A hurriedly packed bag and a few barked orders later, Jack and Ianto had bundled themselves into the nearest car, which happened to be Owen's, cursing at the stalling engine. Deciding he didn't have time for this, Jack had pulled him out of the car and thrown him into the van instead. Now they were stuck behind the traffic jam from Hell on the motorway, Jack fidgeting and Ianto tapping the steering wheel impatiently.

"COME ON!" Jack hit the dashboard with the flat of his hand, regretting it immediately.

"Sir? Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"With all due respect, what's so important about this Miss Tyler? Why are you so desperate to get to her?"

"Rose. Beautiful Rose," Jack rubbed his hand, staring wistfully out of the window at the seemingly endless line of cars. "I travelled with her for a while. Me, her and the Doctor." Ianto nodded, understanding filtering into his mind. He'd been the one Jack had trusted to tell about the Doctor – why, he didn't know, but knowing how deeply the captain felt about it all, he'd been…well, honoured, he supposed, to be the confidante. Maybe that was why, unusually, he'd been asked to come along.

"I see," he said. "She's the one-"

"-who made me what I am. Yeah," Jack sighed. "The bad wolf." He pronounced the words carefully, deliberately. "Rose Tyler, time goddess." He laughed out loud. "She meant a lot to me. They both did. She might not be able to kill herself, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let her try anymore. I've got to help her."

"What about the Doctor? Don't they travel together anymore?"

"I would have thought so. I've got a feeling that he's involved in whatever's making her do this, though. When I get my hands on him…"

-

They finally reached London just after dusk, both exhausted but intent. Ianto drove them round for what seemed like hours before a flash of blue lights and a deserted road caught Jack's eye. He hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary, but a voice in his head told him that this was where they should look. Turning into the road, Ianto barely had chance to stop the van before Jack had jumped out the door and was running towards the small group of policemen.

"Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood," he said hurriedly, flashing a piece of paper at the closest officer. "I thought you people told me she was locked up!"

The officer looked at him, white faced. "Should've been here an hour ago, mate. She got out. The station was chaos; I've never seen anything like it! I don't know what the Hell she is, but…she blew the door off. Locked in an empty cell with no weapons, and she blew the door off!"

Jack scanned the area, looking for any sign of Rose.

"Can't find her anywhere," the officer said. "We know she's here somewhere, but she must be bloody good at hiding. Got here about ten minutes ago and there she was in the middle of the road, throwing cars around like bits of paper! The more she tries, the more she fails, the angrier she gets."

"Rose really wants to die, doesn't she? God, I'm going to kill him for this!" Jack walked away from the officer and towards the bridge. On the other side, cars were deserted, strewn across the road like rubbish.

"Jack?" Startled, he looked up. Rose was there, standing on the edge of the bridge, smiling. "I knew you'd come…I knew you were here. I could sense you."

"Rose, you have to stop this!"

"You sound like him."

"Rose, come down. We can help you, just stop this."

"I wanted to tell you I was sorry, for what I did to you. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was so wrong. This isn't right."

"Come down, Rose, please."

Jack stared in horror as Rose smiled at him again, but this wasn't Rose's smile. She spoke again, but it wasn't her voice. "Oh, I'll come down."

And, head first, she jumped.