Jack Harkness stood as close as he could to the blazing building, watching as the firemen weighed up the situation and decided if it was safe enough to go in. Without thinking he stepped towards one of them, ignoring the man's arm pressing against his chest to keep him away. He was short and stocky, his face flushed red from the heat of the flames, his dull blue eyes watering at the intensity. Probably the oldest, most experienced – the most tired of everyone here. He'd probably seen a million fires like this, used to having people prying their way towards the scene, putting themselves in danger.

'Have you got anybody out?' Jacks's voice was suddenly desperate and frightened. 'My niece was in there!' an easy enough lie. Why did it matter how he knew her, as long as they knew she was in there.

He wasn't necessarily going to wait for them to pull her from the wreckage, but he'd give them a chance, another few seconds before he went in himself. Jack wanted in and to get her out, away from the rest of the team. No doubt Tosh would do a search once they'd matched the girls image to that on her records, and they'd realise she wasn't just a normal bystander caught up in some freak accident.

Accident. Nathaniel had known what he was doing, but why?

Why now?

It had been so long since Jack had seen those eyes, those curved lips; he could already feel the past trying to drag him down. He shook his head.

'We're doing the best we can, Sir, if you could just step back behind the yellow tape.'

A giant cracking sound wailed and wood panelling splintered as the roof fractured and split. 'Sir! Behind the tape! Now!' running off towards the fire engine, the fireman wound the hose out as far as it would go. Voices shouted from every man standing, orders being barked left and right to try and gain control of the situation.

Something in Jack only saw the image of the man from the CCTV and without a word he chucked off his greatcoat and headed towards the restaurant, now a crazed inferno.

'Owen, what do you expect me to find? Armani jacket and dark hair – that classes most businessmen within Cardiff's perimeter!' Toshiko breathed, exasperated. She didn't like not being able to help, but how far was she going to go with that analysis? 'I've picked something else up around Wendlebys. There's just been a sudden spike – where's Jack? I don't know how long we've got until it moves again.'

'This is just one man, Tosh. If we can't catch him, what good are we? Maybe he just wants a new suit.' He added with a chuckle. Nodding his head towards Rosie, Owen slipped out of the car and glanced around. Where was Jack?

'He just ran towards the building! Does he have a bloody death wish?'

'He won't last, the roofs about to give way! We'll be blamed for this. Bleeding Police can't keep control of the crowd.'

Moving over towards the two firemen, Owen bobbed his head as one of them turned to face him. Faces contorted in frustration, he could see they were fighting with themselves, holding the fire hose in a firm grip, waiting to tackle the building. How were they going to do their job if people were in there? How did that man even know that someone was in there, surely everyone had escaped, and as if to confirm this, the man glanced over his shoulder at the people straining against the safety line.

Smeared faces, tear stained cheeks, eyes full of interest and fear.

'Alright, mate? What's going on?'

'You with the ambulance, are you? Some bloke just ran straight for it, left his coat on the floor down there. Reckon he wanted to play the hero.' He shook his head with a grimace. 'Never works out. Such a waste – hey, where are you going?'

Owen moved further towards the scene, squinting through the smoke and flying debris. Jack couldn't die, sure, but what the hell would this do to him? If that roof collapsed, how would they even get him out? Then having to explain how he was walking the next week would cause a bit of a problem. But it seemed Captain Jack Harkness had acquired a knack of getting out of even the most trickiest situations.

Suddenly a man passed him, helmet on, visor down, the fireman headed straight towards the building without a moment's hesitation. If he stopped, thought about it, then the fear would strike and they were running out of time. They needed the people out before the fire really did get out of hand. This man was taller, strongly built, muscled, strong jaw and determined eyes.

'Get back, sir. We're handling this.'

