Jack stumbled as he made his way through the portal, this time landing on pavement as he reached out to stop himself from tumbling forward. The ground was wet under his hands and as he looked up, he felt the fine drizzle that signified winter in Wales on his face.

"Lovely," he muttered as he stood up and looked around. The scene around him was very familiar. He was standing on the Plass, the railing to the Bay behind him as he looked towards the Millennium Centre. People were looking at him curiously, but no one stopped to speak with him. He smiled wryly. No one ever wanted to help someone else if they looked like they were in need. He frowned. Had he been brought back to his reality? It certainly looked like he had.

He casually walked over to the invisible lift and stood on it. Looking around, he could see that people were passing by, but no one was looking at him. Shrugging, he flipped open the cover on his wrist strap and hit a button. He felt the faint rumble that signified the lift had been activated and a moment later found himself sinking below street level.

A shriek came from somewhere to his left and he glanced over to see the flash of a wingtip off to the side. Looking down, the Hub looked the same as usual. Actually, it looked the same as it did before it had been blown up by the government. He frowned thoughtfully. If he was back in his own timeline then he had better be careful since it was obvious that he was not in what should have been his present. Silently he cursed himself for not thinking and just assuming he knew when he was. It seemed like no one was about, which was a good thing. Perhaps he could minimize the damage of crossing his own timeline.

Jack jumped off the concrete platform before it had fully settled. He looked about the space to see if he could pinpoint it to his version of Earth or whether he was in another timeline entirely. The sound of the machinery humming around him was actually comforting to him as he wandered about the space and poked around. From the looks of things the team had gone out on a call. The computer screen at what was what he thought of as Tosh's station showed a map of Cardiff with a glowing mark. He peered closer and saw that the team wasn't too far away. In fact, the tracker for the SUV was off on the edge of the original mark. Sitting down in the stool, he debated whether he should go out and join them, but didn't know if he was there with the team or not. He poked around trying to bring up the CCTV, but the cameras were down. Looking down on the desk, he saw that someone had scrawled EMP on a piece of paper and knew that an electro-magnetic pulse had taken out the local equipment. He picked up the signal of the SUV and set it to send a signal to his vortex manipulator when the team was heading back, so he could get an idea of what was going on before they walked through the door. Then he sat back and just started at the screen for a long moment as he became lost in thought.

Jack sighed. He could use a coffee right now and he spun around towards the kitchen and looked longingly at the coffee area. He frowned thoughtfully. Something wasn't right. Pushing himself up from the stool, he walked over to the kitchen area. What was sitting on the counter was an ordinary coffeemaker. There was no sign of the elaborate machine that Ianto had purchased to make coffee for them. Shrugging, he pulled the pot off the burner and looked down at it. He wrinkled his nose. It had been sitting a while. Dumping it in the sink, he set about making a fresh pot. If the team were out dealing with the rift, he probably had some time before they came back. Turning the pot on to brew, he went back to poking around. He knew he definitely wasn't in his own timeline, even before Ianto came to work for Torchwood. The place had subtle differences, but they were enough to signify he wasn't back in the Hub he was used to.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," he murmured to himself as he rifled through what he thought of as Owen's station. Interestingly enough, that seemed to be the same as he had remembered. Take out cups were littered around the space with some sort of alien plant growing out of the cover of one of the cups that was leaning precariously off to one side. Jack frowned thoughtfully. Now was that deliberate, or had something crawled in there and taken up residence? He shrugged and continued looking for clues.

He turned and stopped abruptly as he came face to face with a container he hadn't seen for some time. Water bubbled gently in the tank, preserving a human hand. He saluted it sharply and gave it a nod. "Doctor," he said in acknowledgement before turning away. He headed to the area of his office.

When he got the door and stepped through he stopped abruptly. It wasn't his office anymore. There was someone else's coat on the stand off to one side and the area looked neat as a pin. It definitely wasn't how he would normally leave it, so he began to wonder if he was even in this reality of Torchwood. He frowned as he stepped through the doorway and went over to sit down in the chair. There was only one way to find out, he thought to himself as he pulled the keyboard closer to him and angled the monitor for better viewing. He decided to log into the system.

When it accepted his login, he sat back for a moment and just watched as the system brought up email, chat, his log and other windows he normally had opened. The chair squeaked in protest as he leaned back and he cupped his hands behind his neck and just waited for the system to completely boot up before he began to sift through the information. He glanced around the room, seeing that while it still had some of his pet projects tucked away on shelves and on the counters, there was something missing about the space. He tried to put his finger on what the difference was, but couldn't seem to do it. Shaking his head, he leaned forward to start reading and catching up.

