Short Drops and Sudden Stops - CLOSED.

For a moment her stomach sank like a lead weight; if he was required to offer assistance, did that mean he wasn't as kind as she thought? But there - he offered again! And apologized for holding her at gunpoint - surely that wasn't required! With her insides returned to normal, Jenny beamed and shook her head. "I have funny reactions to some medications, so I'll just have m'dad check me out in a little bit. And I suppose that not everything that comes through the rift is friendly. Or harmless, so that's all right too."

Even more nervous than she had been before, Jenny rested her hand lightly on his arm, stood on tiptoe, and kissed Ianto's cheek. It wasn't the snog she really wanted, but at least it was something. And let her know that he smelled really nice, too. She left her hand on his arm as she dropped back down, and gave him another shy smile. "Thank you."

Ianto felt quite stupid, once Jenny mentioned her father taking a look at her in a minute. Of course he would, he was a doctor! Obviously he should have realized that, seeing as even Jack had been counting on this doctor to fix him, months ago.

"Right, of course, I was just making sure." He told Jenny, who was still smiling, he wondered how she could smile so bright. "And no, you're right, most of what comes from the Rift is not remotely as friendly as you are."

Ianto smiled at Jenny again, but soon he was stone serious. She'd kissed him on the cheek, obviously as a way to show her gratitude, but with such an innocence he hadn't seen in a while. It was difficult not to get a little nervous; he could no longer be sure of how long it had been since a pretty girl had kissed him anywhere. Except for Jack, but he wasn't what Ianto would call exactly pretty - not like Jenny was pretty - and, of course, Jack wasn't a girl. Much.

Donna smirked slightly as her eyes darted back and forth between the faces of Jenny and the man who had introduced himself as Ianto. She hadn't been wrong about Jenny's crush and, it seemed, she hadn't been terribly far off in thinking that Ianto would be easily interested in someone that looked like Jenny - she was beautiful, after all.

She then realized she'd been introduced to someone else and she'd been too preoccupied watching the younger two in the group on the roof to have taken notice. When she looked away from them and caught a glimpse of the newcomer, she couldn't help smiling a little. That's more like it, she thought. Closer to my age...attractive... she paused and inwardly rolled her eyes. This was probably the last place for her to be looking for love.

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" she asked the man.

Jack watched the interactions between Ianto and the girl - Jenny - with some level of curiosity (and a significantly higher level of amusement), and was a little surprised perhaps to be noticed again, this time by the red-headed woman whose name he hadn't caught. Giving her a smile, he replied to her question, "Captain Jack Harkness," and, holding out a hand to her, "And you are?"

Giving her a smile, he replied to her question, "Captain Jack Harkness," and, holding out a hand to her, "And you are?"

The man's smile was contagious and Donna couldn't stop herself from smiling back as she gripped his hand in her own, firmly, and shook it. "Donna Noble. Nice to meet you." She paused for a moment and tried to consider whether she would be prying, but her curiosity got the best of her. "How do you know the Doctor...?" she asked.

Hoping she was being furtive, Donna gave him a sly up and down glance. Tall, not-so-dark, and handsome. Two out of three wasn't bad. She had to remind herself that she traveled with the Doctor and there was no time for romance. Most certainly not with someone else who knew the Doctor, because that would likely end up leaning toward a relationship that consisted solely of discussing adventures and strange things. Who needed a relationship with someone to talk about it when one could just continue their travels and see new things every day for themselves?

"The pleasure's mine." A grin, and he withdrew his hand with a nod.

"How do you know the Doctor...?"

Jack waved a hand a little dismissively. "It's a long story." And it was, at that. Much too long for a brief discussion in the midst of all this. But he gave it his best shot, "Traveled with him for a little while. I take it you're traveling with him now, right?" His tone wasn't accusatory in the least, merely curious.

She had to wonder what the long story was, but perhaps another time and place would be more appropriate for it. Then, he gave the short of it and Donna nodded. So perhaps the Doctor didn't discriminate genders for his companions? "Yes," she replied to his question.

