Ianto let himself into his flat, his answer phone was flashing at him, he debated hitting play or just ignoring it. He knew it was probably Rhiannon and he wondered what he had been seen doing this time. He was pretty sure he hadn't missed anyone's birthday.

Jack found Undine sitting on the top step of the stairs into his flat. He wasn't in the mood for being friendly. 'It's like the House of the Dead all over again.'

'He isn't a ghost Jack.'

'He wasn't one then either Undine.'

'Do you wish he had left that cursed pub with you?'

'He knew he couldn't, not at the risk of setting Syriath free to wreck havoc on the world. But if the rift was sealed, how did I get here?'

'I'm not a professor of quantum mechanics or a particle physicist.'

'No, you are a possibility.'

'Yes I am.' She rose gracefully to her feet. 'Come on Jack, you need to get out of here.'

'We're not going to the museum are we?'

She shook her head. 'That's never been your thing Jack. You lived it, why would you visit it for fun.'

'That sounds like something I'd say.'

'Come on, lets go for a walk around the Bay.'

'I don't know if I can be sociable right now, I'm surrounded by ghosts.'

'Fresh air Harkness.' She walked down the stairs and waited for him.

Jack opened the door and followed her out, locking it behind him.

Ianto knew he couldn't put off playing his answer phone message forever, he had even contemplated washing his windows to avoid listening to that message. He rolled his eyes and pushed play. His sister's voice filled the room.

'Ianto, its me, well I wanted to talk to you, we haven't seen you in ages, the kids were asking after you, weren't you Mica, David? Anyway, I was thinking of coming into town to do some shopping and thought we could catch up.'

Ianto heard his brother in law in the background.

'Just bloody ask him yeah.'

'Look, just call me back Ianto, please.'

Ianto wondered what Johnny could possibly want to know or what his sister wanted. His entire life it was like she had a network of spies watching him. Although she didn't say , she usually wanted to talk to him about something someone had seen him do. His face lost all colour. No one had seen Jack kiss him, surely not. He shook his head and wondered what it would take for his world to get back to normal.

Normal where another man didn't flirt with him and kiss him and make him wonder what it might be like if Jack hadn't stopped kissing him. He shook his head and decided he needed a cup of tea. He wondered how worried he should be as Rhiannon hadn't said when she was going to be in town for her shopping trip. Nor had she mentioned if anyone else was going to be with her. He decided he would worry about it when she rang his doorbell and not before.

Cardiff Bay, Jack found it unchanged as he mingled with couples enjoying the sunshine. Happy smiling people enjoying themselves. Jack pulled his cellphone out once more to give him the illusion of talking to someone. 'Undine, what am I doing here.'

She smiled at him. 'To look Jack Harkness, to see. All around you is the inherent possibilities that come from being alive.'

Jack put his phone away and looked around him. He saw couples, some holding hands, others trailing children and even one walking a dog. He found a park bench and tried to see what Undine wanted him to see. Sitting on the outside edge of humanity, always on the outside looking in. How many more generations would he watch live and die before he found the one death he couldn't come back from.

Lost in thoughts he almost missed seeing Owen leading Tosh towards him. He realised they weren't specifically headed to him when he saw a table and two chairs in the middle of the grassy area he was sitting beside. And he was sure Tosh was blindfolded. Their voices reaching him clearly as Owen helped her sit down.

'Owen what are you doing?'

'It's a surprise Tosh, which means I can't tell you.'

'Well can I at least take the blindfold off?'

'You weren't complaining about wearing it last night.' Owen's voice brushed Tosh's ear as she flushed scarlet.

'Owen! Not in public.'

'How do you know we are even in public?'

'I can hear people around us Owen Harper, that's how.'

Jack looked at the table Tosh was now seated at, as Owen took the seat opposite her. Between them was a bottle of wine, glasses and a candle in a hurricane lamp. Undine smiled at Jack.

'You need to see this Jack.'

'You can take the blindfold off now.'

Tosh blinked in the sunlight as she looked at Owen before looking at the table. 'What?'

Owen poured the wine and handed her a glass. 'To us Toshiko Sato.'

'Owen Harper...'

'Doctor, Owen Harper, thank you, I went to medical school, remember.'

She smiled. 'And what is this in aid of, Doctor, Owen Harper?'

'I wanted to get you outside, as your personal physician you do not get nearly enough fresh air.'

'Well thank you, it's very sweet of you.'

'That and I wanted to talk to you somewhere where I won't trip over Andy making puppy eyes at you.'

