A/N: Yup, a day late again, but it is the holidays, and I have had a lot of stuff going on. Never mind, hope you enjoy this chapter.

It hadn't taken long for Kari to get over her initial surprise from her surprise birthday party. Gwen was a lot more welcoming towards her this time, which Kari thought was an added bonus considering they hadn't really gotten on too well the last time that they had met.

She was currently laughing at something that Owen was telling her about, something that had happened on one of their jobs at Torchwood. Gwen was joining in, laughing away as well, while the Doctor was being show several different things all at once by Tosh.

"Yeah, Jack never changes, does he?" Kari said, taking another sip of her wine.

"So come on, what have you been up to on your travels recently?" Owen asked her, pretty much downing the beer that was in his hand. "You've got to have some pretty good stories of his own to tell."

Kari knew she had plenty of stories that she could tell, but she didn't know if she should, or if she even wanted to. "Oh, you know what my life is like, I'm here, there, and everywhere." She ended up replying, forcing a smile onto her face. "I'm much more interested in what stories you guys have to tell. The more they embarrass Jack, the better."

"Hey, you know that I don't get embarrassed, Princess." Jack called to her, suddenly reappearing in the room. Honestly, she hadn't even noticed that he had gone, but she was pretty confident that he had sneaked off with Ianto to plot some more, since she couldn't see the Welshman anywhere. "I think I want to hear more about what you and the Doctor have been up to." He added, yanking her out of her seat before plonking down in it himself. But he didn't leave Kari standing, and pulled her down to sit on his lap.

"The thing is, I wouldn't know where to start. We've been all over the place, it's hard to just pick one thing to talk about." Kari told him, actually trying to think of an adventure that she could tell them, something that didn't involve too much danger or almost getting killed. She had a feeling that her big brother really wouldn't appreciate hearing about all the danger she has been in recently.

She didn't get to say anything else, as all the lights suddenly went out around them. Kari didn't panic, she had the Doctor and Jack there, plus she was pretty sure that she knew what was going on. At least this time she didn't have Jack telling her to close her eyes before being led into her surprise party.

The next thing she knew, everyone in the room was singing to her, as Ianto appeared with a rather big cake, the candles on top flickering a little as he moved slowly with it. Kari could fill her eyes welling up with tears, she was still a bit of an emotional wreck from where they had just been, but these were tears of joy.

With one breath, she finally blew out all of the candles, and they were left in darkness until the lights where turned back on. "Happy birthday, my beautiful, brilliant, Kari." The Doctor whispered to her, having been standing beside her the moment the lights went out. It was just instinct for him, even though he knew what was going to happen, he couldn't see her, so he needed to be near her.

By the time the room was illuminated once more, the Doctor's lips had captured Kari's, and Owen just couldn't resist making a gagging noise to get their attention. He then made a grunting noise, as Tosh swiftly elbowed him in the gut.

"Okay, time for presents!" Jack called, causing Kari to let out a groan, but he had heard her. "Hey, you don't want no presents, that's fine with me."

"No, I want them. I mean, since you went through the trouble of buying them and setting up this wonderful party." Kari told him hastily, shoving the Doctor to the side as she dashed over to where Jack was standing.

The Doctor rolled his eyes before following her, while Jack simply chuckled. "Uh, yeah, great recovery at the end there, Princess. You didn't sound like a spoilt little brat at all."

"Well, if you will insist on calling her 'Princess' all the time…" The Doctor chimed in, which earned a quick shove from the Princess. "Oi, what was that for?"

Kari gave him a very firm look. "Leave Jack alone. I like him calling me Princess, and he is the only one allowed to call me that." He really was the only one who was allowed to call her that, she wouldn't even let the Doctor call her Princess.

"Now, now, children." Jack ended up saying, stepping between the pair and making sure that they didn't start a little domestic in his hub. "If you want your presents then you need to behave." He added, causing her to pout a little at him. It had been a while since she had given him the puppy dog eyes, so she was going to give him her best shot at it.

"But I always behave. It's you and the Doctor who get me into trouble." She was doing her best, she really was, and it was her random birthday after all, they had to be nice to her. "It's my birthday, you can't blame me for anything."

