Until you crash
Until you burn
Until you lie
Until you learn
Until you see
Until you believe
Until you fight
Until you fall
Until the end of everything at all
Until you die
Until you're alive

Don't save me, don't save me, cuz I don't care
Don't save me, don't save me, cuz
I don't care

-Savior by 30 Seconds to Mars

"First law on holes – when you're in one, stop digging." – Denis Healey

Chapter Six:

Something Left to Save

Then:

"You son of a bitch," Corey hissed as she stood up, not even bothering to wipe away the angry tears that still stained her face. "You fucking son of a bitch. You lied to me."

A look of concern crossed the Doctor's face as swiftly pulled back on a lever on the console, indicating that he wanted to land, before he reached out to place a comforting hand on the young human's shoulder. "Now Corey-"

"Don't you dare try and patronize me," the girl snarled as she jerked away from the man's outstretched hand, her gray eyes burning with a convoluted mixture of barely-hidden pain and rage. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Corey gritted her teeth together and sucked in a series of several breaths as she tried to get a grip on her rapidly fluctuating emotions, only to fail miserably. There really was no going back now. Her temper was well and truly lost by this point. Shouting was easier than crying too; people didn't think that you were weak when you yelled and swore at them. And right now, the one thing that she couldn't be was weak.

"After all, I don't think that it possibly crossed your mind that I might just possibly have a slight problem with the fact that once I crossed over into this reality that I can never go back home afterwards," she continued coldly, somehow managing to keep her voice at a reasonable pitch while blistering sarcasm dripped from her very words. "Did you even bother to think for one damn second that maybe, just maybe, I actually wanted to go home after this little adventure?"

With that, Corey grabbed her messenger bag and slung it over her shoulder before she stalked off towards the door leading out of the TARDIS. Right before she reached the door, the Doctor made the mistake of trying to grab her by the shoulder in an attempt to keep her from leaving. A furious snarl somehow managed to rip its way from the girl's throat as she pivoted around, her hand encircling his wrist before she pulled the Time Lord over her shoulder with far more strength than he thought possible for a girl of her stature, sending him crashing to the floor with the exact same move that she had used on Trey earlier.

All of the air in the Doctor's lungs left in a hurry as he lay there on the metal grating, completely winded. Corey didn't even look back at him as she swiftly wrenched the folding door open and stepped out into the world beyond it, shutting it behind her with a precise 'snap'.

There was a moment of brief hesitation before the Doctor heard the sound of someone running away from the TARDIS, the tread of their sneakers slapping against the pavement outside. By the time that he finally managed to lever himself up into a standing position and opened up the door to look out, Corey was nowhere in sight. A pained expression crossed his face as he sagged visibly against the doorframe, not knowing what to do.

He hadn't even been traveling with the girl for a full twenty-four hours, and already he had lost her.

Now:

She didn't know where she was, and right now she really didn't care. All she wanted to do was to get as far away from that thrice-damned blue Police Public Call Box and its stupid, lanky, idiotic alien owner as humanly possible.

Corey had stopped running after about three blocks, not wanting to attract any more attention to herself than she already had. After all, it was fairly hard to ignore a teenage girl in a hockey jersey running through the streets like the police were chasing after her. The girl chuckled humorlessly at that thought as she adjusted the shoulder strap on her messenger bag, keeping her eyes focused down on the gray concrete sidewalk beneath her feet.

Wouldn't that just be perfect for her to get in trouble with the police, on top of the already tremendously crappy day that she'd already had so far?

The only good thing that she had going for her right now was the fact that she was in a city, hopefully on Earth, if all of the people surging around her were any indication. Corey sighed as she looked around her, unintentionally raising an eyebrow when she heard the odd accents that twisted their way through the people's words as they spoke. The accents around her sounded almost… Scottish, but not really. They also sounded kind of British, but that wasn't right either. The girl shrugged noncommittally as she continued to make her way through the crowd, occasionally scanning the people around her for a certain eccentric Time Lord so she'd hopefully have enough time to bolt before he reached her. At least they spoke English here.

If they hadn't, she'd be sunk. She barely knew enough French to make herself understood – hello, goodbye, good morning, good evening, please, thank you, and where's the toilet/hotel/bookstore/school were hardly an entire conversation – much less survive in a strange place. And all of the German and Russian that she knew consisted solely of obscenities and insults. Somehow, she didn't really think that any of those particular phrases would go over very well with the locals.

