The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Twenty

Sophie walks into the Torchwood Hub, and Jack is standing near the door, talking quietly with Owen and Gwen. He turns when the doors slide open, and smiles as she enters the large space. "Y'know, I might've had plans," she says as a greeting.

Jack pulls her into a hug, and spins her around, "Did you," he asks, as he pulls away.

"No," she states, "But I could've. You said you needed my help, so what's up?"

He grabs her hand, and tugs her up toward the conference room. As she steps through the door, three people, all dressed in clothes out of the 1950's turn and look at her. Realisation strikes her, and she smiles kindly at the trio. "This is John Ellis, Emma Louise Cowell, and Diane Holmes," the Captain introduces.

Sophie shakes their hands, and smiles kindly, "Sophie McCoy, it's nice to meet you."

Jack looks over at, "I was hoping she'd be willing to help you guys get a hang of the 21st century. We're all a little older than Emma, and I was thinking it might be nice to have someone closer to her age show her around."

"Sure," she grins. "Welcome to 2007."

The rest of the Torchwood crew file into the room, and John immediately looks at Jack, "But how can you travel fifty years in half an hour?"

Jack nods, and gestures for everyone to sit. Tosh moves toward the screen at the front of the room. The Captain sighs, "Your aircraft slipped through a transcendental portal."

Emma looks at him, confused, "A what?"

Jack looks over at Sophie, silently asking for a bit of help, "It's a sort of door in time and space, and your plane slipped through it.

"It's some kind of trick. It has to be," John states.

Jack leans back in his seat, and nods at Toshiko. The tech nods at the different pictures spread out across the table, "Celebrations of the Millennium in your respective home cities, photographs documenting the development of Cardiff Bay from the Fifties to the present day, blueprints of modern day aeroplanes."

Diane flips through the photos in front of her, and then tosses them back on the table, "But if all this is true then how do we get back?"

Jack sighs again, and Sophie can see the pain in his eyes, "You don't. According to history, your plane never returned. I'm sorry."

The three look over at Jack, each of them with an expression of pain and confusion on their faces, "What's going to happen to us?" Diane asks.

John slams his photos back down on the table, "Never mind about us. What happened to everyone else? Our families."

Jack leads the group out into the main section of the Hub. Gwen takes Emma over toward the desks, and starts to look into her past. Owen tries to find out more about Diane. Tosh brings John over to the computer, and begins to research his family as well.

Jack takes Sophie's arm, and ushers her to the other side of the room. "What do you think?" he asks.

"I think this is gonna be hard, especially on them. I've known people who've left their lives behind, went to the future, but they always knew they could go home. This is a whole different ball park."

"Yeah. These are always the harder things. An alien spaceship is child's play compared to people from the past."

"I get why you asked for me to come in. Emma needs someone close to her age."

"Also, I kinda wanted to check in on you. It's been a while."

She smiles at him, "It's not really been that long, Jack. I'm alright, getting better every day."

He grins back, "That's what I like to hear." He walks away, over to John and Tosh, and places a hand on his shoulder, "We'll try again tomorrow. Right now, you need to get some sleep."

***

The group pulls up outside an ancient boarding house. The exterior looks like it's crumbling, but the interior feels slightly homey. Jack opens the door, and John, Emma, Diane, Gwen, and Sophie enter the building.

Gwen opens the door for Emma and Diane, "It a bit basic," she apologises.

"Not when you've slept in barracks," Diane states, setting her bag down on the bunks.

Emma sets hers down on the single bed in the other corner of the room, and sits down sadly on the bed.

Sophie steps into the room as well, and smiles at Emma. She closes the door halfway, and leans against the wall. Emma starts to unpack her bag, as Diane steps out of the room, Gwen following after her.

The front door closes, and some laughter fills the room. Sophie leans around, looking out of the door. "Who else is here?" Emma asks her.

"Just a couple of girls," she shrugs. The girl pulls a floral dress out of her bag. "That's a gorgeous dress," she smiles.

"Thank you," Emma smiles, "I made it myself."

The girl continues to put things into her wardrobe. "So, where are you from?"

"Bristol."

"Really? I got to Uni in Bristol. I should take you down there, and show you what it looks like now."

"That could be nice." Emma smiles.

"So, if it's not too personal, why were you heading to Dublin?"

"Auntie Nora's ill and Uncle Finn can't manage the children." She pulls a teddy bear out of her luggage, and cradles it to her chest, "It'll be good practice for when I have children of my own, Mum says." She pauses, and sets the teddy inside of the wardrobe, "She's gone next door so Uncle Finn can telephone. She'll know I'm missing by now."

Sophie smiles sadly, "Emma, she learned about it in 1953. It's been over fifty years, remember."

Emma sighs, and her shoulders drop, "What will she think happened? It must have been like one of those murders where they never find the body."

"I really don't know if this makes it any better or not, but everyone thought that your plane crashed into the sea." She sighs, and crosses her arms, "At least they had a form of closure, and didn't keep looking forever, thinking you were missing."

Emma looks sadly at the bear in her wardrobe, and sniffles. Sophie's eyes widen, and she jumps to her feet, wrapping an arm around the other girls back. Emma wraps both of her arms around Sophie, "I'm sorry," she apologises.

"Hey, no," Sophie says, "There's no need to apologize, alright. You've been through a lot." She takes a deep breath, "I'm not really good at all this comfort stuff."

Emma takes a step back, and wipes her eyes, "I think you're pretty good at it. But I shouldn't hold you up, you need sleep too."

"Okay. Get some rest, and I'll see you tomorrow."

***

The trio step out of the Hostel, and Sophie looks over at Jack, "I hope you have a place for me to stay."

The immortal chuckles, climbing into the van, "Yeah. I'll set you up in a hotel, unless you want to stay in the Hub."

She chuckles, climbing into the back seat, as Gwen takes the passenger side, "As nice as the Hub is, not sure I want to stay there."

"Wow, I see how it is."