Owen didn't listen, only moving when one of the men pulled him back determinedly. The taller man charged towards the fire, another behind him. Owen watched with wide eyes, unsure if he should be frightened for them, or if he should tell them Jack would handle it. Didn't he always? A gust of smoke blew each window out in quick succession, the glass flying out towards the crowd, scratching faces, falling to the floor with jingles and clinks. The thick, black smoke roared up into the sky, covering everything within its reach. Louder now, they could hear the fire inside, roaring, hungry, wanting to take its feed on the two people inside.

The two firemen had been knocked off their feet, one of them with a sickeningly large shard of glass in his right leg.

In his element, Owen instantly turned into Dr Owen Harper, experienced SHO, and barged past anyone who got in his way. 'We need two stretchers, quick –'

'This is one for the ambulance, mate –' one of the men tried, but as Owen looked up, his eyes held such a ferocity it made the fireman take a step back.

'Trust me, I'm a doctor.'

'Tosh, are you there?'

Pressing a finger to her earpiece as she heard Ianto Jones' voice come through, Toshiko nodded her head and she tried to scrabble into the front seat of the SUV.

'I'm here, Ianto. Is everything alright?' There was a slight pause and she could hear a crackling sound, like something was scrambling the intercoms. 'Ianto?'

'There's been a shooting outside a coffee shop in town.' Another crackle and a hiss, like a radio trying to find the right frequency. 'I thought it was just a regular job for the Police, but then I saw something strange.' He sounded almost breathless and Toshiko figured he'd been running along with the other shoppers. 'It was near Wendlebys. I was going to get a new shirt for work – the last one got Weevil blood on it, impossible to get out you know –'

'Ianto…'

'Sorry. Anyway, one minute he wasn't there, and then he was. This man just appeared out of thin air, stole a suit and shot the shop assistant who tried to stop him. Then he just vanished.'

Smoke wasn't something Jack was a fan of. It was alright when it flowed around the foot of the stage and sexy men and women swayed through it, miming to famous songs, but not as fun when it was thick, heavy and blinding, followed up with growling flames. Now that he was inside the building it hadn't seemed like such a good idea. Hell, when had it ever been a good idea?

Fear if he didn't find Alice he'd never find out what Nathaniel was doing back here struck him, and kept him going on.

The lumpy armchairs were charred black, the fire racing along the back of the restaurant, licking at the bar and cracking the mirrored wall behind. Everything was stained, burning, peeling, his feet hardly visible through the dense clouds. Something soft hit his foot and for a moment Jack thought he'd found her, but bending and reaching out he felt the sopping corpse of the waiter and knew he was wrong.

Throwing his arm up to cover his face, Jack continued forward, treading cautiously, the sound of smashing glass evident even over the crackling fire.

Something in him wouldn't call out her name, worried that if no reply came he'd begin to believe it was all a dream - when hadhe last dreamt? And if a voice did cry, it would send him back into the past, leaving the smoke to render him unconscious and the blaze to kill him over and over until someone found his seared remains.

And then there she was, rolled onto her side behind an upturned table.

The flames seemed to stay at the back of the building, skating along the edge of the walls and up towards the ceiling, but the floor appeared only misted with smoke. Feeling his lungs threatening to close, Jack coughed into his arm, his eyes losing focus as consciousness threatened to slip away. He knew the ground would be clearer, he could crawl easily towards her, but time wasn't on his side and he wanted to get out as soon as possible.

Scooping up the body, Jack shifted her in his arms, turning around to leave when a beam in the ceiling fractured and dropped before him. A cloud of smoke erupted in his face, there was no other option but to turn and go back the other way. There had to be a back exit – wasn't that some rule that building agents had for emergencies? How ironic, he scoffed.

And maybe it was his imagination, the fire and the smoke playing with his mind, but the locket that hung around Alice's neck, dipped down the valley of her breasts seemed to be throbbing. Not her, as her chest rose and fell – which it did very weakly, slowly – but the actual metal locket throbbed like a beating heart, emitting its own heat which burnt at his face. There was a yell behind him, he could hear the people outside screaming and crying, and over everything the sound of Owen Harper ordering people around.