A/N - I just want to apologize to everyone, Children Of Earth has been a bit of a pain to write as the only transcripts on the internet aren't very detailed in stage directions, but thank you to whoever wrote them anyway! :)
Gwen gulped, looking over at Jack in horror. "You were there?" She asked.
"1965…" Jack nodded. "I gave them twelve children."
Gwen carried on staring at him, horrified as Clem cowered back.
"You just…handed them over and hoped for the best?"
"You are in every nightmare I've ever had." Clem shouted at him fearfully.
"I'm sorry." Jack began. "I'm really sorry. I—"
Clem surged forward, grabbing Gwen's gun from her belt buckle whilst she looked away. He quickly raised the gun and Jack pushed me away as Clem shot, hitting Jack in the chest and sending him flying to the floor. Ianto and I rushed over to Jack, holding onto him tightly as Gwen tried to calm Clem down whilst Rhys looked over nervously.
"Okay, so—" Gwen began.
Clem brandished the gun at her, "Stay away!" She shouted.
"Give me the gun, Clem. Come on."
"You're on his side."
"Give it to me."
"And he's on their side." Clem shouted, gesturing to Jack. "You're all involved!"
It was funny really, watching Jack dead on the floor. Not literally funny, but he was the one person I always knew I could go back to no matter what, seeing as it was physically impossible for me not to eventually find him. Not even Captain Jack Harkness could hide from me forever.
"Gwen, get away from him, he's dangerous!" Rhys shouted.
"I'm not dangerous!" Clem exclaimed.
"We know!" Gwen said nervously. "We know you're not. We know that."
"But that's a lie. Isn't it? Isn't it? We both know. I…killed a man. I am dangerous."
"Can I take that?" She asked, gesturing to the gun.
Clem gulped and surrendered the gun to her, who passed it back to Rhys before she gently hugged Clem as he looked down at Jack's body.
"But it wasn't my fault… there is something up there. They want children. That man held my hand and took me to them."
Jack gasped back to life suddenly, grabbing on Ianto and I tightly.
"This is normal, this is what he does." Gwen reassured him. "Ianto knew it was going to be okay."
"No!" Clem exclaimed, breaking out of Gwen's grasp and running off throught the warehouse.
"Clem! Clem, it's all right!" Gwen shouted, chasing after him.
With a sigh we all made our way back over to the computer area, Jack and Ianto sitting down next to each other.
"I can't believe you didn't mention this before." Ianto said coldly.
"They didn't speak through kids back then." Jack sighed. "I didn't recognize the signs at first."
"That's not what I meant."
Rhys walked over, "They're coming back." He muttered, nodding behind him as Gwen walked over with her arm around Clem's shoulder.,
"The man who sent me and my friends to die can't die himself!" Clem gasped.
...
Gwen, Clem and I sat round by the the computers, Lois' vision camera running in the background as Rhys, Ianto and Jack stood around us.
"It was a protection, right?" Gwen asked. "You knew they'd be back."
"I knew it was a possibility." Jack shrugged.
"But you still gave them the payoff."
"We had no choice."
I laughed coldly at Jack, "I'd of thought travelling with The Doctor would have made you realise that there's always a choice."
Jack stared back at me guiltily.
"Why us?" Clem asked.
"You wouldn't be missed." Jack said, looking away as everyone looked round, uncomfortable.
"I can see that." Clem nodded.
"All of this time, the one consolation I had was that…the deal seemed to work."
Gwen shook her head in disbelief, turning back to look at the computer.
"It worked for forty-four years." Rhys shrugged. "That's not bad for breathing space."
"Why was I left behind?" Clem asked. "What's wrong with me?"
"We know they only want pre-pubescent kids." Gwen sighed. "Maybe it's got something to do with that. Maybe you were just on the cusp of puberty, not quite adult, not quite child…"
"Saved by your hormones." Rhys said.
Noise began to come back from the laptop, still hooked up from Lois' eye contacts.
"Is this still recording, Ianto?" I asked as we all looked over at I need every second of this.
"Yeah." Ianto nodded.
We watched on screen as the officials, Bridget and Frobisher filed back into the room, casting nervous glances at the 456 tank. Frobisher stepped forward to the tank, staring at it nervously.
"Hello again." Frobisher began. "Before we consider your request, I've been asked for a point of clarification. Before we even discuss your—your request, we need to know exactly what it is you intend to do with the children."
