Since it has been asked I will address the elephant in the room with CoE. Well, I won't give away much. There is a very small spoiler in the next few sentences, so if you don't want to know skip to the beginning of the story. For those who have seen the episodes, this is a fix it of sorts. I promise no fluffy endings but it will not be anywhere near as heart wrenching as the show was. Please don't skip these chapters because there is some plotty stuff that will be important later on.

Children of Earth Day 1; Part II

Bleary eyed, Trisha squinted at the screen. Hours of analyzing data collected during the last 'episode', as they were being called around here, wasn't yielding the results that she wanted. She kept hitting dead ends and it didn't help that there seemed to be a highly classified file that seemed to have been created just after the first episode. Her fingers twitched over the keyboard. She had designed the majority of the computer system, well she and her mother had. A few button pushes and she could open the back door she'd put in. Untraceable, no one would ever have to know.

Except that she would. Trisha had bent the truth, sometimes almost to the breaking point, with some of the things that she had done to protect Tony's family or to find Sabrina in the first place. Creating false identities for James, Rose and Tony back in the 80's. Hiding Amy's whereabouts from Jack after her book had come out. But this was different, this was hacking a file well beyond her security clearance. One that some of the higher ups didn't want her to see for some reason. This could get her court marshaled, or worse. But it could also help to solve what was going on.

Sod it, she thought as she began putting in the code to circumvent the security. A knock on her door stopped her mid-typing.

"Patricia, I need a moment," Hannah said, stepping just inside the doorway.

Quickly Trisha closed the screen she had been using to hack the file and motioned her mother inside.

"Not here," Hannah said with a shake of her head. "It's personal. Let's go for a walk." Not once had Hannah ever pulled Trisha out of work for a personal issue. Trisha wanted to question it, but there had been a tone in her mother's voice that told her not to.

Trisha nodded, stood and followed her mother outside. They had walked a fair distance away before Hannah stopped and turned to her only daughter. "Something's not right here," Hannah started without preamble. "Colonel Oduya is playing this way too close to his chest. He knows something that I don't. I take it you've found the classified file."

"Of course," Trisha agreed. "What's in it?"

"No idea," Hannah said with a sigh.

This was truly confusing. "How can you not know? You've been Colonel Oduya's right hand the past few years. Before that you were assigned to the Brigadier. Very few people have your clearance."

"Exactly," Hannah said, exasperated. "I just wish the oddities ended there. We have both been officially ordered to cease all contact with Torchwood."

"What? The higher ups don't want help from a group of people who routinely deal with aliens. Have they lost their minds?" Trisha was floored.

"We have also been explicitly told not to seek out the Doctor's help in this and if he contacts us, we are to refuse any and all help." Hannah sighed. "They're hiding something big, something that would be very bad for them if it got out." Taking a deep breath, she asked, "Have you been in contact with the Doctor today?"

Trisha shook her head. "I haven't had any contact with the Doctor since the Atraxi incident."

Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, Hannah stared at her daughter. "Both of us know that isn't true and it's time we were honest with each other. Anthony, your husband, was born in another universe and is actually the son of Jackie Tyler. A woman who was listed among the dead after Canary Wharf.

"Rose Tyler is his sister and was originally a companion of the Doctor before being stuck in a parallel world. Eventually she married a 'metacrisis' version of the Doctor and they have one biological son, Rory. I know the whole story and can continue to give you the details that you already know or you can just accept that I know."

"But how?" Trisha felt her whole world tilt on its axis. "How did you know? I was so careful."

"Not really, Sweetheart. You changed your name to Tyler after you were married. I was one of the ones in charge of Canary Wharf. Add that in with the fact that I was privy to Martha's reports after the Sontarans and I figured it out."

"But how do you know about the metacrisis? I specifically made sure Martha's report didn't include anything about James." Trisha wished that she had somewhere to sit down. Her legs felt a bit weak.

"Ah," Hannah said as if she'd been caught. "That is something I can't tell you yet. Spoilers."