According to the logs, he was in this reality, but his last log entry had been seven months prior to the current date. He was just about to start checking who the staff members were and who was in charge now when the alarms went off and he could hear the cog wheel door rolling back. He glared at his wristband. It hadn't warned him that the team was coming back. Sighing, he debated whether he should go out and greet his team or to wait and let them find him. A moment later he noticed his fingers were drumming against the desktop. He never was one for waiting so he got up and went to the door to see who was there.

Shoulder length black hair and a petite figure told him instantly who it was. He felt a pang as he watched a very familiar person walk around the computer consoles to a desk. Dropping her handbag on the top, she pulled the stool up and sat down. She typed something into the keyboard and he watched as she fitted the com to her ear. Tapping something, she began to speak and he found himself hanging back, just wanting to watch her for a bit.

"All right, I'm back. Sorry for the delay," she said, her voice soft but audible where he stood. "Let me just log into the system and tell you where they are now." Her hands flew across the keyboard and Jack watched as she pulled up windows of information. "Got them. The cameras are still down but I'm looking to reboot them again. Maybe this time it will work and I can see what they look like. In the meantime, they're about a half mile through the industrial estate on your left. Keep on going in the direction you're headed and you'll find them hiding behind some construction material. What? No of course not. Why do you ask?" Jack pulled back a bit as the young Japanese woman glanced about the space. "No one's here at all. I don't know what you saw on the grid, but no one's here. Okay, the cameras are coming back on line. Let me see if I can pinpoint them now."

Jack watched from the shadows of his office as Toshiko Sato efficiently led the field team to the artifact's location. He watched with pride as she assisted in the capture of some alien who was hording a potentially dangerous weapon. Once again Torchwood efficiently and quietly saved the city without anyone being the wiser. Looking at the woman who had been one of his protégées, he smiled. How anyone could lock away such brilliance was beyond him. He sighed, thinking of petty UNIT bureaucrats and their inability to think outside of the box. His thoughts were interrupted by the distinctive sound of a gun being cocked and he looked up to see that Tosh had stopped what she had been doing and had taken a gun out of her handbag. It was pointed in his direction. She must have heard him behind her.

"Hello, Toshiko," he said as he came out from the shadows of the office. Tosh's eyes grew wide as she took in the man before her. "It's been a while." He could hear the tinny sound of someone speaking into her earpiece, but it was obvious that she wasn't listening.

"Jack? Is that really you?" She asked, her voice trembling.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. He watched as she lowered the gun. Putting it on the desk, she ran to him and he scooped her up in his arms. "Hi," he said with a laugh, gratified with her response as she hugged him hard. "Miss me?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," she said in his ear as she hugged him tight. "Where have you been?"

"All over the place," he said, giving the safest answer he could as he set her back down on her feet. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

"So are you!" She said with a delighted laugh. She stared up into his face. "What happened? You look different."

"Do I?" He asked, not wanting to give any details which might screw up whatever timeline this reality was in. "Don't feel any different. And the old place feels the same." Tosh looked around the Hub, trying to see it with his eyes and shrugged. "At least it does right now. How's everyone doing?"

"You'll find out soon enough," she said with an impish smile. "They're on their way back now."

"You better let them know you're okay, since you didn't respond when they asked," Jack pointed out. Tosh nodded and quickly reactivated her com to let the team know that she was all right and she had a surprise for them when they got back. At that moment his vortex manipulator beeped, signifying that the SUV was coming within range. He felt a stir of anticipation as he wondered who would be coming to greet him and what their reaction would be. Would it be the same team he knew, or would the make up in this universe be different? He wasn't sure and the anticipation of surprise was something he hadn't felt in a long time. "Hey, I made coffee. Want a cup?"

"Would I ever," Tosh said with a smile. Together they walked over to the kitchen area and Jack poured two mugs. Clinking them together in a toast, they drank the coffee. Tosh made a face after taking a sip.

"Oh, still not good at that, are you?" She said with a wrinkle of her nose. "Let me make a fresh pot or else you'll have it thrown back in your face!"

"Hey, it isn't that bad!" Jack protested. "Is it?" She just gave him a look as she dumped the pot down the drain. He hadn't thought it was that bad, but then nothing could ever be as good as Ianto would have made it. He leaned against the counter as he watched her work.

