Jack woke to a familiar noise. He groaned and closed his eyes again, not now, not him. "Captain Jack Harkness?" He groaned again and pulled the covers over his head as he heard someone descend the ladder and stop. "I take it that you are Jack?" Now he hadn't heard that voice in a long time.

Jack turned to look at the man who he was sure he would never see again. "Doctor?"

"The one and the same." He man just smiled at Jack as he came off of the ladder and put his hands behind his back.

Jack turned to take in the sight before him; the short hair, the leather jacket and let out a laugh. "I am definitely dreaming this time. What are you doing here?"

"You owe me a drink." He smiled again and didn't budge.

"Alright, first Ianto and now you… What's happening?" That wasn't just any Doctor in front of Jack, this was the very first Doctor Jack had ever met, the man that had let his companion be kidnapped by a barrage balloon and told a room full of people with gas-masks welded to their faces to go to their room then saved all of their lives, including Jack's.

"Did he not explain?" He rolled his eyes. "We're going on a trip." He pulled Jack's covers and just stood there.

"Oi!" Jack stood up and came face to face with the Doctor trying to threaten him. "What if I don't want to go?"

"Oh, do you not? Okay then, I'll just be going." He handed Jack the cover and made his way out of the bunker.

Jack rolled his eyes, dumped the bedding and pulled on his trousers before he followed him out of the office and into the main area of the base. "Where?"

"I though you weren't coming?"

"Just tell me what's going on?"

"Get in and I'll tell you." He disappeared into the TARDIS.

"'Get in and I'll tell you'…" Jack stuck his tongue out. "Bastard." He followed the Doctor in and closed the door behind him. It was exactly as it had been the first time he had stepped into it from his ship before it exploded. He could almost see Rose and the Doctor dancing around the console. "Where's Rose?"

The Doctor turned to look at him sharply, "Who's Rose?"

Jack's mouth almost fell open – if he hadn't met Rose yet then how did he know Jack?

"Doctor… None of this makes sense…"

"I know. Listen Jack," He pulled levers and the TARDIS started moving, "I don't even know who you are, I suppose that I'll meet you at some point in my future and that I've already met you in your past and if that is true then what I have just said should make sense to you?" Jack nodded. "All I know is that one day my screwdriver started acting funny, it kept beeping when I wasn't even using it and only in here." He was pushing and pulling various things very relaxed as he spoke. "So eventually I decided to really look into it, when I was finished with that business in the Radnox System – that took a while, anyway I found a book in my library," he pointed to a book sitting on a chair to Jack's right and Jack picked it up to look at it, "that I didn't put in there." It was a notebook of some kind, it had lots of different bits of paper and pictures tucked in it. "Don't open it, Jack, it had this in it." He took the book from Jack's hands and replaced it with a post-it note. It read 'Don't let Jack read the book, it contains his future and he needs to get there himself.' Jack handed the Doctor back the note and nodded. "I don't understand half of the things that I am saying to you, I don't even know you Jack, all I know is that I left myself instructions and if I left them to myself then I should follow them." Jack took in everything this man was saying – the man that had trusted him when he tried to trick them, the man who had saved his life and let him travel with him, the man who hadn't met his companion that would change his and Jack's life forever and the man who didn't even know him. "Do you trust me?"

Jack didn't have to think about it. "Yes."

The Doctor smiled, "Fantastic!" Then he pulled a lever and the TARDIS jolted to a halt. The two men walked to the TARDIS doors and as they opened Jack gasped. There he was. They were on the Boeshane Peninsula, in Jack's dining room looking at him and his family. Jack took a breath and ran back into the TARDIS before stopping to hold onto the console. "Jack this is a little different than what you or I are used to."

"I don't want to be here, not unless I can save them so if you are not going to let me then we need to go… Now." He turned to The Doctor breathing rapidly and trying not to cry.

"This isn't an adventure… We're not exactly here. They can't see us and we can't affect anything. It's hard to explain and I don't have the time but they can't see, hear or even feel us. It's like a mirage."

"Then why did you bring me here?"

"I wanted to show you what it was like. What you were like before." He gestured to the door. "Just keep trusting me, Jack." Jack paused and then walked to the door. He stopped and took a breath. You can't save them, just look, even if it's all about one last time then just watch them. One last time. The men took a step outside and looked on at the scene before them. Jack saw himself as a child eating with his family and he recognised the meal.

"It's Christmas?" Jack looked to the Doctor.

The man smiled and thought for a moment. "In the book it says that a lot of things have happened to you, a lot of bad things and you've lost a lot of people which has affected you. You've become hard and lost who you were which just can't happen Jack, horrible things will happen to the universe, earth and its population if you're not there to stop it."

