A/N: Thank you guys all so much for the fantastic reviews. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, so here's the next.
Jack led Kari up to the boardroom, where everyone else was waiting. "Seriously, what's going on, Jack?" She asked him, feeling a little nervous for some reason.
"You'll find out. Come on." There was a cheeky grin on his face, and Kari just knew that he was up to something. "Okay, close your eyes." He told her as they reached the room.
Kari let out a sigh. "Really, Jack?"
"Just, close your eyes." Reluctantly she done as she was told and closed her eyes. She felt Jack pull her into the room after hearing the door open. It seemed unusually quiet, especially since she thought everyone was in the room.
"Happy birthday, Kari." Everyone, except for Gwen, shouted as she finally opened her eyes.
The room was filled with balloons, Kari knew that Ianto had been the one to work the hardest on setting everything up. "Aww, you guys. This is my second birthday this year now." Kari told them, thinking back to when she saw River who gave her a birthday present.
"Maybe for you, but not for us." Jack told her, giving her a tight hug.
"I'm going to have to drop by more often if it means I get more parties." She said, a huge grin on her face.
Owen, Tosh and Ianto all said happy birthday to her and hugged her. It seemed that they had all been prepared for her next visit and already had presents wrapped up for her. Kari noticed that Gwen was keeping her distance, and not really joining in the party mood, but she didn't really care. She was mainly there to see Jack, and if Gwen didn't like her, then that was fine.
Owen had given her a rather large box of chocolates, a few bottles of wine and a massive teddy bear. Kari laughed when she saw the tag hanging on the ribbon tied around the bear's neck, someone had named it Owen. Tosh gave her some silver photo frames, telling her that she would soon have photos to fill them with. And Ianto had brought her a perfect blue dress, with matching shoes and bag.
She was speechless at what they had all given her. This was her first time meeting them, not that they knew it, and she was slightly overwhelmed by the way they were treating her.
"Okay, my turn." Jack said, grabbing a small box off the table and passing it to Kari. "Happy birthday, Princess." He said, passing it to her and kissed her on the cheek.
She carefully undone the wrapping paper to reveal a small, square box. She eyed Jack suspiciously before slowly lifting the lid up. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "Oh my God, Jack. This must have cost you a fortune." Kari cried, looking down at the blue stone on the end of a silver chain.
"Only the best for you, Princess." Jack told her, taking the necklace out of the box. He stood behind her and carefully hung it around her neck. "Perfect." He said, a full smile on her face.
"I really don't know what to say. It's beautiful. You guys are the best." She said, ending up in a group hug as she tried to hold back the tears. "Best birthday ever."
"Well, it's not over yet." Jack whispered to her. Ianto nodded and disappeared when suddenly the lights in the room went out. He came back in with a cake, the icing the same blue as the TARDIS. They all sang to her and she blew out the candles.
They spent the rest of the day talking and laughing while eating cake and drinking plenty of wine. Gwen eventually said happy birthday to Kari, and apologised for not getting her anything. Kari didn't mind, how was Gwen to know that the Torchwood team done something like that when she showed up?
Finally Jack told everyone to go home, it was long past midnight and they had certainly drunk plenty. Everyone hugged Kari, including Gwen this time, before leaving the hub and making their way home.
"Thank you so much, Jack. That really was the best birthday ever." Kari told him, throwing herself onto his bed.
"Wait until the next one. I'm sure we can top this." Jack told her.
A sly grin formed on Kari's face as a plan ran through her head. "Well, I don't think I can wait that long. How about I take the quick route and just pop a year into the future?"
He just laughed at her. "I don't think so. I'm not letting you go anywhere yet." He grabbed hold of her and started to tickle her, making her giggle like mad.
"You know, I could get used to it here. Torchwood is rather fun." Kari told him when they had finally called a truce.
"It's not always fun. I only let the team have fun where you're here."
"Hmm, so if I stayed here all the time, you would always let the team have fun? I think that's perfect. So how about I stay here, for good?" She asked him.
