Hi- sorry it's taken so long to upload. My Angels of the Valley series plus the Children of Torchwood novels.... well; they've kind of messed up my writing schedule, even more so considering that Char and I have decided to write a second one! Then I got my results on August 28th, so I spent the day with Mum and her phoning everyone she knew so that I could tell them what I got -.- Fun. THEN I had to make a last-minute rush to get stuff for college, and found that I have a reading list from which I have to buy most of the books for English, and then I had to finally start college, and that took forever to settle into. Oh well, at least there's one decent boy in my classes ;-).Oh, and I might be going to Italy in a few months, so I have to improve my Italian. So, I'm on half term now, meaning that I have the week off college to catch up on my homework, but I figured I'd start with some creative writing, so I could finally update this story! Sorry it's so short- I haven't had much inspiration as of late. Enjoy...

Whiskey in the Jar

"You see," Owen said softly, bowing his head as he settled into the shade of the tree. "This 'school' is not technically a school."

Jack looked at him for a moment, cocking his head to the side and smiling a little. "That's right." He said after a moment. He looked at Gwen, then Owen, and then Ianto. Out of the three of them, Owen was the one who looked the least surprised. Well, he didn't look surprised at all, and Jack knew why.

"Would you like to explain, Agent?" Owen smiled, looking directly the 51st-Century teenager. He chanced a peek at Gwen and Ianto- they looked ready to pass out.

"Agent?" Ianto gasped, looking at Jack. "What's he on about?"

Jack panicked. He had always known that this would come at some point, but he hadn't prepared what he was going to say. He took a breath, and let everything shutter off.

"I'm not exactly from around these parts," he said solemnly, the sadness stemming from the fact that he knew he was hurting Ianto in some way. "Not even this time. No, Ianto, close your mouth- I need to say this. I'm from the 51st century. I know that doesn't seem possible, but see on my wrist, this strap I've been wearing all the time? It's a vortex manipulator. I can jump between time gaps and periods."

"A few years ago," Owen jumped in, lifting his head slightly. "My dad set up a small, experimental research field with a few people in his faculty. Their aim was to prove that a window between centuries could be built so that we can literally set foot in the past and the future without harm, and come back. They were successful, and the window opened to the 51st century, where they found Jack's family. The field became more and more elaborate and experimental, and they eventually invented those wrist-straps. Now, it's an agency. An underground agency. They haven't named it yet, and my dad wouldn't even tell me what they did, but that does mean Jack and I met long before you two thought we met."

"Jack?" Ianto was hurt, but he didn't know why.

"Ianto, I'm sorry," Jack apologised, feeling a tug at his heartstrings as he watched Ianto's beautiful blue eyes fill with tears.

"Jack, no time," Owen said urgently, looking behind the tree. "The school is aimed at creating the 'perfect' students, 'perfect' citizens. Shit like that. Listen- we've got to go now. Music room. Pronto!"