Jack sighed inwardly as he watched Gwen staring out to sea, lost in her own thoughts. He had just let her see Jonah, and he could tell how affected she'd been. She'd been furious with him. Ianto had thought it was a bad idea, but Jack knew that Gwen wouldn't give up. So he had made Ianto leave the GPS device on her desk, like before. Some things you shouldn't change. They had managed to avoid the embarrassment of her walking in on them having sex though, for which Jack was glad. Watching it from a third person perspective had been cringe-worthy enough. He walked over and sat down next to her. She glanced at him briefly, and then returned to gazing out over the water.

"When I took over Torchwood, there were two just like Jonah. Ravaged from falling through the rift. Being kept in the vaults. Neglected." He looked over at her and saw to his relief she was watching him. "I wanted them looked after. I set this place up. Told the staff these were experiments that had gone wrong."

"How many are there?"

"17 last count." He said regretfully. Gwen gasped in disgust and looked away from him again. "It's increased over the last year. Like the Rift is trying to correct its mistakes."

"But not all the missing return."

"No."

"You can't keep them hidden; they have families who deserve to know."

"Gwen. They're sick. In ways you could never imagine. We can't fix them. We just care for them."

Gwen looked him in the eye for a few seconds. "Jonah's asked me to bring Nikki here."

"No."

"She has a right to know."

"No way."

"She said not knowing was the hardest part!"

"Gwen! Listen to me. How are you going to explain to her that her child has aged 40 years in the last seven months, that he's scarred, that he cannot look after himself…"

"We don't have the right to hide it from her!"

"Do we have the right to tell her?! Gwen you don't know the whole story…"

"So tell me."

Jack looked at her, unsure of how much he should say. "Gwen, you saw Jonah in the good stage. It's very brief, lasts four hours a day at most."

"So what's the bad stage like?"

Jack swallowed, his memory plagued by that terrible screaming… "Horrible. He screams, Gwen. He screams for 20 hours a day." He closed his eyes. "Before the rift brought him back, he looked into the heart of a dark star. And it drove him mad."

"We still have to tell her Jack, it's her son…"

"Would you want to know?"

"I'm sorry?!"

"Would you want to know? If it was Rhys that went missing and he turned up disfigured and mad, spending most of his life screaming in mental agony. Would you want to know?"

"Yes I would!"

"Why?"

"Because I love him!"

"So why would you want to know he was in pain?"

Gwen froze, staring at him. He could almost see the thought working its way through her brain.

"Gwen, Nikki has no idea where her son is. She knows nothing. Surely that's better than knowing the mental torture he has to endure? At the moment she has hope, Gwen. She can think of Jonah and see him playing with his mates, or laughing, or eating food. Bring her here and the only thing she'll remember is the person she loves most in this world aged, scarred and broken. Do we have the right to do that to her?"

Gwen remained silent, staring back over the water. "Do the healthy ones ever come back? Like you and Ianto?" she asked finally.

Jack sighed. "Not that I've seen. If anyone's ever come back through unharmed, they've kept it quiet."

Gwen nodded. "What should I do, Jack?"

"Do what you think is right." He told her, and left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, he saw that all the case files and notes on the missing people were taken down. And Nikki was still oblivious to the whereabouts of her son.

"When will it be, do you think?" asked Ianto, lifting his head from Jack's chest and looking at him."

"Hmm?" Jack said sleepily, playing with Ianto's hair.

"The explosion. John's little trick."

"I don't know, Ianto. I guess we'll just have to wait until Tosh picks up those readings…"

"I'm so nervous Jack. What if it all goes wrong?"

"It wont." Jack said, finally. He slid down the bed until he and Ianto were face to face. "It wont." He said again, softly, and pulled Ianto into a kiss.

It was almost a week later that it finally did happen, although they didn't realise at first.

"Jack!" Toshiko called. "I'm picking up some readings. We've got about four or five life-signs in an old abandoned building. Definitely not human."

"Ok, let's go. Ianto, you call Gwen, get her to meet us there."

15 minutes later, they were getting out of the SUV, weapons ready. Ianto couldn't get a hold of Gwen, so he left a message on her machine.

"Sure they're not weevils?" Owen asked.

"No, different energy patterns." Toshiko replied. "I can't make sense of it. Definitely not a species we've encountered before."

"Well, let's hope they're friendly then."

"Owen, Ianto, you take the other side of the building. Toshiko, with me."

Owen began to head off, but Ianto paused. "No, Jack!"

"Excuse me?!"

"I said no." Ianto looked at him pointedly. "Doesn't this all seem a little…strange?"

Jack gasped suddenly as he realised what Ianto meant. It was here, it was now! And he had been about to send his friends into the heart of the explosions!

"Owen! Tosh! Get back here, and stay here!"

"But Jack, the life signs…"

"Give it 15 minutes. If nothing happens, we can go in."

