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Chapter 4:
Gwen wrapped her arms round Jack and he clung onto her as if she was the one thing he had left. 'Jack,' she said quietly, letting go of him gently. 'There must be some way of contacting the Doctor without causing havoc in space and time or whatever. There's gotta be something!'
Jack closed his eyes for a moment as he thought, hard. They snapped open and he smiled.
'What is it?' Gwen asked.
'The Doctor's ship, the TARDIS had a phone connected. If we could get the number…'
'Jack, it's a bit of a long shot…' she said sceptically.
'Gwen, I've done my research. Years back, the Doctor worked for UNIT. If we can find out if they were in contact with him… we could –'
'What, phone him? And say what exactly? "Hello, I've been going to any lengths humanly possible to find you and now I have, so could you please come here so we can have a proper talk?"'
Jack sighed. 'You're right. A phone call would be too awkward. What would you do in my shoes?'
'Well, I'd probably carry on waiting. Until the time is right and he comes back on his own. How long ago was the battle at Torchwood One anyway?'
'About six months ago. That's when Ianto came up to Cardiff from working there. He was one of the few employees who survived…'
'Maybe… the Doctor needs time on his own. Maybe he doesn't want to come back yet. You said it yourself; Rose was born in the 21st century so perhaps he doesn't want to be reminded of it.'
'Except something is bound to happen soon, Gwen, that'll make him come. I can feel it. The Rift is getting more and more dangerous, it needs power to be drained from it which only the TARDIS can do, and it's sucking in time and space and spitting it out here on our very doorstep! He'll come back here if something happens. I know it.'
Gwen said nothing, just left the room to leave Jack in contemplative silence.
She didn't know whether Jack was fooling himself or whether he really could feel something happening. But then was she feeling something too? A feeling that she kept pushing to the back of her mind. Something was going to happen, and as Jack had said on their very first meeting: The 21st century was when everything changed. And they had to be ready.