Jack let out a sigh. He knew exactly what she was doing, and he knew he had to help her. "You can't, Kari, you know that. Your life is out there, among the stars with the Doctor. He needs you a lot more than you realise."
"How much do you know, Jack?" Kari wondered, just knowing that there was a lot that he knew but couldn't tell her.
"More than I should, way more than I'd like to know. I know how you feel, Princess, there is so much I want to be able to tell you but can't. All I can say is that he needs you, and you need him." She knew he was telling the truth, she could see it in his eyes.
"I have to go back to him, don't I?"
"Hey, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I'm not going to tell you what to do, you have to work that out for yourself." Jack told her, pulling her towards him and hugging her. "But I'm always here if you want to talk, I'll always listen to you."
A smile fought its way onto her face. "Thanks, Jack. You're kind of like the big brother I never had."
He chuckled a little at her comment. "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Maybe I should change my name to Kari Harkness while I'm here." She pondered, knowing that it would cause some trouble with a certain Time Lord.
"Oh no, I don't think so. If you do that, I really will have the Oncoming Storm out for my blood. I think Kari Conner is just fine. But I'll still be your brother." He told her, kissing the top of her head.
After that, they spent the night talking. Jack filled her in on everything that had been happening at Torchwood, the things he got up to when the Doctor abandoned him and how he knew that none of it was her fault, even if she hadn't done that yet.
The next day went by quickly, as did the next. Before Kari knew it, she had been at Torchwood for almost a week. During that time she had tried her best to forget all about the Doctor, but she just couldn't do it. He kept popping into her mind at the most random of times.
It was late one morning that she finally decided she needed to talk to Jack about it all. "I'm still not sure what to do." She told him, sitting next to him on the sofa. "Sure, I do miss him, but everything is so different now."
"Do you love him?" Jack asked her.
Kari just looked at him in shock. "What?"
"Do you love the Doctor?"
"I… I don't… I mean, it's just…" She sat there playing with her hands, trying to think of something to say.
"I'll take that as a yes then." Jack said, giving her a little nudge. "You have to do what's right for you, Kari. No one can tell you what do to, or who to love."
"You know, I really hate it when you're right, Harkness." She said, frowning at him.
He couldn't help but smile at her. "Then you know what you've got to do, Princess. Time to say goodbye."
Kari let out a sigh, she would be happy to stay with Jack for a little while longer, maybe even until she knew the TARDIS was going to land outside of the hub. "Do I have to?" She moaned. "I can stay for a while longer you know. I do now have a vortex manipulator."
"Kari, you can't stay here forever. I'd love for you to, but you know you can't."
"Fine. But where am I meant to actually go? The Doctor isn't around here, in fact, right now, I'm pretty sure there isn't a version of him on Earth." She reminded him.
"No, but you knew where he is, and what times he is there. You know how to find him." Jack reminded her. "You once gave me a list, all you have to do it pick a number between 1 and 33, then 1 and 13 and you'll have the details you need to find him."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh great. So now I have to put that on my to do list."
He just smirked at her. "So come on, pick a number."
"Okay, fine. 27 and 6." She told him, a little grumpy.
He pulled a note pad out from his pocket and flipped through the pages. He took hold of her wrist and tapped in the numbers. "There, all ready to go. Now get your stuff and say goodbye."
Reluctantly Kari got up from the sofa and said her goodbyes, before heading into Jack's room to get the rest of her stuff. "I'll see you soon, yeah?" Kari said hugging him tightly.
"You will, I know you will. Just behave, don't be too hard on the Doctor when you see him." Jack told her, kissing the top of her head.
"I'm not making any promises. I've heard I give him a right headache at some point in the past." She gave him the biggest grin she could manage. "Catch you later Harkness." She said, hitting the button on her vortex manipulator and disappearing.
"Oh this is bliss. No headache, no sickness, nothing." Kari said, taking off her vortex manipulator and shoving it in her bag. "Okay, now where the hell am I?" She wondered, looking around the corridor.
"Who the hell are you?" An American voice called to her, watching her closely.
