I haven't updated this story for a couple of weeks, I'm sorry. My life has been busy at work, plus I was on holiday in the UK, attended the Torchwood convention, met John Barrowman again (Squeeee), so I didn't have much time to work on the fic.

Thanks for the lovely reviews for the latest chapter. I'm happy to see my faithful readers sticking around, and also new readers joining. Thank you all! x

And now, roll on with this new piece, hope you'll like it. :)

As always, thanks a lot to my beta, Alice. x

Disclaimer: TW and its characters are not mine. Ceri, Daniel, Vaughn and Aderyn are my creations though.

After breakfast, with another cup of freshly brewed coffee, the Coopers lounged in the living room, chitchatting and watching Christmas programmes on TV.

When the doorbell rang, Mary rose to open the door, expecting some carollers or neighbour to wish happy holidays. "Gwen, darling," she yelled from the foyer a minute later. "Someone would like to see you."

Excusing herself, Gwen left Jack and Geraint alone in the living room and soon all Jack could hear was a loud squeal followed by another one.

"Gwennie!" The young, mahogany brown haired woman in the foyer cried, beaming.

"Oh my God... Ceri!" a broad, blinding smile appeared on Gwen's face as she realized who the unexpected visitor was. Ceri Adams, her best friend since 4th grade. They used to study and hang out together during the school years, and talk about heartbreaker movie stars, fashion, boys and other girls' topics later. They had been best friends for long years, sharing their sadness and happiness. Leaving high school, admitted to different colleges, being otherwise occupied, and their encounters became less frequent. When Ceri won a scholarship to Florida State University in the USA, they lost their connection and had not met ever since. They exchanged e-mails for a while, but it stopped when Gwen started working at the police force in Cardiff.

The visitor hugged Gwen tight. "I've missed you so much."

"I can't believe you're here," Gwen pulled back and took a good look at the girl. "It's been... uhm, 4 years?"

"Five, actually," Ceri corrected, drinking in the sight of her long-unseen-friend.

"Are you over for a visit or back for good?" Gwen inquired, still high with excitement.

"Just visiting. I have more than one reason to stay in Florida." Ceri winked meaningfully and reached out her hand for her friend to check out.

"God, you're getting married?" Gwen exclaimed, discovering the shiny engagement ring on her friend's finger. "Congrats!" She wrapped her arms around Ceri again, hugging her tight.

"Thank you!" the bride beamed. "I've never been this happy. And now, seeing you again makes me the happiest girl in the world."

"How long are you staying? We really should catch-up with everything."

"Just a couple of days. Dan has work to do in Florida. We're just visiting my parents"

Gwen's face saddened. "It would have been nice to chat a little."

"What about this evening? I want to show Dan the Waterfront Winterland, you could join us and we could have dinner in a pub. What do you think?"

"Good idea. Hope you don't mind if I bring someone along?"

Ceri's mouth curled into a knowing smirk. "Not at all. I'll pick you up around six, okay?"

"Great," Gwen smiled.

"Sorry, but I must hurry. See you later!" Ceri hugged her tight before leaving.

"Where's Ceri?" Mary inquired disappointedly when Gwen entered the living room alone.

"She couldn't stay, but she'll be back later," Gwen replied. "She's taking her fiancé to the Waterfront, and suggested that Jack and I should join them." She glanced at Jack with a slightly anxious look. She hoped that he wouldn't find the idea amiss and refuse it before thinking twice. They hadn't gone out together yet, and Gwen didn't want him think that she wanted rush things between them. Officially, it wasn't a date, just friends having a fun evening.

"That's a lovely idea," Mary cheered. "You are young; you really don't have to sit around with the elders the whole day. We don't want to bore Jack to death."

No worries, he would come back to life in a couple of minutes, Gwen smirked inside. On the other hand, if you knew who's the old one here...

"You are a lovely company," Jack smiled at her parents politely.

"You're very nice, Jack, but you can save the formal phrases," Geraint laughed. "We also were young once, and, believe me, I know what youths consider fun."

The old man is such a cool guy, Jack noted, totally impressed by Geraint's modern views. Gwen was a lucky girl to have such an easy-going father as Mr. Cooper.

Gwen gave a questioning look to Jack.

"Sounds good," the Captain returned a genuine smile, which earned a relieved look from Gwen.

Later, when her parents weren't paying attention to them, Gwen sat beside Jack and said, "You know, I wasn't sure if you'd like the idea of us going out with my friends. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or obliged to play nice just because it's about me."

