[WARNING- You probably need to read Chapter 12 of the companion story to this 'Words Have Meaning, Names Have Power' for bits of COE to make sense.

Sadly, after that brief interlude with the Doctor we're on everyone's 'love to hate' episodes. What I will say right now is that some of you are very smart but I refuse to tell you why. It could just be me being really nice for no reason. I have been known to do that.]

Maybe life is like a ride on a freeway
Dodging bullets while you're trying to find your way
Everyone's around, but no one does a damn thing
It brings me down, but I won't let them

Staring At the Sun- The Offspring

Day 1

'Look I'm sorry Nemo but there's just no space for it all.'

Winter threw her hands in the hair in frustration. 'No space? We live in a bloody cavern Jack, there's tones of space!'

He shook his head. 'Look I'm sorry but when the pipe got shot out in the store it flooded mostof the basement, you're lucky you managed to save what you did. All the clean rooms are taken up by tech and the archive materials. Take the SUV and take it all down to the lock ups across town I'll see what I can do about getting you a room later. As for now you can just use mine.' He put his coat on and raced upstairs calling his counterpart as he went, 'Ianto, looks like we're walking to the hospital.'

She sighed and looked at her pile of boxes. Stuff from her room that was still drying out from john's last visit to the hub. She rolled up her sleeves and pulled each box through the hub and into the SUV but as she packed the last one up she stopped. There was something rattling about inside.

She pulled the cardboard lid open and smiled sadly. A black and silver stethoscope that Owen had given her for her birthday, so long ago.

'To Winter/Nemo/whatever your name is.

Love Owen.'

She dropped the item back in the box before she could well up and slammed the boot. She had always joked around with people that she didn't need to worry about getting old at Torchwood but now that she thought about it, it wasn't something to joke about. Because the nightmare situation wasn't dying, it was watching all of her friends die around her.

TTT

She had been planning to just dump the stuff in the storage centre and go back to the Hub but half way back she relented and pulled into the hospital, parking up and waiting for both Jack and Ianto to exit before flashing the lights at them. They were being followed by a man in scrubs. Went well then.

Jack and Ianto hopped into the SUV but the man was still out there yelling at them. 'There are bodies going missing!'

Jack wound the window down and looked at him carefully. 'How many?'

'This whole city talks about you.'

Winter rolled her eyes and pressed herself back into the seat gripping the wheel, so much for a secret organization.

'What bodies, where?' Jack pressed.

The man looked up at him earnestly. 'It started two months ago. Bodies, taken down to the mortuary, then the records just stop. Five of them. Five in two months and none of them white. One of West Indian decent, one African, three Chinese, all male.'

'What was your name again?' Jack asked.

The man looked stunned. 'Rupesh. Rupesh Patanjali.'

Winter smirked, that was a mouthful. Jack looked back at Ianto who stuck his head between the seats.

'What d'you think?'

'NHS,' Ianto replied.

'Yeah. Too much red tape.' Jack turned to Rupesh, 'Sorry but good luck with it!'

Winter put her foot down and the SUV sped off. 'So, sounds like you two have been having fun.'

Jack held up the Tupperware box with a gooey organ inside.

'What the hell is that!' she yelled.

He smiled and chucked it back to Ianto. 'Alien hitchhiker, unfortunately Dr…what was his name?'

'Patanjali.' Ianto called from the back.

'Well, Dr Patanjali caught us a bit unawares.'

Winter smirked.

'So, did you get everything down to the storage okay?'

She sighed and nodded. 'Yeah, even your hat, there wasn't much point in me carrying it around if I had nowhere to put it when it's off my head.'

Jack shrugged. 'My room?'

Winter groaned. 'Why didn't I think of that?'

TTT

'So, something's' wrong with the children.' Winter verified.

Jack nodded. 'UNIT base in Washington has run some tests on a couple of kids. Brain scans, blood sugar, checking for radiation. Nothing.'

Ianto ran inside and grinned at Jack. 'You were right! He's back!'

Jack laughed and checked the computer as Winter and Gwen trailed after him. They looked at the screen and Jack and Ianto started teasing. Winter elbowed them out of the way and got a glimpse of Rupesh wandering around the Plaza.

'Oh god not another one,' she moaned. 'We're not hiring this one, I almost got shot the last time.'

Gwen gave the three of them confused looks. 'Who is he?'

'Rupesh Patanjali,' Ianto replied. 'He saw the hitchhiker, he's the bodies-going-missing man.'

'Dr Patanjali,' Jack mumbled. 'We need a doctor.'

Winter growled, 'No we don't.' She turned on her heel and walked up into the visitor centre to find Pip.

Peregrine sat on the table chewing on a pen and she took the object out of his grasp, popping into the back room and grabbing a bunch of grapes from the small fridge. Pip took them eagerly and Winter leant on the side.

'I think Jack wants to replace Owen,' she told him, 'He…'

All of a sudden Pip dropped the grapes and put his hands to his ears. Winter frowned and made to touch him when the door opened and Jack sprinted past her, followed by. She grabbed Pip in her arms and followed them, coming to a stop next to a screaming young girl, Gwen and Dr Rupesh.