Great, Trisha thought, one more thing she was sure would have to be dealt with sometime in the future. "I can't believe this. Why didn't you just tell me that you knew?"

"You wanted to keep that part of your life separate from your life here at UNIT. I wanted to respect your wishes. I've never been much of a mother but I do respect your choices, Patricia." Hannah loosened her stance. "I don't blame you. It could be dangerous if people knew that EJ and Jamie were the Doctor's grandchildren."

"You're not a bad mother." Of all the revelations made just now, Trisha somehow felt that this one was this was the one that needed addressing the most. "Inattentive at times, yes, but I always knew that you loved me. Even if you did miss my wedding." Trisha gave her mother a teasing smile.

Hannah released a deeply held breath. "I came to the first three attempts. I mean, how was I supposed to know that was the one that was going to take? Honestly, I figured that it would take a half dozen tries before you two actually tied the knot. I was shocked the two of you hadn't just run off the Las Vegas by then."

Trisha snorted. She had long since forgiven her mother for not being at the wedding that fourth time. Being a mother herself, she had a better appreciation for her mother having raised her all on her own. Most of the way she had felt about her mother when she was younger, was the product of teenaged angst. Trisha had taken her parents divorce and the deaths of her father and Granddad hard. It had left her felling abandoned. So she had pushed everyone away in order to protect herself, convinced that everyone would eventually let her down. Her mother had done the best that she could.

Hannah's phone beeped, bringing them back into the present situation. "Damn, I have to go."

Trisha nodded. "I haven't heard from the Doctor or Rose today. I've been trying to call but they are out of reach. Although Rory's planet-side. He and Amy are in his TARDIS at Torchwood. Oh, and apparently the kids were in the TARDIS during the last episode. They were unaffected, so Rory won't let them out until after all this is over."

"Good, I'm glad that they aren't going unprotected." Hannah leaned over and kissed her daughter's cheek. "I'll come by the house later so we can compare notes without prying eyes. In the meantime, don't let anyone in command know that you've been in contact with Torchwood. Or that you're in contact with anyone connected to the Doctor. See you later."

Trisha agreed. "Yeah. Later." As Hannah left, Trisha found a bench a few meters away and sank onto it. She needed a few minutes alone to process what the hell had just happened.

Jack rang the doorbell and took a step back. He was always nervous when he visited here, never sure what kind of reception that he would get.

A dark curly haired, middle aged woman answered the door. "Hello. Should have known you'd show up today," Alice said, opening the door a little wider.

"Hello to you, too." Jack gave her a big smile, trying to hide the hurt at her words. She stepped aside to let him inside.

"Uncle Jack!" A blonde headed boy of about eight shot out of the kitchen and jumped into Jack's arms. "I was talking like an alien, we all were. It was brilliant."

"Oh, I'm sure it was, Stephen." Jack gave him a quick hug before setting him down. The moment the boy's feet hit the ground he shot off once again.

"Tea?" Alice asked from behind him.

"That would be great," Jack agreed, and followed her into the kitchen. They made small talk while Alice made the tea.

"Have you heard from Joe?" Jack asked as he took a proffered cup.

"Just got remarried." Alice spoke easily of her ex after so many years. "He calls sometimes to speak to Stephen, sends him post cards remembers his birthday. I know worse fathers."

That stung, Jack thought. "How are you for money?"

"Fine, Dad, just fine. You've set us up nicely. Then again, it must easy to just write a check," Alice said tersely.

"You're the one who asked me to stay away. I'd be here every week if you'd let me, every day. I just want to be a part of your lives." It was true. Jack usually had no trouble charming himself into people's lives. Alice was a different story, though. Her mother had hid them deep undercover when Alice was a child. She had tried to protect Alice from the things that Torchwood could have done to his daughter to force him into submission if he stepped out of line.