The 456 began to splatter goo against the glass, giant claws crashing around.
"It knows I'm here." Clem gulped as everyone in Thames House took a step back from the tank. "It knows!"
The 456 stopped and Lois began to write again on her notepad.
"Somebody is watching." Ianto read.
"I told you it knows, turn it off!"
"It's talking about the other camera, it doesn't know about us." Gwen said. "Shush."
"The Prime Minister, the leader of this country, of the United Kingdom, is watching through this camera here." Frobisher said, pointing back to the other camera in the room. "And he needs to know what would happen to our children if we were to hand them over to you." Something was said and Frobisher stepped forward. "Yes."
Lois wrote something again.
"Come in." Ianto read.
"In there?" Frobisher asked nervously, nodding at tank.
"It's hiding something." Clem gulped.
We watched as the Lois moved over to the screen, showing the camera inside the tank. Inside it was blue and foggy and the camera slowly made its way through the tank before eventually finding the alien within., It was dripping with green goo, but we couldn't see the whole alien, just three vulture-like heads.
The camera became shaky as it was raised up, aiming it at on of the heads. The camera showed a small, bald and gooey child hooked up to the 456 as the camera was lowered in horror.
"No, no, no, no!" Clem sobbed.
I gasped, jumping back in horror as I began to cry. A child. They had a child hooked up to a machine. It was vile. I got up, grabbing onto Jack's shirt. Usually, I would be disgusted, obviously, but maybe it was because I was pregnant that I was even more horrified. It was a child.
"I think I'm going to be sick." I sobbed as my knees began to buckle and Jack put his arm round my shoulder blades, holding me up.
"It's all of the kids from 1965." Gwen gasped as Ianto began to sniffle, looking away from the screen and Rhys closed his eyes.
"He's still just a child." Jack said, dropping a kiss on my head and walking away, sitting down away from us.
"Do you think he knows?" Rhys asked as Ianto put his arm around me. "Is he conscious?"
The camera moved back up again and closed up on the child, bald, grimy and staring blindly with overly-huge eyes. He had something almost like a gasmask over the lower half of his face, a tube poking out from where the mouth should be.
The picture started to blur, presumably from tears from Lois.
"Wh-what's happening?" Clem asked.
"It's Lois. She's crying." Gwen mumbled, shocked.
Lois looked back at Frobisher quickly.
"What have you done to him?!" Frobisher demanded. Lois looked back at the screen as the 456 began to sput snot at the walls and bangs against them as the cameraman began to try to escape.
"Get him out of there! Get him out of there!" Frobisher shouted. There was a look of panic, and the 456 said something, obviously we couldn't hear. "This is unacceptable."
Lois quickly wrote something down.
"We do not harm the children." Ianto read. "They feel no pain. They live long beyond their years."
"Well, that's okay then." Gwen said numbly.
"But we still don't know." Jack called over. "What does it do with them? What does it want them for?"
"Bit late to ask now." Rhys said.
"We have answered your question." Ianto read as Lois quickly wrote something down. "You have one day to select and deliver the ten percent. Or..." Lois quickly wrote more. "Track down the last child to walk in the Earth's ashes. The unborn child who shouldn't even exist due to extinction."
Jack and I's eyes widened, looking at each other in shock. The unborn child who shouldn't even exist due to extinction. My son. They meant my son.
"No!" I sobbed out as Jack rushed forward, holding onto me as we looked back at the computer in shock.
"What does it mean?" Gwen asked looking over nervously.
"My son." I gasped.
"He shouldn't exist because the Time Lords are extinct." Jack explained quickly, his eyes never leaving the computer screen. "Flo's unborn baby."
"The 456 are after your baby?" Gwen asked, wide eyed.
"And if we refuse?" Frobisher asked on screen.
Lois wrote something down.
"We will wipe out your entire species." Ianto read.
...
Jack and I stood in the warehouse, staring at some fogged up windows in an intense silence, refusing to break our gaze from the glass panels to look at each other.
"I don't know if you do..." I eventually said, breaking the silence. "But if you have a plan, I'd love to hear it."
"Still trust me with your child?" Jack asked.
"I," I began, breathing in sharply. "Yes. Of course I do."
"We need to talk to Frobisher."
I finally looked up at him and he looked down at me. "Ok." I nodded. I looked away and we stood in silence for a while before Ianto walked up to us, standing in between me and Jack.
"This must have been eating away at you." Ianto mumbled. "Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped."
