Another day, another chapter. Should really be making notes for an exam, instead I got distracted and posted this.

The bite wound, more of a nick than a proper bite, had about stopped bleeding, though small trickles still made their slow lazy way down Toshiko's arm as Gwen helped her wrap a bandage around it. They were both glad to be sat a little way away from where the three men stood.

"Jack hasn't said anything yet," Toshiko remarked in an undertone. "That's never a good sign."

Gwen glanced over. Jack was standing in front of Owen and Ianto, not making eye contact with either of them, but inspecting his nails instead. Ianto was looking at their leader warily, brown eyes darting across his face, whilst Owen, with his hands shoved in his pockets, was trying to appear indifferent and entirely at ease, but the sudden pallor on his face gave away his anxiety.

It was a bit surprising that Jack hadn't leapt out of the SUV all-guns blazing, the way he'd sworn and bitched the whole way there. Gwen had half-expected him to head straight over to Owen and punch him flat out. Admittedly, the main priority when they'd finally caught up with the rest of the team had been to help Owen and Ianto restrain the Weevil they had in a half-Nelson on the floor, and to help Toshiko up off the floor. Jack had used a stun-gun on the Weevil, knocking it out for around an hour. Glancing at her watch now, Gwen reasoned that, unless the dead-lock in communications lifted soon, they'd have a reprise of the earlier situation. And she guessed the Weevil would be even harder to control the second time around.

Finally, at long last, Jack spoke. His voice was dangerously soft, barely audible from where Gwen and Toshiko were.

"I'm still waiting."

Owen frowned. "For what?"

"An apology."

"What?" Owen exclaimed. "What for?"

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and paced in front of him. "I don't know, let me think. How about, forgetting to let me know about this operation? For charging off across Cardiff on a whim? For not keeping me up to date with the situation? For putting one of my team in danger? For taking over seven hours to track down one lone Weevil… any of them take your fancy?"

"Look, I've said sorry to Tosh, but in all fairness, she should have been paying attention-"

A loud thud made both Gwen and Toshiko jump in alarm, fearing that Jack had actually thumped Owen this time. Instead they saw fist sized whole in a sheet of plywood boarding up a window, and Jack trying not to wince as he cradled his right hand in his left. Gwen avoid Toshiko's eye as they both fought against laughing.

"You were in charge, Owen! You should have been paying attention for her!" Jack glared at his second in-command. "You should have had a plan worked out, and then a back-up plan and then a reserve plan! Instead, what did you do? You charged around Cardiff all night hoping. Why didn't you use Tosh's laptop to track it down?"

"The hot weather's been affecting the equipment." Ianto stepped in to offer an explanation. "Tosh couldn't get it up and running."

Gwen supposed that was a fair point; it was strange, but since coming back to Cardiff, she couldn't help feeling it had got even hotter, like there'd been some temperature increase all the way along the M4.

Jack, however, didn't see that as an excuse. "Then you should have gone back to the Hub and used the equipment there."

"I thought it would be better if-"

"No, you didn't, Owen! Your problem is you don't think!" Jack growled again. "If you'd gone back to the Hub, run the programme from there, you'd have had an idea where the Weevil could be, a general location. You'd have found it far quicker and the job would have been done. But that was too boring for you, not enough excitement, not enough racing around like Action Man on speed." Jack shook his head in disgust. "Have you any idea what damage that Weevil could have done before you found it? How many more people could have been killed?"

"But they didn't-"

"That's not the point!" Jack roared. "I thought I could trust you, Owen, I thought that you'd be able to look after things for one afternoon. That's all, just one bloody afternoon!"

"Well it's not like you kept us informed over where you'd gone!" Owen hit back, more out of hurt pride than anything.

"That's different!"

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten, one rule for us, another rule entirely for Captain Jack Harkness!" Owen spat the name out.

Gwen hurriedly finished bandaging Tosh's arm and walked over before Jack could retaliate. It was nearly one in the morning, her head was thumping, and she really couldn't take a full-scale Owen vs. Jack argument tonight. Besides, she actually didn't mind Owen, and no matter what she'd said to Jack earlier, if she was placing a bet, her money was squarely on Jack.