'What's she doing? What's that noise?' Jack yelled.

Gwen shook her head. 'I don't know!'

The girl's mother was fussing about her child, glancing worriedly between Jack and the little girl. 'Sasha! Stop it! Sasha! Please help her!'

Winter looked around the Plaza and stared as every kid in the vicinity did exactly the same thing. Pip was still pressing his hands over his ears and she put a hand on his head trying to help but then the screaming stopped and the children began chanting.

'This cannot be good,' Winter whispered to Pip.

'We are coming,' the children repeated, over and over again.

Through the noise Winter heard Gwen shout. 'Who are you? Who's coming?'

And suddenly…silence. Sasha blinked and looked up at her mother. 'Come on then.'

A little boy next to Ianto looked up at the phone he had been filming them with and then looked to his mum. 'Why is that man filming us? Are we gonna be on telly?'

Winter let out a frightened laugh and then looked down at Pip who had taken his hands off his ears but was glancing around himself sporadically. She took off for the Hub with the others fast on her trail.

As soon as she was downstairs she tapped into the CCTV installed in Andrew house and watched as the madness unfurled there as well. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Jack who was frowning at the screen.

'What's going on Jack?' she asked quietly.

He shook his head and disappeared into his office to make a phone call. Shutting off the CCTV she turned to Gwen and Ianto who took over the computer and started searching for a source. Something told her this was going to be a very long day.

She headed over to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, downing it in one go and sighing. No, no good, she wanted something sweeter. Delving through the fridge she found several bottles of beer and loads of old boxes of Chinese. Obviously Ianto hadn't had time to clear up lately. She grinned when she found the bottle she was looking for and pulled it out.

'Where's Gwen?' She asked when she emerged from the kitchen with a glass of ginger beer. Ianto looked over from where he was putting his coat on. 'And where are you going. God, I was only gone half a second.'

'Two minutes actually, Gwen's looking into a man in a psychiatric hospital who stopped when the children did and Jack and I are heading out.'

'What about me?'

'We need someone at the Hub,' Jack replied, as he exited his office. 'Someone to keep tabs on things.

'I can hardly use the microwave how am I supposed to keep tabs on the computer?' She squeaked incredulously.

'Easy,' Jack yelled back as they disappeared through the cog door. 'If it flashes, beeps or rings, call us.'

She collapsed into a chair and stared dejectedly at the floaty blue back ground. 'Great.'

TTT

Three hours later and Ianto dragged himself back through the door. Winter looked up from the chess game she'd been attempting with Pip and smiled at him. 'Take your time, it's fine. I'll just waste more precious hours of my life playing what should be a game of chess with a monkey who thinks the object of the game it to eat as many pieces as possible, shall I?'

Ianto took off his coat and hung it up in Jacks office. 'Sorry,' he mumbled, and stood at the other computer checking things through.

Winter frowned and got up. She placed a hand on his arm and turned him around. 'Ianto.'

He bit his lip but kept his eyes on the screen.

'Ianto, speak to me? What's wrong?'

He fidgeted and opened his mouth. 'I went to see Rhiannon.'

Winter smiled. 'How is she? Oh God! She's got kids, are they ok?'

Ianto nodded a little too fast. 'Fine, they're…fine.'

'Ianto Jones what are you hiding?'

'Is it wrong?' he asked suddenly.

Winter frowned. 'Is what wrong?

'I'm not… It's not men. I mean. There's you and I mean, it's you. But then there's Jack and he's… Because it doesn't feel wrong. But everyone else makes such a big deal of it and…' he trailed off uselessly, staring at the screens.

Winter sighed and pulled him over to the sofa. 'Well, they're all idiots then.' She smiled at Ianto and poked his chest. 'You listen to what it says here.' She placed a hand over his heart and he covered it with his. 'Because they don't know Jack, and they obviously don't know you.'

Gaining volume she grinned. 'And! They're obviously stuck in the middle ages because this is the way the worlds going Baby!'

Ianto laughed.

'I mean think about it, remember Gwen and that girl from her first day, oh and Tosh and the alien.'

'You and Fawks,' he added.

She blushed and pulled him off his seat. 'Besides, think of all the brilliant gay people there are out there. Elton John! Amazing man. Freddie Mercury! Leader of possibly the best band ever. Alexander the Great was gay, look how well he did.'

Ianto pulled her back to him and brushed his fingers over her temple. 'I get the picture. And I'm not gay.'

Winter smiled shyly. 'My point is that it doesn't matter if you're gay, bi, whatever the hell Jack is, or never want to touch a person in the rest of your life. No one that matters cares.'

They held each other close for a while until he whispered. 'I lost the SUV'

'It doesn't matter Yan, what matters is…what?' she stopped mid rant and stared at him as he shifted slightly on the spot.

'Some kids on the estate stole it.'

Winter's eyes widened and she stared at him. 'What!'

TTT

Gwen ran into the main Hub area exactly one and a half hours later. Winter was still sending minor glares at Ianto and Pip had given up on the chess game and was now somewhere up in the tourist centre again.

