Hiraeth

by LiteratusAO3

The dust from the Battle of Canary Wharf has barely settled. The cities of Earth are in ruins. Team TARDIS is separated. Over the course of five months (and two years), they start dealing with what they've lost and make tentative steps towards reuniting. (Part three of The Earthly Child series. Set between season two and season three.)

16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

The now-familiar sight of the Tower of London grew large through the windscreen of Drew's UNIT-leased car. Set against the backdrop of the grey afternoon's sky and the thick fall of snow, Rose's stomach gave a twist that was either a response to the situation at hand or the fact she wasn't entirely sober yet. She had hoped that she would have the entire time off work for the Christmas period, but it figured that Zoe's return home came with aliens: her sister was incapable of making a quiet entrance these days, and it made Rose long for the time when Zoe was so quiet that she often slipped into a room and made herself comfortable hours before Rose or Jackie noticed her.

"Here you go," Drew said, applying the handbrake but keeping the engine turned on, the heater blowing out warm out into the cabin. "You got everything?"

"Yeah, I think so," Rose replied, passing her phone between her hands back and forth. Zoe hadn't called her even though she knew that Rose knew she was back. She pushed past the feelings of disappointment and hurt to smile at Drew. "Thanks for the lift. I appreciate it."

"I was in the area." He tapped his fingers on the window and smiled back. "Besides, even if I wasn't, you'd still get the red carpet treatment."

Colour climbed into her pale cheeks. "Shut up."

Drew laughed, and the thin sliver of awkwardness that had existed between them since their one-night stand that Drew took to be more than it was eased. Rose hoped that, one day, they would be able to become friends: maybe not friends like her and Ianto but friendly enough that their first thought upon seeing each other wasn't the image of their naked bodies. Enough had happened since then, both of them worked to the bone by the aftermath of the Battle of Canary Wharf, that neither had much energy beyond being friendly and polite to each other.

As Jack said, a failed one-night wasn't the worst thing in the world and both Rose and Drew realised that on the other side of such devastation.

"You not comin' in?" Rose asked, hand paused on the handle. "I thought you were workin' tonight."

"I am, but I'm heading over to the wreckage to take command of the perimeter," Drew replied. "The higher ups want to make sure that it's locked down in case whatever this is turns out to be from there or looking to end up there."

"Oh." She hadn't considered the point, not having been back to the remains of Torchwood One since she crawled out of the rubble, and she looked at Drew. "Your own command...that's excitin'."

"Before you know it, I'll be in the field," he said, and her mouth tugged into a grin.

"I'm goin' to be losin' Ianto soon," Rose said without thinking the offer through, relieved that she didn't regret it when it came out of her mouth. "There'll be space on my time if you want it. If you don't mind workin' under me."

Drew stared at her before his eyebrows went up and a smile pulled across his face. It took her a moment to read between the lines of what she had said and colour exploded into her face, warming her from the inside out. Her hand shot out and slapped him on the shoulder, mortified.

"Drew!"

"I'm sorry," he laughed, eyes crinkling. "I can't help it. It's just where my mind went."

Rose fanned her cheeks, happy to be laughing. "I wasn't on top the entire time."

"Just most of it," he said, hair falling across his eyes before he swept it away. "And I'm not complaining, at all, it's just what I thought. But I don't mind working under you. Your team gets the most interesting missions."

"I'll talk to the higher ups then." Rose tugged on her scarf, eager to be out of the car and away from the embarrassment she felt. She pushed the door open, the cold air washing in, and she climbed out. "Good luck tonight."

"You too," he said, faint traces of a smile on his mouth and around his eyes. "Be safe, no heroics."

Rose passed her finger over her chest in the sign of a cross. "Cross my heart."

Shutting the door, she stepped back from the side of the road and watched him pull smoothly away and circle the building before merging into traffic. She stood and enjoyed the solitude for six seconds, letting the frosty air and light snow fall across her face while breathing deeply to settle herself. There was always a moment before something new and dangerous crossed her path that left her feeling unsettled and afraid in a way she hadn't experienced when with the Doctor. After all, what did she have to fear when the Doctor was there to save the day? Even on the worst days she had with him, she didn't doubt, not for a second, that he would swoop in to rescue her and put everything to rights.

Without him, the universe felt harsher and more frightening than ever before.

"Ms Tyler." An umbrella appeared over her head and the snow stopped falling on her hair. She looked up into the face of an officer she didn't know. "You're expected."

Rose bit back a self-deprecating remark and fell into step with the officer, checking her phone again to find no missed call or message from her sister. Her thumbs hovered over the screen before she slid it away. She had spent enough time reaching out to Zoe, it was up to her sister to make the first step now: she had no more to give.

Walking into the UNIT at the beginning of an alien incursion that her family may or may not be responsible for given they were neck deep in it last time was, as expected, moderately awkward. Eyes turned to her, swivelling away from computers screens and clustered meetings, to watch her stride into the room, snow falling from her boots and her hands buried deep in her pockets. Her cheeks were still faintly pink from speaking with Drew, and she froze in the doorway, focusing on Mabel whose face was spreading in a grin at the sight of her. She shifted her gaze and settled on Ianto who, as ever, could be counted on to be a calm port in the storm and gave her a simple nod that unstuck her feet and reminded her of her sense of humour.

"This isn't my fault," she said, and there was a ripple of laughter before everyone turned back to their work, a reminder that she was one of them no matter how much she felt like an outsider at times. "Do we have any idea about what's goin' on?"

"It would appear there's a ship in orbit." A jolt ran through her body that turned on her heel to watch as Harry Saxon melted out of the shadows with a cup of steaming coffee in his hand and an expensive scarf draped elegantly about his neck. "Good afternoon."

"Harry." She stared at him: it was always surprising to see him when she wasn't expecting him, and her stomach gave a lurch that filled her chest with heat. "What're you doin' here?"

"There appears to be a threat of alien invasion," he said, reaching up to brush the snow from her shoulders, the tips of his cool fingers brushing briefly against her jaw line. Her focus shifted to that patch of skin, breath held in her throat, and he smiled at her. "I'm just here to observe."

His hand left her personal space, and she remembered how to breathe. "Isn't that Harriet's job?"

"Yes, well, there's been a lot of questions about the prime minister's judgement on alien matters recently so I've been given the honour," Harry replied with the breezy air of a man edging closer to the top job. His smiled stretched further on his face at the sight of the frown that furrowed its way across Rose's forehead. "Don't look so disappointed, darling, you'll give a man a complex."

"Shut up." His grin was wide by the time she finished rolling her eyes, hands finally moving to pull the scarf from her throat. "It's good to see you."

"And you," Harry said, his eyes sweeping over her. She was left feeling underdressed, her hand twitching to tug on the bottom of Mickey's jumper she had stolen but she managed, with a great deal of effort, to keep it at her side, scarf bunched in it. "It's a shame your time off has been interrupted. What were you doin'?"

"Criticisin' Star Wars with some friends," Rose said, embarrassment climbing up her throat at the admittance. She wasn't sure why she was embarrassed, all she knew was that Harry sometimes made her feel like she was floundering in a world she didn't understand when she was with him: wealth, prestige, power were things that never interested her but sitting about with her friends drunk and yelling at an old movie did. "What about you?"

"With my in-laws," he said. "So I'm rather grateful for the distraction."

A laugh tumbled free, his eyes brightening at the sound, and a shadow passed across her vision, Ross Jenkins coming to stand at her side. "Boss."