"I can't stand it. I look older than you and that's never going to change." She paused and looked up at him. "One of these days, Dad, you're going to be standing at my funeral looking the same as you did standing at Mum's. That's why she hated you so much. You make us feel old." She leaned against the counter.

Jack tried to give her a half smile. "Actually, I found a grey hair not that long ago."

Alice laughed. "Well, isn't that just the end of the world." The two of them took a few minutes to revel in the humorous situation.

"Have you told him?" Jack asked, nodding out the door towards Stephen.

"What, that you're his grandfather?" Alice shook her head. "How would I explain it?"

"He's still young enough to not notice that I don't age." Jack said with a shrug. "We could spend some time together; I could take him places, buy him things. Make the most of it while he's still young." Alice shot him a look and he quickly added, "Not today. He should stay with you while all this is going on."

'"Do you know what's happening?"

"Not yet." He sounded resigned. "But I'm working on it. We have some of the best people working on it." He stood up. "I should go." He stepped out into the garden and hugged his grandson goodbye.

When he walked back through the house Alice was waiting by the door. "Your friend, Rose?" She started pulling out an old photograph her dad had given her, one taken right after the Blitz. Rose had been standing between Jack and the Doctor. "You said that she doesn't age either, but she's not immortal. You said she's a grandmother. How do her children cope?"

Jack smiled sadly at the picture. He'd taken it and a couple of others from his old room on the TARDIS after the Year that Never Was. "They take it one day at a time." He pulled out another picture from his wallet. It was a photo from Rory's wedding, one of the big family ones. "It's hard on her, too. There is so much that they will all lose eventually. But they don't think about it that way. They try and think about what they have now." He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"I really gotta go. World to save. I love you, Alice." Turning, he left. Not wanting to hear if she responded or not. It would hurt too much if she didn't.

On his way back to his car, he pulled out his phone and dialed. "Rupesh? Captain Jack Harkness. You have a children's ward, don't you? I need a kid."

Ianto pulled his car to a stop in the drive of his sister Rhiannon Davies' house. He knocked on the door and was immediately let inside.

"Come in, come in," Rhiannon said. "I brought the kids home early today, on account of what's going on."

His niece Misha was playing a video game. Ianto pulled out a stack of money out of his wallet. He peeled off a bill and handed it to her. It was a small thing to give her, just money. Working at Torchwood he had more of it than he could spend, so he tried to help out his sister financially.

David, his nephew, had come downstairs, given his uncle a quick hug, collected his money and headed back upstairs. Ianto discreetly placed the rest of the money someplace where his sister would find it later. Neither of them would ever mention it but he knew she appreciated the gesture.

"So what's going on?" she questioned, sitting down at the table.

"I missed Misha's birthday." That part was true. "I thought I'd take her to McDonald's or something." He hated lying to his sister, but Rory said they needed a kid. Nothing bad would happen to his niece and she wouldn't even remember it.

"Oh, that's 3.95. Big spender you are," Rhiannon teased.

"Alright then, cinema?" Ianto shrugged.

"Sounds fine. What about Saturday?"

"I'm busy Saturday. I'm off today…" Ianto tried to act like today was no different than any other day. He tried to make it seem that his wanting to take Misha for the day had nothing to do with the weird things happening to children.

Rhiannon scoffed. "You're Civil Service. You lot invented Saturdays. Besides you're not having her today. Not with what's going on. I'm keeping them with me. I'm not letting her put of my sight."

"She'd be with me," he explained as if it was obvious.

"I said no." Her voice was firm.

Realizing that his stubborn, overly protective sister wasn't letting the kids go today, Ianto relented. "Fine. It was just an idea." He'd have to find a kid another way.

"You don't have to leave," his sister said, observing his body language. "Sit down, you daft sod. Let's catch up. I have that spinach dip."

Reluctantly, Ianto unbuttoned his jacket and sat down in a chair at the table. She had immediately set about making tea and getting snacks all the while filling him in on what the kids and Johnny (her husband) had been up to.