This time, the Doctor and Jack both rolled their eyes, but it was the Doctor that answered her. "Oh, we never blame you for anything, Kari, never." He told her, before lightly kissing the top of her head. "Now be quiet, your big brother has thrown you a surprise birthday party, be good."

She pretended to pull a zip across her lips, giving everyone around her a bright smile as she waited. Ianto was the first to approach her, a rather large wrapped box in his arms. "Happy Birthday, Kari." She could remember what he gave her last time, a gorgeous blue dress with the matching shoes and bag. It was going to be a hard present for him to top, because she absolutely loved that dress.

When she opened it, she was faced with a mound of tissue paper. A frown formed on her face as she carefully plucked it away, curious as to what was hidden underneath. A flash of gold caught her eye, and she gave up trying to be all calm and collected, and began to throw the tissue paper over her shoulder. She didn't care if she was acting like a child, there was no way she was going to pretend to be an adult who could contain their excitement. She was Kari, and getting excited was what she done.

With all the paper having been tossed over her shoulder, she was now staring wide eyed at an absolutely stunning golden coloured evening dress. "Oh, my God. It's… it's…" Kari didn't really know what to say as she carefully picked it up out of the box and held it out in front of her. "Wow…" All Ianto could do was smile at her, knowing that she liked it, that she was pleased with the present he had gotten her. "Oh, thank you so much, you sexy Welshmen in a suit." She cried, before grabbing him and giving him a rather tight hug.

"Shoes and bag are in there as well." He managed to whisper to her through the rib crushing hug.

Those words just made her eyes light up and caused her to hug him even more. It took a few moments for her to realised just how much she was hugging him, and quickly let it go. "Thank you so much, Ianto. I love it." Kari told him, before carefully placing the dress back in the box. She could look at the shoes and bag later, there were other people waiting to give her a gift, which only added to her excitement.

"All right, my turn." Owen called, before grabbing a bag that had been sitting under one of the tables. "Here you go, Kari. Happy birthday." He said to her, holding out his arm to give her the bag. He really didn't want one of her crushing hugs, so he was ready to make a quick escape if it was about to happen. That was why he had given her the bag at arms length, just to be on the safe side.

The last time she had been with them for her birthday, he had given her a great big stuffed teddy bear, which had been named Owen as well. There was definitely no giant teddy bear in the bag she was holding, the bag was far too small. However, it was actually rather heavy, and she just couldn't work out why. When she peeked into the bag, she found the present to be wrapped, in a gold and blue paper. It really did seem like they all knew everything that she liked, everything.

Without any hesitation, Kari began to tear at the paper, making a mess as she unwrapped her second gift. When she had removed all the paper, she was left with a wooden box. It wasn't a small box, but it wasn't a large box like the dress had been in either. There was a clasp on the front of it, and she flicked it over, opening the box. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw what was in there.

"Owen, you are my hero. Seriously, you are totally amazing." Kari cried, dumping the box down on the table and pouncing on him before he had a chance to get away from her. "All of my favourite teas. Thank you so much." That was what the box had contained, bags of all Kari's favourite tea's from Earth. Of course, there were a few non-Earth, tea like substance that she enjoyed as well, but to her, nothing beat a nice cup of Earl Grey.

"Everyone knows how much you love your tea, Kari. If it wasn't for Ianto, you'd drink the whole of Cardiff dry of tea given the chance." She couldn't help but chuckle at that comment of Owen's, because it really was true. It was clear that she was a tea drinking, and she wondered just how much tea she was going to drink on her visits to Torchwood.

She finally let him go, knowing that she had probably done enough damage to his internal organs from hugging him so much. "I love it, Owen, thank you." Kari was definitely getting over excited, she was starting to bounce around like an idiot.

The Doctor and Jack could both see how hyper she was getting, and they knew that they needed to get her to calm down. "Right, if you want the rest, you need to sit down and stay sitting down." The Doctor told her, grabbing her around the waist from behind before lifting her off the floor. "And just to make sure that you stay put, I'm going to be sitting with you." He sat himself down, taking Kari down with him and forcing her into his lap.

