay here." The Captain said staying in is seat.
"Aren't you leaving tomorrow night?" Nancy asked eyebrows raised and the Captain nodded.
"You sick of us Welsh already?" She laughed.
"Yeah, that's why I'm still fighting for you." He laughed back. He got up and kissed her cheek. "I'll be in touch when I'm next on leave." Nancy turned away and left looking disappointed.
"Nancy..." The Captain called back to her. "It's been a good few weeks." Nancy left and The Captain sat back down next to Jack.
"Was that it?" Jack asked,
"She's a sweet kid, but I need to look after my men tonight. It's their last day tomorrow." The Captain said taking another sip.
"Go after her. Kiss her goodbye. Anything can happen tomorrow." Jack said knowing exactly what was going to happen to him tomorrow.
"It's just a routine training exercise. I'm hardly gonna die." He said and Jack mentally laughed coldly.
"That's when they catch you, when you least expect it. You don't know what's ahead. Kiss her ... goodbye." He said convincing him to go and do it. The Captain finished his drink and left to go after Nancy.
Bella went outside and huddled near the side of the building and crouched down. She took a card out of its cellophane bag, and then put the developed photo with the formula inside.
"Okay, team ... I hope you like treasure hunts." She whispered smiling.
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Ianto and Owen viewed the CCTV of the Dancehall entrance. "No sign of Bilis leaving the area." Owen grabbed his jacket and slipped it on, "Er, where are you off to?"
"The dancehall. Bilis's office. He must know how the rift works. Maybe we'll find a clue there." Owen said and ran out of the hub.
Gwen turned around the corner of the building to follow Bilis who she saw disappear round the corner but he was gone. Gwen thought she might as well check the area and found a padlock on the ground near an open box. She opened the box and found the photograph of the formula that Bella took in 1941. She read the equations out to Ianto over the comms and he typed the formula into the computer.
"I need more equations, Gwen." Ianto told her. Gwen had another look round the area.
"What happened here, Bella?" She said softly,
Bella looked at the photo before she put it in the bag and realized that part of the formula was missing. "No."
She walked around the building and found the electrical box. She opened it and found the smaller box padlocked and chained shut. The air raid sirens wailed throughout the city and Bella paused. She stuffed the photo into the box and ran back to the front door but found it locked. She ran down the sidewalk looking for another entrance, the sirens slightly deafening her.
Inside people rushed down the stairs to take cover in the basement. They screamed as the air raid sirens sound. Jack ran down the stairs frantically looking for Bella.
"Bella! Bella!" Jack shouted searching through the crowd.
"Dad!" He heard her voice through the screams of the crowd and turned and found her on the bottom floor near the doorway.
"This way!" He screamed at her ran at her, tightly taking her hand in his and not letting go for anything.
"I didn't get the first part in the photo. The rest is outside. If they find it, they'll keep looking, won't they?" Bella asked,
"Yeah." He said, squeezed her hand and followed the others into the basement.
Gwen was heading back to her car. "Be careful, Gwen. Bilis is still around." Ianto said over the comms. Gwen noticed Owen's car parked behind hers.
"Owen, where are you?" She asked him over the comms.
"I'm in the building. Where's Bilis's office?" Owen's voice said in her ear.
"It's at the far end of the corridor. I'll keep looking out here." Gwen said standing near the cars.
Owen looked through everything. He stopped and checked behind the framed portrait of Bilis Manger hanging on the wall then continued to check through the drawers and the filing cabinet. He then noticed something under a red cloth; he pulled the cloth off and found a safe.
"Yes!" He exclaimed.
Everyone was in the basement waiting through the air raid. Jack and Bella made their way
through the concrete room.
"I've got to finish the message. Pencil will fade. I need to find something else." Bella said and climbed into the small area to look for something. He stood in the doorway blocking her from view and looked over to the Captain who smiled at him. In the room Bella looked around for something. She accidently knocked the pencil off the table. She bent down the pick it up and noticed it had fallen next to some jaggered rocks. She picked up the pencil and a rock. It was grubby and probably wasn't the most hygienic thing in the room but it had to do. She put the pencil between her teeth and slit her left palm open. She took a sharp intake of breath when the rock met skin; she looked at it and saw the blood. She took the pencil out of her mouth and used her blood as ink. She winced a little as she dipped the pencil into the cut, but she carried on and wrote the formula in a card she had.
Back in Bilis's office in the present Owen had got the safe open. But he found it empty, "Shit!"
He stopped as the grandfather clock behind him chimed; he looked around the room and found
more clocks on shelves having different times on each of them.
