FIC - The World You Thought You Lived In: Act III (Torchwood, PG-13, Lisa & Team, AU)
Master Post - Act I - Act II - Interval - Act III
All warnings and notes can be found in the Master Post
Lisa Hallett woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover. Not a big one, for which she was grateful but it was there nonetheless. She’d had a great birthday celebration and now she was paying the piper, so to speak. All she wanted to do was lie in bed, nurse her aching head and perhaps cuddle up with Ianto. Best hangover cure known to man, woman or beast.
“Good morning, beautiful!” a voice murmured right by her ear.
Headache or no, Lisa turned to face the speaker so fast that her head spun. Not the best cure for a headache that was certain.
“Good morning, Jack.” she replied, sounding a lot braver (not to mention a lot less fragile) than she felt right then.
Sure enough, Jack Harkness was lying right next to her, wearing his undershirt and the worst case of bed hair Lisa had seen in a long time.
“How are you feeling?” Jack asked quietly.
Lisa pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Shouldn’t I be asking if you slept okay?” she asked, slightly bemused by the turn of events.
A patented movie star smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes crossed the captain’s face. “I asked first,” Jack replied. “But I slept fine, thanks for asking.”
“I... um... have a bit of a hangover, but other than that...” Lisa mumbled edging towards the side of the bed. “Just gotta go grab some painkillers!”
Jack didn’t stop her as she ran to the bathroom like a coward. Albeit a coward dressed in what was Ianto’s shirt from two days before.
Once behind the ‘relative’ safety of the bathroom door, Lisa leaned against the door and wondered again why she had ever thought that inviting Jack Harkness (her boss!) to share a bed (and more) with her and Ianto (who was just as enthusiastic) was a good idea.
Last night had been a perfect opportunity, what with it being her birthday celebrations. Not to mention that Jack looked as if he needed someone to cheer him up; especially after Defry Vale. So she and Ianto had taken a chance and invited Jack back for ‘coffee’.
To be fair to Jack, he could have said ‘no’. But he didn’t and came home for coffee and more.
Hence the awkward situation Lisa had ran from, in search of painkillers for her hangover. She reached into the bathroom cabinet to pull out the pain killers as well as a water glass.
In the bedroom, she heard voices talking. “Lisa, cariad?” a voice bellowed from the other side of the door. Lisa winced at the volume. Ianto, of course. Never a respecter of hangovers. Even his own. “Are you alright?”
She deigned not to answer. He knew the answer to that one. Fine but with a killer headache.
Quickly, Lisa drew a glass of water and plucked the painkillers out of the medicine cabinet before opening the door back to the bedroom and... her lover and the man she wanted to love both of them.
Ianto was ‘dressed’ in navy cotton pajama trousers and a soft grey t-shirt and sitting on the edge of the bed. The tray of coffees in his hands was an incongruous touch; more suited to work than to their home.
Jack was still under the covers, sitting up, taking a mug off the tray as she walked back into the room.
“Well, I can’t speak for anyone else but I am glad that last night happened.” Ianto said as Lisa sat down on the bed, curling her legs underneath her.
“What he said.” Lisa stated quietly. She swallowed the tablets, draining the contents of the water glass to wash them down. “I had a wonderful birthday celebration and don’t regret inviting you back last night, Jack.”
“Would you have liked something to have happened?” Jack shot back, the grin was there but Lisa was aware that there was something darker lurking in Jack’s eyes.
“Would you?”
“Yes, Jack, I would have done.” Lisa replied, quiet and steady.
“Same here.” Ianto replied. “It might not have been the best of times, what with what happened last week at Defry Vale-”
“I was just having a bad day-” Jack cut in, paying close attention to the weave of the duvet cover.
“That’s a lie, Jack and you know it.” Ianto noted quietly. “You may never tell us about why it was so significant but that’s fine. We all have our secrets.”
“But it’s something we’ve been meaning to do for....” he looked to Lisa who continued
“A while now,” she replied. “Remember when you dragged me out to Greenwich Park? You said you liked threesomes?”
Jack nodded but said nothing.
“Well, if the offer was genuine...”
“You’d like to take me up on it?” he asked, humourlessly. “You realise that what happens outside of work-”
“Stays outside of work.” Ianto replied dryly. “First rule of our relationship.” he noted, taking her hand into his.
“You’ve seen over the last couple of months that we can do that quite easily,” Lisa noted. “Your point is?”
Jack glanced from one to the other silently, considering all angles of the argument.
Lisa tried not to fidget or just generally show her nervousness. Now or never, do or die were good thoughts but when it came around to actually acting on the thoughts she’d shared with Ianto about their boss? Not so much.
“Well, I do owe Lisa a present.” Jack stated, looking at her.
“Well, if you’re offering... I’d like to watch you kiss Ianto, before you kiss me.” she replied, heat and nerves flowing through her.
Jack smiled, just a tilt of the lips that said a great deal. “And then?” he asked.
Lisa looked to Ianto, who nodded, smiling at her.
“We have a four day weekend Jack,” Ianto noted, leaning in towards him. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
***
The end of the world started on a wet Wednesday night. Torchwood: Cardiff were at the cinema. The two were not related in any way shape or form.
The last few weeks had been hellish for everyone. The Rift was experiencing the up-curve in its cycle, which meant more work for London and indirectly, Cardiff.
More bodies, more lies to tell, more cases for Flat Holm to deal with. And more paperwork too.
The weather wasn’t exactly helping. In the last few weeks, a day without Cardiff Bay trying to reclaim the city by airdrop was a day to remark upon.
All in all, it made everyone cranky and sent morale crashing through the floor of the (already subterranean) Hub.
Lisa and Tosh had already made plans for the evening, Rift willing. A film, dinner and a *lot* of talking. Tosh had spent the weekend with her family and Lisa wanted to hear all about it.
Inviting the guys along hadn’t been part of the plan but after receiving the news from Flat Holm that three patients who’d been doing so well had given up the fight for life, Lisa made an executive decision at the end of the work day.
She threw them their coats and told them to meet her and Tosh upside in five minutes.
“Want to tell us what this is all about?” Owen asked as they headed into town by taxi.
“We all need a break,” Lisa replied tersely as the sky darkened with yet another storm. “Even if it’s just for a couple of hours,”
She had been expecting Owen to give have a go at her about how her psychology degree didn’t mean that she could make judgements on someone’s mental health. To her surprise he didn’t say anything, instead nodding and asking: “Okay, what do you recommend?”
