This chapter is dedicated to PCJanto and Badly-knitted for their faithful reviewing. Thank you so much guys. And thank you also to everyone reading still.

Chapter 22 The morning after

Ianto was brewing yet another pot of coffee. They had already gone through the first pot he had made that morning. It had been rather nerve racking for them - all right… for him - to wait this long. Orion and Warwyn had disappeared into their room a day and a half ago and had yet to come back out. Toshiko had pulled off some of her tech magic and tracked the kids into the locker room; they had seen the CCTV footage of Orion carrying Warwyn into their room and Toshiko has set up a sensor to monitor the door. Jack's response to the kids' behaviour had been predictable. Ianto had practically had to beat him off with a stick. Jack had kept mumbling something about pheromones in the air and seeing Owen and Toshiko making out in the medical bay was unusual enough for him to think that there might be something about it.

In the end Jack had sent all of them outside into the fresh air. Once outside it was if a fog had lifted and they were all able to think coherently again. He and Jack had spent the night at a hotel before going back into the Hub early this morning. The kids still had not come out. Oh, he had no illusions as to what they were doing, nor was he upset about it. Not really. What bothered him was the fact that they were both so young. They shouldn't be engaging in such adult behaviour so soon. They should be allowed to play and remain children for longer than that. A fifteen month long childhood was just too short and poor Warwyn was even younger than Orion. It – s/he - had only just found his/hers gender. He was soon startled out of his thoughts, by Jack who came and put his arms around him, hugging his waist from behind.

"They're going to be fine." He said, accurately guessing his fiancée's thoughts.

"But they're both so young." Ianto protested turning in Jack's arm to look at him. Jack laughed softly.

"Nothing wrong with starting young." He winked. "I started young too, you know."

"How am I not surprised?" Owen said, stepping into the kitchen in search of his morning coffee.

"Morning Owen. Morning Tosh." He called to the latter whom was passing the kitchen on her way to her workstation. Ianto released himself from Jack's hug and set about finding their cups and getting things ready.

"Any way, just be thankful they're not making you a grandfather already, teaboy." Owen had a slightly malicious glint in his eyes, though only Jack noticed. Ianto was to busy cursing in welsh as he had almost hit his head on the cabinet door. Jack frowned and sent Owen a glare. The snarky doctor just smirked in return. Toshiko appeared in the doorway, having heard the conversation.

"How do you know that they're not?" she asked, suddenly very concerned for the two youths. A teen pregnancy was the last thing they needed to deal with right now. Owen laughed a little at Jack's and Ianto's twin expressions of shock and horror. It wasn't often that he could pull a fast one on the pair of them, other than the cheap shots they had come to expect of him.

"Xarion told me. They're both unfertile until they're about ten years old." Ianto sighed loudly with relief and sagged against Jack who automatically put his arm around his shoulder.

"Well, that's one less worry, then. You know, you could have told us that sooner." Jack glared at Owen, who smirked in satisfaction.

"Now what would be the fun in that?" he said. Before the others could respond, there was the sound of an alarm going off and Tosh hurried over to her workstation. She activated the computer and pressed some buttons and soon stated that the sensor on the kids' door had been activated.

xxXxx

Orion's smile could light up the entire Hub, it was so bright. Warwyn was also smiling back at him; with a look of such utter devotion it made his knees go weak. Warwyn was his and he was Warwyn's. They had just spent a day and half making love over and over again and he was sure that had it not been for their hunger they would have happily stayed in bed. Their bond was singing with their shared happiness and his body, though aching a little from the exertion, was tingling with the remembered pleasure. He had never known how truly amazing it felt to experience it first hand. He had spied on his parents sometimes when training his abilities and knew how great it could be, but to actually experience it for himself… he smiled at Warwyn again, making it blush when it knew his thoughts.

They were almost at the main floor of the Hub, when he just had to kiss his mate again. With a sudden move he swung around and pinned him/her against a wall and kissed him/her. Warwyn smiled into the kiss and kissed back with fervour. Orion was tempted to turn around and head back to their room, when Warwyn's stomach made a loud rumbling noise and they broke the kiss chuckling.

"Come on." He grabbed his/hers hand and pulled him/her along. Warwyn hesitated slightly at the entrance to the main floor, feeling embarrassed, but Orion pulled it along with a smile and a tug on his/her hand. When they entered the main floor it was to the sight of Jack, Ianto, Toshiko and Owen sitting around the coffee table having breakfast. Gwen it seemed hadn't arrived yet. Orion waved at them all and said:

"Morning." Warwyn was blushing and half hiding behind him. The others all looked at them with happy expressions. It was clear they were not put off by what he and Warwyn had been doing.

"See?" he whispered to Warwyn, who smiled softly at him. He pulled him/her with him as he went over to the adults.

"Got room for us?" he asked and they moved around a little to accommodate them. Plates and cups of tea also found their way in front of the pair and soon they were munching on their breakfast. Warwyn refused to let go of Orion's hand, but Orion just worked around it and at one point he brought up their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of Warwyn's. A gesture that wasn't lost on the adults, who discretely cooed and awed, though Owen tried to hide it.

