Disclaimer: No I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood, but I imagine if I did, I would be a considerably less bitter person!

Chapter 1

"You'd better have a solution to this Jack!" Owen's yell could be heard throughout the hub. Jack leaned on rail of the catwalk watching the team stagger in. They looked exhausted and more than a little annoyed. Spending an entire day battling angry citizens and angrier aliens had not been on their agenda, and Jack knew that they would have some heated words with him on where he had spent the day. While it hadn't been fair of him to leave them on their own, he knew they needed the Doctor's help.

"Jack!" Owen growled again. Jack straightened as he caught Ianto's eye. A silent warning was passed between them and Jack pressed his lips together, preparing for the full impact of Owen's anger.

"He's waiting for us in the conference room." Ianto informed Owen quietly, sounding slightly exasperated. His arms were full of pizza boxes that they had picked up on their way back; he led the way up the stairs giving Jack a sympathetic look as he entered the conference room.

"Owen, you yelled?" Jack asked forcing himself to sound cheerful. He shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled disarmingly.

"Yeah, where have you been?" Owen met his eyes and sauntered up. He was hardly intimidated by Jack's confident and authoritarian manner. He wanted answers and he wanted them now; it didn't matter to him that Jack was the team leader because they were still a team.

"Getting us some help." Jack replied, keeping his voice even. Owen stretched his jaw and looked back at the girls, before giving Jack a piercing glare.

"You didn't bother to think that maybe we needed help? I mean you are the boss, right? Part of the team." Owen stepped back, analyzing him and Gwen stepped forward.

"Owen..." She began cautiously. They were exhausted and hungry and Gwen knew that did nothing for Owen's already harsh attitude. Part of her was just as upset as he was, but she was learning that trusting Jack was much wiser than any other course.

"You're hungry, tired and it's been a long day, believe me I know. Just get inside and while you're eating we can talk, there are more important things to worry about." Jack gestured to the conference room. "If this still bothers you when we're through, then we can talk about it." Owen didn't respond, brushing past him abruptly. Tosh stopped and looked him in the eye.

"You said you got us some help, are we going to need it?" she asked quietly. She had managed to hide fear well over the years, but Jack knew. He laid a hand on her shoulder, in an effort to calm her.

"We're in good hands."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OIA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ianto was more than a little surprised to see the Doctor, Donna and Rose sitting comfortably around the table. Papers and folders were littered across the surface and Donna had swung her legs over one of the chair arms. It was obvious they'd made themselves at home and Ianto didn't know whether or not to be alarmed. Few people could assume such familiarity in the hub, and usually those that did were locked or retconned. He looked back through the door, hoping Jack was there to explain, but he could hear him still talking to Owen. Rose noticed him first, looking up and smiling genuinely.

"Hello, I'm Rose. I'm an old friend of Jack's." she stood and took several steps forward, pointing to the pizza. "D'ya need a hand with that?" Rose took several boxes off his hands and he smiled faintly.

"Thanks, Ianto Jones." he put the rest of the pizza boxes down. "It's weird, he's never spoken of you, and considering his reputation that is a surprise."

"There are some things that even Jack Harkness knows better than to do." the Doctor answered dryly, standing up and joining them at the end of the table. He held out a hand, grinning madly.

"I'm the Doctor, and that over there is Donna Noble. Brilliant to meet you Ianto Jones." Ianto's jaw dropped and he pointed to pair incredulously.

"You aren't...No...You're not, Dame Rose Tyler, of the Powell Estates?" he asked excitedly. She blushed, glancing at the Doctor.

"One and the same." she answered. Donna looked up at the Doctor, her own jaw dropping. 'Dame?' she mouthed to him in a question, clearly impressed. The Doctor nodded, beaming proudly.

"Then you must be..." Ianto looked at the Doctor, clearly overwhelmed. The Doctor was the whole reason that Torchwood existed. He was the reason the world hadn't been taken over by the Daleks or the Cybermen. Ianto stood in awe, not sure where to begin. The Doctor could sense his shock and nodded once, amused.

"Only one in the universe." his eyes narrowed slightly as he realized that he recognized him. "I've seen you before haven't I. It was after Canary Wharf." he said. Rose's eyes shot toward Ianto, brimming with sympathy. Ianto's eyes widened slightly, the horrors of the day flooding back to him "You lost someone that day, didn't you, I went back afterwards to read the list of the dead and you were there." Doctor leaned forward and laid a hand on his shoulder, understanding the grief that tore through the man. "I'm so sorry." Ianto looked briefly at the pizza boxes, exhaling slowly, willing himself to calm down. When he looked back up his face was practically void of emotion, save for the tears glistening in his eyes.

"Thank you." he said quietly. The rest of the team walked in just then, Jack quickly heading to the front of the room.

"Torchwood, I'd like you to meet the Doctor, Rose and Donna," he paused and looked around the room. "Where's River?" he asked, peering out the door and looking around the hub. Donna shrugged, staring at the pizza.

"She left a note, saying she'd be back, and something about spoilers." she replied. Jack figured it would be better not to ask and instead waved a hand at his team."Doc, meet Torchwood 3. Ianto, Owen, Gwen and Tosh the best in the business."

"S'brilliant to meet you." he shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels.

"The pizza is getting cold." Ianto remarked, sitting down near the end of the table. He passed several boxes to Donna and began opening them up. The smell permeated the room and any other thoughts the group had flew out the window. Little mattered to them anymore except food. Jack sat down and picked up several of the Doctor's papers, passing them to Tosh.

"The Doc has set up new scans that have been running all day. These are the readings we've gotten from so far." he grabbed a slice of pizza and began munching thoughtfully. "Nothing too important, mostly just regular rift activity."

"We think that there could be something big that's drawing all the aliens in, most of them don't have the technology to travel this far away from their home planet; but so far we haven't found anything." the Doctor sat himself across from Tosh, and leaned forward eagerly.

"Sorry, who are you?" Owen asked. Jack sat on the edge of the table and glared at him.

"The Doctor," he said keeping his voice calm. Owen set down his pizza crust and leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at Jack.

"I know who you say they are, but how are we supposed to know? Last guy you brought in here tried to pick us off one by one." he retorted. Owen scowled at him, allowing his exhaustion and anger to take over him.

"Owen!" Gwen snapped , her own anger flaring up.

"You said something big, but like what?" Tosh turned to the Doctor, trying to dispel the uneasy tension.

"Energy emissions, radiation, telepathic wavelengths, we're trying it all." Rose replied. Ianto looked impressed.

"Not just a pretty face then." he remarked. Rose grinned and shook her head.

"What about the global readings?" Tosh asked, looking back up. "You just have readings for Cardiff and the UK, what about globally?"

"Here." The Doctor handed her another piece of paper. "I ran that one just a bit ago." Gwen peered over Tosh's shoulder, trying to decipher the picture. "There seems to be similar sightings throughout the US, with a large concentration on the coastlines." A phone rang and Jack held up a hand to quiet them.

"Hello?" Jack answered.
"All that technology and you still don't have caller id." Jack grinned, recognizing the voice.
"Martha Jones!"