This is the First Chapter, it is longer than the prologue..but you probably can see that...
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, the characters or the Tardis.
Chapter One
She was only five feet six inches tall with boy-cut black hair. Her skin was very pale, but it was not because she was 'gothic' no it was because she stayed inside working on her computers. Catharine had a total of about 5 connected together. They were her network and she was working alone this day. She worked in one of the unconnected underground bunkers that she had started to help build after the beginning of the Petroleum Apocalypse. Torchwood had started to shut down after Rhys had his first heart-attack. Catharine a thin girl, Gwen kept saying that it's because she was anorexic; but Catharine was not. She ate just about everything and anything when she was alone.
Thoughts of Ianto and Jack filled her head. This is why she liked being alone. The pain of losing her brother and father like figures was too much pain for her to handle with people around. Catharine broke down sobbing, the pain threatening to tear her heart to pieces. Suddenly a male's voice came from down the hallway. She didn't hear what he had said; only knew that someone else was there. She wiped the tears from her face and pulled out her small hand gun.
"Who's there?" Catharine asked as she held the gun up with both hands. The place in which she worked was dark and cold. As she made her way down the hall she bumped into a tall solid object. "I don't remember that being there." She rubbed her nose and forehead. Above her forehead was a large bleeding cut. She shook her head then turned around with the pistol held out and pointed at a tall man. He looked to be five feet eleven inches tall with unkempt brown hair. His eyes were chocolate brown and filled with sorrow and pain.
"Please put that thing away." He requested as he put a hand on top of the gun. Catharine put the pistol in her hip holster. "Are you all right ma'am?"
"Yes now under the authority as head of Torchwood I'm placing you under arrest for trespassing on private property." Catharine grinned at his confused look.
"Not you lot again."He shook his head and glared down at her. "Where's Captain Jack Harkness?"
"Gone, missing for at least 15 years." Catharine grumbled almost inaudibly, "Gone after my cousin died." Catharine grinned again as she walked towards the computers. "Look, let me know who you are and you can be on your way…and I can go about being alone again."
"I won't leave you now that you look depressed."
"Great, another one," She rolled her eyes, "Stay for all I care but tell me your name."
He visibly flinched as her hand maneuvered towards the gun. "The Doctor," He watched as Catharine glanced at him over her shoulder, at the computer then back at him.
"You're not kidding are you?"
"Nope, why do you want to be alone?"
Catharine looked at her feet and remained silent.
"Can you tell me your name?"
She turned around so that he got a better look at her young face. She was thin, especially in the face. One might accidentally mistake her for a boy if it weren't for her eyes. They were kinder and gentler than the façade that she carried. "Catharine Angeline Smith; that was the name the Orphanage gave me before Ianto raised me."
"Ianto Jones, Jack's—
"Yes, Jack's boyfriend good for me…raised by my cousin and his boyfriend." She snapped then shook her head. "Look I can't let you stay so do you wish to join me for dinner?"
"All right but first, do you have a medical kit?"
Catharine looked around her five computers and dragged out the medical kit. The Doctor had her sit down on a chair and he cleaned the cut then bandaged it. "Thanks, but once we get top side I want you to hold onto me, don't let go for anything." Catharine slung the rifle onto her shoulder then grabbed hold of his hand. They walked up to topside and gun fire broke out. She pushed him to the ground and lay flat on top of his back. When the gun fire stopped Catharine dragged him to his feet and ran towards a crumbled building.
"What's going on?" The Doctor asked cynically.
"The year is 2025; a lot has happened in 16 years since the Daleks attacked." She looked around a wall of the crumbled building. "This is the outskirts of old Cardiff, Doctor; humans have run out of fossil fuels and we're killing each other to get what we can." She ran and looked out a broken window then her eyes grew large. The Doctor, having seen the grenade coming towards their location grabbed hold of Catharine and pulled her down underneath him. The grenade landed on the second story; then nothing, no detonation. He looked down at her to see her staring up at him. "You just…tried to save me…" She winced then pushed him off her. "However, you threw me on top of a pipe." She sat up and rubbed her bruised back.
"How much longer until we get to where we're going?"
Catharine looked out the window then pointed at the only standing building there was. "Not too far, I've had to run father on a bullet ridden leg." She grabbed his hand then ran with him, hiding behind rubble whenever a bullet got too close to her, then pushed her way through the back door of the building. "Leon, hurry up, I've got a few wounds here!" She shouted. A short oriental man ran up with a med kit.
"You lie to me…all the time Catharine!" Leon exclaimed angrily.
"Oh shove it, I need you to get the Doctor and I a table and good food…and hurry your ass up." She motioned for the Doctor to sit at the closest table.
"That was harsh." He said while drinking the glass of water that she put in front of him.
"It's a harsh life around here." Catharine sat in front of him and pulled out bottle of red wine. "You want some?"
"Are you really going to drink right now?"
"Yes, I am. Do you have a problem with that?" She poured herself a glass and took a deep sip. The Doctor took the bottle from her and poured himself a glass as well. "Look I'm sorry for being hostile but I have to protect my own people here and the area."
"Understandable, Miss Catharine, I wanted to ask you why were you crying when I first showed up?"