"Isn't it time we started getting back to the Hub? It's been twenty minutes, that stun gun can't last forever. And Tosh needs to get home, she's had a shock." She looked between the two men, turning her big brown eyes to her full advantage. "And I'd really like to get a few hours sleep tonight."

Jack regarded her for a few seconds, before letting out a big sigh. "Alright, you're right. Come on, time we were getting back." He walked past Gwen, heading back to the SUV.

"You should probably get Tala home to bed too."

Like a bomb going off, Gwen's words made all the other members of the team whip round to look at her.

"Tala? Who's Tala?" Owen demanded. He looked over at Jack. "I thought the bird that called you earlier was called Jackie?"

Gwen pulled a face and hesitantly looked up to see how Jack had taken her statement. It had literally not even occurred to her that Tala was a secret; in fact, she'd forgotten that everyone else knew nothing about her. It felt like such a long time since they'd left Cardiff this afternoon, that trip to London had felt like days instead of a few hours. She'd almost begun to believe that Tala had always been around. Funny how fast you adapt to a situation.

Jack closed his eyes and then ran a hand over his face. "Tala's…" He paused, and opened the car door to show them her. "She's the daughter of a friend, I'm just looking after her for a while."

"And you brought her out with you?" Toshiko looked horrified. "Jack, anything could have happened!"

"I didn't exactly have time to organize a baby-sitter." Jack shot Owen another glower. "Anyway, no harm done. I'll meet you guys back at the Hub. Owen, drop Tosh off at home – no arguments," he added as Toshiko opened her mouth to protest. "Get home, get some rest. If you want tomorrow off, take it."

"And me?" Owen challenged him.

Jack dead-panned. "Like I said. I'll see you back at the Hub. Gwen, you're with me." He swung into the driver's seat with ease and started the engine. Gwen was left with no other option but to get into the passenger seat.

"And I thought you were letting us all off with an early night," she joked, more to break the silence than anything. She couldn't help the guilt creeping over her now; she hadn't meant to draw attention to where they'd been today. Jack was a fiercely private person, and from the way he'd acted back in London, like some sort of spy, she couldn't help thinking that there was a reason that this little girl had been shuttled away from her home. Some sort of danger, someone out to get her whilst her parents were gone. Mind you, though, he wouldn't have been able to hide Tala from the rest of the team forever. It was a miracle they hadn't spotted her before Jack pointed her out.

"I'm dropping you off at home," Jack replied. "You're right, it's been a long day, you need to get some rest."

"But you're making Owen work?" Gwen couldn't help a smile spreading across her face. "Jack Harkness, you're evil!"

"Thank you very much." He smiled back. "Do you think Tosh will take me up on my offer?"

"Tosh, take a day off?" Gwen scoffed. "Unlikely. She's nearly as addicted to this job as you are!"

Jack laughed, then fell silent for a few minutes. Gwen glanced across at him.

"I'm sorry about mentioning Tala, it was out of line-"

"Not your fault."

"But it wasn't my place-"

"Gwen," Jack interrupted her again. "I asked you along today, I didn't ask you not to say anything. If I wanted you to keep it a secret, I'd have told you." He drove one-handed, hanging his other hand out the open window. "Just as well I didn't tell you she's part-alien, otherwise we would be in trouble."

Gwen turned to look at him again so quickly she almost got whiplash. "What?" She was never quite sure if she'd heard him right, whether it was her mind jumping to conclusions. Or whether he was joking, he was always so flippant. "Jack, what did you just say?"

"Is this your stop?" Jack nodded to the block of flats they'd pulled up outside. "I'll see you tomorrow."

It was seven in the morning and Jack was wide awake. He'd been awake for two hours, even though, by the time they'd secured the new Weevil it had been gone two in the morning, and even then, he hadn't got to bed until three. Still, two hours sleep; he'd survived on less.

