Jack crouched down to examine the exposed manhole, carefully sidestepping the cover lying in the middle of the alley. He pulled a flashlight from his pocket and shined the beam into the sewer, moving it to view all angles beneath him.

"However many were down there, they're all gone now," he declared, rising to his feet. "Gwen, how many did we tag?"

"Five," she answered quickly and Jack could hear her fingers tapping away on the other end of the earpiece. "And they're all on the move. A pair is behind the Oxford Pub, another pair is in the tube."

Owen snorted. "Feasting on rats, I'm sure."

Jack ignored him. "Where's the last one?"

More tapping. "In 1236 Bleeker," Gwen stated. "But I can't tell what floor."

"Alright," he declared, looking back up at his team. "Tosh, Owen… take the pub. Jenny and Ianto, take the station. I'll take the building."

"Is this where we say 'break' now?" Owen snarked, earning eye rolls from both women.

And a punch from Tosh. "Start walking."

Jenny had never been a fan of the tube after midnight. The stations seemed darker than usual and there was always the faint stench of spilled beer. Even on the few occasions she had ridden the cars with Ben, her disdain for late night rides remained.

A tap on her shoulder shifted her attention and she turned to find Ianto pointing at a rat that was lying on the platform. Well, it wasn't so much lying there as it was splattered on the ground.

She peered over the edge and noticed a trail of similar-looking rodents leading into the tunnel. "Well, at least we know where they're hiding," she whispered to her partner.

"We're going to have to get in there without getting smashed to bits," Ianto noted with a twitch of his lips. "Can you shut down power to the line?"

"Probably," she replied with a nod and stepped along the tiled wall until she came to the door marked 'Electrical.' The redhead pulled open the door and stared into the mess of wires and cables. "Maybe," she corrected her previous statement.

His calm demeanor persisted as he reached into his jacket, extracting a roll of black fabric bound together by an elastic band. "I liked your answer better when it was probably," he told her, unrolling the pack to reveal a small tool kit.

The Time Lady extracted a wire cutter from its slot then stepped inside of the electrical room. After sifting through the tangle for roughly five minutes, she cut the power, activating the emergency lights, and snipped a series of wires on separate ends of the room. "Tape," she requested with an outstretched hand. The roll was in her palm before she could finish the word.

Jenny pulled the cables as close together as she could, twisting their ends so they'd meet. She had roughly two more minutes before the power failure triggered a security alarm and she'd need Gwen to make a call to Andy. That was definitely on her lists of things to avoid tonight.

Working quickly, she spliced another wire that was routed to the power box and connected it to the last remaining wire, sealing it with the tape for good measure. The emergency lights flickered and were replaced by the fluorescents of the tube moments later.

Ianto leaned his head back to get a better glimpse of the tunnel. "The light's red."

Jenny slipped from the electrical room and shut the door behind her. "That'll stop any trains from coming into the station."

"I'll ask Tosh to wipe the security cameras later," he said as he walked over to the edge of the platform and hopped down. She joined him after a few moments. "If you see any light, drop flat in the middle of the tracks. It'll shelter you."

"Gee, thanks, Ianto."

He simply shrugged in response as he started walking ahead of her, pulling a flashlight from his other jacket pocket.

"Jenny…"

"Yeah?"

Ianto glanced over his shoulder. "What?"

"You just called my name."

"I can assure you that I did not," he replied.

The Time Lady scratched at the back of her neck. She could have sworn she'd heard her name.

"Jenny…"

The redhead froze in her spot. The voice was distinctly male and the only man within a 300-foot radius was Ianto Jones.

"Seriously, Ianto." She crossed her arms over her chest.

The Welshman stopped walking. "Jenny, I don't know what you're hearing. But I promise you it wasn't…" he added, spinning around to look at her. "Jenny!" he yelled.

Before she had time to react, a Weevil launched itself at the woman, latching its teeth onto her neck. A scream erupted from Jenny's mouth, reverberating through the tunnels. Instinct kicked in and she grabbed the new spray from her belt, shooting it right into the creatures face. While its increased efficacy was clear in that the Weevil began to immediately flail around in pain, it caught Jenny in the face with a claw and she fell, hitting her head against the track below.