It was Gwen who approached her next, and Kari calmly opened the gift that she was given. The Doctor still had his arms wrapped around her, keeping her firmly in place. With the wrapping paper finally gone, her gift was revealed. Gwen had gotten her a perfume set, a rather expensive one by the looks of it. "Thanks, Gwen." She said, the arms around her stopping her from getting up and giving the woman a hug. All she could do was give a rather large smile, which wasn't completely real.

Tosh was next, and she handed Kari a small box with a blue bow on top of it. When she lifted the lid, she was met with a stunning, sparkling, golden watch. But there was something else about it, something that made her think that it was more than just a simple watch. "It's not just a watch." The woman told her, while she carried on gazing at it. "If you ever need Jack, or any of us, then you just need to activate this." She pointed to one of the buttons on the side of the watch, one that looked like it would simply change the time. "No matter where you are in time and space, we'll know."

Kari really didn't know what it say, it was an absolutely amazing present. There had been times when she could have used something like that, such as when the TARDIS had blocked her phone network when Balavin was sneaking around the TARDIS, or when she was walking the Earth with Martha through the year that never was. "Tosh, this is superb. You have no idea how great this is, how much I could have done with this in the past." Kari turned her head to look at the Doctor, and gave him her best puppy pout. With a little reluctance, he let her go so that she could get up.

Once she had given Tosh a rather satisfying hug, Kari was sitting back down on the Doctor's lap, wondering what was going to happen next. "And we saved the best for last." Jack announced, grabbing a really large box from under the table. "Happy birthday, Princess." He whispered to her, leaning down and kissing her cheek as the box was set in her lap.

All her sense of calm and collected flew out of the window, and she ripped the paper off the box, before tearing it open. A frown formed on her face when inside she found yet another, slightly smaller box. After opening that one, she found another, followed by another. She managed to get through eight boxes before she started to get bored. "This better be the last box, Jack, this really isn't funny." Kari grumbled, while everyone else laughed a little.

"Oh, come on, you're loving this." Jack told her, a big smile on his face.

Kari simply looked up at him and glared fiercely. "Shut it, Harkness." It was easy to see that she was not impressed with the way that he had decided to package her present. Lucky for her, she was finally at the last box. In her hand she now held a small black velvet box. She lifted the top slowly, revealing a pair of gorgeous earrings with a blue stone, surrounded by what looked like diamonds, dangling down. A small gasp escaped her lips. "No way… you… you got me…" She didn't say anything else, she jumped up and threw herself at her big brother. "I love it, Jack, thank you so much." Kari whispered into his ear.

He couldn't help but chuckle a little." I thought you might. Now you've got the whole set." He was right, he had now bought her the necklace, bracelet, and the earrings. It meant so much to her that he had gotten them for her, and she was going to treasure them forever.

"Thank you so much. Not just for the present, for everything." She was almost in tears now, holding onto Jack tightly, burring her face into his shirt. "You are the best, I love you, Jack." As she said that, the first of the tears fell, quickly being soaked up into his shirt.

"Hey, love you too, Princess." Jack knew that she was getting all emotional, he knew it was going to happen, but he didn't care. His little Princess was happy, that was all that he cared about. "Now, stop getting my shirt wet, we have a cake to eat."

Three hours later and there were only three people left in the hub of Torchwood Three. Tosh had literally had to carry Owen out to a cab because of how drunk he had been, and Gwen had stumbled after them. The only one that still seemed to be sober was Ianto.

Kari was also a little bit tipsy. She had been hugging everyone, crying, and telling them all how they were the best friends in the whole of the universe. Of course they were her friends, but she didn't really know them all that well yet, she hadn't been to Torchwood that much yet.

Now that everyone else was gone, the Doctor, Kari, and Jack, were all sitting on the worn sofa that was in the hub. Kari was cuddled up to the Doctor on one end of the sofa, while her legs and feet were resting in Jack's lap on the other end. She had ended up dozing off, after it, it had been a rather exhausting day before they showed up at her surprise birthday party.

