We're In For It Now

'Jack!' Came the familiar shout through the Hub.

Jack jumped up from his desk and was at the computers in a flash. Ianto stood there staring at the screen. Everyone else had gathered around too.

'What?' He asked completely confused about what Ianto was looking at.

'Jack she's a direct descendant of Alice.'

'Alice? As in Alice Guppy?'

'Yeah. How many Alice's do you know? Wait . . . don't answer that.' Ianto said clearly irritated.

'Oh god! We're in for it now.'

Jack stared at the computer trying to find some fault in Ianto's findings.

'Yeah, what's your point Jack?'

'Alice Guppy is in the morgue.'

There was silence as Ianto, Jack and Gwen looked at each other wide eyed.

'Oh . . .' Ianto breather deflating.

'She's in the morgue, so what?' Martha said into the silence.

'If you're in the morgue it's because you've died in the line of duty.' Gwen said turning to face Martha.

'So she could have had kids. How long ago was this anyway?' said Mickey joining the conversation.

'Late 19th early 20th century. Back when you had to be devoted to the job 24/7. There was none of this family business like there is now. And besides, Emily would have killed Alice if she'd gotten pregnant.'

'Why?' Asked Gwen turning back to face Jack, with her head on a slight tilt.

'Because they were partners.' Jack said smiling ruefully at her.

'In what way?' Mickey asked totally oblivious to the effect the question had.

When he looked up at Jack he jumped at the seductive look the Captain's face that was so close to his.

'In every way.' Jack half whispered.

Mickey's face froze in a look of shock which made every one laugh.

'Any chance Alice could have had the child before she joined Torchwood?' Ianto asked.

'It's a possibility. Alice never talked about her past.'

'A bit like you Jack.' Smiled Gwen.

'Oh no. I tell a few things here and there. She said nothing. All I know is that she was in jail for theft when Emily found her.'

'There isn't much in the archives either, but I'll see what I can dig up.' Ianto offered, any excuse to escape to his sanctuary.

'Fine, but don't be too long we need that information and fast.' Jack agreed letting his lover escape to his hideout.

Ianto nodded then quickly headed in the direction of the archives. As Ianto walked away so did the others, to see what they could find on Adeline.

'Boss.' Mickey said tapping Jack, who stood behind him. 'I've managed to track down Adeline's medical records.'

'Under what name.' Jack asked turned to look at the screen.

'Gowper. She has good physical health but she is constantly in the emergency department.'

'For what?'

'Cuts, bruises, deep wounds, broken bones, you name it.'

'What ever she's doing it's not pretty.' Jack said looking at the screen. 'Good work Mickey.' He added patting his shoulder.

'Thanks Boss.'

'Jack.' Called Gwen as she came over with her hands full of papers. 'I got Andy to look these up for me from the station.'

'Wow that was quick.' Jack said smiling, evidently impressed.

'I called him while you were out.' Gwen said almost sheepishly as she handed the papers to Jack.

'She's got a criminal record?' He asked looking at Gwen and not the papers.

'No. Registration forms, for firearms.'

'Firearms?'

'As in more than one. She's got fifteen registered. Who knows haw many that aren't.'

'Wow! That's almost as many as we have? But if she's using guns then that would explain the injuries. Mickey anything about gunshot wounds on her medical reports?'

'Nothing Boss. Plenty of injuries but nothing like that.' Said Mickey from behind Jack.

'Okay, that's weird.' Martha said more to herself than to anyone else.

'Care to elaborate on "weird" Martha?' Jack said with his usually smirk. 'Cause a lot of things classify as "weird" around here.'

'Okay, we thought that Adeline's last entry was eighteen months ago, yeah. Just before you left here. But we're wrong. It was just over six months ago, just before the Earth was taken by Davros.'

'What does it say Martha?' Ianto said emerging for the archives empty handed.

'"He is coming, the three fold man. He dances in the lonely places. I flew into the wild and fire, I danced and dived a thousand times. Death is coming, I can see it. So cold and dark, fire is coming, the endless flames. This is have foreseen, in the wild and the wind. He will be here as witness at the end of everything. He and his precious children of time. I have seen at the time of ending, his soul will be revealed. His children will gather, and one of them will die. I have seen the end of everything Dalek."'

'Yeah that is creepy.' Ianto said eyeing up the blog entry as he passed it to the other computer.

