A nice long one for you :) I know how much some of you have missed Winter so I figured you deserve a nice long one. And before anyone asks. YES Pip will be back for Dr Who. I hope you enjoy it.

Sashaxh: I do like a twist or two. But actually this isn't the twist :) this is actually the partial solution to the twist. NOW you're confused :)

Rachy Babes: I know I'm sorry but I really wasn't going to do it until later but it only really fits in with Miracle day so if I hadn't used it I most likely wouldn't have used it at all and I really liked it. And yes I rather think 'I bloody hate what you've done' was the most damning :)

BAMM. it'sSydney: Oh I know :)

Dwatlaskrhtcm: I'm sorry you have school today but you're right, at least it's something to look forward to. I miss getting all your feedback so I cheered a bit when I put the first chapter up. Reviews always make me feel loved.

1945: right well…you may not want to read some of the final chapters then :) nope, not telling you :D

'Oh Jack you shouldn't have.' Winter spun around slowly to take in their new living accommodation. 'No, really, you shouldn't have.' She crossed her arms over her chest, her engagement ring glinting in the nightlight. 'What do you call this?' He glanced around at the abandoned flat and shrugged.

'Secluded.' She rolled her eyes.

'We had to climb over two fire escapes and through a broken window. I've slept better on the streets of Cardiff.' He put an arm over her shoulder and turned her to examine the room in front of them.

'Look we're only here because…'

'Because someone sparked up the word TORCHWOOD on the web and you're worried about Gwen. I know, but,' she sighed and he turned to look at her in concern.

'But what?'

'I just thought…well, it's just…' he waited patiently for her to answer. 'Jack I've lost at least six months of memory and I only got you back a month ago, I kind of thought we'd be doing something slightly more romantic then holding up in some backward part of Washington D.C stalking people who might be too close to Gwen.'

'She has a family now Nemo. We have to look after them.' Winter frowned.

'Well what about my family?' He stopped confused and looked down at her.

'If you're worried about the Andrew house lot I could…' she shook her head.

'No Jack. My family.' She held up her left hand. 'You remember this Jack?' he took a controlled breath of air while she vented her frustration. 'You and me. A family. That's what this is meant to mean isn't it? It doesn't mean you own me, it doesn't mean I have a claim over you. It means we're a family. I left Pip on the TARDIS to give us some time to be a couple, I wanted to feel close to you after months of feeling so far away and months of…I don't know what. If I thought I'd be hiding out from the American government, I would have brought him along.'

'Look.' He interrupted, 'I'm sorry if this wasn't quite what you had in mind but I brought Gwen into this and I have a duty to protect her.' Winter span around and glared at him.

'Yeah well you got me into this too remember? You asked me to marry you remember, and for once in our stupidly long lives it would be nice if you'd just act like you're worried about those missing six months because I know they're not quite a patch on your missing two years but it worries me Jack! And I know you and Fawks didn't always get along when I was around but I know you cared about her too and I wanted to spend this time feeling better about her not sitting in a dark room with time to get lost in my thoughts…my memories.' they both paused and looked at each other from across the room. During the argument they had moved further and further away from each other and now Winter found herself stood by a moth infested chair. She ran a hand through her hair and closed her eyes, breathing out slowly to try to calm the emotions flooding through her body. She felt a hand on her arm that slid down to interlock with her own.

'I'm sorry.' he mumbled, pressing his forehead against hers. 'I know this can't be easy. It wasn't what I wanted either, you know that.' She nodded tiredly. 'I'm not worried about those months because I've lived through that worry and it tears you apart. I want you to forget about them. Whatever happened it doesn't matter. And as for Fawks, I miss her too, you know I know how you feel, possibly better than anyone else in the world, and maybe this will be the perfect thing to help you forget about it.'

'But…'

'No, no Nemo. No 'but's.' She opened her eyes and looked up at him. 'I love you, and I missed you. God I missed you, I missed you like Toshiko dealing without technology for that month in the Sahara, I missed you like Owen without sex after he got shot, like Ianto missed us when we swanned off with the Doctor…all rolled into one.' He swept her hair back and ran his thumb over her cheek. 'I woke up every morning and I wanted to cry because I wanted to feel you at my side, I walked down the street and you were everywhere I looked. Don't tell me I don't want to be close to you after begging every night to wake up to your unlady-like snorting laugh.' As if to prove him right she snorted quietly and he pulled her in for a hug.

'Jack?'

'Yeah?'

'Did we just have a domestic?' he chuckled and pulled her down to sit on the seat with him.

'Yeah, I think we did.' They laughed together quietly and Winter sighed in contentment.

'I love you, but we need to get a move on.' He frowned and looked around them.

'With what?' She stood up and waved her hands around as if it was obvious.

'How do you expect to watch over Gwen without any equipment?' He grinned and took her hand and she pulled him back across to the window.

TTT

'I still don't see why you won't wear the outfit.' Jack complained as they headed into the records office.

'Erm, possibly because if that skirt was any tighter my legs would be glued together.'

'I can see the problem.' He smirked. She rolled her eyes.