A chilly breeze gusted through the crowd, and Corey shivered as she stuffed her hands into her pockets automatically. She loved her hockey jersey dearly, but it wasn't exactly something that was suited for running around in without a jacket. The girl shivered again as she wrapped her fingers protectively around the strap of her messenger bag, forcing herself to remain calm as she waded through the people around her.

Right now, all she wanted to do was run, and just keep on running until she dropped from exhaustion somewhere. Maybe if she kept running long enough, she'd be able to escape from the continued tightening of her throat, the heavy, leaden feeling in her stomach, and the painful burning in her lungs as she fought tooth and nail not to start sobbing right then and there. She was not going to cry! Not here, not where there were hundreds of people to witness her tears, and then lead to some kind-hearted soul thinking that they were doing a good deed when they approached her and gently asked if she was alright.

The girl managed to break free of the crowds on the street long enough to spot a desolate-looking white pillar – probably a monument of some kind – that had somehow been combined with water to create a large fountain that was across the street. Behind the monument was a large bay, and for one moment the overwhelming briny smell of the sea flooded her nose. For all intents and purposes, the little area seemed to be deserted enough, and no one was probably going to bother her there for a while.

Briefly adjusting her grip on her bag, Corey ducked around someone and headed across the street, pausing briefly in front of the fountain to look at it before she proceeded to flop down against a large cement block that was roughly about four feet high and equally wide, effectively hidden from anyone passing by on the street.

She sat there in silence for several seconds, ignoring the cold seeping through her jeans from the concrete below her, before tears started to stream down her face. Corey tried to remain silent for a long as she could, not wanting to attract attention with her sobbing, before she was forced to pull her knees up to her chest and fold her arms on top, burying her face the loose fabric of her jersey as she started to weep brokenly.

In just a few short hours she had been chased down by a bunch of aliens who were trying to invade her reality, found out that her best friend had been killed, set fire to her university science lab, willingly allowed herself to be kidnapped by a man that she didn't even know, had almost gotten eaten by a blue giraffe thing, and then found out that she had no home to return to. Right now, all she wanted to do was go home. She didn't want this, any of this. What good was action and adventure if you didn't have someone to share it with? What was the point of her being able to go and see things that no human had ever seen before if she couldn't return home at the end and tell her family all about it?

Rage welled up within Corey as she whipped her head up to glare venomously at the waterfall in front of her, her breath coming in short, harsh gasps through dangerously clenched teeth even as tears still streamed down her face. This was all her fault! If she hadn't been an idiot in the first place, if she hadn't gone looking for her notes then the Doctor would have waltzed right in and out of her life without notice. And she had been the one who had said yes when he asked her to come with him. She should have refused, should have told him no!

Instead, she just went along with whatever he had suggested, like a naïve little idiot. And to make things worse, her family had encouraged her to go. She was such a moron sometimes!

Letting out a low snarl of frustration, Corey aimed a vicious kick at her hapless messenger bag that was lying at her feet, sending it skidding several feet away from her before coming to a stop in front of the monument. She stared at it listlessly for a few moments, waiting for her anger to fade enough that she no longer felt like punching someone's face in, or crying her eyes out again, before she got to her feet and slowly trudged over towards where her bag lay. She really did not need her bag to get wet on top of everything else right now.

The girl came to a stop right in front of where the messenger bag sat before she crouched down and picked up the strap. It was at that moment that the slab of pavement that she was crouched down on suddenly started sinking downwards. Corey let out a loud yelp and shot up out of the small pit that she was suddenly standing in before she scrambled backwards and onto the very much solid concrete behind her.

The slab of pavement continued to descend steadily, and within moments there was nothing but a large, gaping pit the size of a piece of concrete right at the base of the monument/waterfall. Corey stared incredulously at the hole with wide eyes as she slowly edged up to the hole and carefully peered down. It went down for quite a ways, although it looked like there was a faint light at the bottom. Whatever it was, there was definitely something down there.

For one moment, Corey felt the nagging hint of curiosity as she peered down into the dark pit before she took a step back and shook her head. No, no more. Not now, not ever. Her curiosity had already landed her in hot water enough for today. There was no way that she was about to start actively go looking for trouble.

