Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

April 3, 1953

London, England

He was drunk. Jack knew that much, although everything else was fairly hazy at this point. But he also knew that he could probably get away with drinking at least another half of a bottle before the bartender kicked him out, and if he was careful enough he could steal a bottle or two as well on his way out the door.

If only he had access to hypervodka, he mused even as he signaled for another drink. Then he wouldn’t be having this issue - he would be blacked out in a corner somewhere, able to ignore all of the happy people around him as they all greeted each other. Instead he watched morosely as friends came together, families reunited…

And he was alone.

He would have given his right arm for a case of hypervodka right about now, he thought again. It would have just grown back anyway, he mused. He had learned that one the hard way a little over thirty years ago when he had a run-in with a Hoix on a mission for Torchwood. And now it looked like he was going to be stuck with the Institute for a while longer.

He had missed the Doctor and Rose again, by only about an hour. According to his informants, they had appeared for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth - there had been something to do with people who didn’t have faces, according to his information, and an alien calling itself the Wire. Sadly, it wasn’t even close to the craziest thing that he had heard since being forced to join the Torchwood Institute back in 1899.

Still, he could help out the people affected, at least slightly. He left the Connelly family alone, but slipped the people who had lost their faces small amounts of Retcon. Just enough that they wouldn’t remember the time they spent as faceless bodies, their minds trapped in TV Land. It was the least he could do for them, and while he wished that he could do more to help them, Torchwood was keeping him on a short leash these days. And while there was a part of him that wanted to do more to help, the rest of his mind and soul were slowly slipping into apathy. It had been almost sixty years of being nothing more than the Torchwood Institute’s pet, and it was taking its toll.

Someone slid onto the worn wooden barstool next to him, turning on it so that they were facing him. He could feel a pair of eyes boring into him, and he sighed, signaling for yet another drink. “Sorry, doll, I’m not in the mood for fun right now.” he said, not even bothering to turn in her direction.

“That’s alright, Uncle Jack, I wasn’t looking for fun from you anyway.” A woman’s voice said, and he turned to look at her in alarm. The woman sitting next to him was pale, but looked even paler due to her black hair and big blue eyes lined with kohl. And he had spent the last sixty years or so living in Wales - he knew pasty people by this point. She was dressed almost perfectly for the time period - in America, at least - in a calf-length dark purple skirt and black blouse with matching purple heels and kid gloves. The only thing that was off was the black leather jacket that she had slung on the back of her chair, along with her piercings and deep purple lipstick. “You're not exactly my type, anyway.”

He noticed all of that information in just a few short seconds, while his brain processed something else about her. “Excuse me?” he asked, putting his glass down - he was starting to think that he’d actually had too much to drink for the first time in a very long time. “What did you call me?”. That was what he said, but he was more focused on her eyes. They were a pale, icy blue in a familiar shade - one that he had last seen over fifty years in his personal past and thousands of years in the future.

She laughed, even though she looked slightly sheepish. “Sorry, Captain.” she said. “I forgot that we haven’t exactly met yet… well, you haven’t met this me.”

At this point, he was starting to get irritated. He had quickly realized that she was a time traveller, which had begun to piss him off, thinking that she was someone that he should have remembered from the Time Agency. However, when she mentioned other versions of herself, he grew hopeful. Not to mention, those eyes were a rather large clue.

“Doctor?” he asked quietly. He didn’t want to draw unwanted attention to them- Torchwood was everywhere, after all. And they would do anything to get their hands on the legendary Time Lord. Although he wasn’t sure why his old friend would be calling him ‘uncle’, but hopefully the Time Lord would be able to explain.

But the girl just laughed again, shaking her head in amusement. “No, sorry. Not quite. But if you think back to the turn of the century - particularly a rather strange couple that lived on Paternoster Row?”

“Vastra and Jenny.” Jack murmured. They had been great friends of his, and he had gone to great lengths to keep the Torchwood Institute from interfering in their lives. It had nothing to do with the women being a couple - after all, Alice Guppy and Emily Halroyd had been in charge back then. But it had had everything to do with the couple themselves - a human woman and a Silurian warrior, and the disgraced Sontaran that lived with them. He had sacrificed a lot to make sure that the trio was left alone - even though they were non-violent, and more than helpful, both Vastra and Strax fell under the Torchwood ‘if it’s alien, it’s ours’ frame of mind. “What about them?”

The woman was smiling softly to herself, her eyes far away as if lost in an old memory. “They had a niece, remember? Little Kitty, who lived with them every once in a while when her parents were traveling? You met her once - helped her to escape Torchwood.” she paused for a second, before admitting, “I never did get a chance to thank you for that.”

He froze, remembering the tiny girl with wicked blonde curls and green eyes and a smile that had melted even his heart of stone. But he studied the woman in front of him - paler, with long dark hair and blue eyes. And while those could be changed with dye and contacts, he didn’t think that was what was happening here. Even her facial structure had been different - from her face shape to her nose to the set of her eyes. “That was you? But…”

“I know.” she said, looking smug as she smoothed her skirt down. “I look so much better these days.”

That was when he realized what must have happened - regeneration. “But that makes you a -” she slapped a hand over his mouth, looking paler than she already was.

“Hush, please!” she said quickly, shooting nervous looks at the crowds around them in the pub. “It’s not time for me to join Torchwood yet, thank you.” she said, then took a deep breath. “The point is, at some point in the future, I will join Torchwood - your Torchwood. But not for a long time.”

Jack snorted, almost spitting his drink out in his shock. “Look, kiddo.” He began, trying to keep his patience. He didn't bother asking how she even knew about Torchwood - it was called ‘the worst kept secret in Cardiff’ for a reason. “I don't know what you've been drinking, but you've made a mistake. There's no way I would ever lead Torchwood.”

“That's where you're wrong.” She grabbed a napkin that was sitting there, scribbling something down on it before sliding it across to him and folding it into his hand. “You need to be in this spot at this time.” she said. “And that’s when you’ll find me. You’ve been a big part of my life, Uncle Jack. And I promise you, if you do this for me, I can help you find what you’ve been searching for.”

“Oh really?” Jack scoffed. “And what’s that?”

“A family.” She gave him a smile before standing up, grimacing slightly as she moved. She slid off the bar stool that she had been sitting on, one hand pressed tightly against her abdomen as she steadied herself on her feet again. Her jaw was clenched tightly, and as Jack studied her he could see that her fists were clenched so tightly her knuckles were white.

“Are you alright?”

She waved off his concern with a well-practiced air and a roll of her eyes, but the fond smile that gave him betrayed how she really felt. “Don’t worry.” she reassured him. “I’ll be fine - just a quick bout with a Weevil that went wrong. We’ve got a great medic back at the Hub who’ll help me. Well, I say help me… more like force me to sit through him bitching at me for not being careful after I get back to the Hub. This is for you, by the way.” She handed him a fifty-pound note, a bit more energy sparkling in her eyes.

“What's this for?” He asked, studying the money that she had thrown at him.

“Some of the drinks that you're gonna buy me in the future. Trust me, that doesn't even cover half of it.” She replied cheerfully, and then gave him a quick peck on the cheek before walking out of the bar.

He sat there for a moment, stunned. He had been stuck working for Torchwood for a little over fifty years as something barely more than an unkillable servant. In that time, he had barely known anything other than pain. He had taken lovers, but only for short periods of time. And even then, it would be for a night at a time. Mutual pleasure, yes. But no actual feelings vould every be built, and no love or attachments could be formed.

But the short kiss that the stranger had pressed against his cheek had been full of emotion - all of it platonic and familial. A rush of emotions came over him, and for the first time in years he found himself feeling something other than despair. For the first time in years, he felt hope.

He followed her out of the bar, just in time to catch a large creature come out from a hiding place and start following her - he guessed it was some sort of dog. He followed her into a back alley, where she pulled up the sleeve of her leather jacket to reveal a Vortex Manipulator strapped to her arm. His heart started racing in his chest. He raced forward in an attempt to catch her, but both she and the animal disappeared in a flash of light and static right before he could.

He cursed and punched the wall before remembering what she had told him - that he would meet her again someday.

He could wait another fifty years or so. He hoped.

8888

August 21, 2001

Cardiff, Wales

He was so very tired. Completely exhausted - and while exhaustion would kill a normal human, Jack would just get back up again. That was the part that was really doing him in at the moment. He hadn’t had repeat deaths like that in years, since one of his worst Torchwood assignments in over a hundred years of service.

Captain Jack Harkness had been running Torchwood Three completely by himself for almost two years at this point. And while he was excited to be just one step closer to the family that he had been promised five decades earlier, there was still a very large part of him that was in mourning. He hadn’t had a chance to stop and think about things since the moment that he had walked back into the Hub on New Year’s Day, 2001 to find the entire team dead. Alex Hopkins, their current team leader, had left a suicide note behind clearing Jack of anything that Hartman might have tried to throw at him, and announce that he had named the immortal as his successor.

That hadn’t stopped Yvonne Hartman from attempting to declare him a rogue agent, and sending her bully boys to try and take the Hub by force. But unluckily for Hartman, Jack had been in the Torchwood Hub under Cardiff for a full century at this point. He knew every single inch of the base that she was trying to break into - which meant he could lock them out as needed, while making sure that he could still get out when needed.

But by this point, he was exhausted. He had been going for two weeks straight without any sleep because of the Rift constantly working overtime. His immortality was the only thing keeping him from dying because of it. However, if he didn’t get help soon, it would be all over and Hartman would win.

He wasn’t about to let that happen.

Luckily, he was about to get some help - or at least, he was supposed to be. He turned a corner into a back alley, following the directions that he had been given around fifty years earlier. The napkin that the instructions had been written on had disintegrated years earlier at this point. He had kept it in his greatcoat pocket for years, keeping it almost as a security blanket - a promise of better times to come. Still, by the time that it had disintegrated, he had every line of the note memorized, the coordinates seared into his brain.

He pulled the SUV to a screeching halt at the mouth of the alleyway, jumping out of the car at top speed. Pulling his old Webley out of it’s holster at his side, he made his way down the alleyway just in time to see a familiar figure appear out of thin air. The familiar cloud of static and sparks that heralded Vortex travel was easily noticeable from further down the alley, and he moved just that little bit faster once he saw a familiar head of black hair and skin so pale she practically glowed beneath the streetlights. Only instead of the lovely clothes that she had worn all those years ago, this version of Kitty Flint - as he had taken to calling her in his head, using the name he had been given for her over a century ago - had her long black hair down and wore a long and tattered red dress. However, Jack didn’t take much time to notice that, instead just processing it all as background details. He was far more concerned by the Weevil that was slowly creeping up on her.

“Hey!” he shouted, drawing the alien’s attention away from the young-looking woman. “Over here, ugly!”

The Weevil turned to look at him, just as a small grey blur jumped onto it, a lump of fangs and claws. It couldn’t have been more than ten pounds, but it was fierce. He watched in surprise as the Weevil howled, trying to shake the creature off. It just clung on tighter, until finally the Weevil managed to shake it free, flinging it into the wall. Up until that point, Jack had been standing there, watching what was happening in front of him in shock. He had never seen anything or anyone outside of a Torchwood employee try and fight a Weevil before - and even then, it was always about containment. This was a fight. But the second that the animal hit the wall and dropped to the ground as dead weight was when the Captain got his senses back. He pulled out the Weevil spray that he had finally gotten to work after months of working on the formula. It only took one spray of it to have the alien out cold.

He took a moment to get himself back under control and take stock of the situation before turning to the scene in front of him. The alleyway itself was filthy - located between a pub and some kind of store that he hadn’t gotten a good look at as he raced through, the alleyway was full of trash bags and broken glass. And the reason that he had come here in the first place - his mysterious niece, who had given him coordinates and a promise of a family but never so much as a name - was laying in a heap on the ground. He hurried over to her, making sure to carefully telegraph his movements once he made it over to her. “Hey kiddo.” he said softly, bending down to help pick her up off of the ground. “Take it easy, you’ll be alright. Are you bleeding at all?” Her clothes had been slightly torn by the Weevil’s claws, but other than that there didn’t seem to be any damage.

“I’ll be fine,” she grumbled, pushing him away, “Once I get a shower. I always forget just how disgusting Clom is.” she kept muttering to herself for a minute longer as she brushed herself off. After a moment, though, she froze. Just for a second, before her head snapped around to take in the man who had just helped her up. “Sorry, do I know you?” she asked, wincing, but then her eyes widened as she recognized him. “Jack Harkness?” she asked, and he nodded.

“That’s Uncle Jack to you, kiddo.” he said warmly, going over to check her out. In the fifty years or so since they had last met, he had found himself wanting what this girl had promised him more and more - he wanted a family, people that accepted him as he was. He was tired of being left alone, left on the outside. Of people running away in fear the moment that they found out the truth about him, and realising that their lifespans meant that they would die, while Jack would continue on, alone. The only part of it that worried him was what he would do when the Doctor arrived.

“What can I call you?”

She smiled tiredly, wincing again as she looked at him. “Mirandel Song, also known as The Angel. That one usually only works in life-or-death type situations, though.”

He just stared at her for a moment, confused. “I thought Time Lords couldn't tell anyone their full names.” He asked, curious.

She laughed at that, shaking her head. “Not outside of family - specifically family that has known you since you were a Tot. If I remember correctly, you fall into that group.” with that said, she couldn’t help but shoot him a mischievous glance. “And either way, that’s not my full name - you wouldn’t be able to remember it all, let alone pronounce it. Just call me Mira.”

He barked out a laugh at that - even though he logically knew that the version of the Doctor that he had traveled with couldn’t have been her father, there was still something about her that reminded him of old Leather and Big Ears. “Not Angel? Would've thought you'd be a title person like your old man.”

She just shrugged in response, a small smile playing across her face. “When it's necessary, yeah.” she admitted. “But feels a little too much like lying to have everyone call me Angel all the time.”

“Lying?”

She shrugged again - but almost seeming self-conscious, this time. “I don't think this me is very angelic.” she said, studying her hand like she had never seen it before. There was a strange resignation on her face, like she was already used to what was happening - but at the same time, there was an air of excitement around her. “Haven't figured it out yet, though.”

“Did you just regenerate?”

“Couple of days ago, now. Still figuring myself out. How did you know that I would be here, anyway?”

Jack reached a hand out to help her up off of the ground, gently pulling her to her feet. “You came and told me -”

“Spoilers!” she said suddenly, reaching out to clasp a hand over his mouth so that he couldn’t say anything else. “Don't tell me anything else, or else it will all be set events.” There was worry on her face as she stared at him, eyes wide and shining with an ancient knowledge.

He rolled his eyes. “You know I do know how that works. Circular paradox.”

She seemed to be going into shock, so he quickly shed his RAF greatcoat and wrapped it around her. “Come on, sweetheart.” he said gently, trying to keep from startling her at all. “Let’s get you back to the Hub. We’ll get you cleaned up there, alright?”