'I was thinking more about running Jack.' He smiled and reached for his stolen badge.

'Really, I was thinking about dancing.' She pulled hers out as well and replied just loud enough for him to hear.

'I know.' They both held up the badges in unison.

'Owen Harper, Kitty Fisher FBI, here to requisition the 456 files.' The chubby librarian looked up and shrugged. Jack and Winter shared a look as he went back to his work and they turned to find the file themselves. Winter jabbed him in the ribs as they headed up the steps.

'You don't even know who Kitty Fisher is, do you?' He shrugged.

'It's what the Doctor called you last time we were in America, seemed fitting.' She rolled her eyes.

'She was a famous courtesan.' She told him, he raised an eyebrow as she continued. 'Known for her beauty and wit.' Jack chuckled.

'Sounds like he got you down to a 'T." She frowned up at him and was about to answer when she put a hand to his arm and a finger to her lips. He instantly tensed up and they edged around the corner to see a young woman with blond hair looking through a file from an open box.

'That's our box isn't it?' Winter whispered. Jack simply nodded and edged a little closer, standing in the dark. Winter watched the woman carefully and leant against the shelves to her right. The woman looked up in shock and Jack moved out into the light.

'Come with me.' He said. She took another look down at the photo in her hands and ran. Jack followed carefully behind her, trying not to scare her. Winter followed after him and he signalled for her to take a different route around. They split up and hunted through the boxes for the missing woman.

'This would be so much easier,' She complained, 'If her coat didn't blend in like a bloody chamele…' She stopped dead looking ahead of her as a man in black with a balaclava ran past her row. 'Oh for God's sake.' She moaned and made her way up to the front desk. The man at the desk was bleeding heavily from a bullet wound to the chest but Winter and Jack had already seen what was happening on the news. People weren't dying. She swung herself over to his side of the desk and put a hesitant hand on his shoulder. 'I'm sorry.' was about the only thing she could come up with. He coughed up some blood and she heard a gasp from behind her. The woman stood staring at the librarian as blood trickled down from his mouth. Both women were too worried about what to do next to notice the man in black who had snuck up to their right, in fact he went completely unnoticed until Jack yelled.

'Down.' Winter dived over the table and grabbed the woman's arm, yanking her down as both men opened fire. She let go when the shooting stopped and instantly moved straight to Jack's side.

'Oh my God.' The woman looked down at the man in black whom Jack had shot in the neck. The wound was open and nasty and the poor girl looked white enough to faint, 'Is he going to die?'

'Don't worry about it.' Jack replied. 'No one dies these days.' Winter almost smiled at Jack's ability to sound like he knew everything when really neither of them had a clue what was happening. She scanned down the fallen man and sighed, but the breath caught in her throat at the sight of multi coloured wired protruding from the base of his Jacket.

'You wanna bet.' He choked out. She dropped to her knees and ripped the Velcro of his vest open and revealed the wired up C4 strapped to his chest. Jack's eyes widened as the threat still sunk into the blond girl. He grabbed Winter's hand and pulled the blond from the side towards a window which he promptly kicked before jumping through. Winter screamed in shock and exhilaration as they plummeted towards some kind of fountain. The water hit hard and she dragged herself up over the side with a growl.

'Oh for crying out loud Jack, these are the only clothes I had.' He shrugged and turned away from greeting the stranger.

'Looks like you'll have to wear the skirt.' She glared at him playfully and swung her legs out of the pool. Both Jack and the newly discovered blonde climbed out of the water and Winter stuck her hand out.

'I'm Winter, yes my eyes are purple and can I have that photo you were holding?' The blonde looked at her in shock.

'Which..?' Winter dug into the woman's pocket and took the photo for herself, jamming it into her own coat pocket.

'Thank you.' She replied, 'It's my favourite. What was your name?'

'Esther.' Jack lead them, smiling, a little further away from the burning building and sat them both on a wall.

'Stay here.' She nodded and pulled her sword sheath off her belt as he walked off. Esther watched her carefully as she took out the sword and tipped the sheath up, pouring the water out of it muttering.

'If this sheath rusts I'm going to kill him. My girlfriend gave me this last Christmas.' Esther looked surprised but didn't question the remark instead she clasped her fingers tightly together and watched as the emergency services began to turn up. 'roedd yn rhaid iddo neidio allan o'r ffenestr.' Winter complained.

'What language is that?' Esther asked. Winter looked up and glanced to the sides unsure of what to answer.

'Welsh.'

'So…you're Welsh?'

'Yes…well, no. I'm from London but I lived in Wales most of my life.'

'And you're Torchwood.' Winter bit her lip.

'Not anymore.' Jack arrived back in time to save her from the game of 20 questions. He handed Esther a bottle of water and Winter smiled. 'I think we've had enough H2O for one evening.' She told him, flicking her hair in his face to prove her point. He smirked back at her but turned to Esther who still looked rather shocked.

'That man?'

'He was after us not you.' Jack replied.

'Why, why would he want you dead?'

'You'd be surprised.' Winter murmured. Jack slapped her thigh.