With that thought in mind, she quickly turned around and hurried away from the monument, pausing only long enough to note the sign that identified it as Roald Dhal Plass, before she disappeared back into the crowds of people walking the streets.

When the girl had first approached the Hub, Jack had been manning the security cameras, and after taking one look at her – seriously, who wandered around Cardiff in October while wearing a hockey jersey? – had dismissed her as a mere tourist just out and about, seeing the sights of Cardiff. When she had flopped down behind one of the large blocks in front of the Hub, staring intently at the building, he had been slightly concerned. Still, she was just a kid, so she wouldn't be that hard to deal with. However, when she had put her head down on her arms and started sobbing, he had relaxed slightly.

She was just a kid having a bad day, and she had been looking for someplace private to have a good cry. Knowing how kids were, she'd probably had an argument with her parents or something like that. Or maybe, seeing as she was a tourist, she'd gotten some bad news from home.

He didn't really pay any attention to the kid when she lost her temper and kicked her bag, sending it skidding away from her. What really caught Jack's attention was when the girl got up to retrieve her bag.

The lift down to Torchwood had activated when she had stepped on it.

Immediately, Jack had spun around to face the computer screen as he watched in a kind of stunned horror as the lift started to descend while the girl was standing on it. To his surprise, the girl had immediately scrambled off of the lift and back onto solid ground, staring shakily at the hole that it had left behind. And then she had stood up and looked down inside the lift shaft for a few moments before she backed up and took off.

Jack sat there for a few moments, trying to force his stunned brain to work, before something hit him. She had been able to see the lift. Somehow the perception filter had not worked at all on this strange girl. It was about that same moment that he noticed that one of the sensors that was on the lift had gone haywire. He frowned slightly as he peered at the flashing gauge on the computer screen, and then paled.

Somehow, this girl had set off the sensor that detected Void particles.

The Torchwood head cursed loudly as he shot out of his seat and grabbed his jacket, heading for the exit from the Hub as he did so. He needed to find this girl before she told someone what she had seen, and he needed to figure out why the perception filter hadn't worked on her. And those were the least of his worries for the moment.

Corey shivered as a cold gust of wind whipped through the streets, and pretty much went straight through her clothes. Hockey jerseys were known for their breathability, not for retaining heat, and the weather outside was just getting worse. What had started out as a chilly and gray day was slowly turning into a freezing and stormy afternoon.

For a moment her mind drifted back to what had occurred at the Plass before she forcefully shoved it out of her head. She needed to focus on the situation at hand, not worry about weird secret passages at some kind of monument.

First of all, she knew that she had a change of clothes in her bag, so she needed to find someplace with a bathroom that she could slip into and change into some warmer clothing. Secondly, she needed to find out just where she was. Obviously she was somewhere in the U.K., but beyond that she had no clue whatsoever. Corey's stomach decided to let out a low growl at that exact moment, pointing out rather insistently that she hadn't had anything to eat since lunchtime.

Which had been several hours ago.

"Great," the teen grumbled under her breath as she rolled her eyes upwards. Just what she needed.

Another gust of frigid wind blew through the street, and Corey shivered visibly as she ducked her head slightly in an attempt to block out some of the cold from her face and neck. She couldn't take much more of this. It wasn't that she had a problem with the cold or anything like that, seeing as she had grown up in Michigan and Wisconsin, but usually she was appropriately bundled up in weather like this.

Thunder rolled out from the gray clouds hanging overhead in a low, menacing rumble, and the girl looked up at them, frowning slightly. A single cold raindrop landed right on her upturned face, and her eyes widened slightly. She recognized this kind of weather.

"Crap."

Without further ado, Corey looked around and spotted a small restaurant that apparently sold fish and chips before she hurriedly ducked inside. Within a minute after her entrance of the place, a steady downpour was taking place outside, and people were either hurrying to get to shelter, or pulling out umbrellas and holding them over their heads. The teen watched the rain outside for a few seconds in a kind of listless interest before she turned around and headed off towards the sign at the back of the restaurant that proudly proclaimed the location to the bathrooms.

Her change of clothes consisted of a green flannel overshirt – again, it had once belonged to her dad when he was younger – and a black long-sleeved shirt, as well as a clean pair of jeans. Corey quickly shucked off her hockey jersey and the black t-shirt that she still had on underneath, before she stuffed the jersey into her messenger bag, followed shortly by her now very grimy and beat-up jeans once she had kicked off her tennis shoes. Within seconds, she had on a pair of clean and slightly stiff, dark-wash blue jeans and the fitted black long-sleeve shirt.

