When Gwen opened the door to head down for breakfast the next morning, Jack was already in the hall. He turned around to flash her his usual smile, then turned back to the room opposite hers.

Next to him was an older woman, black with her straight hair in a tight ponytail. She looked concerned as she watched through the open door.

"Good morning Jack... What's going on?"

The american stepped half a step back so she could see in.

"Miss Hartman wanted Ianto to have a look around Suzies room... But you don't have too! It can wait!"

Ianto was by the desk. The room looked pretty much like Gwen's, though a bit more personalised with books in the window and withering flowers in a vase on the desk.

"The fresher the memories, the clearer. I'll stop when I'm done..."

Jack sighed with a worried look on his face and turned back to the women in the corridor.

"Right, ok. Gwen, this is our school doctor, Martha Jones. Martha, this is Gwen Cooper."

"Hello Gwen. I've heard a lot about you. Are you doing alright?"

Gwen shook the taller womans hand and even managed to return her smile.

"Yeah, considering."

"Well, if you ever feel like talking, just drop by."

"I will, thank you."

They nodded at each other and turned back into the room. Jack had been watching his friend closely the whole time, and he was the first to notice.

"Ianto! That's enough!"

"I can still..."

"Ianto, you're shaking. It can wait, just come out...!"

Gwen did see that the hand on the desk was trembling before the walesman pulled it to his chest. He almost stumbled out and Jack was quick to step forward and wrap his arms around the other boy.

"Jack... I should have known... How did I not notice it...? Jack...!"

"It's alright. You never pried, you never do. She didn't want to tell us, nobody knew. I'm sorry Ianto. There's nothing you could have done.

"She was so scared Jack... She was so lonely... We abandoned her..."

Gwen almost felt like she was intruding, watching Jack comfort the still shaking boy.

"No, we didn't. We were always here for her, she chose to go through everything alone. It's not your fault, Ianto."

Finally, Ianto stood straight again and took a deep, shaky breath. Jack even went so far as to wipe his tears and give him a kiss on the forehead before letting go.

"Alright! You've done what the wicked witch of the west asked, now let's have some breakfast!"

Ianto smiled and Martha giggled.

"I'll tell Yvonne you called her that, and it will be detention again."

"No you won't Martha, cause then I'll injure Owen and you'll have to put up with his horrible flirting for the whole day!"

The dark woman gave him a slap to the back of the head, though she was still smiling.

"You wouldn't dare. Now get down and eat, all of you! And you take it easy today Ianto."

"I will Dr Jones."

Jack took both their hands and pulled his classmates down the stairs. Gwen looked Ianto over, but he did seem ok. He was even smiling a bit.

"You sure you're alright Ianto?"

"Hm? Oh don't worry Gwen. I actually do this a lot. Not with so close friends, but still..."

"Mhh..."

"And a hug from Jack always helps."

Jack laughed and Gwen felt her blush rise.

"Are you two...?"

"What? No."

"Yes!"

"In his dreams."

"You will see the awesome that is me one day Ianto!"

"Sorry Jack, I have Lisa."

"Should have never let you ask her out... Didn't think she'd actually say yes..."

It was so obvious they had this conversation a lot and she was almost sure that at least Ianto meant every word. Jack, not so sure.

"So you're girlfriend's Lisa?"

"Mh, she has the room next to you."

"Oh right! I haven't met her yet."

"She's wonderful."

"If you want to get stabbed..."

"She knew you where immortal Jack. And you did grope her."

"No reason to shove a javelin though my stomach..."

"She did what?"

When they got down to breakfast, it was easy to see who Lisa was. She stood up from the round table and waved at them and Ianto let go of Jacks hand to get over to her faster. They kissed gently and sat down next to each other. Judging from Jacks frown, Gwen figured he didn't like the black girl, but even so he walked over and sat down on the other side of the table.

The other two people she had seen in the rain two days ago where already there. The shorthaired boy, Owen, was sipping a cup of coffee and the asian girl, Toshiko, was slicing up a croissant.

"Well then team, and Lisa... This is our new class mate, Gwen Cooper. Be nice Owen."

Gwen hated to be introduced, especially to groups. To have a bunch of people staring at you, making their first judgement.

"Bloody hell Jack, you keep finding cute, lost girls everywhere. I'm starting to wonder if Ianto and I are in the way..."

Jack glared, but Owen didn't care as he held out his hand.

"Owen Harper. Nice to met you. Here, sit down."

Gwen shook his hand and sat down next to him. Jack poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot in the middle of the table. The asian girl wiped her mouth before holding out her own hand.

"Toshiko Sato, you can call me Tosh. You got the room between me and Lisa right?"

"Ah, yes I did."

"My turn then...! I'm Lisa Hallett. Pleasure."

"Gwen Cooper, much the same."

"Gwen, is that short for something?"

"No, that's my whole name."

Ianto stood up just as gracefully as he seemed to do everything else.

"I'm getting something to eat. Gwen, are you coming?"

"Oh, sorry Gwen I never eat in the morning, I forgot!"

