A/N: At last, updates! I finally broke through my writer's block, and came out with this mess. Whew! It was actually longer, but I finally found a place to split the chapters. I'm not a fan of splitting one scene into different chapters, but this seemed like a good place. *Edited slightly, as I read over it and noticed some problems.

I'm getting rather discouraged by the lack of feedback, guys. Like it or hate it, please let me know. And if you like it, spread the word, tell your friends!

And a massive thank you to the…what, 3 of you, who have reviewed. You made my day!

Disclaimer: If I owned them, RTD wouldn't be allowed anywhere near them. And Children of Earth? Yeah…wouldn't have happened.

The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets as he exited the TARDIS, looking out at Cardiff in the starlight. He stepped aside for Donna to follow him, before tugging the blue door closed. A man in a suit stood calmly in front of them, like a butler waiting for his guests.

"Ianto Jones," the Doctor said merrily, striding up to the man. This was the first time they'd met in person, but he remembered him from the "Intergalactic Facebook" as Donna had termed it. "Lovely to see you. And not under threat of impending apocalypse."

Ianto smiled. "And you, sir. Ma'am." He nodded at Donna, hands clasped behind his back. "This way please."

The Doctor and Donna exchanged a look, and followed the man as he led them through a run-down tourist office into the depths of Torchwood. As the giant cog door rolled back, Ianto led the pair inside the heart of Torchwood. The Time Lord stuck his hands in his pockets, looking around with an accepting eye. It wasn't the corporate Torchwood he'd dealt with before—Jack truly was keeping it on a more personal level. And speaking of the captain…

"Doctor," Jack greeted, coming out of some sort of board room.

"Captain," the Doctor answered, nodding at him. He just barely suppressed a groan as Jack turned his eyes to Donna, a flirty smile lighting up his face.

"And Miss Donna Noble," Jack said, taking her hand and kissing it with a wink. Donna blushed, smiling back, as the Doctor rolled his eyes at them.

"Anyway," the Doctor said loudly, causing the two to break apart. Jack gave Donna a look, like a little boy who'd been chastised, before switching into a more appropriate "business" mode.

"Anyway," Jack echoed, leading them deeper into the Hub. Martha came up the steps from the autopsy bay, a young man just behind her. His expression was stoic, though there was something in his eyes akin to shock and worry. She smiled at the Doctor and Donna, taking off her latex gloves. The Doctor smiled back at her, before his gaze went to the young man. He wasn't someone from the Torchwood crew that he knew, yet there was something distinctly familiar about him. The Doctor just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Doctor," Jack said. "We called you here, because earlier two people came through the Rift. Two people we thought you needed to meet."

The Doctor looked at Jack, concern and confusion in his eyes. He didn't much care for the sound of that. At his look, the young man stepped forward, hand extended to the Doctor. "Antony Tyler," he said, as the Doctor took his hand. "You…knew my sister."

The Time Lord stared at the man in utter shock. Yes…that was why he looked so familiar. He was a younger version of Pete Tyler, with perhaps just a little bit of Jackie thrown in. The Doctor couldn't think of a response, so many questions going through his mind. His mouth was dry at the possibilities of what the young man's presence might mean. He remembered Jackie mentioning a son, Tony…but the man's advanced age could mean any number of things. And Jack had said two people had come through the Rift…

Movement in another part of the Hub finally caused the Doctor to drop Tony's hand. He looked to see a girl coming off of a spiral staircase, Gwen Cooper behind her. The woman the Doctor recognized, but his eyes stayed on the girl. She froze at the sight of him, and was staring at him with a mixture of terror, sorrow, and pain.

"Oh," she said, the small noise escaping her like a mouse's squeak. "Oh…but that's just not fair." Jessie stared at him, looking as though she was only a breath away from bursting into tears. She appeared to have only just gotten out of the shower, her braid damp and skin still glistening. Her black tank top showed her skinny arms, a few scars dotting them in random places.