Ianto began updating her but she walked straight past him and into the medical bay. What was it with the Torchwood team today. Everyone was so preoccupied. A few seconds later Jack marched through the doors and headed straight for Ianto. 'We need damage control at St Helen's. One body. Dr Rupesh Patanjali. Shot in the back.'

Winter joined them at the computer and Ianto looked up stunned. 'What happened?'

'I don't know. He was just left there right beside me. Like someone's gloating.'

'Did they kill you?'

'Yeah.'

Winter sniggered and turned away to the computer as Ianto gave Jack an awkward looking hug. When he pulled back Jack continued his analysis of the situation. 'Maybe we're being targeted. Whether it was him or me, we should be careful, better tell Gwen.'

'She's back, she's in the med bay,' Winter mentioned, pointing towards Gwen with her thumb.

Jack disappeared downstairs but moments later an ecstatic voice echoed back up into the hub.

'Guys!'

Ianto and Winter glanced at each other and entered the med bay, looking up at the screen projected on the wall. It showed Gwen's body, well her skeleton and…what was that.

Jack grinned up at them. 'Guys, we're having a baby.'

Winter mouth felt like it dropped to the floor. Ianto offered his congratulations and shifted slightly. 'Would now be a good time to tell you I lost the car?' he muttered.

Jack looked up, his face dropping. 'You did what?'

Gwen wasn't paying attention, just staring at the screen. 'That is just bloody spectacular! But what about this place, and my job?'

Jack tore his eyes away from Ianto and put a reassuring hand on hers. 'We'll manage. We always do.'

Suddenly a siren broke the mood and everyone looked back up at the screen. The scanner had recognized a foreign body in Jack.

'No chance you're pregnant too?' Winter asked.

'There's a bomb, there's a bomb inside your stomach.' Ianto realised.

Jack pushed Gwen up the stairs. 'Get out.'

Winter and Gwen shook their heads and yelled the same thing. 'No!'

Jack wasn't having any of it. He pulled Gwen up the steps. 'Right now!'

Ianto pulled Winter over to the computers and started typing away, she saw the letters and numbers flash up on the screen but none of it went in.

'It has a blast radius of one mile!' Ianto told them.

'Right now! Get out!' Jack ordered.

Gwen shook her head. 'Look there must be something we can do. Look We can stop it. We can fix this OK, we can rip it out of you.'

'I'm telling you. Get out!'

'It's active,' Ianto read off the screen. 'Two minutes!'

'I can't just run, Jack.' Gwen shouted.

'You're pregnant.' He reminded her.

She looked at him wide eyed. Stepped back, and ran. Ianto continued typing away and she heard a recorded voice echo through the hub.

'Lockdown' a hand touched her shoulder and pulled her away from the screen.

'Ianto, you're going to get locked inside.' Jack told him but Ianto wasn't listening so Jack pulled him away and over to the lift.

Ianto desperately clung to Jack. 'There must be a way to override the mechanism.'

'For God's sake, get out!'

'There'll be nothing left of you!' Ianto yelled.

Winter followed, in tears as Jack picked her up onto the lift and into Ianto's embrace. He pointed at them both. 'Look after each other!'

Winter nodded, her eyes still wide as the lift started to rise.

'I'll come back,' Jack told them, 'I always do.'

Winter looked at the cog door and suddenly screamed. 'Pip! He's upstairs.'

She felt Ianto arms around her waist, holding her on the lift. 'No! Jack! Jack!'

The lift reached the surface and Ianto was pulling her away and they ran, hand in hand as the world exploded around them.

Oh dear. This one made me rather sad. Beginning of the end I suppose. Please review.

'Zaziness': You, I must say, picked up on something no one else did. Yes Winter was acting rather Docter-ish. No I won't tell you why… oh alright, the way I see it when she merged with the TARDIS she most likely had other changes (as the doctor mentioned) I guessed a slight change in personality would be one, it may be the reason she grew up so fast. To be honest, I'm doing it like the Doctor and making it up as I go along but just as he says, 'I do it brilliantly.' I always loved Rose even if Moffat doesn't I think there was something so… normal about her, it really struck everyone. I'd like to think she'd be friends with Winter, if things weren't as they are. Are you kidding? I would KILL for a jacket with bigger on the inside pockets.

'Aviarianna O Lorien': I think everyone liked the writing and acting of COE, even the storyline. It was just the total devastation so soon after losing Tosh and Owen that got to me.

'sonotalady': glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully I've added a few twists that you'll enjoy to these coming chapters.

'sashaxh': I'm glad you didn't want Nemo to go. Don't worry I have everything planned out for all of the coming episodes. I really hope you enjoy the coming chapters.

'Rachy Babes': I know, How on earth did they cope without Tosh. No wonder everything goes to hell in these episodes.

'The Small But Powerful One': I totally forgot about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I must admit that I really enjoy it, I can remember thinking, what's sexy about James Marsters, but as soon as he swaggered onto the screen I was sitting there thinking. Hmm if his voice is good I'd shag him. Possibly the reason I made him friends with Winter. I think she probably feels similarly. It's almost like as soon as you watch him doing what he does best then the attraction just surrounds him. I'll tell you now, there IS a change to the end. But it may not be what everyone is suspecting…