Settling back down, Rhiannon brought up something that she'd obviously wanted to talk about. "Susan on the corner was in town and it was her anniversary so they went to that posh French place in town by the memorial and there was you."

"So..." Ianto shifted uncomfortably.

"There was you...having dinner...with a man," Rhiannon prodded.

"So?"

"Having dinner with a man...in a restaurant."

Ianto sighed, not liking where this was going. "So, you have dinner with Tina."

"Not in town." Rhiannon shook her head. "Susan said he was gorgeous. Like a film star. Like an escort."

Ianto cleared his throat. "He's my boss."

"She said it was intimate." She raised her eyebrows. "I said, well, he's had girlfriends, and she said, well, no girl was getting her feet around that table. No chance! Have you gone bender?"

Looking over at his niece, Ianto hissed, "Misha's hearing this."

"She's not bothered." Rhiannon waved dismissively. "Her friend Shan's got two mothers." She paused. "Go on?" Knowing that she may be pushing him too hard, she sighed. "You never tell me anything these days. Dad died, that was it. You were off. You couldn't wait, like I did something wrong. I didn't, did I?"

He hated that he made his sister feel this way. But he couldn't tell her things about his life. It was for her own good that she didn't know the details of his life. "It's not that. It's my job. It's... difficult. It's..." He closed his eyes for a second and opened them again. "He is very handsome." Ianto allowed himself a small smile while thinking about Jack.

"No?" Her eyes were wide with shock.

"Now stop it." Ianto was adamant.

"You're kidding me? Really, though? Really? Christ all mighty!" For all her teasing she'd never thought he'd admit it. "He's nice, though, is he? Is he? Oh my...I mean, since when?"

Ianto let out a slow breath. "It's weird. It's just different. It's not men. It's...it's just, him. It's only him. And I don't even know what it is, really, so...so I'm not broadcasting it."

Rhiannon nodded but her loud-mouth husband had chosen that moment to come through the door. Johnny had immediately started teasing his brother in-law with incredibly inappropriate gay jokes. Time to go, Ianto thought. After hugging his sister, niece, nephew and even Johnny goodbye, he headed back to the Hub. It was time to go back and see if Rory could use some more help.

Gwen tried to stop herself from fidgeting in the chair in the small room that she had been led to at the Duke of York Hospital. She had called Rhys on her way here. They were supposed to be house shopping today, she'd promised. Another promise broken due to her job, thankfully Rhys agreed that creepy things happening to kids took priority. She was lucky to have found such an understanding husband.

Something he'd said kept replaying in her mind. 8:40 and 10:30. Specific hours in Britain that using children would get the most attention possible. Specific British hours. Her stomach lurched suddenly, she must have forgotten lunch.

A nurse had given her a quick run-down on Timothy's history. 52 years old, had been in this facility for 3 months but had been in care since he was found homeless on the streets on Leeds when he was eleven. Bloody hell, Gwen had thought, that poor child. The nurse had gone on to say that he had never been reported missing and at one point had spoken with a Scottish accent.

Across from her, Timothy sat sideways on his chair and didn't look at her except out the corner of his eye. Oddly, he kept sniffing the air.

"Can you remember the voice?" she asked slowly, trying not to startle him. "You said, 'We are coming.' Can you remember why? You know what I think it was?" Gwen paused for a moment. "Aliens."

Timothy almost jumped at the word but looked away again, refusing to even look at her in his periphery. "There's no such thing," he insisted.

"Those days are gone. I don't mean to scare you, because you're perfectly safe, but I think aliens are using you to speak." Once again, she tried to meet his eyes. "What d'you think?"

He shook his head and began to rock slightly. "No such thing. Isn't it, isn't it?"

Gwen remained calm. Even the most sane of people had a hard time believing what she was about to say. "I've met aliens. It's part of my job. But I'm not the authorities, or the police, or the army. So anything you say is just between me and you. And I will believe you."

"Give me your hand," he said, holding out one of his hands to her.

