Jack stood on the corner in the middle of the Cromwell estate and looked at it; the whole place looked like a scrapyard, with cars with no windscreens held up by bricks and rusted bikes in the gardens. One house was boarded, burnt through completely, with graffiti on the walls and holes in the roof; he could see needles on the ground in the grass and broken beer bottles littered the street. He looked up and saw a pair of shoes, laces tied together, hanging over the wire that connected the telegraph poles. It was a sad state, Britain was a sad state, but then again it had been for a while.

He looked at the gang of kids that sat on the wall in broad daylight; they were no older than twelve years old, but they were smoking and drinking proudly. The estate was nothing to be proud about. He had always had problems imagining Ianto living there, in the house on the corner where his sister now lived; he couldn't imagine him mingling with the kids on the walls or wearing a hoodie and smoking.

Jack looked over at the house on the corner and saw a man on the step; he held a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other and waved. Standing up, the young man made his way over, flicking the cigarette on the ground and threw him arms around him.

"Back again?" He pulled away and looked at him. "You coming in?"

"Sure."

David was older now, 22 years old, almost exactly as old as Ianto had been the first time Jack had met him, but he looked much younger. David didn't wear a suit, he didn't have a job to wear one to, but nobody did. 2022 was bleak. No jobs, no culture and no trust; the benefit system had gone into overdrive, with a benefit for everything from a broken thumb to early onset dementia. The nanny state was huge, with CCTV camera's hooked up to facial recognition systems; every movement was recorded and analysed, collecting evidence for crimes that hadn't even been committed yet. Everyone was a criminal in the eyes of the government, and that government, with it's spin doctors, secrets and corruption sickened Jack; it was one of the many reasons he didn't return for more than a few days at a time. Jack blamed them for everything bad in the world and they weren't doing anything to change his mind. A camera turned towards him and made a sound like a zooming lens and Jack glared into it until it turned away. The government had been keeping a close eye on him for a while, tracking his movement; it was either them or Torchwood and he didn't want to talk to either of them.

"Bloody security camera's," David said. "Never know when to mind their own fucking business."

"I'm used to it now."

"They treat you like a bloody criminal. They're the criminals if you ask me. Murderers, every single one of them."

"They treat everyone like a criminal." Jack followed David inside and closed the door behind him, then hung up his coat.

"Mam! Uncle Jack's here!"

Rhiannon came into the hallway and hugged her visitor. She was older now, forty-one, with two grown kids that showed no sign of moving out. "God, it's depressing to see you."

"Thanks." Jack chuckled a little, squeezing her tightly.

"You look so bloody young." She led Jack into the kitchen and switched on the kettle. "Cuppa?"

"Wouldn't say no."

"Long journey?"

"Very." Jack waved over at Jonny who sat on the couch playing a game on the computer. "Hey Johnny."

"How's the aliens then?" Jonny asked, his gaze never leaving the flashing screen.

"Ignore him." Rhiannon gave him a mug of tea. "Fish and chips for dinner?"

"Sure."

"Jonny!" Rhiannon shouted. "Get down that chippy, and I want the good fish this time and don't go to the one with the lumpy gravy."

"They all have lumpy gravy." Johnny stood beside Jack and took the money that his wife offered from her purse. "You want peas, Jack?"

"No thanks."

Johnny looked out the window and groaned when he heard the thunder; the rain wasn't far behind.

"It's bloody raining now."

"Then you had better run then hadn't you, and take David with you."

She watched them go, then turned around to Jack and smiled fondly. "Now, give me the gossip."

Mica sat at the top of the stairs watching Jack as he talked to her mother in the kitchen. He had visited every few months for as long as she could remember, staying for a few days at a time to catch up before leaving to travel the universe again. She looked down at the PDA and tapped away at a few buttons; it was the only way to get any peace, the only way to keep Jack from harm and intrusion. Mica knew that she would get in trouble if the government found out what she was doing, imprisoned for her efforts most likely, branded a digital terrorist, but that was nothing compared to what her mother would do if she knew.

Jack caught her eye and she smiled, waving at him in the way she had done since she was five. She watched him as he excused himself from the conversation with her mother and joined her on the stairs. He sat down next to her, grabbing the PDA before she could even think about hiding it.

"You're going to get arrested," he said. "If the authorities ever find out you're not going to have a leg to stand on."

"They're not smart enough to find out." Mica shrugged. "They're stupid, the Government."

"They're not as dumb as you think. They just don't quite realise who they're dealing with." Jack smiled. "You have the mind of a Jones."

"It's not hard. I just intercept the software when I see you coming and scramble the signal, then I replace your image with the image of someone else. It's a two minute loop and by the time they realise you're inside and out of their view. They just think it's a bug in the software."

"You still need to watch it."

"I'm one step ahead, it's Torchwood that I find it hard to fool. They're smarter than the government, nosier than the police."

"Well, they learned from the best."

"Mica!" The thunderous voice from downstairs made them both freeze and Jack did Mica a favour, hiding the PDA behind his back. "Did you do something to those camera's outside?"

"No. Why?"

"The engineers are out again!" Rhiannon stood at the bottom of the stairs, her arms crossed in that way she did when she was really angry.

"Imagine that?" Mica stood up, taking the PDA from Jack to put in her pocket. "Must be a bug or something."

"Oh a bug in their software again, is it?"

"I just wanted to help Uncle Jack out, keep the bloody Government off his back."

"I could bloody throttle you sometimes."

"I won't do it again."

"You better not."

"I'm going to go and- do- something else." She backed away and headed towards her bedroom, fearing the certain wrath of her mother. "Later, Uncle Jack."

"That bloody girl!" Rhiannon sighed and sat down beside Jack. "That girl will be the death of me."

"She's clever though."

"Ianto was clever too and look what happened to him." Rhiannon looked down at her hands. "He was dead before he was thirty, dead at twenty-five, I don't want her to be clever if that's where it gets you."

"When you say that I always feel as though you're blaming me."

"I just wish he had been stupid. I wish he had worked in Debenhams like my Dad, or sat on the dole and drank beer. Maybe he could have worked in a bank if he wanted to make something of himself." She sighed, holding her warm cup of tea in her hand. "But no. No, he wanted to fight aliens and save the bloody world. Stupid sod."

"Ianto would've never been happy working in a bank."

"Maybe not, but he'd be alive," she said. "He'd be here annoying the shit out of me like he should be."

"You don't know that." Jack looked down at his hands.

"I suppose not." She turned to face him. "I don't mean to blame you, it just comes out that way."

"I know."

"You bloody don't, y'know?" She put her cup down onto the stair beside her, moving her hand to cover Jack's fingers, speaking slowly to make him understand. "You didn't kill my brother."

"I may as well have."

"It was his decision, you've said that so many times before. He wanted to save the world, he wouldn't let you give in."

"I know."

"And what was he?" She asked him, a smile tugging at her lips.

"A stubborn sod with a death wish." Jack smiled as he said it, Rhiannon's words from years ago. "I know."

They heard the door open, then close with a bang. "Chips!"