“A film and food.” Tosh said, brooking no argument. “Followed by drinking.”
Owen smiled slightly. It was the first time Lisa had seen him smile all week. “No arguments from me,” he replied.
“Seconded,” Ianto added.
“Jack?” Lisa asked.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. “I’m in. One condition, London pick up the tab.”
Lisa grinned, “Good job that I know London’s petty cash code then isn’t it?”
“Will serve the Bristol boys not to fob their receipts onto us to deal with from now on!” Tosh noted laughing as the taxi drew up outside the cinema.
With hindsight, given the weather and all, choosing a film called Sunshine might not have been the best idea but it was one that nobody had seen yet and Danny Boyle never disappointed.
Somewhere, around the Transit of Mercury scene, Lisa felt the tensions of the last few weeks leech out of her system. A quick glance at her colleagues, bathed in the light of the silver and gold screen told her that she wasn’t alone.
When the film finished and the lights went up in the cinema, Lisa felt not just the buzz of seeing a good film but the delight of seeing it with people she cared about.
It took the work of a moment to curl up her half-eaten bag of Minstrels to shove them into her handbag and gather up the belongings she’d brought with her. Raincoat, umbrella, handbag were all accounted for. Everything else could take care of themselves.
As she pushed herself to her feet, she could hear Ianto and Owen quietly discuss the merits of Danny Boyle as a film maker. It wasn’t so much the subject as the discussion that made Lisa raise an eyebrow but Ianto and Owen having a ‘civilised’ conversation without resorting to sarcasm. Would wonders ever cease?
“Well?” Lisa asked as Jack and Tosh both stood up, gathering their coats and other paraphenalia. It didn’t surprise Lisa at all that Tosh had already gotten her PDA out of her bag to look something up. She did it every time, usually to check some arcane detail that she’d share with Lisa later.
“You know, for a science fiction film that was remarkably accurate” Jack noted as he eased his greatcoat on.
“Apart from the whole, ‘The Sun only has 50 years of life left!’ part,” Tosh pointed out, not taking her eyes from her PDA. The light casting shadows around the emptying cinema.
“Apart from that.” Jack conceded.
“It’s called ‘science fiction’ for a reason guys.” Owen noted, still seated and still continuing his conversation with Ianto if Lisa was any judge.
Lisa perched on the arm of a chair and patiently watched the credits roll. Ianto was a die-hard credit watcher, getting him to move before he’d at least found out who the was responsible for the soundtrack was futile. So she waited.
“Oooo!” Tosh exclaimed, reading her PDA readout and causing everyone, even the bored ushers clearing up to glance at her.
“Problem?” Lisa asked as Jack leaned over Tosh’s shoulder to get a better glance.
“Just looking up something,” Tosh replied vaguely.
“A hot something!” Jack exclaimed, resting his hands gently on Tosh’s shoulders. “Lisa!”
“Yes love,” Lisa replied wincing as she heard herself speak.
She hadn’t meant to call Jack that. Technically they were still at work and endearments like that were purely for home. She’d forgotten herself.
Everything was still very new and wonderful and a little bit strange between the three of them, still trying to work out how everything fitted together. Hence the slip.
“Yes, Jack!” Lisa exclaimed, a little louder than she had intended. She met Jack’s amused glance and Tosh’s understanding expression with equanimity.
She’d intimated to Tosh that things had changed. She was not going to lie to her friend, who had been a little bit surprised to see Jack at Lisa and Ianto’s at 7am a Saturday or two ago. Shopping in Bristol turned into shopping and long conversations in Bristol. Tosh had been very understanding, not to mention wanting details as well. Details that Lisa would give her - one day.
“First opportunity we get, we’re going to CERN,” Jack explained, gently squeezing Tosh’s shoulders before letting go.
“Do I want to know why?” Ianto asked, standing up and gathering his coat and umbrella.
“They have hot scientists there,” Jack noted with a grin, turning to leave the cinema screen. “C’mon, else the restaurant won’t hold our table.”
“This? Is my life!” Owen grouched as he stood up, handing his empty drink carton to the usher as Torchwood: Cardiff trooped out and down the escalators to the cinema exit.
“And you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ianto noted.
That was when the ghosts appeared in the foyer and in the road outside the cinema. And with them the world went insane.
***
The tea room of Torchwood: London was exactly the way that Lisa remembered it. Fresh coffee bubbling away in the machine, an array of mismatched mugs on the sink draining board and six types of milk available in the fridge.
The familiarity was both heartening and alien at the same time to her. Heartening that some things changed more slowly than others; alien because this was not part of her space anymore.
With hands that betrayed only a tremor of the emotion coursing through her, Lisa poured out two mugs of coffee as she replayed the conversation over and over again in her head.
“No!” she cried, “It’s you and this bloody organisation that doesn’t understand what you’re messing with!”
Adeola sneered at her. “Oh and you and your bunch of reprobates at Cardiff do?”
She winced at the sarcasm, pushing aside the instinct to defend her friends to Adeola. “We know that there is something not quite right.” she stated as calmly as possible. “We know-”
“Nothing!” Adeola exclaimed throwing her hands up at her. “Lisa! Listen, don’t you think that Director Hartman would let the Ghost Shift continue if there was the slightest chance that it would bring about the ‘End of the World’ as you so melodramatically put it?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, not caring whether her voice carried.
Adeola shook her head. “You’ve changed Lisa,”
she said, the pity in her voice clear to hear. ‘“You’re not the person I used to know.”
“Yes, well...” she sighed. “Perhaps that’s for the best. As the Adeola *I* used to know would at least hear me out and not just accept the company line!”
Lisa sensed a presence behind her as she poured the milk into her coffee. If Ianto was here he’d mutter something about ruining good coffee. “The next time you want me to gather intelligence,” she said, her voice wobbling. “You can bloody well do it yourself Jack Harkness!”
“Recommendation noted.” he replied, his tone formal as he crossed the small space to where she stood. He touched her shoulder.
Wordlessly, Lisa turned and went into his arms.
Without asking, Jack wrapped his arms, cradling her against his chest. She felt the dry touch of lips against her hairline. In thanks, she nuzzled her nose against the bare skin above his shirt collar.
Time passed and neither moved from the embrace or said anything. It took the sound of approaching footsteps echoing from the corridor outside for them to part but stay close to each other.
Lisa turned back to the counter to pick up the two mugs of coffee. She passed one to Jack.
