Emma Smith: Torchwood

New Year's Eve, 2002

"Good evening, Emma Smith-White," a man smiles. He has brown hair, blue eyes and a handsome smile.
"How do you know my name?" I ask, surprised. "I'm only a few years old."
"My name is Captain Jack Harkness, a member of the Torchwood Institute. Alex Hopkins, head of the Torchwood Institute, brought you here last night."
"What of my parents, my sisters?"

"Let me go home! Let me go home!" My twin brother, Luke, screams. Jack turns to him.
"We can't, you and your twin have become too dangerous. You both need a purpose to survive."
"I want to go home! Please, Emma, tell him!"

"Captain, we need to go home," he unlocks the cell door and sits beside me.
"You are half human, half Qetesh. Your sisters can survive since they are young, they do not need to accept who they are yet. You and Luke, on the other hand, need a purpose to survive. We're giving you that purpose." He stands up. "Well, it's New Year's Eve. Why don't we go into the city?" I nod, and he unlocks Luke's cell. "Right, there we go. We might need to buy a pram at this rate."
"I can walk!" I exclaim, irritably. That was when Alex communicates to him over the comm, saying that there is a millennium bug on the loose within the city.
"We'll sort it," Jack tells him. "Yes, I'll give one to each of them." He picks up two comms and passes one to me and another to Luke before we leave the Hub.

We run around the city, trying to find it. "Whoa!" Jack cried, pushing us back when we find it. It is massive, crawling down an alleyway. A cat screeches and jumps over the fence. "Be careful, Emma, Luke." He pulls his gun out. The bug turns to us, raising one of its legs, aiming at Jack. He pushes us to the side as it crashes down on him. I realise that he saved us, for the legs are tipped with poison. Jack fires at the bug. It roars and scuttles off. We run after it. Luke and I jump onto it's back, distracting it. Jack fires again, killing the bug.

"Great thinking, Emma, Luke," Jack helps us down. "You two are certainly not like normal children. Come on, let's head back. It's almost midnight."

"Hey!" Jack calls when we arrive. "When you joked about the millennium bug, I didn't realise it was going to have eighteen legs stacked with poison. Anyone home?" The TV is playing as Jack hangs up his coat. I see a body lying on the floor, and I run to it. I check for a pulse, nothing. Luke checks the next one and shakes his head.

Alex is sitting in front of the TV, holding a fob locket. "Alex, what happened here?" Jack asks.
"Jack, Emma, Luke. Just in time."
"What happened?" Luke asks. "Who did this?"
"Me."
"What? Why?" I ask, shocked
"We got it wrong. We thought we could control the stuff we found. And what's it brought us? So much death." Jack aims his gun.

"What happened to them?" He asks.
"It's good you're here. Jack always did have great timing. He saved you both when you were on the verge of death. I'm going to give this to you both." He hands us two passes.
"What's this?"
"It's for Child's Torchwood. You dealt very well so far. I think we can put Emma in charge of a team after a bit of training. Luke will be second in command. Jack, this place, it's yours. Torchwood Three. My gift to you, Jack, for a century of service as field operative. Fill this place with purpose, before it's too late." Alex aims a gun at his head and shoots.

Fireworks begin on TV. "21st century," Luke whispers. "Everything's going to change."
"Yes," Jack agrees. "Yes, they are. Things have already changed. When I started working at Torchwood, all that time ago, I never thought that I would end up commanding two kids." He smiles. "Well, we'll get through it, together." I sit down, slowly. "You should get some sleep, Emma. You too, Luke."
"I don't think I can, not after this."
"You can, Emma."

I toss and turn in the bed Captain Jack set up for me, unable to sleep. Slowly, I climb out and walk to a computer. I type in my name, wondering if Alex had recorded what happened before he died. I found exactly what I was looking for.

Name of Human-Qetesh Hybrid (if any): Emma Victoria Smith-White
Age: 2 years (25th December 1999, 7:35 a.m.)
Parents: Human Sarah Jane Smith and Qetesh Ruby Ann White
Siblings (if any): Sandra Charlotte Smith-White (deceased during the mission) and Elizabeth Georgina Smith-White (deceased during the mission). Twin, Luke Jonathon Smith-White was taken into custody.
Purpose: Become head of Child's Torchwood by the summer of 2007 unless killed by this time. (Aged 7)

This, I find, doesn't give me the answers I want. Where are my parents? What happened during those days?

But what is a Qetesh?

As I walk back into my room, a woman is waiting for me. I want to yell for Jack, but he's busy. I don't know whether to run into Luke's room or not. I dash out into the hallway, deciding to stay in Luke's room for the night. I begin hammering on his door, and he lets me in. He touches my hand, concerned. It is through this way, as we are part alien, we can communicate if we don't know the words for what we saw. Luke nods, and we huddle on the bed together.

The door opens, and Jack looks in on us. "There you are, Emma," he smiles. "I was getting worried about you when I saw you weren't in your room." I lift my hand to his face to show him what I saw. Jack nods, understanding. "In fact, I wanted to talk to you about that. Her name is Jane, and she needs to talk to you both." He switches the light on as he sits beside us on the bed. Jane walks in.

She is wearing a black cloak and a short black dress with white leggings. She has black patient shoes on her feet. The one thing that I really notice is her eyes. They are ruby red. Jane stands in the middle of the room. She smiles, softly. She could almost be mistaken for being a young teenager. "Hello, my name is Jane." Finally, I find my voice.
"What are you doing here?"
"Aro, one of my leaders, told me to protect you. I will be dropping in every now and again to check up on you. I didn't mean to scare you last time, Jack told me to wait in there."
"That's all right," I agree. Truth to be told, I don't know what to think about her. Why am I special to this Aro?

I yawn, and Jack puts Luke and me to bed, so I am unable to ask Jane my question. I decide to store it in my mind so that I can ask her at a later stage.