They'll be burying Chris now. Another of Torchwood's employees would get a real ceremony in a real church and be put in a real grave, six feet under, because they had no more room in their morgue to freeze agents. Gwen Cooper, the head of the Torchwood Institute, looked blankly at the watch, counting the minutes until the body is lowered to its final rest, and wondered when was it she learned to move on from death so quickly. It seemed so bad after Owen and Tosh, but things somehow went back to normal afterwards. Maybe it was Ianto's death… and that morning after, when she found the note, that Jack made that phone call to his friends, far in the stars, because for now he just had enough. Maybe it was Dave or Jeanie or… she didn't know. Gwen buried herself back in the paperwork, hoping to forget all of their names and faces, just for a little bit.

But she couldn't block out the commotion in the Hub as her team was coming back from the funeral. Getting up, ready to shout at them to keep it quiet, just for a bit, just today, because she's trying to work, damn it, she looked up and saw -

"Bilis," she whispered at the old man, whose face never changed.

"We found him lurking outside of the Hub," Marty said, a bit breathlessly.

But Gwen hardly looked at Marty, just at Bilis, who smiled at her in that warm and creepy way of his, that same smile she could never forget.

"What do you want?" she recovered fast, shot that question at him.

"I was just wondering, my dear, whether saving the Doctor's life had the result you wanted?"

"What?" she looked at him, confused.

"But of course, you wouldn't remember. In a way, it has never happened."

"What never happened?"

"Your request," he smiled at her.

"He was supposed to die? When?"

Despite herself, she found herself being sucked back into Bilis' games, whatever they would be.

"Oh, so many years ago."

"When you showed up the second time," it dawned on her. "And gave him that aspirin."

"Yes," he confirmed.

"But it — Tosh and Owen died. Because of him. He sent them to Turnmill."

"I see," Bilis just nodded.

"If the Doctor dies then — "

"They would still be dead, my dear. That is why you asked me to save his life."

Gwen looked at him bitterly. "Well it didn't work. They died, Ianto died… the Doctor's survival made no difference."

"I'm sorry, my dear," Bilis said, and she couldn't be sure whether he was being honest, or just playing her.

But then she had an idea.

"You say we've changed the past before?"

"Yes," he answered simply.

"Could we do it again? Just… prevent the Doctor from ever being there? If he doesn't send Tosh and Owen to their deaths, everything would be different!" She was getting excited with the prospect of the change. Make everything better. Save everyone. And she wouldn't have to be in this job, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, feeling so lost and miserable and small and so very, very alone.

"There is a way," the alien in front of her said slowly. "We could… why, we could go back before. Before the Doctor was captured by Aaron Copley."

Gwen rose now from her chair, all flustered and impatient, seeing the first thing resembling hope in a long, long while.

"Yes! We could just warn him, he'll fly away from Cardiff, never be captured, and everything that happens, it will be different!"

"You understand that if we make this change," Bilis almost sounded cautious, "it would be the last one we can make? Once the Doctor escapes Copley's clutches, there is no way to make sure he is captured again. There is no way of knowing how the past would turn out."

"Anything is better than this," Gwen looked at him. The look on her face was hard, determined, the same determination she learned to adopt, the only way she could survive all this time. "I understand."

"Then I would need your help," he said and smiled. And once again she couldn't trust his smile — but there was no other choice, really. Never any choice. "Hold my hand."

She took his hand, and they were gone.

X

It was a clear evening. The summer breeze was full of scents. The smell of the sea, of fish, of people going dancing and partying. The smell of her lost relationship with Rhys, of friendships and fun and Cardiff! Was that the castle? She forgot how it looked like before the explosion, it felt like such a long time ago — but this was long before, and Cardiff Castle stood there proud, and right in that direction, the Water Tower, back when not all of it rested on her —

But she didn't have time to enjoy the past now. Their aim wasn't Roald Dahl Plass, it was a place further into the city, a place where a blue box stood, unnoticed by anyone — anyone but her.