"Where are you going?" he called out to her, but she ignored him. Her one and only focus was the cog door fifteen feet ahead. Jack's long strides quickly caught up to her as she reached for the button beside the panel. "Jenny…"

"I need to get out of here…" Her voice was desperate as she struggled to contain her emotions. He never addressed her by anything other than her nickname. It was evident he was just as desperate, too.

He latched onto her outstretched wrist and used it to turn her around, so that she would face him. "I can't let you leave again." He relinquished his grip on her and the arm fell loosely to her side. "Not like this."

"I'm not upset with you Jack," his partner explained softly. "I'm just mad at myself." The Torchwood agent was usually so easy for her to read, yet his features were completely indecipherable.

Jack shook his head at her. "That's not what I meant." He took an unexpected step closer, cupping her face in his hands.

Then he pressed his lips against hers.

The kiss was gentle at first, perhaps out of his apprehension or Jenny's shock. But it grew more urgent as she accepted his advance. Her hands found their way over the thick fabric covering his strong shoulders and laced around his neck. He slipped his arms around the small of her back in response, drawing her closer.

She clung to him, tangling her fingers within his hair in a desperate attempt to bring him nearer, in spite of the fact that little, if any, space remained. As her respiratory bypass system began to kick in, they both parted for air.

Their foreheads pressed together, she smiled up at him. "Wow."

A boyish grin nearly split his face in two. "Yeah."

He moved in to capture the newfound territory once more, for a brief moment, and then began to trail kisses down her jaw and neck. Then at once, his mouth had found its way back to hers.

Her hands soon slid back down his chest and underneath his lapels, pushing the coat off his body. Jack temporarily removed his own limbs from her frame to toss the jacket aside and further obliged when she relieved him of his braces.

Jenny tugged at his shirt and began to undo its buttons until he could fling it to the ground. Jack, on the other hand, made quick work of hers. He then yanked his white undershirt over his head and it joined the growing array of clothing strewn about the Hub.

Jack's slightly rough fingers found their way below the black cotton of her tank and glided along her warm flesh, just as Jenny was exploring the muscles of his abdomen, chest, and shoulders.

She pulled her lips from his with a light smack and brought her head back just enough to create a few centimeters of distance between them. His ice blue eyes searched her face with great concern.

Nothing was wrong. In fact, Jenny couldn't remember a time where anything felt nearly as right in her life. She grinned back at him reassuringly and her voice escaped her body at a volume just above a whisper. "Today, Jack."

Jack freed his hand and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hopefully, there's a bigger bed."

"Oh, there is," Jenny replied. "But it's not like you need it," she added with a wry smile.

He grinned at her and rolled her over so that she was now underneath him, hands on either side of her shoulders supporting his body weight. "Up for a repeat performance then?"

"Strictly speaking, it would be a repeat-repeat-repeat-repeat-repeat -" Jack pressed his lips against hers to impatiently silence her train of thought. Though, he certainly had other motivations, as well. The kiss deepened for a minute and then she pushed him a few inches off of her body. "What happened to lunch?"

"Make it dinner," he growled in reply and lowered his head to kiss her again.

"You did it," Jack told her, cradling her body. "You saved her."

The young redhead squinted as he came into focus above her. "We did," she corrected him.

He laughed and it brought her a sense of comfort. "You give me way too much credit, J2," he snorted. Then he realized it might be the last time he could ever call her that.

Her body jerked involuntarily beneath his grasp as a golden glow began to envelop her skin. "It's almost time. You know… how this works…"

"I told you I wasn't leaving and I'm not," Jack assured her, slipping her hand into his own. She nodded, her body contorting for a second time. "I know you can't help it… but please try to remember, okay? I… I don't know that I would have lasted much longer at Torchwood had you not gotten to Cardiff when you did… and… I don't know that I can do this without you at all." He tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear, desperately trying to commit to memory every detail of the woman he had fallen for.