Rose looked up at him, ignoring the air of disapproval he levelled at Harry who, like with everything that didn't interest him, was oblivious. "What've we got, Ross?"

"Nothing yet," he replied, shifting his body just so until he was between Harry and Rose, guiding her towards the computer banks where Mabel was hitting a keyboard with increasing frustration. "There's definitely something out there but we're having trouble picking up what it is exactly. Dr Taylor is trying to fine-tune our telescopes."

Rose nodded and looked down at the information on the pad in her hand, scrolling through it with her thumb. "What about the observatory in Argentina? Have we contacted the Argentines about usin' it?"

"Dr Stewart's on the phone with the Argentine embassy now," Jenkins said, and Rose frowned.

"Where's Colonel Mace?"

"In the hospital."

Alarm seized hold of her, concerned that she had missed an alien invasion and Colonel Mace had been hurt during it. "What?"

"His grandson shot him with an arrow," Jenkins replied as though that was a perfectly normal thing to happen to the commanding officer of UNIT: both Rose and Harry stared at him, nonplussed. "He and his wife gave him a crossbow for Christmas and apparently he accidentally got Colonel Mace when they were in the garden shooting it."

Harry's deep, infectious laughter started behind Rose, not stopping even when she smacked him on the chest without looking at him. She struggled to keep her own laugh under control: the thought of strict and inflexible Colonel Mace who seemed to tolerate her more than anything else getting shot with a crossbow wielded by his grandson was a little funny. Unlike Harry though, she was able to voice her concern for him.

"Is he okay?"

"I believe only his dignity and his gluteal maximus are injured," Jenkins replied, refusing to give Harry the satisfaction for cracking a smile.

The skin between her eyes pinched in confusion even as Harry laughed harder, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder to support himself. "Gluteal –?"

"He got shot in the ass!" Harry leaned his weight on her, draped across his back, the warmth of his breath rushing across her cheek. If possible, Jenkins disapproval deepened but Rose wasn't inclined to shrug him off. "Are there pictures? Please tell me there are pictures."

"There are not, Mr Saxon." The clipped, polished tones of Kate Stewart made Harry straighten though his arm remained in place about her shoulders. "Hello, Rose."

"Hey, Kate," Rose said with a smile, hoping that there were, in fact, pictures. "You're in charge tonight then?"

"I am." She straightened and tugged on her Christmas jumper that she hadn't had the chance to change out of before being called to duty. "I'm glad you're here. Since you've had dealings with the robot Santas before, I'm hoping you can tell me what we're facing this time. The Sycorax again?"

"No." Rose was confident it wasn't the Sycorax, doubtful they would return; at least not after how Jack had dealt with the leader. "The robot Santas are pilot fish. Someone else probably picked them up an' started usin' them."

"Reduce, reuse, recycle," Mabel commented from her seat. "It's nice these aliens are environmentally friendly."

"They might not be alien," Ianto reminded her. "Many people are angry about the Battle of Canary Wharf. This could be simple terrorism using the alien tech we still haven't accounted for. They could be tricking our satellites."

Harry peered at him, mouth turned down in a pouty moue. "Aren't you the optimist?"

"He's right," Jenkins said, and Rose felt rather than saw Harry roll his eyes. "We can't rule anything out."

"Actually, we can," Rose told them, all eyes shifting to her. "I've got on the ground intel. Whatever's up there is usin' the Santas to track someone – a human, I think – who's been dosed with huon energy."

The body at her back went stiff, his tightening on her arm, before Harry relaxed and spoke directly into her ear with a tone that lilted with curiosity, "what's huon energy?"

"Yes, I haven't heard of it, either," Kate said. "Alien?"

"Maybe, I don't know," Rose shrugged. "Just somethin' really dangerous. Jack'd know more."

"Captain Harkness is on the ground?" The lines around Kate's eyes eased a little as enough relief slipped into her that she no longer worried the world was about to end: perhaps become singed but the prospect of the world ending on her watch was further away with the knowledge that Jack was in the field. "That is good. Ianto, get the captain on the line and put him straight through to here."

"He's not alone," Rose continued, watching Ianto turn to the phone and punch in Mickey's number. "My sister's with him too."

The entire room seemed to stop. Heads lifted from computers and one person even stood up, a strawberry lace hanging from their mouth. Even Harry pulled back from her, the surprise evident in the space between them. She swallowed and looked at the pad in her hand with an intensity that lied about her focus: the Christmas TV schedule could be on there for all she was paying attention to it, wishing that everyone would look elsewhere.

Jenkins, of course, was the first to speak. "Zoe's back?"

"Yeah, apparently," she said, uncomfortable with the fact that she hadn't actually spoken to her sister yet. "She called Jack for help when this woman appeared on the TARDIS. They're headin' to H.C. Clements right now."

"H.C. Clements?" Mabel pushed back from her desk, one ratty-trainered foot tucked under her thigh on her seat, pen stuck behind her ear. "That's a security company. They develop software. We used them at Torchwood."

"Torchwood," Kate sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Are we ever to be free of those insidious people?" She shot Ianto and Mabel a quick look. "Present company excluded, of course."

Mabel flashed a double thumbs up while Ianto's mouth shifted in a small, polite smile. Grateful for the attention off her, Rose cleared her throat and leaned into the small, soothing press of Harry's hand on her spine.

"Jack's managed to disable the robot Santas. We're goin' to need clean up around St Mary's Church –" Kate gestured to Jenkins who nodded and stepped away to put into motion a cleanup operation. "An' he also deactivated the bombs on the Christmas tree –"

"One wonders whether Zoe's presence is even needed," Harry commented, furious that she was back on Earth without him realising it and dragging with her huon energy. He had no doubt that she had something to do with the situation, wondering if her grief had turned her villainous: as entertaining as he was sure that would be, he wished she had done it without messing with something like huon energy. "Does the good captain and the lonely wanderer require on the ground support?"

Rose glanced at him, evident unhappiness in the turn of her mouth at his sharp comments on Zoe, a reminder that human relationships were still a little beyond him. He made a note to rectify that with her at the earliest opportunity.

"Doubt it," she said. "But we can deal with the space ship for them. It's a shame the Valiant's not ready yet."

"Two more months," he reminded her with a nudge of his elbow. "Patience."

"Fuck patience." Mabel snorted with laughter at her computer. "You got any ideas, Kate?"

"The Argentines are turning their telescope to the coordinates we've provided," she answered before her shoulders straightened as though stealing herself for something unpleasant, "but I was hoping Mr Saxon could call the Americans for us."

Harry raised his eyebrow, delighted. "Oh?"

"We need the use of their low-orbit shuttles," Kate admitted. "The ones they think we don't know about."

"Ah, the ones with the weapons and the shields," he nodded. "Well, I can't say the president is going to be thrilled but he's a simple man: a bit of flattery, a promise of a box of whiskey or two, I'm sure I can get them for us."

She nodded, reluctantly grateful. "Thank you."

He passed his hand over Rose's back, giving her a small wink as he stepped away. He watched for the tell tale curvature of her mouth and while it was a shadow of what he was used to, it was there. He walked to Colonel Mace's office to place his call with a small bounce in his step.

Rose watched him go before Mabel whistled to catch her and Kate's attention. She pointed a finger at the screen where a grainy image of a large ship in orbit was appearing. "First images coming through. Unless Torchwood had a fuck-off spaceship that no one knew about, I'm going with aliens."

"Is it me or does that look like a Christmas star?" Jenkins asked, squinting as he held the phone receiver to his chest.