“Wait!” she said frantically, pulling away from him and running over to where the small grey animal laid - the animal that Jack had practically forgotten about in his hurry to get to his newly claimed niece. “Rosaline” she gasped, sounding almost broken as she saw the state that the animal was in. She picked up the animal, cradling her close to her chest. Then she walked back over to him, and Jack nearly gasped aloud when he saw the little animal. A wolf cub was cradled in the young woman’s arms, it’s yellow eyes barely open and tongue hanging out of it's mouth.

She readjusted her grip on the animal, holding it just a bit tighter as she ran her fingertips along it's back. “Now we can go.” she said, and let Jack lead her back to the SUV that he had parked around the corner. He only stopped for a moment to pick up the Weevil’s unconscious body, hoisting it over his shoulder in a fireman's hold.

He threw the alien in the boot of the car, quickly spraying it again with the Weevil sedative, before taking her around to the front of the car and helping her climb in. The entire time, Mira refused to loosen her grip on the animal in her arms. If the cub hadn't been unconscious, it would have been squirming, whining from just how tight her grip was.

Jack noticed it all casually, keeping one eye on her and the other on the road in front of him. “So how’d you end up here, anyway?” Jack asked, keeping his attention split even as he drove at breakneck speeds back to the Hub.

The Time Lady huffed, crossing her arms as she looked out the window. “I got grounded.” she admitted after a minute or two, and Jack had to work to hide the smirk on his face at her put-out tone. “Dad picked me up from the Maldovarium after I nearly got busted by the Judoon, and he told me I was grounded. He said that I could travel with him, or I could stay on Earth. I chose Earth, so he set my Vortex Manipulator to drop me here.” She looked disgusted, reminding the Captain of his Doctor - blue eyes, big ears, and that leather jacket that he never took off. “In Cardiff.” she sounded completely disgusted as she spat out the last word.

He couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of him at her tone. Something told him that he was going to spend a lot of time comparing Mira to the younger version of her father.

Mira watched the man who had immediately claimed her as his niece, thinking over everything she knew about the man. She remembered meeting him as a Tot, and the stories that her parents had told her about the man who called himself Jack Harkness. Her father had never known what his real name was - and while her mother did, it was a secret that she had taken to her grave. She had had to choose her words carefully when talking to her uncle so far, worried that she might accidentally give away what little knowledge of the future that she had.

She hadn't been lying when she said that he had been grounded - she had gotten into it with the Judoon, and the Doctor had intervened before she had had to face their version of justice. And he has told her that she could travel with him for a bit, or stay with family on Earth. She knew it was his way of trying to keep her out of trouble - she also knew it wouldn't work out as easily as he hoped that it would.

What she didn’t tell Jack was that her father had given her a choice of where to go - stay with her Aunt Sarah and her son Luke, or go with Jack. She knew which one her father wanted her to pick - he had never made a secret of his hatred of Torchwood, despite fixing his relationship with the immortal Captain in his later incarnations - but something drew her here, despite how much she despised Cardiff. She had chosen to stay here, and to convince her uncle to let her help him - no matter that she made it look like he was the one to convince her. She knew what the future held for Jack Harkness and his team, but it wasn’t set in stone. Not yet, anyway.

There were two ways things could go - the way that the history books that she had learned at her mother's knee said; and the way that the timelines were currently threatening. Each one had drastically different outcomes.

Mira might not have known everything yet, but she did know that the next few years were going to change a lot about the universe. And if her dad was going to be busy saving everywhere else, then she would be here, on Earth. Keeping things running the way that they should be.

Trying to avoid all of the bad moments that she could see as possibilities in Torchwood's future.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by her uncle, talking away as if he hadn't noticed her distraction. “You’ve still got your Manipulator, though.” Jack pointed out, gesturing to the leather strap wrapped around her wrist. “Why not just leave?” there was a look of longing in his eyes as he asked the question - as if he wanted nothing more than to leave.

“You’ve got yours, too.” Mira pointed out, running a hand through the wolf’s fur. “Why don’t you do the same thing?”

Jack laughed dryly. “I can’t.” he admitted. “The damn thing shorted out.”

She hummed in acknowledgement before giving her own reason. “Dad soniced mine.” she could fix it, of course - and probably would at some point. But it was for the best if Jack didn't know that he could leave the planet just yet.

There was an awkward moment where neither of them said anything.

She turned to study him, wincing again. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked, looking worried.

“You’re… different.” She said. She was trying to keep her eyes on him, but failed, looking away as she put a hand up to her forehead. “There’s something about your timelines that I don’t…” her eyes widened as she realized what it was.

“Shit…” she cursed, then added a few choice terms of Gallifreyan that she had picked up while helping her dad work on the TARDIS.

Jack looked at her in confusion, but she just stared at him. “Something wrong?” he asked, and she nodded.

“You're immortal, aren't you?” She asked, and he laughed nervously.

“What told you that?” he asked, and she winced.

“You kind of… your timelines glow” she offered, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “It’s not the best explanation, but it’s all that I have for now. Sorry.”

“No, its okay.” He reassured her, while at the same time trying not to get his hopes up. “I don't suppose you know what happened, or how to fix me?”

She shook her head. “But Dad might.” She said, knowing what she had to do to keep the timelines intact. Her heart sank at the very thought of what she was about to do. “I don't have any way to get in touch with him, though. We'll have to wait until he stops to refuel.” Of course, she had a way to talk to him. But she really didn't want to - the version of her father that she was still mostly linear with had left her after her mother died to go travel with some tiny girl who wore too-short skirts and flirted with him. That was something that she might never forgive him for.

Jack tried not to feel too disappointed.

“Right. Now that that’s settled... where’re you heading, anyway?” Jack changed the subject, trying to look as though he didn’t care what her answer might be. In reality, he was willing to beg to have her stay with him. He needed someone to help him build his new team, and he would have preferred it to be Mira. He had vaguely known her as a little girl, but he still considered her father to be one of his closest friends even after over a century.

“My plan was to go and stay with my Aunt Sarah.” she admitted, but he could see the doubt written clearly on her face.

“Sarah Jane Smith?” Jack asked, clarifying. He had files on every companion that had traveled with the Doctor, keeping an eye on them and helping them out whenever they needed it. Sarah Jane was one of the only ones who had ever noticed him - and once she had his word that he wasn't there to cause trouble, the pair had settled into a tentative friendship.

Mira nodded. “That's her.”

“So why don't you?” he prompted, and she sighed, rolling her eyes. He couldn’t help his laugh - she looked every inch the petulant teenager, and he couldn’t help his next question.

“How old are you?” he asked, and she looked at him in confusion.

“Three hundred and twenty-two, I think. Possibly three hundred and twenty-three.” she said, before going back to the original topic. “But Rosaline and I can’t stay with Aunt Sarah, because my younger self will be there a lot. Crossing timelines like that would be very bad. Not to mention that we got here too early - Aunt Sarah won't even know that I exist for another six years or so.”

“Well,” Jack said, trying to keep from looking too eager, “You could always stay with me.”

Mira looked intrigued. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yeah.” he kept his eyes on the road. “The twenty-first century is when everything changes, and right now I’m the only one working out here with the Rift. So what do you think?”

Mira smiled. “I have conditions.” she told him, and he nodded, keeping half of his attention on her and half on the road.

“Name them.”

“Rosaline stays with me, no matter what.” she said. “And I get to go shopping. This is the only outfit I have, currently, and it’s destroyed.”

“Shopping is ok, just put it in the budget. Get shoes you can run in. However, if it goes too far, you’ll have to take it up with Lizzie.” Jack took his eyes off the road to look at her for a moment. “But who the hell is Rosaline?”

“Must you be so loud?” another voice spoke up, sounding irritated. Mira snickered, while Jack looked around in surprise before settling.

“Perception filter?” he guessed, but Mira just shook her head, grinning.

“I’m down here.” the voice said, sounding slightly grumpier this time. Jack looked down to see the wolf cub looking up at him, its eyes barely open.

Mira smiled. “Uncle Jack, meet Rosie.”

“Rosaline.” the tiny pup snapped, baring her little fangs. Jack couldn’t help but stare at the talking wolf.

“What species…?” he began, but trailed off when he saw the appraising look that the pup was giving him. It was like she was trying to figure out exactly who he was through this one look.

“Rosaline is an Aqrolt.” Mira informed him. “She's been with me since I was eight years old, through two regenerations. She’s not going anywhere.”

Jack nodded, then noticed how she was staring at him - it was like she was gauging his reaction to whatever she was going to say next. “What is it?”

“I have one more condition.” She said.

“Name it.” Jack said without missing a beat.

“I get to choose one person to join the team that you have to say yes to. No matter what.” That got the captain's attention.

“Why?” He asked cautiously. He knew that he probably didn't have anything to worry about - she was the kid of his oldest friend, after all - but the request still made him slightly wary.

“Because I'm asking you to.” She said simply.

“Alright then.” Jack said, after thinking it through for a moment. He might have just actually met her - as a child and for a few minutes in the 1950s didn't count - but she was the child of one of his oldest friends. He trusted her. “Do you have the same language abilities as the Doc?”

But Mira snorted, an incredibly inelegant sound that had Jack laughing as well. “Dad has the TARDIS to translate for him.” She said, rolling her eyes. “Mummy taught me languages the old-fashioned way.”

“How many can you speak?” Jack asked, looking over at her.

She raised a brow. “How many are there?” She countered. “Over three hundred years, and lots of time between running for my life.” She grinned. “Dad once told me that if I had gone to the Academy, I would've been a Prydonian.”

Jack gave her one of his famous mega-watt grins. “Looks like I just found myself a linguistics specialist and liaison.”

Mira smiled back at him, her eyes sparkling with happiness. “Fantastic.”

8888

Chapter Text

April 9, 2002

Suzie Costello was in the field, trying to infiltrate a party - one of her least favorite kinds of missions. This was more up the Captain's alley, what with his charm and ability to make almost anyone like him. Unfortunately for her, Jack hadn’t been able to take this mission - their target, a known collector of dangerous alien artifacts, knew who he was. However, he didn’t know Suzie, which worked to their advantage. It only took a little over an hour to hack the guest list and fake a very convincing invitation.

It was impressive, to say the least - but then, in the few weeks that she had been working at Torchwood, there wasn’t a lot that hadn’t impressed her.

Still, they might have had in invitation to get her into the party, but that didn’t mean anything if she didn’t look the part as well. Which meant that she had had to pull out all the stops if she even wanted to make it inside the mansion - which meant doing the one thing that she dreaded more than anything.

Shopping.

Luckily for her, her boss had an amazing fashion sense - not that she would ever tell him so. His ego didn’t need to grow any further - if anything, it needed to be taken down a few pegs, but she wasn't all that sure that that was actually possible. By the time that they were done shopping, she had been outfitted in a gorgeous ensemble - a peach-gold one-shoulder dress with a long, flowing skirt with a slit in the side, nude pantyhose, and finished off with a pair of gold coloured high heels. Jack had been the one to do her hair and makeup, and once she saw herself in the mirror, she felt less like a little girl playing dress-up, and more like Cinderella on her way to the ball.

Dresses and gowns weren't really her style, but at least this one had room underneath for a holster for her gun.

Of course, things became more complicated once she arrived at the party. The place was packed, full of the richest of the rich. Jack was in her ear, keeping a running commentary on everything that he saw. The most nerve-wracking moment was when she had to present her invitation to the security guard at the door. The few seconds that it took for him to check her invitation against the guest list felt like twenty years. The sigh of relief that came out of her when she finally made it inside the building had Jack chuckling softly on the other end of the comms.

Suzie circled the room a few times, taking a flute of champagne off of a passing waiter's tray when it was offered to her. Even if she couldn't drink it since she was working, it would help her blend in more. So far, the party was almost exactly like what she had been expecting. There were a bunch of rich old men shmoozing in the corner, and younger women in flashy dresses by the bar. And while there was a small dance floor in the middle of the room, there weren’t that many people out there just yet.

It was on her third lap around the room that Suzie finally spotted their target. Ratomir David had been making inroads into the black market lately - specifically with alien devices. His name had been on Torchwood’s list for a while now, but he had recently moved up on Jack’s personal list. And he was currently standing about twenty metres away from Suzie.

She carefully brought a hand up to her comms, trying to move in a way that no one would see. “I see him, Jack.” she said softly, using her hair as a cover so no one would notice her talking to thin air.

“Confirmed.” Jack replied, from his place in the SUV. He was both running the mission and her backup at the same time - Suzie had heard him mutter about how he wished Mira would be back already. “Go in, but be careful.”

“I'll be fine.” she reassured, before getting herself back into character. She pasted a flirtatious smile on her face and took a few sips of the champagne she was holding onto. While it wouldn't be a good idea for her to drink any more of it, she would need the momentary release of tension that the bubbly would give her if she was going to go and flirt with such an odious man.

“Excuse me -” she began, calling out to Ratomir. He started to turn in her direction, and she could feel her smile getting just a little bit more real. But then his head snapped back around, all of his attention instantly back on a dark-haired woman. She had obviously been giving him plenty of attention already, judging by the smudged lipstick on his face and dazed look in his eyes, but she pulled him away again with ease. Suzie cursed. “or not.” She muttered under her breath.

“What happened?” Jack asked, sounding like he was standing right next to her. She jumped slightly - no matter how long she was with Torchwood, she would never get used to how clean the comm units sounded.

“He got pulled away by someone else.” She sighed.

“It's alright.” Jack reassured her. “You'll get to him.”

“I know.”

“Just remember, Suzie.” He said, his tone switching from reassuring to business. “We have to get this tonight - Ratomir is rarely in the public eye, this might be one of the only chances we get for a long time.”

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She had finally managed to draw her target’s attention away from the pretty black-haired girl to herself, and had gotten him out on the floor to dance as an excuse to try and slip his key out of his pocket. Their information had said that the man never let it out of his sight, and as such always kept it on his person.

Which was why she was in such a panic a few minutes later when she called Jack, not even trying to hide the hand pressed to her ear as she called him over the comms.

“It’s not there, Jack!” she hissed, eyes scanning the room for anyone who looked suspicious. “Someone else already took the key!”

“Are you sure?” her boss’s American accent came through the speakers loud and clear.

“Absolutely.”

“Who else could have gotten ahold of it?” he asked, a hint of concern in his voice. She knew what he was doing then - scanning the crowd from his spot in the SUV outside. He would be watching the partygoers through the Eye 5 contact lenses that she had in as well - two sets of eyes were better than one for this.

“I don’t know, there was only one other person that he spent any time with from what I saw.” Suzie said, her tone frantic even as she tried to keep her body language calm. There was no point in alerting everyone else in the room, after all. “She wore, um, a black corset with a red skirt… red high heels…” she paused for a second, seeing her target - the same girl that she had managed to pull Ratomir from earlier. “Found them.”

The girl was standing at the bar, playing with one of the necklaces around her neck as she flirted with the bartender. Suzie watched as the woman reached into her purse, pulling out a tube of lipstick and applying a fresh coat as the bartender watched her, entranced. She watched as the woman smiled coyly, taking a sip of her drink before she reached over the bar and grabbed ahold of the bartender. She said something to him, then kissed him.