"Oh, crap." She whispered to herself, seeing the man standing in front of her. "Sorry, Mr Van Statten, I'm the new intern, from England." She told him, not very convincingly.
"Really? No one told me about a new intern, and I own the place." He told her smugly.
"If I were you, sir, I'd have their memory wiped and leave them by the side of the road." She suggested, knowing that was what he done to his ex-employees.
"You appeared out of nowhere, hundreds of feet underground. Who are you?" As he asked her, several guards appeared behind her. Kari knew that she was in big trouble now, she just had to keep herself calm until the Doctor arrived.
"I'm Kari, hello. And like I said, I'm the new intern."
"Lock her up. I don't believe a word you're saying, miss." The man said, watching her closely. "I'm sure we can find some way to convince you to tell me the truth." Kari did not like the smug grin on his face.
The guards grabbed her and dragged her down towards the cells. Kari could hear a screaming coming from a room close by, and she knew what it was in there. She was strapped down to a table, and a man in a white coat walked in.
Kari decided to try her luck, if she could make a bargain with them until the Doctor arrived. She couldn't let them know she wasn't human, she knew what they were going to do to the Doctor when they found out about him, she wasn't happy at that prospect.
"So, who else have you got locked up then? I hear the screams of someone, or something." She asked, trying to keep her confidence.
The man just ignored her, and set to work on some computers. "Oh, come on. You've got me strapped to a table, and most likely getting ready to torture me. What am I going to do? I can't exactly escape."
Again she received no answer, he just continued to ignore her. She heard the computer bleeping a few times, and the man gave her a questioning look. Before Kari could say anything he darted out of the room. She knew it was bad, she knew he had probably discovered that she wasn't human.
A few minutes later, Van Statten strolled into the room, the man who had ran out with him. She was glad that they hadn't noticed her bag, she had to remember to thank River again for it the next time she saw her.
"Well, well, well. It seems I have another live exhibit to add to my collection." He told her, a smirk on his face.
"Really? What have you found?" Kari asked him, trying to play dumb.
"What are you?" He asked her, taking a step closer to her. "Where are you from?"
"Cardiff, Wales. It's in the UK. Nice place really. Weather can sometimes be a bit of a pain, we get plenty of rain you see." She rambled, avoiding answer his first question.
"A binary vascular system. A woman with two hearts. How is that even possible?"
Kari would have shrugged at him if she weren't tied down. "Funny thing, freak of nature. It happens some times you know, Mr Van Statten."
"Let's see if you scream as loud as the Metaltron." He said, turning to leave the room.
"Not a Metaltron. And really? Is that the best name you could come up with?" She asked him, sounding a little disappointed.
"You know what it is?" He asked her.
"Untie me, let me see it, and I'll let you know."
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" He asked her, it was clear he had no intention of letting her go any time soon. "Let's see who breaks first, you or my Mateltron." He said to her, before leaving the room.
Kari didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. She knew the Doctor would soon be there, and he would eventually get her out when he realised she was there. She just hoped it would be soon, she didn't like the prospect of being tested on, dissected and basically tortured.
Things didn't turn out like Kari had hoped. She thought that maybe she had arrived only a few hours before the Doctor at the most, but she seemed to have made a major mistake. She had been stuck there for months. She didn't speak any more, she didn't even try. They came to her, twice a day. They would experiment and torture her in the mornings, not stopping until long into the evening. After a few hours rest, someone would come in and feed her.
But she wasn't eating anymore. Kari was refusing. Most of the time she was silently crying, the tears streaming down her face while they caused her so much pain. Those who worked on her couldn't even look at her any more. At first they had tried to talk to her, but Kari didn't help herself by just snapping back at them with sarcastic comments.
Everyday she prayed that the Doctor would be coming, but he never did. She could hear the screams of the creature close by as they tortured that as well. She didn't have the energy to scream any more. She was completely exhausted all the time, too scared to sleep in case they came during the night.
It wasn't until she heard an alarm going off that she got her hopes up that maybe, just maybe, the Doctor was finally there. Kari was seriously going to have words with Jack the next time she saw him. She didn't know if he had messed up, or if it had been her, but either way, she was going to let him know exactly what happened to her.