Bilis said it's better he stayed behind. The Doctor wouldn't trust him, he'd be able to feel there's something different about him. But he'd trust Gwen, he's already met her. It's alright, he said, go in. Warn him. Tell him to go into the stars, the past or the future, somewhere far away.

She didn't even knock before entering. Only then it occurred to her the door was never supposed to open up so easily.

He didn't hear her walking in. He was standing there, staring into space, at nothing in particular. The jacket of his suit was tossed over the console, soaking wet. His hair was wet as well, as was the white shirt he was wearing.

"Doctor?" she asked, hesitantly. It took him several moments to register her voice, to turn around and look at her. There was something almost scary in his eyes. So sad and lonely.

"Gwen Cooper," he said at last.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm a friend of Jack."

He nodded. But he didn't ask her what she was doing there, didn't try to pretend everything was alright, did nothing of all those things she remembered so well.

"You have to go!" she blurted out in the end.

"What?"

"You have to go. They're — there are these people. After you. Trust me. You need to leave, now."

"It's okay, I'm — "

"No, it's not! Trust me, it's not! Doctor, please. For everyone's sake. Just — "

He nodded slowly, once — and then seemed to catch himself, at last.

"Cardiff's a bit boring, anyway! Nothing to see here! What do you say, the Great and Bountiful Human Empire? Finally seeing Poosh? I know, New Zealand - that'd be a good idea. Don't you think?"

She couldn't help but smile. He'd be alright, in the end. She remembered some of Jack's drunken stories — that was when he started talking about his adventures with the Doctor, when he was drunk. Or after the Daleks showed up.

The Doctor would be fine.

"I'll go, then," she pointed at the door. Something made her heart pound a bit strongly, just for a second — maybe she'd get lucky, maybe the Doctor would offer to take her away, like he did Jack, take her away from all of this, see the stars… but he didn't. He just smiled at her, genuine affection in his smile.

"Goodbye, Gwen Cooper. And thank you."

"Any time," she smiled. She could never forget Owen and Tosh, but she never quite could hate him for it, not when she remembered his expression that day. "Goodbye, Doctor," and she walked outside of the box, just to watch it disappear, with Bilis at her side.

The alien entity known as Bilis Manger looked for a second longer at the space where the box used to be, and then to his right, where Gwen Cooper stood only a second ago, a Gwen Cooper who never existed now. He smiled and disappeared himself.

X

Here is Captain Jack Harkness of the Torchwood Institute, standing together with Doctor Owen Harper as the two are trying to save the life of Doctor Martha Jones – inside the Pharm, a medical facility exploiting extra terrestrial life forms on Earth. Needless to say, they are all within the vicinity of Cardiff.

Three of the Captain's other operatives are exploring the compound itself – or, rather, the place where the aliens are being kept. In Captain Jack's righteous anger, he's about to order all of the captive creatures killed – a killing of mercy, preventing the poor things any more suffering. He really does believe he's doing them a favour, because he knows he would never be able to bring them back home, and would probably also be unable to undo the damage already done to their bodies.

Under certain circumstances, in a different world, he never gives the order. Before he has the chance, he hears the report of one of his operatives, Toshiko Sato, telling him of a captured alien, one who looks so much like a man in a brown suit, and hears his medic ask of blue police boxes. However, under these particular circumstances, things don't exactly go according to plan. He gives that order, the compound is brought down, weevils, mayflies and other creatures die, and so do Doctors Copley and Harper, one a renegade medical manager, another a mortal Torchwood operative who was in the wrong place – in front of a gun – and in the wrong time – directly after that gun was fired.

In a desperate attempt to save Doctor Harper's life, he runs to the darker parts of the city, the parts most of the human inhabitants of Cardiff don't even know exist, and finds the artifact he is looking for, the way of bringing Owen Harper back to life.