'She's got a point,' he told the young woman, 'why bother trying to kill us on the one day that no one's dying.'

'Go figure.' Winter smirked and leant her head on his coat shoulder.

'What got you so involved?' Jack asked. Esther's eyes filled with pain for a moment and she glanced away from the strange pair.

'I'm not even authorised for this.' She laughed sadly. 'But this friend of mine, I was telling him about TORCHWOOD and…he crashed his car. And I can't help but thinking that, it's all my fault.' Winter and Jack held their faces in similarly serious looks but in truth both were quizzical. He crashes his car and she decides the best way to sort it was looking up some secret British organisation?

'I know the feeling.' Jack replied. Winter slid her hand down to his knee and pushed herself off the wall, stretching her legs and leaning back against his.

'So what is Torchwood?'

'I told you.' Winter replied, 'we USED to be a part of it. It doesn't exist anymore.'

'Then what was it?'

'mae hi yn union fel Gwen, bob amser gyda'r cwestiynau.' Jack ignored her.

'Because that photo Winter took back… it was of a man who looked just like you but it said 1939 and there were ones dated 1925, is he your father..?'

'I suppose it must be.' Winter held back a snort of laughter but she shifted when Jack started to take his coat off.

'You ok?' she asked. He looked at her in surprise and held out his right arm, she pulled back the shirt to reveal two long scratches.

'Yeah I…I hurt my arm.' She smiled and leant down, kissing the scratches before rolling his sleeve back down.

'Better?' he smiled but still looked a little worried.

'The Torchwood institute was set up by the British royal family in 1879 to defend the realm of Great Britain by investigating the unusual, the strange and the alien.' Esther's eyes widened.

'I'm kinda guessing alien doesn't mean foreign.' She replied. Winter smiled.

'More like outer space.' The agent's mouth visibly slackened a little.

'This whole situation worldwide, that's exactly the sort of thing we used to investigate.' Jack told her.

'And we were awesome at it.' Winter grinned.

'Torchwood…' Ester began, 'They said people died.' The grin slid off Winter's face and her grip tightened on Jack's hand. 'But there was that other photo…Gwen Cooper, there was no date of death.'

'That would be because she's not dead.' Winter replied tartly.

'She's the last one left,' Jack explained, 'And I…'

'We.' Winter corrected. He smiled fondly.

'We, are going to keep her safe.' He turned to Esther and gave her a penetrating stare, 'Which means making sure that the institute stays dead and buried.'

'Well, that first e-mail, the one last night that just said Torchwood?' Jack lent back at this question and Winter wandered a little further away, glancing up at the sky. Back in the TARDIS it hadn't really hit her that she'd been in America at one point…now. How could you miss the towering buildings the cabs flying past in the distance, the smell of gas, fast food, dust and… well at the moment, burning paper but she was sure it wasn't normally like that.

'That wasn't us. God knows who it was. But that was enough to call us back and we got to work. Releasing the malware, destroying hard copies, removing all traces of the word, using retcon.' Winter looked up at the sky and smiled. 'What's retcon?' Jack prompted.

'What's retcon?' Esther asked.

'It's a smart drug, slight amnesia.' Winter mouthed a quiet countdown from three and turned at the sound of Esther slumping over in Jack's arms. 'Nice to meet you Esther.' Jack commented. Winter turned and nodded to the street on their left.

'Come on, the sooner we get her back to her flat the sooner we can sort this out and shoot whatever idiot ruined my romantic trip.' He nodded and swept Esther up into his arms. Winter pulled the manipulator off his wrist and followed Jack's instructions.

'What I don't get is why you took so quickly to the TARDIS controls but something as simple as a manipulator I have to explain every time. It's just a glorified GPS transporter.' She rolled her eyes.

'Left here, and I work well with the TARDIS because when I get stuck she hints at me, plus we're connected, it does tend to make things a little simpler.'

'But you've had one for over a year, you could at least wear it.'

'Another left here, and no. You may look good with a massive piece of leather stuck on your wrist but I prefer simple stuff.'

'Says the girl wearing two rather fancy rings.'

'Right here. Well do you want me to take one of them off?'

'Yeah but I doubt Fawks would have been all too happy. Her ghost would probably cross the void and haunt me for the rest of my life. ' Winter rolled her eyes and pointed to a building on the left.

'This one.' She waited quietly outside while Jack took Esther upstairs and when he returned she linked her arm through his. 'So, where to now?'

'The Hospital. And you'll need to stop talking.' She looked up at him affronted.

'What! Why?'

'With an accent like yours, you'll stand out a mile. Only answer in short one word sentences and don't put on some fake accent.' She shook her head in disbelief.

'Anything else oh great one.' He grinned and stopped outside a clothes store using his manipulator to disable the alarms. He broke the door open and waved a hand out for her to go inside.

'Yeah, find something like Esther had on.' She slapped his chest playfully and started hunting through the racks.

'roedd yn rhaid iddo neidio allan o'r ffenestr' : He had to jump out of the window

'mae hi yn union fel Gwen, bob amser gyda'r cwestiynau' : She's just like Gwen, always with the questions

So, thoughts so far? :)