"I'll try," Jenny answered weakly before screaming in pain. Her pulse began to quicken and her breathing became shallow. Her emerald eyes locked on his sapphire ones. "I love you, Jack."

It was a hell of a moment for her to tell him for the first time. The words had been said to him on so many occasions, yet he had only returned the sentiment once, twice if you counted spirits. They reminded him of just how fleeting life was, how he was destined to lose everyone he cared for. The list had grown so long and it pained him to recall the names that might as well have been written in blood.

But oh, how he loved them. All of them, in their own special way. Each had shaped some part of him in a different manner, made him a little more of a man. They weren't always lovers, many more were just friends. Still, it hadn't lessened his feelings and it didn't make it any easier once they'd gone.

Sometimes, he wondered if they knew how much they meant to him, realized the profound effect they'd had on his life. And the idea that in their final moments, they might have questioned his devotion to them made him more despondent than anything.

Jack pulled her closer to his chest and the words rolled off his tongue as though they had been dying to escape for centuries, "I love you, too." Through his tear-blurred vision, he could swear she had mustered a smile. Returning it, he dipped his head to press his lips against hers.

But all too quickly, they were separated by a burst of regenerative energy as Jack was thrown clear across the room and Jenny collapsed limply to the floor.

"Admit it. You miss me."

The dark blonde folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at her computer screen. "I miss Donna more," she countered with a smirk.

A loud voice chimed in from somewhere out of view. "Quite right!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "You can take her back. I'm through borrowing her."

"Oi!" A few spare screws came hurtling across the monitor and struck him in the back.

Jenny tried not to relish the thought of the woman torturing her boyfriend. "Hey, someone had to stay behind. Couldn't leave Cardiff completely Torchwood-less, now could we?"

Red hair streaked across the display and suddenly, Donna had fully joined their conversation in a form beyond her voice. "Next time Martha asks for our help, you and I are going to U.N.I.T." She thrust her thumb over her shoulder. "Captain Cheesecake over here can stay home."

"I see you've been spending time with Mickey."

Donna confirmed her suspicions with a nod. "Nice bloke. Told me about how he's responsible for you two finally shagging…"

The Time Lord's eyebrows nearly shot to the sky. "Oh, really?"

Jack's hand immediately clapped to his forehead and the woman winced. "I said something I shouldn't have, didn't I?"

Her fingers clawed at the floor, struggling to find the stability to pull herself to her feet. But with each attempt, they came up with nothing but sticky red liquid and dust.

"Jenny, can you hear me?" She felt a hand on her shoulder and her body relaxed. He was still there. And he was real. "Bloody hell."

Two hours later, a white truck marked Harwood's Lorry was parked in a back alley off of the main road. A man in a billowing coat lowered its hatch to conceal seven bodies, bound at the wrists and ankles, with a bag secured over their heads. "Thanks for coming, Rhys."

"Oddly enough, you actually saved me," the burly man chuckled. "Gwen's Mum is over and Anwen keeps asking her to play the same song on the piano so she can dance to it."

"How long has that been going on?"

"When you called? Two hours. When I left… two hours and ten minutes."

Jack let out a loud chuckle. "Speaking of calls… has anyone heard from Ianto or Jenny?"

"Owen!" a voice called from the distance.

The doctor turned in its direction, a smirk firmly planted on his features. "Tea boy, it's about damn time you…" But the words died in his throat as his eyes fell on the person Ianto was half-carrying, half-dragging along with him. He rushed at him, throwing Jenny's other arm around his shoulders. "What the hell happened?"

"We were in the train tunnel and she was blindsided," he told him in a strained voice. "She hit her head pretty hard on tracks once it let her go."

"Gwen's going to have to work overtime on this one." Owen shook his head as they approached the truck. "Jenny, can you hear me?"

The redhead nodded weakly. "At least we know my spray worked."

Harper let out a laugh. "It's true. You should have seen the way ours just drop - " He caught sight of Jack's glare and stopped. "Are you experiencing any tingling?"