"It's okay, Gwen," he hushed her with a small, soft smile. "Take it easy. Don't think I can't see what you're doing." He touched her hand, looking into her eyes. "You still want to keep my emotions safe from the world outside, and I appreciate it a lot. But I've gotten over those critical times by now, so I won't break from hanging out a little with your friends. I won't forget the past – I couldn't even if I wanted -, but you made me realize that I have to move on. And that's what I'm trying to do."

"You don't know how happy I am to hear that. It's good to have the old Jack back." She smiled back at him.

"You know you're incredibly sexy in this dress," Jack whispered, his fingers trailing down her bare arm, before resting on her thigh covered by the velvet of the dark-blue cocktail dress. "Ever since I saw you this morning, I've been counting the minutes to peel this velvet wonder off of you."

"Well, you have to wait for that," she smirked.

After the festive lunch, in the afternoon, the family settled in the living room to open the presents. Yet before anyone touched the boxes under the tree, Geraint rose to say a couple of words as he always did.

"Every year, we express our gratitude to the Lord for guarding our family," he started his solemn speech. "We had both good and hard times to deal with - but no matter what comes along the way, we always make it through." He cast a proud look at Mary and Gwen.

That's the Cooper-attitude; Jack smiled to himself, sneaking a glance at his second-in-command. When Captain John Hart, his troublemaking rogue ex, paid him a visit in Torchwood about two years ago and attempted to kill Gwen with his infamous paralyzing lip-gloss, she told something similar to John. You can beat, shoot, threaten, and even poison us, we keep coming back. Stronger every time. That was Jack's girl – so confident and brave. Noting how lucky he was to know this amazing woman filled his heart with warmth and pride.

"I'm utterly happy to have our Gwennie home again," Geraint looked at his daughter lovingly. "And it's a special delight that she brought along such a nice guest to share the festive days with." He smiled at Jack. "Now it's time to unwrap the gifts. Merry Christmas, everyone! Jack, there's something under the tree for you as well," he winked at the Captain.

Jack hadn't expected any presents, so Geraint's words took him by surprise. This caring was nothing like he had ever imagined from Gwen's family. He was touched by the love the Coopers treated him with, which - in his opinion - he didn't deserve. This genuine care filled his lonely, sorrowful heart with warmth that he had missed during those long decades of his never-ending life. Apart from the Torchwood-team, he hadn't been part of a family for God knows how long. Thinking of his lost family and all the people he'd liked but had died around him evoked too much pain, so he did his best to not be too attached to anyone. He had forgotten the real meaning of a family and the feeling of belonging in one very long ago.

He glimpsed at Gwen for reassurance and got the loveliest smile in return. This was too nice to be true; he thought he was dreaming.

Mary inserted a Christmas disk in the CD player, and the beautiful melody of an old, forgotten song filled the air.

Unfolding a big royal blue ribbon, Gwen squealed to find a pair of shiny black leather boots in the box. She gave a thankful smile to her mother, mouthing 'thank you', which earned a warm one in return from Mary, who was happy to see her daughter's delight.

"These will be perfect to kick the asses of aliens, weevils or whatever," Gwen whispered to Jack with an eager glint in her eyes.

He laughed and murmured huskily into her ear. "I could think of something more enjoyable to use it for."

"Harkness, you're impossible!"She scolded him playfully.

His amused smirk turned into a gape of awe finding not one, but two boxes with his name under the Christmas tree.

"The smaller one is from me, so open the other first," Gwen whispered knowingly.

Still amazed, Jack did as she said, revealing a fine, dark green shirt with silver airplane cufflinks - like the ones he usually wore. "Thank you so much." He cast a grateful and touched look to Gwen's parents. He couldn't truly express how he felt about this lovely gesture of gifting him.

"I hope you like it," Mary smiled. "I picked the colour, and Geraint found the cufflinks."

"It's perfect," Jack beamed, still deeply moved by the unexpected care of the Coopers. He turned away to wipe a tear from the corner of his eyes.

"Okay, now you can open mine," Gwen suggested, trying to lighten the mood.

Again, he did as she said; finding a desktop toy called Balance Balls aka Newton's Cradle in the neatly wrapped box. Jack knew this toy; one of the team-members used to have one long decades ago in the old Torchwood. He remembered Vaughn, the computer expert, had always played with it when thinking about something. The swinging steel balls, their clicking sound and back and forth motion must have had an inspiring effect on his brain-cells, but got totally another result in Jack. He had lost his patience whenever seeing the Welsh guy staring at the swinging balls ever so calmly. Later, Jack wished he had acted differently. The perfect aim of a 40th century's laser-gun, and Vaughn's toy hadn't ever moved again. Jack hadn't seen the bouncy gadget anymore; he supposed that Aderyn, the administrative assistant and Vaughn's fiancé had taken it after the farewell ceremony in the vaults.