Jack shook his head, "No, you couldn't."
"I tell you everything."
Jack finally turned and looked at him, "Ianto, tell me, what should I have done?"
"Stood up to them." Ianto said, making Jack look away again. "The Jack I know would've stood up to them. I've only just scraped the surface, haven't I?"
"Ianto, that's all there is." I lied, trying to get the attention away from Jack.
"No." Ianto said, looking over at me. "You both pretend that's all there is."
"I have lived a long time," Jack said. "We have both done a lot of things." He looked over at me and we began to walk off, knowing we had to find somewhere we could call Frobisher without it being back tracked to the warehouse. "We've got to go, we won't be long."
"You're doing it again." Ianto called. "Speak to me, Jack. Where are you going?"
Jack turned round, looking at Ianto angrily. "To call Frobisher. We can't call him from here, cause they'd be able to trace it. Is that okay?"
"You're the boss."
"And just so you know, I have a daughter called Alice and a grandson called Steven, and Frobisher took them hostage yesterday."
Jack turned and grabbed my arm, pulling me off.
...
Jack and I stood, hiding behind a brick wall, a phone between us on loud speaker.
"Hello?" Frobisher finally answered.
"Have you thought about what I said?" Jack asked abruptly.
"Bit busy, to be honest."
"Let me put this right. Release my family and we can work together."
"Give yourself up and they won't be harmed."
"I wish I could believe that."
"You can."
"You've spoken to the 456, haven't you? They want more children. Or a specific child."
"What makes you think that?"
"It doesn't take a genius."
"With them going so public this time, I think they want a lot more. Millions, even. If I have to stop you, then I'll tell the world what's really going on. There's too much at stake not to."
"Or," I said, clutching onto Jack's phone as he began to shut it. "You can give up Jack's family and I will tell you exactly where the specific child you need is."
"Who is that?" Frobisher asked, panic stricken.
"My name is Flo Smith," I laughed sarcastically. "And I'm currently pregnant with the child you're looking for. Let me and Jack in to talk to the 456 and we can help." I snapped Jack's phone shut, squeezing my eyes closed.
...
Back in the hub, Gwen sat at her laptop with Clem sitting next to her, the rest of us crowding behind.
"Cabinet office briefing, room A: Cobra." Gwen said, reading off the screen. "Where all the emergency planning takes place."
"Gold Command meeting's about to start!" Ianto called over as we all rearranged ourselves, watching the laptop behind Gwen.
"They'll sell us out, just like they did last time." Clem said nervously.
Gwen turned and looked back at Jack, "I'm sorry to hear about your family, by the way. We'll get them out."
"I know we will." Jack nodded.
Gwen turned and looked at me, "And while you two were out... we got a call. From UNIT."
My eyes widened, "From Alistair?"
"He said he managed to track us down with the help of Martha. She's going frantic about all of us once she found out, Mickey too, but something about she used her phone that had been upgraded could call anywhere in the universe, and they managed to track us down eventually."
"What did he say?"
"That he's back in the UK but Maria and Alan are safe in Washington and that Mr Smith developed a innoculation for Luke, Clyde and Rani - but could only make 3." She smiled softly at me. "Everyone is safe."
"Where the hell is Hero and Jenny, that's what I want to know." I said angrily. "They said that they weren't coming back to Torchwood, yes, but they wouldn't just dissapear, they'd come back, Hero would just know something was happening, he'd come back he'd..." I sighed sadly. "He'd help us."
On screen, the politicians began to talk.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's been decided that we're going to make the 456 an offer." Prime Minister Green began. "There's no way we could track down this specific child, so we will offer them a realistic number, something we can manage, and then we see what happens."
"You mean we're going to haggle?" A woman, I recognised as politician Denise Riley, asked. "What about the military option?"
"There's nothing to take action against." The Defence Secretary said. "Evidently, the 456 must have some sort of base of operations in orbit, but our satellites are showing nothing. Whatever's up there is beyond or technology."
"There's a target sat in Thames House."
"Taking that out would be a declaration of war."
"A war we can't win." Another politician, Rick Yates, said.
"That's why I've invited John to address Gold." The Prime Minister said, nodding to Frobisher. "In terms of managing the figures, what could we offer and get away with?"
Jack closed his eyes guiltily as Clem began to twitch.
"Isn't it—isn't it? It's happening again." Clem asked nervously.