'Oh he does not, besides, when we started dating I recall someone saying they weren't going to stop flirting with other people...'

'I did say that didn't I.' Owen grinned. 'But we live together now, which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about.' Owen sipped his wine. 'Would your family give you less grief about living with a Liverpool supporter, if you were engaged to said Liverpool fan?'

Tosh put her wine glass down. 'Owen, are you asking me to marry you?'

'Yes.' He placed a small box on the table in front of her. 'Toshiko Sato, will you marry me?'

'Oh Owen.' She opened the box and looked at the ring, it was a single sapphire set in rose gold. 'It's lovely.'

'Well put the bloody thing on then and say yes.'

Tosh looked at him as she felt tears on her checks. 'I can't.' She watched Owen's face fall. 'I think my hand is shaking too much and I don't want to drop it.'

Owen smiled softly. 'Is that a yes?'

Tosh nodded as Owen jumped to his feet and pulled her into his arms.

Jack had to look away, it was one thing to see them alive. It was quite another to see them together. The ghosts from his past were fading as their memories were replaced with a new future. It gave him hope, if Tosh and Owen could re-write their story in this reality, then he had to believe there was room in this world for a future with Ianto. Undine looked at him and smiled.

'Told you you needed to see this.' She rose to graceful feet and started walking away.

Jack sat there and watched the world turn around him and wondered if he could be happy again. If he could crawl out of the darkness once more and into the light. He hoped he could, and he hoped he was strong enough. And he hoped he didn't have to wait too long for Ianto.

He sighed softly, was he the man Ianto needed, was he the man Ianto deserved? He didn't want to think about the lives he had lived since he had become a time agent. Whoring his way across the universe, taking it as his personal mission to sleep with as many men, women and aliens as he could. This was hardly the best time for his conscience to come back.

It all paled into dust when he thought about the man who had died in his arms and he wondered if he would ever be able to let that go. If he could stop living in fear of Ianto being taken away from him again. He had needed forgiveness and he was no longer sure he would find it in this Ianto. He was avoiding thinking about the life his Toshiko and Owen had clearly been denied by his being in their world. Seeing today that had he not joined Torchwood they still would have. And they would have worked out that actually they did love each other. Would he have danced at their wedding he wondered.

He walked over to the rail by the water and leaned on it, wondering what else this world would show him. What else was his impact on the reality of others. He heard Undine clear her throat, she was tapping her foot as if waiting for him to catch up. Which she probably was. Every time he started to feel happy about being here, something made him sad.

'Did you stop to think that maybe it wasn't your presence in Torchwood that stopped Owen and Toshiko finding each other sooner?'

'What?' Not even bothering to pretend he was talking on his cellphone. How did she know what he was thinking, it was starting to get creepy. Although, in truth this was so far past creepy it needed a new word.

'You aren't the only one who isn't a member of Torchwood in this reality Captain Jack Harkness.'

He frowned and shook his head. 'I don't...'

'You didn't rob your Owen and Tosh of their happiness. Their decisions and their choices led them to that moment you just witnessed. For someone who lived as long as you have you don't really know much about relationships.'

'I avoided them Undine, I didn't try to know.'

'Yeah, I know. For now I have the advantage of knowing everything. That changes when I step back into my reality. So I know your past and your possibilities and your future.'

'I thought I didn't have different realities.'

'You do and you don't, it's part of the complicated side of things I don't pretend to understand. Remember how I said I wasn't a physicist. You know how time works, you once said it was like screwing up a piece of paper then trying to draw a straight line on the page without straightening anything out.'

'I don't remember everything I ever said.'

'Apparently not.' She leaned against the rail and looked at the people around them. 'Trust me when I say you weren't what stopped them connecting in your reality. And be happy that here they have.'

'Is the universe or destiny, or a council of possibilities or whatever energy created you, trying to fix everything that was broken in my world?'

Undine shook her head. 'No Jack, some things can't be fixed because they weren't actually broken in the first place.'

'You really should come with an instruction manual.'

She laughed. 'And when have you ever read the instructions.'

'How do you know me? How does your reality fit into mine or Ianto's?'

She shook her head. 'Who says I fit into your reality at all? Maybe I have no explanation. Maybe I simply am. Like your Doctor.'

Jack looked at her poker faced smile and shook his head. If he ever did met Undine when she managed to get back to her own reality, he would have to remember never to play her at cards. He wondered if he would ever understand who and what she really was.