Chapter Eight

Trace just stared at him. So he elaborated.

"I'm from the 51st century. By that time period, certain things had…evolved, you could say."

Jack smiled a little. "One thing that changed was where, or how, people got their accents. They didn't come from where you lived, but who you were. They were, are, inherited."

He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he would get from the girl. Perhaps surprise, confusion, disbelief. But he definitely wasn't prepared for what she was about to say.

"How did you end up here?"

Jack was surprised. He couldn't tell for sure if she believed him or not, but he could tell that she was curious.

"I was part of this group called the Time Agency. I worked with them for quite a while. But one day I realized that they had stolen 2 years of my memories."

He grew silent, remembering how he felt at the time. Not wanting the man to stop there, Trace spoke up. "What did you do?"

The Captain looked back at the girl before responding, "I left. I became a conman. I was doing pretty decent when I met these two incredible people. The Doctor and Rose."

Trace watched as the man who claimed to be her father smiled once more.

"I ended up traveling with them. One day we found ourselves on this space station. I fought with them. I, I died for them."

The teen interrupted him. "If you died, how could you be here, now?"

"Rose did something. It's hard to explain. But she brought me back to life. However, she couldn't control it, and ended up bringing me back for good. I, I can't die. I get injured, I heal…fast. I die, I come back. I guess that somehow got passed on to you."

Trace nodded slowly, taking all that information in. "Okay. But how did you end up here, in Cardiff?"

Jack sighed before continuing. "When I woke up, I was alone. The Doctor had left me. I used this," he held up his wrist with his wrist strap, "To hop back in time to try and find him.

"I ended up in Cardiff, at the end of the 19th century. This thing died on me, and I was stuck. So I've been living here, and working for Torchwood, ever since."

Trace looked away. "Right. Okay," she said.

Jack stood up and walked over to the girl. He knelt down so he was at her current eye level.

"If I had known that your mother was pregnant, I would never have left like that. I swear."

She looked over at him, a wry smile on her face. "It doesn't matter now. Does it?"

Out of curiosity, Jack asked, "How did it happen?"

Trace knew exactly what he meant. "Car accident. Ironic, isn't it?"

"What happened?" he pressed again.

He watched as the teen's brow furrowed, and she said, "Why ask me? You could easily look it up with all your resources," before looking away.

The Captain gently put his hand under her chin and made her look at him. "I want to hear it from you."

The girl stared him in the eye for a minute before sighing. "We had gone to the theatre. It was storming as we drove home. Something happened, and my mum lost control of the car.

"It skidded, slid across the road. Rolled three times before coming to a stop upside down. When I stopped screaming, I unbuckled myself. I moved around so I could see my mum. I knew instantly that she was gone.

"So I shifted around again and tried to crawl out through the broken window. But I was trapped, though I'm not sure how. I had to wait for help to arrive to move anymore. When they finally helped me out and looked me over, I had no major injuries.

"They said I should be happy for the miracle that saved my life. Whatever it was."

She snorted. "How could I be happy that I was alright when my mum was dead?"

Trace fell silent again. Jack then quietly asked her, "What happened then?"

"What do you think happened?" she snapped. "We had a funeral, and I came here to live with dear, old Aunt Clarice," she added sarcastically.

Jack started to say, "I'm so, so…" when Trace interrupted him. "What time is it?"

He glanced wearily at his watch. "About 1 AM. Why?"

"I need to get back to my Aunt's house," she replied. That place will never be home, she thought.

Jack offered to drive the girl, but she flat out refused. "I can walk."

Even though they only knew about each other's existence for a few hours, Jack could not, in good conscious, let her walk across town at this hour.

"I'm driving you." he stated firmly, leaving no room for objection.

The two stared at one another for a moment before Trace spat out, "Fine."

The two spent the entire ride in silence. When they finally pulled up in front of the house, Jack turned to say something only to find that Trace had already gotten out of the SUV.

He watched her round the house before heading back to the Hub.