"Oh my God, they're really going to do this." I mumbled. "See this," I laughed coldly. "This is why The Doctor and I don't always turn up and save the world. We look at this planet and turn away in shame."
"Look, this won't just be Britain, will it?" Denise Riley asked.
"The idea is that every country makes a camoflaugible contribution." The Prime Minister replied.
"Can you pass me the FAS file, please?" Frobisher asked nervously.
"That's it, now you're talking." Rhys muttered from behind me as someone passed Frobisher off screen passed him a file.
"Right, well, for a start, there are 21 children in Oakenton right now—21 units, unaccompanied asylum-seekers awaiting deportation." Frobisher said, reading the file nervously.
"FAS—failed asylum seekers." Gwen said, staring at the screen intently. "Orphans in '65, asylum seekers today. There's progress for you."
"And no one would miss them." Rick Yates commented, staring at the Prime Minister as the politicians all shared looks. "We need more. Can you bump the numbers up to sixty?"
"I think so." Frobisher gulped. "We can have them in from Oakenton first thing tomorrow."
"Thank you, John." The Prime Minister said, looking over at Frobisher. "Now go back to Thames House and consult with the 456. Make them an offer of sixty units, and no more."
"6,700 children." I gulped. "That's how many they're offering. It's 6700 too many."
...
So we had to wait. Wait to see what the 456 said. We all sat in the warehouse, Gwen at her computer, Rhys and Ianto standing beside her and Jack and I sitting next to each other on the set of metal stairs. See me and Jack knew it wouldn't be enough. The 456 would say no.
"3, 2, 5, 0, 0, 0." Clem said, pulling our attention to him. He stood in the middle of the room, behind Gwen, chanting. Gwen looked round at him before typing in the numbers to her computer.
"Coordinates?" Rhys asked as we all watched Clem nervously. "Grid reference, maybe?"
...
We all watched the screen nervously as the politicians sat back in the board room. The only person we couldn't see was Frobisher, who had our back to us, so we just had to hope Lois could write fast.
"With regrets, ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you that we're now facing the worst-case scenario." The Prime Minister began. "And right now we don't have time for a discussion on ethics, I'm afraid hand-wringing will have to wait. All we can do at the moment is address a number of vital and practical questions."
"Namely, how do we select the ten percent?" Yates asked. "Who would go? How would we transport them? And, how could we sell it to the voters?"
The Prime Minister turned to Frobisher, "John?" Frobisher, sitting in front of Lois said something, unable for us to hear. "Nevertheless. Practical solutions, please."
Lois began to write down stuff in short hand.
"Once the selection has been made, then my department can arrange to bus all the children to the rendezvous points together, school by school. My staff are compiling various school databases." Ianto read. "You just need to decide what criteria you'd use for selection. Which is out of my hands. Over to you, sir."
The Prime Minister looked around the table. "Anyone?" The politicians stayed silent, refusing to make eye contact with the Prime Minister or each other. "Might I remind you, the clock is ticking."
"It would have to be random." The Defence Secretary said.
"Nobody would believe it was random, not when they're waiting at school gates for empty buses to return." Denise Riley commented.
"Well, if the system we use is demonstrably fair and reasonably random, at least we can defend ourselves."
"You're willing to risk your kids to make it look fair?"
"Then how else can we choose?"
"We could do it alphabetically." Yates suggested.
"Oh, yes, thanks Mr. Yates."
"I didn't mean—I've got no kids, I wasn't trying to—"
"Yes, no kids, and no consequences." Riley turned to the Prime Minister. "And yours are already grown up."
"Let's keep this civil, Denise." The Prime Minister said.
"Oh, yes! Let's discuss the loss of millions of innocent children, and let's be civilized about it."
"If you wouldn't mind, yes."
There was a small silence.
"Could we limit it to one loss per family?" The Defence Secretary asked, turning to Frobisher. "Second born child-?"
Lois quickly wrote something down, "That would take more time, more organization; time we don't have." Ianto read.
"So, it would have to be one school at a time?"
"Look, I'm going to say what everyone else is thinking." Riley interupted. "If this lottery takes place, my kids aren't in it."
"I'm sure the families of Gold Command will be exempted anyway." The Prime Minister said.
"That bastard." Clem snapped. "Isn't it."
"…our children get protection." The Defence Secretary said.
"Of course they bloody do." Gwen hissed, glaring at the politicians on the screen.
"So, we could have a show of hands. I hate to be crass, but under these circumstances—"
"Well, who votes?" Riley interupted. "Those with kids, or those with no interest to declare?"