When she pulled away, there was a lipstick mark smudged on the bartender’s face and a dazed look in his eyes as the woman sauntered away, hips swinging as she walked.

Suzie reached down, pulling the slit in her dress to the side to reveal the gun she had tucked away there. She pulled it out, clicking the safety off as she slipped out of her heels to make it just that bit easier for her to run. She prayed that she wouldn't have to - her feet were already hurting from the four-inch heels that she had been wearing - but this was Torchwood. There was a large chance she was going to have to run no matter what she wanted.

She caught sight of the young woman once more, this time by the entrance, and Suzie yelled. “Freeze, Torchwood!”

The woman’s eyes went wide as her face paled, and she could have sworn that she heard the woman whisper, “No.”

She started running.

Suzie cursed, starting to run after her. She aimed her gun, but quickly realized that there were far too many people there. She was risking accidentally shooting an innocent person if she started firing, and she didn’t want to risk that. So she started to give chase, following the girl outside. Luckily the woman cut quite the striking figure as she pushed her way through the crowds of people, so it wasn’t quite as hard for Suzie to keep track of her.

“Jack!” she called over the comms. “She’s outside!”

“I see her!” he replied, sounding slightly out of breath. He must have ditched the SUV that had been parked a block away the second he heard her yell and started running.

They managed to chase her into an alley, and that was when Jack froze. It took her a moment to realize why - it was because of the sound of growling that was coming from the end of the alley, along with a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Whatever the creature was, it was massive - the pair of eyes were at least a meter off of the ground - and it only made her finger tighten on the trigger.

“Drop your weapon.” Jack hissed, and she looked at him as if he had gone insane. “Do it, Suzie!”

“Alright!” she hissed back, finally just listening to the Captain and lowering her gun. He had to know what he was doing, she was sure of it. Mostly.

The Captain holstered his Webley, walking slowly down the alley with his hands raised in front of him, as if showing that he was unarmed.

“It’s okay, Rosaline.” he said softly, and the growling stopped, before the Aqrolt chuffed at him. Then he heard a familiar voice, one filled with so much pain and fear it almost made his immortal heart break.

“Uncle Jack?”

He whipped around, looking for the source of the voice before finding it. The young Time Lady - the daughter of one of his oldest friends and his adoptive niece - was curled up on the ground, arms around her legs as she hugged herself in a self-soothing gesture, tear tracks etched into her face. “Mira!” he cried out in relief, pulling the young Time Lady up and off of the ground and into a hug.

Suzie watched in astonishment as the Captain checked over the young woman, making sure that there wasn’t a scratch on her. The entire time, she couldn’t help but wonder who this woman was that she had the strict leader of Torchwood Three fussing over her like he was. She didn’t look like all that much at first glance - just a young woman in a pretty dress. But given a closer look, there was something about her. Something in her eyes, making them seem so much older than the rest of her face - like there were entire universes hidden in her eyes.

Meanwhile, the yellow-eyed animal crept out of the shadows, revealing itself to the newest Torchwood agent. The half-grown wolf growled at the woman, raising its hackles as it bared its teeth.

“It’s okay, Rosaline. She’s a friend.” Jack called, and Suzie watched in open-mouthed surprise as the cub relaxed almost instantly before trotting over to stand protectively in front of the young woman, nudging its way between the Captain and the young woman.

“What the hell is this?” The girl said once she had calmed down enough to speak. “I come back from New York - there was no invasion or anything for once - and nearly get killed! I thought for sure that Torchwood One had found me, Uncle Jack!”

“What are you doing here?” Jack asked, and that was when Suzie finally found her voice. “I thought you were taking the weekend off, too.”

“Who the hell are you?” she asked, finally deciding that it would be safe to holster her gun. She had had it at the ready by her side the entire time that the others had been talking, but finally decided to follow the Captain’s advice.

The young woman looked at her with a completely blank face - no emotion showing at all. “The better question is, who are you?” she countered, raising an eyebrow as she turned to give the weapon’s expert a searching look.

Captain Harkness answered for her. “This is Suzie Costello.” he told the girl - who he still had to let go of. “She’s just joined the team, going to be our weapons specialist.” Then he turned to look at Suzie. “This is Mira - she’s my niece, and works with me at Torchwood.”

“Then where the hell has she been for the past week?” Suzie asked, and Mira rolled her eyes, huffing out an exasperated breath.

“She is right here and can tell you herself.” she shot back, making the Captain smile fondly. “I was in New York, in the States. Got called in to consult on something.”

“Is that what we’re calling it these days?” Jack teased, and Mira rolled her eyes, shoving at him. She was still more than a little frustrated that she had been running for her life - for no reason, might add - around ten minutes earlier.

“So what were you doing here?” Jack asked, beginning to lead them back to the SUV. “And where was Rosaline staying?”

Mira smirked, reaching down the front of her dress to pull out the same key that Suzie had been sent in to retrieve. “I heard along the grapevine that Ratomir was throwing a party tonight, and I knew that he had been on your list for a while Uncle Jack. Rosaline was right outside as backup the entire time, don’t worry.”

“And what if he remembers you?”

Mira just grinned, like the cat who got the canary. “He won’t.” she said smugly, reaching into the front of her top and pulling a tube of lipstick out of a hidden pocket in her bra. “Hallucinogenic lipstick, just like mum used to use.”

Suzie just watched the pair of them from the backseat, cataloguing every similarity and difference in the pair. It was almost uncanny - already, she could count almost endless similarities between the Captain and his niece. Even just the strange sense of timelessness that the pair had, was almost identical.

But Jack just sighed, ruffling his niece’s hair despite her squawk of anger. “You know that won’t stop me from worrying, sweetheart.”

“Unfortunately.” the young woman grumbled, attempting to fix her hair while trying to keep the Captain from messing with her hair again. “So what do we have that’s new?” she asked, smiling as she watched Cardiff pass by outside her window.

Suzie listened to her Captain banter and bicker with his niece, barely managing to suppress her laughter at times.

At first she had thought that Torchwood would be just like her old job. But, as she watched her two teammates interact, she couldn't help but think that maybe this job would be better.

Chapter Text

November 21, 2003

Toshiko Sato had always been a fan of her own company. She had never been against the peace of her own thoughts - happiest in front of a computer screen, or in a lab, and awkward around other people. Her days in graduate school were some of her happiest memories, all of her time spent in front of a screen, working with impossible deadlines that she beat every time. And in the days that followed her arrest and incarceration, she couldn’t help but admit to herself that building the sonic modulator was the most alive that she had ever felt. She had done it to save her mother, of course - but if she could go back and do it all again, even knowing the outcome, she would do it all again.

Still, she was beginning to understand now why so many of the geniuses of old had gone completely mad. It was because they were lost in their own minds, with no one who could properly understand their thoughts, and how their minds work. Now, stuck in a cell with no one to talk to, nothing to do, no way to work her brain…

She was afraid that she was going to go the same way as the geniuses of old. Screaming at things that no one else could see or hear, driven mad by her own mind. She had already stopped eating the food that they left for her every day - starvation would be less suffering than to go out like that.

Until the day that Captain Jack Harkness appeared.

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At first, she thought that her luck couldn’t possibly get any better than in that moment, sitting across a table from a man who claimed to not even exist. This was a way out of the cell she had been stuck in, after all. She was offered a job, leaps and bounds better than what she had been doing for the MOD - making cutting-edge technology to help keep the world safe, and protecting people. Saving lives. Captain Harkness had said that they already had someone on their team who was incredibly good with technology - but that that person had come across her file in UNIT’s database and passed it on to him, recommending that he hire her. He said she would be given extra training, to hone her mind the way they needed. Then he told her that he worked with aliens, and she quickly changed her opinion of him - the man was obviously a nutcase.

It still didn’t change her mind about leaving with him.

Still, he quickly earned a bit of her gratitude when he stopped her before they left the facility, handing her a change of clothes, sunglasses, and a pair of earbuds. When she gave him a questioning glance, he gestured in the direction of the nearest bathroom. “I figured you might want to get out of the orange jumpsuit - it’s not the worst prison uniform I’ve seen, but it’s really not your colour. And while the clothes I brought probable aren’t your style, they’ll still be better than what you’ve currently got on.” he explained. “The glasses and the ear plugs are to help with the light and sound in the outside world. You’ve been stuck down here for quite a while, Dr. Sato. It’s going to take some time to readjust.”

But then he showed her his underground base - he had called it the Hub. He had already told her about the other member of his team - Miss Suzie Costello. The weapons expert had welcomed her with a warm smile and a handshake, before reminding Jack about a meeting that he had and disappearing into the lower levels of the base.

But he hadn’t told her about the third member of his team - the very energetic gothic-looking woman that had practically attacked him upon arrival.

“Uncle Jack!” Toshiko had flinched backwards in surprise as the young woman threw her arms around the handsome Captain - the car ride to Cardiff had been mostly quiet, and this woman’s energy was the most sound that she had dealt with in a while, even with the ear plugs that the Captain had given her. The Captain laughed at her attack, though, picking up the woman with practiced ease and swinging her around. Toshiko had looked away to give the pair a moment, then had let out a small scream of terror when she saw the wolf that was trailing along behind her. Other than Captain Harkness himself, the only human contact she had had recently had been with the UNIT guards, and as such she was much more wary of people than she had used to be. But wild animals had always been a big no as far as she was concerned. The captain and the woman started talking, faster than even she could keep up with. She wasn’t even sure that it was English, but she was too busy focusing on the animal in the Hub to really pay attention to what they were saying.

The wolf came right up to her, wagging it’s tail happily. Something in the animal’s eyes had reassured her, though, and she cautiously knelt down to scratch behind the wolf’s ears. “Oh, look at you.” she said softly, not even realizing that a smile was spreading across her face for the first time in a long time. “You’re so cute.” Then she realized what she was saying, and quickly added, “for a large, carnivorous canine, that is.”

Rosaline smirked, although her heart was melting at the looking of pure joy on the technician’s face. She decided then and there that she wouldn't mind helping out Toshiko whenever she needed a shoulder… as long as it meant she would be scratched just like that.

“You must be Doctor Sato.” Toshiko looked up to see the goth woman smiling down at her. She wore a vest top over a black long-sleeved shirt with a mid-length plaid skirt, boots and red lipstick to complete the look. Her hair was pulled up into buns on either side of her head, and she had several different piercings. “I'm Mira - I’ve heard loads about you. Sorry, I would have been there with this one to get you out but he won’t let me anywhere near UNIT, unless its the Brigadier.”

“Is it my fault that I don’t trust them?” the Captain asked, and she glared at him.

“Yes it is.” she replied primly, before kneeling on the floor next to the tiny Japanese woman. “This is Rosaline, by the way. She’s my… best friend, I suppose you could say.”

“She’s a wolf.” Toshiko stated, and the girl nodded, her nose stud glinting in the fluorescent lights above them as her head bobbed.

“Yes she is.” she said, sounding oddly proud. Then she smiled. “But that’s enough about me. I want to know about you. Because, you see, I was able to show Captain Cheesecake over here -” and that earned her a disgruntled cry from the man who Toshiko assumed was her boss, “that you managed to build a sonic modulator… out of faulty plans. Do you know what that means?”

“That I’m a terrorist?” Toshiko said softly, looking down at her hands. That was what she had been called since the moment that UNIT officials arrested her. So she didn’t see it coming when the younger woman pulled her into a hug.

“No, not at all. That was just UNIT being a bunch of arseholes.” Before she had a chance to continue, the Captain cut in.

“Yeah, they’re good at that.”

Mira rolled her eyes, but didn’t rise to the bait. “Lucky for you, we’ve got friends on the inside who were willing to help us out.” she paused for a moment, shooting her a conspiratorial wink. “Or at least, I do - Jack’s not that great at playing nice with the other kids. No, no - you were able to build tech that shouldn’t exist for at least another century using faulty plans. That makes you a total screaming genius, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that we are going to be best friends.”

“Don’t be too eager, Meer.” Suzie Costello called out as she walked by the pair. “You’ll scare her off.”

“Oh hush, Suzie.” Mira called back, rolling her eyes at the other woman. Still, when she turned to look at Tosh again, there was a hint of something almost embarrassed about her expression. “Let me know if she’s right, though.” the woman said softly, her voice lilting as she spoke. “I’m not all that great at human interaction this time ‘round, I tend to make people a bit nervous.”

Toshiko wasn’t sure what the other meant by ‘this time around’, but she did understand her anxiety about human interaction. Still, that wasn’t the part that caught her attention the most. “You’re the one who found my file, aren’t you?” she asked carefully.

“Yes.” she confirmed. “I do a sweep of UNIT files every few months - there’s been a few instances of them hiding information that they should be sharing, at least with me.” she shrugged. “Torchwood One still causes too much trouble to really be trusted with any kind of sensitive information.”

Toshiko nodded her head, standing up just that little bit straighter. “Then I suppose I should thank you.” she said softly, and she could almost feel the shock emanating off of the other woman. She still wasn’t sure exactly what deal this woman and Captain Harkness had worked out with UNIT, but the captain had had her sign a five year contract. And as she looked around the subterranean base, she was starting to worry that she had traded one prison cell for a slightly nicer one.

“Thank me?” she parrotted, confused. “For what?”

“For getting me out of there.”

“Oh, Toshiko.” Up until that moment, Mira had looked to be twenty-three years old, twenty-six at the most. Now, though, her eyes were weary, shining with an almost ancient sadness in them that made her look decades - if not centuries - older. “None of what happened to you is your fault, you know. You were doing your best to save your mother - that’s something that I can definitely understand. It was my pleasure to get you out of there. You’ll be safe here.” the pure compassion in her icy blue eyes had the smaller woman actually believing her words, and it felt as though a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. “And let me just tell you, it will be brilliant to have someone around here who can actually keep up with my technobabble. Suzie doesn’t get it, and Jack is far too busy to bother with little old me.” the last bit was said with a sly glance towards the man in question. Sure enough, he answered the bait.

“That was one time, Mira!” he said, exasperated. “And it was Lizzie on the other end, you know that I can’t ignore her.” a phone rang upstairs, and the Captain quickly headed off to answer it.

The young woman just gave a noncommittal hum, and that was when Toshiko decided that she liked the other woman. She was very sassy and over the top, but at the same time seemed to be a bit less enthusiastic than the captain was. She also seemed to be able to keep the flamboyant Captain Harkness in line, which would definitely be helpful further down the road.

“So what’s your job here?” she asked, her voice a bit louder than the timid whisper that it had been.

Mira looked surprised. “Me? Oh, well, officially, I’m nobody around here. I don't even exist.” But then her voice dropped to a stage whisper. “But unofficially, I’m Uncle Jack’s trainer.”

“I heard that!” the man in question called from up in his office, and Mira giggled. Toshiko wondered for a second how he had heard her from so far away, but was quickly distracted.

“See? He needs all the help that he can get.” Mira helped Toshiko up off of the floor, with Rosaline quickly standing up as well. Tosh knew that all of her new teammates were trying to help her adjust, and she was very grateful to them for it. “But I'm the linguistics expert here, really. Basically a fancy way of saying ‘translator’.”

