Jeez, why does everyone think I'm gonna kill Po? Am I really that untrustworthy? I mean it's not like I have a history of murdering main characters or anything. Oh wait...

Rose and Porruhk watched from the second level as team Torchwood worked below. Po perched on the railing with surprising ease for someone his size and Rose leaned next to him with her hands clasped in front of her.

"Rose, surely I am not the first to be transported here. What happened to my predecessors?"

She sucked in a sharp breath and refused to look at him. From the way Jack had been insistent that Torchwood One be kept in the dark, she had a sinking feeling she knew what Po's fate would be if they found out about him. His best future would be death in that case. But Jack wasn't the type of man to let that happen. He had to have his own methods of dealing with the aliens who came through, particularly the ones who weren't hostile. Some aliens looked human enough and probably were allowed to live among humans unmolested. But others, like Po, never could. What about them?

"I don't know," she finally answered.

"And what will become of me?"

"I don't know. You can't live with humans, but don't worry, Jack'll think of something. He's a good man."

Po sighed. "I am a burden."

"You an' me both."

"Surely not!"

She hung her head. "I am. I just sort of…dropped in on 'em the other day and caused a whole lot of trouble."

"Perhaps but I do think your presence has been quite beneficial. None of them can speak my language and yet you know it fluently."

She laughed. "Not really. I've got this, um, this telepathic translator in my mind. It processes what you're saying as you say it and translates instantaneously. To me, you're speaking English."

Po looked intrigued, his head cocked to the side thoughtfully. "Does this work for every language?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded. "As long as the person speaking is sentient."

"Amazing. I cannot fathom why you would be a burden. Your ability is extraordinary. My people have difficulty communicating with the Walkers who share our territory because we cannot produce many of the sounds they do. If we had someone like you as translator, we could accomplish so much.

"And here, you would be invaluable. In the place where I arrived, there were many humans screaming at me but I did not understand them, and they shot me. Your people were going to shoot me. You stopped them just by talking to me. How many of those that come after me will not speak the languages of your voices or bodies? Think of the good you could do."

Rose blushed and ducked her head again. Down below, Tosh was talking quietly to Jack. The two of them kept glancing up at the walkway where Rose and Po lurked.

"Jack has offered me a job here," she admitted.

"A job?"

"The team, the flock, they aren't a family. They're coworkers. This is their place of work."

"I understand. So Jack has invited you into the flock. That is good, is it not? He is your friend."

"Yeah, but, this—this is a small branch of an organization called Torchwood that's responsible for dealing with aliens. Which mostly means destroying anything they consider a threat and studying whatever's left. I was there when this all started.

The Doctor's at the top of their most wanted list and I suspect I'm right up there with him."

Po's feathers ruffled and his talons dug into the railing. "You mean to tell me that these people wish you harm?"

"No, no," she said quickly. "Not these people. This used to be like the bigger Torchwood in London but then Jack took over. He cut as many ties as he could. He's made them better, more about helping aliens and protecting people than advancing the empire and getting their claws into anything alien. But…even with that…Torchwood has hurt me so much. I don't know if I can work for them. Just the thought makes me feel…dirty. But the worst part—I don't really have a choice. There's nowhere else I can go that's safe."

The young prince was quiet for a moment, head cocked to the side once more. "You are a good person, Dame Rose Tyler. I have known you but a few hours and I know this to be true. You are the reason I am here now. I believe just by being here, by offering your gifts and kindness, you could do good."

"You really think I should accept?"

"I think they need you, even if they do not yet realize it. And if this truly is the only safe place for you, then I think you need them, too."

Rose nodded. "I'll talk to Jack about it. But we gotta get you sorted first."

Getting Po 'sorted' was easier said than done. He could not stay in Britain or Europe. Not only was the climate wrong but there was no way for him to blend in. Later that night after everyone else had gone home, Jack pulled up a map of the world on the computer in his office so Po could see his options. South America and India would be most suitable. Jack explained what he could about each place while Rose translated. But no matter what he chose, they would surgically place a tracker inside of him so they would always know where he was. Which meant if he was ever killed or taken captive, they'd know.

