Strange Little Thing

Look What We Found

Disclaimer: I looked through my purse and all I found was a stick of gum, lint, a picture of a friend of mine, a pen, but nothing that says I own Doctor Who, Torchwood, or anything else for that matter...

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears: Just remember, everything you see - from this till the page-end - means something. Nothing is meaningless. Now, enjoy!

Whenever something strange happened in Cardiff, certain 'in the know' people contacted Torchwood. This was true the world over, and those 'in the know' ranged from government officials to heads of hospitals to the occasional cab driver or hair stylist. Mind, not all countries or regions accepted Torchwood - Tibet, for example - so the number in those areas was significantly smaller. This plan was much better than the 'loose lips sink ships' policy from the days before there'd been a Cyberman in every home and Daleks in the sky.

It was from one of those hospitals that Torchwood got it's most recent call, to a psychiatric ward, by the elderly woman in charge, who led Jack, Gwen, and Ianto to a door numbered 3573288. Jack looked through the little window at the top at the figure within; not much to see. "Has she said anything?"

"Not quite." The woman answered, continuing as Jack looked around at her. "She talks a lot, but doesn't quite say anything."

Jack nodded, and the woman unlocked the door. Jack pushed it open and stepped inside, signaling the others to wait there. The person on the bed - who he now saw couldn't be older than seven - looked up at him with big brown eyes, blonde hair falling into her face. "Hello there, what's your name?"

She continued to stare at him, saying nothing.

He coughed, then said, "My name's Jack Harkness, d-"

"Georgie-Porgie, puddin' and pie, kissed the girls and made them cry. When the boys came out to play Georgie-Porgie ran away." The girl said quietly, and the last part almost mockingly.

"Right." Jack's grin faltered; at the door, Gwen was holding back a grin at his discomfort. "Do you know why you're here?"

Louder now, she said, "Dickery, dickery, dare, the pig flew up in the air. The man in brown soon brought him down. Dickery, dickery, dare."

Jack watched her a moment more then slowly turned back to the woman who'd led them in. "Why were we called, exactly?"

The woman's green eyes looked him over as she stared at him down her nose. "She just appeared on the streets, right in front of my car in fact. It's a good thing I stopped when that light nearly blinded me, or she wouldn't be here to mumble at us."

"A light?" Gwen spoke up. "Just appeared?"

"It might have been the Rift, Jack." Ianto said from beside her.

Jack sighed and looked down at the girl, smiling. "Looks like you're coming with us."

She smiled up at him and reached a hand out. "Gray goose and gander, waft your wings together, and carry the good king's daughter over the one-strand river."

As soon as the cog-door opened, the girl skipped inside, spinning around to look at them curiously. "Three young rats with black felt hats, three young ducks with white straw flats, three young dogs with curling tails, three young cats with demi-veils; went out to walk with two young pigs in satin vests and sorrel wigs. But suddenly it chanced to rain and so they all went home again."

"What does that mean..." Gwen asked, though the girl laughed and skipped off again, seating herself in Owen's desk, swinging her feet in the chair.

Jack and the other two walked into the hub behind her. Ianto turned to Jack, "Should I put her in the cells, sir?" It was clear he didn't want to put the little girl there.

After a moment, Jack nodded. "Just as a precaution, and until we find somewhere better."

Ianto nodded, moving over towards the girl. She watched him come, stepping out of the chair and following him to the door to the cells. There, she paused, looking at him through narrowed eyes. "Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow. Everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go."

He watched her for a moment before opening the door, taking her to the cell at the very end, furthest away from Janet, who watched them from the opposite wall of her cell. The girl sat down in the middle of the cell, knees drawn to her chest, and stared somewhere over his shoulder.

As Ianto left, he heard her voice echoing around the room; "There was an old woman tossed up in a blanket, seventeen times as high as the moon. But where she was going, no mortal could tell it, for under her arm, she carried a broom. 'Old woman, old woman, old woman,' quoth I, 'Whither, ah whither, ah whither so high?' 'To sweep the cobwebs from the sky.' 'May I come with you?' 'Aye, by and by.'"

Gwen had, in under and hour, gotten a bed, blankets, a pillow, a chair, a table, and had somehow managed to find a few coloured pencils and some paper to entertain the girl. Jack reminded her, only partly joking, they couldn't keep the girl.

A few hours after that, Gwen was at the cell door, looking at the girl who was now laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She carefully unlocked the door and set the plate of pizza down on the table; the girl didn't change her position on the bed, brown eyes watching the brown-grey top of the cell. Gwen stood and stepped back out of the cell, closing the door.

"Hello?" Gwen called, and the girl's head lifted up to stare at her. "Who are you?" The girl said nothing. "Where did you come from?" Nothing. "Where are your parents?"

At the last one, the girl's eyes turned sad and she put her head back on the pillow. "Bye-bye, Baby Bunting, daddy's gone a-hunting, to get a little rabbit skin to wrap his Baby Bunting in."

Gwen blinked, staring at the girl, then left.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears: It all has meaning. :) Reveiw!