Rose was sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea while she waited for Faith to come down stairs. It was Christmas Eve so Faith was off from school and Rose was off from work. Rose taught physics and astronomy at the University about 15 minutes from where they lived. She loved her job more than most people, but that doesn't mean she wasn't very happy to have a holiday. After all, she had a special Christmas surprise for Faith this year that she really could not wait for. She had been contemplating when she was going to do this for a while and she finally decided this was the right time. After all, she had been in this universe for two years, so she really couldn't put it off any longer.

Rose was interrupted from her thoughts by a groggy little girl sitting across the table from her "Morning" she grumbled.

"Good morning Faith how are you this wonderful day?" Rose asked putting as much fake cheeriness into that sentence as her cluttered mind would allow.

Faith groaned "Too much cheeriness in one sentence" Rose bit back a laugh at the little girls reaction. Faith was definitely not a morning person. "Wait is that bacon?" Faith instantly sat up in her seat and turned to look at Rose who had in fact just put bacon on the stove. Her eyes lit up all signs of exhaustion leaving them at once.

This time Rose couldn't help but laugh "Yes it is bacon, after all it is Christmas eve" Rose laughed again when she saw the shocked look of Faith's face. "You didn't forget, did you?"

"Of course not": Faith covered quickly "I just love bacon that's all"

"That's nice Faith" Rose said not buying a single word, well except for the part about bacon. She was pretty sure Faith would do anything if there was bacon involved. One of the first things she learned about Faith after she got custody was that her favorite foods were bacon and fried rice, two things she had never eaten before she started living with Rose.

"So what are we doing for Santa this year we haven't even made cookies for him yet?"

"Don't worry we'll get to the cookies, but first I have something I want to do if you're okay with it" Rose turned away from the bacon she was cooking so she could see Faiths reaction to what she was about to say. "How would you like like to meet a very good friend of mine? He's practically my older brother"

To Rose's relief a huge grin spread across Faith's face and she started bouncing in her chair. A habit Faith was known to do if she got excited "Does that make him my uncle?" she asked hopefully.

"Practically" Rose grinned.

"That is awesome; I've always wanted an uncle! When are we going? Where does he live? Is he going to help us make Santa's cookies? Can he stay for Christmas?" Faith shot of questions leaving Rose no time to answer in between.

When she finally took a breath, Rose snagged the opportunity to answer her questions before she could think of more. "We're going now if you're okay with it. He lives in Cardiff, which is only about a 50 minute drive from our house. I'm sure he would love to help make Santa's cookies if you asked him. I hope he will stay for Christmas, but he might be busy,"

If it was even possibly Faith's grin spread even wider "Come on lets go then! We can eat our bacon in the car" Faith got up from her seat and ran out the door. Rose on the other hand was trying to save the bacon she had forgotten about until Faith had reminded her. Luckily only one of the pieces burned to the point that even Rose didn't want to eat it and a few were good enough for Faith. She thanked god that she hadn't burned them all, she didn't even want to imagine what Faith would have done if she had ruined all the bacon.

She wrapped up the bacon in paper towel and grabbed the things she would need for the trip. Right before she opened the door it swung open thanks to an impatient eight year old.

"Are you coming?" she whined.

"Yes I'm coming" Rose imitated Faith's whiny tone.

Faith giggled "Good you were taking forever. Oh and I forgot to ask the most important question."

"And what might that be" Rose wondered

Faith stared at her like she had just asked what the color of grass was or what the best thing pigs ever did in their life, get turned into bacon of course. When she realized Rose had no clue what she was talking about she sighed "His name of course!"

"His name?" Rose asked, "Well his name is Jack Harkness"

In Cardiff oblivious to what had been going on fifty minutes away the very person who had just been talked about made his way from his office to a very distressed Tosh.

"Ianto said you needed me" he said getting down to business straight away.

"It's this letter Jack it was mysteriously left here this morning and we have no clue where it came from" Tosh reported

"Have you scanned the letter for DNA samples" Jack asked

"Of course I did" Tosh sighed "I did that and I tested for fingerprints, saliva, skin cells, sweat, and everything else you can think of. If someone so much as breathed near this thing I would know."