"You don't have to decide now," Rose assured him. "Think about it a bit. In the meantime, why don't you go wait on the couch? That thing out there against the wall, it's comfy, I promise."

Po nodded wordlessly and left Jack's office. Jack stood up and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"Say what you wanna say, Jack," Rose implored.

"It'd be so easy just to put him in cryo."

Rose glanced out the door then hissed, "Cryo?"

Jack leveled her with a piercing look. "What do you think we do with aliens like him that come through? There's no way we can assimilate them into the population and since he's out of time, there's no way for UNIT to arrange for transportation off world. If Torchwood One doesn't come barging in, then we store them in cryo. There's nothing else to do."

She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She wasn't really surprised. "How many?" she asked.

Jack hesitated. "How many what?"

"How many aliens do you have stored?"

"A lot."

Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Are they alive?"

"Some of them."

She swallowed, fists clenched at her sides. "If and when the Doctor makes it back…I want you to promise me you'll unfreeze them. We're gonna take them home. Po, too."

His lips turned up into a smile. "I wouldn't expect anything less. Now, onto a more important subject: you've not been sleeping, have you?"

She sighed and shook her head once.

He stood up and cupped her face in his hands, rubbing his thumb along the base of the dark circle beneath her eye. She struggled not to flinch away. She was still getting used to him being, well, wrong, and it was difficult having him so close. "You should've told me."

"I didn't want to be more of a bother."

Jack shook his head, wrapping his arms around her in a patented Jack Harkness hug, 'guaranteed to make you feel better or your money back'. She sighed and buried her face in his shoulders, sliding her arms around his waist. This, this, is what she missed most. The Doctor was tactile, so much of their relationship was physical, and not in the sexual way. He was almost always touching her even if it was just their fingertips brushing. She'd been starved of contact since coming here.

Jack pulled back and lifted her chin up with his hand. "Hey. It's okay. I know what you're going through. Things will get better. Maybe later rather than sooner but they will get better. You're strong enough to live your life without the Doctor. I'm not saying you should stop loving him or move on, but you need to learn how to live without him again."

I know how to, she thought sadly and dropped her gaze. But I don't want to.

"Would you like me to give you something to make you sleep? After the prince is gone we can do something else."

Rose shook her head. "I don't want to be stuck asleep if I start having nightmares. I can sleep it's just…I can't stay asleep. I wake up alone, I get scared, and then I can't go back to sleep."

"Well, then. Maybe you should sleep with me."

Her head snapped up. "Jack…" she warned.

"I meant literally. There's plenty of room in my bed for you." He rubbed his hands up and down her bare arms but there was nothing untoward with the gesture. "Rose, you know me. I won't ever take advantage of you. I'll kill the son of a bitch who ever tries."

She smiled.

"I'm offering you a mattress and a sleeping buddy. And it's up to you."

"Thanks, but…I think I should probably stay with Po. Someone's got to keep an eye on him." She didn't meet his eyes. She didn't know how to tell him she might not be able to sleep around him.

Jack nodded and patted her shoulders. "Okay."

Po was perched on the arm of the couch when Rose left Jack's office. She sat down on the couch and pulled her backpack from beneath the table. Po watched with interest as she unzipped it and rummaged through to find the vest top and track pants she'd been using as pyjamas and toiletries. She headed for the stairs that would lead her up to the second floor where the bathroom was.

"Where are you going?" Po asked.

"Just gonna get ready for bed." She stopped with her foot on the top stair and turned. "Do you need to use the toilet? Wash up a bit?"

"Please." He smiled in relief and she mentally kicked herself for not asking him sooner. He hopped off the couch and padded over to the stairs.

"Jack, I'm gonna take him up to the bathrooms!" she hollered as she jogged up the stairs.