“You don’t exist either?” she said, her mind still stuck on that. She was processing things a bit slower than usual, but was more than okay with blaming that on just how many new things she was learning today. That morning, she had woken up in a cell - now, she was a free woman. “Like the Captain.”

“Call him Jack, please. His ego doesn’t need to be any bigger than it already is.”

They heard Suzie sigh as she came back up from the lower levels, shaking her head. “Give her some breathing room, Mira.” she chided, stopping next to the pair with an eye roll. “You’re going to overwhelm her with all this information.”

“Sorry.” Mira said sheepishly, her eyes trained on the floor. The fingers of one hand fluttered in the air by her side in a sort of self-soothing gesture, while the other moved to play with a gold pendant around her neck.

“It’s okay.” Toshiko said, trying to reassure the younger woman. There was something about her - that same sense of loneliness that she always felt, like she didn’t truly fit in. “I… I don’t mind, not really.”

“So do you have a flat yet?” She asked, then looked almost happy when Toshiko shook her head. “Brilliant - that means you can stay with me. Unless you want to stay here, of course.” she added quickly.

Toshiko smiled softly, nodding quickly. “I'd like that. To stay with you, I mean.”

Mira cheered. “Excellent! Do you have clothes and things?” She asked, but Toshiko shook her head. “Not to worry, Tosh.” she looped her arm through the other woman’s and starting to pull her along, heading back towards the cog door that they had originally entered through. “We’ll go out and get you new ones.”

“How did you know to call me Tosh?” Toshiko asked. “I haven’t heard anyone call me that since my mother…” she trailed off, unsure of how to continue that line of thinking.

Mira actually blushed at that, but she didn’t say anything for a moment. “I’ll tell you later.” she said, shooting a nervous look at Suzie. Rosaline nudged her hand with her nose, a silent show of support. “So! First shopping, then a tour.” She said, and Tosh decided not to mention the obvious attempt to distract her. “Uncle Jack! We’re going out!”

“Keep your phone on in case we need you!” The captain yelled back, and she threw him an irreverent salute.

Tosh smiled as she was led out the doors and up towards Mermaid Quay. She thought she was going to like it here.

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Chapter Text

March 19, 2005

He had only really gone to two places since being hired into Torchwood - the autopsy bay that doubled as his office, and the bar. There wasn’t really anywhere else he wanted to go. Certainly not home. Everything there reminded him of Katie, and of what had been taken from him.

It was the whole reason why he had agreed to come and work for Torchwood. To keep what had happened to him - to his precious Katie - from happening to anyone else. To keep aliens from killing more people, breaking up more families. Jack had said that the twenty-first century was when everything changed, and he was determined to make sure that no one else would be hurt like he had.

Still, he had taken the first week at Torchwood to settle in - reorganize the medical bay to his preferences, read over all of the open case files that they had and acquaint himself with all of the unfamiliar equipment that they had. He had met his teammates - Suzie, the weapon’s expert and Jack’s Second; Toshiko, tech expert; and Mira, linguistics expert and liaison. Now all he had left was the backlog of paperwork that his predecessor had left him, and reading all of the manuals that came with becoming a Torchwood agent. So he was more than a little excited when Jack Harkness came down the stairs into his medical bay, interrupting him right as he opened the first book on Torchwood procedures. “Dr. Harper!” the man asked, a jovial grin on his face as he crossed over to the medic’s desk. “How’re you settling in?”

“Jack.”

“You know, the others at least took a few weeks before they started calling me by my first name.”

Owen snorted despite himself, a hint of a smile quirking at his lips as he looked up at the other man. “Yeah, well I’m not them, am I?” he retorted, looking at the captain, unimpressed. Turning around in his chair, he crossed his arms over his chest as he looked up at the man. “What do ya want?”

Immediately, the Captain’s disposition switched, and he turned from Jack into Captain Harkness. Owen almost snorted at how fast the transition happened, but it was still strange to watch - like Clark Kent going into a telephone booth and Superman coming out. “To talk to you about one of these files.” he said, gesturing to the team’s medical files that were strewed across his desk.

“What about ‘em?”

“Pull out the file for Mira Amelia Song.” the Captain ordered, but Owen shook his head.

“No need, I’ve already read the thing.” he said, then started rattling off all of the relevant information that he needed to know. “Twenty-seven years old, allergic to aspirin and ginger, no other medical conditions worth noting. Why, what’s wrong?”

There was a shift in the Captain’s posture, and Owen narrowed his eyes. He might not have liked living patients, but there was a plus side to having worked with them for so long - it made it a lot easier to read people’s body language. The Captain was anxious - whatever he was going to say next, he wasn’t sure how Owen was going to take it. “That file is a lie.”

“What?”

“It’s a lie.” the Captain repeated.

Owen was furious. There were so many reasons why what happened was unethical that it would take him months to list them all. “Why the fuck would you -”

There was a hard glint in his eyes, like steel, as he stared Owen down. “Mira is the daughter of one of my oldest friends.” he said, his voice hard. “I would do anything to keep her safe. And if Torchwood One was to discover what she was, there would be no stopping them.”

“What she was?” Owen parroted the words back at his boss, his confusion evident. “What is she?”

Jack stared at him for a moment, his eyes seeming to see straight through him. “This information doesn’t leave this medical bay, Dr. Harper.” he said lowly. “Or else.”

Owen scoffed as he rolled his eyes, turning back to the mountains of paperwork in front of him. He really didn’t have the time or the energy at the moment to deal with his boss’s love for dramatics - he was nursing a hangover that would’ve killed a lesser man. “Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a twist.” he said, waving him off as he eyed the massive stack of paper that was the Torchwood manual.

So he didn’t see it coming when Jack spun his chair back around and picked him up out of his chair by his lab coat, until he was dangling in the air. “I mean it, Owen.” he growled, eyes narrowing as he stared the doctor down. “One word gets out about her, and I’ll be the least of your concerns. The only reason you’re even finding out about this is because you’re her doctor.”

“Alright, alright!” he shot back, wiggling slightly in Jack’s grasp until he got the hint and put him back on the ground. “So what is she, then?”

“An alien.”

Immediately, Owen hardened. He refused to work with an alien, not after what that creature had done to Katie. He wasn’t going to work with another murderer - and he especially wasn’t going to help one hide from Torchwood One, and their infamous policy of “if it’s alien, it’s ours.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?” the Captain replied, but Owen held firm.

“I said no.” he said sharply. “I’m not working with any bloody aliens, not after what they did to my Katie.”

“Let's make one thing perfectly clear, Dr. Harper - I won't be having any xenophobic behavior in my Torchwood. Now you can either get your prejudices in check, or you can leave. You won’t remember ever even being here, but you can leave.”

“Jack?” a familiar voice called, and Owen tensed. Mira was coming down to the autopsy bay - Mira, who had just been revealed to be an alien. He liked the young woman, really. But as he watched her approach, he couldn’t help but feel a shiver go up his spine for the first time since he met her. Her long hair was braided behind her back, freckles dotting her face and standing out against the paleness of her skin.

She looked perfectly human. Like she always had. But Owen was almost waiting for her to grow fangs, or turn into a lizard person. Anything that would let her attack and kill them all. And he couldn’t help but go back in his head and think over every interaction that they had ever had, and wonder if how nice she was was just a front for a psychopathic killer.

“Not now, Meer.”

She rolled her eyes, not looking up from the tablet in her hands even as she began to scold the Captain. “Jack, I really need - what are you doing?” she had frozen on the stairs, taking in what was going on in the autopsy bay. Owen was in his chair, with Jack towering over him - arms crossed and a stern look on his face as he stared the smaller man down.

“Just having a discussion with Dr. Harper.” Jack replied, keeping his tone light even as he glared at the man in front of him. Even if Mira hadn’t heard the argument from the other side of the Hub - her Time Lord senses could be quite helpful sometimes - it still would have been obvious that the pair had been fighting.

“Jack.” she warned, looking at the immortal with a raised brow. “Let’s try and avoid murdering the staff if we can. What’s wrong?”

Jack went to answer her, but when he did Owen did a double take. He wasn’t sure what language the other man was speaking, but it didn’t sound like any language he had heard before. Still, Mira seemed to have no trouble understanding him, and responded in kind. They went back and forth like that for a few minutes, having some sort of argument. It got heated for a moment, before the Captain groaned in defeat as he took a step back from Owen. Mira just looked smug, like she had won whatever argument that they were having. Despite himself, Owen couldn’t help but smile at that - it was a look that he frequently saw on Mira’s face when she and Jack had their spats. According to Suzie, they had been having them for years now - to the point where the rest of the team just sat and watched the pair go at it until they were done.

Jack took a few steps back, his eyes darting between Mira and Owen as he seemed to have some kind of internal battle with himself. Then he slumped - as if he had come up with a decision, but didn’t like the choice that had been made. “Fine.” he sighed. “But I’ll be watching.” With that said, he turned and headed towards the stairs where Mira was, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead as he passed her.

For her part, Mira moved closer. There was a brief moment of irrational panic, where Owen was trying to figure out exactly what was going on. “What’re you doing?”

“Just having a seat.” she answered casually, swinging herself up and onto the autopsy table. “Feel free to ask me whatever questions you have.”

He studied her for a moment, sure that there was some kind of a catch here. A hidden loophole that he didn’t know yet, that would be exploited later. “It’s that easy?” he asked cautiously.

But she just nodded back, like they weren’t in the process of destroying everything Owen thought that he knew about the universe. “It’s that easy.” she told him reassuringly. “I don’t like the thought of one of my teammates being scared of me any more than you like the thought of me possibly being a murderer. So if you need more answers to help yourself, I’m willing to give them.” she paused for a second, before adding in, “Plus Tosh and Suzie aren’t here at the moment, so I don’t have to worry about them overhearing.” that just created an entire new category of questions that he had, but he would hold onto them for later.

“Where to start…” he mused, looking at her carefully. He didn’t want to give away the way his heart was pounding at the mere thought of being close to her - they had been coworkers making their way towards being friends thirty minutes earlier, and now he was terrified of the mere thought of her. “D’you even speak English?” he mused, quietly enough that he didn’t think she would be able to hear him. “Or is it some kind of mind control thing that just makes us think you speak it.”

“What - what kind of stupid question is that?” her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward slightly, an exasperated expression on her face as she stared him down. It was the same look she gave Jack the last time that he had broken the microwave - one that screamed ‘you’re an idiot’. “Of course I speak English. I was just speaking English.” Owen could briefly hear Jack cackling in the background, most likely as a response to his niece’s indignation.

“Sorry, I didn't -”

“I'm the teams linguist, for fucks sake.” she hopped off of the autopsy table that she had been sitting on and started to pace around the room as she ranted. “How am I supposed to translate languages into English - or even get around in bloody Cardiff, for that matter - without speaking bloody English!”

“Well you weren’t speakin’ it a second ago!” Owen couldn’t help but interject.

“Galactic Standard. I’ve been quizzing Jack the last few days to make sure he remembers it all. We’ve got a few different ships on the edge of the solar system that will be passing through in the next couple of days.” she shrugged. “Nothing serious, but it’s still good to be prepared.”

“And you're an alien?” he asked cautiously. “Like a real, proper alien? You look human.”

“No, you look Time Lord.” she said it so fast it was like she hadn’t even been thinking about her words - like it was an ingrained response, and one that she had learned long ago. She chuffed, rolling her eyes - a strange sound coming from a human, but one that made a lot more sense with this new development. Honestly, if he took a moment to think about it it made a lot of things about her make more sense. Chuffs of irritation, purrs of happiness, little irritated growls - all made slightly more sense. Adding to that how confused she was by certain pop culture things, and her employment at Torchwood, and suddenly he wasn’t sure how he had never considered the possibility of her being an alien in the first place.

“Wha's a Time Lord?” Owen asked.

“I'm a Time Lord - well, a Time Lady, to be specific.”

“Right, that's not at all pretentious.” Owen scoffed, rolling his eyes. Still, he filed that information away for later, just in case he would need it at any point. “What's your name?”

She grinned, jumping back up onto the table and leaning back further on her wrists as she studied him. “Mira Amelia Song.” she said simply. “That part of my file was right.” her grin grew wider at the look of disbelief on his face - almost smug, as she kicked her legs back and forth.

“Oh, come off it.” he replied, staring at her in shock and disbelief. “No way an alien is named Mira Song.” he was almost starting to think that this was some sort of hazing that all new members of Torchwood went through. But there was something about all of it that made him realize that there was no way it was that simple.

“Well, it depends on who you ask.” she pointed out, her gaze wandering around the autopsy bay. It was very obvious that while she was fine with Owen asking whatever questions he needed to, she didn’t really like the idea of being questioned like she was. “Here, I'm called Mira Song, and I'm called that on a variety of planets and time periods.” she paused then, looking at him as if checking that he was still following along with what she was saying. He gestured for her to hurry up, and Mira just smirked in return. “On my home planet, I would be called Lady Mirandel Lungbarrowmas-Song from the Great House of Lungbarrow, and a representative of the Prydonian Chapter - if I was being introduced to someone for the first time. People I knew would call me Lady Mirandel, family would call me Mira.”

“Right, that fits with callin’ yourself a Time Lady.” Owen snorted. “Where are you from then? What's your species?”

She scoffed. “It's not like you would know where it was.”

“Humor me.” Owen shot back, rolling his eyes. “You're the one who said to ask questions, ain't ya?”

“Fine.” she conceded, tucking a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. The braid that she had tucked her hair into that morning was slowly falling apart, and it was starting to be incredibly annoying. “Its called Gallifrey, in the Kasterborous constellation. My species is called Gallifreyan.”

“So where'd Time Ladies come from, then?”

She sighed - while she should have expected Owen Harper to have more than his fair share of questions for her, she hadn’t really expected any of them to be about Gallifreyan culture. If anything, she had expected an in-depth medical analysis. And while she knew the basics of her culture, if Owen got any more specific with his questions she wasn’t going to know the answers anymore. Still, she needed a moment to actually think about the question before she gave na answer. “Sort of a class system, really - I guess that’s the easiest way to describe it. You are born into Time Lord society, where you then go to school for around a century or two. Once that is done and you pass your classes, you are given your regenerations - means you live for a few millenia instead of a few hundred years like Gallifreyans would.” she paused, as if thinking over her next words before continuing to talk. “Unless you’re me, anyway. Or mum, I suppose.”

That piqued Owen’s interest more than anything else she had said so far. “What does that mean?” he asked cautiously - while he was very happy to be getting all of this information, there was a pained look in his coworker’s eyes that he didn’t like that much. Like whatever it was that she was talking about hurt to even think about.

Sure enough, she shut down that line of questioning very quickly. “Nothing. Next question, please.”

His brain is almost completely overwhelmed at this point, so he just picks a question at random, one that he wanted to hit himself for almost as soon as it was said. “Why d’you sound Irish?”

That question was met with a strange look and a shrug. “Just do, I guess.” she replied, picking at her fingernails for a moment as she stared at him, bored. “Do you have any better questions?”