“You did your best.” Jack stated, taking the coffee with a nod.
“Still doesn’t take away from the fact that I failed to get Adeola to listen to me.” Lisa noted bitterly, taking a sip of coffee.
“We could still be wrong, you know.” Jack noted, shrugging his shoulders.
“Based on what?” she asked. “We’ve been over the data a thousand times, Jack. Both Tosh’s and Owen’s experiments point to something being *wrong* with these so-called ghosts”
She sighed loudly. The arguments were, as ever, rhetorical. It was why they were in London after all. To present the argument to shut down the Ghost Shift experiment before... something, anything happened.
“I’d rather be called a Cassandra than not say anything and be right.”
‘I know,” Jack replied, laying a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve done what we can.”
Lisa stared down at her coffee. Unfortunately, it had no answers. “What if we’re right?”
Jack shrugged. “We do what we always do. We carry on and clear up London’s messes.”
***
When the world ended, it began with bad timekeeping. Or at least that’s what Lisa darkly joked later.
She was sitting in her cubby hole, trying to make head or tail of Owen’s requisition list, listening to Tosh, sitting at her desk, counting the next Ghost Shift in, Ianto was walking around with a tray of coffees, Owen was crashing around in the autopsy room. and Jack was playing ‘fetch’ with Myfanwy.
Everyone was a little on edge; especially after the big row where Owen swore blind that the Ghost that he saw in his flat was Katie. Jack emphatically stated otherwise. Tosh’s data backed him up.
It took three stiches, a bottle of very good scotch and five days of sullen silence for normality to return to Torchwood: Cardiff. Or as normal as it ever got.
“Ghost Shift in three... two... one.” Toshiko called out. Lisa glanced at the CCTV footage, just to make sure that everything was normal on the Plass to see... nothing.
“JACK!” Lisa yelled as she ran down from the office to where Tosh sat. “Tosh! Scan for the energy readings.” she called out as she reached her friend.
“On it!” Tosh replied, her fingers moving quickly over her keyboard. “You think there’s something amiss?”
“Has to be.” Lisa replied, tamping down on the fear crawling through her. “London run the shifts with a precision that would make the Swiss weep with envy.”
“The thing is, what’s the problem?” Owen asked as he ran up the stairs from Autopsy to join them.
“And do we have enough firepower to cope with it?” Ianto asked, tray in hand as he too gathered with everyone else, staring at the data streaming across Tosh’s screens.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!” Jack stated feverently as he gently cupped Ianto’s elbow, Lisa recognised the gesture, Jack’s way of showing his love. “But it doesn’t hurt to be sure.” he said smiling at them. “Ianto, check the armoury. Owen, I know you have everything you’ll need on standby but-”
“Once more for luck.” Owen grumbled as he turned away to check his emergency kit once again. Ianto touched Lisa’s arm as he headed towards the armoury; a small gesture of love and comfort for both of them.
“Lisa-”
“Be prepared to plug in alongside Tosh and co-ordinate with all available agencies.” she said. “Though hopefully it won’t come to that.” the words sounded hollow to her own ears.
Going on the fearful look in her lover’s eyes, it would seem that Jack wasn’t too optimistic either.
“Tosh, you know what to do.” he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, not taking her eyes from her screens.
Jack touched his earpiece, “Flat Holm, this is Captain Jack Harkness,” he began, reciting the pre-arranged message that he’d drawn up in consultation with the team in case of possible emergencies.
When the metal men (Later, when they had cleared away the worst of it,Jack called them ‘Cybermen’) finally broke through, not twenty minutes later, it was almost an anti-climax.
Within seconds, Ianto had brought up enough ordnance from the armoury to arm a whole UNIT battalion and change. Jack was clearly and calmly giving orders, Tosh was relaying information, Owen was slinging his triage kit onto his back and Lisa was opening channels to every agency, civilian and military who were still at their posts to start co-ordinating a response.
That was what Lisa remembered the most. Not the metal bodies, the electronic voices demanding complete surrender and the sinister promise of being ‘upgraded’ but the constant talking on her part to police chiefs, ministers, civil servants, military commanders - trying to get them onside, to tell them that Torchwood knew what it was doing and if they would *listen* to her they’d have a hope in hell of survival.
She’d morbidly joke later that it reminded her of her painfully short stint as a telemarketer. All two days of it. Except it wasn’t double-glazing she was selling now, but convincing that she and her beloved team (yes, even Owen) knew what the hell they were doing.
It took some fancy footwork, not to mention the threat to speak to Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Jack’s suggestion) to get everyone on the same page.
Throughout Lisa felt disconnected from herself. As if she was watching this as a film at the Cineworld on Mary Ann Street. It helped in a way, as she was sure that if she didn’t let her training, both London and Cardiff, take over she’d be no use to anyone.
As Lisa ran around the Hub, talking to the various disaster response co-ordinators and helping her friends and comrades fend off the metal monsters, she only took brief notice of the fact that the London hotline was ringing off the hook. The ansaphone was picking up the calls but it could and would wait.
Just as quickly as they had arrived, the metal men left. Swept away (literally) by an unknown, unseen force, Lisa was too scared and exhausted to care what became of them. As was everyone else she spoke to on the phone. The same with Tosh, Owen, Jack and Ianto, who she hugged in turn as she soon as she could. They were alive, that was all that mattered.
***
It was the way that her phone was vibrating furiously across the wood of her desk that finally inspired Lisa to exert the energy to actually pick the damn thing up.
Not that she had any plans to use it for it’s intended purpose. Human interaction would require more energy than she had to her name at that moment in time.
Still, she checked the display to see how many missed calls she’d gotten from panicked family members. She loved them dearly but phoning would, again, require energy she didn’t have right then.
Sure enough - first missed caller listed was her mum. Missed five times. Guiltily Lisa glanced at the landline before picking up the receiver and dialling her mother’s number without looking at the keypad.
As she did so, she glanced through the list of missed calls. Strangely enough she saw that there were missed calls from colleages from Torchwood: London. People she hadn’t spoken to since coming to Cardiff. Odd.
“Mrs Mercy Hallett speaking.”
“Hello, Mum? It’s me-” Lisa began, nearly sagging onto Jack’s desk in relief at hearing her mum’s voice on the phone.
“Oh... Lisa!” Mrs Hallett exclaimed, voice breaking. “You’re safe! Oh Lord in heaven, please be safe! Are Toshiko and Ianto with you, love?” she asked. Lisa could hear muted voices and soft yells from the background. Her dad, her brother and wasn’t that Aunt Mary?