That in itself proved to be an adventure. Flane may have once been a mighty technological planet but by Po's time, their technology had regressed by centuries. Things like toilets and showers were apparently thing of the past if the way Po stared blankly at them was anything to go by. She stumbled over her explanation of what the toilet was for and how it worked and he seemed quite amused by her embarrassment over such a banal subject.

"Rain!" He exclaimed when she turned the showerhead on.

"Well…sort of." She twisted the handle to the left. "Go on, feel."

He stuck his hand under the spray, turning it over slowly. "It is cold now. Freezing."

She turned the handle to the right, heating it up. Po's beak dropped open. "How are you doing that?!"

"Left is cold, right is hot. You can mess with it until you get the temperature where you like it. If you want soap, that's what that white lump is on the shelf right there. These hooks here—" she gestured to the hooks on the wall outside the shower stall "—are for your clothes."

Rose got him a towel from the cupboard and hung it on the hook next to his shower stall then left the shower area. She washed her face and brushed her teeth at one of the sinks. A very bird-like like whistling trickled through the air and she smiled around the toothbrush. When she was done, she changed into her pyjamas and spent the rest of the time brushing her hair while she waited for Po to come out.

When he did, she took one look at him and burst out laughing. His feathers were in a right state. Some were slicked down, others were sticking up at weird angles, and some of them were already starting to fluff back up. Through them she could see a puffy layer of down covering his scalp.

The fleshy corners of Po's beak turned down in displeasure and he folded his arms. "Do I amuse you?"

"I'm sorry!" she giggled. "Your feathers… Didn't you use the towel? The white thing I left hanging there. It's for drying yourself off."

"Oh. Um, no, I just…" He gave his head a great shake and droplets of water went flying every which way. She shrieked and held up her hands to ward them off. It was his turn to laugh. "But I will give this 'towel' a try."

He went to fetch it and he showed him how to run it over his feathers and squeeze the water out then let him try on his own. "This is far more effective than our method. I will definitely tell my mother about this when I—" He stopped midsentence and closed his beak.

Po unfurled his wings and began rubbing the towel across them, too. Rose could see it was getting pretty damp so she went to get him another one and helped by dabbing the wet areas around his stitches. He took the towel from her and got the rest of his wings.

"India and South America. The names feel weird on my tongue." Po lowered the towel and furled his wings onto his back. He stared at himself in the mirror. "I do not know what to do. They both are suitable, theoretically, but the thought of being…anywhere on my own…I have never in all my life been on my own. My people are meant to live in groups. We depend on each other for survival. Solitary life is punishment. And yet—" he turned around to face her "—I find myself in the same position as you. I have no other choice."

Rose closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. "There is another choice."

"What?"

She licked her lips and took another, deep breath. "Sleep. You could sleep." She opened her eyes. He was staring at her. "There's a place here, below, where they keep all the aliens they've found before. Some of them are still alive, sleeping, never aging, waiting for a chance to go back where they came from. You could sleep like them."

"For how long?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head. "I dunno. Months, years, centuries even. You're from the future. You could go to sleep and when you wake up, it'll be time to board a ship to Flane."

"Can you guarantee that?"

"No. But I can't promise how long you'll live out there, either. …But, either way, I promise you, if the Doctor comes back, when we get our ship back, we'll take you home. You can try to survive here on your own or you can sleep in our basement." He swallowed and bowed his head. "Think about it."

Rose led Po back down to the main area of the Hub. He got settled on the arm of the couch while she put her stuff away, unfolded the blanket, and settled down.

"You sure you're comfortable like that?" she asked and shifted her feet. "Plenty of room down there."

"This is how my people sleep," he responded tonelessly.

"Like a proper bird, you are."

Po glanced at her and his lips twitched upwards into the briefest of smiles then he looked away and closed his eyes. Neither of them said another word for the rest of the night. At some point, she heard the sound of something opening in Jack's office but other than that there was no sound except for those of the Hub, which were quickly becoming familiar to her. She drifted in and out of sleep throughout the night and tried to keep the tossing and turning to a minimum to not disturb Po. She couldn't tell if he slept or not but every time she peeked over at him he was in the same position, breathing slowly.