That had him almost snorting a laugh as he relaxed slightly. He was starting to lose some of the fear that he had for her, which was good. Especially if she kept acting like she normally did - it made it feel like he had just learned something new about her, instead of a life-changing secret. “What're they like, then? Time Lords, I mean. Do they kill people?”

That had her sitting up a little bit straighter even as she continued to pick at her fingernails, as if she wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “They were… different.” she said slowly. “Had a very strict non-interference policy, according to my Dad.” she paused for a moment, then opened her mouth to continue - when Owen cut her off before she could get another word out.

“You said were.” he said softly. Mira paused, actually looking at him for the first time since they had started this conversation. He didn’t seem to be scared of her anymore, and she counted that as a win. But at the same time, there was a concern in his eyes that she had never seen before, not in the few weeks that they had known each other. And while she had learned over her few centuries that a few weeks wasn’t enough time to learn humans completely, it had usually been enough time to learn them fairly well.

This was completely new territory for her.

Still, Owen was looking at her expectantly, and she swallowed. “They…. They're gone. There was a war.” was all she would say on the subject.

“What about your family?”

“Mum and a Dad, nothing special there, really.” she shrugged, and she could hear the Captain start laughing again. Which was fair enough, once she thought about it. After all, she was leaving out her pseudo- aunts and uncles that she had all over time and space, that one of her grandmothers was technically a sentient time machine, and that the wolf hound that followed her around everywhere was actually another alien that she had been telepathically connected to since she was eight years old. Not to mention her father that was considered a legend in most galaxies, and her mother who had stolen or dug up most of the other legends in those same galaxies.

Like she said, nothing special.

“Hmm.” was all he said to that, still studying her carefully as he decided on his next question. “Do you have any alien powers? Like do you fly or shoot lasers out your eyes?” he leaned forward eagerly as he waited for her to answer.

Still, his hopes were quickly ruined when she almost doubled over laughing. “Oh you are a nerd.” she mused, once she finally got herself back under control. “Nothing that dramatic, though. I have what's called a respiratory bypass system, though. And I'm a touch telepath, but I would never use that without consent.”

“Respiratory bypass?”

Mira rolled her eyes - of course that was what the doctor would focus on. “Basically means that I can hold my breath for far longer than a human could. Also two hearts, and my blood - or a sample of my DNA - could rewrite human history. It’s why Uncle Jack is so protective.” she rolled her eyes fondly. “That, and he used to travel with my dad and Aunt Rose.”

That was what did Owen in. Two hearts. The woman in front of him had two hearts - and the knowledge that if she told the wrong person she could end up strapped to a medical gurney for the rest of her life.

“What about the rest of your file?”

“All the rest of it is accurate.” she confirmed. “Aspirin allergy, ginger intolerance. Aspirin will kill me, the ginger won’t - but the hangover I end up with sometimes makes me wish I was dead.”

“Right.”

Owen just sat there, then. Staring at her. Trying to process all of the new information that he had been given in such a short period of time. But despite himself, he couldn’t find it in himself to be scared of her anymore. There was so much going on with her, he wasn’t sure how she hadn’t just collapsed yet. “So?” Mira asked, her voice far quieter than it ever had been before. He looked up to at her to see her still sitting on the autopsy table, legs swinging underneath her as she played with the end of her braid. But there was a tension in her body, like she was preparing to run at any moment.

“So what?” he replied, and it was like a dam had burst with how quickly words started flying out of her mouth.

“Are we okay? Are we going to be alright to work together? Because you’re a twat, but you’re good at your job and everyone here likes you so far and I’d hate to have to explain to another new person about my history and -”

“Slow down, Songbird.” Owen said carefully, laughing under his breath as he watched her panic. Still, that panic changed to confusion

“Songbird?”

“Yeah. dunno, it just fits.” And in his head, it did. Her last name was Song, and he had heard her speak a few times in an incredibly musical language, mainly mumbling to herself. “But as long as y’r not gonna try n’ take over the world and kill us all, I guess you’re alright.”

Chapter Text

June 4, 2005

“Uncle Jack?” Mira called out as she made her way through the tourist office entrance, the blaring of alarms announcing her. She was carrying a tray of coffees in one hand, with Rosaline padding along behind her. Both Tosh and Owen looked up, giving her small greetings before going back to work and quietly thanking her as she handed over their respective drinks. Suzie was out for the day - she and Jack had been on the night shift the night before, and so he had sent her home early that morning to get some sleep.

Thank goodness for that, Mira couldn’t help musing to herself. She adored Suzie, even if the pair of them didn't always get along. But the woman could be a complete Dalek when she didn’t have any sleep. It was a nightmare.

“What is it, Meer?” Jack called back. His voice was slightly muffled by the walls of his office, but her Time Lord senses meant she could hear him well enough.

“Have you forgotten what today is?” She asked, a glint of a challenge in her eyes. After over a century on earth, his memory had started to fade slightly - the human mind was only able to store so much information before it started to lose things. While he could remember most of the past hundred years, it was the fifty-first century and any knowledge that he had gained while working for the Time Agency that he had trouble remembering. Even some details of his time with the Doctor was beginning to fade after a century. She did her best to refresh his memory through the stories that her father had told her, but it wasn't always easy.

Of course, she only knew of the story of today because of the stories that her dad had told her as a Time Tot. Even then, those stories had been centuries ago, and she had almost forgotten them completely - until she had tried to use the invisible lift and got hit in the head by a TARDIS for her troubles.

Still, the hums of apology from the ship’s mental connection had done a lot to make up for the ringing headache she now had.

“Thursday, right?” He called back, finally stepping out of his office. He leaned against the railing of the catwalk, watching them all from above. Owen joked he liked to be up so high because their fearless leader was part bird. Mira knew it was because he liked to be able to keep an eye on them all - his kids, he called them, only partially joking. Owen, Tosh, and Suzie - his handpicked team that he was so incredibly proud of.

“He’s definitely forgotten.” Rosaline muttered, her voice a low growl. Mira nudged her, hiding her smirk behind a curtain of hair.

“Be nice, Rosaline.” Mira shot back in reply, chuffing in irritation when the Aqrolt simply turned up her nose in response. When she looked up again, though, she couldn’t help but notice that both Tosh and Owen were looking at her knowingly. The surly doctor might not have known her as well as Toshiko did, but even he knew her long enough to know the teasing tone that she was using when she talked to her uncle. “Nevermind, then.” she said, raising her voice enough for the immortal man to hear her as she walked over to her station. “Oh, and by the way,” she added, trying to keep her voice neutral. That worked a little, but she still gave away her excitement by the way she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. “The lift’s out of order.”

“What?” Jack looked confused. “Why?”

This time, she couldn't even bother to pretend like she wasn't excited. “Because of the large blue box currently parked on it.” she said, a wide grin slowly making its way over dark painted lips. There was a hint of a squeal in the last two words, one that even had Tosh looking at her curiously.

The smile that spread across Jack's face could have powered the entirety of Wales for a fortnight. He laughed even as he sprinted down the stairs from his office, only pausing long enough to pick Mira up in his arms and spin her around, cackling like a maniac all the while. “You are shitting me!”

“You would've known if you paid attention to politics, Jack.” She teased him, pulling her hair back even as she headed towards the cog door. “Or local events… like the fact that there’s a nuclear power station opening soon. Or that we have a new mayor. Or even if you just watched the CCTV.” she continued, listing off the items on her fingers as she went down the list.

“In my defense,” Jack began, “I've been kind of busy running a top-secret agency.”

She shook her head, laughing. “Excuses, excuses.” She teased. She couldn't remember the last time that she had been this happy - it had probably been the last time that she stepped out on a new planet over six years ago. She pressed the button for the door leading to the tourist office, waiting for it to open up.

“Oh no you don't!” Jack called out, stopping her in her tracks. “Where are you going?”

“Up to the TARDIS.” She said, as though it were obvious. “I can use the zero room and the med bay - they should be enough to fix me.” she held up her hands, showing off the gloves that she had been stuck wearing for the last few months. She was still getting used to them and her new need for layers, and it hurt them all every time they saw her wince and pull on another piece of clothing. “No more need for any of these!” she turned back around, taking a few more steps before Jack stopped her again.

“No way, kiddo.” Jack said, shaking his head. “You're not going up there.”

Mira froze. There was a moment where she seemed to be processing what he had said, before she turned to face the captain. “I'm sorry.” She said, her voice surprisingly calm. “But I could have sworn that you just told me that I couldn't go home.”

Jack stood halfway down the stairs, arms folded across his chest and coat flaring behind him dramatically. “I did, actually.”

She laughed humorlessly. “Right. Like that's actually going to work.” she turned around, moving towards the cog door again. That was when she saw Rosaline.

The wolf stood between her and the door, teeth bared and hackles raised.

“Rosie?” Mira asked, her shock and betrayal clear on her face. “What are you doing?”

The Aqrolt sighed. “Jack is right, Mira.” she growled - while she sounded apologetic, there was still a hint of warning in her tone.

“You don't want to go home?”

There was obvious pain in her eyes, and Rosaline shuffled back a few steps at the look. Still, she held strong. ‘You know as well I do that we can’t go up there right now.” she said gravely, using the telepathic connection that the pair had. ‘Timelines can be twisted, but the Laws of Time still have to be followed.’

The worst part, Mira knew, was that Rosa’li’xih wasn’t wrong. If she was caught in the TARDIS by her father’s ninth incarnation - or if he even caught a hint of her currently struggling telepathic abilities - he would know that there was another Time Lord out there. And the version of her father that was out there at the moment was the most broken one of them all - the one who had had to end it all, left with the knowledge that he was completely alone in the universe. If he even began to suspect that there was another Time Lord out there, the consequences could be disastrous.

She would have to wait.

“Fine then.” She said, turning back to face her uncle. “CCTV.”

But the captain shook his head. “They can't see that, Meer.” Jack said, his eyes hard as he gestured towards Tosh and Owen. The pair tried not to feel offended. It had been obvious since day one that their fearless leader hid a lot from them - what was one more secret, after all.

But their Third - technically their Second in Command, but she had refused the job and given it to Suzie instead, claiming that she didn’t want the responsibility of the position - stood her ground. “Why not?” She challenged, icy blue eyes lighting up with fury. “You aren't actually in charge of me, Jack. And the TARDIS is my home - I can show her to anyone I want, really. The Old Girl's a bit vain, she loves to be admired. She won't mind at all."

“You know why not.” He responded, just as heated. They had pulled away from each other and were standing toe-to-toe. She glared at him, while he just looked mildly irritated.

“Either you let us watch on CCTV, or I'll go up there and introduce myself.” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. There was a sort of pained desperation in her eyes that none of the humans in the room had seen before. Her hands were clenched so tightly that her knuckles could be seen even beneath her gloves.

“You can't do that, sweetheart.” Jack said gently, moving to pull her into a hug. “I know you miss them, but you'd be jeopardizing the timelines if you went up there.”

Tosh and Owen exchanged confused looks, each wondering if the other had any idea what they were talking about. Neither knew, and Owen was stuck wishing that Suzie was there. Meanwhile, Tosh wondered if she would be able to figure anything out by digging through mainframe later on.

Their mysterious captain and his niece continued whispering for a minute or so longer, before Owen decided he had had enough.

“Do either one of you want to tell us what the bloody hell is goin’ on?”

Mira sighed, pulling herself out of the captain's embrace and moving over to Tosh’s terminal. “Do you mind if I borrow this?” She asked, and Tosh moved aside. Jack looked like he was about to protest, but Mira shot him a look that made him stop.

“Go ahead.” Tosh said, and Mira moved in, her gloves slightly muffling the tapping of her fingers against the keys.

She quickly pulled up the CCTV of the Plass, zooming in on four people that seemed to have walked out of a large blue box that had parked itself on top of the invisible lift. There was a young blonde woman, a young black man with a ridiculous fake diamond earring, and a tall man with massive ears and a battered leather jacket. The last person to come out was… Jack.

“He looks exactly the same.” Tosh said, surprised. His clothes were different - jeans and a leather jacket instead of the period getup that he wore these days, but that was the only real difference. If she didn’t know any better, she would have assumed that the man currently standing above them on the Plass was her boss’s twin.

Rosaline snorted. “Yeah, still looks like a right prat.” She teased, her deep voice growling in it's intensity. Owen snorted a laugh at that - while a talking wolf had more than terrified him at first, he quickly realized that Mira and Rosaline were some of the least strange things about Torchwood.

“How long ago was that, Uncle Jack?” Mira asked, making the cameras zoom in a bit further. There was a fond smile on her face as she watched Team TARDIS goofing off. “That was centuries before I was born, I know that much.”

“I've lost track.” The captain mused, coming up behind his team and smiling at the image of Mickey and Rose laughing at something he said, while the Doctor leaned against the TARDIS doors, a small smile on his face.

“That's Aunt Rose, isn't it?” Mira asked, studying the image. Jack nodded, smiling softly at the image of the blonde. “And that's you and Dad… but who's that?” she pointed to the last person in the still frame.

“That's Mickey Smith. He was kind of a goof, to be honest.”

She turned to look at him, gaping slightly. “What, seriously? That's Uncle Mickey?”

Jack nodded, looking confused as to why she looked so shocked. But she was too busy comparing the image on the screen to the Uncle that had helped her so much after her mum died. It was almost as bad as when she and her mum had found the Doctor's old clothes in the wardrobe room.

“Rosa’li’xih, come here!” Mira called, beginning to gleefully laugh at the image on the screen. They all looked ridiculous in her opinion - her father with his leather jacket, Uncle Mickey with his diamond stud earrings - even Uncle Jack with his fairly decent attempt to blend in with the locals. “Oh Rassilon, he looks ridiculous!”

The wolf jumped up from where she had lay down, her nails clicking against the concrete as she hurried across the floor. Rosaline jumped up, letting her front paws rest against the desk so she could see the screen.

“Its Uncle Mickey!” Mira was tearing up with laughter, practically crying with joy. She watched as the group walked away, all of them laughing and teasing each other. As they moved out of range of the cameras her fingers flew over the keys, redirecting to the next camera that would have eyes on them. Maybe she couldn’t go out there to see her father - that didn’t mean that she couldn’t keep an eye on him from further away.

8888

It was nearly midnight by the time that Owen and Tosh had gone home. It had taken awhile for the small team to clean up the mess that the former Lord Mayor had left behind, but they had eventually gotten it all cleared up and a cover story put into place. Yvonne Hartman had called afterwards about it, leaving Jack tied up in his office for a few hours and in a terrible mood when he came out. Mira had stayed behind, not wanting to run the risk of accidentally running into her father centuries before she was born. If she left the Hub at all that night, she would have to be very careful.

Once she got over her outburst from that morning, she had apologized to both Jack and Rosaline. They had been right - she hadn’t been thinking clearly at the time, just wanting to fix her shields and feel the TARDIS’s soothing presence. Otherwise, she could potentially destroy the timelines - if the Doctor learned of her existence, there was no way he would just leave her there. So she waited.

