Wednesday

"That was...that was..." Ianto staggered to his feet and looked around him.

"Shaky," he finished quietly.

"Yeah well, it got us here," Jack said, pressing a button on his Vortex Manipulator as he hoped against hope that the Doctor hadn't got some sort of tracker on it.

Beside him, Ianto was staring transfixed at the street in front of them.

"You ok?" Jack asked. Time travelling without a capsule, as the Doctor liked to put it, could scramble your brains a bit.

"You've time-travelled, Ianto! What do you think?"

"Cardiff. 2007. Amazing. Hope I can stand the excitement."

"Come on!" Jack punched his arm lightly, "this is the first of many! It's just...technically speaking, I'm not supposed to be doing this. And you know me, usually I would say, might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and take you somewhere really exciting but...it's kind of complicated and there's all sorts of rules about not interfering and at least here, we're in no way conspicuous."

"As long as we don't run into ourselves. That could be classed as conspicuous."

"And wouldn't that be a fun evening! But no, it's ok, I checked. Two years ago, this very night, we're safely back in the hub and would you believe?" He gave Ianto a quick wink. "We're not really inclined to go out."

"Great." Ianto brushed himself down. "Well then. Where do we start? Check out any sights we might have missed first time around?"

"The restaurant I told you about! Murelli's...it's right over there, see? Closed down...well...in two month's time. They do the best seafood."

"What if our meal tonight saves the business and they don't close down and we change the course of history?"

"We'll take the risk." Jack grinned at him.

They crossed the street and headed towards the open door of the restaurant.

"That'd be one way of saving Cardiff from the recession," Ianto was saying, "go back in time...pump some money into all these struggling shops and cafes and give them a fighting chance. We could...Jack? Are we going in?"

"Hold on."

Jack paused, a hand out towards the door. He could have sworn he'd heard...

"Ianto, did you hear a scream?"

"What? No."

"It was coming from down here." Jack walked toward a side street.

"Jack, should we be doing this?"

A shrill scream echoed through the narrow street.

Jack ran down the path and into a courtyard in between a small, forlorn cluster of houses. A very high wall shielded them from the main street and at the top of wall...

"Hold on. Stay very still," he said calmly.

A little girl stood at the top of the wall. She looked to be frozen, arms outstretched, unable to move or even to balance herself into a sitting position. On the ground beside him, another small girl stood sobbing.

Ianto skidded to a halt behind him.

"I'll look around for a ladder," he said quietly.

"No time." Jack headed towards the corner house and took a look back at the child. The evening sun was strong and he couldn't see her clearly but he could tell that she hadn't moved a muscle. She seemed to sway gently, her arms the only thing giving her any sort of balance. It was a miracle she hadn't fallen.

He clambered on to a window sill, grasping at a mixture of trellis and branches on the side of the house. As they took his weight, he felt the wood bend beneath his feet but he grasped the top of the wall and swung his weight upwards, scrambling into position at the top of the wall.

"It's alright," he said gently, moving towards her, "give me your hand. I'll help you down."

Still, she didn't move. Terrified, he guessed, shifting his weight along the top of the wall. When he reached her, he took her hands, breathing deeply in relief.

Ianto had found a large bin and positioned it below them. Between them, they manoeuvred the child on to its lid and Ianto lifted her down.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Jack winked at her.

"I don't get lifted down," he said, easing himself down.

She still stood, regarding him solemnly. Slowly, she blinked, as if waking from a dream. She focused on him and her eyes widened.

"Where do you live?" Jack asked.

The sound of his voice seemed to break a spell. She turned and took off at a run. The other child stared at them uncertainly for a second, then spun around and followed.

They listened as the footsteps disappeared.

"There's gratitude," Ianto said.

"Yeah." Jack tried to laugh but suddenly the small street seemed dark.

"Jack? Should we have done that? I know...well, obviously we should...but should we?"

Jack considered. He knew, and suddenly he really knew, that interfering was dangerous. But then again, the Time Agency had trampled over the past like a ton of bricks. Long before meeting the Doctor, he had done the same. That last trip to Pompeii, he could have sworn that was himself he'd spotted in the market. But still...

Why did it feel like the sun had just gone in? A moment ago, the whole place had been bathed in light.

"It's fine," he said to Ianto, "if we hadn't turned up, someone would have, or she'd have managed to get down by herself. She was holding up pretty well."

They headed back towards the restaurant.

"Ianto?"

"Yes?"

"If you happen to see any giant black birds circling around in the next few minutes..."

"How likely is that?"

"Whatever I'm drinking at the time, make it a triple."