A puff of cold air danced over Jack's nose as he lay curled up on his bunk, he muttered something unintelligible before he automatically turned to lie on his front, face buried in his pillow to get away from the cold.

Just under day had passed since the incident leading to Rik's death, he hadn't forgiven himself, had once more turned to his old trick of burying himself deeper into his work to the point that a few of his more caring co-workers had ganged up and all but ordered him to get some rest (this was mostly motivated by the fact that a tired overseer would make mistakes, which could result in more deaths, and none of them were quite ready to die just yet)

Jack was not asleep; not really, he was just lying there with his eyes shut in a sort of half-doze.

Sleep was for the innocent, not people with a hero-complex who got others killed needlessly.

In other words, people who were not Jack Harkness

The cold air blew across the back of his head and Jack shivered slightly.

Great, something else had broken, was now leaking and his room was growing cold.

A slight weight settled on his back. THAT was unexpected.

"If you're waiting for me to kiss you, you've got a long wait ahead of you, Sleeping Handsome"

Well, that explained the cold air. She'd been breathing on him, like a human would have but without a true body, there was nothing to warm her breath.

"I'm trying to sleep." he grumbled

He wasn't, but at the same time he'd rather be left in peace.

"Aww, come on, don't be like that, I came to see you especially," he felt her move to lie along his back, "I came to see how you're doing now. Also came to tell you that the good Doktor Rikard Steinner made it to Heaven, I thought you'd like to know."

"He was a doctor?" Jack rolled over, hopefully tipping Rio off the bed.

"Gah!" It was satisfying to hear the solid thud she made as she hit the floor,

"Mean," she pouted at him as she climbed back up and sat on the edge

"Mean? I'm not the one waking the recently bereaved from their slumber."

"I honestly can't argue with that" she leaned back on her elbows, "Rik was a doctor," she said finally, "a good one. Lost his faith in his skills though"

"Why did he end up working here?"

"From what I understand there was an epidemic on his home world. His wife was one of the first to die from it; sweet lady, named Maggie, was pregnant with their first. He blamed himself for not saving the both of them. Became disillusioned, gave up medicine and hitched a ride on this pile of scrap where no one knew him. A new start where he could 'atone' for the sins only he felt he'd committed"

Jack felt a knot form in his stomach. He didn't want to be reminded of what had happened to Owen, of the Resurrection Gauntlet and that tragedy. And Rik's story was hitting a little too close to home for his comfort.

"How... many humans do you think are living concurrently to those on Earth on different worlds?"

The reaper-girl bit her thumbnail and looked contemplatively up at the ceiling of his bunk, "more than can anyone except Him could count, I think…" she turned her attention back to him, "Are you ready to set foot on firm land again, yet?" she asked, he knew she really was concerned for him

"I'm not going back to Cardiff"

Rio moved again, this time she straddled his blanket-covered hips, likely to make sure he was actually paying attention "I didn't say 'do you want to go back to Cardiff?' I said 'are you ready to set foot on firm land again?'"

Jack tried to wriggle from under her - this was a compromising position to be in after all

"I don't want to stay on this ship any longer than I absolutely have to," he finally admitted, giving up on trying to get away, it was impossible if Rio wanted it to be.

The reaper put her hands on his shoulders, making him jump slightly from the chilled feeling of her skin. "Come live on Terra" she said seriously, "please."

"Which one's that?"

"The one I currently live on. Terra, Avalon and New Wales, Albion and Catland. You know," she leaned in as if she was going to kiss him but stopped with her lips inches away from his, "you want to explore all of it."

"That's the one with the cute catgirls, right?"

Rio rolled her eyes, "yes, the one with the cute catgirls AND your boyfriend," she didn't kiss him but rubbed their noses together in a friendly-playful way, "you're starting to sound like the Jack Harkness I know and like a lot"

Jack was torn between rushing to be with Ianto, and paradoxically slightly afraid to spend time with him.

Jack brought trouble wherever he went, and he still blamed himself for what had happened to Ianto, and for what had happened to a lot of people over the years.

Centuries, even.

"Jack, you've got to stop blaming yourself."

He hadn't said anything yet. Rio was getting uncanny.

"Come on, it's not doing you any good," she continued, "If I can forgive you for sleeping with my brother, I'm pretty certain you can forgive yourself for things that you had absolutely no control over"

"I didn't know he was your brother back then! I didn't know you were you!"

"Hey, hey, I'm not blaming… I'm willing to admit my brother was a handsome devil back in the days that we both had a pulse and that lovely mocha coloured skin," Rio's grin showed that she was only teasing him with the comment, "besides, you made him happy in a time he was feeling down, it's hard to hate someone who did that for my twin."

Jack was not good at taking compliments or honest praise right now.