"My fingertips," she breathed out. "I've been going into shock for a few minutes now."

Jack leaped onto bed of the truck, pulling the door open in preparation. He hooked his hands under her arms and pulled her onto vehicle, letting her rest on the floor. Within seconds, Owen and Tosh had joined him.

The former Time Agent shed his coat and laid it on top of her, gingerly tucking it around her body to keep her warm. Owen had already balled up his coat and stuffed it under her ankles to keep her legs elevated.

He reached up to bang on the side of the truck, letting Rhys know they were set. A moment later, the lorry lurched forward and began its return back to the Hub.

Jack watched over the medical ward from his familiar position at the railing while Owen tended to Jenny. It wasn't like her to let anything, let alone a lowly Weevil, get the drop on her.

"So what you're saying is…" He gratefully took the mug of steaming coffee from Ianto's hands. "She's hearing voices."

"Well, no," Ianto clarified. "She thought she was hearing me. So just one voice."

"Oh, much better."

"Jack."

He wiped a hand over his face and curled his fingers around the steel rail. "She's the one I'm not supposed to have to worry about."

The other man shook his head. "You worry about her just as much as the rest of us. Just for different reasons."

Jack let out a heaving sigh. He knew that Ianto was right. He did worry about Jenny. But his concern came from the fact that their circumstances were similar. Neither aged at a human rate, neither could die. Everyone in their lives would fade into time, leaving them alone. It was a lonely, scary existence. And at an age he struggled to calculate, he knew it all too well.

She, at a mere twenty-seven Earth years, had only just begun to scratch the surface.

"Owen, if you poke me one more time…" His thin lips spread into a smirk as he jabbed a finger at her hand once more. "Owen!"

"Knock it off," Tosh chided, holding onto Jenny's arm as she lowered herself from the exam table. "She's had major head trauma."

"But…"

The redhead wobbled slightly on her feet and steadied herself against the cool metal. Dr. Harper had spent the last six hours testing and monitoring her in the wake of the subway incident. Though he hadn't made it easy. "Tosh, I apologize. But the first thing I'm going to do once I'm back to normal… is kill him."

"Well, we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it." The slightly older woman began to take a few steps forward, supporting her friend along the way. "Let's get you to the couch, okay?"

The Time Lady nodded as they began to traverse the stairs. She could sense that every move she made was occurring under Jack's watchful gaze and was thankful to be in her old room shortly her ascent was over. Even if it seemed much further away than when she was actually living there.

With a deep exhale, she lowered herself onto the bed, curling so that she was resting on her side. Tosh slid a pillow down from the headboard and the younger woman pressed her head into the fabric. "You're wonderful, you know that?"

"So I've been told," she answered with a bright grin. "Though I don't quite tire of hearing it. Now, get some rest."

Jenny nodded and Toshiko started to retreat toward Owen's office to convene with the rest of the Torchwood team. But a voice from the bed stopped her. "Can you just… can you just not call Ben? I don't want to freak him out. He's already on edge from the other day…"

"I won't. Now go to sleep."

"Yes, m'am."

Silence lingered at the conference table, seeping throughout the Hub. The only noise that remained was the sound of Ianto placing mugs of coffee and tea down on the black surface. Though, the quiet quickly resurfaced once he was in his seat between Jack and Gwen.

The ocean blue eyes of Torchwood's leader were locked on the wall monitor, intently studying the moving image. Though centuries older than his team, Captain Jack Harkness was still perplexed by the results of Jenny's CAT scan.

Her brain activity was much higher than normal. Even by Time Lord standards.

"Tell me again, Owen," his voice rippled through the hush.

The doctor rose to his feet. "During conversation, there are specific regions of the brain that experience neural reactions. Some areas are stimulated when you speak and other areas that are stimulated when you are spoken to." He extended a lanky arm to gesture to the scan of Jenny's brain. "When Jenny was speaking to me, these areas activated and turned off when she was done," he pointed to one portion of the image. "Now these areas..." he moved his hand to another section. "These areas are what were supposed to switch on when I was talking to her. They're activated when you listen to another voice."