"So, how is it all really going, Doc?" Jack asked, knowing that Kari couldn't hear them. They could both see just how exhausted she was, and there was no way that they would be able to wake her up any time soon. The few glasses of wine she had drunk probably helped towards that fact. "I can tell by the look on your face that everything isn't perfect."

The Doctor wasn't shocked by the fact that Jack could see that, how he could just pick up on when things weren't right. He couldn't help but let out a sigh before answering. "I'm not sure how long ago it was for her now, but she's seen him." A shock look quickly spread across Jack's face. "She went to Gallifrey."

"Wait, what? She… she went to Gallifrey? How is that even possible?" He knew that the Doctor couldn't go back, so he had no idea how Kari could go back there.

"It was the vortex that took her there. Remember when you locked us both in the kitchen? Remember that pain that she was in after she had her bath and was heading back to the console?" Jack nodded at him, remembering it all too clearly. She had been in so much pain that day, and she was so scared as well. "The time vortex had been building up, it had been for a while before she even arrived with us, it was building up to pull her back."

"And you're sure of this? You are absolutely sure that she saw him again?" Jack really didn't seem that convinced, either that or he was just worried that it was true. He had already seen the mess Kari would be in straight after it happened, when a future Doctor had to come and get him to help.

The Doctor simply reached down and carefully pulled the locket out that was tucked under the neckline of Kari's dress. "I'm sure, because he gave her this." There was a hint of sadness and regret in the Doctor's voice now. "We were still just kids, really. Both of us liked her, both of us wanted to be that person she was always talking about. He was a little more… eager, to get her attention, he went to more extreme lengths."

"You are kidding, right?" The Doctor shook his head, he wished it was a joke, he really did, but it wasn't. "And she actually accepted it? She took it, and she wore it?"

There was a lot that Jack didn't understand still, and the Doctor knew that he had to explain it to him. "He was a different person back then, Jack, he was so crazy. I think that was when it all really started, when he became more obsessed with Kari. I tried to stop him, I really did, I tried to talk to him, to get him to see sense, but he wouldn't listen. There was only ever one person he would listen to." He looked down at the sleeping form in his lap. Kari, she was the only one he would ever listen to, that could ever talk some sense into him.

Jack leaned back on the sofa and ran his hand down his face. "Okay, wow. I totally did not see that one coming. So, even when he isn't here, he is still causing problems for you."

"No, he didn't cause a problem, I did." That made Jack looked over at him sharply. "She arrived in the TARDIS, and I noticed the locket straight away. When I asked her where she had been, she was a little hesitant to answer. I don't know, Jack, she made me feel like she wanted to keep it a secret, like she didn't want me to know for some reason."

"Maybe she thought it was going to upset you, if you knew where she had just been." As ever, the handsome Jack Harkness was being the voice of reason. "After everything that man put you both through, maybe she thought that you would get upset, or even worse, angry, that you had just seen him again."

"Scared. She was scared." The Doctor whispered, looking down at Kari once more. "She was scared the whole time that she was there, when she was there on Gallifrey with him, she was scared of so many things."

Although Jack wasn't sure that talking about the Master was such a good thing, he knew that the Doctor needed to get it out, he needed a friend to listen to him, to help him. "What was she scared of, Doctor?"

"Everything. She was scared of what events she has now caused by being there, she's scared she set off a chain reaction. She was just so scared of saying something that she shouldn't, of changing the timelines by accident." The Doctor could remember that moment so clearly, the moment where she was struggling to breathe because she was panicking while explaining to him where she had been and what had happened. "I admit, when I saw the locket I was a bit upset. I may have acted badly towards her when I really shouldn't have."

Once again, Jack seemed to understand exactly what the Doctor was saying to him. "You were a little peeved that she was wearing that locket he gave her, you got a little snappy with her because of it. But why, Doctor? What is the significance of this locket?" That was about the only thing that Jack didn't understand. Yes, he knew who had given it to her, yes he knew what that person had been truly like, but it was just a locket.

The Doctor was sure that Kari would have told Jack about the bracelets, the ones that cut her off from the time vortex, the ones that had been killing her, but it appeared that, for whatever reason, she hadn't. "It was his way of trying to claim her, to tell everyone that she was his." He had to keep his temper under control. All this talk of the Master was really not what he had been expecting, and he really didn't like talking about it.