"Festive," Kate said, unimpressed. "Rose, have you ever seen anything like this?"

Rose shook her head as she shifted to look at the image closer. The pixellation was too large to catch any real details beyond the many arms that made it look like the Christmas star Jenkins noted, but she wasn't a spaceship aficionado. Resting her hands on Mabel's shoulders, she had her friend send the image to Jack who could identify a spaceship blindfolded by scent alone such was his interest.

"Whatever it is," Ianto said, "it's going to enter the atmosphere in less than an hour."

"Send out the international alarm," Kate ordered. "Defcon one."

Pulling out her phone again, Rose looked at the screen and pressed her lips together.

Zoe, she thought desperately, call me.

---

Donna stood next to Zoe, watching as Jack attempted to break into H.C. Clements without breaking glass. She shivered in the coat she had grabbed from her reception – the burn of pain at her family and friends celebrating without her reared its head again – and linked her arm through Zoe. Her new friend started, surprised at the touch, before her face split into a warm smile, hand rubbing over hers.

"Not much longer," Zoe assured. "Jack;s never met a door that's kept him out before. He's very useful like that."

"Who's he talking to?" Donna asked, watching Lance's reflection in the window. He hadn't wanted to come with them, preferring to stay behind, but he also hadn't wanted Donna driving his car, so he was with them. "Another friend of yours?"

"In a manner of speaking," she said, not sure how she felt about Ianto Jones. She hadn't thought of him much in her time away, her anger settled on Yvonne and Harriet, but he still represented Torchwood. She put her feelings to one side, trusting Jack to do what needed to be done. She could catch up on everything at a later date. "He's very social."

"This is a bit weird." Donna shifted from foot to foot to keep her toes warm, her shoes doing nothing to stop the icy cold of the snow from seeping in. "Coming to work on my day off, I mean. It's like school at the weekend."

"I loved going to school at the weekend," Zoe replied, grinning. "It was always so quiet and felt more comfortable without everyone in the halls. One of my teachers used to offer extra tutoring on Saturday mornings. We never had to wear our school uniform, and it was a lot of fun."

She looked at her, faintly amused. "You were one of those weirdos who loved school, weren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," Zoe confessed with a laugh. "School's fun though."

"Not if you're thick, it's not," she replied, the laugh draining away. She found herself on the receiving end of a piercing, sympathetic gaze, and Donna looked back at Lance's reflection to find her fiancé pacing back and forth as he sent messages on his phone. "How much longer? It's bloody cold out here."

"Shouldn't be too long," Zoe said. "How are your feet holding up?"

Donna lifted the hem of her dress with one hand to show her flat shoes. "No heels."

"Sensible." The approval and delight radiated from Zoe. "I once wore these pair of heels that were gorgeous. I mean, absolutely fucking stunning. I was doing a whole Sandy from Grease thing, but we ended up in an alien situation and my feet were killing me at the end of the day. Flats are the way to go, something with arch support."

She snorted. "You sound like an old lady."

"Hey, they make sensible choices!"

Donna laughed, shaking her head. "I was going to wear heels. Found this nice pair in Zara, not too expensive, y'know? But Lance doesn't like it when I'm taller than him, so I went with the flat heel."

Zoe's eyes slid to Lance who was near them again, worry and fear etched on his face. She was already bored of him, not sure what Donna saw in him at all but many people wondered that about her and the Doctor too. Perhaps, she hoped, Lance had hidden depths.

"Is that right?" She asked. "Don't like tall women, eh, Lance?"

He wasn't listening to her, fingers picking at his cuticles nervously. "We really shouldn't be here. We're breaking and entering."

"Only a little," she replied. "Besides, did you have anything better planned?"

Lance stared at her. "Yeah, I was supposed to be married by now. We had a party planned for this afternoon. I'd rather be doing that than whatever this is. You don't need us here, I don't know why we're here. We should leave. Donna, what do you think?"

"June," Donna said. "It'll be nice. The weather will be better and Granddad can come to it. It'll be a good time."

"What?" He asked, confused.

"A nice summer wedding," she told him. "It'll be lovely."

Lance opened his mouth to snap at her, to let her know that he wasn't talking about marrying her, when Jack let out a whoop as the doors slid open. He stuck his foot between the automatic doors, keeping it open, as he twisted his head over his shoulder to catch their attention.

"Come one, come all," he called. "We have an entry way."

"Ta very much," Zoe said, smiling at him as she ducked beneath his arm to get in, taking Donna's hand. "Might've been quicker to blow it up though."

"We're trying to limit the explosives these days," Jack confessed. "Something about not making too much of a mess."

Her nose wrinkled. "Sounds boring."

"It is, a bit." He waited until Lance had passed inside before he slid through the doors that shut behind him. "Mabel's sent the blueprints to your phone."

Zoe pulled her phone from her pocket and swiped the screen. "Who's Mabel?"

"She works with Rose," Jack explained. "Member of her team. A good sort."

She tapped the blueprints open and held her phone before her so that they were all able to see. Donna's long hair hung over Zoe's shoulder, already comfortable enough in her presence to invade her personal space. It had been long enough for Zoe without company that it was difficult for her to fight the urge to lean back into the other woman and soak up physical company, certain it would highlight her extreme and entirely self-inflicted loneliness that Jack was likely to pick up on immediately. Stomach clenching and heart beating faster than normal at being bracketed and surrounded by both Jack and Donna, she coughed lightly.

"This is interesting." Zoe zoomed in on a level that Mabel had highlighted for their attention. "t looks like there's a floor here that's not on the public plans."

"A secret floor?" Jack asked, excitedly. "Brilliant. Just like New Earth."

She huffed a small laugh. "Hopefully without the evil cat nuns."

"What's the likelihood of that happening twice?"

The gentle teasing blurred her vision as she blinked tears away. Risking the humiliation of Jack knowing how lonely she was, she leant into him a little more than unusual. His arm automatically went around her waist, cheek resting against her temple, and the smell of him wrapping around her: the struggle not to burst into tears made her hands shake.

"Do they have any idea what's down there?" Zoe asked, pleased that she sounded normal despite the turmoil crashing through her. "I'd like to know what we might be up against before we head down."

"Excuse me, ma'am." Ianto's tinny voice emerged from the speakerphone and Jack lifted the phone higher. "My apologies for interrupting, but we're not entirely sure what's down there. All reference we've been able to find of it simply marks it as a temporal biohazard."

"Makes sense with the huon energy," she said, tone frosty now that she knew Ianto was listening in. In response to her brewing anger, Jack rubbed his cheek against her temple as though he was soothing an disgruntled cat. "But, Ianto, seriously: it says temporal biohazard. Why hasn't this already been cleaned up yet? Surely this is a priority."

"Our temporal teams have been occupied with the situation in Hungary," he explained, unruffled by the accusation that lilted through her words as though he was personally responsible for the situation.

She frowned. "What situation in Hungary?"

"I know this," Donna said. "It's that weird slow motion thing, isn't it?"

"Huh?" She asked, confused. "Slow motion thing?"

"There's a time dilation field that keeps growing in Hungary," Jack explained. "It's actually a pretty big problem at the moment. Although now the TARDIS is back, we should be able to solve it, which will be a relief for the European Union. It's not helping the refugee situation at all."

"Good god!" Zoe's frustration leaked out of her. "Has the world fallen apart since I've been gone?"

"Yeah, because you're so important to keepin' things runnin' that everythin' breaks when you're not here, you egotistical cow."