The annoying thing was that he couldn't settle to any work this morning. He'd been sitting at his desk for over an hour now, after convincing himself that no matter how long he lay there, he wasn't going to get back to sleep. Usually, if he woke up that early, he'd be able to while away the hours until the Hub was once again buzzing with people by doing his own paperwork. The others always complained that he never seemed to do any filing or report filling in, that he got away with everything. Jack always just smiled, not quite willing to admit that he usually completed it all before they'd even emerged from whatever dreams they'd succumbed to that night. He wasn't sure why he never said anything, whether it was because he enjoyed the sense of mystery it gave him, or whether it was just too sad to admit to.

This morning though, he was finding it hard to concentrate. No matter what intentions he started with, his mind just kept on wandering away from the boring but important form he was filling in to other things. Things he hadn't thought about in years. The colour of the sun when it was seen through the atmosphere of Saturn. The smell of the best fish and chips in the universe, found if you took a right at Jupiter and kept going for about five hundred light years (really not that far in the grand scale of things). The way Rose's eyes sparkled when she laughed. The smell of her shampoo. The smile on the Doctor's face when she wasn't looking. The noise of the TARDIS. It wasn't entirely through choice that he'd blocked those memories out, but through necessity. If he'd had a free rein over his life, he'd have lived in those memories. But life went on, he had to keep going. He had no other choice.

So much time had passed since those days, the long lazy days they'd spent together, traveling from place to place with hardly a care in the world. He'd changed. The Doctor had changed. Even Rose had changed, he was certain of it. She was a mother now. Jack had always known that if he ever found them again, things wouldn't be the same. But he'd never imagined that they'd be living so close by, living their own lives together, bringing up a child, in the same time, on the same planet, and that… that they wouldn't contact him. That hurt. It hurt like hell, and Jack knew hell well. He'd missed them both so much since that final time and yet they'd been here all along.

"Uncle Jack?" A small voice from down on the floor made Jack jerk himself out of his reverie. He looked down at the mattress he'd borrowed from the medical bay downstairs and brought up here. Looking up at him was the reason for all this reminiscing, the catalyst for his state of mind this morning. A seven-year-old girl with chocolate brown eyes and a mass of blonde hair, sticking in all directions this morning and still clutching her stuffed cat.

"Morning." He smiled at her. He wasn't sure why she'd decided to start calling him Uncle Jack, but it was good enough for him. It felt good to be associated with a family again, even if it wasn't real. Rose and the Doctor had been the closest thing to family he'd ever had; he almost felt like Tala's uncle for real. "Did you sleep okay?"

She nodded. "So did Cat." She gestured towards the battered soft toy nestled underneath her arm.

Jack leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "That's good. Cats are good at sleeping, I bet Cat sleeps a lot."

"He likes playing too," Tala insisted firmly.

"What does he like playing?" Jack was amazed how easily this conversation flowed; despite his assurances to Gwen that it would all be fine, he'd been a little apprehensive of this whole taking care of Tala thing. But it was even easier than he'd thought.

"All sorts," Tala replied. "He likes going to the park and feeding the ducks. And he likes stories. And he likes playing Jungle."

"He's an adventurous cat," Jack remarked.

"He likes going on adventures with Mummy and Daddy and me too," Tala continued.

Jack frowned. "And where do you and Mummy and Daddy go on adventures?"

"All over the place." Suddenly Tala flushed red and looked down at the floor. "I'm not supposed to talk about it though."

"Why not?"

"Mummy says people wouldn't understand. That it's a secret." Tala paused for a second before saying, "I'm hungry, what's for breakfast?"

Jack, his mind having been absorbed by the things Tala wasn't supposed to be telling him, was taken aback. "Breakfast? Ah, right." He didn't usually bother with breakfast, just had a cup of Ianto's special brew coffee when he came in. He wasn't even sure what it was that seven-year-olds ate. "What do you usually have?"

"Depends." Tala shrugged. "Sometimes I have cereal. If Daddy's making it, he puts banana on the top. He usually burns toast. Or sometimes Mummy makes pancakes."

