Gwen stood, mouth gaping, staring at Jack's terrified face. Then Lois, Mickey and Martha walked over, holding hands and Martha took Gwen's hand, a silent tear tracked down her face. Gwen took Jack's hand and it seemed to comfort him a little.
"Here they come." Lois' voice was remarkably calm. Gwen turned and looked at Lois' timer on her computer screen-
10
She didn't feel ready
9
She wanted Rhys and Jay so badly at that moment it choked her
8
She loaded her gun, she was going to fight to the end, and raised her hand to take the heavy wrist strap off
7
The strap was being awkward, it would affect her aim
6
She hoped she would come out of this alive
5
So she could tell her husband and son how much she loved them
4
Bloody strap
3
She tried to give it a final tug
2
Gwen closed her eyes
1
There was a jolt in her naval
0
Gwen opened her eyes, gun cocked, stuff the strap, she thought, it wouldn't affect her shot too badly anyway. But Gwen had to do a double take. Everybody had gone. She was alone. And she wasn't in the Hub. She was in an abandoned warehouse, she guessed, as she studied her surroundings. What the…
The jolt.
Gwen realised that the tug on the wrist strap had caused it to activate.
Gwen looked down at the battered leather on her arm. It flashed at her, "Destination Reached: 22nd October 2006"
"Oh my God" Gwen said out loud. The realisation settled heavily in her stomach. She'd actually gone back in time. Gwen headed for the door and out into a deserted car park. She soon recognised the industrial estate and knew she wasn't far out of the city. Gwen began to jog back into the city centre. She sure was tired of running today.
Gwen tried to rack her brains. She sometimes struggled to remember what she had done a week ago, now she had to seriously remember a specific day of her life 11 years ago. Because of her job, Jack had reluctantly given her a short brief on the basic rules of time travel. The one rule that was stuck in her mind right now was, "You can't meet yourself in your personal timeline." Jack had then gone on about paradoxes or something but Gwen couldn't remember that much. Perhaps she might have paid more attention if she ever had the slightest suspicion she might actually travel in time.
"Right, concentrate. Let's start with the basics." Gwen thought to herself. "Let's start with 11 years ago." Gwen sat down on a low wall, conveniently running along side the walkway she was on. It began to rain. Gwen looked up at the sky and the rain started to slide slowly down her face. Her small leather jacket was waterproof, but without a hood, Gwen didn't feel exactly dry. She lowered her head again, and began brainstorming her past. The rain was beginning to make her hair cling to her face. "2006, 2006." Gwen started mumbling out loud, in aid of her concentration. Then it clicked. 2006 was the last year she was in the police force, before Jack hired her in…
October.
The 22nd was the first day she came across Torchwood. She thought. She knew exactly where to head to check she got her dates right.
There were numerous large multi-storey car parks in Cardiff. Not surprising, for a capital city. However, there was one near a small industrial estate that would remain in Gwen's memory forever. It had been a long walk, but the more the day came back to her, she knew she had the time. As it was, she heard the sirens from the police cars. Gwen quickly ducked into a near alleyway in case she was in one of the police cars and recognised herself. Wow, time travel could be really complicated, Gwen thought. But it was probably only the start of the complications, she sighed.
Gwen rounded the corner and was met by a lot of police tape barring her way to a crime scene. Gwen pulled her jacket collar as high up as she could in an attempt to cover as much of her face as possible. Only a few yards away she watched Andy greet her former self as she sipped from a steamy polystyrene cup. Oh my god, I'm going to see me, Gwen thought. She turned on her heel and disappeared back to the dark alley.
Gwen's heart was pounding extremely fast. She heard footsteps approaching, and held her breath. A ghost walked past and took the breath Gwen had been holding in. She covered her mouth as Tosh continued past. Gwen thought she was going to pass out as Tosh was followed by Owen and Susie. No one had thought to look in the dark, damp alley where a time traveller lurked.
Apart from a fellow traveller.
On his way past Jack glanced and saw a pale face, with contrasting dark hair plastered to it, hiding in the shadows. The stranger took him by surprise and the glance was so quick he couldn't be sure he'd seen it but he continued walking as his priorities lay elsewhere for the moment.
Her mind raced rapidly as Gwen tried to guess as to whether Jack had actually seen her or not. Was that how she got her job? Jack already had her imprinted on his mind before he even met her in her own present? This was indeed getting extremely complicated and Gwen had only been stuck in the past for a few hours. By now she was wondering what had brought her to this day. She hadn't consciously chosen the date; she assumed that the wrist strap had transported her randomly. But Gwen couldn't kid herself. She was here for a reason. She just needed to figure out why she was here, and how she was going to get back to her present and fight for her family, friends and planet against the screaming creatures. But what could possibly be important about the day she discovered Torchwood? Until she saw the glove she, like everybody else, just thought of them as "Special Ops". Did the glove have anything to do with her jumping back to this day? No. She wouldn't go near that thing again. There was something else, staring her in the face, yet she couldn't figure it out. On the up side, she thought, she had 11 years to figure this out if she was stuck here.
