A/N: Here you go, children! A nice bedtime story! Or morning story, or... whatever. Just so everyone knows, Wedding Eve is now finished. Not this chapter, but I mean that I have indeed written everything that will be written in this story. I'm going to be polishing and editing the remaining chapters, but the next one will be up in the next few days. Maybe even tomorrow. Not sure. So yeah, enjoy this interlude, and be ready for the stunning finale in the next couple chapters. Or maybe the next chapter? Or maybe this really is the end? MUAHAHAHAHA. Enjoy, read, and please, review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nada. Zilch. Flibbertigibbet. What?

"Who," Jack started, before his eyes widened in surprise. "Runt?"

The old man laughed, a hacking, choking laugh, but one filled with mirth. "I... I haven't been called that in many years. Yes, Jack."

Jack quickly went to the side of the bed and clutched the man's hand. "Runt, oh, Runt. What are you doing here, now? I haven't seen you since..." Jack trailed off, realizing the memories that were coming to the fore.

"Since the Agency. Good times, Jack. Good times. Never thought you would outlive your old apprentice, did you?"

Jack smiled, remembering the Time Agency. Each senior agent was assigned an apprentice, to teach their ways. Some of the better agents had two or three apprentices, to keep up with recruitment, but Jack had only had one.

"Only you, Runt. Only you. How long has it been?"

The old man sighed. "Two hundred and seventeen years, in my timeline. After you left the agency, so many followed suit. You were our poster boy, you know that?"

Jack smiled his charming smile, knowing that it was true. His natural charm, combined with his fifty-first century pheromones, meant that many of the new Agency recruits only joined to try and get with him.

"Oh, that I know. Is that why the Agency died?"

The man started to speak, but was interrupted by a bout of hacking coughs. He leaned over the opposite side of the bed, hacking and wheezing. After the episode ended, he spit out the black fluid from his mouth.

"Not quite. We got... We got involved in the War. Most of our forces, including the entire Headquarters, was there when it ended." He looked at the Doctor as he said this.

The Doctor's face tightened, knowing which war this strange, dying man was referring to. He remembered the deaths, the fire, and the horrible tragedies.

"And look at you now, Jack my friend. Travelling in style! Remember how I used to get sick from Manipulator travel?"

Jack laughed softly, enjoying the nostalgia. "Yes, I do, my friend. You were much too small for Vortex travel, but you were amazingly time sensitive. Maybe that's why it hurt you so much to hop streams with the Manipulator. Remember our mission on Dynexia Eight?"

The old man broke out in peals of hacking laughter. They turned into coughs, but his smile was still unbroken. "Of course! Seven days in their medical ward, puking my brains out. How much did you get reamed out for taking so long on the mission?"

Jack barked out his own laugh, recalling the dressing down he got for that delay. Then his eyes turned sad. "How long ago, Runt. That was so long ago. But... How do you know me as Jack?"

The old man smiled a secretive smile. "After you left, I was given the mission to track you down. They wanted to know what happened, at the very least. And I was supposed... supposed to convince you to come back. I knew it would never happened, but I wanted to find you anyway."

He paused, breaking into another coughing fit. The Doctor looked around the ward, but Amy caught on almost before hearing his thoughts. She went to the sink in the corner and filled one of the disposable cups with water. She brought it back and gave it to Jack, who pressed it to the old man's lips.

He drank greedily, thanking Jack and Amy both before continuing. "That's why I wasn't in the war... I was out with my manipulator, tracing you on Sol 3 in the local year 1869, but I didn't find you."

"Awh, Runt. I was there. It would have been great if you found me."

The old man smiled again. "Oh, but this is much better, Jack. Even after the War, I kept up on my quest. I was a very rich man, since my travels let me make various investments. I lived off of my money and searched for you. It was that search that let me find out your chosen name, and your traveling companions. I guess this is him? The Legendary Doctor?"

The Doctor stepped forward, putting his hand on the man's arm. "That's me. I suppose the Time Agency had a file on me?"

Jack and the old man shared a raucous laugh. "A file?" Jack asked rhetorically. More like a whole cabinet!"

The Doctor grimaced playfully.

