Miranda sleepily swatted at something bothering her.
"Mandy, we're here. Wake up." Ifan?
She blinked a few times, recognizing the Hub's garage. "Do I even want to know how fast Jack was driving?" she asked glancing at the SUV's clock. The drive from Caernarfon to Cardiff was usually four and a half hours. Jack made it in three and a half.
"No, no you don't…" Ianto said seriously.
Miranda had spent the day before they left packing her things and making arrangements for the house. She hadn't known how long she'd be in Cardiff so she'd packed everything, acting as if she wouldn't return to the house for years. She'd been up late and Jack had woken her well before dawn so they could get on the road. She had spent most of the drive asleep.
"Bloody good thing I'm immortal."
"Hey! I heard that!" Jack called from somewhere by the boot.
She climbed out of the SUV and went to help the two men with her bags. The three of them walked on in silence.
"Martha Jones! Voice of a nightingale!" Jack bellowed as they entered the main Hub.
"Jack!" Martha shouted, pulling the immortal man into a hug.
"You mind hanging out for the rest of the day? I want to get Will settled in," Jack said.
"Not at all, Jack. Will was it? I'm Martha. It's a pleasure," Martha held out her hand to the other woman.
Miranda walked forward, holding her hand out to the other woman. "It's Miranda actually," she said tossing Jack a glare. "Dr. Miranda Ryan."
"I'm sorry. I assumed…" she trailed off nervously.
Miranda smiled warmly. "Ignore Jack's silly nickname for me."
"Is that Jack and Ianto?" a woman's voice with a Welsh accent called from across the Hub. A few seconds later, Miranda got her first look at the lovely Gwen Cooper. She bore the same signs of exhaustion as Jack and Ianto. She was slightly pale. Her eyes had dark circles under them. The Welshwoman held out her hand. "Gwen Cooper."
"Dr. Miranda Ryan, lovely to meet you Mrs. Cooper," she said grasping Gwen's hand firmly.
"Oh none of that. Gwen, please," she said flashing a gap toothed smile. She turned to Jack and Ianto, hugging them both tightly. The grief in the air was palatable.
She turned to Martha. "Doctor Jones? May I speak with you for a minute?" She and Martha walked out of earshot of the others. "I would be exceedingly grateful if you could remain for today and tomorrow. I'd like to run full physicals on both Ianto and Gwen. I know that you are anxious to return to UNIT but I think they would both be more comfortable with you."
"Not a problem. I wasn't planning on leaving until the end of the week anyway."
"Thank you. I'm very concerned about all of them."
"Me too. Gwen was in hospital when I arrived. I told her to stay home today but she got here about an hour ago."
Miranda nodded. "I'll speak with Jack."
She looked up as she heard Jack shout, "Ianto and I are going to take these downstairs, Will. You coming?"
She opened her mouth to answer but the sound of the proximity alarms stopped her. The cog wheel door opened and a young man walked in wearing a black jumper and black jeans. "Captain Cheesecake is back!"
"Mickey Mouse! And that's Beefcake to you!" Jack quipped back with a smile.
"You must be the new doc," Mickey said turning to Miranda and extending his hand. "I'm Mickey."
"Miranda, good to meet you," she smiled taking his hand. "Jack, I'm going to do a quick look around the medical bay before I head downstairs."
"Hey Mickey, give us a hand with these will you?" Jack called over, reaching for her bags.
"Jack really, leave them, I need to clean up downstairs anyway," Miranda said.
"Just going to drop them in the living room is all," Jack said as he wheeled two of the cases towards the north stairway.
No sooner had the three men disappeared down the stairway than the rift alert went off, bringing them back. Miranda crossed over to the monitor and with practiced ease, narrowed the area of the spike. "Moderate spike in Sevenoaks Park, Jack."
He leaned over her shoulder. "Everyone who's name starts with 'M' with me. Ianto, coordinate from here. Gwen, go home."
"But Jack-" Gwen protested loudly.
Jack cut her off. "You're still sick, Gwen. You were supposed to be out for the rest of the week. Go. Home. That's an order!"
Miranda was checking her gun as Gwen reluctantly grabbed her purse and left the Hub. She'd check in on the woman herself later tonight with Martha. Ianto handed her a small comm unit and a new PDA as she was checking that her sword was secure in its compartment in the right side of her coat.
"I've tuned the comm unit to the main channel," he said. "You sure you don't want something from the armory?"
She shook her head. "No, thank you, Ifan, I'm fine." She tucked the PDA into her coat pocket.
"Right, see you when you get back," he said.
As usual, Jack drove out to Sevenoaks Park while the rest of them clung on for dear life. "The spike occurred somewhere near the legal graffiti wall, Jack," came Ianto's voice over the comm unit. "Local police are clearing the park for us."
"Nothing like jumping right back in the saddle," Jack said squeezing Miranda's shoulder as they all got out of the SUV. She took off her coat, with her concealed sword, and draped it over the back seat of the SUV. She drew her gun, scanning the area.
"Jack, over there," she pointed towards a small pile of grass that appeared to be smoking.
"Be careful, Will," Jack said as he watched her approach the smoke. "I'll be right behind you. Martha? Mickey? Hang back a bit."
She didn't know how far behind her Jack was, but it took her less than a minute to reach the curling smoke. In the middle of the scorched grass was a round metal sphere about the size of a cricket ball. It seemed to have no distinguishing markings of any sort on the half that was facing her and she had no idea what it was. She leaned over it and knowing that touching random objects with your bare hands wasn't usually a good idea, she rolled the sphere over with the end of her gun. Once it was moved, she saw the mauve circle painted on the side. Goddess below! A grenade!
She simultaneously sprang up, tapped her comm unit and screamed, "It's a Pyraxian grenade! Run!"
As she turned, she gratefully caught sight of Martha and Mickey outside of the blast radius, still standing by the SUV. She saw Jack out of the corner of her eye, also turning and running… but within the blast radius. She was about to turn her head to shout at him but felt heat at her back and then the world went dark.