Rose's voice washed over Zoe, bathing her in hurt and tears shed out of her presence. She felt the weight of all that hadn't passed between them in the last few months and years. It lay on her chest and pushed the breath from her lungs, ribs aching with the agony of it, and she wanted to throw her phone to the side and run, run, run until she was with her sister. All she wanted in that moment was to bury herself in Rose's arms and have her make everything good again as she had been able to do when they were children. But the sheer grief that radiated across the line to her caused doubt to rear its head, ugly whispers of hatred slipping into Zoe's mind, and she froze.

"Sisters," Jack whispered above Zoe's head to a visibly surprised Donna. "They've had a bit of a bad time recently."

"Would've been better if she hadn't fucked off to God knows where," Rose complained, words tight and hard as though her throat was closing in on her. "You don't call, you don't text, an' now you turn up with a fuckin' alien invasion. Well done, Zo. Seriously, amazin' job."

Zoe opened her mouth, tears burning her eyes again. "Hi, Rose."

"Fuck you an' your fuckin' hi," Rose snapped. "Is that all you've got to say to me? You disappeared, didn't answer your phone even though it's always on you. You dragged Jack across the universe an' made him an' Mickey fight for months, an' now you just come back like nothin' happened an' need our help with aliens! What happened to doin' it all yourself, huh? Where's the great Zoe T –"

"Rose." Jack was calm but firmer than he had ever been with either of them before: Rose stopped talking immediately. "Now's not the time for this, and yelling at her isn't helping the situation."

"I didn't mean to bring the aliens here," Zoe said, managing to find her words. "I don't think it's my fault."

"You never do," Rose complained. "You're all the big I am an' I'm goin' to save the universe but God forbid you think before you do it."

"You know, I didn't hear you complaining last time," she snapped back, finding it easier to swallow her pain when anger threaded its way through. "No, last time it was all: why aren't they back yet? Oh, I wish I was you, it's so borin' here. Work harder, Zoe."

"I never said that," her sister argued. "An' I did complain last time, I complained a lot!"

"About being left out, not about what I was doing!"

"An' what d'you think I'm complainin' about now, you nutjob?" Rose snapped. "You pissed off an' left me behind, again. You weren't the only one to lose them!"

Zoe flinched but rallied. "I lost more than you, Rose. You know I did."

"She was my mother too." The thick press of tears was audible in her voice, and Jack rubbed a hand over his face, sighing heavily. "An' he was my friend. You might've been shaggin' him, but he was my friend."

Jack put a hand on the back of Zoe's head, strong and comforting. "Enough, you two. We don't need to air our dirty laundry in public. Let's do what other families do and save it for Christmas day, understood?"

Neither of them responded, their anger and pain palpable in the silence, and he frowned.

"I asked if you both understood," he said with clipped tones that hinted at an anger that rarely surfaced. "And I know neither of you are deaf. So: do you understand?"

"Yes," Zoe bit off, reluctant and embarrassed.

Rose sighed loudly and obnoxiously. "Sure, whatever."

Jack rubbed at Zoe's scalp with his fingertips before he dropped his hand to rest lightly on the back of her neck. "Okay, good. Now that that's sorted, where were we?"

"I believe you were discussing the existence of a secret door."

Zoe started at the familiar deep voice that she recognised but couldn't place. "Who's that?"

"Zoe, lovely to speak to you again," the voice said. "Harry Saxon, here."

Donna leaned closer to Zoe and whispered in her ear, "that fit politician? You know him?"

Barely attending to the question, she seesawed her hand back and forth as incredulity filled her. "What the hell are you doing on this call? I thought I was speaking with a team of useful people."

"Charming," he replied, amused. "However, a representative of the government is required at these events these day."

"Of the government?" Horror broke through Zoe like the sun rising in the dawn: slow and warm. "Oh my god, are you the prime minister now?"

"Your absolute horror is thoroughly delightful, thank you," Harry said with a laugh, Zoe's nose wrinkling in distaste. "But no, I'm deputy prime minister. Harriet's still in charge for now."

"I feel sick."

"Don't be dramatic," Rose chided.

"Says the queen of drama," she shot back.

"Suddenly, I'm really grateful I don't have a sister," Donna decided, and Jack snorted. "Listen, you lot, it may not be important to you but I'm worried about this energy thing that's in me. So if could pay attention to me right now, that'd be great."

"Sorry, you're right: we shouldn't be getting distracted," Zoe apologised, and Donna nodded her head in acceptance. "Right, we were on the secret door. What we have is a whole other floor that doesn't exist in the official plans, which is suspicious."

"I agree," another voice joined the line. "Kate Stewart, Ms Tyler, a pleasure."

"The pleasure's mine," she said, honestly. "I've heard a lot about you from your father. I'm glad we'll be working together."

"As am I," Kate replied. "I've had our satellites and sensors scan the building. Unfortunately we're not able to penetrate the lower levels but we have suspicions that whatever is down there stretches beneath the Thames. We believe that when you descend, we'll lose contact with you."

"Unlikely," Jack said. "Our phones work anywhere in the universe. Well, except for Krop Tor but I don't think there is a black whole and the devil at the centre of the Earth."

"Jack!" Rose exclaimed while Zoe groaned. "Don't jinx it, you know the rules!"

"She's right, you do," Zoe said, shaking her head in disapproval. "Thanks for the heads up, Dr Stewart. We're going to head down, just keep an eye on whatever's happening in orbit, and we'll take care of things here. Rose, if you need her, the TARDIS is on the estate."

There was a beat of silence before, "okay, thanks."

Jack bumped her shoulder with his. "Ready?"

"Always," she said, stepping into the glass elevator they had been standing outside. She turned neatly on her heel and raised her eyebrows at Donna and Lance. "You coming?"

"Too right," Donna said, quickly, sweeping into the elevator in a cloud of white material that Zoe batted away from her. "You're keeping me alive. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"It's nice to be wanted." She looked at Lance who hadn't moved an inch. "Lance?"

"Maybe we should go to the police," he hesitated, tugging on his tie, sweat beading on his smooth scalp. "This is – we shouldn't be doing this."

"Oi, he's not the brightest, is he?" Rose asked on the phone. "Lance, you prat, the police aren't able to do anythin'. Just get in the bloody lift, yeah?"

Zoe passed a hand across her mouth to cover her laugh, not sure Rose would welcome it, and Lance's shoulders slumped. He slinked inside with a glumness that made Jack squint up at the ceiling to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"Well then," Zoe said, pressing the button on the panel. "Going down."

---

Trisha peered into the kitchen, two empty cups held in her hand, and took in the messy state of everything. Food covered every surface, the bin was overflowing with empty flour packets and multitudes of cracked eggs. The sink was piled high with washing up that needed doing, and a variety of cookbooks were open wherever there was space. The kitchen, normally in a state of cleanliness, was less concerning than the manic energy that radiated off Mickey as he stirred a pot of something flavourful and savoury on the stove.

Gone was the well-rested and fresh Mickey from that morning in an old Christmas jumper he had found amongst Rita's belongings, and instead a slumped-shoulder, harried, anxious man was in her place. Carefully, she stepped into the kitchen and set the cups down by the sink where she silently began pulling plates, bowls, and cutlery out. Mickey looked over from the stove, standing a little straighter as though she was someone he needed to put his best face on for, and opened his mouth to speak when she cut him off.