"Jessie," Tony said softly, having turned to see his niece. She switched her gaze to him, her eyes becoming even more pained. He could see the weight of what they'd lost settling on her, and took a step towards her. She took a step back, grabbing her jacket from a chair.

"I can't, Tony," she said, her breath hitching a bit. For a moment her eyes flickered back to a very confused Doctor. Tony walked over to her as she zipped up her jacket, and placed a hand on her arm. She shrugged it away, heading for the door. "I just…I can't."

The teenager made a quick exit, avoiding anyone else's eyes. Tony seemed turn between staying and chasing after her. "Ianto," Jack said quietly. The Welsh man obediently went after the girl, just to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't wander into trouble. Tony sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair as he slowly approached the Doctor again.

"Sorry," he said, looking up at the Time Lord. "We weren't…we didn't think you'd…we sort of figured that if we ran into you at all, you would have regenerated by now. We just weren't expecting you to look like him."

"Wait a minute," Donna said. "Who was that?"

Tony looked at her a moment, before looking back at the Doctor. "My niece," he said softly.

The Doctor's expression changed, a pained understanding mixing with the shock. "Your niece," he repeated slowly.

"What—but that means…" Donna started. Tony nodded.

"Rose's daughter," he said. "Jessie…her name's Jessie."

Donna looked at the Doctor, though he just stared at Tony, his mouth finally closing. "That's why she sort of freaked when she saw you," Tony continued. "It's been one hell of a day…and you sort of have her dad's face."

After a long moment, the Doctor turned and gave Jack a look, clearly expecting an explanation. Jack wordlessly turned and led the way into the board room.

Everyone filed in, Tony coming last. Torchwood hadn't actually heard the story behind the duo's mysterious appearance—Martha had called the Doctor as soon as they had told Jack who they were. It had been decided that it would be easier to wait until they were all together to hear the story. As everyone sat around the table, Tony remained standing, looking a bit out of his depth. He ran a hand over the back of his head again, searching for words. He was a fighter, not a speaker. He left that stuff to the other half of the Tyler clan.

"Bloody hell," he muttered. "Where to start…" Walking around the edge of the table, he sank into a chair. After a moment, he opened his mouth to start.

"There was a war." All heads in the room turned to look at the door, where the owner of the voice was standing. Jessie stood, arms crossed across her chest, looking coldly into the room. Donna was struck by how much the girl reminded her of the Doctor. She had his eyes, and at the moment looked for all the world like the Time Lord, when he was tired and the weight of his existence shown through his eyes.

Pushing off the doorframe, Jessie entered the room, Ianto silently coming in behind her and taking a seat. Tony closed his mouth, and folded his hands on the table, content to let his counterpart take up the story.

"It started four years ago," Jessie continued. "There were whispers of movement, along the edges of the solar system. Torchwood was on high alert…but then, Torchwood was almost always on high alert. There was nothing about it though, to prepare us for what happened." She took a breath, looking at the people around the table for a brief moment.

"The heads of state were gathered at one of their diplomatic functions. Gramps and Gran were there, since he aided the President. Mum and Dad would have had to be there too, but they hated those things. They were always making up stories to get out of them." Her gaze turned wistful, and a small smile crossed her face as she stared off. "One time Dad told the President that they had to stop this robot cockroach…" she broke off suddenly, swallowing hard. The smile was gone, and her eyes had somehow settled on the Doctor, a darkness clouding her expression.

"Anyway," she started again. "That's when it started. The zeppelin was attacked, out of nowhere. Despite the warnings…no one had expected it. No one thought they were so close. But they took the zeppelin, and broadcast it out to the world. They wanted us to see what was going to happen to the world. Starting with our leaders. They wanted the human race to behold their fate." Jessie paused, taking a deep breath.

"Everyone on board the zeppelin...they just…killed them. Right then. No negotiations…they were just…dead." Jessie ended up behind Tony, one hand going to his shoulder. He reached up and squeezed it, a haunted look in his eyes as he remembered the night his parents had been killed. A quiet moment passed, and Jessie took a step back, returning to her slow pacing down a side of the room.