While Kari was strapped to the table, praying with everything she had left that the Doctor was finally there, Van Statten was in his office, playing with his new toys.
"What does it do?" He asked the young man in the room as he looked at something that looked like a metal pan flute.
"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel." The boy replied as Van Statten held the device.
"I really wouldn't hold it like that." A man's voice called, watching the pair.
"Shut it." A woman with curly hair told him sharply.
"Really though, that's wrong." The man in the leather jacket told them again.
"Is it dangerous?" The young man wondered.
"No, it just looks silly." The man said, taking the object from Van Statten. "You just need to be delicate." He told them, stroking the metal device in his hand. It hummed, making different notes.
"It's a musical instrument." Van Statten concluded, watching the man intensely.
"And it's a long way from home."
"Here, let me." Van Statten demanded, taking the musical instrument away from the man and trying to play it himself. Only nothing happened, he was being too harsh with it.
"I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision." The man in the jacket told him, watching as he tried again. He eventually got the hang of it and music played from it. "Very good. Quite the expert."
"As are you." Van Statten said, before tossing it to one side where it landed on the floor. "And exactly are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" The man in the jacket said. If Kari had been able to hear what was going on, she probably would have smiled. But she wasn't there, she was down in a cell, strapped to a table, only half conscious.
"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake." Van Statten said, not impressed at all. This was the second time someone had gotten into his facility without being detected.
"Pretty much sums me up, yeah." The Doctor replied smugly.
"The question is, how did you get in? Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice. You're quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty." Van Statten said, looking at the blonde girl standing with the Doctor.
"She's gonna smack you if you call her 'she'." Rose replied, a little irritated.
"She's English!" Van Statten exclaimed before turning to the young man who had shown him the artefact in the first place. "Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend."
"This is Mr Henry Van Statten." The boy said.
"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose asked, having no idea who the man was.
"Mr Van Statten owns the internet."
"No he doesn't. No one owns the internet." Rose scoffed.
"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten said, winking at Rose.
"So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." The Doctor said, not impressed with what he had seen so far.
"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten asked, watching the Doctor closely. If he really did have greater knowledge, he might just be able to help him.
"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am." The Doctor responded confidently.
"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" Van Statten asked him.
"You tell me."
"The Cage contains one of my two living specimens. The first one I acquired." The man told him smugly. He knew this stranger was interested, he could tell by the look on his face.
"And what are they?"
"Like you don't know." Van Statten snorted.
"Show me." The Doctor said, a bad feeling rising in his gut.
"You want to see them?" There was a twinkle in the mans eyes now. "Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down. Tell them we are going to see the other one after. You, English. Look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pets."
Kari was barely able to register anything. She heard the person in the room talking to someone, they said something about a visitor or something. She was too tired and in too much pain to even care any more. She was actually starting to give up any hope that the Doctor was going to find her.
She had just started drifting into unconsciousness again when she heard the door open. "And this, Doctor, is my second living specimen. It was caught a few months back, we still don't know how it got in here." The voice sounded like Henry Van Statten to her, and she could have sworn he had said 'Doctor'.
The lights in the room suddenly became brighter, and Kari heard someone gasping. "What did you do to her?" She heard the Doctor shouting, his voice full of fear and anger.
"I've done what anyone else would have done. Whatever it is, it isn't human, and it refuses to talk any more. We haven't managed to learn what it is exactly, but it has two hearts." Van Statten said, feeling very pleased with him. "And goes by the name Kari."
The Doctor rushed over to her and started to undo the buckles that were keeping her strapped down. He could feel his hearts clenching, and the anger growing inside of him. "Kari? Kari, look at me. Come on, wake up." The Doctor said, his hands against her face as he looked at her.
"I wouldn't bother, it talks less than the Metaltron. It doesn't even scream." There was a hint of disappointment in Van Statten's voice as he spoke about Kari and how he never managed to get anything out of her.
The Doctor just ignored him. "Come on, Kari. Wake up." He whispered.