"Yeah, and how did Kari actually react to that situation?" Jack knew that there was no way that Kari ever would have intentionally given the Master a reason to think that she was remotely interested in him.

In his mind, the Doctor could see it clearly. There were plenty of things that he tried to forget, but there was so many more that he was desperate to remember, and anything that contained Kari was always kept. "Scared. Her hands were shaking, her voice had gone a little too high as well. Her breathing was erratic and it looked like she wanted to scream and just run away."

That sounded Jack's little Princess. "Doctor, she never asked for any of it, and you know that. Don't be too hard on her, her life is tough enough as it is." All the Doctor could do was nod, because he knew that Jack was right.

After that, the topic of conversation was swiftly changed, and Jack began to fill the Doctor in on everything that had been happening on Earth since he had left and the kind of things they dealt with at Torchwood. The Doctor wasn't going to admit it, but he was rather impressed with the way Jack had taken it over and changed it.

"So, where are you and Kari off to next then?" Jack asked, wondering what plans the man had for his sleeping little Princess.

"I haven't really decided yet. Going to have to wait until Donna wakes…" The Doctor's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered that it was only meant to be a quick trip and that they had left Donna sleeping in the TARDIS. She was most likely awake now, and wondering where the hell the pair of them were.

Jack had noticed the Doctor's reaction. "Oh, and who's Donna?" He knew that the Doctor and Kari would have someone travelling with them, Kari always wanted to make sure that there was someone to keep an eye on the Doctor when she wasn't there.

"She's travelling with us. She was asleep when we came here, she's probably up by now." He informed Jack, before looking down at Kari. "Hey, Kari? Come on, time we went now." The Doctor told her softly, trying to wake her up as gently as he could. "Donna is going to be waiting for us. We have to go now."

Kari stirred a little, groan as she fidgeted in the Doctor's lap. "What are you talking about, Doctor? Donna is asleep, I'm asleep. Go away."

"If you don't get up, I'll let Janet out." Jack called to her from his place on the sofa.

At hearing his voice, she quickly sat up. "Wait, what? Oh, headache." Kari moaned, placing her hand against her slightly throbbing head. "Have you taken the Doctor to meet Janet yet?"

Jack couldn't help but roll his eyes, of course she was going to ask him that. Never mind what they had been saying before, about her needing to get up and about Donna being in the TARDIS still, oh no. No, Kari was talking about the Torchwood team mascot. "Not yet, you want to take him to see her?"

She quickly threw her head back down and buried it into the Doctor's shirt. "No, you do it. Don't forget to introduce him to Myfanwy."

The Doctor was just sitting there, completely lost. He had heard Kari talking about this Janet before, calling her the team mascot or something along those lines, but he had no idea who Myfanwy was. "And, uh, Myfanwy is…?"

Kari lifted her head up again and looked at him. "She's the guard… dog." There was no way she was going to inform him that Jack not only had an alien locked up in the vault, but a dinosaur flying around the place as well.

This time Jack burst out laughing. "Guard dog? You're calling her a guard dog?" He managed to say between his laughter. "Myfanwy is not a guard dog."

The moment he said that, something flew high about them in the hub, making the Doctor jump slightly. "All right, so she's the guard dino."

"You've… you've got… a… a pterodactyl. You've got a dinosaur, as a pet?" Kari and Jack didn't know if the Doctor was just surprised, or a little upset with that fact.

"Ah, Myfanwy loves it here. She gets plenty of food and doesn't go off terrorising people. She's a good dinosaur." Kari told him, a grin now on her face. "She keeps us all safe from intruders, like a guard dog, only she's a big, flying, extinct, pterodactyl."

The Time Lord was lost for words, which was something that didn't happen very often. "But, how?"

Even Jack was finding I slightly amusing. "Came through the rift. I told you, Doctor, we get all kinds of things coming through. We don't just get random objects, we get people, aliens, animal, anything can come through, and it usually does."