“Yes, they’re here. They’re fine too.” Lisa replied, relief flooding through her voice. “Is everyone okay your end?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line, one that scared Lisa.
“Have you seen the news?” Mercy Hallett asked after a long pause, her voice breaking with emotion.
“What? No, I haven’t seen the news.” she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see both Jack and Ianto standing in the doorway of the office. They looked as weary as she felt. “Mum! Tell me what’s wrong!” Lisa demanded, fear colouring her voice.
She listened hard to her mother’s soft rasping breath on the phone and to Ianto call out to Tosh to call up the newswires.
“There’s been an attack on Canary Wharf.”
***
Try as hard as she might, Lisa would never be able to tell anyone what happened next.
She could remember staring at the newswires scrolling across Jack’s computer with the (few) black and white facts of the events unfolding in Canada Square.
The photos from the Reuters feed of smoke belching from the higher floors of One Canada Square would stay with her for the rest of her life.
That Ianto stood, staring at the London hotline, watching the office ansaphone rattle off it’s stored messages. No pleas for help, just requests, to pass on messages. Messages of love, of goodbye.
Then Owen at her side, talking quietly to her. Not that she could make out what he was saying; just his tone. Soothing and gentle, just like he talked to his patients at Flat Holm.
She turned to see Ianto looking as if someone had taken out his batteries or cut his strings. If it wasn’t for Jack holding him up, Lisa knew he would be in a heap on the floor.
“Let’s get you two somewhere a bit more comfortable,” she heard Owen say gently. “You’re in shock.”
“I’ll prep the Quiet Room” someone said. It sounded like Tosh. Lisa didn’t turn to see - all she could see was the stark horror of Torchwood: London burning brightly against the Thames skyline and hear the voices of her co-workers asking them to pass on their final messages to their loved ones.
***
Lisa woke upying next to a warm body, to the touch of a hand gently running through her hair.
“Hi,” she whispered as she glanced up at Jack who was cradling her against him.
“Hey,” he replied, just as softly.
“Cariad,” Ianto greeted her. He was lying, curled up by Jack’s side, on the other side of the bed to her. He reached out to touch her hand, his arm snaking over Jack’s torso. Lisa grabbed his hand and held onto it as if her life depended on it as the memories of what they had seen and survived threatened to drown her.
“Where’s Owen and Tosh?” she asked, glancing around at her surroundings. The Quiet Room was just that. A place for quiet and peace, decorated with minimal furniture (a big comfortable bed, a small table or two and a large, battered leather sofa). Lisa had only come here on those, rare, occasions when she needed to be away from *everyone*.
“I sent them home, they’re fine. Just need to rest.” Jack replied, “It’s the best place for them right now. Although who’s home they’ll end up in is anyone’s guess!”
“But at least they are safe.” she confirmed.
“Yes.”
She steeled herself to ask the next question. “Do we have any more information about what happened to London?”
As the words left her mouth she could feel Jack tense up under her. She clung onto Ianto’s hand all that harder.
“Torchwood: London was the beachhead for an alien incursion.” Jack began, “The ‘official’ line is that it was a terrorist attack’. UNIT are on scene-”
“Did anyone survive?” Ianto asked. His voice was so quiet that Lisa nearly couldn’t hear him.
She felt Jack sigh raggedly. “Twenty survivors accounted for so far.”
The words hit Lisa like knives stabbing into her vitals. Tears formed in her eyes. She may have felt nothing but apathy towards London since her departure but that was aimed more at the organisation, not at the people. Her colleagues, her friends... of whom nearly all of them were...
“There were over 800 people working for London,” she heard Ianto say dully. “What happened to them?”
“I’m so sorry, Ianto, Lisa, all I know is that they’re currently listed as ‘Missing’.” Jack said, voice breaking as he leant down to kiss each of them on the forehead.
As she felt the touch of his lips on her, Lisa began to cry. For the seven hundred lost souls, for their loved ones and for those like her and Ianto, who had survived and would have to live with that guilt for the rest of their lives.
***
The press called it ‘The Battle of Canary Wharf’. Only a few, well placed sources knew how close to the truth the media were for a change.
The British public dealt with the incident the same way they always did. Kept calm and carried on; pausing to remember the dead and to show their solidarity against those that would disrupt their ways of life by gathering in the major squares to remember the seven hundred and ninety seven souls who had died on that fateful afternoon at One Canada Square.
When the full casualty lists came through, everyone at Torchwood: Cardiff took time to read through the list and mourn the dead. Both Lisa and Ianto held Jack as he told them about his lovely Rose, another of the casualties of the fall of London and the doctor he had travelled with for a time.
Time passed and the memorial for those who died at Canary Wharf was arranged. Not that the dead cared, but it helped the living.
The full enormity of events truly hit Lisa as she and Ianto walked across the plaza to stand at the bottom of the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral for the service.
Jack had signed off on their attending without a word, something Lisa was grateful for as she knew that this was going to be hard enough as it was.
They joined the slow procession of the great and the good (politicians, senior civil servants and high ranking military) and those who came to mourn the family and friends they had lost, just like them.
Lisa was slowly walking up the steps behind a rather slow politician, who had stopped to give a vox pop into a microphone shoved into his face when she heard someone calling her and Ianto.
Both she and Ianto turned towards the speaker. Toshiko, flanked by both Jack Harkness and Owen; dressed smartly and somberly.
“You’re here!” Lisa blurted, surprise and gratitude colouring her voice.
“Executive decision.” Jack explained.
“Taken by all of us.” Tosh clarified, reaching out to hug Lisa.
“Thank you.” Ianto replied simply as Jack nodded a greeting to a white haired UNIT brigadier climbing the stairs next to them.
“They may have been bastards, but they were *our* bastards” Owen noted, sticking his hands into his pockets.
“And we look after our own.” Jack noted, reaching out to place a hand on Lisa’s back. “Shall we go in?”
Lisa nodded, turning to walk up the stairs to the enter the cathedral when something caught her eye.
There, on the intersection of St Paul’s Church Yard was a blue police box, just like one she’d seen in Glasgow a few years before. The thing was, she was sure that it wasn’t there a couple of moments ago.
She shook her head - business could wait until tomorrow. Today was a day to say goodbye to the past and look to the future.
“Yes, we shall.” she said, turning away as behind her the blue box’s door opened.