Suzie arrived around 8am, as normal. Rose was only a little surprised by the door alarm blaring. Poor Po, on the other hand, was frightened so much he actually lost a few feathers in his haste to get in the air. He screeched loudly, incoherently shouting or maybe a series of swears, but whatever it was it didn't translate. He landed on the third floor railing with back arched and wings spread, feathers fluffed, hands and feet curled around the metal. He hissed at Suzie who stood just in side the doorway, clutching a small container in her hands. The poor woman looked faint.

"Calm down, Po!" Rose shouted, propping herself up on her arms.

He stopped hissing and raised his head to look at her, feathers smoothing out. "Um," he squawked a moment later. "My apologies."

She nodded and let her head drop onto the pillow. She heard his wings beating as he flew down to the main level and the click of his talons as he landed.

"I, um, I brought him some fruit salad," Suzie stammered as she ascended the stairs to the platform where Rose and Po were. Rose translated as Suzie handed him the container. He accepted with a grateful bow of his head, a gesture Suzie seemed to understand because she answered it with a smile.

The door to Jack's office opened and the man himself emerged. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just spooked him comin' in," Suzie explained. "He's a bit wild."

"He's on an alien planet," Jack reminded her then sauntered over to Po. "How you doing this morning, big guy?"

Rose relayed the greeting to their guest.

"I have only just awoken and cannot provide you with a wholly accurate answer." Po replied, glancing between them. Rose snickered and quoted him word for word.

Jack smiled. "Rose, you can wait until after breakfast if you want, but I need to know his decision today."

Jack and Suzie watched their two visitors head off to the kitchen, Po trailing after Rose like a lost puppy.

"Would you look at him?" Suzie muttered. "He's gone and bloody imprinted on her. Like a baby chicken or something."

"He's on an alien planet," Jack repeated. "He's lost in time and space, on his own. Every single person he knows hasn't even been born yet. His entire species probably hasn't even been created. She's the only one on this lump of rock that he can talk to. And not only that, she empathizes with him. Of course he's going to follow her around like she's his mother. Especially since he knows he has to leave her soon."

Suzie ducked her head. "I didn't think… You're right. But I, uh, I brought him breakfast. Figured he wouldn't like cereal or eggs so I made a fruit salad."

"Good thinking."

Owen arrived about fifteen minutes later and it seemed he'd had the same idea because he'd brought an assortment of berries with him. And Tosh brought a mixture of nuts and birdseed. The three of them had a good laugh about it because they hadn't planned or even discussed it beforehand.

Porruhk was pleasantly surprised when they presented him with the food, squawking and humming in his language that was a mix of humanoid and avian sounds. Rose was smiling as she provided the English translation and not for the first time, Jack missed being able to understand it himself. Though, on the flipside, he was able to hear Po's language for what it was. Rose never would.

Rose and Po sat on the couch while he munched on Tosh's nut and birdseed mix. Two stomachs meant twice the normal amount of food to be full, she thought. They'd have to pack some food for him for his journey, assuming he chose to live in one of the two places he'd been offered. He still hadn't said anything either way.

"Rose, I would like to see the sky."

She looked at him. His face was somber but resolute and she knew what he was planning. She reached over and curled her hand around his. "You're not going to go, are you?" she murmured.

"Please."

She squeezed his hand. "Okay. I'll ask Jack."

Jack wouldn't let him go out on the Plass. Too risky, even with the human tendency to ignore alien things. Yesterday at the mall hadn't made the news but there was the chance someone would recognize him and whip out a camera phone. But the dock down by the main entrance was secluded enough for him to be allowed out. Susie and Owen went up first to act as a buffer against anyone who might head down the docks and Jack escorted Rose and Po a few minutes later.

