"Excuse me?"

"You're human."

"But-" she started laughing. "Ha-ha. Very funny. Alright, really, what am I?"

"Human."

"You're serious?"

He sighed. "I don't know why I-" But she had left the room.

Annie paced about her bedroom. She was more surprised than angry though. 'Why did he keep this from me? I thought he would tell me everything!' she thought.

She groaned and pulled a book from her bookshelf. She tried to read it, it had been one of her favorites as a little girl. Her father had read from it to her every night. She had two copies. One in English, so she could read it easily, and one in its actual language, which her father was still teaching her. It was a book of fairy tales from her father's planet.

She tried to read from it, but her frustration pounded inside her skull and prevented her from being able to read the book. She threw it aside, managing to knock over her laptop.

She sighed with frustration and set it right again. Maybe a little fresh air would clear her mind? She pulled open the door to her bedroom, snuck through the console room, pulled open the door, and went outside.


Sitting down beside the TARDIS, she closed her eyes. The outside world was a calming place to her. It always had been after an argument with her father, even though that rarely happened. She breathed in the air that was so new, yet in a way, familiar. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the night sky. They were the same stars that she had seen her whole life, whether she had traveled to them or seen them in other night skies on other planets or stars. But this view... it was unbelievable.

She stood up. She needed a walk.

As she started walking, she became vaguely aware of a funny feeling. She felt as though someone was following her, or near her in any case. All she knew was that she could definitely not be alone wherever she was. But who was there? She whipped around, but saw no one. She walked quicker and heard a leaf crunch behind her. She turned again. No one.


Jack had returned to Torchwood hours ago. Now the Doctor was alone in the TARDIS.

The Doctor had been in his room for a while, thinking about Annie. She had always seemed fascinated with humans, just like he was. He couldn't blame her; he always spoke of them as if they were universe-changers. But they were. In such small ways, humans could change the course of time, even though they were such a small species. He had always been one for underdogs.

But there were also so many things wrong with humans. Oh! The Doctor could fill books telling of all of mankind's weaknesses! He had tried to explain that to Annie years ago when she had asked him about it, but she still didn't quite understand. He supposed she had to learn the hard way.

However, she didn't have to.

He got up and walked to Annie's room. Hesitantly, he stood at the door.

"Annie?" No answer.

He sighed, "Annie, I know this might be very hard for you to understand right now." Still, no one replied. He continued, "Listen, I think that maybe we should come to Earth some other time. It might not be very good to come here right now. Maybe we could go to Barcelona... Annie?"

He jiggled the handle a bit, and although it was supposed to be locked, the door creaked open.

"Annie?"

He opened the door wider and looked into the room. Not a soul was in that room.

The Doctor rushed to the pool room sure his daughter had gone swimming to clear her mind, but the water was still. In the library, none of the books had been touched. In the game room, all was silent.

He ran outside, to the fresh clean air of Earth. Then he made the mistake of looking ahead.


Arthur hadn't been to Earth in quite a while. He had been there when he was very young, maybe when he was about four years old. The air was much different than that of other planets, and its cool breeze almost made him delirious. He had separated from the rest of his crew twenty minutes ago, all of them scouting out the area.

Now he was on an empty street. He crept along it silently. Passing an old blue telephone box and turning left, he saw a girl walking with her shoulders slumped. Her black leather jacket was a bit long on her and her long honey brown hair was slightly damp, as if she'd taken a shower a while ago.

He made his way over to her, smirking. Maybe she could help him.


"Hey," Annie heard a soft voice behind her. Even with that one word, Annie could hear its seductive purr.

She didn't turn around, saying stiffly, "Hello."

"Oh, don't be like that. I'm not so bad." A pause. "Besides, you seem like a really nice girl."

Annie growled, "Leave me alone."

The man behind her sighed. "Look, I know it's been hard for you. And you probably have a lot on your mind... but I want you to be happy."

"What are you talking about? I'm fine." Annie sat down on the sidewalk.

The man sat down next to her, but she didn't look at him.

"Hey, you could always stay with me for a while. I might need help."

She sighed and looked at the man right in the eye. "Look, Mr. Harkness -"

"Mr. Harkness? Oh c'mon. You can call me Jack."

"Okay then, Jack, you know that I can't do that. It'd just break his hearts..."

Jack touched her hand. "I'm not talking about forever, sweet Annie. I'm just saying you can stay with me awhile so both of you can blow off some steam. Trust me, I know." He sighed. "It's what always worked for me."

"I don't know, Jack..."

"Annie?"

She looked at Jack. "Yeah?"

"I really do think it will help."

The way his voice sounded was so soft and so welcoming. Annie could feel herself drawing nearer to the man that she thought she despised.

"And you can stay here in Cardiff for a while at Torchwood. We help save the earth... kind of a lot. You'd be right at home."

Annie giggled and unconsciously moved closer to him. Jack smiled, hoping that he could help comfort her. If all went well, then both she and her father would be happy just like they had been before.