Jack pulled a face. "Haven't got much of any of that around here." He pulled a drawer in his desk out. He remembered too late that he'd finished the last of the bananas yesterday, apart from that dodgy one still sitting on his desk, which he didn't think would go down too well with Tala. He thought as quickly as he could, and came up with just one solution. "You stay here a minute and I'll see what I can do."

He headed down to the main floor of the Hub. Just like he'd thought, there was the half-eaten packet of biscuits still sitting on Gwen's desk from yesterday. He made a silent promise to the air that he'd replace them, knowing how much she liked a mid-morning (and mid-afternoon, pre-lunch, post-lunch and end of the day) snack. Thinking about it, maybe this was one packet of biscuits she could do with missing out on.

Tala looked at the offered breakfast slightly doubtfully, her forehead creasing into little lines. "Cookies? For breakfast?"

"Just this once. As a treat." Jack tried to get into the mind of a seven-year-old.

"Mummy doesn't let me eat biscuits for breakfast."

Mummy will never know, Jack thoughts sadly, before pulling himself together. They weren't dead, they'd be back, soon, he was sure. Even so, this one small blip in his babysitting duties… they didn't have to be told. "How about we don't tell her? Just this once, as a treat, you can have them."

Tala looked at him, trying to weight him up in her mind. "Promise you won't tell?"

"Cross my heart." Jack mimed a cross on his chest. "What about you? Do you promise?"

Tala pulled a face, her nose wrinkled up in thought. She looked so like Rose, Jack was unable to prevent himself breaking out in a smile. Eventually, she nodded, and copied his mime. "Cross my heart."

Gwen wasn't sure what had made her decide to buy the sweets in the newsagent's that morning. She'd left home early, before Rhys had even woken up. She hadn't woken him when she got in last night, and this morning she scrawled a quick note, telling him she'd started work early, that she'd be home earlier tonight, that she'd bring something with her for dinner, that, if he had a chance, they really needed some shopping done. She'd added a lot of exclamation marks, hoping it would make the letter seem more cute and less of yet another "sorry-I-missed-you-babe" note which seemed to be circulating their flat on a regular basis lately. As a final touch she'd scrawled a quick "Love you" and finished with a row of scribbled kisses.

She'd gone straight to bed after Jack dropped her off last night, but she hadn't slept much. For starters, she hadn't been imagining the heat; it was definitely hotter tonight that it had been during the day, and when she listened to the shower radio this morning, the breakfast show host had confirmed that today would be "even hotter than yesterday, folks, isn't that brilliant!" Gwen had to disagree with him on that; he didn't have to spend the day working down in a steamy basement with unreliable air-con, nor did he have the possibility of running down the streets of Cardiff after yet another alien.

It hadn't just been the heat keeping her awake though. Her mind wouldn't switch off, it kept going over and over the events of the day. Especially what Jack had said just before he'd dropped her off: Just as well I didn't tell you she's part-alien, otherwise we would be in trouble.

It was impossible, she thought, as she walked along the road, smiling a hello at one of her neighbours as he made his way to work. That little girl who had slept so deeply all the way back from London was normal, as human as any of the people walking or cycling or driving along the roads of Cardiff this morning. She had a human granny, who lived in a regular flat in a almost-horrifically average estate. Her mother, this Rose, for all the attributes Jack had hung upon her (and it hadn't entirely escaped Gwen's notice that he'd never actually said who she really was), she was human. This was all ridiculous, she'd obviously heard him wrong.

But, she reasoned as she walked into her usual newsagents to get the morning paper, but stranger things had happened. Since joining Torchwood, she'd seen a lot. Things that most people would say were impossible and ridiculous, that people did say were impossible and ridiculous. She remembered one of the first conversations she'd had with Jack, before she'd even joined Torchwood.

Gwen took a swig of her pint of beer and then put it down on the bar, feeling Jack's eyes on her the whole time. "The thing is, I just don't understand-" she began, but Jack broke in, in that delicious accent that she could imagine listening to forever and not getting tired of.

