First off- sorry about the long wait-

Second- I hope I did the 'Jack meets up with the Doctor' bit justice

Third- I hope you enjoy this chapter

(And fourth- I just rewatched COE... well... I watched the first three episodes but as soon as Ianto and Jack were getting ready to go... Well I went back and watched a random episode which turned out to be They Keep Killing Suzie... needless to say I was tired the next day, but not overly sad because of that scene(sorry, I'm still in denial)- but still, :) Ianto! and Tosh and Owen... but still- my new rule- Torchwood= season 1&2 only)

Chapter 8

Some Possible Answers

"So, Doctor," Jack said, "Long time, no see."

"Jack," The Doctor said seriously, getting straight to the point, "We've got a problem."

"And what problem would this be?" Jack asked, crossing his arms, putting the fact that the Doctor had been hiding from them behind him for a moment. "I mean, a guy running around killing kids and giving everyone nightmares, we get that every day…"

"It's more what's causing it," The Doctor frowned at the sarcasm, "I'm actually not too sure," he said, "I think I've figured out what might be causing this… but it's slightly impossible."

"As things normally are with you," Jack pointed out.

The Doctor glared before continuing as though there had been no interruption, "It's just the thing that could be causing this is found in a galaxy thousands of lightyears away from here, there were only about twelve, and the race that used them went extinct seventy thousand years ago when a solar flare knocked out their whole communication system and they accidentally blew up their own planet because of it."

"What planet?" Jack asked.

"Relai," The Doctor answered immediately, but almost in a whisper.

"Relai?" Jack stared, "As in, you think this could be a Relaiin torture device?"

"So you've heard of it," The Doctor said.

"That's about all they invented, other than their communication network connected to one main computer, and we all know how well that went," Jack said.

"I'm sorry," Ianto cut in, slightly irritated at the way they were talking, without taking into account not everyone in the room had travelled in space, let alone time, "There are some people who have not been beyond this planet's atmosphere, as strange as that may sound. What's a Relaiin torture device?"

"It's a device, slightly psychic that shows a person their greatest fear," The Doctor said, brushing past Ianto's angry sarcasm, "I went to a hotel like that… Except, this is different… the hotel... well you died. But this, it shows you your fear, but just enough so you want to die, but you can't. It won't let you. Ultimate torture."

"But people have died," Ianto pointed out.

"Yes, but the thing about the device is that it keeps alive only the subject of the torture," The Doctor said, "Actually, if it's being threatened, as in someone is trying to get it unconnected with the subject, it'll do whatever it takes to stop said person."

"But it's only one subject," Jack said, "This is everyone in the school… even us. Ianto saw something."

Ianto stiffened, he hadn't told anyone about that. How did Jack know.

"Ianto… I know you well enough to realize when something's spooked you," Jack gently answered his unspoken question.

The Doctor frowned, then sighed, "I don't know. That's why I think it's improbable, both because of the likelihood of one of them actually being here, and the fact that more than one person has had visions, namely myself and one of my friends."

"Well… can she do a scan?" Jack asked, thinking of the possibilities, as he pointed to the console.

"Probably," The Doctor said, "But only for Relaiin technology… the TARDIS tried earlier for any sort of alien technology, but the school seemed to be covered with thousands of different varieties, she couldn't get a fix good enough to tell me specifics. If I ask her one specific type, she might be able to tell me if it's there. It'll take a while though," He spouted out as he spun around the console, pulling levers, pushing buttons, and (to Ianto's great surprise,) typing away on a typewriter jammed into the console.

In the silence cause by the Doctor working hard, Jack walked up to the console to join him, leaving Ianto, glancing around the large room, by the door.

"So," Jack said, now they had come to a decision, "You've redecorated."

"Yeah," The Doctor peered around the Time Rotor grinning, "You like it?"

Jack shrugged, "I liked certain aspects with the old version. Same with this one. So." He leaned against the console as the Doctor continued working. With a frown, he decided to get straight to the point, "Why the secrecy?"

"I think it has something to do with what's causing this," The Doctor said, as though he had a readily prepared speech in front of him, "The Relaiin device(if that is what's causing this) would go to any lengths to keep its subject alive, and to stay in this bond with the subject. It's even slightly psychic, it'd be able to tell if the subject was trying anything to break out of the bond. So if someone outside the bond tried to break the bond with the subject's knowledge, the device would use any means necessary. In our case, I believe the device took knowledge from those outside the specific bond(which it shouldn't be able to, which makes this just an improbable theory), specifically about me… and Torchwood, and used it against us.

"It would probably see that from past experiences, we work best together, so if it kept us apart, we wouldn't get as far," The Doctor spoke at a lightning fast speed before pausing so suddenly Jack thought something might have happened to him, making the immortal glance over at him. Then, the Time Lord continued, "So, to make this work, if it really is a Relaiin device, we have to keep it a secret from the subject."

"But everyone's showing signs of being what you'd consider a subject," Ianto put in from where he was standing awkwardly by the door, frowning slightly. "How'll we know who it is?"

