Prologue

Space was a cold, dark, lonely place. From the point of view of a planet, it could be lonely or beautiful. There was a general feel of perspective. Of being blanketed by a twinkling skyline but there was still a feel of the ground beneath your feet. The warmth of the waning sun as darkness descended. From the insides of a lonely spacecraft it was a much different feel, like a coffin under water more than anything.

In a tiny ship barely designed for three people, space would look very lonely indeed. The unmanned craft was currently in a solar system about 2 light years from earth. Yet this particular ship, hovering in the dead of space, though empty wasn't abandoned. Indeed this little ship, having proved herself resilient after 75 years worth of use, was about to be put to the test. The console was blinking at periodic intervals, showing an alien countdown. At zero the computer was programed to open a sliver of continuum and pull a very special man through the fabric of reality. Seconds, minutes, hours ticked away. All up until that all important zero.

There was a bright flash of soundless turmoil as the air rippled and shifted before one by one unconscious beings materialized onto the ship's floor. Then the light faded and the machinery quieted with a last spark before circuits fused beyond repair. The old ship would never be able to repeat the procedure and all that was left was the slowly failing ship and four unconscious humans.

Blue eyes squinted, head pounding as the owner slowly shifted onto his side. Coughing and sputtering for air, he struggled onto hands and knees to catch his breath. What the hell was that? Just a night off. Just one, that's all he wanted. Take what was left of his crew and Gwen's husband for a bit of a breather. He should have known better, really. He chuckled softly and grinned to himself. No rest for the wicked.

"Jack?" That was Gwen Cooper's rasping voice. One of the last surviving members of his Torchwood team. Sitting up slowly, still gasping for air, Jack looked to his left to see Gwen on her back, eyes wide as she gasped and clutched a hand to her chest. Her husband Rhys was at her side, still unconscious. Looking to his right, he relaxed a fraction to see Ianto Jones, his current lover, also unconscious. She closed her eyes for just a moment before rubbing at her head, "Any idea what hit us?"

Captain Jack Harkness, the leader of Torchwood and for all intents immortal, tried to give her a half grin but he was as unsure of himself as she was. In the end he managed a quasi grin as he ungracefully pulled himself into a half sit, "...a Sleveen maybe...and trust me, it hurts." Wincing and grabbing at his throbbing temples, "I didn't even get to enjoy being drunk first.

Ianto mumbled into the floor, "That's a first..."

With a loud groan that woke Rhys Williams, Jack managed to half hobble to his feet, walking unsteadily for the nearest window and at the moment not caring about his grace while doing it. His whole body felt taxed and it was strange. Not too many teleports will do that to a person. Gwen slowly dragged herself to her husband and checked him over, doing the same to Ianto while Jack continued to silently stare through the window. A full 90 seconds without a word from their leader concerned her, "Jack?"

The Captain swallowed before turning, slowly recovering as he leaned back against the wall, "There's no way out."

Gwen frowned and pulled herself to her feet, her police training thrumming through her. Take charge. Assess the situation. Panic later, "Jack, unless they've buried us under the ocean there's always a...way..." She watched with a gaping mouth as a chunk of asteroid slowly passed by the window, nothing but the black expanse of starlit space in the background, "Okay...this might be a problem."

She sent him a questioning look and he nodded, "It's the real thing."

Shaking her head, hand halfway to her mouth, "It...can't...be..."

Nodding, "It is."

"But-..."

Firmly gripping her shoulder, "Gwen. Breathe." On automatic she pulled in a breath, not even realizing she'd been holding her breath. Keeping his voice firm yet reassuring, rubbing his finger along her tense muscles where he held her and grinning, "We're in outer space so, first I'll go see what kind of ship we're in. I want you to keep an eye on Rhys, alright?"

Blinking with large eyes, "Right. Rhys. And who's keeping an eye on me?"

She tried to smile, but he could easily see her growing panic. Relaxing and nodding, "I will get us out of this."

She took one more deep breath before letting it out slowly, "Right." Now with a purpose, she walked back to her husband while Jack turned to hide his grimace as he started searching for clues.

"Masipolibus!"

Glancing at him by the corner of her eye, "Bless you."

The Doctor pouted subtly before giving Rose a correcting look and shooing a hand at her, "You've played that line more than once now move along...and that wasn't a sneeze."

Sticking her tongue in her cheek, shifted her weight slightly. Okay, yeah, she'd said it before but it wasn't like he wasn't up to repeating a tease...over, and over, and over, "Really now? And how many times have you pulled Fantastic. Brilliant-..."

Stomping his white converse wearing foot, "It's not nearly the same thing. Consistent. I need to be a little bit consistent." Waving a hand at her again, "You're just using the same joke over and over again."

Carefully crossing her arms, "Boring you, am I?"

This could be trouble. Clearing his throat, "Um...no?"

Snorting to herself, "Coulda fooled me." She sighed softly to herself, looking down at her enormous belly, "Ever since I got fat-..."