Tentatively, Gwen extended her hand. Timothy grabbed it and sniffed it before releasing it. Gwen quickly stuck her hand underneath the table between them.

"You're telling the truth," he said softly.

"How can you tell?" Her question was more curious then accusatory.

"I can smell it." One of his shoulders ticked up. "You've...met them?"

Gwen nodded, someone being able to smell an alien on her was more than likely the least weird thing she'd hear of today. "Dozens of them," she confirmed.

"Still not safe. Isn't it, isn't it?" His eyes darted around them. "They're watching." He looked up at the camera in the corner of the room.

Her eyes followed his and she gave him a small smile. "Well, I can do something about that." She pulled out a small pen like device and used it to zap the camera. "It's called a gizmo." Grinning, she put the device back inside her pocket.

He laughed, maybe laughing just a bit too much before he stopped.

"I think you've seen aliens, too." Gwen's words were soft, trying to convey to him that she understood. "What's your name? What's your REAL name? When did you last say your name?"

All the lightness he'd shown earlier was gone. Something obviously was scaring him. "Never."

"Then tell me. Please."

His eyes went out of focus like he was remembering a dream or a long forgotten memory. "I was a kid."

"What happened?" she said coaxingly.

"They took us out. In the night. In the dark. Isn't it? Isn't it? They told us, they said we were going to a new home." His eyes shimmered with tears.

"Who did, who said?"

"The staff." His response was automatic now.

"A care home?" Gwen asked but he didn't hear her.

"They drove us away for miles and miles." He paused and licked his dry lips. "They were there. In the sky. "

"What did they look like?"

"Light. A bright light. The light... took them." His voice caught on the words.

"Took who?" Gwen asked gently, trying to get him to remember more.

"My friends." A single tear ran down his face.

"But not you?"

"I ran. There was something, there were people, there was..." His head reeled back as he saw something in his mind's eye. "Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it, isn't it?"

"You're all right, you're safe. OK? You're safe now." Reaching out a hand, she lightly touched his arm.

He shook his head and rocked himself again. "But they're coming back. I've been smelling them for months. In the air. Long time coming."

"Tim, I can help. Look at me. I can help." He looked at her and she gave him a reassuring smile. "If kids went missing, something's got to be written down and I will find it. But to do that, I need to know your name."

"I was Clem," he whispered. "Clement MacDonald."

Taking her hand off his arm, she held it out to him. "Hi, Clem."

He shook her hand. "Hi."

"Where were you from? It was somewhere in Scotland. Do you remember?"

"Holly Tree," he mumbled.

"Holly Tree, now then, is that a town, or a place, or...?" Once again she was gently pushing for more information.

"The Holly Tree."

"The Holly Tree? Is that where it happened?" They were getting close and she knew it. "Clem? Was it? What was the Holly Tree? What was the Holly Tree?"

He sniffed loudly. "You're pregnant."

Gwen froze, confused. "Sorry?"

He nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Yes, you are."

"No." She smiled and shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Yes. I can smell it. Three weeks."

There was the sound of running down the corridor and the door slammed open. "Oh... Bloody hell, I've been running." One of the nurses was trying to catch her breath. "That camera's gone off, it just went dead! Still. No harm done, eh?"

Looking sternly at Gwen, the nurse indicated that it was time for her to leave.

"Congratulations," Clem said, ringing his hands together.

Unnerved, Gwen walked straight to the car park. Once outside, she dialed the Hub."Ianto, I need a search on Clement MacDonald, could be M-C or M-A-C, and try the words 'Holly Tree' and Scotland. We're looking at the 1960s, got that?'"

She paused while he responded, not really listening. "Then try the words Timothy White, with the option of Timothy White's, apostrophe S, like the shop. Yeah, and if you find anything, let me know straight away; don't wait for me to get back. I'll see you later." Without waiting to hear if he responded, she rang off and stared blankly as she opened her car door.

