Chapter 12 is here. Is anyone actually reading this crap? Spoiler alert for this chapter as well! And I realize that future episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood may contradict what I'm writing now, but I'm not waiting around to see what happens. :p


"Can you believe that all happened in just three days?" Jack said to the others.

"Three and a half," the Doctor corrected. "But, yeah. It was intense."

"And in the end, it went home happy," Gwen added. "That's got to be a first."

"It would have taken us twice as long to sort it all out without the Doctor," Ianto said. "Someone might have been badly hurt."

The Doctor smiled. "Glad to help. You were all excellent. How about if we have pizza on Jack?"

"Generous with my money, aren't you?" Jack asked. Then he smirked mischievously. "Or do you mean I'm the meal, and you'll have pizza on me?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "I swear, that man…"


The pizza was dwindling and everyone looked a little sleepy. Gwen pulled herself to her feet with a great effort and declared that she was going home.

Jack looked down at Ianto, whose head was resting against his shoulder. "You should go, too. It's late."

Ianto tilted his head back and blinked tiredly at him.

Jack leaned down to kiss him softly. "I'll see you in the morning."

Seeming a bit embarrassed at being kissed in front of the Doctor, Ianto got to his feet and walked Gwen to the back exit. "Good night," they called.

The Doctor waved to them.

"Good night," Jack answered.

They watched until the door rolled shut again.

"I'd best be going, too," the Doctor said.

"You mean for the night, or…"

"I think for two years."

Jack tried to think of an argument, but he knew there wasn't one. "I wish you'd stay," he said at last.

"You'll do all right. Maybe you ought to go catch up with Ianto."

"No; he's tired. He needs a good sleep tonight."

"That's very considerate."

"I try." Jack sighed. "It'll be hard without you. But it's always hard. We'll manage somehow."

The Doctor nodded. "You lead them well, Jack. They follow your orders without question, but you put their interests first."

"Thanks. Now will you date me?"

"I'm just saying you've grown up a lot since I met you."

"The question stands," Jack said stubbornly.

"Certainly not. You've got a boyfriend."

"I can juggle two."

The Doctor got up and stretched. "Overall, I think this was a good visit. Might go straight to the next one."

"Lucky you—I've got to wait here. Why don't you just stay through?"

"I'm sorry Jack; I can't. I'm not meant to settle, you know."

"I said date, not marry." Jack stood. "I'll walk you to the Tardis."


Two years later, the bay area looked different. It was all there, but it looked new, as if the whole courtyard and statue had been rebuilt. The camouflage sidewalk seemed to have moved one square down. The Doctor walked around the obelisk and scratched his head. Where is Torchwood?

"Excuse me, are you the Doctor?"

The Doctor looked up. It was a young black woman with short hair.

"Who's asking?"

"I'm Lois. I'm a friend of Jack's. Gwen said you might turn up soon, so I've been checking every now and again."

"Where's Jack?"

"America."

"What? Why? What happened here?"

Lois shook her head. "There's too much to explain." She rifled through her purse. "I've got an address here for you. Hang on. Here it is."

The Doctor took the paper and studied it. "Los Angeles? Is he trying to date a bunch of movie stars?"

Lois laughed. "I don't think that's all he's up to. That's all I know, really."

"Okay. Thanks very much." He turned away.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Gwen said you were… sort of associated with Torchwood. That you were someone like Captain Harkness. Someone fighting to protect us."

He looked back at her. "I do my best."

She hesitated a moment. "Well… what I want to know is: Where were you? When the Four Five Six was here—why didn't you help?"

The Doctor considered the many answers he could give. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry—even I don't know that yet."


The Tardis blended quite inconspicuously on Sunset Boulevard—the locals were used to random and nostalgic sights. The Doctor felt a little warm in his overcoat, but he didn't take it off. He stood watching the people pass, wondering if any of them realized how fragile their little lives were.

About ten minutes went by before Jack turned up. Something in Jack's face and his brisk walk made the Doctor uneasy. He took a step back as the captain approached him.

Jack stood in front of the Doctor and stared at him.

"Something tells me you'd like to hit me," the Doctor said quietly, taking a tiny step backward and hoping that his statement was not a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Jack closed the small distance between them and held the Doctor in a vice-like grip. "Yes, I would," he said. He pressed his face against the Doctor's neck.

Uncertainly, the Doctor put his arms around Jack. "A lot happened," he surmised. "Things went very wrong. Can you tell me?"

He waited. A tremor seemed to work through Jack's entire frame and he let out a shaky sigh.

"I'll tell you inside."