He jumped, "Oh no you don't. No." He stomped his foot again for emphasis, "This is one of those female trap things where you complain about your weight and no matter what us poor males do you get mad at us. Nuh uh, nope, not playing."

She batted her eyes at him pitifully. He turned his head to not look at her. She huffed, "Doctor, all I'm sayin' is-..."

Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his brown pin-striped suit, he leaned back against the console before he crossed his arms over his chest, "I'll not say another word about it."

He made a silent locking key motion over his lips before chucking the imaginary key over his shoulder. Face set, arms crossing again, he stayed absolutely still and just stared at the TARDIS doors. Rose slowly grinned, raising an eyebrow as she watched his foot start to tap in hyper agitation before his knee started to bounce. Not too much longer and he was subtly squirming in place a second before he sent her a look with large, pleading eyes. On principle he couldn't yield but he desperately needed to move. And she caved every time from that look, "Oh... alright. Sorry. Not another word."

With a grin he dove for the imaginary key, making Rose laugh as he unlocked his lips to speak, "Right. So, we have ourselves the 52nd Century, a nice little holiday planet where fun and relaxation are on the agenda. He'd sidled up to her at this point, rubbing a hand over the very generous mound that was her stomach. Just three weeks left and she was very thankful. Right about now she felt like a waddling duck and his repeated almost but not quite snickering about the fact that she waddled wasn't helping her opinion of the matter. Relaxation was good. She could use that. Not that they'd been much of anywhere lately but she was not going to pass up pampering when it was being offered without solicitation. Especially since they'd be heading for her mum soon for however long it would take to have the baby, then several weeks or so afterward until the tyke would be flight worthy, as the Doctor put it. She was fairly certain that little stop wouldn't be relaxing. She leaned back against him with a contended sigh and he lightly nuzzled her temple, "Shall we?"

Nodding, "Let's."

He grinned and retrieved both his brown coat and her pink hoodie, helping her into her=s before throwing his over his shoulders. And he stuck to her side like glue, one hand on her back to steer her down the ramp, constantly on the lookout for anything that might cause her to lose her balance. Last stage of pregnancy had seen a new surge to his protective streak, not dangerous like last time so much as a constant need to hover. But she put up with it since he wasn't intentionally being irritating, it was just natural for him. And it was nice that he would bound away from her at the slightest indication that she wanted something, retrieving it as quickly as possible to please her.

They both stepped out the TARDIS' doors, the Doctor shutting them while Rose just stared at the beauty around her. It was like being transported back to ancient Rome. The buildings were single story stone structures and surrounded them on all sides. Under her feet, a sort of smooth stone and white as the buildings' stone was made of. Instead of doors there were lightly flapping strips of silk. The people were for the most part deeply tanned, skinny, and dressed in airy, colorful costumes of fabric that flowed about them like togas and wore golden sandals on their feet.

She glanced down her profile and grimaced, "I feel fat."

He made a scoffing noise, ANah...just room there for two is all. She sent him a glare while he just started steering, oblivious to the glare, "So...we'll get you tucked into a massage and I'll hunt around for some tea."

Pouting at him, "I want a coke."

Jerking his head to avoid her and the dreaded pout, "Nope. No caffeine. None."

Whining softly, "Doctor..."

He immediately plugged his ears and stepped slightly away from her, "Nuh uh."

She sighed softly, defeated but knowing that was one desire he wasn't going to indulge. About the only one but a girl can dream. Snuggling against him, "Can I have chocolate, then?"

And immediately he was attentive once more. He refused to give her sodas but apparently he would never deny her chocolate. Weird man since caffeine was caffeine in her opinion, "Course you can, what would you like?"

Shrugging, smiling again, "Anything chocolate." Suddenly pointing a finger at his nose, remembering the moon with the auction that wasn't a game show, "And none of this quasi chocolate stuff. Real, proper chocolate or else get TARDIS to give me some."

The Doctor shuddered just a little. The TARDIS refused to ever, ever create chocolate again. In this case it was his fault since he'd consumed over half of it before giving what was left to Rose. Rose had just sighed through the hours of his hyper state, quite literally bouncing off the walls. His attempts to be helpful by trying to tinker had left many of the time ship's circuit either fused incorrectly or rewired into a twisted mess. Rose had tried to keep him occupied away from the console but since his sugar high had lasted through two naps he'd escaped. TARDIS had blistered his ears, telepathically anyway, bombarding him with her annoyance for hours afterward.

Giving her a solemn look since it was his fault TARDIS no longer gave her chocolate, "I'll find some." The pair of them grinned at one another before he escorted her to a building with a water fountain in front of it. He'd signed her in and soon she was blissfully relaxing in a bath of lovely smells and warm water, the machine pulsing a gentle massage into her back. The staff checked on her at regular intervals, offering refreshments and moved her on to a massage on her side, her ample stomach hidden under a towel. And the last thing that she remembered before she drifted off into a doze were the strangely panicked expressions her massage therapist was trying to hide.