"Oh," Orion suddenly said toward the end of the meal. The adults looked at him. "I think we owe you an apology for the way we've behaved lately." He indicated him self and Warwyn. "We haven't really been our selves. Owen," he looked pointedly at the man who was looking a little cautious at them. "I owe you an apology in particular. I shouldn't have attacked you like I did." Owen cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably.

"That's all right. Didn't do any harm, kid. Just don't do it again." Orion nodded and Warwyn beamed at Owen. It was a relief to know that Orion's family wasn't holding any grudges against them for their behaviour. S/he had been rather nervous about that. The last thing s/he wanted was to drive a wedge between Orion and his family. Toshiko reached out and smilingly stroked Warwyn's hair, causing him/her to smile beatifically at her. A week ago Orion would have been growling angrily at her, but now he just smiled at her and finished his tea. A fact that didn't go unnoticed by the adults either.

Jack and Ianto were looking on in a mixture of pride and love for their son and now also for his mate. Orion had changed and grown so much in such a short time. He had faced such terrible adversity and overcome them and now here he was with his delightful mate and a bright future. Ianto grabbed Jack's hand in an unconscious mirror of their son and alien-hermaphrodite-in-law. Jack smiled back at him.

"Arghh, I think I'm going to be sick." Owen sent them a pretend disgusted look. He was holding Toshiko's hand discretely, so the others wouldn't notice his lapse into fluffiness. Ianto rolled his eyes at him.

"Physician, heal thy self." Jack stated and kissed his Ianto on the forehead. The others snickered as Owen hmphed.

That was when Xarion decided to arrive. The breakfast scene was broken up and they were scrambling each their separate way to get on with the days task, when Xarion whistled and got their attention.

"I have some news." He said as they all stopped what they were doing. "We have reason to believe, that we may have found your missing people." Pandemonium broke out as everyone was asking him questions at once. He held up his hand for silence.

"We have analyzed the data on Lartorc's ships computer and managed to track the energy signature on its way to the location. As you may know any transmat can be traced, for security purposes, in case a person being transported ends up in the wrong place." Toshiko, Warwyn and Jack were nodding. Ianto and Orion looked interested and Owen looked bored. "We were finally able to break through the encryption codes and sort out the tracking program and the recorded data. We believe that the transported people were brought to this planet." He held up a holographic projector and activated it to show a brown-green planet. "I am not familiar with your designation of the planet, but my people refer to it as Sigmatu 19. It's relatively close to Earth, about the same distance as Hallow IV is to Earth, but in the opposite direction. I've been sent to ask if you wanted to come along to investigate." He smiled.

xxXxx

The planet of Sigmatu 19 floated calmly in space outside the window of the craft. Jack was seated in one seat with Gwen in the other. The Micurii'an commander and Saluvian pilot were occupying the remaining seats. It had been a short journey; just a single Jump to bring them here and now they were waiting for the scans to be complete and show them where to find the population they were looking for. It turned out to not be difficult. 161 mio. people were rather difficult to overlook.

When they flew down, they were shocked by the horrendous conditions the people had suffered under. Lartorc had dumped them all in one place without food, water or shelter. They literally only had with them what had been on their body when they were transported. People at the outer edge of the population had been able to forage for food and drink, but those in the centre had the choice of starving or trying to pass through the crowd, which would be a several day long journey due to the sheer number of people.

To make matters worse there were various groups of military, police and militia who were armed and taking advantage of the situation. Crime and abuse of power was rampant and the government was all but non existent. People had rallied together in enclaves or small groups, seeking protection and strength in numbers, while others had tried to survive on their own.

Jack frowned. He had seen this type of behaviour before on a colony world where the social structure had collapsed and left a primitive survival of the fittest society in its stead. The place had been marked by anarchy and a total absence of morality; it had been a place where children would murder their parents for a weapon and adults would hunt the children for food. He shuddered at the memories and hoped that things had not regressed as much here.

They brought the craft down near a rocky area a short distance from the people. The Bangladeshi people were staring at the craft in fear, which was hardly surprising since they – most likely - had never seen a spaceship before. Gwen wanted to rush out and calm them down, but Jack managed to restrain her. Instead he and the two aliens, the Micurii'an commander Reny and the Saluvian pilot Morchak, sat down and discussed a strategy. Finally a plan of action had been agreed upon and they were ready to set it in motion.

Reny activated the speaker system and nodded to Jack. He drew in a deep breath and spoke into the handheld communicator tied to the system.

"Greetings people of Bangladesh." He hoped enough of them spoke English. Sometimes he really missed the Tardis and its translations abilities. He smiled, knowing a great big holographic image of him was floating above the spacecraft.

"My name is Captain Jack Harkness. I am human, just like you and have come from Earth to find you." On the monitor he could see the people responding, talking excitedly and pointing at his image and at the spacecraft. "This ship belongs to some friends of ours who have agreed to help us. There is no need to be afraid. We only wish to help." He paused and looked at the screen to see if there was any sign of a mass panic. Often when you told someone not to panic, they would go ahead and do exactly that. But other than the natural apprehension and distrust there were no untoward displays of unreasonable fear.