Jack released him and the Doctor opened the Tardis door for him. A few passersby were glancing their way in curiosity, but they were the least of the Doctor's worries.

The Doctor led Jack through the Tardis, deep into one of the small back rooms he rarely used. There they sat on a strange-looking but comfortable sofa.

Jack leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Gwen and Rhys have a kid now," he said. "A year old."

The Doctor couldn't tell how he was supposed to take this news. "That's… good, isn't it?"

"Sure. Hell, it's great."

Not wanting to ask, but knowing one of them had to bring it up, he said, "And Ianto?"

"Dead."

He had expected it somehow, but the Doctor was still moved with deep sympathy. "The Four Five Six?" he asked. "Lois mentioned it when I saw her, but I don't know what happened."

Jack nodded. "Earth's first globally known alien contact."

It was one of the most horrible stories the Doctor had ever heard, but he made himself listen for several minutes. When Jack seemed unable to go on, he took his hand to reassure him.

"I let them… no, I killed my grandson. While my daughter screamed at me to save him."

"You had no choice," the Doctor said quietly.

Jack shook his head. "You'd have found a better way. You'd know a different way to transmit the frequency. Or you'd have been able to reason with the Four Five Six. You wouldn't have let Steven die."

The Doctor brushed a tear from Jack's face and put one arm around him. "I don't know what I could have done. You were in a horrible position with no time to plan. Steven was a good kid—if you'd been able to explain it to him, he'd have chosen to save all those other kids, wouldn't he?"

Jack rested his head on the Doctor's shoulder. "Maybe. But he would have been scared. And no matter what, his mother would never forgive me. He was all she had."

"He wasn't scared, though," the Doctor reminded him. "You said that when the kids were transmitting, they had no awareness. He trusted you, and he died knowing that you would save the children."

"Yes; he trusted me. Like a lamb trusts the butcher."

Someone else might have told Jack to stop being so grim or to stop feeling sorry for himself. But no one was there to tell the Doctor those things when he was angry with himself, so he felt he had no right to say them to Jack. He leaned his head on top of Jack's.

"You haven't suggested going back."

After a moment, Jack answered, "I've thought about it. A lot of times. But no matter how I play it out in my mind, someone dies. That or I end up crossing my timeline. I never left Ianto alone after we headed for White Hall together. And if Steven didn't die… where would I get another kid on such short notice? I can't even think about changing that part. And anyway, once you start bringing back people who are supposed to be dead, you endanger the structure of time itself. Isn't that right?"

"Yes. That's right." The Doctor sighed. He couldn't help thinking about the plan he was so desperate to put into action. It wasn't fair. And it might endanger the structure of time. He wondered if it was what he and Jack would argue over.

"There is one thing, though."

The Doctor held his breath, waiting.

"The explosion destroyed the Torchwood hub very shortly after you left me last time..."

"Was my hand destroyed?"

Jack paused. "No... I gave it back to you. Oh, that's right, you haven't done that yet. Oh, wow."

"Done what?"

"Never mind. Anyway, in the cryogenic freeze lockers there were a lot of bodies. We recovered enough parts to identify most of them. But not all." Jack paused. "Gray wasn't there."

"Really? What do you think happened to him?"

"I think you went back and pulled him out before the explosion."

"What? No, I didn't…. Oh. You mean…. You mean you want me to go back and pull him out."

"It wouldn't change anything that's happened up until now. I can tell you a day and time when no one was there and you can get him. If you don't leave a trace, there will be no reason for us to get suspicious and look at the CCTV footage. I can have a place ready and waiting at the headquarters here."

The Doctor's mind was racing. He couldn't ask Jack to help him with his plan if he refused to help Jack now. "All right, listen. If I do this, and it doesn't work out, I'll come back here within a couple of days to discuss our options. If it does work, I'll bring Gray back here in two years time. And if everything goes smoothly, I'll have a favor to ask of you then."

"Okay. Do this for me and you'll have a blank check. Whatever you want." Jack put his arm around the Doctor's waist and squeezed him. "Thank you." He took a note pad from his coat pocket and quickly made some notes on it. "This is a day when we were all out—no one got back to the hub until around six that night, so if you get there around two-thirty and leave by five-thirty, no one will see you. But I'm sure it won't take you three hours."

The Doctor nodded. "I'll need pass codes for the doors and Gray's cooler."

"Right." Jack jotted down the codes. "And there's one more thing you'll need. A large fresh fish or steak."

"What for?"

"The pterodactyl. He can be aggressive toward strangers, so you should give him a snack."


Confused yet? I know I am, but we're just getting started! xD