She looked over at Jenny and Ianto again and then back at Jack. "So what do you two do, exactly? Other than holding up innocent people with guns on rooftops, that is," she added amusedly.

Jack nodded. That made sense - and was more or less in line with what he was expecting. Since Martha obviously wasn't traveling with the Doctor anymore, he'd picked someone else up.

"So what do you two do, exactly? Other than holding up innocent people with guns on rooftops, that is."

"Didn't know she was necessarily innocent," he pointed out, before smiling and adding, "We investigate activity on the Rift here in Cardiff. Among other things. We're with Torchwood." With was a bit of an understatement, given that he ran Torchwood Three, but it worked well enough. And if she didn't know what Torchwood was, that was fine, too. It just helped occasionally to sound like you knew what you were doing, especially when you did.

"Very considerate of you, and I seem to be thanking you a lot for it." Jenny grinned, and shook her head, but still didn't move her hand. They'd have to talk about something else now...but what could they talk about? Not the kiss, not after he went so still after it. Either he didn't like it and didn't know what to say and still be nice, or he was worried about continuing on with it with her dad right there. So, what could they talk about? His job, maybe?

"So, is it just people and beings that come through the Rift, or is there more stuff than just mostly hostile sentients?" She wasn't smiling so widely now, and it was somewhat different as well. One could say it was her curious smile, one that would encourage people to answer questions. After all, who could say no to such a cutely inquisitive face? Even if it did, as she'd been told once, make her look like an inquisitive kitten, it generally worked. So no harm in seeing if it would work on Ianto, right?

"Didn't know she was necessarily innocent,"

That was a fair point, even if Donna herself could never see Jenny as anything but innocent. It was in her eyes. The youth and innocence; it was all there in her bright, wide-eyed stare. Though, Donna supposed she could consider the fact that she'd actually spent time with Jenny and new her. In a way, she'd been present for Jenny's birth. Actually, technically she had been. With an inward roll of her eyes, she immediately dismissed 'the mum feeling' as she'd subconsciously labeled it, because Jack kept talking.

"We investigate activity on the Rift here in Cardiff. Among other things. We're with Torchwood."

Again, Donna nodded. "Torchwood...right." She paused, feeling a bit stupid. "What's Torchwood?"

She gave him a shy, apologetic smile, just in case Torchwood was something she should have heard of, already. She hoped he didn't take offense.

"Again, it's no problem." Ianto went back to smiling, but he noticed Jenny's hand still on his arm. She looked quite smart, too, and curious, which he knew Jack might not be too fond of at the beginning. Ianto, on the other hand, liked a curious mind.

If it hadn't been for Jack standing right there, Ianto would've explained to Jenny exactly what they did, because to him, it wouldn't be the same as explaining it to a civillian - she'd fallen through the Rift, and she wasn't weirded out about it, so she must know what she was doing.

However, with Jack there, and the secrecy that must be maintained about Torchwood's endeavours, Ianto wasn't sure.

"Well...We get debris, too. And people from other times..." He managed to say, although he felt like saying a lot more. But now it was time for him to ask the questions, as he didn't want to seem rude and not interested. "What about you, Jenny, what do you do, other than running from angry mobs?"

"Torchwood...right. What's Torchwood?"

"Wouldn't believe me if I told you - trust me on that," he told her, with an easy grin and the usual amount of charm. Mostly to get her to, well, not press the issue, which worked just rarely enough that it encouraged Jack to keep trying. "Like I said," he elaborated only just slightly, "we keep an eye on the Rift."

Anything else was, well, secondary-- as far as this conversation was concerned.

"Wouldn't believe me if I told you - trust me on that,"

Furrowing her brow slightly, Donna regarded Jack curiously. If he knew the Doctor...and now he knew that Donna was traveling with the Doctor...