"I am there, I'm always there." He smiled as his father handed Young Jack bread.

"Yes you are, but not the Jack that Torchwood used to have and the Jack that it needs. You might not have realised but everything that you have been through, especially recently, has been slowly changing you and now it's gone too far. You're full of hate and regret."

"I've been through a lot since those days…" He wanted to cry at the scene before him knowing how it would end.

"I know you have, and that's why we're here. I'm here to show you how you used to be and how you were before it all corrupted and broke you. Come on." He put a hand on Jack's back and they reluctantly stepped back inside. Jack kept telling himself – it's a mirage, I can't help them and I can't save them as he closed the TARDIS door. The Doctor let Jack get himself together before he started up the TARDIS again. "That was you at your most innocent and happy Jack, before all the bad started to creep in. Now, we need to go a little further forward in your past."

"I don't understand why you had to use Ianto. Why him?" He wiped his eyes and looked to the man as he flew his spaceship around Jack's timeline.

"I don't know Jack, I haven't done it yet. How did it feel, when you saw him?"

"Like all of my deaths come at once. Seeing his face again reminded me of everything I've ever lost."

"Maybe that's why; you have pushed everything down and never dealt with it. Seeing him again might have brought it all to the surface."

Jack paused. "I cried. I told him that I loved him and cried when he left." The Doctor looked up before pulled the lever that would land the TARDIS. "I haven't done that in a long time. As soon as I heard him it was right there at the edge and when I saw him I felt… so weak. He disappeared and I just cried."

"Well… That's why Jack." He put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Would you have come with me if you hadn't admitted your feelings to him, cried and remembered the pain?"

Jack smiled slightly, "We'll never know."

They made their way to the door way and stepped out again. This time they were met with a ball during the war. A ball that Jack remembered well.

"This isn't Christmas Jack but I had to show you something. I had to show you it from this side of the room." They were stood beside a table across from Past Jack. Jack remembered sitting at that table, and this Future Jack followed the Past Jack's eyeline. It was looking at Captain Jack Harkness… The real one. And, in turn he was watching Past Jack. "I wanted you to see it from his point of view. In this time and in this period of history doing what he is about to do… Was amazingly brave." The man stood and walked slowly over to Past Jack. "You told him to live this day like it was his last because you knew it was. You did that for him. You didn't do it so that he would dance with you, like he is now, you did it so that he wouldn't have regrets in his last moments." They watched as every person in the room watched the men dancing. "I wanted you to see it from his point of view because you were already able to see it all from his point of view." Jack looked at the Doctor a little confused. "When you chose that name to take you made a promise, much like I did, you made a promise about what kind of man you would be and what legacy you would continue on. You used to try and make him proud and I wanted you to see it again because you've forgotten." They watched as the men kissed and Past Jack disappeared. The Real Jack stood there crying, eventually one of his men walked to him and put his hand on the real's Jack's shoulder. When they turned to each other and hugged, the rest of Jack's men gathered round him to do the same. The Doctor and Jack stepped back into the TARDIS. "He took a chance Jack, it didn't matter to him that they accepted it, he was living that day like it was his last and on his last day… He wanted to dance with you."

Jack leaned against the railing thinking about the family dinner and that kiss. "Was he happy? In his last day, after that… Was that something that made him smile after the tears stopped?" Jack turned to The Doctor with tears streaming down his face. "I've asked myself those questions a million times and I think about my family every moment of every day. I think I've been trying to save them since I joined Torchwood. I just felt so helpless…" He trailed off. The Doctor put his own hand on Jack's shoulder and hugged him. "Thank you." The Doctor pulled back to look at Jack. "For showing me those again… My family and Jack. I always wondered what happened when I left Jack there… it was 1941 after all." He smirked and The Doctor smiled. He walked to the console and kicked the TARDIS into action. "Where are we going?"

"Home."

"Home? Why? Is that what the book says?" The Doctor didn't answer for a while before Jack looked down. "I'm bare chested…"

"I noticed."

"I forgot about that…" They laughed as the TARDIS stopped again. "Why am I going home now?"

The Doctor walked to the door and opened it for Jack. Jack huffed and walked out of it but The Doctor took a step out of it himself. "I've showed you how things used to be Jack. But your night isn't over yet, Ianto was supposed to explain it to you. You'll get another visit tonight, from someone else you'll recognise and they'll explain it further… I have to go. There's a strange reading coming from a department store in London that I need to check out." He smiled and stepped back inside his TARDIS. Jack turned but spun back around as The Doctor stuck his head out and said the man's name again. "Jack, get some sleep and… maybe put some clothes on this time." They shared a smile and the TARDIS disappeared.

Jack rubbed his head and walked up to his office before jumping back to his bunker. This was going to be a long night and he needed some sleep.