The girl paused for a second to relish the feeling of clean clothes as she slipped her sneakers on again before she glanced over at the flannel overshirt and the discarded t-shirt still hanging on the hook of the door to the bathroom stall that she was occupying. She didn't have a jacket on her, which she was really regretting right now, so layering was probably her best bet.

With that thought, Corey quickly shrugged on the t-shirt over her long-sleeve, and then pulled on the flannel overshirt, leaving the front unbuttoned for the time being. She could easily button it up once she went outside again. The girl let out a long sigh as she reached up and raked a hand though her bangs before she grabbed her messenger bag and exited the bathroom stall. She paused in front of the mirror over the sink and quickly ran her hands through her hair in an attempt to neaten it up at least a little.

For some reason, Corey's hair never stayed neat for any length of time, and it was next to impossible to style without an obscene amount of hairspray. Her aunt had always blamed the fact that her hair was pin straight, and almost baby-fine. As a result, Corey almost always wore her hair down, or pulled back into a ponytail or simple braid. It was just easier to deal with that way.

Corey frowned slightly as she stared at her reflection to make sure that she was presentable before she reached underneath her shirt and pulled out the small brass pendant that she wore almost all the time underneath. It had been a gift from Tessa for her fourteenth birthday, and anyone who didn't know about the TV show Supernatural wouldn't have had a clue as to what it was. It was a brass replica of the same pendant that one of the main characters wore around his neck, right down to the twisted leather cord that it was strung on, and it looked like a face of some kind of man with cow horns sticking out of the sides of his head. Most of the time Corey wore it underneath her shirt to prevent awkward questions from her classmates, but she figured that it wouldn't really matter here. Besides, it was too cold to have a small lump of metal resting right next to her skin.

With one last glance at the mirror to make sure that she hadn't missed anything, Corey slung her messenger bag over her shoulder and exited the bathroom. As soon as she saw the torrential downpour that was still taking place outside, she knew that she wasn't going to be leaving the little fish and chips place any time soon. Not that that was a bad thing at the moment though. She was absolutely starving, and the fried fish and French fries – why the English called them chips was beyond her – were really starting to smell good.

After a quick check of the contents of her wallet, she figured that she had enough to get a combo meal. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to be, so she could take her time eating. With that thought in mind, Corey stepped into the small line at the counter, briefly glancing up at the brightly-lit menu overhead long enough to figure out what she wanted.

"What do you want?" the bored-looking man behind the register asked flatly when it was her turn to order. Corey glanced up at the menu one more time before she spoke.

"I'll have the Number 3 please," she said, and noticed the almost minute narrowing of the man's eyes when he heard her blatantly American accent. He punched in the number for her order, and then rang up the total.

"That'll be 3.50," the cashier intoned. Corey pulled out a five from her wallet and handed it to the man. He stared at it for a second before the bored look on his face transformed into a slightly haughty sneer, and he scornfully handed the bill back to her.

"Sorry, but we don't accept American money here," he stated stiffly as he peered down his nose at her. Corey flinched at the implied 'you arrogant idiot' that drifted menacingly in the air after his words, and quickly stuffed the bill into the pocket of her jeans, her cheeks burning with shame as she heard several of the people behind her start to chatter excitedly at the fuss that was taking place. "Besides, the price is three pounds, not three dollars. Even if you did have the right currency, it wouldn't be enough-"

Suddenly, the man who had been waiting in line behind her stepped in front of her and slapped down some money in front of the cashier, abruptly cutting off his scornful mocking.

"Just combine her order with mine then," he said in a manner that indicated that it wouldn't be a very smart idea to say 'no'. The cashier paled slightly, but nodded in acceptance before he took the man's order as well.

Corey's jaw dropped as she gaped up at dark-haired man in shock before he turned around and flashed her a reassuring grin.

"Never argue with someone who gets paid minimum wage," he quipped as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate at the now sour-faced cashier. Corey blinked in surprise before she shook her head slightly and moved out of the way so that the people behind her weren't being blocked.

"Um, thank you," she muttered uncertainly, an embarrassed flush causing her cheeks to burn as she averted her gaze slightly. "You… you didn't have to do that."