'Tell me about it. But the thing is she doesn't write anything for a year after what we thought was her last entry. Just think of all those things that happened last year, let alone what happened while I was here. But she writes nothing.'

'Odd.' Jack said to him self and then promptly lost himself in his thoughts for a few second. 'Any luck of finding where she works.' He said out loud, once he remembered where he was, hoping someone would answer.

'Unemployed.' Ianto so consulting his screen.

'You're kidding.' Jack said turning to Ianto, an eyebrow raised.

'Well technically she doesn't have a job, but she does do a lot of free lance work as a blacksmith.'

'Wow! They still have blacksmiths these days?' Mickey said looking up at Ianto from where he sat on the chair next to him.

'Well they don't make armor and swords these days, mainly horse shoes and things like that.' Ianto said smiling at Mickey. 'Although . . .' He continued, 'I wouldn't be surprised if she was making swords and armor.'

'If she's making armor she's not wearing any of it.' Mickey said shaking his head. 'I could say that some of these injuries were made from swords or knifes. But . . .' Mickey wheeled around in his chair to face Martha. 'I'm going to need a second opinion.' He said with a cheeky smile. 'Doc?'

Martha rolled her eyes as she walked over to him and slapped him playfully on the arm. There was silence for few minutes as she read the screen, except for the occasional tap on the keyboard.

'It's possible. But the only way she'd have gotten these is from some pretty intense fighting.'

Jack was quiet for a bit weighing up the information in his head.

'Okay this is good. Anything on her family? We know her mother's name, any trace of her?' He said looking about him.

'Deceased.' Martha said still checking the medical records.

'When?' Jack asked folding his arms across his chest.

'Canary Wharf.'

'Shit! Really?' Ianto asked his voice strained slightly.

'Yeah. It doesn't say what her position was only the date she died.' Martha replied, her tone matching Ianto's.

'Okay, so as far as we know she's an orphan.' Jack said realising the pain between his colleagues', closing the conversation down very quickly.

There was a moment of silence, unspoken words of comfort that passed between Martha and Ianto. Martha placed a hand on Ianto's shoulder as she went back to her desk. This tiny action was unnoticed by Gwen who didn't really understand the battle all that much but Mickey saw the silent gesture and his face was suddenly riddled with guilt. He could feel his gut clenching with the same emotion. The others obviously picked up on this for both Martha and Ianto smiled at him and Jack playfully ruffled what hair he had.

'Is that everything we've got on her?' Jack asked after a few seconds had passed.

'Pretty much.' Gwen said looking at them all with her eye brows raised. 'What do we do know, Jack?'

'We find her.' Jack replied placing his hands in his pockets as he spoke.

'Well we don't have to look very far.' Ianto said tapping a few keys on his key board then looking up at the screen. 'She's outside.

'What?!' Everyone said in perfect unison as they crowded around Ianto at his station next to Mickey.

'Where?' Jack demanded, his brow furrowing deeply.

'On the lift.' Ianto said matter-of-factly in the only way Ianto could.

'What is she doing there?' Martha asked a little breathy, almost at a whisper.

'Well Ms Jones, she appears to be sitting down and reading what look like Tarot cards.'

Ianto grinned at Martha cheekily as she retuned it with an evil glare.

'Ianto how long has she been sitting there.' Jack asked.

'Let me just check.' Ianto tapped a few more keys and the CCTV footage sped backwards.

They all watched the screen, then after a minute or two Ianto tapped another key and images began to move at normal speed.

The camera showed a perfect shot of the lift and the area around it. They all watched a girl – Jack instantly recognised as Adeline, by her unique sense of fashion – walk straight up to the lift and sit down. Ianto stopped the play back and the whole team stared at the image of the girl waving up at the CCTV camera.

'Oh she is toying with us.' He said as he squinted at the tiny figure on the screen.

'Yeah, welcome to my world.' Jack said with a special glint in his eyes that was really only meant for Ianto.

'Okay, she has been sitting there since 7:30.' Ianto said, not wanting to test the subject of "toying with" with Jack, not while their colleagues were around. 'And it is now . . . 9:30. So she's been sitting there for two hours.'

'She's not about to go away is she Jack?' Gwen said with a smile, but it was more of a statement than a question.

'Nope.'

'So what do we do?'

Jack stood back from the computers so as to get a better look at his team's faces, all of them wearing the same bewildered look.

'We bring her in!'