"I'm glad I made someone happy," He paused "If I go to Terra, I want you to understand I will be going there to explore not settle down with you and the nerd, and you will have to understand that."

"I understand…" and she hugged him gently around the neck before something occurred to her, "…are you naked under this blanket?"

"You don't need to know the answer to that."

This made the reaper-girl scoot a few inches back, "mention this to no one and I won't bring up you and my brother ever again, deal?"

"Deal"

"Good" she stood up and stretched, "get yourself to a planet, find a rift and I can probably manipulate it to get you to Terra"

"Easier said than done. We've had an emergency beacon going since the meteor hit, and not a single ship's replied, and the ship's in no state to fly itself."

"Something will turn up, I have no doubt…" Rio turned her head to look out of his window at the expanse of stars outside, "pretty view from here"

"It's just stars. I've seen millions of views of stars, it gets boring after a while."

"It's never 'just stars' "

"As long as it doesn't have too many moons."

"You have answer for everything, don't you?"

"Of course I do, I'm Jack Harkness - I know everything or something... "

"You," Rio was on his lap again, instantly, as if she'd never moved, (reaper powers were overly creepy sometimes) "could just be good at BSing, I've never been sure which"

"Right now I know I need to sleep. I think I've been up 27 hours already...Ever been so exhausted you're too tired to sleep?"

"Yes," she nodded, silver-blue hair falling into her eyes in an adorable way, "I'll leave you to sleep now. I'll know when you're planet-side," and before he could protest, she pulled him into a kiss.

An actual 'on the lips, arms around the neck holding him in place' kiss

"Rio - I have a boyfriend!" he managed

He wasn't fighting her off though.

He really felt he should be objecting more...but kissing a reaper was somewhat addictive; she smelt of fresh turned earth, leaf mould, damp moss and rain, in short, she smelt of death, (something that enticed him since he'd discovered his inability to die), she was pleasingly soft and female shaped (he was famous in some parts of the universe for not being picky when it came to gender after all) and her lips were deathly cold but smooth and soft, and as they kissed they warmed up slightly, becoming hotter…

…Just like Ianto had not too long ago…

Jack summoned some resolve.

"Rio!" he yelped, pulling back a small way from the hold she had around his neck, "You have a husband, and I have Ianto, stop this! It's not right!"

"I know," Rio mumbled against his mouth, "this is for a good cause…it's Just This Once"

He recognised that phrase!

That was the code reapers used for-!

He suddenly lacked the energy to think coherently, exhaustion clouding his mind and making his limbs heavy as lead. Thus he couldn't find it in him to fight when Rio released her hold and pushed him gently backwards until he was lying flat on his back, head on the well-worn pillow and she went as far as tucking him in (though she did THAT with a small laugh of amusement.)

He was too tired to protest that he was WAY too old to be treated like a toddler, much too tired…

Had to sleep…

"Bit of advice, sleepy-head," she told him almost playfully, "brush your teeth."

With that, Jack passed out into sleepy oblivion, left in a dreamless sleep that would rest him properly for a change. If he had dreamt, it would have been about searching his cabin for a non-existent toothbrush.

Rio shook her hair out slightly and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she stood back up again.

Well, that was that.

As much as she'd disliked having to abuse one of her powers just to ensure that the man got a good night's sleep for the first time in almost nine human months, she had also effectively killed two birds with one stone.

Jack was going to come to Terra, which would make Ianto happy, which was something he deserved.

…And she now knew what her twin brother had been raving about all that time ago; call it sibling rivalry, if you must.

"I must really like you, Harkness" She told the sleeping man softly before she gently mussed Jack's hair with an affection born from over a hundred meetings caused by Jack's many deaths.

Jack's only reply was the soft sound of his breathing as he passed into Slow Wave Sleep

"Boa noite meu caro amigo" she whispered and kissed his forehead

Before she vanished back into nothingness though, she took something from her jeans pocket and placed it carefully on the desk, where Jack couldn't fail to see it when he woke up.

The envelope was bright, almost neon, green in colour, it contained a delicate-looking white and silver card (designed personally by Ellandanen), pretty but she did feel it was a bit excessive for a child's first birthday invitation.

"See you soon, Jack," she said, before she finally vanished off home.

Kate's Note: I'm going to have to explain what Rio did there, aren't I?

OK, the only way I can describe it is: think about when you last had the 'flu or a really bad cold, we all know the kind, the one that stops you sleeping at night even though you're exhausted but you're feeling too ill and stuffed up.

You feel like Death, in other words

Then, maybe 3 or 4 nights later you FINALLY get a good sleep, it's a miracle and you wake up feeling a lot better.

THAT is how 'the kiss' works. Usually it's to the forehead but in Jack's case…well, I already explained.