Small or Big Worlds? Part 2

Iris stopped as she felt dizzy again. Jack looked at her worriedly when the girl grasped her head. Owen looked alarmed as he looked at the readings.

"Iris, look at me! You have to focus on me. Stay awake." Owen said in alarm.

But Iris eventually closed her eyes, unable to keep them open as the overwhelming dizziness hit her and made her unconscious.

~~ ….. ~~

"What's happening to her Owen?" Jack asked, not exactly sure what was happening.

Owen quickly checked her readings again, only to frown.

"I don't… exactly…know…" he said as he made sure he was looking at the readings correctly.

"What the hell do you mean?" Jack asked the medic, and Owen turned to him in annoyance and curiosity at the same time.

"Earlier, I panicked because her brain seemed to be failing. Then all of a sudden, it just stabilized all at once and now she's just sleeping. There's nothing wrong with her. It was as if she was going to die, but then she changed her mind and didn't go through with it." Owen said.

"But that doesn't happen to humans." Jack said in reply.

Owen merely shrugged and stuck an IV to Iris, hoping that she would remain stable.

"Look, I don't know what happened, but I'll just stay here overnight to check on her status. Let's just get this fairy business over with as quickly as possible." Owen said.

Jack nodded, and before he headed back to his office, he glanced at Iris's peaceful sleeping face. Something about her saving Estelle struck a chord with him. Estelle told him that she had asked the creatures to take her instead of Estelle, and it seemed that Iris was doing it on purpose. But he didn't know that Iris had changed the timelines, nothing to harm the universe, but enough to just protect the members of Torchwood to the best of her abilities.

The night went by peacefully with nothing bad happening. Iris remained stable the entire night and when she woke up, she was surprised to see Owen by her bed.

"Owen?" She asked, and the medic looked up from his crossword puzzle.

"Ah, you're awake." He said, and semi-threw his crossword puzzle book down to the plastic seat and checked her vitals among other things.

"Well you seem fine. Can you get up?" Owen asked, as he took the IV out of Iris.

She nodded and got up, stretching her body a little before showing Owen that she was fully functional.

"I don't want you to engage in combat, but you can go out to the field as long as you are in the sidelines." Owen said.

Iris hugged Owen, which shocked the man a lot, as nobody in Torchwood has really "hugged" him in a friendly way. With that, she headed towards Jack's office, greeting and hugging other Torchwood members on her way when the man came out from the room.

"You ok?" Jack asked when he saw Iris.

"Yeah, I think so." Iris said, and shrugged.

Jack frowned a little. She should be more worried about herself, but she seemed to be waving it off as a minimal issue when she had almost died. It still hadn't been that long since she came to this universe, and she seemed to be alright. Almost too much to be true. But that thought was quickly forgotten when he thought back on the case, and said,

"I want a check on all unexplained deaths in the area."

Tosh followed it up with, "What's the weather forecast for today?"

Ianto replied with, "Long sunny spells."

Tosh frowned at her computer screens and said, "It's happening again" while stealing a glimpse at Iris, who seemed to be fine as of now.

The entire team headed out to the school in the SUV. Once the interview with the teacher was over, they headed towards Jasmine's home. During their trip, Iris felt slightly dizzy, but didn't mention it in fear of Owen stopping her from doing anything that she planned to do. When they finally arrived at the place, they found mayhem as the guests of the party were running around in fear and the creatures wreaking chaos.

"Go. Go. Go home. Get out. Come on." Jack said, leading the guests to leave the garden.

A creature crashed into the stepfather called Roy, and Iris felt torn. She looked at Ianto, who saw her conflicted look. He merely indicated that he would handle it, and ran towards Roy while Iris ran to the forest that Jasmine had already gone to.

"Jasmine!" Iris yelled, calling after the girl.

Behind her, she heard the mother cry out in disbelief that her lover had died, breaking Iris's heart at what she was about to do. She then heard Jack and Gwen call after her and Jasmine, trying to catch up to them.

As Iris paused to look around in search of Jasmine, the girl popped out from behind a tree and said to her,

"Do you know you're walking in a forest? Well, you are. It looks like a very old forest, and it's magical. I want to stay in it."