"Sure, I didn't have to," the man drawled with a roguish grin that for some reason reminded her faintly of Dean. "But I wanted to." He straightened up and frowned slightly as he glanced over at the cashier, who looked like he was sulking as he took someone's order, before he stuffed his hands into the pockets of the navy wool greatcoat that he was wearing. "Besides, he had no right to treat you like that. Sure, you made a mistake, but everyone does that occasionally. Nobody's perfect. And if we were, then life would be very boring."

Corey couldn't help it; she smiled. There was just something about this guy that was very friendly and made him easy to talk to. It didn't hurt that he also sounded American, which was a very welcome thing after the massive stink-eye that she had just been given by the cashier. It was something familiar, and Corey welcomed it.

"You sound as though you speak from experience," she teased. He cocked an eyebrow in response.

"And you sound like you're far from home," he pointed out before he frowned thoughtfully. "I'm gonna guess… American Midwest?"

"Actually, I'm from Michigan originally, but I've lived in Wisconsin for the past five years," Corey admitted with a slight grin. "You were close though. I'm just a bit farther north. If you had said the Great Lakes area though, then you would have nailed it."

The number for the combined order was called up, and the man quickly stepped up to retrieve it before he handed her the fish and chips combo that she had ordered.

"I'm Jack Harkness, by the way," he said. "And you are?"

Corey hesitated for a moment, uncertain as to whether or not she could trust this guy. After all, her track record for trusting people today downright sucked, and she didn't even know him from Adam. But, she was in a public place, so if he did anything funny she'd at least be able to get some help.

"Corey Matthews."

"Well then, Corey Matthews, I don't suppose that you would like to join me-" Jack held up his own basket of fish and chips for emphasis before he gestured loosely over towards a booth that was right next to one of the rain-fogged windows "- for lunch over there. To be honest, I'm rather curious to know how a girl from Wisconsin ended up here in Cardiff, Wales."

Corey's eyebrows arched upwards slightly upon hearing this particular piece of information, but somehow managed to keep her expression neutral. So she was in Wales right now? For a girl who hadn't even been to Canada, much less any farther away from her home than a state or two, that was some heavy-duty traveling right there.

"Well, it's kind of a long and annoying story," she hedged as she took a seat on one of the hard wooden benches before she snatched up one of the steaming fries and bit into it. She almost groaned in delight at the firm crunch, accompanied by the taste of a perfectly cooked potato that wasn't too greasy and had only a little bit of salt on it. "Oh man, these are awesome."

"First time you've ever had real fish and chips?" Jack asked, obviously amused with her actions as he smiled. Corey flashed him a little grin in response as she bit into another fry.

"What gave me away?"

"That probably would have been the euphoric look on your face when you bit into your chip."

Corey cocked an eyebrow before she shrugged slightly and picked up a large piece of battered and fried cod, staring at it thoughtfully for a moment before she bit into it. She was pleasantly surprised; it tasted nothing like the processed fish sticks from back home. Actually, it was really good. The girl grinned before she took another bite.

"You're supposed to put vinegar on it first," Jack pointed out as he held up a small bottle of amber-colored vinegar that had been sitting on the side of the table meaningfully. Corey shot him a wry look as she swallowed her mouthful of hot fish.

"But what if I like it plain?" she asked once she wasn't in danger of showing the older man a mouthful of masticated food. The knowing smirk that he gave her in response made her want to groan in exasperation.

"Have you ever tried it with vinegar?"

"No."

"Then how do you know that you don't like it?"

"Because I'm just that good?"

Jack just laughed as he dangled the little bottle of malt vinegar right in Corey's face, grinning widely when she jerked away slightly and shot the small glass bottle an offended look.

"Here, I'll make you a deal," he offered suddenly. "You try the vinegar on one of your fish pieces, and I'll leave you alone about it."

Corey gave him a flat look before she held out her hand expectantly, and Jack set the bottle of vinegar down in her palm. The girl gripped it tightly before she upended it over her half-eaten piece of fish and allowed a thin stream of amber-colored liquid to dribble onto the piece of cod before she quickly righted it and set it back down at the end of the table. She stared at her now-defiled piece of fish for a second before she picked it up and bit into the end that she had put vinegar on. Jack watched her intently as she chewed thoughtfully for a few moments before swallowing.