"But Jack…"

"Damnit, Tosh, I said give it 15 minutes!" Jack roared, causing her to step back in alarm. Owen put a protective arm around her shoulder.

"Watch it, Harkness. Toshiko's right, we can't just stay out here and do nothing; they could have gone in 15 minutes."

"Owen, I am your commanding officer and you will do what I say!" Jack told him. Owen held his gaze for 30 seconds, and then his eyes dropped slightly.

"Yes, sir." He said, the sneer evident in his voice. Jack looked helplessly at Ianto, who shrugged. It broke his heart to yell at Owen when he knew what might happen to him, but he couldn't let them go in that building. After all, if he and Ianto could change how things were meant to happen, who's to say they couldn't change themselves? Maybe this time he wouldn't be the only one to die in the blast.

10 minutes later, Jack was starting to feel tense. So far nothing had exploded, and Owen kept shooting him filthy looks and sighing loudly. What if he was wrong? What if these really were aliens, and he let them escape into Cardiff because he didn't realise?

"Ok, Owen. Let's go in. you and Ianto take that side, Tosh and I will…"

BOOM!!

They were all thrown backwards from the force of the explosion, debris raining down on them. When it had cleared Jack looked up, checking his team for injuries. Tosh had a slight gash to her forehead, but other than that everyone seemed fine. Then Jack realised that Owen was staring at him in undisguised horror.

"Did you know that was going to happen?" he asked.

"Owen, I..."

"How the FUCK did you know that would happen Jack?!"

"Owen, calm down…" Ianto began in alarm.

"No I will not fucking calm down! Somehow, he knew there were explosive devices in there, he knew. And I want to know how."

Jack swallowed and glanced at Ianto. There was no way he was going to get out of this one. "Ok. The truth is…" he was suddenly interrupted by Gwen's car screeching to a halt behind them, and her and Rhys jumping out, concern written on their faces. Gwen's expression turned to one of incredible relief at the sight of them, and she launched herself at Jack, hugging him tight.

"Oh my God!" she said when she finally released him. "Oh my God, I saw the explosion happen. I thought you were inside. I thought I'd lost you all…" she trailed off, grinning at them all. Jack was grateful for the interruption, but he could see Owen was beginning to look at him again, and decided he needed to change the subject.

"Ok, we need to go inside; check there really weren't any aliens in there. Everyone meet back here in ten minutes. Ianto, you come with me. Owen, Toshiko, you take that side. Gwen, you stay here and watch Rhys.

"I'm not a bloody child!" Rhys protested. Jack sighed, remembering how much he'd helped in the televised explosion. "Ok, you two check out the building as well. Ten minutes remember, people!"

"Why are we in here again?" asked Ianto as they made their way through the rubble. "We know we won't find anything."

"Maybe so, but we need to still be here when John contacts us." Jack responded. He stopped and looked around, checking none of the others were nearby. Then he stepped forward and pulled Ianto into a heart-stopping, earth-moving kiss. When the two men finally broke apart they were both panting for breath.

"Fuck, Jack! I nearly fainted!" Ianto gasped. Jack grinned.

"I do often have that effect on people." He admitted. Ianto whacked him playfully on the arm. "Anyway, now that we're alone, I thought we might go over some wedding ideas." Ianto smiled in spite of himself, and fingered the ring he wore on a chain round his neck. They had decided not to let the others know until after they had saved Owen and Tosh.

"So, what ideas did you have in mind…?" he asked. Jack grinned.

"Well…"

Ten minutes later, they emerged from the building to see the others were already waiting for them. "Anything?" Jack called out.

"Nada. Whatever was in there must have been killed by the explosion."

Jack nodded, and started to walk back towards the SUV, before remembering it wasn't going to be there. Then his wrist strap beeped. He pushed the button, and the holographic image of John Hart appeared before them.

"Jack, what does he want?" Gwen asked horrified. John began to talk.

"Oooh, deja-vu! Or did I say that already. Hey, team… 'Course there might be a few less of you by now. Don't know if you liked my little gift. 'Course, you can't die." He sighed, as though hurt. "You've got all that life. All that time. And you can't spare any for me. Oh! Say hi to the family." John pushed the button on his own wrist strap and another hologram appeared beside him. Jack knew what was coming, but he still felt so many emotions as he gazed upon the face of his brother. Anger, fear, love, hope…

"Been a while since you've seen your brother, hey Jack? The other image said.

"Gray…" Jack whispered.

"Ok, here's what's going to happen." John said. "Everything you love. Everything you treasure. Will die. I'm gonna tear your world apart, captain Jack Harkness. Piece by piece. Starting now. Maybe now you'll want to spend some time with me."

"John, I…" Jack began, but the hologram faded.

"Jack?" Gwen said tentatively.

"Leave it, Gwen." Jack said, fighting back tears. He was still reeling at having seen Gray, a part of him still hoping his sweet little brother had not become a psychopathic killer. "Let's get back to the Hub."