Rose took a deep, long breath of the salty air and lifted her face towards the sun. Beside her, Po was doing the same.

"Your sun is less orange than ours. Warmer. Closer. Or maybe just bigger." He sighed. "I could get used to it. But I do not want to. …I always wanted to explore Flane, but not on my own. The thought of living on an alien planet on my own, possibly for the rest of my life—" He turned to her. "I cannot. I would rather sleep."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Once you do this you can't change your mind."

"If I am asleep then I will not have the desire to."

Rose nodded slowly. "Okay. Okay. Jack…" She spun around to face the captain who stood several feet away with his hands in his pockets, facing the sea. He glanced her way and raised his eyebrows. "He's decided."

"Great!" Jack strolled over tot hem with a smile. "So, where's he going?"

"A cryo storage unit."

That wiped the smile off Jack's face. "What?"

"I told him about cryo. He would rather stay here with us, asleep, than face the planet on his own."

Jack took a deep breath and exhaled slowly and looked over Rose's shoulder. "Porruhk."

"What'd he say?" Po asked blandly.

"Your name," Rose told him, earing a surprised look.

"Say it again?"

"Porruhk," Jack repeated a moment later.

Po's beak opened slightly, and let out a puff, then closed it. He licked at the corner of his mouth then tried again. "Po-ruh-ck." Rose's eyes widened. She could hear his voice—his real voice—now that he was trying English. He sounded like a parrot trying to talk, squawky and whistling, but instead of a high nasally voice parrots had when they mimicked human words, she could hear the same voice she'd been listening to all day. "Po-r-ruck. Porruhk."

Rose beamed at him. "You did it."

Jack pointed to himself. "Jack. Ja-a-ack."

Po couldn't produce the right sound for 'j' since he didn't have teeth in the front of his beak so the name came out sounding like, "Gack."

Then Jack pointed to Rose and said her name slowly.

"Ro-ss." In his own language, "No, wait. That's not right." He tried again. "Ro-o-o-se. Rose." Po smiled. "How do you say: Northern Sun Flock?"

Rose relayed the request and Jack obliged. They did this for several minutes. Po asked how to say the names of his family, his planet, the continents, and things like, sun, sky, rain, tree, and sea. Then finally, Jack began explaining the cryogenic process they would use to place him in suspended animation in the simplest terms possible, and Rose repeated him word for word.

"And how long will I sleep for?" Po asked.

"Until we wake you up."

An hour later, back down in the Hub, Po was given a plain slip to wear with the back cut out to accommodate his wings. His clothes were placed in a storage container to be kept within the secure archives until such a time he awoke, just like all the others kept in suspended animation. He clutched Rose's hand tightly as she led him down into the medical room. Owen was already down there in his lab coat with a series of bottles, needles, and injectors on the table.

"South America is starting to seem nice," Po murmured as they neared the bottom of the stairs.

Rose turned around. "It's not too late to change your mind. You can still go to South America if you want."

Po glanced at Tosh and Suzie on the opposite stairs, then at Owen, and finally Jack. He took a deep breath and exhaled in a whistle. "No. I cannot survive alone out there."

"Okay." She tugged on his arm and they descended to the lower floor.

"Right, Beaky, up on the table." Owen gestured at the metal table in the center of the room.

Po did not wait for Rose to translate. He hopped up on the bed and carefully laid himself down on his back. He had to adjust his wings so he wasn't putting much weight on the wound and when he was ready, he nodded. Rose slid her hand into his and he clutched at it desperately.

"Okay, I ran a few tests, and I found a sedative that will work on him." Owen said. "I am going to inject it through his arm. It's going to remain in his system while he's frozen and it'll still be there when he's unfrozen until he's given the counterdrug."

Rose nodded and turned to Po. "He's gonna give you the sedative now. It'll make you sleep and it'll stay in your body when you're…suspended in cryo. So you don't wake up or anything. And when it's time for you to wake up, they'll bring you out, thaw you, and give you the counterdrug. It'll be just like a nap. …Right?" she looked up at the other members of Torchwood.