"No one votes." The Prime Minister said. "It's down to me to make an executive decision."
"Do you need some time?" Yates asked.
"Nope. Whatever happens, the children and grandchildren of everyone around this table will be exempt."
"What about nieces and nephews?" Riley asked.
"Don't push your luck."
"You seriously expect me to look my brother in the eye—"
"We need to limit the number of people—" The Defence Secretary began before they all began to talk over each other.
"—to look him in the eye and what, just give him a condolence card?"
"That's the responsibility of government, Denise." The Prime Minister said, bringing everyone's attention back to him.
"No, the first responsibility is to protect the best interests of this country, right? Then let's say it. In a national emergency, a country must plan for the future, and must discriminate between those who are vital to continued stability and those who are not. And now that we've established that our kids are exempt, the whole principle of random selection is dead in the water anyway—"
"Only so far as—" The Defence Secretary began.
"Let me finish. Now look, on the one hand, you've got the schools, and I don't just mean those producing graduates. I mean the pupils that will go on to staff our hospitals, our offices, our factories; the workforce of the future. We need them. Accepted, yes? So, set against that, you've got the failing schools; full of the less able, the less socially useful. Those destined to spend a lifetime on benefits, occupying places on the dole queue, and, frankly, the prisons. Now, look, should we treat them equally? God knows we've tried and we've failed, and now the time comes to choose. And if we can't identify the lowest achieving ten percent of this country's children, then what are the school league tables for?"
The whole room went into silence. The bastards. They were going to put up the 'failing' students to the 456. Arseholes.
"Anyone want to speak against that?" The Prime Minister asked, although the politicians stayed silent. "Then there we have it. John, you have your criteria. We've selected the ten percent."
"We've got enough evidence recorded here to destroy every person in that room." Gwen said as we all turned to look at each other.
"And we can use it to force our way into Thames House, finally get face-to-face with this thing." I said coldly.
"And get your family released." Gwen said, looking at Jack.
"Right, everyone know what they're doing?" Jack asked.
"What if I can't get Lois to agree to this, Jack?"
"She hasn't let us down yet. Rhys, you ready?" Ianto rushed up to me and Jack and the two of them loaded their guns. "Let's go stand up to them." He said, looking at Iant.
"Yes, sir." Ianto nodded as he began to leave the warehouse and Jack turned to me.
"You can't come."
"Yes I can and I will." I said angrily.
"They want your son and we're going to them. Are you insane?"
"Tust me." I mumbled, hugging him.
"I hope you do." He whipsered, placing a kiss on my forehead.
...
The car stopped abruptly, and we stared at the traffic, swearing under our breaths. We jumped out of the car, leaving it in the street and making our way through a alleway. Ianto pulled his phone at, ringing Rhiannon, knowing that people were listening in, and doing it on purpose. I pulled out my phone, knowing I had to ring my family and make sure Mr Smith protected them.
I pressed dial and the dialling tone rang through.
"Incoming call: unknown." Mr Smith announced, knowing someone had picked up.
"Hello?" Mum's voice came through cautiously.
"It's me." I said nervously as I listened the sound of things falling over, presumably people getting up and rushing over to Mr Smith.
"Are you ok?" Rani screeched. "We've been trying to get hold of you, we've all been chanting and-"
"I know." I interupted. "I've been in hiding, with Torchwood and uh-"
"I'm going to kill Captain Jack Harkness!" Mum exclaimed.
"It's not his fault!" I said. "We were trying to help then the government have been trying to kill us, we had to hide. But listen, Rani, Clyde, Luke do not go to school. Do not leave the attic ok?! Do not let anyone in!"
"Are you coming home?" Luke asked quietly.
I shook my head sadly as we quickly kept walking, "I don't know right now sweetie, I have to stop this."
"What happens if we go to school?" Clyde asked.
"Just don't go!"
"Flo... be honest."
I sighed sadly, "Just aliens." I gulped. "Mr Smith, lockdown the attic."
"Lockdown." Mr Smith announced as I listened to the sound of alarms and the shouts of everyone. "I've got to go... I love you." I hung up quickly.
...
We carried on marching through the street towards Thames House, the three of us wearing comms. whilst on the phone to Gwen.
"Okay, Gwen, we're here." Ianto said.
"Take care." Gwen said, hanging up.
...