"No, I tell you what I don't understand. You're gonna rattle on with that 'How can this be true?' kinda schtick. What's it gonna take for you people?" He sounded part-annoyed, part-bemused, part-amused. "If you want evidence of aliens, how about that great spaceship hovering over London on Christmas Day? What about the battle of Canary Wharf? A Cyberman in every home!"

Gwen shrugged. "My boyfriend says that it's like a sort of terrorism. Like they put drugs in the water supplies - psychotropic drugs, causing mass hallucinations and stuff."

Jack snorted. "Yeah, well, your boyfriend's stupid."

"Oh, you've met him?" Gwen quipped back, and then all Jack could do was laugh.

The point was though, Jack was right. Much as she loved Rhys, much as she'd believed his theories on alien life-forms, even back then she'd known, somewhere, tucked away in the back of her mind, that there was more to it than drugs in the water. It had been a convenient explanation for something too strange, too utterly alien for her to understand properly. Even now, now she knew for certain that what Jack had told her was true, she still couldn't entirely comprehend it. But she knew that it was true, there were aliens. She wasn't stupid, she couldn't fool herself into thinking that what she'd heard Jack say last night wasn't possible, even if it wasn't true. It was possible, or, maybe more accurately, it wasn't impossible.

As she paid for the paper, making agreeing noises with the newsagent about how awful the neighbourhood was getting, about how appalling it was that the police didn't do anything about the graffiti outside, about how sorry she was about that (no matter how often she told Brian that she didn't really work for the police anymore, he was still convinced that it was all down to her that crime was on the up), Gwen let her mind flirt with the idea that what Jack had told her was true. That Tala was part-alien. It was crazy… but it was a good explanation for why they'd had to go and rescue her yesterday. If anyone know aliens, Torchwood knew aliens. It made sense.

"Do you want anything else, love?" Brian broke into her thoughts now. Gwen looked down and saw that he'd put her change into her hand. A queue was forming behind her. And she'd just been standing there, oblivious. She really should have got some sleep last night.

"Um…" She looked down at the sweets on sale on the front of the counter and, half in a daze, grabbed a few packets and thrust them onto the counter. "I'll take these."

An hour had passed without Jack even noticing the time going. He wasn't sure what he'd been doing really; he didn't have any work to show for that hour. The hour had slipped away whilst he sat with Tala, listening to her tell him all about her school and the Easter card she'd been making last Friday. She spoke excitedly of the school trip they were going on next week to a farm as he helped her get dressed into a pair of jeans and a pretty pink t-shirt with butterflies embroidered on it. She informed him she wanted plaits as he brushed her hair, before continuing her explanation of why Daddy wouldn't let her have a cat.

"He says he doesn't like them, which is silly. He says when you've been threatened by one in a nun's womble, you don't like them anymore."

"Wimple," Jack corrected her, smiling. "When was your daddy threatened by a cat, Tala?"

Tala shrugged and then put a hand over her mouth. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that."

"I won't tell," Jack insisted, winking. He pulled a face. "You sure you want plaits, Tala?"

She nodded. "Mummy always lets me have plaits on a Wednesday. She says they take too long on other days, but she has Wednesdays off work. Daddy's useless at them."

He's not the only one, Jack thought, looking at the strange mess he'd made so far and de-tangling all the strands of hair to start again. "Where does your mummy work?"

"In a shop."

"And what about daddy?"

"He doesn't really do anything."

Jack wondered how the Doctor would like to be described like that. Doing nothing was practically the antithesis of what he was; doing nothing was almost a crime as far as he was concerned.

"I thought you said you went on adventures with him."

Tala regarded Jack suspiciously. Jack recognized that look from Rose too, her protective side, shielding the Doctor from harm. Clearly his daughter felt exactly the same way about him.

"I'm not supposed to talk about them."

Jack immediately felt guilty for pumping her for information. "I know, I'm sorry. Tell me about this farm trip again."

Tala brightened up again and she continued talking about all the animals she was going to see. Jack, meanwhile, continued struggling with these plaits she was determined to have.

The door to the Hub opened. Jack glanced over his shoulder, wondering who was in this early. Certainly not Owen, who had slouched off home at two-thirty this morning and announced that he wasn't coming in until the afternoon at least, even if there was an emergency. He hoped it wasn't Toshiko either, that bite had given her a real shock. Most likely it would be Ianto; he was usually the first in, after Jack.