"It's alright Jack. I'll come with you Ianto."

It was really different from breakfast at home. There they where quiet, her mom listening to the radio, her father reading the paper.

Here, there was talking, shouting and the clatter of forks and knifes on plates, glass on tables and spoons in bowls. In short, all the noise that came with almost thirty teenagers in one room.

As Gwen got to her second cup of the delicious coffee (apparently, Ianto made it better still) the last chair by the table was taken by an older woman with red hair and a plate full of food.

"Top of the mornin' to ya kiddies! How is everything?"

"Morning Miss Noble!"

"We're doing just fine miss."

"Good morning!"

"Ah, that's a new face that is! Donna Noble, english literature."

"Gwen Cooper. Hello."

The almost extremely happy woman shoved a load of sausage in her mouth before waving her fork in Jack's direction.

"You need to eat in the mornin' Jack! Most important meal of the day!"

Jack sipped his coffee and placed one foot on Owen's chair.

"I'm trying to keep my girly figure!"

Donna glared at him and viciously dug in to her potato.

"You cheeky little brat...! Wouldn't be so smug if I where you, you're coming back to my class after all."

Jack actually looked positively horrified while the rest of the table snorted.

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are, you didn't get enough points last term. So there you go, mon petite Captain!"

"I'm not little!"

"Petite!"

"Donna, I'm warning you!"

"Am I bothered?"

"Please don't...!"

"No! Look at my face Jack! Am I bothered? Look at my face!"

"Donna!"

"Am I bothered? Am I?"

By the time Jack actually stood up and fled the scene under the pretence of getting more coffee, the rest of the table was in a laughing frenzy. Even Ianto chuckled while Owen was right out rude with his loud barking.

Very different from her quiet family.

Class was different too. Even the theoretical subjects wasn't the same.

She was in Jack's class, since those where decided by the grades. The others variated between fourteens year olds to Jack and one more older boy.

When the class started, Donna came over to her desk and asked how far she had gotten in her last school, what she remembered, what she enjoyed and what she wanted to become.

"I'm... Not sure actually. Didn't have much of a plan before, and now I can't really get a job anyway, can I?"

Jack, who was next to her by the desk, looked up from the task-sheets Donna had dumped on him the second he got in and poked her side with the pen.

"Of course you can get a job. A lot of irregulars have jobs. Owen's studying to become a doctor for example."

"Really? They let us get jobs just like that?"

"Actually..."

Donna sat down on the desk, crossing her arms in thought.

"Some people, like Harper for instance, are requested by the government. Owen has a very powerful healing ability. He can bring you back from the brink of death just by touching you."

"Not really the brink of death... But he is good. Really good."

"Can fix anything, from a cold to a fractured bone just with skin contact. If he agrees, he will be placed in a hospital and there he can subtly heal people who might not have lived otherwise. We do what we can to help."

"Who's we Donna? You're regular...!"

"Not to them I ain't! Just as bad as you lot in the eyes of the public."

"So... There are a lot of irregulars in regular jobs?"

"Yes. Most of them are placed out by the government though, according to what they can do. Miss Sato has been requested by pentagon in the states, but she's declining."

"Why? Sounds like a great job!"

"She'd be placed to develop weapons..."

"Oh... Not so great then..."

"What about you, miss Cooper? What would you like to become?"

"Not a fireman. That would be stupid."

Jack laughed, which might not have been smart cause Donna remembered he was supposed to be working and slammed his head down on the table. When he had stopped whining, she turned back to Gwen.

"Isn't there anything?"

"Well... I did think about one thing before all this..."

"And what was that?"

Gwen bit her lip, Andy had laughed when she told him. Still, she was a freak now, what did she have to loose?

"I'd like to be a cop."

On the backside of the house there was a courtyard, stuffed away into a corner of the garden. It was solid concrete, both the ground and the two walls.

"So, as you see, it's just to go nuts!"

Jack placed the last fire extinguisher down on the ground and gave her one of his moviestar grins.

"Jack... I have no idea how it works...!"

"And that's why we're training!"

"Why are we here?"

Jack glared at Owen who looked incredibly bored leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Tosh stood next to him, but with a much more accepting face.

"Well, I'm the teacher, you're here in case someone's hurt, Ianto to help with his mind-probing thing and Tosh is... Moral support!"

"What mind-probing thing?"

"What do I look like, a nurse?"

"Does that mean I can go work on my project?"

Jack growled and Ianto covered his mouth so nobody would see him laughing silently.

"ENOUGH! The lot of you! We're a team, we support each other! We don't have anyone else to rely on, so we have to be supportive of our friends! You know how hard it is out there! Well, if we're going to survive, as a community and as individuals, we have to stick together! Now shut up and at least act like you care!"

The others looked slightly shocked after his little outburst, and a lot more alert. Ianto smiled. Jack had a way of being serious and dominant when he wanted to. He was a good leader like that, his natural compassion and charm making people follow him of their own will.

"Ok ok... I'll be the nurse... Fire away Gwen!"

She smiled a bit, but Ianto could feel how nervous she was even four feet away.

