It's Not Stalking

Harkness

"Unky Jack!" A small girl in a baby blue tutu squealed, bounding across the kitchen on tiny legs.

Jack squatted down with a grin. "Is that my girl? She's so big!" Gwen laughed from across the room, half chatting to another guest as Anwen crashed into Jack, wrapping her stubby arms around his neck and squeezing. "Ah! I missed you!" Jack said happily, picking Anwen up and cuddling her close to his chest.

"You've only been gone a few days, Jack." Rhys whispered, his hand clapping Jack on the shoulder as he escaped his parents, a grey haired grumpy looking guy and the general hubbub of people. "We were- well, she was worried you weren't going to make it."

"And miss this ones birthday?" Jack said loudly, lifting the small girl into the air. "Never."

Rhys muttered "You missed her first."

"Myfanwy escaped! You can hardly blame me for chasing a pterodactyl across the country." Jack defended himself, playing with Anwen as he spoke.

"Time traveller." Rhys muttered again, glancing at the vortex manipulator on Jacks wrist. He said it quietly, but still some heads turned. Including the grumpy grey haired guy, who was staring way too intensely.

Jack ignored the looks, he was used to attention. "Oh, sorry, sure I'll just pop back two years and make sure I'm there. Come on Anwen, let's go create some paradoxes." The small girl laughed as Jack pushed up his sleeve and let her press some buttons on his wristband. "Lets prove a point to Daddy."

"Jack." Gwen reprimanded from where she was now talking with her mother-in-law. He grinned innocently over at her and pulled his sleeve back down.

When Anwen complained about it, he popped her back down on the floor and bent down to her level. "Cheer up birthday girl! Here, I brought you a present, all the way from Andromeda." Both Gwen and Rhys pulled distressed faces at each other before making a beeline for the Captain, both uneasy at the thought of Jack giving their baby alien tech.

Reaching into his coat, Jack pulled out a small box with a big navy bow on the top. It looked very mature for a three year old and it made the Welsh couple anxious. Anwen opened it excitedly with tiny fingers and gasped, her small face filled with awe. "Its so sparkly."

Anwen was right. Inside the box there was a rectangular shaped jewel attached to a sliver, liquid looking string. It glittered in the light and looked clear as glass. The little girl was quiet and still as Jack fastened it around her neck in an odd fashion. "It's more than just sparkly, it's magical." Gwen tensed as Jack whispered. "If you're ever in trouble or need my help, just squeeze the jewel and think of me."

The three year old clung to Jack again, burying her head against his neck. For a moment, Gwen forgot all about the aliens and space and time travel. Anwen gave Jack a messy kiss on the cheek and he blushed, laughing in a very un-Jack way. That little girl did more things to Jack than most creatures in the universe. "Thank you, Unky Jack."

"You're very welcome, Anwen."

"Jack Harkness tell me that is not a piece of alien hardware you just gave my baby." Gwen whispered harshly over her shoulder as she watched her daughter run along to play with her new toys, her new necklace glinting just above her collar.

Harkness sighed. "It's a mild telepathic enhancer created with my DNA pressed into the core. Completely safe." Rhys shook his head.

"I don't like it." He argued at a low volume, as not to alarm the family and friends that were gathered. "We don't want any of that stuff around anymore, we're normal now y'see Jack. You can't come time warping through here and just expect us to-"

"Rhys, shut up." Gwen said in a clipped tone. "Just.. Are there any side effects?" She asked Jack, who shook his head.

Well, that was a tiny white lie. Side effects of the necklace included health, luck, intelligence and beauty. But it effected those who didn't already possess all those qualities. It wouldn't effect Anwen. Gwen didn't need to know all that.

So Jack shook his head and Gwen sighed, "Fine, I don't see any problem with it. And she could do with something to remind her of her frequently absent Uncle Jack." Jack beamed. He knew she was trying to guilt him into sticking around longer, his visits were few and far between at the minute. Rhys still wasn't happy, but hey, that was Rhys all over. "Rhys, love, why don't you go get the cake?"

It was shortly after Anwen had blown out the candles when he noticed the grey haired guy watching him again. Jack nudged Gwen, "Who's the silver fox with the eyebrows?"

"I dunno," she answered, half shouting to Rhys where the knife was to cut the cake. "Must be from Rhys' side."

So, being the hostess-with-the-most-ess, Jack took the mystery man some Peppa Pig cake and smiled his brightest grin. "Hey, Captain Jack Harkness, nice to meet you..?"

"Is it really necessary to eat cake on birthdays?" The older bloke argued with his cake in a rough Scottish accent. "All over this silly planet you all eat cake like its some kind of drug! Really. You should all just get an injection of sugar directly into your veins for your birthday, it'd be more effective." Jack stared at the man with a laugh stuck in his throat.

In true Jack Harkness style, he pushed down the chuckle and smirked, pulling the napkin full of cake from his hands. "Don't you like sweet things?" He flirted shamelessly.

Jack didn't think it was possible, but the mans frown deepened, his insane eyebrows knit even closer together and- was that a blush Jack spied across his cheeks? "No."