Gwen suddenly heard Jack yell, and the echo was haunting, "What do you think?" She knew she'd sat in that damp alley while another Gwen had the most surreal experience of her life. She had to speak to Jack. That was why she came back to this point in time. She had to talk to Jack, before her past self changed him and his way of thinking, she had to have a talk with the cold, analytical Jack, who might talk about his past and about his previous attack from the Screaming creatures.
Gwen spent the next 12 hours following her old self. It was one of the most bizarre things she'd ever done, and that was saying something. She wrapped her small jacket tighter around her as she watched from a distance as the dark figure by the water tower continued to pace. She knew exactly what that dark figure was thinking. "Where did that Jack Harkness go? How do I find him?" Gwen knew exactly when and how she was going to approach Jack. She even had strong suspicions about Jack's reactions. She finally saw PC Gwen Cooper walk away, heading towards Jubilee Pizza. She then saw the same PC trotting back cautiously with an armful of pizza. She knew she'd have to wait a while so went to get a hot coffee. She returned and finally saw Jack and his companion emerges and head off for a local bar. This was going to be her opportunity. After Jack drugged her they headed in different directions, leaving a gap where Jack would be alone briefly before returning to the Hub.
Gwen hung around the corner in the direction Jack would come, her breath becoming short and ragged as she got nervous. She knew this was probably affecting history, but she knew only Jack could help her situation and she had to get back to her own present.
After some time passed she watched another Gwen stagger from the bar wearing a horrified expression. After some bitter exchanges Gwen stormed off and Jack turned on his heel and walked the other way. Mrs. Williams took a deep breath and stepped out in front of him. Jack stumbled backwards and looked back to see what appeared to be the same woman still running. He turned back to the woman in front of him. "Well if I knew you'd be twins, tonight might have ended differently." He grinned.
"Oh shut up Jack." Gwen rolled her eyes. "I'm not a twin. I need your help."
"I need to know who you are first." Jack said, his attitude switching to a business-like approach.
"You'd never have anyone's help if they said that to you when you asked for help." She replied crisply. "It's a really long story and I never forgave you for retconning me by the way." She added as the clincher. She began to walk away.
"Gwen Cooper!" She heard Jack call from behind her. She turned back slowly, keeping her grin to a minimum. "You sound like you're from the future." He stated, getting straight to the point.
"11 years to be exact." She replied.
"You don't look like a PC anymore." He said.
"I'm not." She replied simply. Jack paused for a second
"How did you get here?" He asked. She pulled her sleeve up and revealed the leather wrist strap. "Where did you get that?" He asked nervously. "Did I give that to you?"
"No. It's not yours. I picked it up from some space debris, I thought it looked familiar, and as you can see, it works. I just kept it in my pocket and found use of it, although, coming here was a complete accident." She explained.
"You work for Torchwood." It wasn't a question.
"I need your help." Gwen repeated.
"Getting back?"
"And what I face when I get there." Gwen said grimly. Jack's eyebrows rose. "Before I came here, we were faced with an alien threat. One we can't fight. We have no idea what they are but you told me they were the same aliens that took Gray." Gwen said carefully. Jack stood open mouthed at this.
"That's not possible." He whispered sounding more like the Jack Gwen had left in the future. "They can't come here; they're from a different universe."
"But you said." She insisted. "They screeched like nothing I've heard before, it could make your ears bleed and they just left a large dark mass on our scanning technology."
"They can't come here." Jack repeated firmly. "It's not possible. Go home Gwen Cooper, and don't try time travel again. It's far too dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."
"I didn't come here on purpose! The wrist strap brought me here, you have to help me!"
"The wrist strap will only go where it is programmed to go. If you didn't set it, someone sent you here or planned to come here themselves before you stole their property, now go back before you do some permanent damage!" Jack barked before turning to leave. Gwen looked stung.
"The 21st Century is when it all changed, Jack, and we weren't ready!" She yelled at his back. Jack stopped dead and turned slowly back to face her.
"We have to be ready." He said, his voice taking a dangerous tone.
"Trust me Jack, I was there. We weren't ready. If you send me back I don't know what will be left. I left a world that was about to end, you have to help me. No one else can."
"I don't know what you want from me!" He yelled
"Answers!" She screamed back.