Chapter 21

Chloe yawned and stretched as she woke up. She looked at her clock on the nightstand and saw that her lover, Jack Harkness, had let her sleep in. She slipped out of bed and put on a yellow, satin robe. Chloe walked out into the kitchen area of the apartment she now shared with Jack. He was standing nude, as he usually did in the mornings, cooking breakfast for two while talking on his cell-phone. Chloe wrinkled her nose at the odd smell coming from the stove. She grabbed a bowl and some cereal and headed for the fridge to find some milk. Jack saw her and stuck out his tongue. Chloe sat down at the table and poured herself some cereal and listened in on Jack's side of the conversation.

"Tell Rhys that everything will be ok. The rift spike that happened last night is nothing to worry about," Jack said. He paused while he listened to the other person. "Gwen, you all ready said that. I know that you never saw a reading that high, but trust me; nothing is going to come out of the rift on this one. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a lull in things falling through for a while," he said. "No, I can't tell you how I know this. It's one of those things that could cause paradox. Now tell your Welsh hubby hi for me and have him ship me those things I requested. Good bye, Gwen," he said quickly.

Chloe had stopped with the spoon midway to her mouth when he mentioned paradox. "Universe ending or just planet ending paradox?" Chloe asked.

"Huh? Oh, no paradox actually. My omelets were burning and I wanted to get her off the phone," Jack said with his charming grin. He scooped the strange looking mixture onto a plate and sat down next to Chloe. "Judging from the looks you're giving me, I guess you don't want any?" he asked.

Chloe closed her eyes and leaned away from his meal for an instant. "It's all yours, Jack. Whatever it is," she teased.

"This happens to be a delicacy that I learned how to cook from a planet in the Raxis 7 system. The locals love it. I was there for 6 months doing a con and had nothing else to eat day after day. After a while the taste really grows on you," Jack said.

Chloe shuddered one more time and decided to change the topic. "So, can you tell me what you and Gwen were talking about?" she asked.

"Yeah. Last night there was a huge spike in temporal energy across the globe. This caused the rift monitoring equipment at Torchwood to light up like a Christmas display," Jack said. "This version of Torchwood has never seen such high readings and has never had any on record that were this high. Of course any readings this high usually change the records so they never show up anyway. What it usually does to me is give me a bad case of vertigo for a second," he said cryptically.

Jack knew Chloe loved puzzles and let her think through what he had said. "Ok, you know the rules. NO thinking without brain lubrication," she complained. She sighed as she saw the coffee machine had not been run. Jack still refused to either make or drink coffee out of respect for Ianto. He winked at Chloe and grabbed a chilled coffee drink out of the fridge for her. Chloe took a long swig before starting her analysis.

"These spikes that change records must be timeline changes, right?" she asked. Jack nodded. "That must be why Torchwood gets a high reading and then has no record of the reading or the event in the first place." She got a sour look on her face. "What is different about this one? And how would we know if time had changed anyway?" she asked.

"The first one is easy," Jack said. "Usually time shifts radiate from the rift in Cardiff. The closer you are, the more you are affected; like ripples in a pond. Since Torchwood has pretty much always been at ground zero, the shift erased any evidence of its existence. This one came from here so they finally were able to keep a reading of the temporal energy. They have no idea that the time line shifted however," he explained. "People in a shifted timeline don't know they are in a new one. History has changed and for them things are how they have always been." Jack said. "Here is where things get, as the Doctor puts it, 'timey wimey'. The only way to tell that the change has occurred is to observe the time stream from the outside like a Timelord or be someone traveling with one, or be me. Well, I guess the Daleks came up with another way, but I was never really clear how they did it," Jack said with a shrug.

"Wait, you said 'or be me'. What did mean?" Chloe asked. She knew that being unique in the Universe caused him pain at times. She reached over the table and held his hand. Jack squeezed her hand, glad for his lovers support.

"The best way to explain this is to first explain the Doctor's relationship to time and space. He exists outside of both. He and his time machine form a symbiotic relationship in where they are a universe unto themselves. The time machine creates the universe and he supplies the essence of time within it. This pocket universe is then able to move within the vortex that surrounds our universe; able to go to any point in time or space," Jack explained. "While He exists outside of time and space, I am a fixed point in time and space. The temporal stream flows over and around me, but I can never be moved by it. Imagine sinking an immovable rod into a river. The fish can get caught up in the currents, but the rod stays put. An earthquake may even change the direction of the flow of the river, maybe even causing it to run in the opposite direction, but the rod is still there, unchanged," Jack said.