"You're smiling," she noted as she glanced at him as she repacked the filter and set the coffee to brew. "Happy to be back?"

"Yeah, I am," he replied. In a way no matter who was on this team, he felt happy to be able to see her again. To perhaps say what he hadn't been able to say in the past. Hopefully without screwing up the timelines at all. "I've really missed you."

"We've missed you," she said. She seemed on the verge of saying something else but held back. Jack wondered what it was she had been about to say, but shrugged it off. He'd find out soon enough. "Are you here to stay this time?"

"Yeah, well, about that…" he started saying when the alarms went off again, signifying the door was opening again. The rest of the team had arrived. Toshiko turned around and looked.

"They're here," she said with a smile and headed out of the little alcove to where the team was standing. He took a deep breath and followed Tosh out in the main area. After about ten steps he stopped, shocked by what he saw.

Standing in front of him was the Torchwood team from this reality. At the head was a tall woman with dark curly hair. "Suzie," he breathed, not having expected to see her. Behind her someone cursed and he could see Owen pushing past her to stare at him. He looked the same as always, as did Suzie. What he wasn't expecting was the person in the suit behind Suzie. Before he could say anything the woman who apparently was the new head of Torchwood marched forward and stood nose to nose with him.

"The mighty Captain Jack Harkness has decided to return," she said with a sneer as she stared into his eyes. "What, get bored shagging whatever floozy you ran off with? Or did you decide that you can just waltz in here and pick up where you left off?" She was practically spitting, she was that mad. He opened his mouth to say something but she kept on going, not allowing him a word in edgewise. "Don't try to give me some lame arse excuse, Jack, because I'm not going to accept it. You ran off on us! Left us in the middle of a job! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Suzie," Jack began but she kept on going.

"No! I'm not going to let you sweet talk me! You've done it too many times before, and frankly, I'm done with you. Get the hell out!" She turned and stalked away, her arms crossed over her chest. Owen was looking from her and back to Jack as he tried to figure out what to say. Tosh was looking down, not wanting to witness the confrontation.

"I'm sorry," Jack said. He really didn't know what to say. Didn't know what had happened. He still hadn't read the logs, only the date entries. So he didn't know what was going on and he knew that if something came up at the spur of the moment, he wouldn't have bothered to leave a note. He glanced over to the hand bubbling away in its protective container off to the side. It wasn't the Doctor, because the hand was still here. So he wasn't sure what happened in this timeline to make himself disappear for over seven months.

Owen reached out to touch Suzie's shoulder and she shrugged him off. "I'm going out for some air," she muttered. Owen took a step to follow her but stopped when she ran out the door. He sighed and then turned back to his boss.

"Well, did you expect anything else, Jack?"

"I guess not," Jack responded. "How have you all been?" His glance moved from Owen to the man standing behind him. The man in the suit hadn't moved at all during the whole confrontation with Suzie. He was still trying to reconcile that face as part of the team. Owen followed his gaze before looking back at Jack.

"We've done okay without you, if that's what you want to know. Suzie's taken on the lead and she's done a damned fine job of it," Owen said. "Of course, I'm second, with Tosh and Andy here as support. We've finally gotten him out the Hub and he's a real member of the team now."

"Yeah?" Jack asked, still puzzling how Andy Davidson had become part of Torchwood and not Gwen. "Good for you, Andy." The other man smiled at him tentatively. Jack thought he looked so young and so out of place standing there. "Good for all of you. Just what I would have hoped."

"So, are you back to stay?" Owen asked, getting to the point. Jack sighed and shorter man took on a sour expression. "Then why come back at all? Are you just trying to screw with our heads?"

"It's complicated," Jack said. Owen turned away, shaking his head in disgust.

"Yeah, I'll just bet it is. Look, I'm out of here. Off to find Suzie and see if I can calm her down a bit," he muttered as he left through the open doorway and took the lift upstairs. Tosh gave him a sympathetic look before turning back towards her console. There was work to do. Jack watched as Andy went over to the sofa and started picking up the abandoned pizza boxes that were there. It was so reminiscent of something that Ianto would have done that it almost physically hurt to watch. He turned away and walked back to his office. Sitting back down in the chair, he decided he needed to do some homework. Find out what had happened to Ianto. It also bothered him that Gwen wasn't part of the team. He couldn't imagine a Torchwood without her now. To find that she wasn't in this reality was something that had thrown him more than seeing Andy working with the team. He rested his forehead on his hand and sighed. The whole thing was giving him a headache.