"So what… they never switched on?" Gwen questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

"Actually, the complete opposite," Harper countered. "They never switched off."

Ianto was next to chime in. "The Hub wasn't exactly quiet when you examined her…"

Owen shook him off. "I thought of that, too… so I left micro sensors on her, just in case." He folded his arms over his chest and looked from the screen to the table. "This is a live image."

Tosh offered her opinion this time. "Maybe she's not asleep."

He shook her off too and pointed to another region. "Indicates she's in a R.E.M. cycle. There's no way the activity should be this strong when she's asleep."

The Welshwoman placed her hands on her rotund stomach and leaned back further in her chair. "So what now?"

Doctor Harper was quick to answer. "We monitor her in shifts."

"And what… wait for her to have another episode? We don't know what the bloody hell is doing this to her. Maybe it's some Time Lord thing that can kill her…"

Jack interred this time. "It's not Chen-7." At the room full of blank looks, he elaborated, "It's a disease that only affects life forms with two hearts. It makes them hallucinate."

"And why isn't it Chen-7?" Cooper pressed.

"Because Jenny would have been dead hours ago." Jack stood from the chair and pressed his hands to the table. "You guys figure out the rotation for the daytime. I'll take the night shift." He turned and moved to leave the room, but stopped just at the threshold. "And don't say a word to her."

Gwen straightened in her seat. "But Jack…"

"The last thing we need on our hands is a Time Lord having a mental breakdown." He retorted sharply, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not a word, Gwen. And that's an order." His icy eyes scanned the other occupants of the room. "For all of you."

"Jenny…"

Her green eyes darted around her, but could barely make out any details. Her surroundings were hazy, a thick fog rolling across her boots.

Wherever she was, it was nearly nighttime. A little after dusk, but not completely dark yet. And it was cold.

"Jenny…"

Her head turned sharply to find the source of the voice, cinnamon hair whipping around her. A slight warmth had crept over her and she felt her fingers beginning to tingle.

"Jenny…"

From behind the fog, she could make out a faint glow. It was blue. Royal blue.

The longer she focused on it, the brighter it became and the closer it grew.

She reached out, her fingertips just grazing the light and sending a warm pulse through her body…

"Jenny, wake up…" She felt her body shake slightly and opened her eyes, finding the warm smile of Captain Jack Harkness beaming down on her. "Owen said you were okay to go home now and Gwen said she'd drop you off on her way back. I thought you'd rather sleep in your own bed." He paused and his smile grew into a devilish grin. "With Sgt. Cardozo, of course."

The Time Lady rolled her eyes. "How long was I out?"

"About sixteen hours."

"Lovely," she sighed and slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed. Hesitantly, Jenny shifted her weight to her feet and stood.

"Are you sure you can make it on your own?" Jack asked, reaching for the right side of her face where a bruise was rapidly forming around the gash on her temple and cheek.

She batted his hand away and took a step to the side. "I know this may seem like a bit of a stretch, but I think I can manage to push a lift button all by myself."

The captain crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Alright. Let's have it."

"Have what?"

"Your moodiness is putting Gwen to shame today," he retorted. "You can lie to her and Owen. You can lie to Tosh and Ianto. Hell, you can even lie to Ben if you want, though that's none of my business," Jack continued, reclaiming the step she had taken earlier. "But you can't lie to me."

A look of confusion washed over her face and her gaze dropped to her boots. "Look, Jack… it was a rough few days and-"

"Jenny." The redhead glanced up at him, emerald eyes locking on his ice blue ones, and he could see the gears turning in her head.

On one hand, she was tired of keeping her scrambled thoughts bottled inside. If anyone currently taking residence on Earth could comprehend her situation and fears, it would be Captain Jack Harkness.

However, the majority of her muddled thoughts regarded the same man. Was that something he could handle?