"You were transported here by a mad man called Lartorc. He is now dead. Unfortunately the technology he used to bring you here has been destroyed also. We are trying to find the means to bring you back home to Earth, should you wish it." Again he paused, this time to let his words sink in. It was true. They were searching for another device such as the one Lartorc had used, but the technology was extremely rare and costly. So far they had not found any who possessed it. They did however have a number of ships and could evacuate approximately 100.000 people at a time. But the process with loading and unloading the ships would be painstakingly long in duration. It would also cause a real headache in terms of keeping it a secret from the rest of the world, though Jack was willing to let the rest of the world think what it would, if these people could go home.

"You have a choice now. We can bring you back to Earth or you can remain here and build a new society." He let the words sink in. "We can offer you some basic supplies and tools, but most of the work will be done by you. We offer you no guaranties of any kind. What you make of your life here is up to you. Thank you." The communications system was cut off. They would replay the message several times as they flew over the crowds, to ensure that as many as possible heard it. Then they called in their findings to the command centre on Hallow IV.

A few hours' later three larger ships arrived loaded with food, bottled water, blankets, tents and other necessities. The ships would fly over, light up an area and send out a high pitched frequency to scatter the people within the lit up area and then they would transmat the stuff in. A new display of anarchy occurred around the supplies as some would try and hoard the stuff. Jack had been rather amused at one ship commander's solution. The man has simply tranmatted the food away from the hoarders and set it down in a new area a small distance away. The method was soon applied at all the drop sites and the people soon caught on.

Jack had never been more appreciative of the Micurii'an and Saluvian emergence response forces than he was then. They had the stuff already loaded on the ships and had only needed to scramble some crew and could go anywhere with their hyper Jump technology. It would take them longer to accumulate and load the equipment needed for mass colonizing a planet in such large numbers, just as it would take a long time to bring everyone home again. But if it hadn't been for them, then the Bangladeshi would have been stranded without help.

When more ships arrived they held more meetings to determine what needed doing and in which order. It was decided that the people needed to be split up physically, since the large population crowding together in one place was too dangerous, both in terms of violence but also in terms of lack of sanitation. They would tell the people to go to some designated areas to the north, west and east. To the south was a large mountain range and the weather was too severe. Those that went to the east and west would stay on the planet and those choosing to go home to Earth would go to the north. The old, the sick, the injured and those otherwise unable to travel would remain and would be contacted directly. Thus the first mass migration on Sigmatu 19 started.

Those that opted to remain were each granted a standard package of items, consisting of such things as a blanket, knife, axe, shovel, metal pot, pan and water bottle. Even the youngest children were entitled to such a package, though most often the parents would hold onto them. Each package also contained a map of the continent, with a small picture of the world in one corner and a second map showing a more detailed look of the general region they were in.

Jack had been amazed to discover that all these packages were created by civilian Saluvians and Micurii'ans, who used their abilities to transform stones and blades of grass into useful objects. It was a massive undertaking, but he never heard any complaints or grumblings from their allies. When he later discussed it with Xarion the young man had just smiled and said that they had themselves been pulled back from the brink of annihilation and how the Goddess had granted them the ability to transform themselves and objects around them, so that they may help themselves and others lead better lives. By helping the Bangladeshi they had been reminded of how good they had it and how generous their Goddess was. It was their duty to emulate her generosity, he had said. Jack knew a similar thought lay behind a lot of the relief and social work on Earth. What ever the motivation, he was glad that the people got some help.

It took several months before all the Bangladeshi' were returned to Earth, much to the discontent of those who had had their eyes set on the vacant land and properties. About two fifths had opted to return making it a total of about 64,5 mill. people that needed to be brought home. It had been a massive undertaking and they had not been able to keep it quiet from the world. The media interest had been enormous, but Jack had managed to keep Torchwood's involvement out of the public eye. The Saluvians and Micurii'ans refused to deal with any government officials, no matter how hard they tried. Instead they talked with Torchwood, who dealt with UNIT and UNIT handled the rest of the world. It worked somehow.

It was not without incident and UNIT had to step up to the plate a few times and enforce the Bangladeshi' rights to their land and their supremacy as a nation. The Bangladeshi government struggled to maintain law and order and it took a long while before the dust settled again. But in the end that region stabilised as focus was drawn elsewhere, on the border disputes between India and Pakistan and as trouble in the Middle East once again stole the headlines. The Saluvians and Micurii'ans continued to help the new colony of humans on Sigmatu 19 for a whole year until they slowly withdrew and let them get on with it by them selves.

Yay, the Bangladeshi are missing no more. I couldn't just leave them to a fate unknown, now could I?

With their return I fear we are almost at the story's end.

Chapter 21 was the chapter that sparked this entire verse and I am going to miss Orion and Warwyn.

I only have the epilogue left and then it's on to other stories *sighs*

(I feel as if my baby has grown up and is leaving home).