Chapter Eleven: Torchwood and Torchwood

AN: I am combining Tales from the Hub (my Torchwood fic) and this fic into a single 'verse. So Gwen and Jack are a thing, as are Owen and Tosh. No TW spoilers AFAIK and the story will be way changed anyway. This takes place on April 6th, 2009.

"Well…" Cassie started, pretending to hesitate. Martha glared at her. "No, I'm kidding. We need to stay here about three hours, so my machine can recharge, and then we'll be off. I'll have to make some calls to the other side…" She trailed off.

"Other side?" Martha looked confused.

"We'll need a hand or two to get ourselves across," Cassie replied.

"Like who, UNIT?" Martha grinned.

"UNIT?!" Cassie laughed. "UNIT's useless. All they are are legal restrictions, ethical codes, talk to my superior, pre-recorded answering machine, bureaucracy, bureaucracy, bureaucracy out the yin-yang."

Martha looked quite offended. "I work for them, y'know. Doctor-"

"Government. Sums 'em up."

Cassie laughed again and continued. "No, we need someone who's actually helpful." Martha rolled her eyes; Cassie ignored her, continuing on. "Let's see. Separate from the government would be nice. Outside the police. Beyond the United Nations. Smaller group, perhaps personally interested in the case, maybe someone in charge of the operation misses an old friend… oh, and we'd need some power... access to a spatio-temporal rift would be lovely. Hmmmmm…. Now, who could possibly fit that criteria?"

"Oh, you are clever, Cassie," the Doctor grinned, smiling with some pride for his daughter. "Rose Tyler, we get to pay a visit to a certain Captain Jack Harkness."

"The Face of Boe, Cassie says," Rose chuckled. "Is that true?"

"She'd know better than I do," the Doctor murmured. "She has insane telepathic powers. More so than an average Time Lord. Not to mention, she has the ability to follow a personal timeline. It's actually rather scary."

"It's because I've got the TARDIS energy in me," Cassie replied. "A long story, involving a whole lot of factors that Jack would be interested in, so I'll save them. Tony, we're starting Operation TARDIS phase two. The Torchwood Three bit."

"Ah," said Tony, walking to the giant computers. "Engaging panreality communication link in thirty seconds."

Rose grinned with pride. "These two are brilliant," she murmured to the Doctor, coming close. "I'm proud of them, really."

The Doctor kissed the top of her head. "You should be, Rose Tyler."


Meanwhile and a universe away…

"Jack? Jack, come over here a minute. Something weird just happened."

"What is it, Gwen?" Jack walked over to her screen and looked. "Incoming communication…? What? That never happens. Well, let's see who this is…" He clicked the ACCEPT button to see a young, blond girl.

"Fantastic," she murmured. "Captain Jack Harkness. An honor. And Gwen Cooper. Great to meet you. I must say, I like you. You're like my mother."

"Ummmm…" Gwen blushed.

"Don't worry. Jack can confirm that my mother is a good person… He owes her his life, actually."

"Which one?" Gwen joked. "Oh… wait… do you…"

"I know, but I believe your team doesn't, so shush, Gwen. He might get mad… oh, who the hell am I kidding."

"I'm. Right. Here." Jack sighed. This kid was weirdly right about everything, including the part about his never being able to be mad at Gwen. Especially that part. "Anyway, what the hell are you doing on our computer?"

"My name's Cassie and I am the director and leader of Torchwood Junior. And before you say that that doesn't exist, I will tell you that it definitely does exist and if you have doubts I will get rid of them faster than you can say weevil."

"Alleviate them, then." Jack was a bit uneasy about this. He closed his eyes and breathed. He felt Gwen's hand on his back, and then he opened his eyes to see…

"Doctor," he murmured. "Martha." And then… "Impossible. That's impossible. Doctor, you said-"

"Hello," said Rose Tyler.

"I told you," said the kid. "She's a lot like Gwen, no? Cassandra Yvonne Tyler, since you didn't ask. I'll have a salute."

"Don't you dare, Cassandra," said the Doctor. "That's Donna's line… literally… but anyway, no child of mine is going to demand a salute."

"ANYWAY." Jack sighed. "No domestics right now, please. What do you want, Cassie?" He had an idea of the answer, seeing that the Doctor was on a parallel world… Oh, this would be great. Seeing Rose again, that would be amazing.

"I'm going to send you a computer program that will, when run, lock onto the TARDIS matrices and send Rift energy to its spatiotemporal coordinates, to help us pull it back through to you. The program is safe; I've tested it extensively and it has pulled the TARDIS one way, so it can pull it the other way as well. All you need to do is wait for my signal and pull us when I say so. Easy enough?"

Jack nodded. "Oh my God, yes, I'll do it. Anything to see my old best friend." He grinned at Rose, who returned it with her classic tongue in teeth smile.

"Like I said… a lot like Gwen, no?" Cassie mimicked her mum's expression.

"I did think that… but different, too. Gwen's a bit more, I dunno, down-to-earth." He chuckled. "Literally." He reminisced for a minute. "Alright! We will await your signal, Cassie." He grinned before signing off with his old favorite catchphrase. "See you in hell."