Little did they know that their phone call had just been intercepted and the name Clem MacDonald had just set off an alert within a small task force run by the Home Office. They also didn't know that this time Clem MacDonald wasn't going to sit around and wait for the Light to come back.

Rupesh was waiting outside the hospital as Jack pulled up. Slamming the door of the car shut, Jack hurried up to him. "I promise, we can zap these kid's memories so they won't remember a thing, no side effects."

"But, there's been another death," the doctor blurted out as he hurried Jack inside, down a few flights of steps and into the basement.

"Mr. Chow Lee Jee, Chinese again. He came in with a nosebleed that wouldn't stop. Next thing you know, it's been diagnosed as a brain hemorrhage. He died at 16:25," he explained on the way.

The mortuary room was draped with dark plastic curtains. A black man in a hospital uniform stepped up to stop them. "Sorry, he's with me. Dry Patanjali, A&E." Rupesh showed him some ID. "We just need to check Mr. Chow Lee Jee." The guard nodded and let them pass.

"Well, he hasn't gone missing," Jack said dryly, looking over the body.

Rupesh rolled his eyes. "I can see that."

"Need to run a toxicology scan. Not on the NHS, we've got much better equipment." Jack pulled down one of the dead man's eyelids. "Pupil's blown, that corresponds with a brain hemorrhage, though it could be induced artificially. No sign of trauma to the skin, apart from bruising, but that's ..."

A gunshot rang out and Jack crumpled to the floor, dead before he saw the face of the gunman.

Hours later when Jack gasped back into life, the little bit of sunlight that had filtered in through small windows had faded. The room was now filled with menacing shadows and the still, lifeless body of Rupesh Patanjali. "Oh, no," Jack said sadly.

They had obviously walked into a trap. Now he just wasn't sure if Rupesh had been caught in the very trap he'd set for Jack or if he'd simply been an unfortunate bit of collateral damage. Pushing himself up, Jack stood and ran out of the hospital as fast as he could.

Gwen walked into the Hub. Ianto and Rory were both hunched over computers. Amy was nowhere to be seen.

"Result!" Ianto exclaimed. It felt good to get at least one answer to today's mysteries. "There was a Holly Tree Lodge just outside Arbroath. It's a hotel now, but up until 1965, it was a state-run orphanage. And they had a Clement MacDonald!"

Gwen walked straight past both of them without a speck of attention paid. She headed for the autopsy bay. Ianto just kept talking.

"He was taken into care, April 1965, after his mother died. No father on record. In November 1965, he was transferred, along with... Oh." Ianto noticed that she wasn't listening.

Rory placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Guess she doesn't want to hear about the transmission that I intercepted either." Amused, Rory shook his head. "Whatever is bothering her must be important, though. Otherwise she'd never ignore you in the middle of a crisis like that."

Outside, Jack made his way in through the tourist office entrance. A dark man was leaning over a railing watching him. "Over to control," the man said. "Harkness now approaching door one, over."

A raven haired woman was sitting in a car parked nearby. "He's inside! We don't know how deep that place goes. Give it five. Over."

Down in autopsy, Gwen was focused on keeping her hand still as she placed it on a flatbed scanner. A beam of light passes across it as the full body scan is complete. Gwen tilted her head and studied the projection on the wall. There's a little red blip, a little red blip in the pelvic region.

Upstairs, the huge cog door opened and Jack stepped inside. "We need damage control at St Helen's. One body. Dr. Rupesh Patanjali. Shot in the back."

"What happened?" Ianto asked.

"I don't know. He was just left there right beside me. Like someone's gloating." Jack shook his head, trying to remember anything at all.

Ianto stepped forward. "Did they kill you?"

"Yeah."

Ianto moved in for awkward hug, patting Jack's back in an attempt to comfort him. Rory averted his eyes, not wanting to interrupt their private moment.

Pulling back, Jack said, "Maybe we're being targeted. Whether it was him or me, we should be careful. Better tell Gwen."

"She's back, she's in the lab." Ianto nodded down the stairs.

