"Dad, dad," I try to get a word in through my mobile phone currently pressed to my ear, black ankle boots hanging from my hand as I dash down the hallway from my bedroom into my open plan kitchen slash living room, "I'd love to talk about yours and mum's trip, but I've just got to go work."

"What at this time? But we hardly hear or see you anymore, love," my father implied, letting out a knowing sigh and putting on my boots, feeling nothing but guilty not having visited my parents in months since what had happened in London.

"I know, I know, okay, dad. It's just work has been hectic lately," I internally pinch myself for what I'm about to pledge, "But I'll try to come down soon as I'm given the time off work, I promise," I hear a double beep of another call waiting on the line, "Right dad I've got to go, I love you okay send Rory my love to and mum too."

"I will do and love you too, Sweet P," I smile fondly at the nickname my father calls me as I stand back up and reenter the hallway.

I smiled fondly into the phone and hung up, quickly answering the next one, "Hello."

"Paige, where the hell are you?" Jack asked before I could even speak.

"Sorry, sir, I'm just on my way," I tell him, quickly grabbing my coat.

"Hurry up, okay," just like that, and he hangs up in a flash.

I now quickly tugged on my coat, grabbed my handbag off the side, and my keys sitting in a bowl on a table before promptly dashing out of my flat, slamming the door quickly behind me. Knowing that my evening plans to catch up with my parents over the phone had been run, I heard a distant rumbling not long followed by a massive ball of flames leaving a trail of smoke in its wake when I hurried outside onto my flat's balcony to see it shooting past, so much for having a life and having to lie about work all the time to keep them safe from what is happening on Earth. I'd probably carry all this to the grave whenever that would be.

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It's about half an hour later. I'm hurrying into the Hub. It's a hive of activity, everyone rushing around like blue-ass flies.

"Paige, where the hell have you been," Jack insisted, charging out of his office and pulling on his coat with Ianto not too far behind him, "I've been trying to get hold of you."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was the massive ball of flames hurtling across the sky more important than catching up with my family," I returned moodily, yanking my coat off and chucking it over my chair, hands on my hips with a look that could almost kill.

"Paige, I..." Jack tried apologising, but I abruptly cut him off, simply not in the mood.

"Don't even bother, Jack. Let's get this over with, alright." I sighed harshly, hearing the metal of the office chair shriek in protest when I slammed myself onto it, which sounded a bit more dramatic than I'd intended and earned a sympathetic look from Ianto.

He alone knew how much my family truly meant to me because I tried to phone and call whenever work would allow me to check in with them, but sometimes speaking through the phone wasn't enough. It was never enough. All I wished for right now was to be back home in Leadworth, sitting across the kitchen table from Mum, a warm mug of tea in hand, talking about our day, a plate of biscuits between us. Those are the days I truly missed.