04.07.2009

Ianto sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the window so that he could look up at the planets hanging in the dark sky. The sight was undeniably beautiful, despite everything. Jack had once promised to take him to see the stars, to walk on beaches of pink sand lit by three moons, or swim in crystal clear waters in the middle of a forest of silver trees with blue leaves. If the Doctor was right that could still happen, but he wondered if it would feel the same after this. Tybalt nudged at his hand again to make him resume stroking him, and purred like a lawnmower. At least one of them was untroubled.

Just as Ianto thought that, Tybalt ceased to be untroubled. He rolled over and crouched down, ears flat against his skull and eyes wide, tail twitching. Hisses turned to yowls, then he shot under the sofa and spat at Ianto's aborted attempts to reach him. And then, of course, the room started shaking. Glasses rattled against each other on the shelves, and another one smashed to the floor to join the mess he'd ignored when they came back. Christina staggered to her feet and rushed over to the window with Ianto hot on her heels. They threw open the doors and rushed onto the balcony, grabbed onto the rail and stared up at the sky. One by one, the planets were disappearing, winking out of existence. Going back to where they belonged, or gone for good? They didn't have time to wonder for long. With a sudden, fiercer shake the sky lit up in brilliant white and when they were able to open them again it was clear blue, warm sun beating down on the churning waves in the Bay.

"We're back," Christina breathed. "Are we back? Is that our sun?"

"I… think so." He released his white-knuckled grip on the rail and reached up to rub at the back of his neck. "Wherever we are, I think it's over. We… we need to get to work."

"Right. Back to the Hub?"

He shook his head and hurried back into the flat. "We have enough stuff here. We just need to be able to get in touch with everyone and start coordinating. You get the computers set up – they're in the spare room – and I'll put the coffee on. Get onto Ally and get the ball rolling on a press conference, and onto UNIT to start organising refuge centres and medical treatment."

"Got it. Black with two sugars, thanks Ianto."

Tybalt emerged from under the sofa at last, so Ianto closed the doors and hurried into the kitchen to sweep up the broken glass before he walked in it. Soon the coffee was boiling, and he could hear Christina talking in the next room. When he walked in, coffees in hand and Tybalt winding around his ankles, the subwave network seemed to be back in full swing. Everyone was talking over each other at once, and the Doctor was grinning from ear to ear. Of Jack, though, there was no sign. "How is it going?"

"Ianto?" Jack appeared at the Doctor's side like he'd teleported there, pushing Donna out of the way. "Thank god. Are you alright?"

"Fine," Ianto assured him. "We got out. Tosh and Owen…"

"Are right here," Tosh told him cheerfully. He hadn't spotted them among the crowded windows. "The timelock worked like a dream."

Jack chuckled. "Of course it did. You're brilliant."

Ianto's phone chose that moment to start ringing, so he waved it at the screen. "Back to work, then. Bring him home soon, Doctor?"

"Before you know it," he promised.

"I'll hold you to it." Ianto saluted him with his phone and then strode back into the living room to answer it.

# # #

"We've just had a report from the West Yorkshire police," Christina called over to him. "They had some attacks on the city centre of Leeds and on the military bases, but limited damage and few deaths. Well, relatively few deaths." She sighed and rubbed at tired eyes. "The death toll across the country is over a thousand now, though."

"Shit." He sighed and leaned on the desk. That was still better than he'd feared, but it was hard to get that across to the public. "How far off the press statement are we?"

"Scheduled for the top of the hour. Gordon would like something a bit more concrete than 'we're on it'." She turned around in her seat and looked up at him. "Anything I can tell him?"

He rubbed at his chin. They were back in the old Hub, which had survived the attack a lot better than the new one. The only sign of what had happened was the remains of the Dalek's shell, which had been pushed into the corner so Tosh could look at it later. There had been a devious and disturbingly excited look in her eye when Ianto and Christina had arrived, and he'd practically had to prise her away from it. She'd turned her attention to the subwave network and tracking reports from around the world, whilst Owen concentrated on managing Cardiff's early steps to recovery. After John Hart's attacks, the last thing the city had needed was the Daleks. Not that the Daleks was ever a good thing. Christina was playing liaison for him with UNIT, Torchwood London and Liberty Towers, leaving Ianto to watch the big picture coming together and nudge it the way he wanted it to go.

