Torchwood First Born (24 page)

Gwen was waiting for me impatiently, the car stuffed fuller than a Christmas hamper.

Jenny Meredith had helped her pack, the two of them keeping a slightly awkward truce. Jenny stood back. 'Thank you,' she said.

'That's OK,' said Gwen, and smiled at her. 'You'll be fine.'

'I hope so,' shrugged Jenny. 'But we'll see.' She nodded to Anwen. 'Goodbye.' Jenny turned on her heel and skipped away.

Gwen and I watched her go.

'Right then,' Gwen exhaled, like she'd been holding her breath. 'You're reading the map and I'm driving.'

I waved at Anwen on the back seat. For a moment she considered waving back, then her eyes drifted closed.

Gwen jumped into the car and revved the engine.

I sat down next to her with a pile of Ordnance Survey maps. No Satnav for us. We were running away old school.

'How long do you think we've got?' I asked.

Gwen stared up into the sky. 'Well, no sign of any helicopters.' She smiled. 'Maybe that means we're less important.'

In the distance, I could hear traffic approaching from the nearby hills. It could just be a local bus and a couple of cars. Or it could be something else. Time we were off.

'Best not risk it,' I said.

'Yeah,' agreed Gwen. She sneaked a look back to check Anwen was strapped in, and then we drove off.

We sped through the village, past the rows of quiet little houses, the streets full of those beautiful flowers. As we left it, Rawbone seemed different.

For one thing, I could hear the sounds of children playing.

Thanks to Helen, Lucy, Jac, Jess, Gemma, Beth and Gary for baby-rearing info. To Russell T Davies for advice about breastfeeding. And to the Affection Unit for a variety of remarkable hats.