Jack had been about to head down to his bunker for the night when he realized that his niece was still there. She was sitting at her desk, supposedly running through the blueprints for the latest project that she and Tosh were working on. In reality, she was just watching clips from the days CCTV footage - all of them focused on one particular man in jeans and a leather jacket. There was a sad smile on her face as she watched him.

"Meer." Jack called, grabbing her attention. She looked up at him, taking a moment to come back around to reality. "You okay?"

“I remember that face.” Mira said, her voice soft. “I met him once when I was still just a kid. He landed in our backyard and was so very confused when I just ran into the TARDIS and started demanding my Issa. He was… so sad. Kind, and funny - but mostly just sad.”

She looked up at him, mascara smudged around her eyes. "What was he like?" She asked, and for once Jack saw the scared Time Tot still buried deep beneath the surface. It was easy to forget that she was still practically a kid by her species standards, what with her running around helping them protect the earth on a daily basis.

"Utterly ridiculous." Her uncle said, a nostalgic grin crossing his face. "Fierce as anything, and ridiculously protective of your Aunt Rose."

She nodded, wanting to know more - but at the same time, terrified to ask. If Jack noticed, he didn’t say anything.

"Go home, kiddo." Jack said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Or anywhere else, just not here."

8888

Suzie Costello opened the door to her flat, her face falling when she saw how upset Mira looked. Her makeup was smudged, her hair a mess, and she had been biting at her nails so much that the fingertips on her gloves were starting to fray. Rosaline was at her side, like usual - but almost plastered there, like she was afraid something was going to separate them.

While the two women never completely got along, there was still a sort of camaraderie between them that came with being part of Torchwood. Mira was like the little sister that Suzie had never quite wanted, while Suzie was her guide to human interaction.

Over the years she had graduated slightly from her gothic school-girl look to something more befitting a field agent - normally black jeans and a dark jumper. Of course, now she was stuck in the Hub again on the Captain's orders, and her style reflected the change. The gloves protected her from accidental contact, but he still preferred to keep her away from other people as much as he could. Owen didn’t understand why the Captain was being so overprotective, but Suzie and Tosh both understood. Suzie especially - she had been there the longest of them all. She had seen how protective Jack was, how he treated Mira like his own daughter half of the time.

And she had seen Jack right after the attack as well, sinking into a depressive state because he was so sure that the whole thing was his fault in the first place. She understood exactly why the man was so overprotective of the woman that he saw as a daughter.

“What happened?” Suzie asked, stepping outside. She looked the younger girl over, checking for any injuries.

“I’m fine… can I come in?” Mira waved awkwardly, holding up the brown bag that she had brought with her. "I brought the good stuff." She offered, shaking it enticingly. Suzie rolled her eyes, but opened the door just a little bit wider.

"Well, if you brought the good stuff…" she said, trying to mask just how pleased she actually was - it might have taken a lot to get Mira actually drunk, but she had excellent taste in liquors. She opened the door the rest of the way, gesturing both Mira and Rosaline into the flat. "Might as well come in then."

Mira smiled, and entered. Tomorrow she would deal with the revelations and pain of her past - and learn more about dealing with her still relatively new handicap. For now, she was going to sit and drink with a friend, and avoid everything to do with Torchwood.

Chapter Text

August 1, 2006

The second time that Ianto Jones met Captain Jack Harkness was the first time that he met the man’s niece.

He had been waiting on the Plass for someone to leave the tourist office for awhile - and had honestly began to consider giving up and trying again a different day - when the door had finally opened. He had known that the tourist office was a cover for Torchwood Three since shortly after he began working at One. One of the higher-ups in his department had liked to threaten to send him ‘back home to the boonies under Harkness’s domain’ if he was even a few minutes late to work. It was part of what had made him into such a fastidious person in the first place. Not the threat of working under Captain Harkness, like his supervisor had thought - the threat of being sent back to Cardiff with his tail between his legs.

Still, he had thought that Harkness’s team would have kept the tourist office in better shape, at least in order to keep up appearances. Instead it looked like it was barely a day from falling over - the window shutters were rusted close, the brochures in the windows were all at least six months out of date, and everything seemed to be in need of a good dusting. And that was just from what he could see in the little space when the door swung open.

Ianto Jones stood up just that little bit straighter, hoping that it would be the Captain coming out. This was it, the moment that he had been planning for. The meeting in the park had been partially planned out, but had quickly gone downhill. This had to be the one, the one that worked. He needed to get into Torchwood Three if he was to have any chances of saving Lisa.

However, instead of the leader of Torchwood Three, a young girl came out. Although, after a moment he reconsidered - she looked to be around his age. Strands of raven-black hair were tucked back behind her ear with one hand while the other rubbed sleep out of her eyes for a moment, before she covered a yawn with her hand. Her sweater - about three sized too big and merlot red - created a paw over her hands and seemed to be drowning her in excess fabric.

Something about her had Ianto holding out the cup of coffee that he had brought specifically to bribe the Captain with - a cup of his best brew, specially made and put in a thermos this morning. “Morning.” he called, grabbing her attention. “Coffee?”

She didn’t seem all that surprised by the well-dressed man waiting outside for her - but then again, it was Torchwood. Ianto didn’t know who was on Harkness’s team these days since the man had cut contact with One a few years before Canary Wharf, but he would hazard a guess that this woman was. Even if she was just a PA or something, it would still be one step closer to him getting into Three.

She looked a bit suspicious at first, but walked over anyway and took the cup from him. Gloved fingers brushed against his as she took the cup out of his hands, pulling at the cup with just a bit too much impatience. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that she had had his coffee before. But there was no way she could have - he knew everything, remembered everyone, and he definitely would have remembered this woman who seemed so unassuming and yet so important at the same time. She looked up at him with icy blue eyes as she smiled in thanks, and all it once it felt like he had met her before, and yet would never meet anyone like her again.

His mam had always said he had the soul of a poet.

The look on her face as she drank the coffee was one of pure bliss, and he had to look down at the pavement to hide the blush that crossed his face at the practically indecent sounds she was making as she drank it. Still, it was strange - he had had a lot of different reactions to a cup of his best coffee over the years. But this woman seemed to be purring - loud, bone deep sounds of enjoyment that reminded him of his mam’s cat from when he had been a kid.

As such, he missed the other person leaving the tourist office until the young woman spoke. “Finally, Uncle Jack. I’ve been waiting for ages! We've got work to do, or had you forgotten?” her voice was teasing, but there was a hint of impatience in there as well. Ianto looked up, just in time to see the Captain go pale and draw his gun.

“Mira, get away from him!” he barked, keeping the gun aimed at Ianto, his face set as if it had been carved out of stone. “He’s from One!”

“So what?” the woman said, rolling her eyes at the Torchwood Director. “I trust him.” There was something in her voice that made him pause. She had known him for all of five minutes - if even that long - and hadn't even said a single word to him, yet she was already saying that she trusted him.

“Angel.” the Captain said, his anger and frustration clear in his voice. “Get behind me. Now.” Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ianto couldn’t help but be surprised at the Captain’s lack of professionalism. He had heard rumors about the way that Torchwood Three was ran, but he had never thought that the Captain would have such a personal and unprofessional nickname for a member of his team.

She rolled her eyes, but snapped to attention anyway. “Yes sir.” she took a step back towards the Captain as he inched forwards, closer to her. The second that he was within range, he swept an arm out to quickly pull her behind him, covering the woman with his own body as if that would stop Ianto from seeing her completely.

If it wasn’t almost endearing - in a bizarre and overprotective manner - it would have been completely insulting. He was an agent of Torchwood One, after all. Maybe not much more than a glorified paper pusher, but still.

“We're leaving.” The Captain snapped as he grabbed ahold of her arm, keeping his body in between her and Ianto as he pulled her away.

8888

Mira sighed - she had known this day was coming for a while, but she hadn’t expected Jack to react quite as hostilely as he did. Which, she mused, she really only had herself to blame for that - she had known her uncle long enough both in her past and his future that she should have been able to predict things like this.

But maybe that was the issue. After all, Rosaline kept having to remind her that the version of her Uncle Jack that she was used to was a lot older than the current version that she was dealing with - and a version that had had centuries to learn how to cope with his abandonment issues, as well. Like her mother had been so fond of saying, the men in this family were hard work young.

As they walked away, Mira couldn't help but giggle when she heard the young man call out, “I really like that coat!” she linked arms with her uncle as they moved, leaning into his shoulder.

“I liked him.” she commented.

“You’re too young to date.” was his immediate response, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. He was going to be in a mood, then, she mused. This was going to be fun.

She prodded along the telepathic bond she had with her oldest companion, Ros’a’lixah. Otherwise known as Rosaline, the Aqrolt had originally been a present from her father for her eighth birthday. What she hadn’t known then was the Aqrolt - an alien race that created a symbiotic bond and changed their looks to match their new partner’s mannerisms - would be around for a very long time, helping to close off a temporal loop that they had accidentally started in her father’s Ninth form. It’s going to take us a bit longer to get back than I thought. She told her. Jack’s being stubborn.

She didn’t know exactly how her time with Torchwood was going to go. But she knew enough to know that Ianto Jones was supposed to be with Torchwood Three. It was just up to her to make the captain see reason.

“I am not, I’m three hundred and twenty-eight!” she protested, half-heartedly slapping at his shoulder. “I'm still older than you, either way. Besides, you know that that’s not what I meant.” Jack laughed, before he continued on as if she hadn’t said anything in the first place.

“Wait until you hit four hundred, kiddo. Then you’ll be allowed to date.”

“I still think that you should hire him.” she said, and he rolled his eyes.

“You don’t know anything about him.” he countered. “You didn't even talk to him, just took the drink - and haven’t we talked about that, not taking things -.”

Mira cut him off before he could really get going. She had heard the lecture about accepting things from strangers too many times from too many members of her temporally complicated family - she didn’t need to hear it again. “Ianto Jones, formerly of Torchwood One. He had a girlfriend by the name of Lisa Hallet, who died in the battle of Canary Wharf. He has a sister named Rhiannon who lives with her husband and two -” she rattled off the information, smirking when her uncle cut her off by smacking his hand over her mouth. She licked his hand, and he pulled away as he made a face. “He also makes brilliant coffee.”

“Okay, you’ve made your point.” he said, and then looked at her curiously. “How did you know all that?”

She blanched at that - in her excitement, she had forgotten that she wasn’t supposed to know all of that about Ianto - or at least, not yet. “I studied up on all of the survivors of Torchwood One. You know, just in case any of them decided to come around.”

Jack studied her for a moment before accepting what she told him and changing the subject completely. “Where’s Rosaline?”

“She decided to stay back with Tosh. If I had known that she would ditch me, I never would have joined up, you know.” The young woman said, pouting slightly, and Jack couldn’t hold back his grin. It was times like this that his niece seemed less like the three hundred and twenty-eight year old woman that she was, and more like the little kid that she never really got a chance to be. That was something else that they had in common, he had realized not too long after they met. They had both been forced to grow up a bit too fast, resulting in them having moments where they seemed more like children than adults. Add that to the fact that they had both been abandoned by the Doctor, and they made a pretty good pair.

“I'm surprised that she let you out of her sight.” Jack commented. Ever since her accident, Rosaline - while that wasn't her real name, it was the closest equivalent that a human could pronounce - had been even more protective of the young Time Lady than normal. This was the first time that the pair had been separated since the accident.

“I managed to convince her that a lot of our refugees probably wouldn't react well to an overprotective wolf.” Mira explained. It was the truth and had made perfect sense to both of them at the time. But now that she was away from the Aqrolt she couldn't help but feel exposed. Rosaline was doubly protective ever since her shields had fallen - the constant telepathic contact helped to bolster her fallen shields, and her giant form was intimidating enough that it helped to keep people away anyway.

“Great. Now come on, let’s go check on your people.” Jack rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway. Technically, the alien refugee program was under her purview, but he always insisted on coming with her. He always said it was to make sure everything was running smoothly, but Mira knew the real reason. The rest of their team didn’t know anything about Jack’s past - they didn’t know he was immortal, let alone that he had been a time traveller. When they were visiting with the refugees, it was like he could let down some of those masks and actually enjoy life a little bit.

“Did you know that UNIT has some of my grandmum’s clothes locked up?” she said excitedly, making the older-looking man laugh at the change of subject. “Along with those shoes of Mum’s… I managed to liberate them from the Black Archives, though... they’re sitting back in my flat now, maybe I’ll wear them tomorrow.”

They continued on their way, leaving Ianto Jones just standing there awkwardly as he watched their retreating figures.

8888

Jack turned on Mira the moment they were out of hearing range from Ianto Jones and any surveillance that he might have set up, the happy front from earlier gone. It might have been overkill, but he wasn’t willing to risk things when it came to Torchwood One. “How can you trust him?” He snarled, hands on his hips and a fearsome look on his face as he geared up for an argument. “He's from One!”

“Don't you dare treat him like he's Yvonne Hartman, Uncle Jack.” Mira warned, her hands clenching into fists as she prepared for a fight as well. “He was a junior archivist in London, that's all. They didn't do things like we do. Do you know how much say he would have had?” Jack tried to reply, but she cut him off. “Absolutely none. It wouldn't have mattered if he had shown Hartman irrefutable proof that the ‘Ghost Shifts’ were harmful. She wouldn't have listened to him!”

Jack just rolled his eyes. “I said no, Mira.” he said shortly, pulling slightly ahead of her as he walked faster - if he moved fast enough, maybe he wouldn’t have to have this conversation at all. “That’s all I’m going to say on it.”

She froze for a moment, mind racing as she thought of a solution. She knew things about the timeline - her time senses might not been as developed as they could have been, but she knew enough to know that the moment that Ianto Jones was to join was coming along very quickly. And right now, it was looking like her uncle would never agree to take him. Which really only left her with one option.

She turned to look at her uncle, who already seemed to be bracing himself for a fight that he knew was coming. “When I joined Torchwood, you promised me that I could pick one person to work here and you wouldn’t be able to say no.” she said quickly, almost stumbling over her words in her effort to get them out. “I want Ianto Jones.”

“What? No.”

“What’s wrong with him?” she asked, hurrying to catch up with him. “He was a good agent at one, he’ll be a good agent here. Besides, you don’t get to tell me no - at least, not this time.”

“How can you defend him?” Jack roared, drawing a bit of attention from the few people who were out on the bay that early in the morning. That got him to lower his voice a bit, although not by much. “They killed Rose Tyler!”

“Yvonne Hartman killed Rose, Jack!” Mira shot back, not even feeling bad in the moment for lying to him. He would find out the truth another time, she knew that much. “Not him. He lost people that day, too. And do you know what else? I may not have known Rose Tyler very well, but I do know she would have been ashamed of you for treating him like this!” she had only ever met Rose Tyler once - when Mira and her mum had accidentally met a past version of her father. Rose Tyler had been a lot of things, but the main thing that Mira remembered about her was just how kind she was.

That seemed to get through to the immortal man, and he calmed down, running his hands over his face.

“You're right.” He whispered. “She would have been pissed. Probably would have given me a Tyler slap.” He chuckled, wincing slightly at just the thought of the action.

“You said you wanted to rebuild Torchwood in their honor.” Mira continued, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why don't you start with showing some compassion?”