"Timepieces." He whispered to himself and opened up the grandfather clock and removed the weight on the pendulum as it looked like the missing piece from the machine at the hub. He put the piece in his pocket and left. Gwen walked into the building and headed for the office.
"I didn't find any equations. Um, I'll get back to the Hub." Owen said walking past her.
"Fine. I'll keep looking here, then." She said starting to move toward the office.
"Yeah, you do that." Owen said rushing out of the building. Gwen was confused at Owen's strange behaviour today.
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Bella finished the message and tucked the card back into the empty tin that she had found. She put the lid back on the tin and put it the back of a small cupboard.
Gwen walked back into the basement in case she had missed anything. "I'm going to check everywhere for the other figures. I'm not going to leave Jack now." And started to look through the filling cabinet.
Back in the basement Jack and The Captain stood next to each other remaining quiet. Bilis turned the lights on when the sirens wailed again,
"Let the dancing continue!" He announced and everyone cheered and clapped, Bella stepped out of the room with a little help from Jack.
"I've finished. The rest of the equation is hidden." She said hiding her left hand from Jack but he noticed,
"What happened?" He asked holding it up,
"Needed something better then pencil." She said pulling it away from him. Jack grabbed the hem of her vest top and pulled at it ripping a bit off. He took her hand again and wrapped the torn cloth around it making a makeshift bandage.
"Hey, you owe me a new top now." Bella wined.
"I need to do something, I'll get Owen to have a look at it or it will get infected." Jack said,
"I don't need Owen, I'll do it myself when we get back to the hub." Bella protested. She still was feeling a little bit of hatred towards Owen and didn't need a man to do everything.
"Ok." Jack said holding his hands up in mock surrender.
"Scotch, Captain?" George asked as he approached.
"I'd like some time in private with Captain Harper." He said looking at Jack,
"But I need something to take the pain away from this so come on," Bella said leading George out of the basement.
Gwen walked into the inner room that Bella was just in and saw the cabinet. The cabinet is empty though. She looked around and saw the tin can on the floor near a metal cabinet. She picked it up and opened it pulling out the rest of the formula.
"Ianto? Yeah, it's me. I've found it. It's written in blood." Gwen said to Ianto.
Owen ran back into the hub and joined Ianto at Tosh's workstation." Gwen's found the rest of Bella's readings." Ianto told him
"What's she got for us?" Owen asked, thinking of Bella again.
"Cos sine squared, axcx = x over 2." Gwen said over the radio Owen thought about it and shook his head.
"No, I need at least three more numbers, Gwen. They must be somewhere else." Owen said to her.
"No, they're not." Gwen said.
"Well, how do you know?" Owen asked.
"Somebody scraped out the final numbers." Gwen said staring at the card.
"Bella has written a message at the end. It says, "Tell everyone I love them."" Gwen read and everyone fell silent. Ianto thinking of his best friend lost in another time. Owen thought of the one girl he truly loved and he messed it up and if they never got back then she would never know how sorry he was. Gwen was thinking of Jack as usual.
Jack and The Captain sat at a table on the balcony overlooking the dance floor. "Why did you make me kiss her goodbye?" The Captain asked Jack.
"I just think you should live every night like it's your last. Make tonight the best night of your life. You're alive - right here, right now. Your men are fine." He said staring out onto the dance floor where Bella was dancing and laughing. He smiled at her; it looked like she was having the time of her life.
"What are you trying to say?" The Captain said bringing Jack's attention back to him.
"Go to her. Go to your woman and lose yourself in her." Jack said leaning against the table.
"Maybe I should." The Captain sighed.
"Yeah." Jack said and the Captain nodded and left.
Owen went back to working on the machine. "It still won't work. There's a piece missing. "Ianto said watching him.
"Bilis had it all along." He said and pulled out the missing piece from his jacket pocket.
"We still don't have all the equation." Ianto pointed out leaning against a table crossing his arms.
"Maybe the machine can work it out." Owen said and turned the machine on. It started to power up.
"Owen!" Ianto shouted, standing up and dropping his arms to his sides. The machine made some weird noises then stopped. Owen threw his jacket off and ran into Jack's office and started searching through Jack's desk.
"There must be something in the safe. The piece fits. We just need better instructions." He said pulling bits of paper out from the drawers. He stopped for a second when he saw a photo of Jack and Bella when Bella first moved her. She looked so different now. He stared at it, and then went back to searching.
"You can't open the safe. You've no right." Ianto said following him into his lover's office.