"We now have refuge centres in every major city. People need to stay home for the moment and only travel if it's essential. The Highways Agency are out there already making sure that the motorway network is safe to travel, and Network Rail are doing the same for the trains. Planes can get back in the air tomorrow morning – I want to be sure that the atmospheric conditions are back to normal before they take off." Freak weather had been reported all over the world. Rain leading to flash flooding, sudden snow storms and tornadoes, and several storms were gathering in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It was going to be a rough recovery. "Schools can reopen on Monday. Can he get onto the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, the Chief Rabbi, Imams, anyone you can think of to see if we can arrange for people to come together in shared worship?"

"I'll suggest it to him. What about the dead?"

Ianto sighed. "Mass funerals, I think. We haven't even finished burying the dead from the last attack, it can't drag on that long this time."

She nodded and turned back to her computer. "I'll get onto Ally. And if she wants to talk to you?"

"I'm more than happy to talk to her." He turned to pace and instead found his way over to Owen. "How is it looking up there?"

Owen sighed. "Could be worse, I suppose. Cathy made it through. She's cursing Jack's name, but she's on it. Patrols out on the streets and the roads are being cleared. Insurance is going to be through the roof. We got away lightly, though. Some damage down the Bay and scattered attacks up in the city centre. Looks like random strafing to keep people down, though."

"The Daleks aren't like the Sontarans. They don't have emotions, so they don't take pleasure in killing." A shudder ran up his spine at the memories he couldn't escape. A lack of pleasure didn't stop the Daleks being ruthlessly efficient killers. It was all they did, after all. "I think they wanted us for something, or the planet at least. I don't know if I want to know what, though."

"Which would explain why any of us survived. They put down any resistance, but we did that ourselves. Do you think they knew what we'd do?"

He looked up at the ceiling high above them. More lumps of Victorian stonework had fallen during the earthquakes. Somewhere beyond it the sky was empty of planets. "Probably. I wonder how many of the other planets they subjugated before they reached us. The Adipose are an advanced race, and even they were defenceless. Even the Cybermen couldn't fight back against them."

"Ianto, it's Ally." Christina held the phone out to him and poked him with it until she got his notice. "She wants to talk to the organ grinder rather than the monkey."

"Thanks, Christina." He took the phone from her and leaned against one of the desks. "Analyn Craig, the nation's favourite. Are you alright?"

"I've been better," she admitted, voice still shaky. "Would be worse without your warning. We landed not long before the Daleks arrived, gave us just long enough to get to shelter. Feels like giving them what they want, though."

He sighed. "I know. But it worked out. I'm glad it worked out. I'd rather survive by any means, but if I have to die I'd rather go out fighting. Not… waiting."

"Yeah, that." She mirrored his sigh. "Anyway. I've got a press conference to prepare for, apparently. Is there anything else I can give them? It all seems so… 'Hey, so we're Torchwood, and we just did nothing whilst the Daleks invaded. But it's over now!' You know?"

"We didn't do nothing," Ianto insisted, suddenly angry. It was a nice change from the cold numbness, at least. "Jack is out there still, with Martha and Sarah Jane and the Doctor. He was up there fighting the Daleks, helping to defeat them. And who was it gave the orders that grounded flights and evacuated military bases? Torchwood has faced the Daleks before. I can't say we fought them, because we didn't, we couldn't. We faced them and died, but we learned from that. I survived Canary Wharf by hiding and waiting them out. Hundreds of others didn't."

She said nothing for a while, and when she did speak again she was quieter. "I know, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'll see what I can do."

"I know you will." He ran a hand through his hair again, and was reminded yet again that he desperately needed a shower. "Torchwood, UNIT and all the other agencies worked together on this. Some of our best agents were up there, fighting the Daleks and returning Earth to where we belong, whilst the rest of us waited down here, got people to safety as well as we could and waited for the opportunity to start the recovery. People died, I know, but our experiences against the Daleks in the past resulted in a far lower death toll than on the other planets they targeted. You can give that to Gordon to wrap up in a bow. Maybe along with some solidarity with the survivors of the other planets."

"I'll pass it on to him and we'll see what he makes of it. People are going to be scared shitless, Ianto."

"I know. That's why we need to emphasise what happened to the other planets. If it weren't for Shallacatop, we would have had no warning of what was happening. Even in the midst of the destruction that was happening to them, they took the time to reach out and warn anyone who was listening of what they faced."