Catharine looked down at the white lace table cloth. Her eyes were taking in the floral designs that were woven in while she tried to keep her breathing even. "My cousin died not too long after my parents were murdered by the Daleks, Jack Harkness took me in for a few months then left me in the care of Gwen and Rhys. They raised me along with their three other children." Catharine drank more then poured another glassful of the wine. "The oldest two, Tosh and Owen are 16 and Ianto is 7. Gwen closed down Torchwood not long after Rhys had a heart-attack. I came here and started it back up, only a few members but we keep the borderlands safe."
"Torchwood has gone from alien fighting to border patrol?" The Doctor seemed confused.
"Yeah, we haven't seen any really threatening aliens thanks to the Smith Network."
"Smith Network?"
"Sarah Jane Smith's family has picked up the slack of Torchwood so that I can take my first steps with ease." Catharine watched as Leon ran in with two plates of hot food. When he put them down the Doctor looked at the red jelly like substance. "Don't worry it's safe, all it is tomato, protein, sugars, and starch thrown together. It keeps ones systems in check." She pulled out a Swiss-army knife and sliced at the red jelly.
The Doctor picked up a spoon and started eating the jelly. "It's actually not all that bad…considering."
"Don't worry desert is better, knowing Leon." She finished her jelly and sat back in the chair. "Look, I have a question for you."
"Shoot away."
Catharine grinned the put her gun on the table. "Why did you come back, after 15 years?"
The Doctor glanced down at the gun nervously. "What do you mean?"
"Fifteen years ago a group called the 456 attacked Earth, they demanded one tenth of the human population, all of which were children. Where were you, why didn't you to help?"
He let out a sigh then sat back. He explained all he could about fixed points in time and that he could not help the situation even if he wanted to because it would have disrupted the flow of time. She sat there listening to him, her eyes showed that she comprehended what he was saying but her face was blank. "Are you all right Miss Catharine?"
"Yes, I find how you talk very intriguing, not very many people talk like you do, there is one guy, but he is…a hermit of sorts." Catharine watched as Leon came running back in with a bowl of apples in one arm and in the other was a bowl of melted caramel. "Ah, desert, thank you Leon."
Catharine helped her comrade put the bowls on the table then used her knife to slice an apple and dip the pieces in caramel. "Dig in Doctor; it's not every day that we get apples."
The Doctor grinned at the young woman; she seemed so used to the bad food, battle like conditions and sometimes the harshness of being alone. Suddenly three kids came running in and tackled Catharine to the ground. "Aunty Catharine, you're back!" the seven year old boy with ruffled black-brown hair exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes, I'm back but you three shouldn't be up here…this place is dangerous." Catharine looked at the three in fear. "Besides, you're mother will be worried that you're above ground again, and this time she'll take it out on me." Catharine stood up stiffly and ushered them back through the doors and down to the passageway. When she came back the Doctor had stood up and grabbed the last apple.
"Take it Miss Catharine, as you said, it's not every day that you get fresh apples." He handed it to her then started to walk out.
"This is also a fixed point in time isn't it?" She asked while using her knife to slice up the apple.
"No, it isn't and don't worry I will be safe." He walked out the door and Catharine stood there confused but then rushed after him just seconds before a bullet hit him from behind. She curled up as pain ripped through her shoulder and blood seeped into her thick wool coat. "Catharine, come on, stay with me…don't close your eyes…talk to me…"
"Heh, I don't remember bullets hurting this much." She whispered sarcastically while applying pressure to her left shoulder. "Doc, take the pistol out of my boot leg and shoot there." She pointed behind him and moved her right leg so that he could pull the pistol out.
"No,"
"If you don't then that bastard who shot me will kill us both because he's marching over here."
He pulled the gun out and put it in her hand. "I'm a terrible shot," He said while applying more pressure to the wound where she could not. Catharine lifted the gun with her right hand.
"Just to warn you Doc, I'm a terrible shot with my right hand." The sound off from the pistol rang loudly in both their ears while the figure across the way dropped dead. "Yes!" She let out a whoop of triumph and then a hiss of pain.
"Hold still." He said while taking his trench coat off, rolling it up and putting it under her head. "I have to remove the bullet…where's your knife?"
"Yeah…umm…I'm not going to tell you." She blushed while reaching up her shirt with her right arm. She pulled out the knife and handed it to him. "Now I'm wishing I could get us inside the sanctuary."
"Actually that's a better idea." He picked her up, trench coat and all, and then ran back to the building. He pushed the things off the table and laid her down gently. "Catharine, I need you to keep talking to me…why isn't this building destroyed?"
"It has a force-field surrounding it, designed and integrated by me and the science team. UNIT joined in fighting in the borderlands after things got worse and the resident half-breed aliens started dying from chemical warfare." She let out a scream as he used the tip of the knife to remove the bullet then used the lace table cloth to wrap her arm up. "Do you have to be so harsh when fixing a person's wounds?"
"Sorry Catharine," He helped her sit up and watched as she hopped off the table. "Maybe you should drink the rest of the wine."
"Um…I don't think that's a good idea." She started to sway back and forth.
The Doctor quickly caught her then walked towards the passage. "Where do you sleep?"
"Go down the first flight of stairs, take a left go down to the end of the hallway then keep going for four doors and I'm the one on the far right." She said while leaning on him to keep from falling. The Doctor walked her to her quarters and laid her on the bed. She let her hand slip from his shoulder to his hand. "Please stay…it's not safe to leave quite yet."
"All right, when some of your men return I will leave."
A/N: Thank you for reading, please review