"Eh, not bad," she finally admitted with a shrug after drawing out the somewhat tense silence for as long as possible. "I still like it better plain though."

Jack rolled his eyes upwards as he gave an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. "You have no appreciation for the finer things in life."

"Hey, dude, you're talking to the girl who eats her French fries without ketchup on a regular basis," Corey pointed out with a chuckle as she jabbed a fry in the older man's direction. The look of complete and absolute bewilderment that Jack gave her in response almost made her burst out laughing.

"Why?"

"Because I'm weird like that."

A relaxed silence fell between the two of them after that, and Corey used that time to utterly demolish her basket of fish and chips. Jack watched her with obvious interest as the teen pushed the empty paper-lined plastic basket away from her and leaned back against the padded backrest of the booth with a content sigh. He picked at his own food for a few more minutes, attempting to finish off the half-eaten remains of his own meal before he finally gave up and pushed his basket off to the side.

"So," he began hesitantly. "How does a girl like you go from Wisconsin to Wales?"

Corey straightened up slightly at the question, and she couldn't prevent the startled expression that flickered across her face before she forced herself to assume a nonchalant mask.

"Oh, just… stuff," she finally muttered, unable to keep back the note of irritation that entered her voice as she remembered everything that had happened before she had agreed to go with the Doctor. Besides, how on earth could she convey what had happened to her within the past twenty-four hours without sounding absolutely insane? "I… I kind of had an argument with… someone that I know."

There. That was close enough to the truth, and just ambiguous enough to avoid too many awkward questions.

Jack arched an eyebrow as he leaned forward slightly, looking interested. "Boyfriend?"

Corey couldn't help the look of indignant disgust that crossed her face as she visibly recoiled at the suggestion.

"Oh, hell no!" she exploded as she shook her head vehemently. "Never in a million freaking years!"

The older man looked slightly taken aback by her objection, and blinked in surprise before he shook his head. A look of dawning understanding crossed his face, and he gave her a wry little smile.

"Ah, family issues then," he said before he let out a sigh. Corey shook her head in response as she rubbed the back of her neck uncertainly.

"No, not exactly," she admitted reluctantly before she glanced out the window off to her right, watching the rain still pouring down outside thoughtfully. "It's just… it's complicated. And annoying, and… agh, I don't even know where to begin. Every time I try to think about it, my brain starts threatening me with mutiny and spontaneous combustion."

Jack looked amused by her rather frustrated description as the girl reached up and started to massage the bridge of her nose, her eyes sliding shut as she let out an irritated sigh. Once she seemed to have regained some semblance of calm, Corey straightened up and opened her eyes before she glanced offhandedly out at the dismal weather on the other side of the window. Something outside caught her attention, and she quickly did a double-take before all of the color drained from her face.

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me," she whispered hoarsely as she stared incredulously at the familiar lanky figure that was standing outside on the curb opposite to them, holding a small glowing blue light in his hand as he looked down at it. How in the hell had the Doctor followed her?

Corey forced herself to try and remain calm as she looked out the window, ignoring the slightly concerned look that Jack was giving her. As long as the Doctor was outside, she'd be okay. He was across the street, and visibility was pretty much crap when someone was out in the rain like that, so he probably wouldn't see her.

However, the Doctor decided to blow that assumption right out of the water when he held the sonic screwdriver out in front of him and started to stride across the street. Corey's eyes widened, and she let a soft profanity fall from her lips as she fought back the urge to start banging her head against the table. It wouldn't do anything to help matters, but it would feel so good once she stopped.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked, and Corey looked up at him with wide eyes. Approximately two seconds after that an idea came to her, and as juvenile as it was, she decided to go with it.

"Um, look, if someone comes in here looking for me, you don't know me, okay?" she said hurriedly before she stuffed her messenger bag under the table, and then quickly ducked under after it. She heard Jack's confused 'huh?' in response to her abrupt disappearance as she pressed herself up against the wall below the window, and inwardly sighed. She was going to have to do some heavy-duty explaining once the Doctor left.

Fortunately the booth that they had been sitting at was one of those four-person booths, so Corey didn't look like a complete and total retard in her attempt to hide. The girl held her messenger bag securely in her lap as she pulled her legs up to her chest and kept her head down. Her paranoia became reality about a minute later when the door to the chip shop swung open, accompanied by the sound of pouring rain and the scent of a wet October afternoon, with just a touch of the ocean thrown in to spice things up.