Apparently Jack felt it too, cause he stepped up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Ok, don't worry about me, you didn't kill me last time and you won't do it now either. I need you to find the trigger, the thing that sparks the flame."

Gwen just shrugged, shaking her head. She had no idea what she was supposed to do.

"Yeah, it's hard I know..."

"Jack, can I...?"

Jack looked as Ianto approached, shrugged and backed away.

Ianto held out his hand in an almost ceremonial way and she knew that if she took it, she'd give him access to everything she was. She looked at his sweet, honest face and realised that if anyone had to have that power, Ianto Jones was the right person for it. She placed her hand in his.

"Ok, I'll keep out of anything you don't want me to see. Let's just go through what happened in the warehouse, ok?"

She nodded, not really trusting her voice.

She could feel the damp night air, her chest still hurting from her heavy breathing, that strain of hair sticking to her neck with sweat and she knew Ianto could feel it too.

"Ready?"

She nodded again. Then she realised that that cringe in her stomach wasn't hers. Ianto didn't really want to do this, Suzie Costello had been a good friend and it hurt to know she had died trying to do something so awful.

Costello. Now she knew it was Ianto. She had never heard her last name before. The connection went both ways. A bit scary, but one got used to it. Realising things without being told, a tad creepy. Again, you get used to it.

The concrete under the soles of her feet. The smell of rotting furniture-stuffing. The bullet leaving the gun, coming for her forehead.

I'll never see Rhys again.

It wasn't an explosion. It was like on of those dreams when you stumble and wake up feeling like you are still falling.

Ianto had let go of her hand and ducked away, he had known when to let go.

It died down in a second, didn't even reach the ground. Gwen panted, trying to stop shaking. She had been so close to dying, it was just the sheer force of her powers bursting out that had knocked the bullet from it's path. It was probably still buried in one of the walls.

"Rhys... I thought I would never see him again and I just..."

Jack's brow wrinkled. The others looked slightly confused. Ianto had just heard the name, he had no idea who it was. He was not one for prying, like he had said.

"I knew it... Damn..."

"Knew what Jack?"

"Do you know the system for organizing the classes? We don't just pick and choose the ones we like, we have some order to it."

She shook her head, taking a deep breath and finally regaining full control of her limbs.

"We take the ones that have the same trigger. And I did figure yours would be emotional."

"Sorry... I'm lost."

Jack sighed, placing his hands on his hips and weighing back and forth on his feet.

"Well, first; can I tell her? What say you, little minions of mine?"

Gwen looked at the others, still just as confused. Owen was the first to shrug.

"No sob stories. Just stick to the facts, if you can."

"You can tell her about me. I don't mind."

"Ianto?"

The walesman looked slightly uncomfortable, but when he met Jacks look it melted away into a small, trusting smile.

"Like Owen said, just facts. We'll tell her our life stories on another occasion...!"

"Fair enough!"

Just as confused, and a bit overwhelmed, Gwen faced a still smiling Jack.

"Alright then, facts! Owen, he's a healer, Donna told you that. He has to touch the skin of the one he's suppose to heal, or it doesn't work. But another thing is that he has to want the person to live. He has to actually believe he can save them to do it."

It was obviously more to it, but Owen looked so damn uncomfortable that she decided not to ask. She was new, she would get to know in time.

"Tosh, she is a genius! Give her anything running on electricity and she will make miracles! She's one of those who grew up with her powers, so she doesn't really have a trigger, but when she's angry the lights flicker and the TV changes channel when she sneezes."

Tosh giggled apologetically, making Gwen smile too.

"And Ianto..."

He looked at the other boy. Gwen could see the struggle, the actual searching for the words. Then, the tall american shook his head and waved his hands.

"Sorry, I have no idea how to describe it without getting all sentimental about it. You can sort of get though I hope."

"Yeah, I think I get the picture. I still don't get what it has to do with me though?"

Jack bit his lip, squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and asked in a far to casual tone.

"Have you talked to your boyfriend about this? At all?"

Now she got it. It was hard not to, with the fire in her body flaring up at the thought of his smile, his hand in hers, his gentle words and soft kisses.

She bit her lip, cursing the tears suddenly assaulting her eyes. She shut them tightly and shook her head again.

"Alright then... Time for a field trip!"

"What?"

"All of us?"

"No, sorry kids this is just me and Gwen. Owen, get your butt over to the infirmary and help Martha out! Don't flirt, or I will give you homework or something!"

"Geezus..."

"Tosh! Go work on your project! Show me when you can explain it in a way that doesn't make my head explode!"

"Will do Jack!"

"And Ianto! Go see the witch! See if there's anything you can do for her, don't go into Suzie's room alone, wait until I'm back!"

"Yes sir."

"I love when you call me sir, it's so kinky...!"

"That's harassment, Jack."

"And Gwen!"

"Yes?"

"Get your coat! We'r going for a drive!"

[AN; Stuff will happen! I can't belive how slow this is! Cudos to everyone still here! Comments makes Tai type faster! X3]