"In a perfect world, it never stops, but 'lives' forever. Just like you." Gwen uttered quietly, looking into his water-blue eyes. "And so does my belief in you."

Locking eyes, Jack was staring at her intently, drinking in her sight. "Gwen..." He was looking for the right words, but nothing seemed to express how he really felt. "Maybe one day, I can take you to that perfect place," he said enthusiastically, a sparkle lighting up in his eyes. "There are so many universes out there, waiting for you to explore."

His words were promises of a fairy tale; Gwen knew they could never make them come true. He might find that place, but her time was limited. Even if they left Earth right now, time wouldn't be enough to find the perfect world.

"Let's focus on the here and now," she smiled softly, hiding the bitter thoughts. "I have another gift for you upstairs. But you have to wait for that a little."

Squeezing her hand, he gave her a radiating smile. "Actually, my presents with your name are waiting for you in my room too."

Gwen couldn't stop gazing at him – the happiness on his face was such a rare sight. After the depressed state he had been in ever since their teammates' deaths, the contrast between his moods was excessively striking. Martha was right – some change of air did him good. He was shining now, the thousand-megawatt smile plastered on his handsome face. Gosh, he was gorgeous.

Gwen could tell she fell more in love with him with every day. However, was she ready to face her feelings and what they meant?

Her father discovering the more-than-friends-bond didn't help in figuring out what was happening between Jack and her, and how they should act under these new circumstances. Jack had made clear his feelings about her the day and night before, and his confession about her to Geraint rocked her world, settling everything into another light. Yet, instead of clearly showing the path she should have followed, its brightness blinded her, unable to move into any direction. Jack and she wouldn't be able to have a normal relationship for several reasons. Even if they could have found a way, it would have never been like those people leading a normal life. Because they were unlike normal people, their world was ever so different. They could never have had a "boring" relationship like her father and mother had.

Now that she knew how Jack felt about her, she could have been happy. Indeed, she was. However, on the other hand, she was scared. The fact that her dad knew about them made her realize what shaky ground they were on. She was certain that her father was going to watch her from now on, expecting her to reveal that she was having a relationship with Jack. Once she did that, her parents would expect her to define the nature of their relationship and integrate Jack in the family, which meant visits and full background check on him. Then, what should she tell about him? How would she explain that he looked so young no matter how many time passed by? How could she keep secret what they were doing for a living? Just tiny things, but she knew her parents – they wanted their daughter be safe. The only solution would be to keep the visit as few as possible and lie all the time. I'm good at the latter, she snorted bitterly, thinking back her life in Torchwood.

What she didn't know was that her parents were like Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, and as to figuring out the nature of their relationship, were already aware.

Unwrapping a box, Mary glanced at the two. Seeing the delight on the young faces and the way they looked at each other, she couldn't help but stare at them with a smirk in the corner of her lips.

"Everything alright, darling?" Geraint settled beside her on the sofa.

Mary nodded. "Yes. Look at Gwen and Jack, what do you see?"

Following her gaze, he saw Jack squeezing Gwen's hand while staring into the girl's eyes with a happy smile.

"Erm, what do you mean?" he played dumb.

"Come on, Geraint, you know exactly what I'm talking about," Mary smirked. "You can't fool me; you should have already learnt that."

"How long have you known about them?" He sighed in defeat, grumbling inaudibly about having been busted.

"I've suspected it for a while now," she smiled.

"Please, don't tell Gwen you know that. I assured her of keeping her secret."

"You've talked to her about this?" Mary's eyes widened.

"Shh, keep it quiet!" Geraint hushed her. "Uhm, actually it was Jack I talked to. But she heard every word."

Confusion spread across her face. "You asked Jack about them?"

"Not really." Mr. Cooper scratched his head, feeling uneasy about this conversation. "I just..." He told how he accidentally discovered the truth about the two. "See, I told you earlier that there's something between them." He smiled proudly and mischievously.

"They spent the night together?" Mary asked in astonishment.

"Why are you so surprised, you've known it?"

"Actually, I didn't."

"But you said..." Geraint gaped at her in confusion.

"I didn't mean knowing that," she said and told him about the photo-slip she had discovered earlier.

"Why didn't you share that information?" he frowned theatrically.

"Why didn't you?" she retorted.

They couldn't help but bursting out in laughter in unison.

"We are such a perfect match," Mary noted in amusement.

Geraint kissed her lovingly. "Gwen will hate me - I spilled her secret," he muttered when pulling back.

"Don't worry, she won't learn that I know it," she smiled.