"I'm second in command. I have got every fucking right." Owen looked up from the desk and shouted.
"There's stuff we don't know about. That's how Jack likes it." Ianto told him trying to get him to stop.
"I won't play with his toys, Ianto!" he said as he found a journal and flipped through it.
""Rhea Silva, the god of war's missus." And a nine-digit number. Not so clever, Jack." Owen laughed and opened the safe. He took out all the locked boxes and looked through them then found what he was looking for.
"Blueprints for the Rift machine." Owen said holding them up smugly, then Ianto ran out of the office and Owen ran after him.
Jack sat at the table alone brooding when The Captain returned. "I thought you'd gone. This could be your last chance."
"That's why I came back." The Captain said and sat back down next to Jack.
"I might have to leave before the night is over." Jack warned.
"Well, then make the most of now." He said holding Jack's hand and their fingers entwined, "Besides don't think Bella is ready to go yet." They both looked down at the dance floor and saw Bella still laughing and dancing in the crowd; they both laughed and looked at each other.
Their moment was interrupted by a woman laughing as she entered the room with her arm linked with her soldier and Jack and the Captain quickly stood up dropping hands.
"We need lovers' corner, if you don't mind, boys." She said,
"Of course. I was just discussing strategies with the captain." The Captain said,
"We'll go somewhere else." Jack offered.
"No. You've told me all I need to know." The Captain said and left. Jack followed leaving the couple to it.
Ianto and Owen were fighting for the blueprints; Owen grabbed it from Ianto who stood in front of
Toshiko's workstation.
"There are instructions in here. This isn't a random act of madness." Owen said.
"It's a trap! Bilis wanted you to find it." Ianto said not letting Owen continue.
"Why?" Owen scoffed, and flicked through the blueprints.
"To provoke the rift. To incite total chaos and destruction. All the reports of the haunted dancehall were anonymous. What if it was him? Please, listen to me!" Ianto shouted at him.
"I'm tired of being in awe of the rift. I'm tired of living with Jack's secrets. We don't even know who he is." Owen argued back,
"He's our leader." Ianto said.
"Not any more. Get out of my way!" Owen said and charged at Ianto; both men fell to the floor fighting. The folder with the blueprints fell to the floor. "Ianto!" and Owen elbowed him and grabbed the folder with the blueprints, kicked Ianto and walked away.
Jack stood on the stairway staring at the Captain; Bella who had finished dancing came and stood next him. "Tomorrow is their last training exercise, just another day. They go out on a sortie and are surprised by two formations of Messerschmitts." They both watched the Captain and his men.
"He destroys three of the enemy. His men listen to his whoops of joy over the radio. Then it all goes quiet. He can't bail out because his whole plane is on fire. But his men all make it back to safety." He said sadly,
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Owen was putting the machine together using the blueprints; he dropped the blueprints and
turned the machine on.
"Put the key down." Ianto said behind Owen. Owen turned and looked at Ianto who raised his gun at Owen, "Or I'll shoot."
Bella and Jack walked into the room with the dancing and Jack grabbed Bella's hand and dragged her to the dance floor.
"C'mon, don't know how much longer we'll be here so I wanna have at least one dance with my daughter in 1941." Jack said. The music playing was a fast, swing song.
"Ok then Dad; show me how me they did it in the 1940s." Bella said and Jack span her around and taught her how to dance. They both had smiles on their faces and looked like didn't have a care in the world. For that moment both of them forgot the situation that they were stuck in. After the song finished Jack kissed Bella's hand again and they both walked over to a table and sat down.
"Who were you?" Bella asked,
Jack sighed 'might as well tell her something,', "A conman. That's why I took his name, falsified his records so it seemed he was still alive."
"How did you end up in Torchwood?" Bella asked, he knew how she did but she didn't know how he did. He thought about it for a moment then said,
"Someone saved my life. Brought me back from death. And ever since then, it's been like they're keeping me for something and I don't know what it is. I'm sorry for dragging you into this."
"It was my choice along time ago," Bella smiled.
"I'll look after you." Jack said giving her a small smile.
"Like you always do." She nodded,
"But there's nothing I can do for him." He said tearfully indicating The Captain who was standing at the side of the room with his men. Bella took both of his hands in hers and he softly ran his thumb over the makeshift bandage on her left hand.
"You know you will have to let Owen have a look at that." He said gently.
"Yeah, I know," She sighed,
"You still angry at him?" Jack said,
"Little bit." She shrugged.
Ianto was still holding the gun pointed at Owen, "You have to let Diane go. Like I did with Lisa."