But it isn't long until he dies for the second, final time. When the city is in ruins and Jack is in a race against time to save his city, his brother and his team, Owen Harper finds himself locked inside the Turnmill Nuclear Power Plant, trying to save the city. Toshiko Sato dies as well, bleeds to death on the floor after his brother shot her, and they find her too late, way too late.

They keep on going, just the three of them. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and Captain Jack Harkness. But something is missing. They find other people; three are not enough to save the world. But even that is not enough. When they discover another alien terrorist cell, hiding within Cardiff, Jack is worried, he knows they might be walking into a bloodbath. And he is right — when they go back to the hub, Ianto Jones is no longer with them. Another frozen body in the wall, another dead friend. Gwen goes home that night, but even holding Rhys so tight it hurts isn't enough to calm her down. Eventually, she dresses up again and goes back to the Hub — only to discover a blue box there.

"I have to, just for a bit," Jack says, and she understands, understands all too well. He hugs her, and that mythical stranger just stands there, looking at them — no, she realises at some point, looking at her. Good luck, he says before he goes back into his box, shuts the door behind him and her Captain, and disappears. Good luck, Gwen Cooper.

They recruit more people, and more people die. And each one that dies hurts just a little bit more, because now they're her responsibility, and just a little bit less, because she's getting more and more used to it. And Rhys tries his best, she knows it, and still she can't help but begrudge him every once in a while, because he doesn't have to deal with what she does.

Because he doesn't understand.

She goes home every day just a little bit later. He's becoming more and more impatient. One day she doesn't bother going back home at all. It doesn't matter anyway, because he's not there anymore.

They die, and she keeps on living. Somehow, she cheats death, over and over again. And life becomes a blur of people and aliens and new recruits, and every time she gets that spark with someone, even if it's not that same comfortable joy as the one she had with Rhys, or the exciting chemistry and sex she had with Owen, or just the mad attraction she's always felt for Jack. But it's something, and it's hers, until the inevitable time she loses it again.

X

They'll be burying Chris now. Another of Torchwood's employees would get a real ceremony in a real church and be put in a real grave, six feet under, because they had no more room in their morgue to freeze agents. Gwen Cooper, the head of the Torchwood Institute, looked blankly at the watch, counting the minutes until the body is lowered to its final rest, and wondered when was it she learned to move on from death so quickly. Chris was the first one, the first one since Rhys she felt anything even close to love for, but now he's dead, another dead friend and lover. She held back the tears, wiped her eyes, took a sip from her coffee, and went back to her paperwork.

No good fairy showed up. No wise old saviour, to tell her of a way to get out of this life of hers, the life she hated. She had that dream, every once in a while. Finding a way out. Finding a way to make it all better again. But that's children's story, fairytales, not real life. Sometimes she just needed a way out of real life, because it was getting too much.

The rest of them were coming back now, she could hear them. None of them dared entering her office — they all knew how close she was to Chris, how important he was to her. None of them really felt like working, so they all cleared out soon. Marty popped his head into her office before going away, asked if everything was okay. If she needed anything.

"I'm fine, Marty. Thank you," she answered.

"Okay," he nodded. "We'll be back tomorrow."

"Have a good night."

But she couldn't go back to her paperwork. She missed Chris.

And now she knew what she should do.

She picked up her phone and dialed the number — she didn't even know if it would still work. She hadn't looked at the number for so many years. Hadn't tried it, no matter how often she wanted to. Maybe she was too afraid of the answer.

But she could hear the ringing signal on the other side. It was still active, and then he answered the phone.

"Hello? Yes. How are you? Me? I'm — I'm good. You know me. Listen, I've been thinking… I know we haven't talked for so long, but maybe… yeah… I know. Maybe a coffee?"

Her face broke into a smile when her ex-husband gave his answer. "Great! That's great! Yeah, I'm right next to it, I could be there in twenty minutes. I'll see you then, Rhys. Twenty minutes. Great. Bye."