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Rose petals are scattered across the floor of the Hub when Gwen comes in one morning, and Tosh is already there and waiting for her, brushing a few stray petals off her printout readings onto the ground to join their mates.
"The Rift spiked late last night, early this morning," Tosh says as Gwen flips through the pages, and as she reads her face closes down. The last page is a still shot of a little girl dancing through the rose petals and across the empty Hub, catching her face just as she turns her head to smile at the security camera. It is Jasmine, looking blooming and healthy and not a minute older than when Torchwood had last seen her six months ago, but in her eyes is an ancient glow that makes Gwen shiver. "I think this is supposed to be some kind of message."
"You think?" Gwen surveys the mess. Jack and Owen are already driving out to Glasgow to deal with an unexpected incident at Torchwood Two (involving Archie and a pair of randy alien kangaroos, Gwen hadn't asked for more details than that), and Ianto is recuperating at home from a nasty strain of alien flu. It's up to just the two of them left to deal with the situation. "You figured out a way to contact them?"
Tosh nods, then frowns. "But—what if they want another little girl? Then what do we do?"
Gwen closes her eyes, and for a moment she thinks she understands how Jack must have felt when he let Jasmine go. "We'll decide when we come to that," she says, finally. "But right now, I just want to know what they have to say."