"Don't compare yourself to me. You don't really belong here." Owen spat.
"I've handled worse things then you, besides Jack needs me." Ianto said still holding the gun.
"In your dreams, Ianto. In your sad wet dreams when you're his part-time shag, maybe." Owen shouted, Ianto took a step closer and cocked his gun, Owen mentally swore thinking Bella hated him enough without finding out what he thought of her best friend.
"That rift took my lover, my captain and the one girl I truly love. So if I die trying to beat it, then it will all be in the line of duty." Owen said not realizing he just admitted to being in love with Bella. Ianto stopped for a second and watched Owen reach forward and put the piece in the machine. Ianto fired the gun aiming for his shoulder and hit the target. Owen screamed out in pain but slammed the piece into place and the machine started up.
"You don't know what you've done." Ianto angrily said to Owen who was slummed on the floor.
Bella and Jack were still holding hands while Jack stared at The Captain, "I know how this looks but you know how I feel about Ianto and always will."
"I know, and I understand," Bella said as the Captain came over and took Jack's hand out of Bella's and lead him the dance and the Captain danced in each others arms; the other couples on the dance floor stopped dancing and stared at them. Bella sat on the side and watched her dad. She smiled at the couple and watched as they pulled away and were about to kiss when behind her was a loud bang. She turned around and saw the bright white light of the rift.
"Dad!" Bella shouted standing up and grabbed Tosh's laptop. "Dad, we need to get out!"
Jack looked at The Captain and hesitated. "Dad, you have to! We need you! I need you!" Jack looked at Bella and saw the look on her face. How could he leave her?
He turned to the Captain, "I have to go." The Captain nodded, "It's my duty." He walked towards Bella and the rift but paused. He gave Bella a look then went back to the Captain and kissed him. Bella stood there patiently giving a sad smile at the couple kissed passionately in the middle of the dance floor. They broke apart and Jack turned and headed back to Bella, and the rift. He looked back at the Captain and grabbed Bella's hand going into the rift with her.
They made their way from the dancehall and walked out the front door back into their own time. Bella looked up and smiled, Gwen got out of her car and ran to Jack and hugged him. He laughed and hugged her back but Bella saw the tears in his eyes.
"You made it! You made it! You made it." Gwen repeated then ran up to Bella and hugged her.
"Oh, Bella, come here, come here, come here!" Gwen said squeezing her.
"I'm fine!" Bella laughed, Gwen pulled back but caught a glimpse of Bella's hand she grabbed it and raised it up, looking at Bella, "Mostly!" Gwen let go of her hand and laughed.
Owen was trying to sort out his shoulder is but was having some difficulty.
"I knew we did the right thing, opening the rift." Owen said through the pain of his shoulder. Ianto turned and looked at him.
"Still no sign of Bilis." Ianto said.
"World didn't end after all, did it? Good job you're a crap shot." Owen said trying to stitch up the wound.
"I was aiming for your shoulder." Ianto said leaning against the wall.
"What on earth happened to you?" A voice came from above them; they both looked up and saw Gwen, Jack and Bella standing above the autopsy room. "Anyway looks like you have another patient." He said and put his hands on Bella's shoulders.
"Huh?" Owen said looking at her not seeing anything wrong.
"I need you to have a look at this," She said bitterly and held up her hand which was now covered in bloody remains of her top.
"What happened?" Ianto asked,
"I take it you found the card written in blood." Bella asked and they all immediately knew what happened.
"Yeah, I'll take a look after I've done this." Owen said and went back trying to stitch up his shoulder. Bella sighed and walked down to him, she held out her uninjured hand,
"Give it here." Owen gave her the needle and she started to stitch up his shoulder. She gave a sharp pull and he let of a cry. "That hurt?" He nodded, "Good."
Owen had just finished putting a few stitches in Bella's hand when Jack walked in.
"It was wartime, I know, but it was beautiful." She said.
"There were angels dancing at the Ritz." Jack said and walked into his office.
"Jack..." Owen started but Bella stopped him,
"Let me." She said and followed him into his office.
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Jack poured a glass and hands it to Bella.
"Encouraging your daughter to drink now are we." Bella joked.
"Na, you're old enough." He replied.
"He would have been so proud that you took his name." She said smiling softly at him. "Because here you are: saving the world. To Captain Jack." He raised his own glass
"To Captain Jack." He said and they clinked glasses and drank. "Haven't you better go and see your mum?
"Don't remind me that she lives here now please. I'm just glad she let me still live with you."
Jack laughed.
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