"Don't even," Trisha warned him, pulling on the Marigolds and scrubbing the sink clean with the rough side of the sponge. She splashed it with water before putting the plug in place and filling it with hot, soapy water. "You've been in here all day. Thought we'd get to see you a little bit. You know there are only five of us for Christmas, right?"

"Six," Mickey said. "Zoe's coming now too."

"Six," she corrected herself, ignoring her own nervousness at seeing Zoe. The youngest Tyler sister had always been kind and friendly to her but they were acquaintances at best and with everything she had learnt about Zoe in the last few months, she wasn't sure how welcome her presence would be. "But even Zoe won't be able to eat all of this."

He snorted. "She can put it away with the best of them."

The conversation trailed off as Trisha tried to find the best way to approach him with her concerns. While he slowly and methodically stirred the stew that bubbled on the stove, she did her best at cleaning incrusted pastry and cake batter off the inside of various bowls. Before she and Mickey began building their friendship from the awkward ruins of the end of their ill-fated relationship, Trisha would never had voiced her concerns: that was a job for Jack or Rose, Sarah Jane too if no one else was available. However, she had been living with him for months, she liked to think they were close friends, and someone needed to talk to him.

"You're worried about Jack," Trisha finally said. His body rippled with surprise, eyes glancing towards her. "I'm worried too. I don't like not knowin' he's okay."

"He's fine," Mickey replied. "He knows what he's doin'."

"Course he does," she said. "Doesn't mean I'm not worried. All of this – all this alien stuff, I don't know how you handle it. I feel like I've been goin' mad the last few hours. It got so bad for Sarah Jane that she's gone to take a bath and read a book to distract herself."

"She's got more experience with this than us," he said. "An' it's not like we can take a bath, there's only one in the house."

"I s'pose bakin' is one way to deal with it," Trisha replied, pointedly looking at the sweets and pastries filling the kitchen. "I think there's somethin' called stress bakin', isn't there?"

He rolled his eyes. "I get the point."

"It's okay to be worried." Trisha turned a glass bowl upside down and set it to drain. "I know you're a bloke an' all but it's not like I'm goin' to judge you for worryin' about him."

"What does me bein' a bloke have to do with it?"

"Oh, come on, you've never been open with people," she told him. "An' it's not a bad thing. It's just how blokes are. You don't like talkin' about your emotions an' stuff. I'm just sayin' that you don't have to pretend with me. It's okay not to be okay when I'm here."

Mickey stared at her. "I'm okay, Trish."

"All right," she shrugged. "You're okay."

Trisha focused back on the washing up, acutely conscious that Mickey was thinking loudly next to her. It was difficult to go about her day when the people she cared about were in danger. In a few short months, Mickey and Jack had grown into her closest friends and she was getting there with Rose and Sabrina too. The thought of Jack and Rose in danger as they faced alien threats, the likes of which she sometimes saw the tail end of on TV, made her sick with worry at times. And she only knew what she was told, she hadn't experienced anything like it first hand like Mickey had where his worries and fears gained so much more colour.

She finished one load of washing and drained the sink, filling it again to start on another, when Mickey spoke.

"I thought it'd be different," he admitted. "Bein' the one who stays behind, I mean."

"I thought you didn't want to do alien stuff any more," Trisha said.

"I don't," he said, firmly. "Doesn't mean it's easy to watch them both go off an' face this stuff without me. It's so easy to make one mistake out there that just kills you. Look at Sarah Jane: she didn't even make a mistake an' she got hurt. Zoe slipped on a rock an' her brain nearly exploded. The Doctor got a sword through the chest an' actually died. Shit happens all the time an' it scares the fuck out of me."

"So you bake?"

"I bake an' I cook an' I clean because if I don't do somethin', I'm goin' to lose my mind," Mickey told her. "I don't want to be out there with them, but I don't want them out there without me. It doesn't make sense, I know, but –"

"It makes sense," Trisha assured him, softly. "I get it."

"Jack can handle himself, I know he can, he's been trained for this for years," he continued. "He's a professional who knows what to do. But I worry that one day something's goin' to happen an' then bloody Ianto is goin' to be knockin' on my door sayin' that Jack's dead. I'm terrified, Trish. Fuckin' terrified of losin' him an' Rose. Losin' Jackie an' the Doctor has been bad enough but for one of them to actually die? I don't think I could take it."

Trisha peeled the gloves off her hand and sidled up to Mickey, ducking beneath his arm so that she was able to wrap hers around his waist. He let the wooden spoon drop against the side of the saucepan, arms coming around her as her child kicked out a foot to kick his Uncle Mickey in the side.

"It's not easy bein' the one who stays behind," Trisha murmured into his shoulder. "Even when you want it that way."

His chest expanded, eyes closed against the top of her head. "Yeah, it sucks."

"They'll be back," she told him, unable to imagine a situation where they didn't come home, not when Zoe was back to help as well. "No sense in worryin' about what might happen."

"Easier said than done," he sighed.

"Yeah." She rested her cheek against his shoulder. "All we can do is wait, I s'pose."

Mickey nodded: he was good at waiting. He had waited for his father to come home for years before accepting it wasn't going to happen, he had waited for Rose for over a year, he had waited to be ready for Jack. He knew how to wait, he just wished that he wasn't always the one waiting.

---

"I know you were joking earlier, but I'm a little concerned our phones don't work considering the last time was Krop Tor." Zoe knocked the side of her phone against the wall before she gave it a vigorous shake in the hope of bringing it back to life. "This is weird. I don't like weird. Weird never means anything good in situations like these."

Jack had pried apart the back of Mickey's phone and was examining the insides with a set of small magnifying glasses he kept in his pocket. "The wiring's fine here. It looks like they just drained of energy."

"I charge mine from the TARDIS," she replied. "What've you been charging yours with?"

"We've been using the Vortex Manipulator," he said. "Except Rose, she just plugs hers into the wall like an animal. Whatever's down here has probably registered our arrival because of the energy in our phones. We should move carefully."

Zoe hummed her agreement. "Vortex Manipulator?"

"Present and accounted for." He patted his arm and put his phone away. "Worst comes to the worst, I'll jump out of here and bring reinforcement."

"Sounds good," she said, looking around for Donna and Lance who were having a hushed argument that echoed in the empty corridor about whether or not Zoe and Jack were crazy. "Hey, you two, you ready?"

"Yes," Donna said before Lance was able to say otherwise. "Your phones?"

"Dead as a dodo," Zoe replied. "Doesn't matter though. Come on, let's get moving. This tunnel seemed pretty long on the plans so we've probably got a bit of a walk ahead of us."

The tunnel was lit by emergency lighting that ran in strips along the floor and the curved walls. Odd, distorted shadows fell across the ground and there was a feeling of cold and damp in the air. The sharp, staccato beats of their feet as they walked kept making Lance jump whenever a footstep echoed back to them. His jumpiness started to make Jack's eye twitch and a muscle in his jaw flutter: for all the patience Jack had, he took fieldwork seriously and disapproved of people who weren't able to function under pressure joining them.

"Do you think Mr Clements knows about this place?" Donna asked in a hushed whisper that was loud enough to make Lance's shoulders jump up around his ears. "Or it was done without him?"

"He probably knows," Zoe replied. "People at the top generally know more than they'll admit to. He's legacy Torchwood or something, I reckon. His dad might have been involved back in the day, granddad, something like that, and he's just inherited it. Or, he's just really thick. That's a possibility. Never rule out stupidity, that's my motto."

"So you and your sister," she started, and Zoe pressed her lips together, not wanting to get into her and Rose's relationship with anyone, least of all someone she had met that day. "Things are difficult?"

