Foundations

Gwen was having a crisis. A really really bad crisis. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt like throwing up. It was still early morning, but she felt restless. She checked her phone; five missed calls from Rhys. "Shit" she whispered. "Shit, fuck, bloody hell…" She quietly found her shoes and left the apartment.

She spent the next couple of hours in the car, parked outside her home. The home she shared with Rhys. He was probably still sleeping. She should just go up there, kiss his check and tell him all about how work had been crazy last night and the paperwork just kept coming, pretend like last night didn't happen. But it did, she reminded herself. And she should just be honest with Rhys; tell him about Owen and now Jack, tell him everything. And then perhaps help him pack his stuff and move out? "Shit!"

She was late for work, she knew that. Jack was probably already there, along with the rest of them. Oh god, were they just going to pretend like last night didn't happen? Was he going to kiss her in front of the rest of them? And what about Ianto? She never even bothered to ask.

"Rough night" Tosh greeted her.

"Something like that" Gwen said and sat down at her desk. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Of course not" came Tosh's muffled reply, but Gwen didn't even care. Tosh was obviously upset about something and Gwen had a feeling it had something to do with Owen, which automatically meant she couldn't care less. It was Tosh's own damn fault Owen treated her like crap because she never said anything to him.

Rose almost fell through the front door, looking like hell warmed over and quickly shuffled to her desk. Apparently Gwen wasn't the only one having a bad day. When Jack called Rose to his office, Gwen was forced to slip out to the toilet and throw up. "Well that was dignified" she mumbled and cleaned herself up to best ability given the circumstances.

"I need to see everybody in the conference room. Tosh, call Owen" Jack commandeered.

"Why can't Rose do it?"

"Because I didn't ask her. Is there a problem?"

"Of course not." Tosh picked up her phone and dialled the number she knew by heart. A muffled voice greeted her. "Jack wants you here, now!" She hung up immediately and joined the others in the conference room.

"We have a problem."

"Just one?" Ianto quipped.

"There are cracks in the walls between the alternative universes and in time. Right now, the first one is our main focus as that is the biggest problem. People are tumbling through and the realities are melting together in very unfortunate ways. But that does not mean that the cracks in time are not a serious problem as well. Five cavemen fell through in Norwich yesterday. They are currently being held in custody by the police."

"How do you handle cavemen" Rose asked.

"Well, we can't really rehabilitate cavemen" Jack said and ran his hand through his hair. "And we can't really send them back either. I think, for now, we'll let them stay where they are. They can't do any harm there."

"What do we do about this" Tosh asked.

"For now it's all about damage control. We need to know exactly how these cracks work, how many there are and how we fix them."

Owen tumbled through the door. "Sorry I'm late" he said and sat down next to Ianto.

"We'll talk afterwards" Jack said. "Tosh and Ianto, I need you to monitor everything you can around the cracks: Temperature, range, rift activity, the works. I want to be fully covered." Tosh and Ianto nodded. "Owen, we have some nice bodies for you to examine, they fell through a couple of hours ago." Owen nodded as well. "And Rose and Gwen, we are going to be doing some field work."

"Maybe this qualifies as an emergency" Rose suddenly asked.

Jack sighed. "It does. I've already called. No answer, so far, but I'll keep trying. I've notified Torchwood one, who we will be working closely with on this one. I've also informed UNIT, who will be monitoring the situation with us. If it escalades we should probably expect a collaboration with them as well. So this means no funny business, we handle this like professionals. That was all."

"Jack, I need the rest of the day off" Gwen said, as the rest of the team filed out of the room.

"Fine" Jack said, not even bothering to turn around. "I expect you here first thing tomorrow."

Gwen had called Rhys on her way home from work and asked him to meet her there. She was dreading this conversation, but she just couldn't go on like this.

"I've cheated on you" she said, as Rhys sat down on the couch.

"What?"

"With Owen, from work… I had an affair with him. And Jack, I slept with him last night!"

"But…"

"And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that I've hurt you, that I'm still hurting you, but I just can't go on like this. Every time we fight I know it's not right, every time that you're upset and I just smile, I know I should just forget it, but I can't just throw us away like this!"

"You stupid cow."

"I know. And I'm sorry Rhys, I really am. I wanted this to work, I wanted us to work, I still do.."

"Don't lie to me, Gwen. Because that is horse shit and you know it. Ever since you got that bloody new job, that you still won't tell me about, it's been "work this" and "Jack that". And where am I, huh Gwen? Where the fuck am I in all this? I'm just dumb Rhys, sitting at home waiting for Gwen. But she's never coming home, is she? No, because she's to bloody busy shagging her boss! You stupid stupid cow!"

"Rhys…"

"You broke us, you broke what we had. And I will never forgive you!"

