It wasn't very long after that when Martha came bustling through. "Sage, Ianto, I'm sorry. I've been recalled. I've got to go," she said, sounding distressed. We both stood. Ianto embraced her first.

"Well, we knew we couldn't keep you," he murmured. "I hope it works out, whatever it is."

"I hope so, too. It's... Oh, I wish I could tell you! Just one thing, Ianto..."

"Anything."

"Make sure Jack doesn't buy Sage that car he's been talking about, all right? I can't explain... Just make sure he doesn't."

"All right," Ianto agreed, looking concerned and puzzled, but trusting that there had to be an important reason for so odd a request.

"Sage," Martha said, leaving Ianto's arms for mine. "Keep them safe for me, all right? This might be nothing. I hope it's nothing..."

"But it doesn't feel like nothing," I finished for her. "Promise me something, Martha, please?"

"What is it?"

"No matter what happens... Don't tell my father about me. Don't tell him we've met, where I am, or even that I'm alive. Can you promise me that?"

"Sage, he should know," she chided.

"I'm serious. It's very important," I told her. "Promise me. No matter what, please don't tell him."

"I promise," she said frowning. "I don't like it, but if it's that important to you, I promise I won't mention you to him."

"Thank you, sweet Martha. Do be careful. I hope you can come back to see us soon," I said, kissing her on the cheek.

She hugged both of us again, one per arm, and then finally left.

"Will she be all right?" Ianto asked me. Silent tears started streaming down my face. "Oh, don't cry," he whispered, pressing my face to his shoulder.

"It's worse than she thinks," I whispered so only he could hear me. I didn't want it on CCTV. "It's so much worse... We need to stay close to the Hub. I don't know exactly when it will happen."

"When what will happen?" he pressed, keeping his voice low.

"We'll be fine," I told him. "This is the safest place in the world to be. I'll take care of you."

"Are those Sterling roses?" Jack suddenly said behind me. Ianto and I both jumped. "Wow. Those are expensive. Which of your dashing young men sent you those, Sage? Or was it Laura?"

"It was John," I told him. The look of surprise on his face was exquisite. "They're just a thank you," I downplayed them.

"I wonder who he robbed to pay for those," he mused aloud. "Why Sterling?"

"Because purple roses are my favourite. We had them back home, on Gallifrey." He stood there, frowning in silence. "Jack?"

"I was just thinking about a song... 'Forget my shoulder/ when you're in need /Forgetting birthdays/ Is guaranteed/ And should I love you, you would be/ The last to know…'" he sang softly.

"'I won't send roses'," I put in, plucking one from the vase, "'but roses suit you so.' (1) One for each life," I told him, handing him a long-stemmed purple rose. "This one's yours."

Jack smiled as sad smile. "No Sage. I'll probably still be around when you've breathed your last. This one's for Ianto," he concluded, then handed him the rose. "Forever's overrated," he said. "Even when it comes to love. We always lose the ones we love."

"If there was a way, Jack, I would find it," I told him, kissing Ianto's cheek. "But I promise, as long as I haven't breathed my last, I'll do everything in my power to keep him safe."

"I don't want to live forever," Ianto told us gravely. "I just want to live."

And with that he set the rose back in the vase with the rest, and we all went home.

"Did she say anything to you when she left?" Jack inquired of Ianto. I was on Jack's other side, dozing with my body pressed against his back, but not actually asleep.

"She said something rather odd, actually. Something about new cars. To tell you not to buy Sage that new car you'd mentioned. Any idea what she meant?" Ianto ventured.

"New cars? The only thing different about cars nowadays is that ATMOS thing. It all sounds too good to be true to me, and if that's what Martha meant, I guess it must be."

"Pollution-free cars," Ianto mused. "Toshiko thought they actually worked, so I suppose they do, but she seemed worried. I wish now that I'd asked her why."

"Martha must suspect alien intervention. It's the only explanation for her telling Sage," Jack concluded.

"Sage knows something. She said she doesn't know when 'it' will happen, but she didn't explain what she meant. She was scared, though, Jack... I mean, she ran blindly to save John from the Arteran Seek… no fear. But this, whatever it is that she sees coming…"

"We'll stay close to the Hub tomorrow," Jack concluded. "Safest place on the planet, and maybe some of what we've got can stop what's coming."

"I do hope so, Jack," Ianto murmured. "I can't bear to lose you. Either of you."

"Neither can I," Jack agreed, drawing Ianto close and kissing him tenderly. They fell asleep holding each other, and I eventually did as well, with one arm thrown across both their waists.

Thing is, I didn't know exactly what was coming, only that it was wrong. It was something huge and terrible, but I couldn't see through the fog. I couldn't ask Faith, either; there's only so many favours you can ask of someone like her before you become a burden rather than a friend.

All I really knew was that our survival would very likely depend on me.

"Laura, you really should stay here today," I said, trying not to sound overly concerned.

"There's work to be done, Sage, and not even Jack could keep me from it today," she replied. "I'm wired. I really think I can accomplish a lot. If you're feeling lonely since Martha left, I am sorry. It shouldn't interfere with work, though."

"All right," I agreed softly. "Just... keep your comms with you, all right?"

"Always. No worries. I'll see you," she said before leaving.

Jack was pacing in his office. Ianto was pacing in the greenhouse. Gwen was out somewhere, supervising yet another road repair issue with Rhys. I went to Tosh's old station (I still didn't think of it as Laura's... I just couldn't) and tracked the GPS on Gwen and Laura's mobiles.

I stayed there all day. A few times during the day Ianto brought me coffee or urged me to eat something. I complied, but I refused to leave Tosh's desk. I widened the range of the scan to include London, to track Martha's mobile. At some point in the afternoon she blipped right off the screen.

"Jack?" I called out, but it was Ianto who came at a run. "I've lost Martha's GPS," I told him. "There one moment, gone the next."

"Could be she's in a basement or something, Sage," he told me cautiously. "She'll probably come back on screen soon enough."

"Where's Jack?"

"Same as you. Glued to his computer. He's watching the news, though. Has been for about three straight hours now," Ianto reported. "I've locked Myfanawy in," he then told me. "Whatever's worrying you is big. I thought it'd be prudent."

I smiled at him. He thought of everything, my sweet Ianto. "Sit with me?" I asked him. He did. We waited for Martha's GPS to come back on, but it didn't. I discovered later that the area where she was had been blanketed with a dampening field. At the time, though, I was staring at the computer screen and hoping Ianto was right and that there was nothing to worry about. A few hours later, I stopped hoping and narrowed the field back down to Cardiff to keep a closer eye on Gwen and Laura. In the interim, Martha's signal finally came back online, but I never saw it, as mere moments later all hell broke loose.

"Sage!" Jack cried out from the doorway of his office. "Get the others. Bring them in now! Ianto, lockdown!"

Neither of us stopped to ask. Ianto ran to hit the panic button, air-locking us in. I hit my teleport and set out to find Gwen.

1) "I Won't Send Roses" from Jerry Herman's Mack & Mabel.