"Gwen!" Jack called as he went to find her. "Boy, have I had a day," he started before he looked up to see what she was up to. His eyes widened in shock as he noticed that significant red blip. "Oh, my God. Is that...?"

Gwen took her hand off the scanner. Her eyes were still staring at the wall and she didn't speak.

"How long?" Jack asked.

"Three weeks." Gwen's voice betrayed no hint of her emotions on this news.

"That's good, isn't it?" Jack asked. He loved babies, new life with all their potential in front of them. He was so happy for her but he wanted her to be happy, too. "From where I'm standing, it... looks good to me."

"Yeah." The tiniest of smiles starts to blossom on her face. "Bloody hell. It's brilliant!"

"Ianto!" Jack yelled, grinning madly. "We're having a baby!"

Ianto ran in and leaned over the railing. His face was half-confused, half-excited.

"Have you told Rhys?" Jack asked.

"I've only just found out myself," Gwen grinned.

"Oh, you told me before you told him, he is gonna love that," Jack teased.

"Congratulations," Ianto said sincerely.

Rory had come in too, offering his congratulations as well.

"That is just bloody spectacular! But what about this place, and my job?" Suddenly she was nervous.

Reassuringly, Jack put his hand on Gwen's, which was now on the scanner. "We'll manage." Jack squeezed her hand. "We always do." The scanner kicked into life and the blaring claxon of an alarm sounded.

"What the hell is that?" Gwen looked around, confused.

A new image was being projected on the wall. Jack's this time. And now there was a red blip in Jack's abdomen. "Oh, my God," Jack breathed.

"There's a bomb, there's a bomb inside your stomach." Ianto was frantic.

"Let's go," Rory said, pulling on Ianto's arm and motioning to Gwen.

"Get out," Jack commanded and Gwen told him no. "All of you, get out right now." He dragged her up the stairs and handed her off to Rory. She was kicking and screaming.

"It has a blast radius of one mile!" Ianto yelled, as if the blast radius would matter once they were inside the TARDIS.

"Look, there must be something we can do. Look, we can stop it. We can fix this, OK? We can rip it out of you." Gwen was still protesting as Rory pulled her closer to the TARDIS door.

"I'm telling you. Get out!" Jack was yelling by this point.

"It's active." Ianto checked a scanner. "Two minutes!"

"I can't just run, Jack." Gwen tried one more time.

"You're pregnant," he said flatly.

She stilled in Rory's arms. With a nod, she extricated herself from Rory's arms and ran inside the TARDIS.

"Lockdown sequence initiated," the voice of the computer said flatly.

"Ianto, you need to go." Jack's voice was soft and forceful.

"There must be a way to override the mechanism." Ianto was still hysterical. "Rory help me."

"I'm trying to help you." Rory grabbed his arm. "Let's go."

"For God's sake, get out!" Jack yelled. The computer voice reminded them that a lockdown was imminent.

"There'll be nothing left of you!" Ianto sobbed.

Jack shook his head. "I can survive anything. You would die and never come back. Is that what you want?" He turned to the other man. "Rory, take care of them." He motioned for Rory to head into the TARDIS.

"See you in hell, Jack," Rory said before turning to run into the ship. He busied himself at the controls, ready to send the ship back to Tony and Trisha's place.

Jack grabbed Ianto and pulled him into a fierce kiss, a farewell kiss, one that was far too short. Abruptly, Jack pulled back and shoved Ianto through the open door to the ship. "I'll come back. I always do." Pressing his wrist strap into Ianto's hands, he slammed the doors shut in Ianto's face.

Taking a step back, giving the ship room to dematerialize, Jack closed his eyes and awaited the impending explosion.

Inside, Rory threw the switch to take them far away from Cardiff, but the ship quaked and threw herself into the Vortex.

All over Earth, Humanity's children stopped. Eyes blank, faces expressionless. It started again. "We are coming. We are coming. We are coming. We are coming…back."