"That's… a really good point, actually. And it wouldn't have been possible without the Doctor. Do we need to mention him?"

He chuckled. "I don't think he'd thank us for it. Just… Acknowledge Shallacatop. I'll ask the Doctor to reach out to them and make sure they're alright, whenever he finally shows up." That was another sore spot. 'Before you know it' had turned out to be a lot later than Ianto had hoped. Knowing the Doctor, Jack was back on earth but in Basingstoke or somewhere, and trapped until the train lines or motorways reopened. "I think we're too late for Adipose 3, but at least we know that some of the species survived."

"That's something. Wait… oh, of course. The fat people." She laughed. "It's funny how these things work out."

"It definitely is. I'll keep an eye out for you going live," he told her. "For now, I have a city to get back on its feet. Again."

"Alright, Ianto. Give everyone my love, won't you? And he'll be back soon, you know he will."

He smiled to himself as he hung up and strolled back over to the workstations. "Ally sends her love. Have we had any updates?"

Tosh nodded. "It's all go in Cardiff. Two refuge centres opened at the universities, and one of the big insurance firms has tried to argue that damage due to Dalek attacks isn't covered. It's not going down well."

"There's always something." He sank into his seat and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Let's get to it, then."

# # #

"With the recovery bill across the world expected to run to billions of pounds and the death toll expected to climb still higher over the next few days, many people are asking if am attack of this sort could happen again. We're here with Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister, who is one of a number of individuals and organisations who have spent the last few years preparing for just such an eventuality. Ms Jones, how would you answer the accusations that there actually was no preparation?"

"I would completely refute that. What happened today was absolutely a catastrophic event, the loss of life alone is horrifying. However, that is not due to a lack of preparedness. The last time the Daleks attacked, the Battle of Canary Wharf as we call it, there were twenty seven survivors out of a staff of over eight hundred, and several of them were out of the building when the attack started. One of those survivors was in charge today, and it's thanks to him that we haven't seen a loss of life on a similar scale. I've worked with him many times over the years, I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about and from him in the coming years, and I absolutely feel more confident knowing that he's at the helm."

"Most people didn't know that the Battle of Canary Wharf involved aliens. What do you make of accusations that that should have been made public?"

Harriet smiled beatifically back at the camera and Ianto rolled his eyes, turning back to his work again. "I would say that if they didn't realise that the cybermen that appeared all over the world were aliens, they likely wouldn't have believed us if we'd told them. I understand the anger, I really do, but pointing the finger of blame at this time, especially at the people who have just saved us from a Dalek invasion, is not going to help anyone. The secrecy, as open a secret as it was, kept us safe for many years. Now it can no longer be considered a secret, we can take our place on the intergalactic stage. Are we ready for that? Well, we're going to have to be."

"And Is it true that you're returning to government?"

"Yes, in an advisory capacity. The details have yet to be confirmed, but I am honoured to be asked to return to serve my country once more. The human race will, as we always have, triumph from this adversity."

"Thank you, Ms Jones. That was Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister and soon to be government advisor, on the Dalek attacks. Tune in this evening for a Newsnight Special where we'll be discussing what people can do to protect themselves from future attacks and where the world goes from here, and if you are concerned about anyone missing or you need support you can ring the number at the bottom of the screen now. And as if we didn't have enough problems, it seems like our trip through space has thrown all the weather forecasts out. John, what can you tell us?"

Owen turned the news off and flicked the screen back to the rolling reports. "Sounds like you're not going to escape the limelight for long, Teaboy."

"The thought had occurred, thanks Owen." He sighed and sent another report straight into the recycling bin. "I don't know why anyone thinks I have any of the answers. I'm making this up as I go along just as much as they are. We've never had to recover from an attack on this scale before. Where the hell do we start?"

Tosh smiled at him, eyes shining over her glasses. At least one of them was cheerful. "We take it one step at a time. I've been on with some of my contacts at UNIT and Liberty Towers. They think there's way we can help. New technologies we've all been developing that we can bring in to help the recovery. Liberty Towers have a design for carbon capture in concrete, and UNIT think they can move in sustainable power generation anywhere that lost it within a matter of weeks. It's going to take a big push to get the carbon emissions to safe levels again, but if we can get a concerted push through the UN we can do it."