Jack sighed, running a hand down his face even though he knew she was right.

“Can we fight about this later, please?” He asked, sounding exhausted. “This is the only day off that I've had in the last century - I'd like to be able to enjoy it.”

Mira rolled her eyes, but a small smile twitched at the corner of her lips. She had already won the argument, she knew it. This was just Jack’s way of saving face. “Fine.” she agreed.

“By the way,” Jack said, and the slight leer on his face gave her an idea about what he was going to say nextd had her already rolling her eyes. “I saw these great boots the other day - make your legs look even more fantastic than they usually do.”

Mira rolled her eyes, used to her uncle's flirtatious nature after dealing with it for the past six years. “Maybe you should get them instead.” She teased. “Your calves could use some work.” She laughed at the mock outraged look that he gave her.

“Hey, kiddo.” Jack asked after they had kept walking for a few minutes. “Why are you so desperate to hire him, anyway?”

She was quiet for a minute before she said anything - trying to think about what she could tell him without potentially destroying timelines. “Did you know that out of all the survivors of Canary Wharf - out of the twenty-seven people left from that day - there’s only one still alive.” she paused, choosing her words carefully. “You and I know what that's like - to lose everyone you care about. I want to give him a new family, I guess. Like we got.”

There was a few minutes of silence before either one said anything. “Your dad is still out there, you know.” Jack said hesitantly, looking at his niece out of the corner of his eye. “You could always…”

“No.” She shook her head, pasting a smile on her face. “We've made up for the most part, but that doesn't mean that I want to be travelling with him.” she pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear, shrugging her shoulders as she carefully looked at anything but him. It was true that she and the Doctor had gotten back on better terms. But he had still left her with various friends and family members after her mother had died, choosing to go run around with a pretty young woman in a short skirt instead of caring for her. Adn while they were at least on speaking terms again, it was going to take a lot for her to want to travel with him ever again. “Besides, you and the team… Aunt Sarah and Luke… you're my family now.”

Neither one of them knew what to say at that - both Time Lords and immortals were notoriously bad at sharing their emotions - so they quickly switched the topic over to the family of Mandalans that had landed a few weeks earlier.

8888

Mira was bored. So incredibly bored it wasn’t even funny at this point, and she was almost desperate to leave the Hub. But Jack had denied it - she was to stay in the Hub on monitor duty until her telepathic shields were strong enough to properly rebuild. The incident where they had run into Ianto was a one-off - no one else in the base spoke Hzari, the language of the refugees that they had been going to visit, and she hadn’t gotten it put into the translation software yet.

Honestly, she thought that Jack was being completely unreasonable.

There had been an incident a few months earlier with a rogue group of Foamasi that had installed a psychic bomb on the Rift that ran through Cardiff. If it had gone off, it would have fried the brains of every human on the planet, leaving Earth as a breeding ground for the splinter group to use to restart their attempts at war against the Ice Warriors of Mars.

Mira had been the only one who could get close enough to disarm the bomb. She had gotten most of it - almost all of it, if she was being honest with herself. But the bomb had gone off right before she could finish, leaving her immediately in the blast radius. She had managed to absorb all the energy - saving everyone’s lives, but leaving her own telepathic shields completely shattered.

Owen had said that her shields would rebuild over time, but for now it had been several months of being left behind every time the team got called out. And she was tired of it. Tired of the same walls, of the same translations and paperwork and meetings every day. She had even taken over dealing with UNIT so that Jack didn’t have to anymore - and to make sure that relations between the two were slightly better than they had been.

Which meant she was almost desperate to get out of the Hub at this point - desperate enough that she would try almost anything to get out.

Mira couldn’t stop the smile stretching across her face as the SUV pulled out of the garages, and popped up from her hiding spot in the backseat of the car, scaring her uncle so much that he nearly drove off the road. “What do you think you’re doing?” he growled, quickly pulling over to the side of the road and slamming on the brakes to stop the car. She tensed her body for a moment, making sure that the car had actually stopped moving before trying to go anywhere - trying to move too much when Jack was behind the wheel was a mistake that each Torchwood member only made once.

“Coming with you.” she told him, scrambling up so that she could sit in the front seat once she was sure that the car wasn’t going to move again. “If I’m stuck in the Hub for another day I’m going to start screaming at Owen every time he tries to check on me.”

“Where’s Rosaline?”

“Left her behind at the Hub.” she replied as she did her seat belt. “She’s gonna kill me when I get back but it’s worth it to not deal with her mother-henning for a little bit. She’s become almost as bad as you are.” with that said, she turned towards her uncle, bouncing in her seat slightly at the thought of finally being out on a mission again. “Now come on, let’s go out somewhere. I’ve been dying to see something.”

Jack just stared at her for a moment - as if he was debating what he was going to do. Mira grinned at him, fiddling with her gloves in her lap as she waited for him to come up with a decision.

After a minute, he let his head fall back against the headrest, groaning under his breath. “Fine.” he muttered. “But if Rosie asks, you snuck in.”

She grinned, nodding her head as she did a little dance in her seat. “Sounds good to me.”

8888

What had been supposed to be a twenty minute trip to look at a strange house had quickly turned into a six hour adventure. But it was over, and the Torchwood duo were finally headed back to the Hub in the early twilight.

Mirahad her eyes trained on the computer in her lap, fingers flying as she remotely worked on a program that she had promised to help Toshiko with. She had been supposed to finish it three days earlier, but had been so bored from being stuck in the Hub that she hadn’t had the energy to actually work on it at all.

She was just hitting a decent stopping point when the Captain threw his arm out in front of her as he slammed on the breaks, sending her laptop flying forward and crashing into the dashboard. She grabbed the laptop, quickly checking it over before turning to glare at her uncle - who was no longer even in the car.

Mira looked out the windshield, sighing under her breath as she watched Jack storming towards Ianto Jones - who was standing in the middle of the road dressed in a three-piece suit, acting as if he didn’t have a single care in the world. It was almost impressive - she had been on the receiving end of more of the captain’s lectures than she could count, and his ability to keep a straight face when faced with one of them for the first time was surprising.

By the time she had gotten out and joined him, most of the conversation - if one could even call it that - was over. “I’m getting back behind the wheel of that car. If you’re still standing in the road, I’m gonna drive through you.” the Captain turned and walked away, meeting with his niece in the middle ground and grabbing her by the arm, practically dragging Mira along behind him as he headed back to the car. They had almost made it back to the SUV when Jones spoke up, his voice carrying in the quiet of the night.

“So you’re not gonna help me to catch this pterodactyl, then?”

Mira turned around so fast that it was almost unreal, and Jack froze in the middle of the road. “Did you say pterodactyl?” she asked, an almost manic gleam in her eyes and a wide grin crossing her face.

The Captain groaned, tilting his head back. “Please no,” he groaned, but there was something in his voice that said he already knew that he was going to lose this argument.

“Please yes.” Mira countered, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. Ianto watched the scene in front of him in slight confusion. Up until know he had thought - and all of the records had said - that Captain Jack Harkness was the leader of Torchwood Three. But based on how easily he seemed to be giving in to the whims of the frankly ridiculously energetic goth woman, Ianto was no longer sure who was actually in charge.

“What have we said about the bouncing?” Jack asked pointedly.

“That its not professional, so only do it in the Hub.” she recited, before flashing the captain a grin. It seemed odd to see such a happy smile on someone who looked so terrifying, but it worked. There was a moment where the captain's face softened and he almost smiled back, before he seemed to remember that they weren't alone.

His face hardened as he barked out an order. “Let’s go.”

They followed the Welshman to an abandoned warehouse a couple of miles away. Ianto led them around to the door, pulling it open and letting both the Captain and his niece enter first. But Jack stopped Mira before she could go in, pushing her back behind him and gesturing for Ianto to go in first. “Go on.” he said to the other man, a hint of warning in his eyes. “This was your find, you should get the credit.” Still, it wasn’t hard for Ianto to tell what the Captain really meant. This was a test - if he had led them into a trap, he would be the first to die by its hand.

They ran into the warehouse, where a large green and brown winged creature came swooping down at them. “Oh, you beauty.” Mira said, a hint of awe in her voice as her eyes tracked the creature flying above them. “Look at you.”

Ianto couldn't help but nod in agreement with her despite himself - it wouldn't do to get attached to anything or anyone at Torchwood Cardiff. He and Lisa would be leaving as soon as he had helped her to get better, after all. However, he could already see that he and this girl would get along just fine.

“Not the time, kiddo.” Jack said, pulling the door back open even as he grabbed his niece by the hand and dragged her out. It was then that Ianto noticed what the captain had already seen - the pteradon had begun to dive for them, and if they stayed where they were for much longer it would have caught them. “Come on, out you get!”

Jones was the last one out, slamming the door behind him before leaning against it along with the Captain. “How’d you find it?” the immortal man asked, gasping for breath as he turned to look at the younger man.

“Rift Activity Locator.” Jones replied, and Jack rolled his eyes.

“Torchwood London” he guessed, and Ianto shrugged.

“See? Quality kits.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got one better on you.” Mira told them, moving both men out of the way with surprising ease - or at least it was surprising to the one person there who didn’t know about her Time Lord strength. “I can talk to her… hopefully.”

Jack stopped her before she got the door open, grabbing ahold of her shoulders. “Hold on, Meer. Are you sure about this?”

Ianto was confused. He had known about the immortal captain - Yvonne Hartman had never shut up about him and how much he irritated her - but no one had ever mentioned anything about the young girl that claimed to be his niece having special abilities.

But when he took a couple of seconds to actually think about it, he realized that no one had ever even mentioned that he had a niece at all. Although it made sense that Captain Harkness had kept her hidden under the radar. Yvonne would have wanted any sort of leverage that she could have held over the Captain, and so it made sense to keep her a secret.

But the girl just nodded, bouncing up and down slightly as if to shake off her nerves. “Yup. Of course I’ve got this - no problem. Piece of cake. Which is an odd expression, come to think of it - have you ever tried to bake a cake? Its really very hard to do.”

Jack smirked, but his concern was clearly visible in his eyes as he looked at his niece. “You’re rambling.” he pointed out. “Which, nine times out of ten means that something is happening that you don’t want me to know about, or that you’re nervous.” he thought about it for a second. “Usually it means both.”

“Yup.” she agreed, still bouncing slightly. She stopped as she took a deep breath, wringing her hands for a moment. “Right. Big green pterodactyl that could eat me as soon as it looks at me.”

For the rest of his life, Ianto Jones would think back on what he had said then and still think ‘what on Earth possessed me to say that?’ Because the next thing that came out of his mouth was, “Technically, I believe that it’s a pteranodon.”

He received twin glares from both the Captain and Mira for that comment. “You can stop any time you like.” she said firmly, before shoving them both out of the way and heading back into the warehouse. Jack tried to follow after her, but he froze as the door was slammed in his face. After that, they were just stuck waiting.

She was in there for maybe two minutes before she came back out, clutching her shoulder tightly as she grimaced.

“You okay, kiddo?” the Captain called out, moving over to look her over with a worried look plastered on his face. “Cause Rosaline will chew my ass off if you're not.”

Ianto moved over to join them, instinctively grabbing the first-aid kit that he kept in the boot of his car for just this sort of thing. But the Captain pushed him away when he moved to help.

“I’ve got it.” he said, moving to take the bandages out of the kit. Ianto raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything - not even when blood that was more orange than red came seeping out from underneath the bandages. That alone should have been cause for concern, and would have been at any other time. But both the Captain and his niece just looked at it with a normal level of exasperation, as if the woman having orange blood was completely normal.

“Let him help, Jack.” Mira said, gritting her teeth. “It'll have to hold until we can get to Owen. And I know for a fact that One requires all their employees to learn field medicine, whether or not they actually went in the field. So let him help, unless you need me to use my special medicine.” That strange statement was accompanied by a raised eyebrow. “It glows and everything.” she added dryly.

“Don’t you dare, this isn’t anywhere near major enough for that. Not to mention your dad would find a way to end me completely.” Jack warned, but stepped back. “Just remember,” he said, turning to face Ianto. “I'm watching you, so don't even think of trying anything.”

Ianto was hurt by the suspicion in the Captain's voice, but couldn't really blame him. Torchwood One had done some terrible things in their time, and a lot of them had been done to the Captain himself. He had looked into the digital archives since moving back home to Cardiff, looking for information about the elusive Captain, and had been horrified by what he found. Records of torture were some of the least disturbing things that he had found.

He quickly stitched up the girl, before turning to her uncle. “There. Now can we finish catching the pteradon?”

The captain nodded grimly, before leading him around to the boot of the SUV. He pulled it open, grabbing a black case and quickly unlocking it, showing the row of already prepared sedatives that was in the back of each SUV that Torchwood Three had. They were there in different dosages depending on what they were hunting - an all-around sedative that would work on almost every species without killing it.

“Okay, that is the only special equipment you've got?” The Welshman asked skeptically.

“Yeah, because I keep dinosaur nets in the back of the SUV.” Was the sarcastic reply.

“Torchwood London would've.” Ianto pointed out, and the captain rolled his eyes.

“Torchwood London would’ve killed the giant flying dinosaur without a second thought.” Mira called out from where she was still sitting inside the SUV, leaning against the seat as she kept pressure on her injured shoulder. Ianto looked upset at the very thought, and Jack found himself wanting to comfort the other man for some reason. With his face screwed up the way it was, he looked less like one of Hartman’s lackeys and more like the twenty-six year old man that he actually was.

He quickly shook himself out of it. It wouldn't help him to get attached to anyone else before he left with the Doctor - he didn't want anything to keep him from getting his answers when the time came.

The two men left Mira in the SUV - much to her disappointment - and headed for the door. As soon as they opened the door, the large flying creature dove down at them, shrieking with all its might. Jack grabbed ahold of Ianto’s coat, almost throwing him through the doorway in his hurry to get them both out of there.

“Nope.” Ianto muttered, shaking his head as he pressed his back into the building. Jack slammed the door shut before turning, pressing his back into the wall in an identical position as he tried to catch his breath.

“Yeah, it's quite excitable.” Jack gasped out once he had started to catch his breath.

“Must be your aftershave.” He said, then thought about it. “Or maybe your niece's perfume.” He added.

But Jack just grinned. “Never wear any.” he admitted.

“You smell like that naturally?” He asked, surprised. “Both of you?”

Jack's grin widened, still fighting to catch his breath. “Fifty first century pheromones, although her’s aren’t as potent. You people have no idea.” he turned to look at the man next to him. “Ready for another go?”

Ianto nodded. “I'm game if you are.”

He turned, greatcoat swirling around his legs as he braced against the door, getting ready to throw it open again. “Three, two, one.” Jack gave the countdown, then threw the door open. “Split up.” Jack ordered, and they tried again. The pteranodon landed on the floor in between them, as if unsure about which way it should move.

“We're not gonna harm you.” Jack said quietly, taking a few careful steps forward “You can't stay here. Come back with me. I've got somewhere nice and big where you can fly around.”

That had the Welshman turning to look at him, slightly offended. “Okay, so you let the pterodactyl in but not me?”