Suddenly Donna felt a little suspicious of the Captain. Wouldn't knowing those things lead to an educated guess that, yes, Donna would believe him? She'd seen an awful lot of things in her time with the Doctor and if Jack had truly traveled with him before Donna had, then wouldn't he know that there was truly amazing and unbelievable things out there and that Donna, by traveling with the Doctor, would clearly have at least seen some of them?

"Try me," she challenged, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning back at him.

Charming, indeed, she thought sarcastically. Patronizing, more like. She hated being patronized. It was bad enough when the Doctor did it but a stranger, now? That just wouldn't do.

"Try me."

That was, if Jack wasn't mistaken, an indication that his line hadn't, in fact, worked at all. Well, that happened, so he shrugged and moved on with it. "We investigate alien phenomena on Earth," he told her, this time with less of a smile - well, this time, it was the truth. Of course, that wasn't all they did, but he saved the bit about 'arming the human race against the future' for when the Doctor wasn't right there and probably would disapprove. A lot. "And we make sure the Rift is safe, and that whatever comes through it gets handled properly."

However 'properly' ended up, anyway.

The Doctor stood quietly. Though not his usual mode, he was actually enjoying this little Q&A Donna and Jack had going on. More importantly, though Jack's charm had seemed to work on Donna at first, making the Doctor frown and shift uncomfortably as it always did, it was quite obviously no longer working. And Jenny was obviously much more interested in the Ianto fellow... who seemed polite enough, now that he'd lowered the gun.

Donna was getting annoyed. The sort of annoyance that when turned on him always made him squirm, but turned on Jack was causing The Doctor to grin.

"Try me," she challenged, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning at Jack.

At that, The Doctor huffed a small laugh, his attention now fully on Jack as he gave a less than enthusiastic run-down of Torchwood. Leaving out a lot of the more sordid details, The Doctor noticed, but he was fine with that... well mostly.

"Jack, you're far too modest. The Captain here heads Torchwood and they do a lot more than watch. Don't you Jack. Gathering all those neat little alien weapons in preparation for... what exactly?" There was no way anyone could miss the disapproval in The Doctor's tone, even as he kept his tone light and conversational.

He raised an eyebrow at Jack.

Well, that was a bit of a let-down as far as information went, wasn't it? Still, maybe if she can catch Ianto on his own, without her Dad or Jack around, maybe he would tell her a little more. She would still ask questions though, and when he found something he couldn't tell her, he could just say so. Oh, she'd better tell him that - don't want him to get the wrong impression after all.

"So you get bits and bobs from other civilizations too? Do they work, or is it more like refugees from an interstellar bin? And other times too? So it's a rift in space and time, I take it?" Jenny paused for a bright smile and leaned in to whisper. "If I ask you something you can't tell me, just say so and I'll stop. Promise!" There! Promise made, and now he should feel more at ease.

She probably ought to tell him a little more about herself now; even if he hadn't just asked, it would only be the polite thing to do. Jenny bounced a little and grinned. "Oh, but I love the running! I'll just try and skip the angry mob next time. Horrible monsters are much easier to deal with, anyway. See, that's what I do; I travel, I have adventures, I save people from whatever they need saving from...and I do an awful lot of running."

"...and I do an awful lot of running."

Overhearing this last bit of Jenny and Ianto's conversation, The Doctor turned Jenny to add "That's my girl! Love the running." A large grin spread across his face. His annoyance at Torchwood forgotten for a moment.

"Jack, you're far too modest. The Captain here heads Torchwood and they do a lot more than watch. Don't you Jack. Gathering all those neat little alien weapons in preparation for... what exactly?"

A man of lesser composure - or lesser courage, he wasn't sure which - would have winced when the Doctor took that tone, but Jack took it... well, more or less in stride. It worked out, anyway, and he shrugged. "Not just weapons, technology in general," he clarified, just a little defensively. The Doctor made it sound like an awful thing, something dirty, and Jack did, however distantly and to the very tiny degree that he ever could from the Time Lord, take offense to that. "For the future. To protect people." There was only the very slightest trace of emphasis on the word 'protect'. As if, by keeping saying it, he would someday convince the Doctor that he was doing something good.