"Fortunately, Gramps had been able to get word to Mum, when the zeppelin was taken. When it looked like things were going to go bad, Torchwood sent out the word. See, after the Cyberman attack," she nodded at the Doctor, "the world's governments had underground passages built. Safe havens. A virtual underground city, where the people of Earth could hide, should they ever come under invasion. So Mum sent out the word, for everyone to go. And that's what saved us, for as long as it did.

"The Raxons…that's what they were called…they poisoned the atmosphere. Within the first year, estimates were that a third of the world's population was dead. Eventually, we had to quarantine off the entrance hatches to the surface, because the gases could leach in. Anyone who volunteered to go up to gather supplies was going on a suicide mission. If the Raxons didn't bomb them, then they would be dead in six months, just from the gas. The masks we had just weren't good enough." Jessie looked over, her gaze settling on Martha.

"I knew a Doctor Martha Jones. She looked like you, parallel world and all. She volunteered to stay in the quarantined areas, and treat the men who were running supply missions. Died…probably a year and a half ago, or thereabouts." An eerie stillness settled at that, as if there was a ghost in the room. But Jessie just shook her head a little and kept going.

"We managed to hold them off, as best we could. At least no one can say the Raxons just swept in and took the Earth. They bombed the surface, managed to catch a few of the tunnels in the east. But…it was really only a matter of time. There were just too many of them. They just kept coming, and coming…Dad said they were like Daleks, except easier to kill. But in the end, it didn't matter."

Lowering her head, Jessie rubbed her face. "A few months back, it was decided that there was nothing more we could do. Last count, there were only…somewhere around two million people left, on the entire planet. And most of them were dying, from disease, or starvation…we were running out of supplies. And there were so many bodies—there were furnaces, going night and day. Still couldn't get rid of all the dead. So, it was decided. There were a handful of nuclear weapons that had been set up, aimed for the Earth's core."

She caught the Doctor's expression, hard and judgmental. "It wasn't a decision that was made by a select few," she chastised. "Everyone decided. Every human who was left got a say. And they decided, that if we were going to die, we were at least going to take out as many of those bastards as we could." Her eyes went back over the room. "We had worked out, awhile back, a signal that the Raxon scouts would send back to their ships, when they had found something important. So we made a machine that could transmit a massive signal, to the ships in orbit. The plan was to lure as many of them to the surface as possible, then blow the whole damn planet to hell."

For a moment, the girl looked a little proud. "So…how did you two end up here?" Gwen asked. "If you were going to blow everything up."

Jessie looked down again. "Dad had been working on this machine," she started. "Just tinkering, really. Since way back, even before the war. But when the war started, we got to working on it seriously. A last resort, he said. Just in case. It was a modification of the technology that had been used in the past. To cross dimensions. To come here.

"We had to modify it a bit. Just to keep from blowing everything apart. But in the end, we were able to work it out. Turns out that this Rift of yours doesn't just run through your universe. But the walls between the universes act sort of like dams, so that it all still stays separate. All we did was find a slip in the dam, and use a bit of jiggery-pokery to slide through." Jessie's hands moved with illustration, finally dropping to her side.

"So, are there others? Other people who'll be coming through?" Gwen asked. Jessie's eyes went dark, and she glanced over at Tony for a moment before letting her gaze fall back to Gwen.

"No," she said softly. "There aren't any others. We were working with a limited power supply, and…and Mum and Dad sent us through. But as soon as they did…they would have started the sequence to send out the signal. And start off the missiles."

Jessie had subconsciously moved over to Tony again. He took her hand, giving it a squeeze of encouragement. It was hard to think that, at that moment, in another universe…it was all gone. Their planet, their family…it was over. Silence filled the room, everyone processing what they had heard.