The lift to floor 13 pinged open and we rushed out straight towards some guards and Mr Dekker, the man who had been working out the transmissions of the 456 since 1965, according to Jack.
"I want to feed the live TV pictures directly to this number, can you do that?" Jack asked, handing Dekker a number.
"I can do that." Dekker nodded.
We nodded at the man and moved our way down the hall to the room holding the 456.
We made our way in and stood in front of the tank in a line, facing the 456.
"Give me to them." The baby said. I let out a sigh of relief, seeing as he'd been completely silent since the hub had blown up.
"No way." I laughed coldly.
"Mummy, listen to me. I can use regeneration energy to kill them off. We'll be ok. I promise."
"Can you even regenerate?!"
"I... don't know. But all Time Lord's have regeneration energy, so I can use that."
"Never." I said sternly.
"I'm Captain Jack Harkness." Jack said, pulling me from my conversation with the baby. "I've dealt with you lot before. I'm here to explain why this time, you're not getting what you want."
"You yielded in the past." The 456 replied.
"And don't I know it. I was there. In 1965, I was part of that trade, and that's why I'm never going to let it happen again."
"Explain."
"There's a saying here on Earth, a very old, very wise friend of mine taught me it: an injury to one is an injury to all. And when people act according to that philosophy, the human race is the finest species in the Universe."
"Never mind the philosophy." Ianto said. "What he's saying is you're not getting one solitary, single child." He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "The deal is off."
"Uh, I like the philosophy." Jack mumbled.
"I gathered."
"You yielded in the past." The 456 said. "You will do so, again."
"In the past, the numbers were so small they could be kept secret, but this time, that is not going to happen." I said sternly.
"Because we've recorded everything." Jack said. "All the negotiations. Everything the politicians said. Everything that happened in this room. And those tapes will be released to the public. Unless you leave this planet for good."
"You yielded in the past." The 456 said. "You will do so again."
"When people find out the truth, you will have over six billion angry human beings taking up arms to fight you." I spat. "That might be a fight you think you can win, but at the end of it, the human race in defense of its children will fight to the death. And if I have to lead them in to battle, I will."
"You've got enough information on this planet." Ianto said. "Check your records. His name is Captain Jack Harkness. Go back a hundred and fifty years and see what you're facing."
"This is fascinating, isn't it?" The 456 asked. "The human infant mortality rate is 29,158 deaths per day. Every three seconds, child dies. The human response is to accept, and adapt."
"We're adapting right now, and we're amking this a war." Jack said.
"Then the fight begins."
"We're wating for your reply."
"Action has been taken."
Alarms blared through out the room, bathing it in a red light.
"What have you done?" I asked nervously as Jack took my other hand and he and Ianto squeezed them.
"You wanted a demonstration of war. A virus has been released. It will kill everyone in the building."
Jack bolted to the door of the room, addressing the guards.
"The air's poison." He told them. "Call someone. Shut down the air conditioning, block every air vent. Get gas masks, hazard suits, oxygen cylinders."
Ianto cocked his gun, pointing it at the 456 tank as he took my hand again and we stared at the tank.
"If there's a virus, then there must be an antivirus." Ianto said. "Release it now, or I'll blow a hole in that tank, and we'll all die together."
Jack ran in, panic in his voice. "You made your point, now stop this and we can talk." He said.
"You are dying, even now."
Jack and Ianto fired at the tank and the bullets ricochetted off the glass, leaving no holes or scratches. They lowered their guns as the 456 let out a piercing screech.
"What's that noise? What's it doing?" I asked nervously. Wow. I was scared. Scared shitless. Oh god. What if I never saw my family again. What if I never saw Mum, Rani, Clyde or Luke? Or Gwen? Or never got to meet my baby? What if it killed the both of us? I'd never see my daughter again, I'd never see Jenny again. What if I never saw Mickey? Or Martha? My best friends? What if I never saw Martha, Mels, Amy or Rory again? What if I never had a chance to check in on Donna again? To make sure Wilf was ok? I knew I'd never see Rose again but still... If I never got to help UNIT out on the easiest shit in the world? What if I never saw Maria again? If I never saw Alan, Chrissie, Gita, Haresh or Carla? I know it sounded ridiculous, but Rani, Clyde and Maria's parents had become like family to me too? Or Hero. Hero... What if I never got to stroke the TARDIS rotor again... What if I never saw The Doctor again? I'd never thought of it really. Walking out on The Doctor. I didn't think twice. I just went. I left The TARDIS and... I left a whole life behind. But it was too late. I'd breathed in the air. So had Ianto. We were dying.