FIN
The LONG Author notes - please read after the fic!
All warnings and notes can be found in the Master Post
Lisa Hallett woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover. Not a big one, for which she was grateful but it was there nonetheless. She’d had a great birthday celebration and now she was paying the piper, so to speak. All she wanted to do was lie in bed, nurse her aching head and perhaps cuddle up with Ianto. Best hangover cure known to man, woman or beast.
“Good morning, beautiful!” a voice murmured right by her ear.
Headache or no, Lisa turned to face the speaker so fast that her head spun. Not the best cure for a headache that was certain.
“Good morning, Jack.” she replied, sounding a lot braver (not to mention a lot less fragile) than she felt right then.
Sure enough, Jack Harkness was lying right next to her, wearing his undershirt and the worst case of bed hair Lisa had seen in a long time.
“How are you feeling?” Jack asked quietly.
Lisa pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Shouldn’t I be asking if you slept okay?” she asked, slightly bemused by the turn of events.
A patented movie star smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes crossed the captain’s face. “I asked first,” Jack replied. “But I slept fine, thanks for asking.”
“I... um... have a bit of a hangover, but other than that...” Lisa mumbled edging towards the side of the bed. “Just gotta go grab some painkillers!”
Jack didn’t stop her as she ran to the bathroom like a coward. Albeit a coward dressed in what was Ianto’s shirt from two days before.
Once behind the ‘relative’ safety of the bathroom door, Lisa leaned against the door and wondered again why she had ever thought that inviting Jack Harkness (her boss!) to share a bed (and more) with her and Ianto (who was just as enthusiastic) was a good idea.
Last night had been a perfect opportunity, what with it being her birthday celebrations. Not to mention that Jack looked as if he needed someone to cheer him up; especially after Defry Vale. So she and Ianto had taken a chance and invited Jack back for ‘coffee’.
To be fair to Jack, he could have said ‘no’. But he didn’t and came home for coffee and more.
Hence the awkward situation Lisa had ran from, in search of painkillers for her hangover. She reached into the bathroom cabinet to pull out the pain killers as well as a water glass.
In the bedroom, she heard voices talking. “Lisa, cariad?” a voice bellowed from the other side of the door. Lisa winced at the volume. Ianto, of course. Never a respecter of hangovers. Even his own. “Are you alright?”
She deigned not to answer. He knew the answer to that one. Fine but with a killer headache.
Quickly, Lisa drew a glass of water and plucked the painkillers out of the medicine cabinet before opening the door back to the bedroom and... her lover and the man she wanted to love both of them.
Ianto was ‘dressed’ in navy cotton pajama trousers and a soft grey t-shirt and sitting on the edge of the bed. The tray of coffees in his hands was an incongruous touch; more suited to work than to their home.
Jack was still under the covers, sitting up, taking a mug off the tray as she walked back into the room.
“Well, I can’t speak for anyone else but I am glad that last night happened.” Ianto said as Lisa sat down on the bed, curling her legs underneath her.
“What he said.” Lisa stated quietly. She swallowed the tablets, draining the contents of the water glass to wash them down. “I had a wonderful birthday celebration and don’t regret inviting you back last night, Jack.”
“Would you have liked something to have happened?” Jack shot back, the grin was there but Lisa was aware that there was something darker lurking in Jack’s eyes.
“Would you?”
“Yes, Jack, I would have done.” Lisa replied, quiet and steady.
“Same here.” Ianto replied. “It might not have been the best of times, what with what happened last week at Defry Vale-”
“I was just having a bad day-” Jack cut in, paying close attention to the weave of the duvet cover.
“That’s a lie, Jack and you know it.” Ianto noted quietly. “You may never tell us about why it was so significant but that’s fine. We all have our secrets.”
“But it’s something we’ve been meaning to do for....” he looked to Lisa who continued
“A while now,” she replied. “Remember when you dragged me out to Greenwich Park? You said you liked threesomes?”
Jack nodded but said nothing.
“Well, if the offer was genuine...”
“You’d like to take me up on it?” he asked, humourlessly. “You realise that what happens outside of work-”
“Stays outside of work.” Ianto replied dryly. “First rule of our relationship.” he noted, taking her hand into his.
“You’ve seen over the last couple of months that we can do that quite easily,” Lisa noted. “Your point is?”
Jack glanced from one to the other silently, considering all angles of the argument.
Lisa tried not to fidget or just generally show her nervousness. Now or never, do or die were good thoughts but when it came around to actually acting on the thoughts she’d shared with Ianto about their boss? Not so much.
“Well, I do owe Lisa a present.” Jack stated, looking at her.
“Well, if you’re offering... I’d like to watch you kiss Ianto, before you kiss me.” she replied, heat and nerves flowing through her.
Jack smiled, just a tilt of the lips that said a great deal. “And then?” he asked.
Lisa looked to Ianto, who nodded, smiling at her.
“We have a four day weekend Jack,” Ianto noted, leaning in towards him. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
***
The end of the world started on a wet Wednesday night. Torchwood: Cardiff were at the cinema. The two were not related in any way shape or form.
The last few weeks had been hellish for everyone. The Rift was experiencing the up-curve in its cycle, which meant more work for London and indirectly, Cardiff.
More bodies, more lies to tell, more cases for Flat Holm to deal with. And more paperwork too.
The weather wasn’t exactly helping. In the last few weeks, a day without Cardiff Bay trying to reclaim the city by airdrop was a day to remark upon.
All in all, it made everyone cranky and sent morale crashing through the floor of the (already subterranean) Hub.
Lisa and Tosh had already made plans for the evening, Rift willing. A film, dinner and a *lot* of talking. Tosh had spent the weekend with her family and Lisa wanted to hear all about it.
Inviting the guys along hadn’t been part of the plan but after receiving the news from Flat Holm that three patients who’d been doing so well had given up the fight for life, Lisa made an executive decision at the end of the work day.
She threw them their coats and told them to meet her and Tosh upside in five minutes.
“Want to tell us what this is all about?” Owen asked as they headed into town by taxi.
“We all need a break,” Lisa replied tersely as the sky darkened with yet another storm. “Even if it’s just for a couple of hours,”
She had been expecting Owen to give have a go at her about how her psychology degree didn’t mean that she could make judgements on someone’s mental health. To her surprise he didn’t say anything, instead nodding and asking: “Okay, what do you recommend?”