Before she could come to a decision, Jack had already tapped his earpiece. "Gwen? Change of plans. I have a lead from one of my contacts at a bar downtown…" He listened intently to the former P.C. Cooper's reply, yet made no effort to hide his amused grin. "Well, she had a twin sister." He let out a loud laugh. "Yeah. Jenny and I are going to follow up, so you can head out. I'll circle back to her place after." He paused for a few more moments, wrapping up the conversation with a shake of his head. "Well, you can't blame me for trying. See you tomorrow." He pressed his earpiece one more time and Gwen was gone.

Jack studied her expectantly. She hated when he did that. "So…"

"So…"

The woman chewed on her lower lip and looked away. Her old room suddenly felt much smaller than it ever had. "I have these memories…" Jenny began hesitantly. "And they're mine. But they're also not mine."

He nodded slowly, trying to process her explanation. "Okay… so what exactly are they like then?"

"They trigger pretty randomly," she stated. "Little things will set them off. At first, they were small flashes, just a few seconds, and they only happened once or twice a day."

"And now?" Jack inquired, realizing he was going to have to pry a bit.

She ran a hand through her long, cinnamon locks. "I had ten alone today and they're much more vivid. Sometimes, minutes long. Other times, even longer."

He sat down on the stool. "What are they like?"

"Some of them are brand new scenes," she told him, doing her best not to give away the fact that many involved them in various states of undress. "And some are like different versions of my memories. Like meeting Ben…" Jenny offered as an example. "I know that I met Ben in Peru, when we were called in to deal with the Dominators. I didn't tell my dad that I temporarily fixed your vortex manipulator, for the sake of humanity, of course, and you transported the six of us over there. Ben took a bullet for me when they took him and I hostage… and I used a smidgeon of regenerative energy to save him, which is why he now has the crescent-shaped scar on his chest."

"So what is the alternative version?"

"I think…" She scrunched her nose. "I think you and I were on vacation there for Christmas to celebrate my anniversary of being at Torchwood. Just the two of us were there. And the Dominators showed up while we were at Christmas dinner… and the Chestertons were there, too." She shook her head vehemently. "It's like one of those crazy dreams you wake up from, asking yourself what the hell you fell asleep watching. But I wasn't asleep when these flashed in my head." Jenny rubbed a hand over her face and sunk down onto her old bed. "There are missions that never took place, people I've never met before... What the hell is happening to me?"

Jack lowered himself next to her, angling his body towards the Time Lady. "I don't know." He reached out and placed his hand on the back of her neck, leaning in to look her in the eyes. "But we're going to figure this out."

She nodded slowly, feeling reassured by Jack's words and even more so by his embrace. Her hands gripped the fabric of his coat tightly, clinging to the version of him that was so familiar to her and at the same time, attempting to push aside the strange feelings swirling in the pit of her stomach.

Jenny tucked her crimson hair into her hood, pulling it as far over her forehead as she could. The further she disappeared into the coat, the further out of Jack's reach she would be.

Something inside of her was tugging back in the direction of the black SUV. And not just to the car, but to its driver.

Jenny pulled her black boots up to her ankles, ignoring the sensation tickling the exposed skin on the back of her neck. "If you keep this up, we're never going to make it up the ladder…"

Jack grinned against her bare flesh, half upright in his bed. "I think the Smiths can handle saving the world just this once."

"Don't tempt me, Jack," she replied with a laugh, zipping up her shoes.

He swept her cinnamon hair so that it all laid on the right side of her body and shifted so that his lips could come to rest on the left side of her neck. "Always…" he told her and began to trail kisses up to her jawbone until she turned her head to meet him. "You know the old saying about dying with your boots on?"

Jenny's hazel eyes darkened. "Mhmm."

"Well…" Jack smirked at her. "There are a lot of other things you can do with your boots on, too."

Jenny bit down on her lower lip as she threw open the glass door to her apartment building and ducked inside the lobby. That was what her body wanted.

But as she steeled herself and turned around to give Jack Harkness a dismissive wave, she battled with the burgeoning shame.

The security guard positioned at his desk grinned at her and tipped his hat. "Welcome home, Miss Smith. Rough day at the station?"