"They meet in three days," Ianto told her. "Want to be there?"

"Me? But..."

"Go on, Tosh. You're the expert and everyone knows it. I don't think anyone in the world is going to complain about you being the representative." Owen rolled his eyes at her. "Besides, you're the only one of us here who is both optimistic and alive."

"Alright, if you think it will help. I'd like that. There's so much we can do if they'll all just work together!"

"That's the spirit." Christina ruffled Tosh's hair as she passed on her way to the whiteboard, where she moved one of the green markers onto another Cardiff street. "We've just had word in from Merthyr Tydfil," she told Ianto, mangling the pronunciation completely, "half a dozen deaths, police station damaged but still operational. No deaths reported from the outlying villages."

"Ianto, have a look at this," Tosh called out before he could reply to Christina. "There's been a Rift activity spike. Looks pretty close to here. These readings, they're... Strange. It's not quite a negative spike, it's more of a..."

"A drain," Ianto finished for her. "Tosh, compare it with the activity from the 2006 earthquake for me?"

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes, but did as he asked. They couldn't draw conclusions from two data points, he knew that, but as soon as the two patterns were laid over each other the similarities were clear. "Do you want me to get the results from last year?"

"Just tell me where it is." He gripped the back of her chair again impatiently, ready to grab the car keys and race out of there. The map zoomed in, and in, and eventually focused on the Water Tower right above them. The activity had been constant for over a minute, so the fix was accurate. In which case... Tosh pulled up the CCTV of the Plass, which showed a group of figures standing in the middle. Ianto had bolted for the lift before he'd made out more than Jack.

The wait for the lift to rise up to the Plass would have been long enough without Owen laughing at him. It did give him time to flick a middle finger salute down at him and tuck his shaking hands into his pockets. The rain that had started when they ran across from the apartment to the Hub hadn't abated, and he was pretty soaked by the time he reached street level to find Jack and the Doctor staring up into it, with Mickey Smith standing off to the side looking like the third wheel.

"You'll get this for a while," the Doctor was saying. "Atmospheric disturbance. Summer might be a bit of a wash out."

"We're used to it, Doc. We're in Wales." Jack chuckled and looked over at Mickey. "Still sure about this?"

"Long as that husband of yours is around to keep you in line. They say change is good for you, yeah?"

That seemed like as good an opening as any, so Ianto stepped down off the lift and straightened his cuffs nervously. "Recruiting again, Jack?"

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but for some reason it hadn't been to be wrapped immediately in a crushing hug, followed by a searing kiss that drove away the cold of the rain. He swayed into it, though, and clung onto Jack just as tightly until they had to part for breath. The Doctor and Mickey faded into insignificance as he stared back at Jack. "You're okay," Jack breathed against his lips. "When we couldn't reach you over the subwave, I thought..."

"Lying low, as promised," Ianto assured him. He caught Jack's lips in another long kiss just to reaffirm it. "You're... You're back."

The Doctor, a few paces away and studying the sky like it held all the secrets of the universe, cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yes, sorry about that. Timing can be a bit tricky, especially with the movement and opening the rift to get in touch with me. Well done on that, by the way. We thought we'd never find you until that came through."

"That was Tosh. You can tell her yourself, if you like."

"Tosh? Oh, Dr Sato! She's brilliant, isn't she?" There was more than a hint of hesitation at first, but Tosh's name seemed to sway him and he grinned again. "I've been meaning to come and catch up with her for years. I need to ask her about this psychoframe extrapolating machinator I found on Jagarathap Four a while back. You'll like Tosh," he told Mickey, "she's brilliant."

"Yeah, you said. Alright then, Captain Cheesecake. Lead the way."

Jack and Ianto exchanged a grin and Ianto stepped back, gesturing to the paving stone that concealed the lift. "After you."

"What, just stand on that? Is it some sort of teleport?"

"No, but maybe we should try that. I'm sure you and Toshiko can get one up and working between you." The Doctor and Mickey stood on the slab and Jack stepped back, raising his rift manipulator to activate it. "We'll see you down there."

Mickey's yelp as it started to descend was one of the best Ianto had ever heard. "Never gets old," he laughed.

"Never does." Jack turned back to him with a softer smile and held out his hand. "Mind if we go the slow way?"

Ianto took it and laced their fingers together. "Not at all."