“A film and food.” Tosh said, brooking no argument. “Followed by drinking.”
Owen smiled slightly. It was the first time Lisa had seen him smile all week. “No arguments from me,” he replied.
“Seconded,” Ianto added.
“Jack?” Lisa asked.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. “I’m in. One condition, London pick up the tab.”
Lisa grinned, “Good job that I know London’s petty cash code then isn’t it?”
“Will serve the Bristol boys not to fob their receipts onto us to deal with from now on!” Tosh noted laughing as the taxi drew up outside the cinema.
With hindsight, given the weather and all, choosing a film called Sunshine might not have been the best idea but it was one that nobody had seen yet and Danny Boyle never disappointed.
Somewhere, around the Transit of Mercury scene, Lisa felt the tensions of the last few weeks leech out of her system. A quick glance at her colleagues, bathed in the light of the silver and gold screen told her that she wasn’t alone.
When the film finished and the lights went up in the cinema, Lisa felt not just the buzz of seeing a good film but the delight of seeing it with people she cared about.
It took the work of a moment to curl up her half-eaten bag of Minstrels to shove them into her handbag and gather up the belongings she’d brought with her. Raincoat, umbrella, handbag were all accounted for. Everything else could take care of themselves.
As she pushed herself to her feet, she could hear Ianto and Owen quietly discuss the merits of Danny Boyle as a film maker. It wasn’t so much the subject as the discussion that made Lisa raise an eyebrow but Ianto and Owen having a ‘civilised’ conversation without resorting to sarcasm. Would wonders ever cease?
“Well?” Lisa asked as Jack and Tosh both stood up, gathering their coats and other paraphenalia. It didn’t surprise Lisa at all that Tosh had already gotten her PDA out of her bag to look something up. She did it every time, usually to check some arcane detail that she’d share with Lisa later.
“You know, for a science fiction film that was remarkably accurate” Jack noted as he eased his greatcoat on.
“Apart from the whole, ‘The Sun only has 50 years of life left!’ part,” Tosh pointed out, not taking her eyes from her PDA. The light casting shadows around the emptying cinema.
“Apart from that.” Jack conceded.
“It’s called ‘science fiction’ for a reason guys.” Owen noted, still seated and still continuing his conversation with Ianto if Lisa was any judge.
Lisa perched on the arm of a chair and patiently watched the credits roll. Ianto was a die-hard credit watcher, getting him to move before he’d at least found out who the was responsible for the soundtrack was futile. So she waited.
“Oooo!” Tosh exclaimed, reading her PDA readout and causing everyone, even the bored ushers clearing up to glance at her.
“Problem?” Lisa asked as Jack leaned over Tosh’s shoulder to get a better glance.
“Just looking up something,” Tosh replied vaguely.
“A hot something!” Jack exclaimed, resting his hands gently on Tosh’s shoulders. “Lisa!”
“Yes love,” Lisa replied wincing as she heard herself speak.
She hadn’t meant to call Jack that. Technically they were still at work and endearments like that were purely for home. She’d forgotten herself.
Everything was still very new and wonderful and a little bit strange between the three of them, still trying to work out how everything fitted together. Hence the slip.
“Yes, Jack!” Lisa exclaimed, a little louder than she had intended. She met Jack’s amused glance and Tosh’s understanding expression with equanimity.
She’d intimated to Tosh that things had changed. She was not going to lie to her friend, who had been a little bit surprised to see Jack at Lisa and Ianto’s at 7am a Saturday or two ago. Shopping in Bristol turned into shopping and long conversations in Bristol. Tosh had been very understanding, not to mention wanting details as well. Details that Lisa would give her - one day.
“First opportunity we get, we’re going to CERN,” Jack explained, gently squeezing Tosh’s shoulders before letting go.
“Do I want to know why?” Ianto asked, standing up and gathering his coat and umbrella.
“They have hot scientists there,” Jack noted with a grin, turning to leave the cinema screen. “C’mon, else the restaurant won’t hold our table.”
“This? Is my life!” Owen grouched as he stood up, handing his empty drink carton to the usher as Torchwood: Cardiff trooped out and down the escalators to the cinema exit.
“And you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ianto noted.
That was when the ghosts appeared in the foyer and in the road outside the cinema. And with them the world went insane.
***
The tea room of Torchwood: London was exactly the way that Lisa remembered it. Fresh coffee bubbling away in the machine, an array of mismatched mugs on the sink draining board and six types of milk available in the fridge.
The familiarity was both heartening and alien at the same time to her. Heartening that some things changed more slowly than others; alien because this was not part of her space anymore.
With hands that betrayed only a tremor of the emotion coursing through her, Lisa poured out two mugs of coffee as she replayed the conversation over and over again in her head.
“No!” she cried, “It’s you and this bloody organisation that doesn’t understand what you’re messing with!”
Adeola sneered at her. “Oh and you and your bunch of reprobates at Cardiff do?”
She winced at the sarcasm, pushing aside the instinct to defend her friends to Adeola. “We know that there is something not quite right.” she stated as calmly as possible. “We know-”
“Nothing!” Adeola exclaimed throwing her hands up at her. “Lisa! Listen, don’t you think that Director Hartman would let the Ghost Shift continue if there was the slightest chance that it would bring about the ‘End of the World’ as you so melodramatically put it?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, not caring whether her voice carried.
Adeola shook her head. “You’ve changed Lisa,”
she said, the pity in her voice clear to hear. ‘“You’re not the person I used to know.”
“Yes, well...” she sighed. “Perhaps that’s for the best. As the Adeola *I* used to know would at least hear me out and not just accept the company line!”
Lisa sensed a presence behind her as she poured the milk into her coffee. If Ianto was here he’d mutter something about ruining good coffee. “The next time you want me to gather intelligence,” she said, her voice wobbling. “You can bloody well do it yourself Jack Harkness!”
“Recommendation noted.” he replied, his tone formal as he crossed the small space to where she stood. He touched her shoulder.
Wordlessly, Lisa turned and went into his arms.
Without asking, Jack wrapped his arms, cradling her against his chest. She felt the dry touch of lips against her hairline. In thanks, she nuzzled her nose against the bare skin above his shirt collar.
Time passed and neither moved from the embrace or said anything. It took the sound of approaching footsteps echoing from the corridor outside for them to part but stay close to each other.
Lisa turned back to the counter to pick up the two mugs of coffee. She passed one to Jack.
“You did your best.” Jack stated, taking the coffee with a nod.
