The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Twenty-One

*The Next Day*

Sophie walks into the Hub the next day, and Jack smiles at her. "How'd you sleep, kid?"

"On my side, Jack," she deadpans.

He smirks, "Ianto's getting the others. They'll be here soon."

Sophie simply nods, looking around the Hub, "Where's everyone else?"

"Not here yet, but they'll be trickling in soon enough." She sets off for the stairs, wandering into Jack's office. He follows after her, chuckling under his breath. She surveys his office, and then plops down into one of his chairs. "What're you looking for?" Jack asks, leaning against the door frame.

"Just, something I guess."

He raises his eyebrows, "Something, you guess?" He strolls into the room, and sits on the armrest of the chair that Sophie's sitting in. He places an arm around her shoulder, "What's up, kiddo."

She leans into the immortal's warmth, "I just, uh, realized last night with Emma, that this is my first Christmas alone. I mean, I haven't had parents in over a decade, but I was at the home after that, and Deb always made sure Christmas was special. Now though, I've got no one, not even Morgan. And, uh, it's gonna be hard," she says, picking at her nail beds.

Jack kisses the top of her head, "Aw, kid."

"I know it seems stupid, what with all the sh*t I deal with regularly, but it just hit me." She looks up at Jack, "Oh my gosh, look who I'm telling. Your life is h*ll, you probably haven't had a real Christmas in centuries, and here I am, b*tching to you."

Jack just pulls her closer to him, "Hey, never apologize for telling me how you feel. You're right though, haven't had a proper Christmas in a long time. What d'you say I come for Christmas at yours?"

She chuckles, "Alright. Come over on the 23rd, you can pay for the dinner ingredients, seeing as you have a job, and I'm sorta broke."

"Actually," Jack starts, standing up, "I've been thinking about that. I keep pulling you out of your life, bringing you into all this Torchwood sh*t. So, what if I offer you a permanent position. You work when I call you, and I pay you by the hours you work, £20 per hour. What d'you say?"

She leans back into her seat, "Is this how you offer all of your employees a job?"

"Sophie?" he asks again.

She smiles, and rolls her eyes, "Yeah, alright. Sounds like a good gig."

He smiles, and races over to his desk, and grabs a file, bringing it over to her, "You do have to sign some papers. Y'know, security purposes, insurance purposes, all that."

He flips open the folder, and hands her a stack of about twenty pages, "Do I need to read all of this?"

"Nah, I wouldn't have you sign anything dangerous. Basically its stuff saying that you won't tell anyone about Torchwood, aliens, all that."

She meets his eyes, "I will be telling people about Torchwood, aliens, and all that."

He chuckles, "The Doctor doesn't count."

She signs the stack of documents, and hands it back over to the immortal. He holds out his hand, and Sophie takes it. He shakes it firmly, "Welcome to Torchwood, Sophia Jaclyn McCoy."

"Pleasure to be here, Bossman."

The door to the Hub slides open, and they both walk out to see the rest of the Torchwood team enter, laughing at something Owen said. The duo walk out into the main part of the Hub, and the doctor raises his eyebrows, "What did you spend the night?" he asks Sophie.

"No, she actually arrived on time, which isn't something that can be said about you lot," Jack states.

"And she doesn't even work here," Owen rolls his eyes.

"Actually, I do," Sophie grins.

"Wait," Gwen smiles, "He actually offered you the job."

"See what you miss when your late," the Captain says, as the doors slide shut again.

Ianto leads the trio up toward the conference room, and Jack grabs Sophie's hand, heading after the group.

He grabs a stack of leather wallets off his desk, and heads back toward the room. He hands one to each of the displaced people, "These will be your means of identification for the authorities. We've set up bank accounts for you but we'll give you an allowance so you can practice with the currency and money management."

John flips his open first, "David Ward?"

Diane follows the mans lead, "Sally-Anne Hope."

Emma finally flips her open, "Deborah Morrison," she smiles, looking over at Sophie, "And it's spelt how Deborah Kerr spells it."

"Your background stories should incorporate the skills you already have," Jack adds, "For instance, John, you could have run a corner shop."

"No," the states, forcefully.

"We can fake references," Jack tells him.

Sophie sees the pain on John's face, and she grabs Jack's arm, nodding at him, "You can't take away our names. For God's sake, man, it's all we've got left. It's my son's name. It's the name above my shop."

Jack sighs, and nods, "You're right. I didn't think. You should keep your name."

Jack walks out of the room, and orders Ianto to take the trio to a grocer's to get used to modern currency. He says nothing else, and storms to his office. Gwen watches him, concern in her eyes. Sophie follows him into the office, and finds him halfway down the ladder that leads below.