But the Doctor could be so unpredictable...

"But would that be alright?" Annie asked.

"Hm?"

"Would it be alright if I stayed at Torchwood for a while."

Jack cracked a smile. "Oh I'm sure the team wouldn't mind. They'd love to have you around."

Annie's eyes sparkled, but she shivered at the cold. Jack wrapped her in his arms and she snuggled into his arms. They sat like that for a few minutes until Annie looked up at him again. He didn't seem to be such a bad person after all...

"Annie..?"

"Hm...?" She was lost in his eyes.

He leaned in towards her and kissed her. And Annie kissed back.


The Doctor watched in horror. Then finding his voice again, he shouted, "Jack, get off of my daughter!"

Annie and Jack quickly pulled away from each other, the moonlight showing that both were now blushing.

"Dad! I-"

"What. Were. you. THINKING? !"

"That if i stay with you, I'd never experience the things humans and even aliens get to experience! A kiss!"

"You've kissed me hundreds of times."

"In a daughterly way! Not, like, THIS," Annie was obviously close to tears. She'd always gotten upset easily.

"Is that what you want? To lead a normal life?" The Doctor said this as if it were venom in his mouth

Annie picked up on this, "What's wrong with a normal life? What's wrong with being human? After all, you said that I'm human. Maybe it's about time I started acting like one!"

He himself was close to tears. He had to fix this. But he didn't know how.

"Whoa. You two calm down."

"Shut up Jack. How dare you try to seduce her?"

"Doctor. Leave him alone."

The Doctor almost gasped. Annie had never before to his knowledge called him 'Doctor'. It was always 'dad' when she was teasing, 'daddy' was the most common, and 'father' when she was irritated. But never 'Doctor'!

"Annie. I...I'm..."

"First you keep secrets about Earth, then about Jack and Rose Tyler, whoever she is, then about my being human. Why should I believe you anymore Doctor?"

"Stop calling me that! To you,I'm daddy, aren't I?"

"Why should you be?"

Oh no. Not that. Anything but her saying he was not her father.

"Jack offered me a place at Torchwood. Maybe I should take it."

"NO!"

Annie huffed, "Well what do you expect me to do, Doctor? After all that's happened, do you just expect me to just go on travelling like nothing ever happened?"

The Doctor sighed and remembered all the danger he had ever put her through. He didn't want her to go through all that pain again. Or even face worse than before.

He looked over at Jack, who was trying to hide his awkwardness by giving the Doctor a weak smile. The Doctor looked back at Annie, once again looking composed. Fine, he had torn his hearts out of his chest and broken them into little pieces. And she had kissed Jack Harkness out of all the men that she could have kissed. But he still knew what was best for her.

Which is why he did the unexpected.

"Alright, Annie," he began. "I'll let you live on Earth."

Annie's eyes widened and her expression showed confusion. "What?"

"You can stay here on Earth."

Annie's anger subsided. She looked at her father, then back at Jack Harkness. She remembered the type of man that Jack was. What was she thinking? She couldn't stay at Torchwood with that man. Deep down, she knew that he didn't love her, or at least not the way she would want him to.

"No, I want to stay here," she said with a distant voice, looking at the Doctor. But he returned her expression with one that she had only seen him give to only a few others. He looked at her as though she were separate from him and that she was just another alien to him.

Her face paled. She knew what he did to those he gave that expression to.

"Daddy, I'm sorry..."

The part that terrified her was the lack of expression he had. It was as if he were a statue. Or maybe a weeping angel. She was waiting for him to have that ugly expression once she blinked. She blinked. Nothing happened. His expression stayed the same.

"Annie, you don't understand. You never understood anything about me."

She was confused again, but didn't need to ask him to clarify it.

"You never understood what I had to do to protect you. You can't possibly understand why I had to keep everything from you. You're only human." He looked her in the eyes, but was still able to ignore the pleading that was so evident in them.

"I should never have taken you in. All I ever did was ruin your life."

"No! Daddy -"

"No, you need to live a human life. After all, that is what you really want. Then go ahead. Leave."

Jack stepped in. "Doctor, it really was my fault, don't do this to her."

The Doctor glared at Harkness. "This is for her own good. It had to happen sooner or later. Take her in. All she knows is the universe. Maybe you can still show her some of it."

All Jack could do was nod. He walked over to Annie. "C'mon, sweet Annie."

He gently tugged her arm.

"No!" She nearly screamed. The Doctor gave her a long look as though he was observing her. She tried looking into his eyes, but just like the rest of him, they were cold.

"Daddy..."

There was a tug at her arm again. "C'mon."

"No..."

The Doctor turned away from her and went back to his console.

Annie turned away and walked out the door with Jack,tears pouring down her cheeks. But she looked back for just one moment before the door closed. And in that moment, she could have sworn that she had seen her father look back at her, with a tear sliding down his cheek.