"If there is one," Jack pointed out.

"True, but the one who's been showing signs the longest would be the best guess, or the one with the strongest…visions…" The Doctor said.

"So all we have to do is go ask every single person in the school if they've been seeing dead people, and if so how often," Ianto nodded, "Simple. After we're kicked out, we'll be able to keep our plan a secret without a problem."

Jack sighed, "It won't be that hard," he said, "They'll be more jumpy than most-"

"Michael Coles," the Doctor said.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Michael Coles, he's a seventh grader at the school," The Time Lord said, absent mindedly, as he stared at a wall, "He…" The Doctor frowned, "Well, I have reasons to believe he has more of a chance of coming into contact with this sort of device than the rest of the school."

"And why would that be?" Ianto asked.

The Doctor frowned, "Botany," he spun around and got to work once more at programming the scan, leaving Ianto to raise an eyebrow in question to Jack, who returned it with a shrug.

After a moment of silence, Jack spoke, "So, just a question," he asked, leaning against the console as the Doctor looked up, curious, "Are you purposely getting younger with every regeneration? Or is that just a normal Time Lord thing?"

"It just happened that way," The Doctor protested.

"Not saying it was a bad thing," Jack responded as Ianto walked up to them.

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Ianto said, looking as though he was in fact very pleased to, "But shouldn't we be trying to actually find said alien artifact? Not sitting around trading stories?"

"Right!" The Doctor said, spinning around to his console, "So, this scan will take around about an hour. Oh! Idea!" He spun back to Jack, "You go get your friends, meet me and my friends at the coffee shop in town. Won't be hard to find, can't miss it, it's the only one." The Doctor ran to the door before spinning around to face the other two men, "And just a little warning- for now, I'd stay away from the school. I would call your friends."

"I already have," Jack said, "I can call them again. Owen, Gwen, Tosh and Martha can meet us there"

"Brilliant," The Time Lord said, "Right, well, see you in half an hour!" He was halfway across the clearing before he froze and spun around once more, "Hold on… did you say… Martha? As in…?"

"Martha Jones, yeah," Jack said with a small smile, "She seemed to think you wouldn't be coming."

"Well, I can't miss out on all the fun, now can I?" The Doctor said, something similar to both happiness and sorrow shining through his ancient eyes. As soon as Jack spotted it, however, it disappeared and the Doctor was his, now normal, overly-energetic self. "Yes well! As I was saying! Half an hour. Don't be late," He pointed at Jack before walking quickly into the surrounding trees.

Jack smiled before moving to leave as Ianto said, "So Sir, I guess I should call Martha then."

"Thanks Ianto," Jack said, "Let's go get the van."

Gwen, Martha, Tosh and Owen were in the process of making their way through the crowd of boys blocking the entrance to the building when Martha's mobile rang.

Pausing as Martha answered the call, the other three waited patiently as Martha spoke quickly with the person on the other end.

As she hung up, Martha looked at her companions, "That was Ianto. He said to meet us at the coffee shop in town. There's only one."

"Did you tell him we found the alien?" Tosh asked, "He and Ianto went into town, they think they found a spaceship near the hotel."

"No, he hung up too quickly," Martha said, "But that's not bad, I think 'Mr. Smith's' in town, so we can meet them on the way to find our culprit."

"Ianto probably got our comms out of his room, but we still want to have our phones with us at all times, no matter how bad the signal," Tosh said, moving back to her project of attempting to coax her scanner into some sort of a tracker, but having no luck. The others started walking towards the entrance, making sure the computer technician was still with them as they exited the building.

"We'll try to find Mr. Smith or one of his friends, and if we find ourselves near the coffee shop, then we pick up Jack or Ianto on the way, all the better, but we need to find Mr. Smith. That's our top priority- stop him before he does anything else to hurt the people here," Martha said firmly, her UNIT officer's training shining through in her stance and comfort with the orders.

"I'll try and figure out his species, but after we've caught him," Owen said to Gwen, "So we might now what sort of tech he's using, in case it doesn't stop when we catch him. Then we might be able to stop it."

Gwen nodded, listening closely to her friends and colleagues, but discretely searching her pockets with a growing panic.

Where was her phone?

Normally she wouldn't panic over something as mundane as losing her mobile, but at the moment, with a murderous alien on rampage in an unfamiliar town in which she barely knew anyone with the stakes growing higher by the second, Gwen froze. "I've lost my phone."

Tosh looked back at her, "We need it to find that anomaly you told us about, and in case our comms don't work, or it only works with that specific mobile" She said, mainly to Martha and Owen, the former immediately barked out a command.

"Gwen, go back, see if you can find your phone, but don't take too long. If you can't find it in five minutes, come back here. We need to head out now, so just meet us in the town. As soon as you find your phone, call us. If you don't, find a landline and call us." Martha said, leading the other two out the front doors as Gwen spun around and raced back into the building, still searching her pockets, while scanning the ground frantically.

A few minutes into her frantic search, Gwen shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, panicking slightly.