“Still doesn’t take away from the fact that I failed to get Adeola to listen to me.” Lisa noted bitterly, taking a sip of coffee.
“We could still be wrong, you know.” Jack noted, shrugging his shoulders.
“Based on what?” she asked. “We’ve been over the data a thousand times, Jack. Both Tosh’s and Owen’s experiments point to something being *wrong* with these so-called ghosts”
She sighed loudly. The arguments were, as ever, rhetorical. It was why they were in London after all. To present the argument to shut down the Ghost Shift experiment before... something, anything happened.
“I’d rather be called a Cassandra than not say anything and be right.”
‘I know,” Jack replied, laying a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve done what we can.”
Lisa stared down at her coffee. Unfortunately, it had no answers. “What if we’re right?”
Jack shrugged. “We do what we always do. We carry on and clear up London’s messes.”
***
When the world ended, it began with bad timekeeping. Or at least that’s what Lisa darkly joked later.
She was sitting in her cubby hole, trying to make head or tail of Owen’s requisition list, listening to Tosh, sitting at her desk, counting the next Ghost Shift in, Ianto was walking around with a tray of coffees, Owen was crashing around in the autopsy room. and Jack was playing ‘fetch’ with Myfanwy.
Everyone was a little on edge; especially after the big row where Owen swore blind that the Ghost that he saw in his flat was Katie. Jack emphatically stated otherwise. Tosh’s data backed him up.
It took three stiches, a bottle of very good scotch and five days of sullen silence for normality to return to Torchwood: Cardiff. Or as normal as it ever got.
“Ghost Shift in three... two... one.” Toshiko called out. Lisa glanced at the CCTV footage, just to make sure that everything was normal on the Plass to see... nothing.
“JACK!” Lisa yelled as she ran down from the office to where Tosh sat. “Tosh! Scan for the energy readings.” she called out as she reached her friend.
“On it!” Tosh replied, her fingers moving quickly over her keyboard. “You think there’s something amiss?”
“Has to be.” Lisa replied, tamping down on the fear crawling through her. “London run the shifts with a precision that would make the Swiss weep with envy.”
“The thing is, what’s the problem?” Owen asked as he ran up the stairs from Autopsy to join them.
“And do we have enough firepower to cope with it?” Ianto asked, tray in hand as he too gathered with everyone else, staring at the data streaming across Tosh’s screens.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!” Jack stated feverently as he gently cupped Ianto’s elbow, Lisa recognised the gesture, Jack’s way of showing his love. “But it doesn’t hurt to be sure.” he said smiling at them. “Ianto, check the armoury. Owen, I know you have everything you’ll need on standby but-”
“Once more for luck.” Owen grumbled as he turned away to check his emergency kit once again. Ianto touched Lisa’s arm as he headed towards the armoury; a small gesture of love and comfort for both of them.
“Lisa-”
“Be prepared to plug in alongside Tosh and co-ordinate with all available agencies.” she said. “Though hopefully it won’t come to that.” the words sounded hollow to her own ears.
Going on the fearful look in her lover’s eyes, it would seem that Jack wasn’t too optimistic either.
“Tosh, you know what to do.” he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, not taking her eyes from her screens.
Jack touched his earpiece, “Flat Holm, this is Captain Jack Harkness,” he began, reciting the pre-arranged message that he’d drawn up in consultation with the team in case of possible emergencies.
When the metal men (Later, when they had cleared away the worst of it,Jack called them ‘Cybermen’) finally broke through, not twenty minutes later, it was almost an anti-climax.
Within seconds, Ianto had brought up enough ordnance from the armoury to arm a whole UNIT battalion and change. Jack was clearly and calmly giving orders, Tosh was relaying information, Owen was slinging his triage kit onto his back and Lisa was opening channels to every agency, civilian and military who were still at their posts to start co-ordinating a response.
That was what Lisa remembered the most. Not the metal bodies, the electronic voices demanding complete surrender and the sinister promise of being ‘upgraded’ but the constant talking on her part to police chiefs, ministers, civil servants, military commanders - trying to get them onside, to tell them that Torchwood knew what it was doing and if they would *listen* to her they’d have a hope in hell of survival.
She’d morbidly joke later that it reminded her of her painfully short stint as a telemarketer. All two days of it. Except it wasn’t double-glazing she was selling now, but convincing that she and her beloved team (yes, even Owen) knew what the hell they were doing.
It took some fancy footwork, not to mention the threat to speak to Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Jack’s suggestion) to get everyone on the same page.
Throughout Lisa felt disconnected from herself. As if she was watching this as a film at the Cineworld on Mary Ann Street. It helped in a way, as she was sure that if she didn’t let her training, both London and Cardiff, take over she’d be no use to anyone.
As Lisa ran around the Hub, talking to the various disaster response co-ordinators and helping her friends and comrades fend off the metal monsters, she only took brief notice of the fact that the London hotline was ringing off the hook. The ansaphone was picking up the calls but it could and would wait.
Just as quickly as they had arrived, the metal men left. Swept away (literally) by an unknown, unseen force, Lisa was too scared and exhausted to care what became of them. As was everyone else she spoke to on the phone. The same with Tosh, Owen, Jack and Ianto, who she hugged in turn as she soon as she could. They were alive, that was all that mattered.
***
It was the way that her phone was vibrating furiously across the wood of her desk that finally inspired Lisa to exert the energy to actually pick the damn thing up.
Not that she had any plans to use it for it’s intended purpose. Human interaction would require more energy than she had to her name at that moment in time.
Still, she checked the display to see how many missed calls she’d gotten from panicked family members. She loved them dearly but phoning would, again, require energy she didn’t have right then.
Sure enough - first missed caller listed was her mum. Missed five times. Guiltily Lisa glanced at the landline before picking up the receiver and dialling her mother’s number without looking at the keypad.
As she did so, she glanced through the list of missed calls. Strangely enough she saw that there were missed calls from colleages from Torchwood: London. People she hadn’t spoken to since coming to Cardiff. Odd.
“Mrs Mercy Hallett speaking.”
“Hello, Mum? It’s me-” Lisa began, nearly sagging onto Jack’s desk in relief at hearing her mum’s voice on the phone.
“Oh... Lisa!” Mrs Hallett exclaimed, voice breaking. “You’re safe! Oh Lord in heaven, please be safe! Are Toshiko and Ianto with you, love?” she asked. Lisa could hear muted voices and soft yells from the background. Her dad, her brother and wasn’t that Aunt Mary?