"You could say that."

Donna nodded her head. "I thought Jack was your boyfriend, you know?"

Zoe tripped on nothing, stumbling to keep her feet, and Jack's rich laughter danced around the tunnel from behind them where he was watching their backs.

"She wishes," he grinned.

"Fuck off," Zoe replied, smile spreading across her cheeks. "You haven't once flirted with me. Not properly anyway. And since you flirt with everyone, it's a bit insulting."

"That's only because the Doctor told me not to even look at you funny when I first met you lot," he told her. "He gave me a thorough lecture my first night on board. Cornered me in the bathroom and everything. I very much misunderstood what he was there for, but he didn't seem to mind the kiss too much."

She spun on her heel and faced him, eyes wide. "You kissed him?"

"Only for like two seconds before he pushed me away with that scowl of his," Jack said. "He didn't even blink or say anything about it. He just started going on about how you were a child and you were under his care, which meant that if I so much as blinked in your direction in a flirtatious way, he'd strand me on a planet full of shrimp."

"Shrimp?" Donna asked, sceptical. "How's that then?"

"It was a lot more threatening at the time," he admitted. "The Doctor had this whole grumpy, furious, the world and humans are idiots, thing going on at the time. I quite liked it."

"He never told me about that," Zoe said, warmth blooming in her chest at learning something new about the man she loved. "Stupid man. I had a complex about you. Before I met Reinette I thought that maybe there was something wrong with me if you, someone who flirted with everyone, including a poodle that one time, didn't flirt with me."

His face fell. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course." Donna watched them with open and obvious amusement. "Jack, you're the most handsome man that's ever existed. You're funny, kind, generous, and you literally find everyone and everything attractive. But you never flirted with me, so I thought there was something wrong."

"Zo, no." He looked so distraught that Zoe couldn't help the laugh that slipped out. "You're gorgeous. Are you kidding me? If the Doctor hadn't said anything, I absolutely would have been flirting with you. Could you imagine, me and you? We'd be great."

Her laugh grew louder. "That's disgusting. You're my brother. I don't want to think about having sex with you. Not any more at least."

"Well, I'm very sorry the Doctor cockblocked you then," he said, and it was Donna's turn to laugh. "Shame on him."

"Shame on him indeed," she agreed.

Donna felt less afraid listening to them, the fear of the huon energy fading in the face of their good humour and teasing. "So this Doctor bloke, he's your boyfriend?"

"He is," Zoe told her. "He and my mum are stuck in a parallel universe. When we closing the gap to stop the Daleks and Cybermen, my mum was being pulled into the Void, which is this space between universe thing. It would've killed her if she'd ended up in there, so the Doctor jumped after her. He had a device thing to transport them to the other side. Everything sealed up before they could get."

"I'm so sorry," she said, touching her arm. "They're alive though, right?"

"We think so," Jack answered. "The alternative isn't worth thinking about."

Donna nodded, serious and solemn. "And can they get back?"

"Maybe," Zoe replied. "I hope so."

Threading her arm through Zoe's again, a desire to comfort and fuss over her taking Donna by surprise, she glanced towards Lance who started, for the fourth time, at his shadow. She rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "Is this what Torchwood does then? Build stuff beneath landmarks?"

"Pretty much," Jack said, checking their location on the blueprints he had downloaded onto his Vortex Manipulator. "You'd be surprised at some of the places we've found around the country. They were really into secret bases."

"What kind of places?"

"The Angel of the North, for one."

"What, that ugly statue thing?"

"That's the one."

Zoe looked at him, faintly sceptical. "Seriously?"

"Oh, yeah, it's an energy relay station," he explained. "Nothing dangerous, for a change, but there's a little secret base beneath it. It helped power some of Torchwood's northern operations."

"What about Stonehenge?" Donna asked, eagerly. "That's got to be weird and alien, right? I've always thought aliens had to do that because why stack stones together? Tell me it's alien."

"I mean it probably is but Torchwood haven't admitted to anything," he said.

Zoe snorted. "And we're trusting them now, are we?"

"We trust Ianto." There was just enough warning layered beneath his usual tone – subtle enough that Donna missed it but obvious enough for someone like Zoe who knew him well – that warned her about arguing the point with him. "I don't suppose you have any weapons on you, do you?"

She shook her head. "Just my brain."

"Great, if the worst comes to it, I'll crack your head open and toss your brain at them," he said, and Donna's face twisted in disgust. "But we've been in worse situations with less."

"We have? When?"

"Krop Tor, obviously," he said. "Game Station, that was a rough day. And Drana."

"Oh, let it go," Zoe complained. "You were nearly drowned once. It was a cultural misunderstanding. And you normally enjoy being manhandled by muscular women, or have you forgotten the New Roman Empire?"

"Two very different situations," he replied. "As a matter of fact –"

"Oh my god!" Lance's exclamation bounced off the walls as he spun to face them. "Don't you two ever shut up? It's all talk, talk, talk with you. How can you be this relaxed? We don't know what's down here and you're gassing it up like you're on a tour."

"Lance," Donna said, sharply. "Don't be rude."

"They're idiots!" He pointed his finger at a thoroughly offended Zoe and Jack. "Listen to them, they're absolute idiots!"

"I'm beginning to think we should've left him behind," Zoe said.

Jack nodded. "Me too. If you've finished with your histrionics, Lance, we're here."

"What?" He snapped, lowering his hand and looking behind him at the doors to an illuminated lab. "Oh."

"Made a right tit out of yourself, didn't you?" Donna clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and took his hand as she released Zoe's arm. "Come on, let's go. I don't want to be left behind."

The lab was larger than most Zoe had seen on Earth. It stretched back into a wide open space with a large whole in the middle of the floor: Torchwood and their holes, she thought with a shake of her head. There was an air of raggedness to the lab that she didn't like. It was as though the equipment had been gathered in a hurry, a collection of useful items that didn't flow together. She felt that each item had been found individually rather than purchased as a set, an indicator that whoever was using the lab was working it out as they went along, something she knew a lot about.

Her eyes snagged on the thin glass tubes that flowed with still, golden liquid. Desire pounded through her, her fingertips and toes tingling with the awareness that there was enough. The Corsair had taken everything she had but, simply by looking at the quantity in the lab, she knew that there was enough to try again.

Just one attempt.

But one attempt was all she needed.

"What is this?" Donna asked, staring around the room with confusion.

"Huon energy," Zoe said. She reached out and ran her fingers over the tubes, longing pounding through her. Swallowing, she looked at Jack, his eyes fixed on her face. "What on earth is Torchwood doing with huon energy?"

"This may not be them," Jack told her. He covered her wrist with his hand and pulled her fingers from the tubes, holding her hand firmly in his. "You remember Tommy from 1953?"

"Of course."

"He was the research and development guy," he continued, "and he's been working with Rose to make sure everything dangerous Torchwood was working on is made safe. He wouldn't leave something like this out. I trust him."

Zoe thought of Tommy Connolly as he was in 1953, and she nodded. "Assuming that Tommy knew everything that was going, and this isn't Torchwood, who's doing this?"

"We've had a few problems with making sure everything is accounted for," Jack told her. "That's what Rose's primary task is: to track down all the Torchwood technology and get it control. Australia's been a bit difficult. So have the usual countries that you're probably thinking of. But London's supposed to be secure. Someone working under our noses with something like this? I'm leaning towards alien."

"What is this?" Donna leaned close to the tubes, careful not to touch it. "What did you call it? Hue energy?"