And then Iris realized as she froze in shock. She was seeing what Jasmine was. That was when she heard Jack and Gwen arrive and the man say,

"You can see this forest?"

Jasmine looked at Iris with curiosity, pointed to her and said, "Yes. I think we both can. The woman and me."

Jack turned Iris over to face him, and saw her nod her head a little.

"But it's not here. It's just an illusion, Jasmine. It is. Your friends are just playing a game with you The real forest can never come back."

Jasmine shook her head and replied with, "Oh, it can. When they take me to it."

Gwen then asked, "They told you this? But what about your mother? Don't you want to stay with her?"

Iris gripped Jack's arm tightly and they all saw the creatures appear in the trees. But for Iris, it was hazy between the creepy looking creatures she had seen from the show, and beautiful girls that looked around Jasmine's age. She began to feel slightly dizzy again, and Jack seemed to notice as he slung his arm over her shoulders to support her.

"Come on. This child isn't sure." He said.

Jasmine felt annoyed at the man and said, "I AM sure."

Gwen pulled Jasmine to her when the girl struggled against the Torchwood agent.

Jack looked up at the creatures and yelled, "Leave her alone. Find another Chosen One. And stop whatever you're doing to Iris. It's hurting her."

Voices came through and stated, "Too late. She belongs with us. And for the other one, that is not from our doing."

Iris tensed and looked up at the creatures in shock and confusion. If it wasn't them, then what was causing her body to weaken so dramatically? Jack was having the same thought in his own mind when Gwen replied to the voices with,

"The child belongs here. With her mother."

Then the voices said, "No. She lives forever."

Jack looked down at Iris to see her eyes glazed over. The creatures claimed that it wasn't them, but it clearly looked like Iris was taken over by something.

Gwen then continued the conversation with,

"Suppose we make her stay with us?"

Jasmine replied with, "Then lots more people will die."

Iris looked at Jasmine with heartbroken eyes, and gently left Jack's support to kneel in front of the girl.

"Did they tell you that?" Iris asked Jasmine genuinely.

Jasmine replied, "They promised…"

"Come away, oh human child." The voices rang through the woods.

The little girl continued with, "Next time, they'll kill everyone at my school, like they killed Roy, and that man, and…you."

Gwen was about to speak, but Jack stopped her, letting Iris talk with the girl. Since Iris related to the creatures and Jasmine with her former supposed existence as a Chosen One, she might be able to get through with the girls.

Iris stared at Jasmine's eyes silently, searching for any hint of something that would tie her down in this reality as a human. But the girl's resolve unwavered, and Iris merely sighed. She decided to ask verbally to make sure.

"Will you not miss your mother?" She asked.

Jasmine merely rolled her eyes at Iris and said, "no."

Jack looked down at Iris, seeing that she was asking him to let the girl go with the creatures. Jack hesitated, before nodding.

"The child won't be harmed?" He asked.

Jasmine's eyes lit up, and then noticed how Iris looked at her. There seemed to be a rush of emotions going through the lady, and there was only one thing that stuck out to her: understanding. She understood that Jasmine had nothing left to cling onto. The only thing she wanted was her friends that had protected her. And Iris knew.

But Gwen was shocked at what Iris and Jack seemed to be implying as she yelled angrily, "Jack! Iris, you can't!"

Jack merely asked again, "Answer me! She won't be harmed."

The voices replied with, "We told you. She lives forever."

Jasmine then threatened all of them, asking, "A dead world, is that what you want?"

Jack almost scoffed as he asked, "What good is that to you? There will be no more Chosen Ones."

The they all heard Jasmine's voice overlap with the ones coming from the creatures, "They'll find us, back in time."

Giving in, Jack whispered, "Take her."

"Jack, no!" Gwen said, making her boss face her. But she clearly saw the sadness in the man's eyes.

Jasmine then said, "Thank you."

And before she could skip further into the woods, Iris called her.

"Jasmine."

The girl turned around calmly. She didn't hate this woman. She was intrigued by her.