"Just like a nap," Tosh confirmed quietly. "It won't be like any time has passed at all."

Po raised his eyebrows.

"She's just agreeing with me." Rose opened her mouth to say more then pressed her lips together for a moment. Owen had the syringe ready and held it just over Po's arm, waiting. "If things go the way I hope, I'll be here when you wake up. But if not…well…"

"You will be there," Po said confidently.

"But if I'm not, then good luck. And I hope you get to see your little sister again someday."

Rose smiled at him then glanced at Owen and nodded. He nodded once in reply then gently inserted the needle into Po's arm. Po exhaled in a puff and inhaled shakily. His eyes became unfocused as they stared at her until they finally slipped shut and he sighed.

She didn't cry. She felt like she should at least shed a tear but, honestly, she couldn't find it in her. It was far less sad than it would've been if she'd seen him off to South America. There was something comforting in knowing that he would be safe and sound below the Hub for however long he had to wait. He wouldn't have to worry about Sycorax, Daleks, Cybermen, or anything else that might turn up in the meantime. Really, if anything, she was relieved.

"Now we move him into a storage unit for the cryo process to begin. You'll have to let go of his hand," Owen added, surprisingly gentle.

"He'll be alright?" she checked.

"We've done this dozens of times."

"Rose, a word?" Jack requested. She nodded, squeezed Porruhk's hand one last time, then rested it over his abdomen. She bounded up the stairs just as Suzie descended on the other side, presumably to help Owen with Po.

Rose followed Jack into his office and he shut the door behind them. "Take a seat," he instructed. She settled down in the seat in front of his desk while he walked around behind it.

"What's up?" she asked.

Jack scooted his chair closer to the desk and leaned forward, folding his arms in front of him. "What you did was amazing. It may not seem like it but just by being able to speak with him you probably saved his life. You won't believe how often we find aliens who can't speak any Earth languages. It doesn't always end well."

Rose smiled knowingly. "You want me to work for you as a translator. …Po suggested the same thing yesterday. He said it'd be a mutually beneficial situation."

"It would be. Having someone on staff that can understand anyone from anywhere or when would be extremely helpful. We've got an entire vault full of things that haven't been translated. Tosh does her best but computer software can only do so much. Not to mention that little talent you have."

"What talent?"

"You turned this conman into an honest man." He paused; bobbing is head from side to side. "Well…mostly honest. People like you, Rose. Just something about you draws people in, they trust you, they let you help them. We need that."

Rose sighed and propped her elbow on the arm of the seat, resting her cheek in her hand. "I know. But I—Jack what if Torchwood One finds me? They can't know I'm here or it's a paradox."

"I'm working on severing the final ties. They don't have access to our employee files anymore. Some of our CCTV footage still goes to their archives and I'll get Tosh working on that again, but they really don't have a reason to spy on us. If they do, the most they'll see is a new blonde hanging around the Hub. They won't know if you're an employee or a consultant or what."

"You're still Torchwood, though," she mumbled.

"By name only. I promise you, we're better than them. …And better looking."

"Well, can't argue with that last bit." She grinned at him and he smirked in reply. The smile slipped off her face and she closed her eyes. Was she really just prolonging the inevitable?

"I won't force you," Jack promised her quietly. "But I really wish you'd—"

Rose took a deep breath then took the plunge. "Okay."

"at least consider—what, really?"

"On one condition." She fixed him with her most severe look and he sat up straighter in his seat. "This is temporary. When the Doctor comes back, I'm goin' with him. I don't care about contracts or policies. This is not the life I want and I'm not going to settle."

Jack nodded slowly. "I figured you'd say that." A smile spread across his face, part smug, part eager, and his eyes gleamed in the light. "…Welcome to Torchwood."

SEE? I DIDN'T KILL THE BIRD.

Welcome to Torchwood, Rose :3