"Huon energy," Zoe repeated, raising a hand to rub her chest. "Just don't touch it. It's inactive right now and we don't want to get traces on us."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Incredibly."

"We shouldn't be here," Lance repeated again, looking about the room nervously. "Donna, let's go."

Donna ignored him, eyes fixed on Zoe. Panic rose in her chest, and she dropped Lance's hand to flex her fingers, curling them into fists as though hoping to fight the energy physically. "Zoe, I'm scared. What is it?"

"Okay, don't be scared, we're going to figure this out."

Her voice was low and calming, and it did ease some of the panic in Donna but not all of it, not enough to release the tension and fear from her body.

"What's huon energy?" Donna asked. "Is it the thing in me?"

"I think it was, yes; whether it still is, I don't know," Zoe replied, turning to face her. "Huon energy is this really old form of energy in the universe that hasn't existed since the forever, basically. The only place you can find a huon particle now is in my ship, and I think that's what happened. I have this – this device thing that was supposed to clean up remnants of active huon particles. It's why the stuff in the tubes hasn't been sucked up – they haven't been activated yet, but the stuff in you, for some reason, they were active and got caught in what I was doing."

She stared at her, confused. "I don't get it."

"Okay." She looked around, dropped Jack's hand, and grabbed a cup. "This is the TARDIS. Inside the TARDIS there's a device that pulls active huon particles to it like a magnet, yeah?" Donna nodded, and Zoe then picked up a pencil. "This is you. When the particles activated in you, the device in my ship caught you and pulled you into the ship, pulling the particles out of you at the same time."

Donna stared at her, frowning. "You said it's dangerous."

"I did, it is," Zoe said, honestly. "But I don't think you're in any danger. Not any more at least. It's weird though, when I was dosed with huon energy, it hurt a lot to get it out, but you didn't even twitch."

"Did you use the decontamination shower?" Jack asked.

"Of course."

"Safe to assume that the Corsair has a better method than a random decontamination shower," he replied. "It's not like there's a setting on the shower for huon energy."

She bobbed her head with a wince at the memory. "That's true."

"Zoe." Donna interrupted them. "Am I safe?"

"Let's find out." Zoe set down the mug and pencil and turned a knob on the side of a liquid particle: beautiful golden light glowed from within the tubes, light that Zoe paid scant attention to as her focus remained on Donna who stood before her, perfectly normal. "Look at that, you're not glowing."

Donna hesitated. "Is that good?"

"It's good," Jack assured her, smiling. "It's means there are no more particles in you. Somehow, you're perfectly fine."

She laughed, drenched from head to toe with relief. "Really?"

"Really really." Zoe's grin faltered when Donna shifted an inch closer to the tubes and the golden energy began to drift towards her, sinking into her skin. "Whoa."

"What the hell is happening?" Jack asked, circling her and examining every inch of her. "Oh, this is weird. It's like she's the magnet, the source. But for some reason, her presence is keeping the particles under control."

"Yeah, that's weird," Zoe agreed. She reached out one finger and pressed the tip of it to Donna's forehead only to yank it back, swearing, as her skin turned black from a fierce burn. "Fuck, that hurts! Shit, fucking wank!"

"For Christ sake," Jack exclaimed. "Don't tell her! And don't suck on it!"

She pulled her hand away from her mouth where her instinct had been to soothe the burn by coating it in saliva. Jack held her hand steady as he applied a healthy squirt of burn cream to her finger. It didn't make a huge difference as huon energy was far more vicious than anything else, but it helped a little: enough, at least, for her to focus.

"Turn it off!" Donna demanded, arms held out to her side. "Turn it off, turn it off!"

Zoe fumbled with the knob before twisting it the other way. The huon energy faded back into Donna, dormant and quiet. There was a shivering moment of silence before –

"Get it out of me!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jack caught Donna's hands that were scratching at her skin, holding them firmly as he gave her a small shake to knock the panic from her. She looked up into his face, eyes blown wide from fear. "It's okay. You saw what it did to Zoe. It's not doing that to you or me, so you're okay. Right now, in this moment, you're okay. Don't panic, stay calm. The human body is filled with hormones that can sometimes react oddly with energy. You just need to keep everything as calm as possible."

"How?"

"Follow me," he instructed, placing her palms flat on his chest. He drew in a deep breath and held it before releasing it slowly. "Like this. Just like this."

Donna found it easy to calm herself with Jack staring directly into her eyes, his flat, firm chest a warm comfort beneath her palms. The panic receded from her, washing back from the surface of her emotions and settling down. It was still there, ready to spike again at the next strange and terrifying thing, but she was better. Jack squeezed her hands and smiled, devastating her with his kindness.

"Well done."

Something pulsed low in her stomach.

"How do you feel, Donna?" Zoe asked, finger held awkwardly in front of her.

"Normal," she said, stunned to realise that was true. "Just normal."

"That's good," Zoe replied, relieved. "Okay, so this is a new situation that I'm not thrilled with, but it is something we can fix. We just need to be careful and keep your heart rate and hormones low, like Jack said."

"But why are they dangerous?" Donna asked. "You never said. You just said they're dangerous. What do they do?"

She hesitated before saying, "they unravel the atomic structure of the universe."

Donna forgot how to breathe.

"Gently, gently," Jack chided.

"There's no time for gently, gently," she said. "Huon energy is extremely dangerous. In the wrongs, it would bring down the walls of the universe and shatter the multiverse together. But, right now, we're not worrying about that. What we're worrying about is who the hell's running this joint, and why Donna seems to be a magnet for the particles. Lance."

Forgotten on the periphery of their small group, Lance started, hands twitching nervously as he tugged at his collar again. "What? I didn't do anything."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "You work for H.C. Clements too, right?"

"Yeah, personnel."

"What was the company working on?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Lance blustered. "I'm just in charge of personnel, not projects. It's not like I'm invited to the meetings."

"Whatever it is, they're being very Torchwood with that big hole over there," Jack said, gesturing at the tiered chasm that descended down into the earth. He grabbed the heavy hard drive of a computer and tossed it into the hole, keeping one ear open for when it hit the ground. "Pretty deep too."

"The one on Krop Tor was only 10km down," Zoe replied. "Check the computers. Let's see where it goes."

"It goes, my little detective, all the way down to the centre of the Earth!"

Jack reacted instantly, shifting so that Donna was pressed back into safety behind him, eyes scanning their surroundings as the robot Santas emerged from the shadows and hidden rooms. There was a loud clattering behind them as Lance tripped over a chair, scrambling to be anywhere but there; Zoe watched him go, mouth turned down, unimpressed with Donna's choice in men before she looked around, deceptively calm.

"Hello there," Zoe called out, her voice ringing in the large room. "We've just come to say hi, welcome you to the neighbourhood and all that. Sorry we didn't bring a gift basket but Christmas is a hell of a time to shop."

There was a clacking, sharp sound that had Jack's spine straightening, anticipation rolling through him. Zoe wanted to cover her ears, jaw aching with displeasure at the sound of it: like nails on a chalkboard, she thought.

"Funny girl," the voice hissed in what Zoe soon realised was laughter. "I have waited so long, sleeping at the edge of the universe, waiting and waiting until it was discovered."

"Until what was discovered?"

"The secret heart!"

"I am getting Krop Tor vibes here," Jack muttered before raising his voice. "Why are drilling into the Earth? What's your purpose?"

That clacking sound echoed again. "You will see."