The Doctor looked over at the pair, taking in the sight of them. Pete Tyler was evident in Tony, and Jessie…she was exactly what he would have imagined, if he and Rose had ever.... He almost couldn't stand the sight of her, looking so terribly sad. Unlike any one else in the room, he at least could understand the weight of the loss of what they were feeling. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

Jessie's head whipped around to him, rage filling her eyes. "You're what?" she snapped. She stalked down the short length of the room, until she was opposite him at the table. "You're the one who trapped them over there," she said, hands on the table as she leaned towards him. "You sent them back, even though Mum begged you not to. Even though she wanted to stay here. You could have just left them here on Earth, and never seen them again. But no, you had to send them away, to punish them, all because he had the courage to do what you couldn't. Even though he destroyed the monsters when you would have stood there and let them devastate everything."

Infuriated, Jessie stared at him, her voice crescendoing with anger. Looking at her, Donna was again struck by just how much she looked like the Doctor. She has his eyes, the redhead thought.

"Jessie," Tony said softly, trying to stop the girl. He understood her pain, but this was going too far.

"You left them there," Jessie snarled, with more rage than a sixteen year old should have been capable of. "You don't get to be sorry."

The Doctor simply sat there, staring at her, and it was clear that her words struck him hard, making it impossible for him to tell himself that there was nothing he could have done. He looked so full of grief…here he had convinced himself that he had done the right thing by Rose, to keep her safe and happy, and this teenage girl who looked far too much like what he had imagined his and Rose's child to look like was staring him down and telling him that no, he had destroyed everything…

Tony bolted out of his chair, grabbing Jessie's arm and physically pulling her out of the Doctor's face. Pulling her to the doorway, he gripped her shoulders and bent over, staring her in the eyes. "You need to stop now," he said, in a terribly serious voice. Silence slowly leaked back into the room, as the girl looked at him, breathing heavily. Her eyes were still full of anger, but she did not bite back at her uncle. Finally, she turned and left the room with something like a growl.

No one said anything. The air was thick, as if everyone was afraid to breathe. Tony sighed heavily. "I'm sorry," he said softly, looking at the Doctor. "I…this has all happened so fast…" When the Doctor gave no acknowledgment to him, Tony looked to Jack with desperation.

Jack nodded at him, giving him a look of understanding. His eyes said that no one was going to blame them for what had happened. Gwen and Ianto quietly slid out of the room, feeling the need to give the others some space. Tony gave the Doctor one last look, before following them. The Time Lord simply sat, staring at the table, his companions on either side of him. Martha and Donna exchanged a look over his head, each unsure of what to do.

Martha looked over at Jack as he pushed himself off the wall, and squeezed her shoulder. Patting the Doctor's arm, she stood and followed him out. When they were gone, Donna leaned in a little closer to her friend.

"It's not your fault, you know," she said softly. "You couldn't have known what was going to happen. You did what you thought was best, for everyone."

The Doctor nodded shortly, not looking at her. Donna wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She knew how painful all of this was. Not just learning that Rose was more than likely dead, but everything, all at once…she couldn't help but feel a terrible stab of pain as well. The other Doctor, as she thought of him…he'd been part her. And he was gone too…

Getting the feeling that perhaps the Doctor wanted a few minutes alone, Donna patted his arm and left the room. She looked out over the hub as she approached where Jack and Martha were standing. Gwen had scattered to a computer station. Jessie was sitting on a ragged couch, one leg propped up on the coffee table, starring off into space. Tony wasn't far away from her, sitting on the staircase and watching her, clearly concerned. The exhaustion and pain on their faces made Donna hurt.

"Have you checked them over?" she asked Martha quietly. If they had been living in war conditions for the last four years, then any number of things could be wrong with them. The younger woman nodded, half-turning to her friend.

"They're alright, more or less. What you would expect, from refugees. Bit malnourished, but nothing dangerous. It's why Jessie still looks like she's only bout thirteen. She would've been twelve when the war started. Not the best time to enter puberty."

"Blimey," Donna muttered, as Ianto walked over to them.

"I was thinking I might go get some food," he said to Jack. "Everyone's going to be staying late…maybe Chinese or something?"

Jack nodded at him, and the Welsh man turned and made his exit. For a moment, the companions simply stood. Then Donna made a decision, and walked down the steps to where the Jessie Tyler was sitting.

"Mind if I join you?"