"And this team of yours, you deal with all of that, do you?" The Doctor asked him, still slightly bewildered. He had thought Torchwood was just an organisation that defends the planet from alien attacks, that it was full of weapons and hurting others. But Jack was now about to show him that it really was different to what he had seen before.

"We monitor the rift, keeping a low profile, and deal with anything that turns out to be alien. A lot of the stuff ends up locked away in the vault, we don't keep it to use it, Doc." He had to make sure that was perfectly clear, they weren't shooting down spaceships and tearing them apart so that they could benefit from it.

Kari gave the Doctor a little nudge with a smile on her face. "See, I told you Jack was doing a good job here. He's protecting the Earth as well as all those alien visitors that pass by and mean no harm." She was definitely proud of her big brother, and she always would be proud of him. He was doing everything he could to change things, to put right what Torchwood One made a mess of.

Before the Doctor could reply, the blue box that was sitting in the middle off the hub made a loud humming noise, and the light on the top flashed a few times. "Oh, looks like we have a bit of a problem." The Doctor said, knowing exactly why their ship was making that sound. "I do believe that Donna is up."

Suddenly, Kari jumped off the sofa, her eyes wide. "No, not good. Really, really not good." There was no way that she wanted Donna to meet her big brother yet, it just wasn't the time, plus she really didn't want to see the pair of them flirting. "We've got to go. We really have to go."

After that, Kari rushed around to gather all his bits together, all the presents that she had been given. "Hey, calm down, Princess." Jack said to her, seeing she was getting a little flustered. "Just take a deep breath. What's the big deal anyway? You don't want me to meet this friend of yours?"

"No, it's not that I don't want you to meet her, it's just… I don't want her to get all excited and realised that we she can't keep you." There was no way she was going to let Donna loose around Jack, or Jack loose around Donna. It was just a disaster waiting to happen in her opinion.

Jack couldn't stop himself from letting out a sigh. "Well, I suppose I had better let you go then, hadn't I." He would have loved for her to stay a little longer, it had been a while since he had last seen her. "Don't stay away for too long, okay?" The man added, pulling her towards him and hugging her tightly.

"I won't Jack, I promise. I'll try to be back as soon as I can." Kari whispered to him, trying her best to keep it all together. She had enjoyed her time there so much, the surprise party, seeing him, and having the Doctor there as well. She just wished they could have stayed for longer.

The arms that were around her soon disappeared. "Hey, come on, what are you crying for this time?" Jack ended up asking her, noticing the tears in her eyes.

"It's just… I miss you, Jack. I wish you would come with us again, even if it was just for a little while. It's not the same without you there." If her big brother was there, they would get into so much more trouble, but it would be so much more fun as well.

"I know, Princess, but I can't. You know I can't leave this lot, you know what happened the last time I did." Of course he knew that she knew everything, she knew what happened at Torchwood when he had chased after the TARDIS and they landed up at the end of the universe. "Maybe one day, if you behave yourself, I'll come for an adventure or two with you, what do you say?"

Kari looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, that would be awesome." She told him, before hugging him tightly again. "I love you, Jack."

"Hey, I love you too, Princess." Jack replied, before the Doctor pried her off him and literally dragged her back to the TARDIS. She sat down by the console while the Doctor quickly got them into orbit around the Earth.

The Doctor looked over at her and saw that she was drifting off into her own little world, but he didn't blame her. When he had that call from Jack, he hadn't even had to think twice about whether to say yes and go or not, because the Doctor knew that Kari needed her big brother. That surprise birthday party had been good for her, it had distracted her, it had made her happy. He just hoped that she would stay happy, and that she was only going to be upset about leaving her brother until their next adventure started.

A/N: I know it was late, and there are most likely a ton of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, but things have been rather rotten for me. My sister basically ruined Christmas, and I'm still trying to pick up the pieces of it all. Right now, it's all a little stressful.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review, and those who leave constructive criticism, I appreciate people who don't just say, 'it sucks, you can't write, blah, blah, blah.' So thank you, and welcome to everyone who has favourited/followed the story, glad to have you all here.

Well, I hope you all had a great Christmas, and have a happy new year as well!

Pippa.