"Listen," Zoe said, words rimmed with impatience. "I'm coming off the back end of a pretty fucking awful two years, and that means my patience is next to none at the moment, so when I tell you that I'm not going to start my first Christmas home in ages by talking to thin air, you'd better believe me. Come out, show yourself, and let's get this over with."

Donna clenched her fists into Jack's shirt. "She's mad."

"She knows what she's doing," Jack said, glancing at Zoe as though unsure whether she did actually know what she was doing or simply making it up as she went along. "I hope."

"Who are you to command me like this?"

A slow smile spread across her face. "Why don't you come down and find out?"

"Then prepare yourself, little girl, for you tremble before me!"

There was a flash of white light as the voice was transported from it ship in orbit to the room, filling every inch with her many-legged self: Donna screamed, terror and surprise ripping at her throat, and Jack swore, jerking in surprise. Frozen in place, Zoe was twenty-four years old again and leaning under the Doctor's leather-clad arm as he showed her a picture of the Racnoss on the TARDIS computer. His fingers were pointing out the difference between them and the much friendlier looking Nossian that had been their waiter at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

"But what do I do if I come across one?" Zoe has asked, eager in her pursuit of knowledge, the cool warmth of him against her side.

His body shook when he laughed, arm tightening around her shoulders while looking down at her with the fondness that marked their beginning. "Don't worry,you won't ever face anything like without me. Besides, the Racnoss are dead, wiped out by the fledgling empires led by Gallifrey way back when we were in the dark times."

"Racnoss," she breathed, stunned. "You're one of the Racnoss?"

Glistening black skin twisted into a mockery of a smile. "Empress of the Racnoss."

"Get the TARDIS," Zoe whispered from the side of her mouth as she stepped forward in front of Jack and Donna. "Now."

Carefully, Jack peeled back his sleeve and began to programme the Vortex Manipulator that was low on energy. He took the small energy booster back and attached it to the manipulator, hoping to gain enough energy for a jump that would put him near the TARDIS.

"A pleasure to meet you, my lady." Zoe dipped into a perfect, mocking curtsey. "Did you come alone?"

"I will not leave alone," the Empress snapped. "Once I consume your planet, I will go back into the stars and devour the universe whole!"

"Well, that's just not very nice, is it?" Zoe said, hand flying behind her to quiet Donna who jerked and gasped at the sight of Lance making his way up the metal stairs with an axe in his hand. "Quick question before we get properly down to business. Enquiring minds want to know and all that, but how are you alive? I heard that the Racnoss were wiped out in the wars tens of millennia ago."

"All except for me," she said, head rolling on her neck, many eyes staring down at them. "And I drifted for eons, lost in sleep without my energy to wake me, but then it happened. My golden energy came back into the universe and woke me from my exile."

Zoe's jaw tightened. Jack's eyes bored into the side of her skull before the crackle of the Vortex snapped him up and the smell of burning ozone was forever more connect with Jack's disappointment. into her.

Shit.

"Where did he go?" The Empress demanded. "Where did the handsome one go?"

"What handsome one?" Zoe asked. "I'm normally called beautiful, or gorgeous, depending on who you're talking to – my boyfriend mainly – but not really handsome." The Racnoss hissed at her and Zoe laughed. "Oh, lighten up. He's just buggered off. No heroes these days. It's everyone for –"

"NOW, LANCE, DO IT!"

Zoe flinched at the interruption and the horrendous ringing in her right ear that Donna unleashed with her ferocious shout. Lance started to swing the axe, the sharp edge above his head, when the Empress turned to catch him in her gaze. He froze in place, and Zoe realised the truth two seconds before Lance began to laugh, the Empress's attempt at laughter joining his.

"That was a good one," Lance laughed, swinging the axe by his side, grinning wildly at the Racnoss. "Your face!"

"Lance is funny," the Empress said, delighted. "Funny man."

The soft gentleness of Donna's confused what bruised Zoe's heart.

"Donna," she said as kindly as she knew how, "he's working with her. He's involved in all of this."

"Don't be stupid," Donna snapped, pushing her out of the way and striding forwards. "Lance, get her! She's right there!"

"Oh my god, you're so thick!" Lance dropped the axe with a loud clang, exasperation and annoyance overflowing. "Months I've had to put up with her. Months! A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map, and I've had to deal with her. God, if I'd have known it would be such hard work, I wouldn't have chosen you."

"I don't understand," Donna said, quietly, hurt. "This isn't happening. I don't – Lance, what are you saying?"

"Every day, I made you coffee." Lance's glee at Donna's pain made Zoe's blood turn hot and furious in her veins. "It was so easy."

'You dosed her with huon energy in the coffee," Zoe realised, shaking her head as she levelled a fierce, promising glare up at him: when his feet touched the ground, she was going to make him pay for hurting Donna. "You absolute waste of flesh."

"He was poisoning me," Donna murmured, unable to accept what she was hearing. She raised pained, glassy eyes to Lance. "But...we're getting married. Today's our wedding day."

"Well, I couldn't risk you running off, could I? I had to say yes to keep you around." He scoffed. "And then before I knew it I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap, yap, yap. Oh, Brad and Angelina. Is Posh pregnant? X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me! Dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a fucking medal."

"You deserve your head getting checked out," Zoe told him. "What's the good empress here offered you? Because far be it from me to judge people's proclivities, but I can't imagine consort would be a pleasant job in this case. If I remember right, the Racnoss females eat their lovers."

The Empress hissed at her, delighted, sharp tongue licking the outside of her mouth.

"Better than a night with her," Lance said with a cruel jerk of his head to Donna who flinched, absorbing the cruelty like a physical blow. "You asked how no one knew about this place? It's because of me. When the Battle of Canary Wharf happened, I was up there with my queen, safe and sound. When it was over and Torchwood had fallen, I wiped the database of this place to keep it safe for her: not quick enough apparently, but it bought us time. Humans saw how big and terrifying the universe was five months ago, and I thought whats's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. Who wouldn't want that?"

"It's not about want," Zoe replied. "It's about who deserves it. And you don't."

Bored of not being involved in the conversation, the Empress interrupted. "Who is this little woman? Why is she here?"

"I'm no one important," she said before Lance was able to answer. "I'm just back for the holidays, see my sister, mend some bridges, that sort of thing. Listen, all of this horrible betrayal to one side, I'm actually really curious about what's down this hole."

Lance rolled his eyes. "We're not stupid. We're not going to tell you anything. All we need is Donna."

"If you want Donna, you're going to have to get through me first," Zoe warned. "And let me tell, I'm more trouble than you think."

"Challenge accepted." The Empress clacked her pincers. "Kill the girl but don't hurt the bride!"

The gentle swish if air about Zoe's ankles brought a smile to her face: Jack Harkness arriving just in the nick of time. She didn't have a chance to bask in the joy of his good timing as Donna took her by surprise and flung herself in front of Zoe, using her body as a shield.

"No, don't hurt her!"

Touched, Zoe took hold of her waist and pulled Donna back into her as the sound of the TARDIS grew louder and louder, the air around them blurring as it began its materialisation process. "Donna –"

"No, I won't let them!"

"And I appreciate that but we have got to go," she said, positioning herself and Donna so that they were standing just off from where the console was going to form around them, the blurred outline of Jack faintly visible. "Hey, Lance, just in case I don't get a chance to tell you later: you're a complete cunt!"

She thrust her hand out in front of Donna and, as the TARDIS solidified around them, she made sure that the last thing Lance saw of her was her raised middle finger.