"Oi!" Oliver rubbed his now pink cheek gingerly. "What was that for?!"

"You deserved it, mate," Daniel patted his friend on the shoulder.

Her arm still around Rose's shoulders, Hannah guided her to a bench, where, upon sitting down, found Rose's blonde head resting on her shoulder. She was a little unsure to comfort someone in Rose's situation, and settled on patting the brightly colored knee next to her jean-clad ones.

Katie, on the other hand, was at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum from Rose. She stamped her foot, crossed her arms across her chest, and stormed off in a huff. Still rubbing his cheek, Oliver chased after her, and, followed by Daniel, dragged her over to stand near the two on the bench.

"What's so special about you, huh? How come you get to hang around with that big-eared bloke?! You're just an ordinary blonde ch—" Katie had wrenched her arm out of her brother's grasp, and she prodded Rose in the shoulder repeatedly as she began to yell. Luckily, the hand Oliver clapped over her mouth served to muffled the stream of accusations.

"So… What shall we do now? There's no use contacting Jack until the Doctor comes back," Daniel sank down onto the bench on Hannah's other side and kissed her gently on the cheek.

At the mention of Jack's name, Rose looked up into Daniel's face. Her now blotchy face brightened a bit, and she sat up a bit straighter.

"Jack? You don't mean Jack Harkness, do you?" she asked.

"Yeah. That's 'im. How'd you know?" The surprise and curiosity in Daniel's voice was nearly palpable.

"Let's go," Rose stood up and turned to face a still slightly stunned Daniel, who rose silently. He extended a hand to Hannah, who accepted it but still managed to fall into him a bit. Daniel chuckled quietly and ruffled her sandy blonde hair. Rose looked on, fighting the urge to slap the pair of them. Oliver threw a sympathetic glance towards her, rousing a tiny smile from the still slightly sulky blonde. Katie, bored with the situation, plunked herself down in Rose's now vacated spot on the bench and let out a huge sigh.

Katie's sigh having roused them from couple-land, Daniel and Hannah shook themselves back to reality. They smiled awkwardly, glanced at each other, and giggled. Daniel cleared his throat.

"Right. So. Jack. Err… Shall we?" He offered his elbow to Hannah, to which she cheerily linked up, and the pack set off in the direction of Torchwood Tower. Oliver tried to offer his elbow to Katie, but she just scoffed at the gesture and set off behind Daniel.

--- --- --- --- ---

A few moments later, the TARDIS rematerialized a few feet from the bench Rose had been sitting on not five minutes earlier.

"Alright folks, now let's sort this all—" The Doctor started as he stepped out of the TARDIS, but he stopped speaking when he noticed his lack of an audience. Looking around, he let out a sigh.

"Every time. Every bloody time I tell them not to wander off. I say, 'Don't wander off, you might get into trouble.' I tell them, but what do they go and do? They wander off, of course! Why listen to the Doctor, anyway? He clearly never knows what the hell he's on about anyway! Why don't they ever listen, ay?!" he mumbled to himself as he paced around in front of the TARDIS.

As he walked around its corner, he managed to catch a glimpse of a flamboyantly dressed figure hanging a left a few streets up. Who else would be decked out in a day-glo rainbow? The Doctor locked the TARDIS and dashed after Rose.

--- --- --- --- ---

"Are we almost there?" Katie whined as she trudged after Oliver. "Dan, you said this was in downtown."

"I didn't say that," Daniel replied, "and we are almost there. Just a few more minutes." Katie let out a heavy sigh and leaned on Oliver as she walked.

"Ollie, I'm tired. Will you carry me? Please? Pleasey-please?" Oliver rolled his eyes at the detested sobriquet, but bent down so Katie could climb up on his back.

"Well since you asked so nicely…" he said under his breath as Katie clambered aboard.

Rose glanced around nervously, hoping to catch a glimpse the Doctor running after them with a scolding at the ready. Seeing no one, she sighed and resumed walking.

Once the Doctor could see Rose and the others, he kept his distance. There must've been a reason they'd left without him, and he wanted to see what it was. He skulked along behind them until the herd of humans finally reached Roald Dahl Plass. Shaking his head and smiling slightly to himself, the Doctor stepped into the square and leaned against a dark building as Daniel circled a tall, mirrored, rather intimidating structure and gestured to the group to follow him.

The Doctor didn't pursue, but watched as Daniel slipped through the entrance of a shabby little building labeled "Tourist Information Centre." Rose, Hannah, Oliver, and Katie clustered outside. Daniel reappeared a minute or two later and the reunited group resumed waiting. Rose began to chat with Oliver as they stood by the shack.

As the humans stood waiting, the Doctor happened to notice a block of the sidewalk sinking into the ground. Curious, he walked towards the panel and as he approached, a figure began to emerge from the hole in the cement. The Doctor stopped in his tracks and watched as the dark-haired, dark-clothed, dark grey wool coat-wearing form of Jack Harkness rose fifteen feet in front of him. Once the sidewalk panel he stood on laid flesh with the rest of the street, Jack stepped into the street, pressed a button on his earpiece, and looked around, talking to someone on the other end of his connection. When he caught sight of the Doctor, he stopped talking mid-sentence, his hand dropping from the earpiece.

"No," Jack breathed as he took a step back. 'After all this time, could it really be him?' He thought to himself, pausing for a moment to confirm the identity of someone he never thought he'd lay eyes on again. An enormous grin spread across the American's face and his voice gained volume. "Doctor! It's good to see you!"