Slowly she started to stir, trying to open her eyes. As soon as she did she regretted it, the light just burned her eyes and made her feel sick. "Doc…Doctor?" She finally managed to mumble.
"You're safe now, Kari. I promise. I'm here now." The Doctor assured her, undoing the final strap and helping her to get up.
"I… I didn't…" Her throat as dry and she was finding it so hard to speak.
"Shush, don't worry, Kari." The Doctor told her, taking her into his arms. He turned and faced Van Statten, his anger threatening to let the Oncoming Storm lose. "What the hell have you done to her?" He shouted, making the man flinch a little.
"Doctor…"
"Shush, no talking, Kari. Let me deal with this." He told her, keeping her as close to him as he could. The problem was, Kari was finding it hard to stay on her feet. She hadn't walked in months, she had been tied down to that table. The Doctor only just managed to catch her as her legs gave way and she almost landed on the floor.
The Doctor had to carry Kari into the lift, she was drifting in and out of consciousness. "The metal's just battle armour. The real Dalek creature's inside." The Doctor told Van Statten and his assistant Goddard, trying to keep their attention away from Kari.
"What does it look like?" The man asked curiously, noticing the way the Doctor seemed protective of his specimen.
"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate." The Doctor told him.
"Genetically engineered? By whom?"
"By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him."
"It's been on Earth for over fifty years. Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?" Goddard asked the Doctor.
"Because… I'm here." He had to stop him self from saying we. He didn't want to get Kari involved any more. "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"
"The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to the Earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane." Goddard told him.
"It must have fallen through time. The only survivor." The Doctor said, gazing down at Kari again.
"You talked about a war?"
"The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race." The Doctor told them.
"But you survived too." Van Statten pointed out, a smile forming on his face.
"Not by choice."
"This means that the Dalek and her aren't the only aliens on Earth, Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence." His smile grew wider and wider. His collection had just got it's third living specimen.
Kari finally woke up to find herself tied up and propped up against the wall in a slightly darkened room. "Now, smile." She heard Van Statten call, before her eyes focused on one of the machines they had used on her. She followed it and her gaze fell on the Doctor. "Two hearts. A binary vascular system. Oh, I am so gonna patent this. But you're not the last if your kind, are you, Doctor?"
The Doctor ignored his comment. "So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it." He spat, not realising that Kari was awake. They both listened as Van Statten told him of all the times he had scavenged things, and all the ways he had used them. "Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."
"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue." Van Statten said smugly.
"Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us." The Doctor shouted.
"Nothing can escape the Cage." Van Statten told him before turning the laser back on again.
"But it's woken up. It knows I'm here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!" The Doctor shouted, before being blasted again and screaming in agony.
"Leave him alone." Kari growled, her eyes burning brightly. Suddenly the ropes binding her began to loosen as she tried to wriggle out of them. "I swear, Van Statten, you hurt him any more and I will make you suffer."
"Finally, it talks." Van Statten said, looking at her in awe. "I must say, Doctor, you seem to be rather good at making them speak today."
"It has a name. I told you before, my name is Kari." She said, getting up from the floor. "Right now, I'm more dangerous than that Dalek you have next door." Kari was furious, and the glowing eyes she currently had just proved it.
"Kari, you have to clam down. I can handle this." The Doctor told her, trying to stop her.
"I've spent months listening to that Dalek scream, you treated me the same way. I won't let you lay a finger on the Doctor."
"Condition Red. Condition Red. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill!" A panicked voice called over the tannoy system before anyone could reply to Kari.
"Release me if you want to live." The Doctor told him sternly.
A/N: Oh my! Whatever shall happen next? And what exactly did Van Statten do to her? Well, you're just going to have to keep waiting for the next chapter if you want to find out.
Agan, big thank you to everyone who reads this, I adore your reviews. Keep them coming.
My list of episodes people want to see seemed to have doubled. So I am going to work really hard on them over the next week, since it's half term.
So, once again thank you to all who have followed/favourited and my reviewers.
Pippa.