..."And we make sure the Rift is safe, and that whatever comes through it gets handled properly."

Donna was about to open her mouth to respond by asking if he simply thought she was thick or if he just didn't think she could handle hearing the full of it when the Doctor interrupted.

"Jack, you're far too modest. The Captain here heads Torchwood and they do a lot more than watch. Don't you Jack. Gathering all those neat little alien weapons in preparation for... what exactly?"

She looked over at him. There it was. Donna loved that tone in his voice. Thinly-veiled disapproval. In a strange way, Donna felt vindicated.

Looking back at Jack, Donna did not uncross her arms as she raised her eyebrows expectantly at him. He replied to the Doctor that it was more than weapons and that it was protect people. Donna's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Fancy yourself a hero, then, do you, Captain Jack?" she asked lightly, relaxing her expression and slowly beginning to smirk to replace the suspicion. It was almost refreshing to hear the Doctor prodding at someone the way she normally did.

"Fancy yourself a hero, then, do you, Captain Jack?"

Jack raised an eyebrow at that, looking at Donna again. "Depends, do you?" he asked, a little jokingly, then added, more seriously, "No." At this point, honesty would probably be best, considering that he had a feeling the people presently around him would at least be able to guess if he was lying. Which... sucked.

Donna grinned and tipped her head to the side slightly. "Oi, are you trying to get cute with me, Captain?" she asked jokingly.

Letting out a sigh, Donna looked around at everyone and then out at the horizon. "All right, if it's all the same to you all...as much as I love the reunion with Jenny and meeting new people who I'm still not certain are friend or foe...could we, maybe, continue on back on the street? You know...off the roof?" she asked lightly, looking back at the Doctor reflexively for his response.

Ianto couldn't help a small sort of giggle from bursting out of him when Jenny described what she did. Apart from the travelling - unless he could count driving to Splot travelling - they did pretty much the same thing. An awful lot of running, too.

Her father, the Doctor, who didn't seem to like Torchwood for a reason Ianto did not understand, but did not care, since a lot of people didn't like Torchwood, and he was used to it, looked over at Jenny proudly when she mentioned loving the running.

"Heh, so I guess it runs in the family then?" Ianto asked, amused. "When you put it that way, Jenny, what we do isn't so different. Except for the guns." Ianto's smile faded a little bit, since he'd already understood that Jenny, Donna, and the Doctor didn't approve of weaponry.

"Yeah, not a fan of the guns!" The Doctor replied pleasantly.

"All right, if it's all the same to you all...as much as I love the reunion with Jenny and meeting new people who I'm still not certain are friend or foe...could we, maybe, continue on back on the street? You know...off the roof?"

Ah, Donna. That's what he loved really. So practical. Looking around the strange gathering, The Doctor did notice how Jenny looked a little tired and the wind was picking up.

"Good idea!" He turned to Jack. "Your place or mine?" he joked, leading the way back toward the stairs as if there hadn't been animosities flying just a moment ago.

"Oi, are you trying to get cute with me, Captain?"

Jack grinned at that. "Depends," he said after a moment of thought, "Is it working?"

Then he had to turn back to the Doctor, who was asking him a question. "Mine, I think. Just to make sure nothing nasty hitch-hiked through the Rift with Jenny." Keeping his tone casual, neverminding their previous words. He was getting really good at that.

"Depends... Is it working?"

Donna gave Jack a sideways glance as he went on speaking, replying to the Doctor. Was it working? A little, perhaps, but not because Donna was weak. Definitely not because she was weak; she wasn't. It was just that it had been a long time since any man had tried to get cute with her, much less a good-looking one.

But there was something about the way the Doctor disapproved of Jack in some unspoken way that turned Donna off to the Captain completely. Sure he was dashing, but...well, if the Doctor didn't like something about a person, Donna had come to find it was usually for good reason. "Off we go then?" she asked.

Donna grinned a little and nudged Jenny with one elbow. "Come on, lovebird," she joked quietly in a voice low and meant only for Jenny to hear.