Hughes Flats; Cardiff, Wales

Anwen followed her mother into the building. She still felt stupid trying to fix the problem. John was right. She didn't understand. Her connection to the Rift made her feel powerful and confident. It was a dangerous illusion.

The feeling started as they approached the lift. A buzzing sound in the back of her mind. Another ship was in the Rift. A bigger ship. Anwen dropped her knees. She could sense her mother hovering over her. There was something different about this ship. The engines were shielded. The new energy shimmered with an icky glow.

Anwen opened her eyes, the tingling there but not as bad as before. "We have a problem."

She could hear her mother talking to Jack. But Uncle Jack didn't know how her ability worked. Trying to move while connected to the Rift was surreal. Her hand didn't feel connected. A few tries later, she had her wrist-strap open. "John Hart."

"Hey."

"How do I stop a ship in the Rift that's blocking me?"

"Explain."

"There's a big, alien ship trying to come through the Rift. I can stall it, but I can't destroy it."

John hesitated. "I have an idea. Hold on."

"What?" Jack responded to his wrist com chiming.

"Anwen claims there is another ship in the Rift."

"I know."

"You need to disrupt the ship's defense against Anwen. An energy device or a bomb."

Jack had a crazy idea. "Do you have a portable device? To travel between cities."

"Yeah."

"I need it."

John said, "I'm at my place."

"Meet at the building. Anwen and Gwen are there."

The alien ship was a possible blessing.

John arrived first and scanned the building. Anwen was with Gwen on the first floor. He let himself in the back door.

"That's John," he heard Anwen say. She sounded worse.

John kept his hands in front of him. He hadn't had to deal with Gwen in the future, she'd died as a result of something Moss-Probert did. It didn't stop him from thinking that if things turned out differently, she would have been his mother-in-law. Which somehow made the entire situation weirder.

"You should have knocked," Gwen declared.

"How's Anwen?"

That defused some of it. Whatever issues he'd had with Gwen, she loved her daughter.

"I don't know."

John crouched down a few feet from where Anwen slouched against the hallway wall. "Are you warm?"

"No."

"Your uncle has an idea. You just need to hold on."

"I can feel the universe."

"Can I talk to you?" Gwen said.

Which sounded ominous. John followed her down the hall.

"What do you want from my daughter?"

De ja vu. He'd had a similar conversation with both Jack and Trefor. "Nothing."

"She's ten years old."

He wondered what he was missing. "Yeah."

"You claimed to be her boyfriend in the future."

John wasn't sure what to say to that. He hadn't claimed to be anything. He'd made the movie reference to Anwen. "I knew a version of your daughter before she changed time. The woman I knew as Anwen ceased to exist."

"Whatever was between you cease to exist."

John closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Is there a point to this?"

"I don't want you fixated on my child."

John opened his eyes and met Gwen's gaze. "I love a woman who no longer exists. She knew exactly who and what I was. She didn't care. The circumstances that led to her caring about me can never be repeated. She sacrificed herself to save selfish people who brought on their own destruction. I am alone on this godforsaken planet to keep a promise to a woman who chose it over me." Tears welled in his eyes.

He removed the portal device from his pocket and shoved it at her. "I want nothing from 'your ten year-old.' Or you or Jack or Torchwood. I don't care if aliens blow up the planet."

John headed for the back door.

When Jack found Gwen and Anwen in the hallway, he knew something had happened. She handed him a device.

"Where's John?"

"He left."

Jack knew there was more to it, but it would have to wait. "I will call from Liverpool."