"Be happy. Be kind. And lastly, don't hurt anyone. Even if not for me, for yourself."

Jasmine thought over it, and realized what she was saying. Don't be like the people who hurt her. Don't cause other people sadness. To make others happy instead of sad.

Jasmine hugged Iris, which shocked the lady greatly as she froze a bit before gently hugging her back. After a minute, Jasmine nodded, smiled, and pranced away.

The mother came running over with Owen and Tosh and Ianto to see the girl disappear.

Jack then could only mutter, "I'm so sorry."

Iris merely stayed silent as she felt the disbelief flowing off from Gwen. She was still kneeling, still feeling dizzy from the entire encounter, and slowly stood up, her legs trembling from lack of energy. She almost fell back down, when Ianto stopped her fall and supported her back up.

Iris looked up at Ianto, who looked at her with understanding, and helped her back to the car. The other remaining Torchwood agents gave Iris and Jack the cold shoulder for what happened as they drove back to the Hub.

Jack let the team go early. Ianto in the meanwhile, handed Iris her coffee, deciding to stay.

Iris was sitting at the sofa, just looking down at her coffee, unsure of what to say. But she was surprised when Ianto gently put a blanket around her shoulders and legs, and then gently put her head onto his shoulder. He noticed how Iris was deathly silent, while Jack seemed to try to argue his way to justify their decisions.

Meanwhile, Iris gently sipped at her coffee, feeling the warmth and greatly appreciating Ianto's presence there. She really needed it. Jack had left the Hub, to god knew where, probably getting drunk, so she would have been alone if Ianto had left earlier. But being with him, it comforted her greatly. But she also felt guilt. A tremendous guilt that, to Ianto, seemed unjustified.

"Aren't you going to ask why I let her leave?" Iris asked.

"Nope. I think that if Jasmine had a reason to stay, she would have decided to stay. But she clearly didn't like her life so far, and as a kid, thought it would be better to leave." Ianto said.

Iris fell quiet again, before explaining to Ianto what she knew.

"You're right. When I looked at her eyes, she clearly knew her answer. Not even her mom held her back nor did it make her hesitate. If anything, it made Jasmine more adamant about leaving. But then again, her life sucked."

"In what way?" Ianto asked gently, wrapping his arm around Iris's shoulders when he noticed her shiver a little.

He felt her get closer to him a little before responding with, "Her stepfather was a horrible man, always stating horrible comments about Jasmine, and then the girl was bullied in school. It's a wretched life to be living as a child. I'm just happy that she had other means to be happy. Even if that meant she chose to no longer be human."

Ianto looked at her when he felt her tremble this time.

"Iris? What's wrong?"

Iris looked at Ianto a little bit, but shook her head. "Spoilers." She said.

Ianto realized that Iris was feeling stressed about something related to the team's future. The entire team had been told to not pursue Iris with more questions upon hearing that word, as it would influence their future. But then, he decided to ask her the hard question.

"Is it tough to know what will happen to us? To not be able to change much about the events, even though you probably can?" He asked.

Iris froze. She had trembled earlier because she knew that the case in the countryside was coming up, and that episode had terrified her just by watching it. She then nodded all the while still leaning onto Ianto.

But even the Torchwood archivist couldn't fathom the terror that ran through Iris everyday as she dreaded the end of the season. The plans she set up to change certain things, and the moment when she would finally meet the Doctor.

Eventually, Ianto left to clean up their cups, and Iris headed to her room, and got her diary.

She plopped back down onto the sofa, wrapping herself in the blankets again and wrote what she changed in this case. She also began to write her plans for future cases. Especially for her own sanity, and to be prepared when they finally happened.

Because if she did not do this now, she wasn't quite sure what she could deal with. That was when she heard her computer beep, indicating a potential rift activity. She walked over to the screen. Ianto was walking back inside when he stopped upon seeing her face.

She was deathly pale as she stared at the location of the signal. And with trembling fingers, she closed out, not wanting to look back at it. Ianto began to worry, and when Iris faced him, he saw her truly tremble in fear, as she slowly asked him to call in the Torchwood team.