Merry Christmas Eve Eve! XD

I'm fondly naming this one 'The Alien who Stole Christmas', though I can't title them all. Titles are hard *points to the title of this story*

Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter Eighteen

The Alien who Stole Christmas

Part One

"Not long until Luke's back again," said Jenny, almost in disbelief, as she sat before Sky, who was spinning herself in lazy circles in her chair. Their first Christmas on planet Earth was almost upon them, which meant another holiday in which Luke had time away from college.

The Torchwood Hub was quiet; Jack in his office and Gwen on a coffee run, as it was to be a late night for them.

An epidemic had manifested itself over Cardiff city. The happy Christmas shoppers were suddenly poisoned by something that altered their behaviour, making them aggressive and unpredictable. It was only the Christmas shoppers, and only the people who had visited a certain shopping centre. It was their job (in collaboration with UNIT if they were needed) to find out where the problem was coming from, and whether or not it was alien. If it was, then they would have to deal with it. If not, they could turn it over to the normal authorities. ("But that never happens," said Gwen).

"Good," Sky smiled, dragging her feet across the ground to stop her chair.

"You miss him?"

"Of course. But I've got you guys; it's not so bad."

Jenny smiled at her adoptive sister, who she had grown so close to in the matter of five short months. Coming to think of her as an adoptive sister was a dramatic leap. She had tried (though admittedly not very hard) to distance herself from the people of Adria, fearful that she would become attached to the planet. Now she couldn't imagine ever leaving Earth. A problem, for a traveller such as herself. She could always return, at least.

She turned her attention back to her computer, which was currently showing the CCTV of the local shopping centre for the past two weeks. The difference between shoppers entering and exiting the multi-storey building was striking. It wasn't all of them, which suggested that it was one shop in particular that was causing it. If they could figure out what, then they could investigate it.

It was figuring out what the source was that proved difficult. Whatever it was that affected the people did not manifest itself immediately, which meant that she would have to follow several individual shoppers and compare the times. A tough job, likely bestowed upon her by her superior observation skills. Sky was to help her, though the girl was distracted. That day marked the start of her Christmas holidays, and she was eagerly awaiting the forecast snow.

She didn't have to wait long. The lift made its way down, carrying a snow-covered and slightly disgruntled Gwen.

"Well the weather wasn't lying," she announced, stepping off the lift and placing the cardboard tray of coffees between Jenny and Sky.

"Were they still open?" asked Jenny, selecting her beverage and taking a measured sip.

"Just closing up. Took some persuading and a very generous tip."

"What's the snow like?" Sky questioned, watching the flakes in Gwen's hair melt with avid fascination.

"Go and see for yourself."

"Okay!" the young Flesh Kind beamed. "Jenny, are you coming?"

"Sure," she replied, setting her coffee back on the table. She was interested in the snow herself, though perhaps not so much as Sky. And a break from the CCTV would not be unwelcome.

"Make sure you bundle up," Gwen warned them, in true mother fashion. The two young girls pulled on hats, coats and scarves, and ventured outside the hub.

Snow was falling from the sky in large, fat flakes, clinging to their clothing and the ground around them. Sky laughed aloud, opening her mouth to catch a snowflake on her tongue.

"Isn't it wonderful?" she beamed.

"It's beautiful."

She allowed Sky to dance around in the snow for several minutes, just watching, before persuading the younger girl to return inside.

"I see you've met Jack Frost," said Jack, who had emerged from his office, it seemed, with the promise of coffee, regarding the two of them with amusement as they took grateful gulps of their respective beverages.

Sky frowned at him. "Who?"

"A legend," Gwen explained to her. "He's meant to be responsible for cold weather, and everything that comes with it."

"Okay," she said, digesting the information. Then she returned her attention to Jack. "Does Christmas have good stories?"

"Plenty. But this Christmas won't unless we do something about it."

Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Sky sighed. "All right. Jenny?"

The Time Lady nodded, sitting down in her chair and bringing back up the CCTV footage.

"I think we've found something," Jenny announced, as the time approached one o' clock in the morning.

"What?" asked Gwen, abandoning the files she'd been looking through to glance over Jenny's shoulder at the computer screen.

"We followed ten different people," explained Sky, gesturing to the ten freeze-frame shots displayed on her monitor. "And it takes about twenty minutes for the symptoms to materialise."

"They were all in the same shop twenty minutes before they started freaking out," Jenny finished, pulling up the shots they'd picked out of each of the ten people browsing through the Boots store. "And they all tried the same perfume … offered to them by this woman here," she zoomed in on the CCTV shot of a young woman with short red hair.

"We're thinking alien?" asked Gwen.

Jenny scoffed. "We're always thinking alien."

"Let's go tell Jack," Sky added, collecting a printout of the CCTV shot of the redhead.

The three of them journeyed upstairs to Jack's office. He glanced up from his computer screen, smiling at the sight of them.

"I assume you have good news for me?"

"We know exactly which shop is causing all this, and possibly the person behind it," said Jenny, as Sky placed the printout on Jack's desk.

The Torchwood leader studied the picture, before setting it back down.

"Excellent," he smiled, standing up and pulling on his long coat. "Okay, go home, get some rest, and we'll look into this tomorrow."

Gwen and Sky left the office, put Jenny remained, watching with a frown as Jack switched everything off.

"Where are you going?" she asked eventually.

"Home."

"Home?"

"That's what I said."

She narrowed her eyes. "I thought you didn't have a home."

"Don't let it go to your head," he said, flicking off the lamp and leaving them in partial darkness.

"Let what go to my head?" asked Jenny, as they went downstairs.

"I'm renting an apartment, not too far away."

She smiled at him. "Good."

"Good?" he echoed.

"It's not right for you to spend all your time here. Too many memories. Some of them good, I'm sure, but …"

He nodded as if he understood. They reached the bottom of the stairs. Gwen looked as though she was ready to leave, but Sky was still sitting at her computer.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Jack nodded. "Tomorrow."