"I don't understand they're literally right in front of us…but I can't see who, or what, this energy reading is coming from!" Tosh's frustrated voice was barely audible over the noise of the busy Cardiff Bay.

Jack growled in frustration. "Can't you tell what's interfering?"

"No, I…wait…there's a new energy signature over-riding our tracking capabilities…it's…no…it's gone!" Tosh stammered, flustered. "It was there and then it was gone! I don't –"

"Look out!" Owen yelled at the top of his lungs as the team was set upon by several Weevils.

"Forget it, Tosh!" Jack grinned. "We've got company!"

...

Mariah landed in a darkened alley with a painful thud, smacking her head into the pavement. She groaned and looked at the date she'd set…it was the day before they'd captured her…the day before she met the Torchwood team… the day before she'd met Jack…

She stood and rubbed the back of her head. She turned sharply on her heel as she heard the sound of snarling Weevils, shouting, and the sounds of fighting. She ran towards the end of the alley, stopping as she saw the team being set upon by about six Weevils. Smiling to herself, she ran out and joined the fight.

"Oh, I missed this!"

...

As the team began bagging and tagging the Weevils that had attacked them all, Jack turned to look at the mysterious woman who had jumped in and saved Owen's arse, quite literally! She was…totally beddable…and also a big liability. No one was meant to know about this alien world that Torchwood protected the rest of humanity from…

So there was only one thing to do… Retcon her. The tracking device Tosh had dropped when they were attacked started bleeping as she walked past it, dragging a Weevil over to where Ianto was dumping them in the back of the SUV. Jack picked it up as she helped Ianto life the last one into the back of the SUV; what it showed shocked and intrigued him. She was acclimatized to Earth's atmosphere…but she had two hearts…

He strode up behind her, pulling the stun gun from Ianto's belt as she turned to look at him. He looked at her apologetically as he stunned her and she fell, unconscious, to the ground. As his team began to question him, he held up the device in his hand…it was all they needed to see.

...

Mariah awoke in one of the Torchwood basement holding cells, freezing…and with an overwhelming need to use a toilet. She still had a dull ache in her head from where she'd landed heavily on the pavement. She'd have to ask The Doctor or Jack to help her fix her Time-Jump capabilities. But, right now, she really needed to talk to the old team and explain…and find the nearest loo!

She knew they were watching. Whether they were listening was an entirely different kettle of fish. Standing and looking through the glass of the door, she spoke to the air. "Would be great to talk to someone right now…and a trip to the loo would be nice too…"

There was a long, pregnant silence, and Mariah sighed, sitting down again. Perhaps she'd just have to wait for them to come down…could she hold it that long?

"Alright, talk." Owen's voice echoed through the intercom.

Mariah smirked. "Ah, people…Owen?"

"Yeah…wait, what?!" Owen's tone turned confused and weary.

"Hi," Mariah smiled and waved at the security camera watching her. "Would be lovely if I could see you too…"

There was another long silence, and then she heard the voice she'd been waiting for. "I'm sure."

"Jack!" she breathed, her eyes closing and she smiled, memories of him filling her mind before he brought her back to the present…well…her past, Jack's present…

"Captain Jack Harkness, now, who are you?" Jack's voice had lost none of its charm and she smirked again.

"Oh, right…" she nodded to herself, reminding herself of the time difference. "It hasn't happened yet."

"What hasn't?" Jack asked over the intercom, clearly curious.

"I can't say, exactly. Timelines…fixed points in time." Mariah frowned, trying to explain this was going to be hard. She could only say so much…the rest had to play out by itself.

"That's incredibly helpful." She heard the sarcastic smile in his voice…and a certain inflection she also recognised.

She tried again. "You know me… I'm a part of your future…all of your futures, a big part of certain individuals lives…" she hesitated, looking at the ring on her finger. Her own husband didn't know her…and her heart ached. "It's difficult…I've never had to try and explain something so complex without influencing past points in so many people's timelines…"

"Try," Jack replied calmly. "You'll find I can be a rather patient man."

Mariah sighed, "Only to a point, Jack Harkness."

There was another long silence, and then Jack responded again. "Okay, let's start small…prove that you know me. Tell me two things only I could possibly know."

Mariah frowned for a moment, before looking up at the camera again, smirking wickedly. "You used to be a poster boy, and were the first from your home-world to be signed up to the Time Agency…" she paused. "How's that?"

"Not bad…was hoping for something a little bit more intimate if I'm honest." She could just imagine the cheeky look on Jack's face as he said that.

