A/N: Nothing you recognize belongs to me! Some Spoilers for Children of Earth in Torchwood.

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Torchwood—22 September 2009, 1:22 pm

The abandoned warehouse was far from Captain Jack Harkness's ideal base—it belonged to Torchwood One, for example, and was thus loaded with memories that he would rather forget. Torture is something that very few people would like to remember, and he had the dubious honor of refusing to remain dead, which removed most of the boundaries conventional torturers worried about. He had contemplated telling the Doctor, filling the alien in on just what had been done to him to coerce him into his current position, but he'd been more interested in answers than in revenge.

Now, though, he wasn't sure what he wanted. Torchwood Three was gone—destroyed in the blast from a bomb that someone had put inside him. They killed him, cut him open, and then stitched in a bomb and left him alone to carry it into the heart of his operation. If Gwen hadn't been using the scanner to see if she was pregnant, if he hadn't covered her hand in a gesture of comfort and congratulations—they would be dead. And unlike him, Ianto and Gwen and her tiny, barely formed child, would stay dead.

Jack Harkness had lost many people. Estelle, his brother, his parents, the Doctor (even though he was still alive), Rose (although she had come back), Owen (although he died twice), and Tosh. No more. He would not lose them, not like this. Not hunted by the people they were supposed to protect. He was used to indifference, even to scorn, but he would not stand by and let ignorant fools destroy the people he cared about for no other reason than to save face.

Where was the Doctor when he needed him? He tried calling, he tried having other people call—and received no answer. He tried calling Rose, calling Martha's phone, and calling the phone that the Doctor supposedly had on the TARDIS. Nothing. He trusted the Doctor and he knew that Rose would never deliberately ignore him, so why did it feel like he was back on the Gamestation, watching the TARDIS vanish without him?

"Jack?" Ianto's voice was loud in the silence. Gwen was still out. Trust a policewoman to know all the tricks of the criminal world.

"What's up gorgeous?" he responded, trying for levity and almost nailing it.

Ianto held a small, slim black rectangle out. "I think it's for you."

It was a portable DVD player, and the single post-it-note taped to the top was indeed addressed to 'Captain Jack Harkness.' "Where was this?" he demanded as he examined it.

"Just sitting here." Ianto gestured at the floor. "Right in the way, exactly where we'd notice it."

The thing itself told him very little. It was new, without a scratch on it, and a brand that was available in almost any electronics store. He flipped the top up. "Nothing for it, I guess," Jack muttered as he pressed the 'power' button. "Let's see what they have to say."

An image of Donna filled the screen. Jack blinked and Ianto paled. She was supposed to be safe. She'd left a week ago with Lee—they were in Morocco on their honeymoon. His knuckles were white as he gripped the machine. If they hurt her there would be hell to pay.

And then the image began to speak. "Hello Jack, Ianto, Gwen." Donna smiled and fidgeted. "Mickey's helping me make this video."

"Cheers, mate." Mickey Smith's familiar thick London accent drifted out of the speakers.

"Anyway," Donna continued after she shot a glare at Mickey for interrupting. "We're about to leave for Morocco, me and Lee." Her face softened and sadness stole across her features. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, Jack. I'm so, so sorry, but we have to go now. It's already happened, for me—the 456 and the children and all of it. If I stay any longer I'll say something or do something and history will change." She looked away. "It's been so hard for me not to warn you. And I'm sorry, I really am—but the timelines and all that." She turned back to the camera. "I just want you to know, that he is coming. He's a little late, but then you know all about his driving." Jack had to smile at the exasperated affection evident in her voice. He couldn't count the number of times that the Doctor had taken them somewhere that was not where he intended. "And when he gets here," Donna went on, "you can't tell him anything about the 27 planets, not at all. It hasn't happened for them yet. But he's coming, Jack. He's coming and Rose is coming and the three of you can handle just about anything." She paused. "Oh! And don't tell me about Lee! I haven't even met him yet when I meet you for the first time." She smiled at him. "Give Gwen and Ianto a hug from me, and I'll see you all after we get back. I'm not going to lie, sand and sun sounds a bit better than dreary old England right now."

She waved, and then the screen flickered and went black. Jack closed the device and handed it back to Ianto. He turned his eyes to the roof that blocked the stars from view. He was coming. Maybe there was hope after all.