The footsteps that came up the stairs weren't the smooth ones of the be-suited Welshman though. Hard heels rang out on the metal flooring.

"Morning Jack."

Jack turned to look. "Gwen. I didn't expect you in this early."

Gwen didn't reply to him, but flickered an eyebrow at him. "Ah, that's where my biscuits went."

Tala looked at the biscuit in her hand guiltily, and then turned her big brown eyes onto Jack. She almost imperceptibly moved closer to his leg, as though she was relying on him to protect her.

"We had them for breakfast. Just for a treat," Jack said hastily.

Tala nodded, her face half-hidden in Jack's leg.

Gwen smiled and crouched down on the floor. "That's okay. Were they nice?"

Tala nodded again.

"You don't remember me do you?" Gwen asked.

Tala buried herself further against Jack's leg.

"Tala, this is Gwen. You met her yesterday," Jack intervened.

Tala looked up at him. "Is she a friend of Mummy and Daddy's too?"

"No," Gwen replied quickly. "I work with Jack though. That's a lovely t-shirt you're wearing."

Tala looked down at her t-shirt and smiled shyly. "Uncle Jack is going to plait my hair."

"Is he? That'll look pretty," Gwen glanced at Jack as he pulled an exasperated face. "I tell you what. Do you see that desk there?" She pointed through the glass wall of the office at her own rather scruffy desk.

Tala left Jack's leg to walk over and looked in the direction Gwen indicated. "The one with the pretty paperweight?"

Gwen wasn't quite sure how she could see that from here, but nodded. "Yeah. Well, there's a big bag of sweets on that desk. How about you go and get it and bring it up here, and then I'll plait your hair for you."

Tala nodded eagerly. Then she looked at Jack slightly shame-facedly. "Do you mind, Uncle Jack?"

"Me? No!" Jack shook his head.

"You're pretty rubbish at it," Tala informed him, wrinkling her nose up, before leaving the office and heading down to Gwen's desk.

Jack sighed heavily and sank back into his chair. "Thank you! You have no idea how much you've saved my butt." He munched on a biscuit thoughtfully, putting his feet up on his desk. "These are good, how comes you never offer them around?"

Gwen didn't reply, but stood up and watched out the window instead, as Tala made her way to Gwen's desk. Jack noticed the tension in her shoulders, and gently swung his feet back off his desk and walked to join her.

"You're good with her," he remarked.

"My sister's got a daughter about her age," Gwen replied without looking at him.

"You never said."

"You never asked."

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and looked out the window as Tala sat down in Gwen's chair to look through the bag of sweets. He couldn't believe how much he was already feeling like Tala was the centre of the universe, how every move she made completely captured his attention. He'd known her less than twelve hours, and known of her less than twenty-four, but already she was becoming an integral part of his life. He'd never felt like that before… well, apart from when he was with her mother and father.

"You're in early," he remarked.

Gwen suddenly turned to him, anger flashing across her face. "How about we just cut the crap, Jack, and you answer some questions for once?" He was about to protest when she cut in again. "I've been up half the night because of you. I cancelled on my boyfriend, I got hardly any sleep, I feel like shit. And I don't mind all that, Jack, because you're a friend, I'd do that for any of my friends. But it works both ways. Friends tell each other the truth."

Jack looked down at the floor. "I know. It's complicated though."

"Isn't it always?" Gwen looked at him, and her tough-girl act gave in a little. "Jack, just talk to me. I'm on your side, I want to help."

Jack didn't reply.

"What you said last night, about her being part-alien. Is that true?"

Jack let out a long breath. "Yes."

Gwen looked again at the golden-haired girl searching through the bag of sweets, looking a million miles away from the little green men of children's comics. Still, she knew enough now to realize that things weren't always what they seemed.

"What is she?"

