TW: Some Abuse. Skip this whole chapter if you don't want to read that kind of material.

[Well big congratulation go to 'Rachy Babes' for being my star reviewer, literally a few moments after the last chapter was up I got a review from her. dedication or what. I would dedicate this chapter to you but I don't think you'd want that, you can have the next one, it's much happier. Don't worry I'm perfectly aware that too much angst isn't good for the soul…but you want Winter back with Jack and Ianto don't you?

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

I wanted to let you know that I'll be posting a second kind of story soon. It'll basically be bits that I've missed out from this series, little moments that I'd like to go further into or bits that I just didn't think fitted into the chapter but I'd like you to know. So I'd like you guys to let me know if there's anything you'd like to know more about, or that you'd like to see more of? I aim to please]

Don't wanna hear your sad songs
I don't wanna feel your pain
When you swear it's all my fault
'Cause you know we're not the same
No, we're not the same, oh, we're not the same

Paramore- Ignorance

Out of Time: part 1

It started when she got there, if she really thought about it.

Winter's mother watched her daughter tuck into a large slice of Pizza lovingly, 'So, when's Andrew arriving?' she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Winter looked up from her slice of pizza shocked, 'I, I thought you knew.'

'Knew what?'

'He's dead mum. He died in a fire almost 5 years ago.'

The smile on her mother face dropped and she snatched the plate away though Winter wasn't finished.

'I'm so sorry, I tried to help him but I…I couldn't.'

Her mother didn't look at her.

'Go to bed!' she snapped.

Winter looked shocked and her mother's voice softened, 'You must be tired.'

With wary eyes Winter slipped off to her room but she left the door slightly open. Later on she heard the sound on crying and snuck out, there was an empty bottle of wine on the table, her mother lay on the sofa a framed picture of a small blonde haired toddler, clutched to her chest and an open bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand.

Winter didn't know what to do. So she quietly snuck back to her bedroom.

It had started small at first.

'Don't go in there! That's my room. Not yours.' Her mother grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the door. She stumbled back into the wall and her mother glared at her.

'I'm sorry!' she exclaimed, 'I just wanted to see the picture of Andy.'

Her mother's face contorted and she opened the door and went through, slamming it in Winter's face. At Torchwood she was allowed anywhere, here only her room and the bathroom unless called for.

But steadily it got worse.

'Mum are you OK?'

'Oh shut up,' her mother sobbed her hand wrapped around the neck of another bottle. 'Oh Andrew, my sweet little baby boy.'

She tried to comfort her mother, wrapping an arm around her shoulders but she lashed out, slapping Winter across the jaw.

'Get away from me you little witch. You killed him! I know you did! You killed my little boy! You killed my baby.'

Winter backed off, tears in her eyes and her hand to her face. This was ridiculous; she should call Jack, go back to the hub…and say what, she couldn't just turn up after she'd left. He'd probably gotten rid of all her things, they didn't need her any more. This was her only home now.

Her birthday was no different.

'Happy birthday…to me. Happy, birthday…to me,' she sang quietly as the tears slipped down her face and the salt stung the cut her mother's ring had made across her cheek.

She hadn't received any presents. Just a few new chores, a slap in the face and a new lock on her door.

Christmas had gone much the same way.

Winter sat humming silent night to herself quietly. She could hear her mother's drunken sobs from the next bedroom. She held her breath so as not to antagonise the newly broken rib too much.

She watched the world through her small window and wished she could be out there again. She hadn't been in the fresh air for at least a week, maybe two. How long had she even been here? She wasn't sure.

An SUV drove by, her heart rate soared and then plummeted as it sped past and she realised. They weren't coming this time.

But she had no idea how it had come to this. Lying behind an upturned table. Blood staining her clothes and trailed over the carpet. Her hands shaking as she punched the well-remembered number into the phone.

She sobbed loudly, not caring who heard her as her assailant groaned and threw blood up onto the floor before collapsing a few feet away. The phone beeped instantly at her. The line was blocked. She slammed the phone against the wall and pulled her legs up to her chest rocking back and forward.

The knife lay a few feet away, where it had been thrown. She couldn't look at it without screaming in fear and confusion and loss. Suddenly the phone lit up and she launched herself over to it. It slipped through her fingers because they were shaking and lubricated with blood until eventually she was still enough to press the button.

'Hello?' the voice through the phone was like nirvana. She found herself speechless just listening to it and imprinting it to memory. 'Hellooo?' Suddenly she realised he would hang up if she didn't answer.

'I need you to come to 10 George Street,' she whispered, any louder and she was sure to become hysterical.

'Is this a business call because they should really be transferred to my boss?'

'No!' she almost shouted. 'Please, just you. I need help. Please!'

She could almost hear the indecision on his side. He hung up.

She screamed in fury and hurled the phone at the wall. It shattered and she caught sight of her hands. The red running through the cracks in her skin looked like a bloody spider's web. She held them up to her head and held back another scream. She wanted to yell herself hoarse. To scream until her lungs collapsed in. Scream at her bad luck, scream for the people she'd lost, and the people who were dead because of her. She wanted to curl up in a corner and just not wake up.

She cried until there was nothing left.

That was when the door was kicked in.

She ducked back behind the upturned table and heard someone enter. It sounded like one person but she couldn't be sure. There was a muffled curse of shock and more rustling of clothes and suddenly the figure appeared above her and she yelped, trying to shuffle back as far as she could.

['Sonotalady': Don't worry I have everything planned. It was your review that actually made me start writing the companion pieces because I realised that you'd all like to see what happened to the stupid kid after Jack attacked him… I'll leave you with no clues, only a thank you because it made me delve mush deeper into the characters and I was suffering from writers block for the next series but you've saved it :D so THANK YOU!

'Rachy Babes': Don't worry I have everything sorted, you just have to hold out for a chapter or two. Thanks for the review :D it made me very happy.]

[Review? And remember, if you have anything you'd like me to go into on my little series of drabbles let me know and I'll see what I can do.]