Her hands gripped the small bottle of holy water and her fingers tentatively began to unscrew the cap. Lois had picked it up from the local church, and now the water was housed in an empty Coke bottle. Earlier in the evening Lois had worried about whether the holiness of the water had been tainted by the commercial bottle it was housed in. Gwen had scolded her, and then privately wondered the same question. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it right.

Torchwood's protocols had all changed when Gwen had reinstated the institution. Everything was to be done her way, everything was put to her first, everything was signed off by her; the operation was monitored by her and her alone. The power hadn't gone to her head.

She was a nice, understanding and caring boss. She cared for Lois, and she would do anything to protect her, just like she would have done to protect Owen, Tosh and Ianto. She had her weaknesses; the human race. Aliens, monsters, demons and the supernatural were further down on her list than they had been on Jack's. Mainly because he was practically an alien himself, or so Gwen told herself. Although she missed him terribly, she couldn't shake the burning anger she had at him leaving her. She had been so lost after he left, she'd had to make so many decisions by herself and she worried that she'd never see him again.

There was no one she could talk to; Rhys didn't understand and why should he? As far as he was concerned, she and Jack had never been involved… she hadn't loved him. And that was true; Gwen hadn't been able to love him, not completely. He was never fully there like Rhys. Rhys had given himself to Gwen; she knew everything about him, there was no memory unexplored and no personality trait not experienced. But with Jack, he'd never opened up to her like she had wanted. Gwen's need to know Jack had been insatiable, a thirst she couldn't quench.

"We're really going to do this. Really and actually going to kill him." Lois repeated this fact to herself, clearly Gwen's affirmation wasn't enough for this sentence to sink in. "He'll be dead. Actually dead."

"Lois, he's already dead. We're just sending him to hell." Gwen offered, she didn't want Lois thinking that she had killed a person. It wouldn't do anything for her conscious, and she needed her team – well, the only team member she had – on the ball.

Holding the bottle over the vampire, Gwen's hand trembled. Mentally, she was preparing herself for the possible outbursts that he might exclaim; asking her to stop, pleading and begging with her, telling her how sorry he was for what he had done and asking her to spare his life. She knew she had to be ready. Finally, her capacity at full strength, she threw the water in the face of the vampire, expecting a sizzling and bubbling sound as his skin began to melt away, disfiguring a most handsome face.

But it didn't. His face was just wet.

Swiftly, his eyes popped open, his eyes black and deep. "Babe, what you trying to do? Give me a bed bath?" He chuckled, his fangs visible beneath his pink, plump lips.

"Well that didn't work." Lois chimed in, like she was a sports commentator providing a voice over, confirming everything that has just happened as if the whole audience weren't capable of working it out for themselves.

"You think?" Gwen replied. Gwen eyed the table, wondering what to try next.

"So holy water doesn't work." Lois highlighted her expression quizzical as she eyed the vampire.

"No shit Sherlock." The vampire replied his smiled broad and unfazed. "You two have never met a vampire before, huh? Let me tell you, a lot of the myths about us are just that. We started the rumours ourselves."

Gwen's hand landed on the stake next. She picked it up, fingering the smooth texture and feeling the weight in her hands. As soon as the vampire's eyes took the sight in, they widened in alarm and, so Gwen suspected, fear. She was waiting for him to say something, but his eyes moved finding the source of the echoing footsteps that Gwen had not noticed.

"Stop! Put down the stake." The voice boomed across the room, the sound reverberating until it reached Gwen's ears.

She knew the voice and instinctively, the stake dropped from her thin fingers and fell to the floor. Quickly she spun around and came face to face with the man that had evaded her for months. Her mouth formed a small 'O' and her whole being froze.

"Jack." Lois beamed, the expression reaching her eyes. She darted forward for him and pulled him into a hug. "I haven't seen you in ages, how have you been? Where have you –" Her speech abruptly finished as she noticed Jack's face, noticed his blue eyes fixated on Gwen.

"What the hell are you doing?" He demanded of Gwen. He hadn't noticed Lois' presence despite her hug and quick welcome. Lois stepped back, her brain urging her to leave. Clearly this wasn't a moment for swapping information on the last months of their lives.

"I – I – Erm," Gwen stuttered, waiting for her brain to kick in. She glanced down at the floor and the image of the stake flashed before her eyes. She quickly bent down and grasped the stake, holding it firmly within her hand once more. "I'm going to kill him."

She darted forward but was swiftly intercepted by Jack. He grabbed her arm inches before the stake met the vampire's chest. "No. You're not." He declared as if this statement was somehow fact.

"He's killed people, Jack."

"So have I."

Gwen's eyes met his in defiance. This statement was fact and she didn't know how to fight her way out of it. He had killed people but he'd saved the world in the process. Surely he could be forgiven, but not a vampire. She couldn't let him go free.

"We're not going to kill him; that's not what Torchwood's about." Jack replied, his hand finally releasing her arm.

"There's no 'we'. You don't work here anymore, remember?" And with that Gwen strutted off, throwing the stake to the floor.

Lois stood dumbfounded, staring after Gwen in amazement. Her eyes fell on Jack, who was equally in a state of confusion. Lois did not have any comprehension of Gwen and Jack's relationship, apart from the fact that they obviously cared for each other. In Lois' mind, a storm had just begun and she felt it would better to find shelter. Heading over to the vampire, she injected him with a sedative that quickly put him unconscious before she sloped off to her own office – or at least desk – in order to weather the storm.

Title of Chapter:
Credit to Darren Hayes - Insatiable