What Corey hadn't expected was the name that came out of the Doctor's mouth after he had completely entered the small chip shop and looked around a bit.

"Jack?"

Corey froze. Oh crap.

"Doctor? What are you doing here?"

No, crap did not even begin to describe how much trouble she was in. Shit was probably more appropriate, or maybe even the f-bomb.

Corey bit down on her lip in an effort to prevent herself from cussing up a storm as the Doctor came to a stop in front of their table. From what she could see, which pretty much consisted of everything from the knees down, he looked absolutely soaked. Water was dripping liberally off of his trench coat and pooling around his equally damp-looking Converse, and there were streaks of wet sand on his pant legs.

The girl frowned slightly as she slowly tilted her head to the side. Why was the Doctor so wet? He looked like he had gotten on the wrong end of a swamp monster or something.

She heard the Doctor let out a long sigh before he gracelessly sat down in the seat across from Jack, forcing Corey to press herself even closer to the wall to avoid from being kicked. She silently thanked whatever celestial beings that might happen to be in the area for the fact that the table was fairly wide.

"I'm looking for someone," the Time Lord admitted wearily. Jack gave a sardonic-sounding snort as he leaned back slightly in his seat.

"What, looking for another companion?" he said sarcastically. The Doctor frowned as he shot the other man a somewhat annoyed look before he let out another sigh and propped his elbows up on the table, resting his forehead in the palms of his hands as he stared intently at the scarred laminate tabletop.

"No, not exactly," the Doctor said, his shoulders slumped wearily in defeat. "I picked up a new one in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She's a college student, fairly young, but she looks even younger. She got upset because I didn't tell her the truth about something, and she ran off as soon as I landed the TARDIS here."

Jack stiffened up immediately as soon as he heard the word 'Wisconsin', and Corey bit down on the thick flannel fabric of her shirtsleeve so she wouldn't groan aloud. She was so screwed.

"What's her name?" Jack asked nonchalantly, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the girl in question was now very quietly freaking out by his feet.

"Corey. Her name's Corey Matthews," the Doctor responded dully as he looked up at the Torchwood head. "She's seventeen." There was another awkward pause before he spoke again, and when he did, Corey felt her stomach begin a free-fall right to the floor. "Jack, she's not from around here."

"You already said that she was American, so I kind of figured that," the dark-haired man drawled easily. The Time Lord shot him an annoyed glance before he shook his head.

"No, I don't mean like that," he insisted as he straightened up.

"Oh? And where is she from then?"

"She's… she's from a different reality."

If it had been at all possible for Corey to get away with repeatedly banging her head against the wall behind her, she would have done it in a heartbeat. Of course her luck was that bad! Somehow, she had struck up a reasonably friendly conversation with a friend of the one person that she wanted to avoid. Did the universe really hate her that much?

A tense silence descended between the two men, and Corey shivered slightly. What on earth was going on? The way the Doctor had said that, it sounded almost like… she wasn't the first person to come here through another reality. But if that was the case, then why in the heck hadn't the Doctor said something?

"Was it Rose's-?" Jack began, only to be cut off by an abrupt shake of the Time Lord's head.

"No, completely different one," he said flatly as he ran a hand though his messy and soaking hair agitatedly. "Everything there… it was different. It was… normal, if any reality could ever be called that. All of the things here – you, me, aliens, Torchwood, Unit, everything – it didn't exist. It was just a plain, ordinary world full of plain, ordinary people."

"And you decided to drag one of those plain, ordinary people along with you on one of your adventures," Jack retorted sarcastically as he leveled a glare at the other man. His eyes widened slightly as he stared at the Doctor for a few seconds as realization hit him, and he suddenly reached across the table and grabbed him by the front of his suit, roughly pulling the Time Lord close to his face. "You stupid-! Are you telling me that you took some poor kid away from her family without even telling her that she'd never be able to go back once she went with you?"

The Doctor stared in his eyes for a moment before he looked away. He nodded once in agreement to the Torchwood head's statement, and Jack gaped at him incredulously as he released the other man's suit and slowly sat back down.

"I told her family, but I left it up to them to tell her. They made the decision to write some letters explaining what was happening, and put them in an envelope. They gave the envelope to me, and I put it in my pocket." The Doctor trailed off as he gave a half-hearted shrug. "Figured that I'd give it to Corey once everything had calmed down a bit."

