Chapter Sixteen:

Surprise Landing

The Doctor dropped Jack off, vaguely wondering why the TARDIS was being cooperative until she shook. The power was slowly draining and she spun off into the Vortex, through the Medusa Cascade, and fell on a quiet, alone planet.

Andie, downstairs and the closest to the door, opened it and looked outside.

"Andie," the Doctor called, "Please be careful going outside. Andie!"

The door shut behind her and the TARDIS vanished before her eyes. She watched as it spun up, away from her, and made that wheezing noise with the breaks still on. It had dropped her off and left her there.

She wandered away from the site, opening her phone once more and calling her uncle. Her voice was quiet, her senses clearly warning her to stay unnoticed.

It was then a Time Agent appeared in front her, and she closed her phone, tucking it into a pocket behind his view.

It was a young Jack who looked her up approvingly before holding up a sonic blaster threateningly. "You're not supposed to be out, human. It is past curfew. That's dangerous." The tone he used implied many things. He was the danger, he didn't feel like hurting her, but would, and didn't believe she was really human.

Past him, Andie noticed, was a city. Behind her, she had seen, was a library or school and she decided to glance that way.

"I heard noise," she said distantly, looking around. "I'll go back, though. If you lower your weapon and retreat as well." She watched as he nodded once and turned his back, not fearing her.

"This has to be the most the TARDIS has ever acted up and the most I've seen more than one former companion with a new one!" The Doctor hit, foolishly, the TARDIS and earned himself a scolding noise in his head and a bright red patch on in his hand.

Donna laughed, thinking that this was the Doctor she knew. Not the reserved, half stuffy Doctor he had been acting like. "Doctor," she said, catching his attention. "Gramps… was he alive with Andie?"

The Doctor's eyes looked away, but they were soon distracted as, without any sort of warning, Captain Jack appeared with a dazed looking Wilf.

Then Jack gazed for the shock of hair that was Andie's curls and didn't even catch her presence in the air. He glared. "Where is she?"

The Doctor held up his hands before pointing at Jack. "You're going to destroy dimensions."

Jack started up the stairs, pressing the blue buttons as Andie had always told him. "I did it for her. I'd burn up an isolated solar system for her, if need be. I'm just getting her family. Now, where is she?" He was right in the Doctor's face, a fierce look in his eyes before his watch hummed with her phone call.

The Doctor had given her strong instructions to which all three of his mates just stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. Which, given the situation and the shake of the TARDIS as it landed, would not be a surprise. His lips were even pulled together as he stepped out of the TARDIS, plugging her in for a charge into the rift of proper Cardiff, and set out towards the hub of Torchwood. He was not a happy old man.

Jack had managed with some tightness, to fit them all on the block and pressed a few buttons. He had taken time to rebuild the hub here in Cardiff, and if it weren't for Gwen and her daughter, it would be a dusty, ragged old place. Instead, it was a bit less cold and had a more gentle tone. Very unlike Torchwood and yet still the same Torchwood that felt the blow of the 456, and with new members. Gwen, Rhys, and their daughter Anwen – a twenty-five year old fresh out of college and with a mind much like Tosh's stood strong. Rhys took to making food for the team, and aiding when he could. David and Mica, Ianto's nephew and niece, also joined the team – Mica was a doctor, taking Owen's place, and David being a strong leader and easy conman. They were loyal to Torchwood and surprised to see Jack and his bunch of friends.

Gwen stood first, offering Jack coffee. "Are you alright?"

Jack nodded, taking the cup and passing it to Donna. He passed them and opened up connection with Andie through his watch, trying to get a scan on where she was with her phone. Anwen took this as her cue and started helping him, glancing at the newcomers with a shy attitude. It did not take long as she established the connection and scanned the area with the enhanced piece of technology that was the vortex manipulator. Her readings came up on the screen.

The Doctor, gazing over their shoulders, let out an aggravated noise. Jack sighed, hands in his head. "I remember this. This is going to be a while. We have to sit it out." He yelled out to the Doctor as the alien started to march away. "No," Jack protested. "We'll mess up time-lines storming in. She has to be there alone."

Jack hated those words, and both Donna and Wilf looked ill, but he didn't have a choice. "Come on, all of you, I'll give you the brief."

Jack began putting on, for the first time in a long while, his Captain's coat. He led them into the conference room where Rhys had taken to bringing a cup of coffee for the lot of them. This was going to take some time.