Gwen sat down in the couch, tears spilling, while Rhys left the apartment with a slamming door.

Donna half hoped to find a post-it stuck to the TARDIS console saying something along the lines "gone to save the world, be back later" when she emerged from her room. The Doctor had been behaving more and more weird these last couple of weeks (at least she thought it had been weeks, she couldn't tell for sure anymore). At first the Doctor had whisked them away for one adventure after another, never stopping. It was quite obvious he was trying to take his mind of Rose. Then there had been the disaster that was Messadine and Jenny. Both Donna and Martha had been completely devastated by the events but the Doctor… He had locked himself away somewhere deep inside the TARDIS (she hoped he was still in the TARDIS somewhere), unwilling to talk to anyone. Martha had tried to find him, but had gotten lost and had been forced to run for her life when she accidentally opened a door that led into something resembling a jungle.

"I feel horrible" Martha said as she and Donna was sitting in the kitchen eating dinner. "I hope he's alright."

"It must be so hard for him. Going through something like that again."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, because he had children, you know…"

"I don't know" Martha said and looked baffled.

Donna caught herself. The Doctor had apparently not told Martha about his life before the Time War. She couldn't blame him, though, talking about it, even now, must be excruciatingly painful. She wondered if he had told Rose. He probably had.

"He has children? But I thought he was the last of his kind?"

"Martha, he is" Donna almost whispered and saw how it dawned on Martha.

"Oh god… And Jenny… That poor man."

It was night, or at least Martha thought it was night, when she found him sitting in the library. She knew he would often go there if he needed peace (Donna was not exactly a great reader and Martha herself spent most of their free time either sleeping or studying for her exams in her own room). He was sitting in the dark, only a lonely candle lit somewhere and it gave the room an eerie look as well as accentuating his dark mood.

"Doctor" she gently called out, letting him know she was there, but he barely registered her presence. "I was just wondering if maybe… If you wanted to talk? About everything?"

"What's there to say" he asked out in the room. His voice sounded hoarse, like he hadn't used it in a while or he had been crying.

"I don't know, maybe Jenny? Or Rose? It's just, I'm worried about you, it must have been terrible for you…"

"I don't want to talk about it, Martha" he cut her off.

"Thought as much" she said and tried to keep the tone light. "But… I just want you to know that Donna and I, we're here for you, we're your friends and we care about you. So if you need something…"

"Yeah" was his only response and Martha left the library feeling dismissed and unwanted. The Doctor didn't move, he didn't really care that perhaps Martha and Donna was hurt as well, because no one was hurting more than him right now. He had been an enormous idiot, he recognized that. A complete and utter wanker, a twat, a moron, the list went on… He had acted both immature and selfish towards Rose and now he was feeling it. Seeing her again, it had been enough to remove all the pain he had carried around, all the hurt and loss he felt daily and she made it go away just by smiling at him. Even now, recalling her smile and laughter, was enough to make him smile, despite the tears. And he had been so horrible to her, to himself as well. Sleeping with Rose had been a mistake, he knew that even before she shyly removed her shirt, but he just couldn't help himself.

He thought briefly of Jenny, who had been a little part of himself and the thought alone was enough to almost overwhelm him. He had lost her too, been to late to save her and the fact that she had been like him and looked so much like Rose only made it worse. He was truly alone now.

He hated himself for leading Rose on and he hated himself even more for breaking her heart, but he couldn't stay. It was so overwhelming to have her with him again, to have her declare her feelings like that and then expect him to return them in whole (and even though he most certainly did, it was still scary to face that). He had run away like a coward, convinced that a little heartache now was better than a lot of heartache later. But he had been wrong, so incredibly wrong, because nothing could be worse than what he was feeling now.

A/N: Thanks for the great response on the last chapter, felt kinda anxious about it.
About the updates: I have tried to update frequently and will continue to do so as long as possible. UUnfortunately I have hit somewhat of a wall and am currently suffering from a mild writer's block. Any of you have any advice for something like that, a miracle cure perhaps? Hopefully it'll pass soon and I'll keep updating at least once every week - I have no plans for this summer, as I am student and therefor pretty much dirt poor broke!
About the updates: I try to update once every few days seeing as I have nothing but time this summer. I did recently visit Scotland though, and fell completely in love with the country, the culture, the history and the people. If there's any Scots reading this story: you have a very beautiful country and are extremely nice and hospitable - although me and my friends were actually kicked out of a bar one night. Apparently Danes party harder than Scots.
As always: reviews = happy writer and hopefully faster updates (although I would never hold my story "hostage" for more reviews)

Oh and Kathryn Hart: I think Donna would find the 9th Doctor a little bit scary, but I'll agree with you personaly, I really liked him as well