"Part Time Lord." Jack glanced sideways to see Gwen give him a puzzled look. "They're this alien race. Or they were. There's only one left now. They came from Gallifrey, they were a humanoid race. They were one of the most powerful races in the universe. Then there was this war, the Time War, and they all died. All except one."

"Tala's father?"

"Right." Jack nodded.

Gwen hesitated. "But… but if her father's an alien, how-?"

"I have no idea," Jack admitted. "It should have been impossible. I always thought it was. I think even he thought it was. But there she is."

There she was indeed.

"Jack, how did you know her father?" Gwen asked now. "You said you were old friends."

"I traveled with him for a while. Him and Rose. Then we sort of parted ways. I ended up here. And they… well, they ended up some place else. With Tala." Without me, he added to himself.

Gwen took a step backwards from the window. "This is mad. We're supposed to capture aliens, Jack, not look after their children. What will the others say when they hear?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't tell them." Jack remained at the window, watching over Tala.

"What?" Gwen stared at him incredulously. "Jack, they've got a right to know!" She glanced over at where the mattress Tala had slept on was. "Especially if you're going to move her in here. Jack, this is ridiculous!"

"You can't tell them Gwen."

"Give me one good reason why not."

"Because Tala's father's enemy number one as far as Torchwood's concerned."

Gwen felt her stomach flip and her knees tremble ever so slightly. "He's what?"

"You heard me. Tala's father is the reason you've got a job here, the reason this place exists at all."

"Torchwood was created to catch him?" Gwen tried to stop her voice rising too high.

"It was a mistake. People didn't understand…" Jack shook his head. "But yeah. Basically, that would be it."

Gwen turned the matter over in her mind. On the one hand, Torchwood was supposed to protect the Earth from alien invasions. They locked aliens up, they destroyed them, they foiled their plans. That was what they did, and no one was more dedicated to it than Jack. And yet here he was, harboring the daughter of Torchwood's Most Wanted. On the other hand, Tala was just a little girl. She was part human, and looked completely human. She wore tops with butterflies on and wanted plaits in her hair; she liked sweets and went to sleep with a stuffed cat under her arm. She was so ridiculously normal.

"What's happened to Rose and…?"

"The Doctor. He's called the Doctor."

The Doctor… The right kind of Doctor… "Jack-"

"I don't know," Jack spoke, as though Gwen hadn't been about to say something. "You heard Jackie, she hasn't a clue. Anything could have happened to them. Anything at all."

Gwen followed his gaze as he looked down at Tala again. She wondered how much the little girl knew, whether she realised that maybe, just maybe, her parents wouldn't be coming home again. She wondered how Jack would ever be able to explain that to her. Knowing that, how could she ever demand they treat her like a criminal, like a thing that needed locking up? She was just a little girl.

"Is he dangerous?"

Jack looked back over his shoulder at her. "The Doctor?" He nodded slowly. "But he's good," he added.

Gwen joined him back at the window. "Wow. To look at her you'd never know."

"I know." Jack smiled. "She's gorgeous, isn't she?"

Gwen didn't reply. "Jack, is this really the best place for her?"

"Probably not. But what other choice did I have?"

Gwen couldn't answer that.

The door to the Hub crashed open and, with a babble of noise, Ianto, Toshiko and, to their surprise, Owen came in. Toshiko's arm was still bandaged up.

"What did we say? Never misses a day." Jack sighed. He stretched. "Well, better head down there, sort things out."

Gwen nodded. Then, unexpectedly, she reached out a hand, slipped it into his and squeezed tight. "I won't say anything to them." She gave him a small smile. "Cross my heart."

Next time: The Pleasure Dome

"Hands up!" The commander of the guards directed them, waving his gun at them. "Get your hands above your heads!"

Rose didn't quibble. Neither did the Doctor, but, unlike her, he was unable to keep his mouth shut. Until she met him, Rose had thought no one could possibly talk as much as her mum, and she'd often been called a gobby cow herself at school. But he was something else.

"Hi!" He beamed round at them. "Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose."

Rose shot him a look. "Should we really be introducing ourselves?" she hissed.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her and then winked quickly. Rose supposed he meant it to comfort her; it didn't.