Chapter 6

Gwen listened as Ianto explained what he knew of his family history to the Doctor, telling him about his belief that he and Rhiannon had different fathers. As she listened to him speak she wondered what the Doctor wanted to learn from their family histories, and why he wanted to hear hers as well as Ianto's, she was 100 percent human. When Ianto finished the Doctor turned to her expectantly, waiting for her to tell her story.

Gwen explained what she knew of her family, but she had to admit that she didn't know that much about her history. Gwen had always been routed in the present and forwardlooking to the future. The past had never really held much of an appeal to her.

"The woman you are named after, can you tell me anything about her?" The Doctor prompted.

Gwen stared at the alien oddly for a moment, how did he know she had been named after a member of her family. "Gwenyth, she was my father's many times great aunt, she worked in a funeral home here in Cardiff and died their in a fire. Apparently I look just like her so I was name after her, like she was named a Gwendolyn, I think, that she looked like."

"Hah, you do know your family history or some of it at least. She was a lovely woman you many times great aunt, caring and kind with a highly developed mind. Something I had thought at the time was due to having grown up almost completely on top of the rift." The Doctor stated, shocking them all that he seemed to have known Gwen's long dead relation.

Jack seemed to be shocked for another reason though, "Gwenyth as in Gwenyth? Dickens, Gelth Gwenyth?" At the Doctors nod Jack let out a sigh, "Is it safe for Gwen to be here Doctor, practically on top of the rift?"

Gwen looked between the two men, wondering what they were talking about, and how Jack knew of her Great aunt as well. She was going to ask, but she decided to wait and hear what the Doctor had to say first, she wanted to know if she was safe here after all. Although why she might be in any more danger than they were in normally as a result of what came through the rift she didn't know.

"Miss Cooper should be fine. Charlie Boy didn't tell anyone what happened, and Rose and I only related the story to you and Mickey. Miss Cooper would have ended up here on the rift anyway, so would Mr Jones, they would have come here whether they worked for Torchwood or not." The Doctor replied, before quickly explaining how he had met Gwenyth and what had happened, the look Gwen had thrown him had promised torture of some sort if he hadn't confessed.

"What do you mean we would have ended up here on the rift anyway?" Gwen asked, looking to Ianto to see if he looked as confused as she felt, to find that he seemed to be utterly vexed by the Doctor's words. "And why did you want our families histories, and for that matter what is spatial genetic multiplicity?"

The Doctor sighed, "The rift, it would have been pulling you in for years, it is a small tear in the fabric of reality that is connected to the time vortex. Neither of you had a chance to look into the untempered schism so you would have been drawn to the next best thing, a rift in time and space." He looked around, seeing the nonplussed looks on the faces around him. "As Gallifreyans we all have that urge at some point, not all satisfy it, in fact only a real small percentage did. The council made sure that only a certain number of people were admitted to the academy every year to keep the number of Time Lords and Fires at a reasonable level."

Gwen didn't know what to think, the day had started off so normally as well, or as normal as ones day could be when you work for Torchwood. Now though, they had an alien in their conference room trying to tell both her and Ianto that they were alien, or at least that's what she thought he was trying to say. She turned to Jack, hoping that he may be able to get a better answer out of the mad alien, or at least be able to translate what he had already said.

"Doc, are you trying to tell me that both Gwen and Ianto are Gallifreyan?" Jack asked simply, hoping to get a simple explanation from the other man for once.

"Yes," the Doctor stated, "well, no, but yes. Ianto is half-Gallifreyan through his ability to change into a phoenix if that's what your calling him he is definitely a Fire. As for Gwen well, she is completely human, but not. I'm not saying this right, her mind is Gallifreyan, but she's human."

"Like Donna, human body, Time Lord mind?" Jack asked.

"No, no, definitely not, that's a metacrisis waiting to happen. Definitely not a Time Lord mind, a Gallifreyan mind, there is a difference. Gwenyth and Gwen and even the Gwendolyn that Gwenyth was named for are all anomalies. Spatial genetic multiplicity Jack, they look the exact same as each other, even though they are years apart in their family trees, that had to come from somewhere. There was probably a Gallifreyan female that looked exactly like your Miss Cooper does who married into the family, and merging with the family line. I doubt any Gallifreyan traits will show up in Gwen's family except in those who look like her exactly, they inherited the Gallifreyan mental traits, but that is all, the rest of her is completely human."

"So what does this mean for them, medically speaking?" Owen asked and Gwen had to smile, she knew that the Doctor despite his gruff exterior at times wouldn't really care that either she nor Ianto were completely human, although she appeared to be more human than anything else, how just her mind can be alien she would never really know. Owen was more concerned about how this would affect his job, and his care of them both, something that no-one outside of the team would probably believe.

"There shouldn't be any real difference in treating Miss Cooper, just be careful with pain medication, as she is completely human in body aspirin shouldn't affect her like the rest of the Gallifreyans or Time Lords, but be careful in case some of the allergy has persisted. As for Mr Jones, if he is injured in either form he must be treated in the one he is injured in; do not allow him to change form until he is completely healed. Aspirin shouldn't affect him at all however, we never worked out how, but the Fires were never affected by it, we did think it might have been something to do with the Fire in their blood. Oh, that's another thing, neither of you become blood donors, I'm not too sure of the effects of Miss Coopers blood if they are anything life or history changing, but we should be on the safe side."

Gwen nodded at that, as much as she cared for other people, giving blood had never been her thing, it was bad enough when Owen came at her with a needle for testing, but to allow someone to stick a needle in her voluntarily. She noticed Ianto nodding as well, and had to wonder what this really meant for them, Ianto was descended from someone who could turn into a bird, and she was descended from someone with extremely good mind apparently, that she had inherited. She supposed the day could have been worse, but then again it wasn't over yet, and she had to explain this to Rhys. He had been saying for years that her mind and what she was thinking was alien to him, but she was pretty sure that this was not what he had meant.