Jenny glanced up at him, but didn't remove her hood as she pressed the call button for the elevator. "A copper's delight."

"Well, you get some rest and have a pleasant evening with Mr. Cardozo," the guard told her politely.

"Thanks, Bill," she returned with a pleasant smile and stepped into the elevator. Once the doors were closed, she sunk back against the wall and pressed the button for the 15th floor.

It wasn't long before the box approached her stop and she fumbled in her purse for her keys. She was glad to have found them just as she approached apartment 1504 at the end of the hall.

Jenny gingerly opened the door, careful not to make too much noise in case her boyfriend was asleep. But a voice from the couch indicated he was perfectly awake. "Jen?"

Her fingers slid the chain into place on the door and lingered. "Hey."

"Glad to see you're home in one piece." His voice indicated he was merely a few steps from her place at the door.

Jenny's eyes slid shut for a moment and then she turned around. "You could say that."

Ben raised a hand and he leaned in to push her hood back. "What the hell happened?"

"Two Weevils caught me off guard," she replied with a nonchalant wave, grateful he couldn't see her neck. "It's really not as bad as it looks…"

"Jenny." The soldier cupped the side of her face and gently ran a thumb along one of the cuts.

"I've had worse before. It'll be fine after I get some rest," Jenny assured him, but he remained unconvinced. "But if it really bothers you…"

Ben furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he studied her. When he noticed tendrils of gold curling around the side of her face, his face cleared and he grasped her by the biceps. "Don't."

The light disintegrated into the air. "Sorry."

He ran his hands up and down her arms. "Listen, I know it will look fine by tomorrow afternoon. Don't…" He stopped, exhaling deeply. "Just don't do stupid things like that for my benefit. Save it for when you really need it."

Jenny nodded slowly and stepped closer so that he could wrap his strong arms around her.

The Time Lady winced at the sound of sizzling flesh. If anything, it disturbed her far more than the actual pain of the hydrogen peroxide coming in contact with the wound. "I cannot believe the damn thing bit me!"

Her partner dabbed at the mangled gape in the left side of her neck with soaked gauze. "You're just lucky it didn't nick an artery."

Jenny ran a hand through her dark blonde layers, tinted red in some spots by sticky blood. "Yeah, but I miss my red hair sometimes. Maybe I'll get it back as Jenny IV."

"Yeah, maybe." His grip on the cloth tightened.

"What?" She eyed him disapprovingly. "You can openly talk about having sex with alien life forms and I can't make a regeneration joke?"

"Jenny…"

"No, really," she cut him off. "I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"Jenny…"

"Keep my mind off of the chemical reaction of the catalase of my blood and the hydrogen peroxide and its subsequent decomposition into water and oxygen…"

"Jenny!" Jack barked to stop her rambling and she snapped to attention. He dropped his gaze to the wound and her eyes followed, finally noticing the golden glow swirling around the injury.

She had experienced regeneration to the point where she realized this was the same kind of energy. However, this was more localized. So, if she wasn't regenerating… "What do I do?"

"Make it stop."

"What? How?"

"Just concentrate really hard," Jack informed her. "This will heal up after a good night's rest. You don't need to waste any regenerative energy tonight."

"But I don't know how…"

He brought his hands to hold the sides of her face. "Look at me. Look at me and concentrate."

She brought her blue eyes to meet his, focusing intently. After a minute, she felt a burst of cold air rush through her body, like she had just opened the freezer door.

Out of curiosity, Jenny glanced down at her neck. The light was gone.

"Hey, Ben?" Jenny whispered into the dark, hoping he was still awake.

"Yeah?" he answered, voice hoarse with drowsiness.

She took a beat. "Tell me a story."

Jenny felt his weight shift on the other side of the mattress as he moved closer, draping an arm across her torso. "Can't sleep?" She nodded silently against his shoulder and he pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her.