A dark eyebrow slowly rose upwards as Jack stared steadily at the older man before he shook his head and sighed.

"She found the envelope, didn't she?"

The Doctor nodded wordlessly in response before he let out a soft noise of frustration.

"Why do they always run off?" he asked quietly. A brief flicker of annoyance crossed his face as he stared intently down at the top of the table. "Humans."

At that point Corey decided that she'd had enough. It was cramped under the table, and it smelled funny. Not to mention the fact that she was tired of avoiding being kicked in the face. All of the anger that she had been feeling earlier had faded to a more manageable level. Besides, it wasn't worth all of the time and energy that nursing a grudge would take, and she was exhausted.

And while she hated to admit it, she really didn't have any other choice.

"Normally, I would take offense to that comment, but I'll just chalk it up to you being cranky," she said in an offhanded manner, and smirked inwardly when both men jumped at the sound of her voice. Without even waiting for a response, she managed to extract herself from the cramped darkness from under the table, squirming into the seat next to Jack.

The absolutely flabbergasted look on the Doctor's face as he gaped at her was priceless.

"What?" he stammered indignantly, his brown eyes wide as shock slowly turned to indignation. "What? What?"

Corey let out a long sigh as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I was here the entire time, and yes, I heard the whole thing," she remarked pointedly as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, leveling a steady gaze at the still-speechless Time Lord. "You may have had your reasons for why you brought me here, and I understand that, but that still leaves the fact that you lied to me. I do not like people lying to me. In fact, I'm still pretty pissed about that. But you had a reason." Gray eyes narrowed slightly as the girl straightened up in her seat. "So tell me why."

The Doctor fixed Corey with a long, and slightly stern look, as he fiddled absent-mindedly with his sonic screwdriver.

"We're going to have to do that later," he pointed out as he gestured out at the people occupying the chip shop. More than one person was glancing frequently in their direction, and it was blatantly obvious that several of them were trying to eavesdrop. "Your little stunt attracted more than a little bit of attention. It's not safe to talk here."

The flat, disbelieving stare that Corey favored the older man with could have decimated nations.

"You want me to come with you?" she whispered incredulously before a slightly hostile expression crossed her face and she jabbed an accusatory finger right into his face. "Dude, if you're waiting for Stockholm syndrome to kick in, then you're in for a long night."

"What?"

"You freaking kidnapped me!" the girl hissed angrily. "If you think that I'm going anywhere alone with you, then you're even crazier than I thought!"

Apparently Jack had had enough of their arguing, because he chose that moment to intercede on the Doctor's behalf.

"But you won't be alone," he said pointedly. Corey rolled her eyes as she gave a disbelieving snort before she fixed the man with a skeptical look. She opened her mouth to fire off a retort, only to stop when she caught sight of some of the people staring at them. She shut her mouth with an audible 'click' before she shook her head and dragged a hand down her face.

"Sonofabitch," she hissed through gritted teeth before she stood up and exited the booth, shouldering her bag as she went. "Fine, we'll do it your way." Corey stopped for a second as she fixed the Doctor with a stern look and pointed at him. "But I'm telling you right now, you better have a damn good explanation for what you pulled."

Jack didn't roll his eyes, but it was a very near thing as he gently escorted the offended teen towards the front door, with the Doctor following along behind them.

"Trust me kid," he said in a tone that could only be called one of resigned patience, "with the Doctor, he always has a reason."

Corey merely turned around and stared at the two men stonily in response, her eyes narrowed slightly even as she fought to keep back whatever biting retort that came to mind. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was not a happy camper. Jack mentally cringed at the thought of dealing with a pissed-off adolescent, and the massive explanation that they had to look forward to.

This was not going to be fun, for any of them.

Yay, I'm back from the dead! Sorry for the delay, but life and school interfered.

It's the beginning of a wonderful new semester at my university (note the sarcasm here), and I am enrolled in the Art program. So, updates might be a bit more sporadic until I get used to my schedule.

Thank you everyone who reviewed, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well. And, for anyone who does not know, Corey has another set of adventures up called Far From Over. Basically, they're a bunch of somewhat non-linear one-shots that cross over with Supernatural, and Corey's fun encounters with the weird. Sarcasm, humor, and the usual hijinks abound. They all take place after Corey gets used to being around the Doctor.