Her hand wrapped around the cool plastic of the cheap mobile she and the others had bought for their short stay in America, but with which she had taken the time and care to add in such contacts as her fellow Torchwood members, but also a few close friends or family members like Andy and Rhys, followed by her mother and father. Just in case. You never really knew with this job. What could be found in some small unheard of town in the States could very possibly effect(harm) someone as far away as Wales. You really never knew.

Just as she didn't quite know how she had missed her phone in her first frantic search of her pockets.

She frowned, making a show, for no one in particular as she was alone, of flipping open the mobile and typing in Tosh's temporary number.

There was the dreaded beep and small message notifying her that there was no signal.

A jolt of panic shot through her. Taking a deep breath, she tried frantically to calm herself, but to no avail, for some strange reason, which helped even less.

She slipped the phone back into her pocket, where she had failed to locate it earlier, and glanced around.

She froze.

She stared.

"Rhys?" She said, her mouth hanging open as she took in the sight of her husband standing in the middle of the hallway, a look of pure fury on his normally calm features, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," He said, walking towards her.

"It's… for work," Gwen said, trying to remember the last time she had spoken to Rhys. About five hours. He had been in Wales, and the flight from London to Washington DC was around 8 hours. This made no sense.

"Yeah right. More like, for Jack," Rhys spat, not stopping. Gwen backed up slowly, frightened, for the first time in her life, by her husband. "You're always of with him. 'Saving the world'.'Rescuing the lost'."

"Rhys." Gwen said, nearly tripping as she hit the wall at the turn the hall. Reaching out, she felt the corner, and followed the wall, not taking her eyes of her furious husband, "I don't know what you-"

She had said the wrong thing.

Rhys cut her off with a furious wave of his arm, as though trying to hit her, "I don't care! I know! You think you love him! Not me! So why'd you settle with me then? It safe? What about kids? No! We're never gonna have them! Torchwood's too dangerous! It's always Torchwood and Jack!" Rhys was screaming now.

Gwen, having frozen, tried to keep the tears at bay as the thought sluggishly moved across her mind wondering wouldn't someone have heard?

"Rhys, I-" Gwen sobbed as Rhys moved forward, "I-"

"You know what?" Rhys said quietly, but so thickly coated in venom Gwen's head shot up to stare at him. There was a cold fury burning in his normally smiling eyes, "I don't care. I don't care one bit about you, Gwen Cooper. I don't care one fucking bit." He ended with a sharp whisper, before stomping past her.

She stared blankly at the wall across from her as the footsteps faded. It took a few moments for her to realize she was shaking fiercely.

She took a deep breath, tears streaming down her pale, freckled cheeks, before spinning around and, not thinking straight, sprinted after Rhys.

"That's him," Martha said, pointing through the coffee window to where the culprit was sitting, talking to someone hidden by a bend in the wall. "I met him a couple days ago, it was his first day here. His interview, actually. Hired immediately."

Tosh nodded, "Makes sense. He's able to kill without anyone even seeing. It doesn't go against anything to say he might be able to control how people think. It would actually make even more sense."

"How about we go in, and grab him," Owen said, "That person he's with-"

"Might be in danger," Martha nodded, moving her jacket aside to give her easier access to the gun concealed at her waist. As much as she hated the idea of having to use the offending object, it might be the only option in the next few moments. "Let's go."

She walked across the street, glancing around- slightly nervously- as she made sure Tosh and Owen were with her. When they had reached the town, they had immediately decided to locate their target before waiting for Gwen to catch up to them. The time wasted in waiting might give 'Mr. Smith' the opportunity to kill once more.

"Right," Martha paused outside the door leading to the coffee shop, "Be careful, you never know what he could do."

Owen nodded, "We need to get him to come with us, but we need to get him away from the town so he won't be able to get to anyone. Then we can call Ianto or Jack and they can bring the stuff to keep him locked up until UNIT can come."

Martha took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Gwen rounded another corner, just catching sight of Rhys walking through a door at the end of the hallway. The hallway with the mobile signal anomaly, she noted.

She jogged the last few meters, pausing before pushing the door open.

She was greeted by darkness.

No Rhys, nothing. Just a blank, staring door way shrouded by darkness.

Gwen looked behind her, feeling as though someone was watching her.

"Rhys?" She gasped in surprised at her husband standing right behind her, "How'd you-"

She didn't even finish her sentence as Rhys moved quickly towards her, raising his arm as though to strike.

Gwen stumbled backwards, her heel connecting hard with the divider at the bottom of the doorframe. She landed heavily on her back, looking up just in time to see her friend, lover, and husband slam the door shut. Leaving her in darkness so thick it threatened to choke her.

Alright, so that's just a mediocre chapter after such a long wait... I'm sorry. I'm having a huge amount of trouble writing the Torchwood meets the Doctor bit- I have about 7 different versions at the moment, so I'm procrastinating slightly and pushing that to the next chapter- I promise-

Please Review! I will do my very very very best to get the next chapter up before next week(which is when I start my one month time of having no life due to theatre, music, two research papers, and two competitions... fun right?)