Well, far be it for her to turn down a challenge. "Intimate, eh?" she blushed ever so slightly as she continued, "Okay…you have a scar from a bite…on the inside of your right thigh…you got that during an intimate act…an act you replicated for me some time after, though a little less painful, I'd wager."

"Okay…you know me…how do you know me?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Come down and I'll tell you Jack…" she paused, allowing him time to consider. "I'll also explain why I happen to have two hearts…I know Tosh picked that up…" she smirked. "It's kinda hard to miss with the scanners in this place." The silence that followed was most certainly not golden, and her nerves got the better of her. "Come and face me, Jack… Please? Talk to me, face to face…and I wasn't kidding, I really do need to pee…"

A soft chuckle followed. "Alright, hang tight…we're on our way."

"Excellent!" Mariah smiled brightly, it would be good to see the old team…Owen's sarcasm and Tosh's sweet temper had been sorely missed…oh, no, Mariah had mixed up her timelines again. It was so difficult when she was out of her own time, and the past always screwed up how her mind reasoned things out.

She'd just have to deal with it, and soon…otherwise vital information could be let slip about the team's potential futures…and that could never happen…

...

Jack led her back to her cell after allowing her to use their toilet. He'd managed to find out her name, her affiliation with The Doctor, and her half Time Lord status during the trips to and from the bathroom. But, now, the real questions would come out.

"Okay, the knowing of each of us aside… tell us who you are and why you're here." Owen gave her one of his cheeky smirks that badly masked his dangerously morbid curiosity.

Mariah looked at each of them nervously, remembering the first time she'd met them…her discomfort as they'd questioned her. And the team she knew wouldn't hurt her…but this wasn't that team. This version of the Torchwood team had never met her…would they believe her?

She had to take the chance. "I'm from a future in which mine and Jack's timelines were messed up by this…really sick, perverted, evil, somewhat resurrected alien…he travelled back in time and got the guy the me in this part of my timeline is supposedly chasing…he's also a bad man…alien…anyway, I need your help to set things straight."

"Otherwise the guy in the future is going to…what exactly?" Owen asked sceptically.

"He calls himself The Master and all you need to know about him for now is that he's incredibly bad news for planet Earth." Mariah continued, exasperated. "He's gotten a man, only ever known as the Time Assassin to stop Jack from ever meeting me…I know it's barely anything to go on, but you're going to have to trust me on this!"

"It's weird, but," Gwen looked curiously from Mariah to Jack. "I kind of want to believe her."

"Like something we can't see is influencing us." Owen began to glare.

"That's the timelines trying to compensate for me knowing all of you when I haven't even met you yet… you know what that's doing to my head?! It feels like it's splitting in two!" Mariah knew she was becoming hysterical, but she couldn't help it. "Look, Jack, I'm going to be someone very important to you…and if that never happens, then 'The Master' will take everything he wants' starting with me and the Earth, and ending with the entire bloody universe! And I simply can't let that happen! I refuse to let our life slip away and lose you…" Mariah's voice faded away as she realised what she'd said. It was too much…she'd slipped.

"What do you…" Jack's voice quietened as his gaze fell upon the ring on her left hand. Mariah knew what he was thinking. There was only one reason he would give anyone the ring she now wore. "How?"

"Oh, sod it." Mariah gave up, there was no other way to explain it. A pulse of derageon energy left her and swept over the occupants of the room. They all froze for a second in shock.

"What…the hell…was that?!" Tosh exclaimed, her hand hovering over her heart.

"That was me…you can see from my memories enough to know I'm not kidding around." Mariah sighed sadly, already knowing what she'd have to do later…

"But I thought you couldn't do that…" Ianto frowned at her.

"I showed you just enough to let you believe." Mariah half smiled, but it was false.

"And Jack?" Ianto continued.

She looked at Jack now, looking at her in shock and…awe? Her eyes went cold. "You've no idea how much it's killing me. My husband is right there…close enough to touch, to kiss; but it's not him. So close, and yet so very, very far." Mariah looked back to Ianto and the others. "And that's why I have to fix the timelines. I can't live without Jack…but when I left my time, he just looked right through me…my own husband didn't know me. And that killed me."

Jack was looking at her strangely. Some inner war waging that she wasn't sure she wanted to know about. She soon found out however. He strode forward the two steps it took to get to her, took her face in his hands, and kissed her; wildly, passionately, pulling her into his arms in a way she recognised oh-so well…melting into his embrace. Forget the awkward silence interrupted by uncomfortable coughs…she had her husband back…

Mariah sighed inwardly. 'For now…'

...

Do tell me what you think my lovlies! I know it started off quite slow...and probably a bit aweful, but give me a chance, I'm sur ei can get you to enjoy it!

R&R darlings! ;D