Chloe nodded to let him know she was following his explanation. She finished her coffee drink to make sure her brain kept up. "I'm that rod. When the timelines change, I feel it. I remember what had gone on before, but not the new history. Usually it is something small and I can wing my way through the changes. Sometimes they are big and they take me a while to research so I know what has changed in history so I don't look like an idiot," Jack said. He began to chuckle. "There was this one time that a shift worked out to my advantage," Jack said. "I had been called into the office in the early 30's for sexually harassing a coworker."

"You… never," Chloe said rolling her eyes.

"I know, personally I think his wife found out and he had to come up with a good story," Jack said. "Anyway, my boss at the time was a foul smelling, little troll of a man who was shouting at me from behind his desk about being proper and how homosexuality was illegal. When all of sudden my stomach lurched, his ugly posters changed into tasteful paintings, and he blurred out of existence. In his place was an attractive woman in her late 40's, completely undressed, lying on the desk. She asked me if anything was wrong and why I was wearing my clothes all of sudden. I decided it was time that I take my orders from my superior officer and I took care of business," Jack said.

"You're really lucky, Jack," Chloe said. "Things could have happened the other way around," she said as she picked up their plates and put them in the dishwasher. He made a disgusted face as he thought of the woman disappearing to be replaced by the homophobic, foul smelling jerk. She paused in the kitchen. "Have I changed? You know…since the time line shifted?" she asked him.

Jack stood up and walked over to Chloe. He undid the tie to her robe and looked at naked body. "You look the same to me," he said. He took Chloe in his arms. "You feel the same," he whispered to her. He nuzzled her hair. "You smell the same," Jack said. He tilted her head so that he could kiss her. They kissed passionately. "You taste the same," he said.

"I love you, Jack" she whispered to him as held him tightly.

"You sound the same," Jack finished. "You are the same Chloe Sullivan I fell in love with. If you change, I'll let you know. We don't go on shift for another couple hours; want to head back to bed?" Jack asked. Chloe led him by the hand back to their bedroom.

Chloe was humming a happy tune, brushing her hair while Jack showered. Her phone rang and she saw it was from Lois. "Hi, Lois. How was your night?" she asked.

"Operation Smallville was a complete success. With that said I can't believe you kept his secret from me all these years," Lois said right off the bat. Chloe gritted her teeth and waited for the tirade. "Don't get me wrong, Chloe. I know why you did what you did and I'm thankful Smallville has you for a friend and that you're my cousin, but you were always so terrible at keeping secrets when we growing up," Lois laughed. Chloe began to relax. "I was always able to get you to tell me what you got me for my birthday or what Lucy had told you not to tell me. How did you manage not to spill the fact that the guy I've had the hots for is an alien?" Lois asked.

"I guess he told you then?" Chloe said hesitantly.

"Duh, what do you think we're talking about? And like I said, Chloe I'm not mad. Smallville told me everything. Thanks for keeping his secret, it means a lot to him," Lois said.

"Ok, spill," Chloe said.

"A lady does not discuss her private affairs with men," Lois said haughtily.

"Lucky for me you're Lois Lane," Chloe said.

"Ouch…All I will say is that we got him over his fear of making love to a human pretty quickly," Lois said.

"NO WAY!" Chloe screamed happily. "How was it?" she asked. Jack peeked his head out from the bathroom and smiled. He gave a thumbs up sign to Chloe as he walked to the bedroom to get dressed. "Jack says hi by the way," Chloe said.

"Let me put it this way. You and I may end up being the two happiest women on this planet," Lois said in a husky voice. "Smallville is getting out the shower. I'll call you later, Cuz" Lois said.

Chloe hung up her phone and went looking for Jack. "Jack, I have great news for you," she said.

"I know. Lois and Clark are together now and have moved their relationship to a much deeper level. Deeper than what Lois told you on the phone," Jack told her.

"Ok, smartass. Explain how you knew that one?" she said crossing her arms across her chest. She was annoyed that he had stolen her thunder.

Jack walked past her and kissed her cheek, deflating her negative feelings towards him. "What do you think the event was that shifted the time line?" he asked her.

Chloe blinked in surprise. "Wow, that must have been some orgasm," she said.