"And" Jack asked expectantly.

"And nothing! Absolutely nothing! It's as if this stupid letter simply popped into existence from nowhere" Tosh sat down in her seat dejectedly this is what she was good at, but she just couldn't figure it out.

"Is that even possible?" Jack asked oblivious to the mood Tosh was in.

"It shouldn't be but here it is right in front of me"

"So we are dealing with a trained professional?"

"It seems that way"

"Can I see the letter" Jack asked sticking his hand out in a way that made it obvious that it wasn't a question that had more than one answer.

Tosh sighed and placed the letter in his hand. "From what I have figured out its for you" Tosh informed him, "It says captain on the front and inside all it has is an address, a time, and the words see you there. I'm assuming someone wants to meet you"

"Do we know where the address is?" Jack asked as he studied the letter.

Tosh bit back the snarky comment she was tempted to make. Of course she looked up the address. That was the first thing she did after she read the letter. Instead of saying what she wanted to, she replied simply "It leads you to a playground, the kind of one you would find by a school"

"Well then I guess there is only one way to find out what this is all about" he clapped his hands and turned around. Gwen, Ianto, and Owen somehow managed to walk up behind him while he was talking to Tosh. He silently scolded himself for not being more aware of his surroundings, but he just put on his award winning smile, no seriously, he has won awards for it on various planets, and said "Gwen, Owen we have a trip to take"

"You can't be serious Jack" Ianto protested "You have no idea what is waiting for you"

"And we'll never know if we don't go find out now will we? After all we'll be in a park what's the worst that can happen?" Jack said this all with his smile never leaving his face even though he knew so many things could go wrong, and by the looks on his teams face he knew they did too. Luckily they knew better than to argue with him so after ten minutes of preparation they were out the door.

It had been snowing all morning and when the trio arrived at the park the groud was completely covered in a layer of snow. Luckily, the snow falling from the sky had calmed down to a light flurry allowing them the ability to see in front of them.

"So where do we start" Gwen asked as they climbed out of the black van they used for transportation.

Jack scanned the park, there were a number of kids scattered about making snowmen, sledding, and trying to play on the snow covered playground without slipping on ice. He also saw a few adults scattered around, but none that looked suspicious. All the adults were watching children play with smiles on their face; some even had cameras in hand. That was when he noticed her. She was sitting on a bench on the side of the park closet to where the three torchwood agents currently stood. She was wearing a long brown trench coat that showed nothing but her black boots, black gloves, and her face which was partially covered by sunglasses and a black hat. Her hair that was a light brown and had a wave to it, but most of it was tucked back in her hat. She too was staring at the playground, but not in the way the other parents were. She wasn't watching any of the kids playing she was staring into space like she was deep in thought.

"Well why don't we start with her" Jack said pointing to the women he had noticed.

"Fine with me" Gwen shrugged "I just want to get home to Rhys for Christmas eve diner"

"Gwen it isn't even lunch time yet" Owen argued.

"So it's still Christmas eve" Gwen countered.

"Both of you shut up" Jack snapped "I'm going to go talk to her; you to pretend to be a couple happily watching your kid play in the snow. I'll signal if I need you" Jack turned away from two shocked faces smiling to himself as he imagined the pair of them pretending to be a couple. Hey he had to have some fun with this too.

Jack walked up to the women on the bench and sat as far away from her as the bench would allow. Before he can even decide what to say to her, she begins to talk without even looking towards him. "You know captain if you are going to bring secret backup you probably shouldn't walk in with you, kind off ruins the whole secret point. They can come out anyway you have nothing to fear. Have I ever led you wrong before"

She pulls off her glasses and turns to face him. Jack, having recognized the sound of her voice the instant she started talking, stares at her speechless.

"Come on captain look alive I want to meet your friends" Rose stands up trying to bite back the laugh fighting to get out.

Finally after many attempts to talk with nothing coming out Jack manages to choke out a word "Rosie" he gasps.

Rose smiled at the familiar nickname. It had been way too long, about one hundred ten years to be exact. "Hello Jack" She said.