"Ah…" He dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Well, until the morning of the Dominator invasion, I had never heard of Torchwood," Ben began. "I knew secret government organizations existed, but nothing like that. So when we were briefed on our mission, I expected Torchwood to touch down in Blackhawk helicopters and show up in all black suits." The corner of his lip turned upward. "Then these two black SUVs show up to base with tinted windows and out step six people who couldn't have been further from what I pictured in my head: a guy in a long wool coat, one woman dressed professionally, one woman with an obnoxiously shiny belt buckle, another guy in civilian clothes, and a third guy in… well, exactly what I had been expecting." He laughed and Jenny felt his entire body shake with amusement. "But then out of the car stepped this third woman and I remember it like it was yesterday. She was dressed in all black with a leather jacket… and she had hair that made her look like she was on fire." Even though she couldn't see it, Ben looked over at her, a sleepy smile on his features. "I couldn't take my eyes off of her. And I still can't."

A/N: Hmmm… still think we're in a parallel universe?

I hope you all liked this chapter. I put a lot of work into this one (the better part of a month!) and rewrote different aspects of this a few times. It's definitely one of my longer chapters, but I felt as though this was a good point to end it.

I think that this "episode" (Reboot) will have another two chapters to it before it gets wrapped up. This chapter is very much a turning point, so get ready!

I'm so grateful you all stuck with me during my 5 month hiatus between Chapters 22 and 23. I promise I'm in this one for the long haul!

One thing I'm always curious about is what you guys are reading on here that you're really digging these days. I'm going through a BIG Kirk/OC and Bones/OC phase over in the Star Trek:2009 category. If you have any recs, feel free to tell me the story name and author. And also tell me what your faves (in general) are that you're reading now!

Onto the review replies:

Reba – Aww, you are so welcome! I'm so glad you like it!

Time-LadyMararder – I really do like Oswin and it's going to be very interesting to see how she interacts with 12. I'm excited! And I adore my sonic remote. The problem is that it's 11's screwdriver and now they make 10's. Ugh. Take all my money, BBC. Take it all.

HopieCC – Thank you so much! Jenny's definitely in an alternate SOMETHING, that's for sure. I love being able to write Jenny with Tosh and Owen and Ianto. But it also makes me a little sad because I know at some point, I won't be able to write them anymore. So I'm enjoying it while I can.

UntilNeverDawns – Oh, I'm excited you were excited! I hope you were just as excited for this one!

Mylia11 – Forget it. STID came out on DVD and Netflix… and my world is over. I have started reading so many Star Trek (2009 film) fan fics, that it's dangerous. I'm mainly entrenched in Kirk/OC and Bones/OC these days. I may be over my Khan/OC phase. I just need a really good new one, perhaps! Open to recommendations, of course!

Hairi Esh Mooncake – Glad you find it interesting! There are a lot of hints dropped in this one, so I hope this keeps you just as interested. :)

TurtletheWriter – Awww, I ship Jack and Jenny, as well. I think I might be projecting a little with Ben and Jenny these days, haha! I know they're cute together. But I know the explosive chemistry with Jack and Jenny is just so much more than that! And thank you!

FallenAshe – Aww, you don't have to beg! We're making a major turn here in a new direction that MIGHT just bring you what you want soon!

BeckyBoo12221 – There were some definite Jack and Jenny feels in this one, so I hope this will hold you over until the next chapter. And I get what you're saying about picking Jenny and Jack over Jenny and Ben… the latter is very sweet, but the former is just explosive.

Daniella Violet Moon - – Like I couldn't just drop a banana in there? LOL. I'm glad you like the alt-verse and this version of Jack and Jenny. We'll get a little more backstory on that universe in the next chapter… where things really went differently to cause such drastic changes. Don't you worry!

Liz – No, no! No heart attacks for you! I just was crazy busy between my car accident in the late spring, my job in the summer, and school. But I'm back. Don't. You. Worry. And as far as something being a bit off in this universe, perhaps you're onto something…

Alright, Whoniverse. That's it for now. Please leave me some feedback and let me know what you think of this Altverse… and what you think is going on. I know it's a bit tricky. But I definitely left you some hints!

Allonsy!

Danielle