The captain rolled his eyes. “We need a guard dog.” he reasoned. That was nowhere near his actual reasoning, of course, although it did help. But he couldn’t let a dinosaur loose on Wales, and there was nowhere else for it to go since it couldn’t go back to it’s own time. Not to mention he felt a strange sense of connection with the dinosaur - just like him, it was stuck millennia out of its home time with no way back.

“I can be that.” He said quickly. “Like a receptionist, building maintenance, food and drink. Dry cleaning, even. That coat of yours must take a battering. Like a butler, I could be a butler.” He offered, desperate. Ianto needed in Torchwood, he had to join. It was the only way that he had to save her.

“We don't need a butler.” Jack replied, his attention still focused on the dinosaur in front of him. He edged an inch or two closer, determined to get in as close as he could before he pounced on the creature.

Ianto snorted. “Excuse me. Dried egg on your collar.” he pointed out.

“It was a busy week.”

“What exactly is your plan?”

Jack risked looking back at him for a moment before turning back to keep his attention on the dinosaur. “I'm going to be the decoy.”

Ianto couldn’t help but stare at Three’s director in shock for a moment. In all his years of working for Torchwood, he had never seen a single person in power at Torchwood volunteer to be the decoy. Yvonne Hartman and all the rest of them had had squads of willing - and occasionally not-so-willing - volunteers to do things like that for them. “And it will rip you to shreds.” he couldn’t help but point out.

Jack laughed despite himself. “Dinosaurs?” he murmured, taking another step closer to the pteradon while it’s focus was elsewhere. “Had them for breakfast. Had to. Only source of pre-killed food protein after the asteroid crashed. Long story. Here you go.” he handed Ianto the hypodermic needle, making sure the other man had a good grip on it before letting go completely. The rest of the needles were still in their case in the SUV, and they didn’t have the time to go back to the car and get them. “One injection to the central nervous cortex. Ill keep it occupied. Move.”

“No.”

That had Jack stop for a moment - it was rare that anyone other than his niece argued with him these days. “What?” he was even further surprised when Ianto handed him the needle back, pressing it into his hand until his fingers instinctively closed up around it.

“It knows me. I’ll be a better decoy.”

Jack shook his head, nixing the idea. “Way too dangerous.”

But the younger man shook his head. “No, I've got a secret weapon.” He insisted, holding up a package of candy. “Chocolate. Preferably dark.”

There was a moment where Ianto was convinced that Captain Harkness was going to refuse, but then he nodded, and they split up. Each of them walked along the walls, keeping to the shadows as much as possible as they moved.

Neither one of them noticed as the door slipped open, quietly closing behind Mira as she entered the room. She blended in with the shadows, just watching the situation unfold in front of her.

Ianto crouched slightly, waving the chocolate in the pterodon’s direction. “I got your favourite.” He said softly, moving a few steps closer to the creature. “Yeah, come on.”

He threw the bar of chocolate to the pteranodon, watching as it disappeared down her gullet in one bite.

“It's good for your serotonin levels, if you've got serotonin levels.” he murmured, keeping his voice light in order to keep her from freaking out.

The pteranodon launched itself into the air, taking them both by surprise. Jack grabbed onto it's legs, thinking that his weight would be enough to keep it on the ground. He soon found out that he was wrong, because the dinosaur quickly rose into the air, taking him along with it.

“Whoa! Ianto!” he called out to the other man without even thinking about it, too surprised by the turn of events to do anything else.

Jack hung onto the creature’s leg for dear life - even though a fall from that height probably wouldn't kill him, and his immortality meant that any injuries he got would heal much faster than they should, he still didn't want to risk it. Dying hurt, and if he was injured he would be out of commission until he healed fully. He shoved the hypodermic through the dinosaur’s scales, depressing the plunger as soon as he could.

Holding onto the dinosaur’s leg for dear life, Jack quickly injected it with the sedatives. The batch that he injected the dinosaur with had been made to use on Weevils as opposed to something stronger, so it should have been more than enough for it to work instantly. Unfortunately for the captain, they were still fifty feet in the air when the dinosaur started to plummet.

He let go of the creature’s leg, landing on top of Mr. Jones.

“Sorry.” the word left his lips with his last bit of breath and he wheezed, trying to retrieve the air that had been forcibly evicted from his lungs when he landed. The creature fell out of the air, and would have landed on top of them if Ianto hadn’t rolled them out of the way just in time. They started to laugh in relief, but then stopped, eyeing each other carefully.

Mira watched them from the shadows, smiling softly. Both men seemed to have forgotten that she was even there, and she wasn't about to remind them.

Things seemed to be moving right on track.

8888

“I should go.” Ianto said awkwardly, rolling off of the older man and climbing to his feet. He straightened out his suit, before putting his hands in his pockets.

“Hey.” Jack called out, watching the other man walk away. Ianto stopped. “Report for work first thing tomorrow. Like the suit, by the way.”

Ianto smiled and nodded his head before heading out of the door.

“I think somebody fancies you.” Mira said, teasing the captain. He jumped slightly, but relaxed when he remembered she was there. She stepped out of the shadows, revealing her presence to her uncle.

Jack leered. “Can you blame him?”

She just laughed. There was a moment of quiet before anything else was said. “I think you fancy him.” her voice was much quieter that time, so quiet that he almost didn’t hear her. “Just a bit.”

“What can I say?” Jack deflected the question, just like she knew he would. It was practically his special move at this point. “I'm a sucker for those Welsh vowels.”

Mira rolled her eyes, but let the subject drop for the moment.

“Come on.” She said, gently rolling her shoulder to see if she could use it yet. It still ached, so she decided to wait a bit longer before trying again. “I want to get the pteranodon back to the Hub before Owen leaves for the night. Then Tosh and I are going out for drinks.”

Jack sighed good-naturedly. “You just love to mess with his head, don't you?”

“Oh yes.” she grinned.

It took them awhile, but eventually they managed to get the pteranodon into the back of the SUV and started driving off. Ianto was long gone by the time they turned on the headlights and Jack put the car into drive, starting on the trip back to the Hub.

They had almost reached the Hub when she called the medic. “Hey Owen, we've got a patient for you.” Mira chirped over the comms, trying to keep from laughing along with her uncle.

“Brilliant.” The doctor said, and she could almost imagine him rubbing his hands together in glee. “I’ll get the autopsy bay ready then. What d’you got for me?”

“Oh, you'll see.” she said, and Rosaline almost immediately used their telepathic link. She had felt her Time Lady’s amusement - that, coupled with Owen beginning to set things up meant that something was coming in.

What are you up to? She asked suspiciously.

Nothing. She replied innocently, and Rosaline snorted.

Try telling me that you can take aspirin, next. She suggested wryly, and Mira replied with the mental equivalent of a middle finger, making Rosaline laugh.

8888

The next morning, it was Mira who met Ianto outside of the Tourist Office.

“Hello!” She said, her lips curling upwards in an easy smile. Her hair had been left down today as opposed to the tight ponytail that it had been in the previous night, curling around her face and partially covering one blue eye. When they had met the night before she had been dressed for fieldwork in durable pants and a leather jacket, but it was obvious she had other things on the agenda today. She wore a short black leather skirt that flared slightly around her hips, with leggings and a single spiked garter. A rather low-cut dark green shirt completed the look, and he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when she flashed an easy green-painted smile. The heavy steel-toed work boots that covered her feet and elbow-length gloves that covered the skin that her shirt didn’t were the only part that didn't match the rest of her outfit, and a set of keys dangled from one gloved hand. “Welcome to your new job, Mr. Jones.”

“Thank you, Miss Song.” He said, and she stiffened slightly, looking at him warily.

“How do you know my name?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. Ianto blushed slightly.

“I may have asked around about you after our first meeting.” He admitted, only relaxing when she laughed instead of firing him on the spot.

“Well, that's better than the alternative.” she joked, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear as she led him into the Tourist Office. “Anyway, please just call me Mira - we aren't really big on formalities here, if you can't already tell.”

“So it isn't casual Friday then.” Ianto said dryly, eyeing her miniskirt. He winced almost as soon as he said the words - if they were at One, that would have been enough to end up with him being demoted to janitor in a heartbeat, if not Retconned. But she just giggled.

“Oh, you're going to fit right in around here.” She said. She walked over to the desk, draping herself over it in order to reach the button on the underside of the desk.

There was a sharp clang as the tourist office door slammed into place, sending the keychain displayed on the desk jingling. Part of the wall slid open, revealing a narrow corridor made out of concrete.

“Follow me, please. If you have any questions, please save them til the end of the tour.” she said, her voice becoming sharper and more business-like. “And we have to do the quick version, because I have a conference call with the head of UNIT in twenty minutes, and Colonel Mace hates it when I'm late. I can't wait till Kate takes over.” She muttered the last bit under her breath, so quietly that he almost didn't hear her. “I can give you the full version later.” she looked over her shoulder apologetically. “You'll spend some of your time in the Tourist Office - I take most of the shifts these days, but all of us try and take a shift every once in awhile, except for Jack. We don't let him loose on the general public too often.” She said, her eyes laughing even as her face remained neutral. She waited for him to catch up to her, the heels of her boots thunking loudly against the floor as they walked. Ianto moved nearly silently at her side in contrast, his footsteps eerily quiet.

They went down the elevator, with Ianto being sure to pay close attention to everything that Mira did. It wouldn't do for him to get stuck trying to get in and out of the base.

The elevator doors opened and she led the way down a short flight of stairs. She put in a code, and the door rolled open as sirens blared.

He couldn't help the questioning look that he sent her way when the cog door opened and he heard a familiar screech. She caught the look, smirking in return. “Yeah, there was no way I was going to let her go, and neither was the Captain. Not to mention that there's really no place for her to go. She's brilliant. But she still needs a name.”

A small smile crossed his lips when he realized what she was saying. After considering it for a minute or so, he chose one. “Myfanwy.”

He looked around, taking in the Hub for the very first time. It was incredibly different from One - where One was all clean lines and gleaming glass and metal, Three was almost dingy, yet chic. There were other members of the team working around the base, and it only took him a moment to match them all up with his mental files on the team. Suzie Costello, second in command and weapons expert. Dr. Toshiko Sato, head technician and inventor, and all-around computer genius. And Dr. Owen Harper, Medic and Autopsy. Miss Costello was at her station, a large alien device in pieces across her desk. Dr. Sato was typing at her computer, her attention split between four different screens. The only one that he didn’t see anywhere was Dr. Harper.

The only one of them that he didn’t actually know anything about was Miss Song. There hadn’t been any files on her in One for him to read in the first place, and he wasn’t sure how he actually felt about that. He prided himself on knowing everything, and he didn’t like that Miss Song was still a mystery.

“Follow me please.” Mira said, once she had given him enough time to gawk at the Hub.

Ianto was about to follow when he heard a low growling sound from behind him. The Welshman turned around, only slightly surprised to see the large wolf that was snarling at him with bared teeth. He hadn't been lying when he said that he had looked her up, and anyone who he had had information about the friendly goth woman had also mentioned the large dog that rarely left her side. Most assumed that it was a husky, but as Ianto Jones stared into the yellow eyes of death, he knew that he was facing down a wolf.

“This is Rosaline.” Mira said, equal parts warning and amusement. “She helps me keep an eye on things around here - everything she sees, I know about. Rosaline, meet Ianto Jones.”

It was like those were the magic words, because she stopped growling almost instantly. Her head cocked to the side and she seemed to be taking him in, examining him for weaknesses. It was more than slightly unnerving. After a few more seconds she laid her head on her crossed forelegs and went back to sleep.

“I'm impressed.” They both looked up to see the Captain watching them from up on the catwalk. “The only other person she's taken a shine to that quickly is our darling Toshiko.”

He winked at the petite Japanese woman sitting at her computer terminal, who continued to rapidly type away at her keyboard, wielding it like a weapon. The small blush that spread across her cheeks let them know that she heard him.

“Leave her alone, Jack.” Mira chided. “Tosh is perfect and you just enjoy making her blush.” with that said, she gestured for Ianto to follow her as she moved through the base. He did as told, only waving awkwardly back at Toshiko when she looked up from her computer to wave at him.

“Your job would be Head Archivist, if you want it.” Mira continued, leading him down towards a dark corridor and ignoring the curious looks that the rest of the team was shooting the pair. “You would be responsible for the Archives, which is more of a challenge than it really should be. If you could also keep us supplied with your god-level coffee, that would be brilliant.”

A head poked up from a sunken-in bay ringed with a metal railing. “Did you say coffee?”

Despite the eyeroll that she gave as soon as the man’s head popped up, Ianto could easily see the fondness that his guide held for the man with a slightly weasely-looking face.

“Did anyone call for an autopsy gremlin?” She asked, looking purposefully bored as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at the man. “No?”

The medic rolled his eyes, scoffing as he turned away from the pair with a practiced air. “Bite me, Songbird.” he called over his shoulder.

“Go play with a corpse, Harper.” she shot back, before turning with an apologetic look at Ianto. “Sorry about him.” she said softly, leading the Welshman away from the irritable Londoner. “The only languages he understands are sarcasm and violence, but he’s a sweetheart deep down. Deep, deep down.”

8888

“Here's the main reason I wanted to hire you.” Mira admitted once they were far enough down in the archives that there wasn't any chance of them being overheard. “Jack is an excellent boss, but only to a point. If it were up to him, things around here would be missions all the time and paperwork would never get completed -”

“Which everyone knows is the backbone of bureaucracy.” Ianto commented. “And as such, you need someone who understands that and is willing to help you enforce it.”

“Exactly. Specifically, we need someone who can keep us all organized.” Suddenly she stopped moving completely, tilting her head slightly to the side as though listening to something. She stayed like that for a moment before seeming to snap out of it with a small growl. Putting a hand up to her ear, she activated the comm unit there that had remained unnoticed up until that moment. “Owen, leave Tosh alone, she needs to get that program done in the next day or two.” she paused for a second, a smile growing on her face as she listened to Owen talk on the other end of the comms. “If you didn’t want to get caught, you shouldn’t have done things in front of Rosie.” she laughed at his reply, shaking her head even though the only one that could currently see her was Ianto. “Just get back to work, Harper.”

He waited until he was sure that she was done talking to Owen before he said anything. “Can I ask you something?” Ianto said, sounding curious. “Why are you helping me? It's obvious that the captain doesn't like me, but you're willing to stick your neck out for me. Why?”

She smiled sadly, and he almost regretted asking anything. “Lets just say I know a little about being driven by the memory of love and loss.” She said cryptically. “And leave it at that.”

He blanched slightly, afraid that this young woman had already figured him out. But she didn't say anything more on the subject - she just kept walking upstairs. “Come and meet the rest of the team.” She offered, smiling down at him from her position on the stairs. “Suzie can show you the computer systems while I take that call.”

He nodded briefly, his mind already on all of the work that he would have to do on the Archives to get them into an even somewhat manageable state.

“Oh, and Ianto?”

He looked up, tilting his head slightly to the side as he wondered what else she wanted.

“Welcome to Torchwood.”