Jack stood up and pulled her into a bone crushing hug "But you… you were gone… he said you couldn't come back. Rosie what happened?"

Rose sighed; this was the part that she wasn't looking forward to. "I don't know, I honestly don't but I'm here now and that's what matters. Now if you introduce me to your friends I'll introduce you to mine"

Jack pulled back and looked at Rose; he could tell there were things she wasn't telling him but choose to save it for later. "I like the brown hair by the way very attractive" He said before yelling "Gwen, Owen come here I have someone for you to meet"

Owen and Gwen, who had been watching the whole thing growing more and more confused as it went on, were happy to finally figure out what had been going on. While Jack was watching the two of them come over, he missed Rose nod at a short little girl who had been playing in the snow. She too came over to join in on the fun.

"Rose this is Gwen and Owen they" he paused suddenly when he saw Faith standing next to Rose "explain" he demanded.

Rose laughed at the shocked look on Jacks face "Oh it's not what you think captain, this is Faith, I kind of adopted here almost two years ago. Faith this is Jack"

Jack shock was made even worse when Faith hugged him "Hello Uncle Jack" she said into his stomach. After all, she was only 3'9 so she was barley taller than his legs.

"Hello there Faith" jack said ruffling her hair slightly uncomfortably; he really had never been good with children.

When Faith let go Owen spoke up for the first time. "Yes lovely so want to tell us what the hell is going on" he asked more than slightly annoyed.

Gwen smacked him across the chest "Owen you can't curse in front of children" she scolded him.

Rose smiled thankfully at Gwen who smiled back. "I'm Rose a old friend of Jack's" Rose said sticking out her hand to shake Gwen's.

"It's nice to meet you Rose. Jack never really talks about any of his friends very often so it's nice to get to meet you. This Jerk over here is Owen by the way. I apologize in advance for anything he says or does"

Rose laughed slightly at this "Count me warned"

"So Rosie" Jack interrupted the two women "What's with all the mystery anyway"

"Oh you know so much more fun that way" Rose smiled.

"Hey Uncle Jack" Faith piped up "Mummy said that if you wanted to you could come stay with us for Christmas. You could help us make cookies and hang stockings and open presents and stuff"

Before Jack could come up with an excuse of why he couldn't go without admitting he didn't do the whole domestics thing Gwen ruined it. "Oh Jack you should go, we don't need you for anything after all. Even the weevils haven't been acting up lately. And god knows how much you need a break! When was the last time you took a day off? Actually I don't think you ever have as long as I've been working here,"

Jack signed he knew he had no choice now, but Faith made it even worse "Please" she said bating here eye lashes in the most adorable puppy dog face Jack had ever seen.

"Fine" he sighed in defeat "I'll go, but I swear Rose if you burn the turkey for Christmas even diner like you did that time you convinced us to celebrate on the T.A.R.D.I.S I'll never agree to anything like this ever again," Rose stuck her tongue out at Jack, but didn't say anything because she remembered the burnt turkey very well.

"Yay!" Faith squealed "come on no time to waste!" she grabbed Rose and Jacks hands and started pulling them away.

"It was nice meeting you" Rose called over her shoulder to Gwen and Owen.

Jack just looked pleadingly at the two who just laughed at him and waved goodbye.

Despite Jacks fears, decorating cookies was not as bad as he feared. He and Faith even got into a frosting war when Rose had her back turned. Of course they got stuck on clean up duty, but even Rose couldn't get mad at them, since she was too busy laughing at the way Faith had managed to turn all of Jacks hair blue and how Jack had caused red frosting to drip from Faiths face like vampire blood. Opening presents the next morning Jack was surprised to find a pile for himself courtesy of Rose. He felt guilty that he had not gotten her or Faith anything, but he couldn't help it. He promised himself he would make it up to them while he happily opened the pile set aside for him. Rose even managed to make an amazing Christmas dinner that night without burning one single thing. By the time he went to bed he secretly hoped that he would be invited back next year.

Hey guys! Thank you soo much for reading my story! Please tell me what you think, I love getting reviews. Comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism are welcome. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it. Love you all :)

Rosie 3