Green mucus splattered agains the tank wall as the 456 continued to shriek eerily, banging its claws against the glass.
Jack turned to me and Ianto, pulling the both of us into an embrace.
"We've got to get you out of here." Jack gulped. "I can survive anything, but you can't!"
"Too late." I whispered as Ianto and I shared a knowing look and he took my hand. "We've breathed the air." In a way, I was happy. I was dying with the sweetest man in the world. Ianto had become like a big brother to me in the couple of years that I'd known him, and he'd always looked out me me, especially with all this. He'd pulled me out of rubble. Out of a explosion. Jack had been blown up, we didn't know if Gwen was alive or dead... and he saved me. That was a good friend. A friend for life. That life that would be over in less than a few minutes.
"There's got to be something—there's got to be an antidote!" Jack exclaimed, heartbreak in his eyes.
"You said you would fight." The 456 said.
"Then I take it back, alright?" Jack said, letting go and shouting at the tank. "I take it all back—but not him! Not her!" Ianto and I began to weaken and Ianto fell to his knees, pulling me with him. We landed on the floor as Jack sunk down with us, trying to hold the both of us. My eyesight began to become blurry. I was dying. I was expecting to be completely petrified when dying. But I wasn't. I was pretty calm. "No! No no no no no no no—no!. No. Ianto, Flo. No, no, no…"
Ianto began to sprawl across the floor as Jack held onto us, cradling and crying.
"The remnant will be disconnected." The 456 said.
"It's all my fault." Jack sobbed, holding onto us.
"No it's not." Ianto said, shaking his head.
"Don't speak, save your breath."
"I love you." Ianto sobbed.
Jack shook his head, "Don't." Ianto's eyes fell closed and Jack shook him a little, holding onto me tightly to keep me concious. "Ianto. Ianto? Ianto, stay with me. Ianto, stay with me please—stay with me, stay with me, please!"
Ianto's eyes opened again, looking up at Jack. "Hey. It was—good, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Don't forget me. Either of you." He glanced over at me.
"Never could."
"A thousand years' time…you won't remember me."
I stayed silent, listening to their goodbye, trying to keep my breath for what I had to say.
"Yes I will. I promise, I will."
Ianto gasped a little, his eyes closing, dead. "Ianto. Ianto? Don't go. Don't leave me, please. Please, don't—" He shook his head, defeated.
"Jack." I whispered, my eyes slowly closing. "Look after Jenny." I gulped. "And Luke."
"Flo, don't leave me." Jack sobbed as I began to slip, clutching onto him. "Flo." My eyes slipped closed and-
Flo's body slipped to the floor, dead and Jack watched in shock. He'd just lost the man he loved and his best friend in the same moment. He'd lost his nephew, the unborn Time Lord. He'd broken The Doctor's life in the space of a second.
"You will die." The 456 said. "And tomorrow, your people will deliver the children."
Jack looked up at the 456, tears running down his face as he clutched onto Ianto and Flo's bodies. He placed a kiss on Flo's and then Ianto's lips before falling beside them, dead.
...
Gwen followed two soldiers down an aisle among rows and rows of bodies covered in blood red tarps. One pointed her to three bodies.
"12, 13, 14." He mumbled.
Gwen stood in front of the three of them before slowly kneeling down and pulling off one of the blankets, revealing Jack. She smiled tenderly at him before looking darkly at the two other bodies. She pulled off the blankets to reveal Ianto and Flo's cold and lifeless bodies.
Jack gasped back to life, softly, unlike his usual huge intake of breath. He sat up and glanced to his side before looking away, unable to look at Gwen, Ianto and Flo beside him. Gwen began to cry softly, looking at the dead Ianto and Flo as Jack came up behind her and put his arm around her. They both looked down at Flo and Ianto, crying.
"There's nothing we can do." Gwen whispered.
There was a scream and they looked in shock as Flo sat up, covered in orange regeneration energy. It died away suddenly and she looked at Jack and Gwen in shock.
I was alive. I was... alive. Oh my god. The baby.
"I told you. Regeneration energy." The baby said. "I haven't regnerated, don't worry." I looked over at Ianto's dead body, heartbroken. I'd survived and he hadn't. How was that fair?
"Save him." I whispered in my mind to the baby.
"I can't. I'm sorry."
He was dead.
Ianto was dead.