“Yes, they’re here. They’re fine too.” Lisa replied, relief flooding through her voice. “Is everyone okay your end?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line, one that scared Lisa.
“Have you seen the news?” Mercy Hallett asked after a long pause, her voice breaking with emotion.
“What? No, I haven’t seen the news.” she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see both Jack and Ianto standing in the doorway of the office. They looked as weary as she felt. “Mum! Tell me what’s wrong!” Lisa demanded, fear colouring her voice.
She listened hard to her mother’s soft rasping breath on the phone and to Ianto call out to Tosh to call up the newswires.
“There’s been an attack on Canary Wharf.”
***
Try as hard as she might, Lisa would never be able to tell anyone what happened next.
She could remember staring at the newswires scrolling across Jack’s computer with the (few) black and white facts of the events unfolding in Canada Square.
The photos from the Reuters feed of smoke belching from the higher floors of One Canada Square would stay with her for the rest of her life.
That Ianto stood, staring at the London hotline, watching the office ansaphone rattle off it’s stored messages. No pleas for help, just requests, to pass on messages. Messages of love, of goodbye.
Then Owen at her side, talking quietly to her. Not that she could make out what he was saying; just his tone. Soothing and gentle, just like he talked to his patients at Flat Holm.
She turned to see Ianto looking as if someone had taken out his batteries or cut his strings. If it wasn’t for Jack holding him up, Lisa knew he would be in a heap on the floor.
“Let’s get you two somewhere a bit more comfortable,” she heard Owen say gently. “You’re in shock.”
“I’ll prep the Quiet Room” someone said. It sounded like Tosh. Lisa didn’t turn to see - all she could see was the stark horror of Torchwood: London burning brightly against the Thames skyline and hear the voices of her co-workers asking them to pass on their final messages to their loved ones.
***
Lisa woke upying next to a warm body, to the touch of a hand gently running through her hair.
“Hi,” she whispered as she glanced up at Jack who was cradling her against him.
“Hey,” he replied, just as softly.
“Cariad,” Ianto greeted her. He was lying, curled up by Jack’s side, on the other side of the bed to her. He reached out to touch her hand, his arm snaking over Jack’s torso. Lisa grabbed his hand and held onto it as if her life depended on it as the memories of what they had seen and survived threatened to drown her.
“Where’s Owen and Tosh?” she asked, glancing around at her surroundings. The Quiet Room was just that. A place for quiet and peace, decorated with minimal furniture (a big comfortable bed, a small table or two and a large, battered leather sofa). Lisa had only come here on those, rare, occasions when she needed to be away from *everyone*.
“I sent them home, they’re fine. Just need to rest.” Jack replied, “It’s the best place for them right now. Although who’s home they’ll end up in is anyone’s guess!”
“But at least they are safe.” she confirmed.
“Yes.”
She steeled herself to ask the next question. “Do we have any more information about what happened to London?”
As the words left her mouth she could feel Jack tense up under her. She clung onto Ianto’s hand all that harder.
“Torchwood: London was the beachhead for an alien incursion.” Jack began, “The ‘official’ line is that it was a terrorist attack’. UNIT are on scene-”
“Did anyone survive?” Ianto asked. His voice was so quiet that Lisa nearly couldn’t hear him.
She felt Jack sigh raggedly. “Twenty survivors accounted for so far.”
The words hit Lisa like knives stabbing into her vitals. Tears formed in her eyes. She may have felt nothing but apathy towards London since her departure but that was aimed more at the organisation, not at the people. Her colleagues, her friends... of whom nearly all of them were...
“There were over 800 people working for London,” she heard Ianto say dully. “What happened to them?”
“I’m so sorry, Ianto, Lisa, all I know is that they’re currently listed as ‘Missing’.” Jack said, voice breaking as he leant down to kiss each of them on the forehead.
As she felt the touch of his lips on her, Lisa began to cry. For the seven hundred lost souls, for their loved ones and for those like her and Ianto, who had survived and would have to live with that guilt for the rest of their lives.
***
The press called it ‘The Battle of Canary Wharf’. Only a few, well placed sources knew how close to the truth the media were for a change.
The British public dealt with the incident the same way they always did. Kept calm and carried on; pausing to remember the dead and to show their solidarity against those that would disrupt their ways of life by gathering in the major squares to remember the seven hundred and ninety seven souls who had died on that fateful afternoon at One Canada Square.
When the full casualty lists came through, everyone at Torchwood: Cardiff took time to read through the list and mourn the dead. Both Lisa and Ianto held Jack as he told them about his lovely Rose, another of the casualties of the fall of London and the doctor he had travelled with for a time.
Time passed and the memorial for those who died at Canary Wharf was arranged. Not that the dead cared, but it helped the living.
The full enormity of events truly hit Lisa as she and Ianto walked across the plaza to stand at the bottom of the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral for the service.
Jack had signed off on their attending without a word, something Lisa was grateful for as she knew that this was going to be hard enough as it was.
They joined the slow procession of the great and the good (politicians, senior civil servants and high ranking military) and those who came to mourn the family and friends they had lost, just like them.
Lisa was slowly walking up the steps behind a rather slow politician, who had stopped to give a vox pop into a microphone shoved into his face when she heard someone calling her and Ianto.
Both she and Ianto turned towards the speaker. Toshiko, flanked by both Jack Harkness and Owen; dressed smartly and somberly.
“You’re here!” Lisa blurted, surprise and gratitude colouring her voice.
“Executive decision.” Jack explained.
“Taken by all of us.” Tosh clarified, reaching out to hug Lisa.
“Thank you.” Ianto replied simply as Jack nodded a greeting to a white haired UNIT brigadier climbing the stairs next to them.
“They may have been bastards, but they were *our* bastards” Owen noted, sticking his hands into his pockets.
“And we look after our own.” Jack noted, reaching out to place a hand on Lisa’s back. “Shall we go in?”
Lisa nodded, turning to walk up the stairs to the enter the cathedral when something caught her eye.
There, on the intersection of St Paul’s Church Yard was a blue police box, just like one she’d seen in Glasgow a few years before. The thing was, she was sure that it wasn’t there a couple of moments ago.
She shook her head - business could wait until tomorrow. Today was a day to say goodbye to the past and look to the future.
“Yes, we shall.” she said, turning away as behind her the blue box’s door opened.
FIN
The LONG Author notes - please read after the fic!