The old man continued. "Captain Jack Harkness, the amazing immortal man. There are no records on how that happened, but it is of no matter. What is even more important is what I found about your home. The Boeshane Peninsula, Fifty-first century Human colony on Villengard. Tell me, Jack, why do you never go by your Agency code name anymore?"

Jack frowned at the change of subject, but answered the question. "Honestly, Runt, it's a bit too conspicuous. I was on Earth, so I needed a name that would fit in. The Face of Boe certainly didn't."

The Doctor gasped, realizing the connection. Amy was party to the thoughts in his head, an dshe made the connection almost as quickly. She was only a bit confused, but she resolved to ask the Doctor to visit this Face of Boe in the future.

"No, Jack, I suppose it wouldn't. But the funny thing is, Jack, I always wondered why you were called that. I always wondered if you could be the real Face of Boe, the poster boy for colonisation to my home planet."

Jack smiled, remembering his youth, so long ago in his personal timeline. "That was me, Runt. They liked how I looked, so they put me out into the wide universe, trying to get more colonists out to our little patch of desert. That's how the Agency found me and decided to recruit me for the same thing."

The old man clutched Jack's hand tighter, speaking softly. "Jack... my friend... I was recruited from the same place. The same time. I was lost in the invasion, and my brother could never find me/ I wasn't that far, but I couldn't... I couldn't remember..."

The old man was quietly sobbing now, and Jack's mouth was hanging open in surprise. He could only manage one word.

"Grey?"

The old man nodded, and Jack joined him in tears, leaning into the convalescence bed to hold his long-lost brother in a tight hug. No words were spoken between the two, but their happiness was obvious.

'Doctor, let's leave them,' Amy said over their psychic link.

The Doctor agreed, and the pair retreated to the TARDIS. After a short while, Jack returned.

"He... He's gone."

Amy gasped and ran to him, gathering Jack in a tight hug. The Doctor joined them, enfolding them both in an embrace. Jack broke down sobbing. Amy and the Doctor held him until he quieted.

Jack righted himself, giving them a broken form of his usual charming smile. He spoke then, his voice broken and raspy from his tears.

"Thank you... Doctor, would it be alright..."

The Doctor put his hand on Jack's shoulder and said, "Of course, Jack. Take as long as you need. We're here for you."

=x=

A few days later, the funeral was over with, and the trio was back in the TARDIS. Jack was still down, but his eyes were bright as he recounted the last few hours to Amy and the Doctor.

"So the headstone carver is giving me all these suggestions as to what it should say, and I just cut him off. 'No,' I said. 'It's going to say his name, and the dates, and then this.' 'You were always there for me, Jack. Time travel confuses me, but you told me that you had already seen this, so just know - we do find each other.'"

Amy and the Doctor laughed, visualizing Jack just running roughshod over the poor sculptor.

"And he was so confused, especially by the Time Travel reference, but I didn't let him get another word in edgewise. I shut him up right, and paid, and here I am. It'll come out alright."

Amy and the Doctor were still laughing, and Jack joined in merrily.

"So, Doctor, where to? We've got the Cascade all figured out except the power source, right?"

The Doctor immediately sobered. He looked down at Amy in his arms before looking back to Jack and speaking. "I've got that figured out, Jack. We just have to make a quick stop in Cardiff to refuel, and then we'll be right as rain."

Jack smiled. "Back to the old stomping grounds? Sounds good! Maybe Amy and I can even hit the shops, yeah?"

Amy looked pleadingly at the Doctor, and he smiled indulgently at her. "Of course, I couldn't refuse a face like that. We can't be too long though, since we'll be back in time. We're on a deadline, remember!"

With that, the Doctor jumped to the TARDIS console, flipping switches and pressing buttons seemingly randomly. "Next stop, Cardiff!"

A/N: I hope you liked it, even though it was an interlude. Before you review, please notice that I am ignoring Grey's presence in the Torchwood series. Not because I didn't like it or anything, but simply because, for the life of me, I can't remember that sequence of events at all. I am going to be re-watching Torchwood soon, but I haven't yet, so that part of canon is struck down. Sorry, canon freaks! But yeah, keep your eyes out for the next chapter, that's already finished, and please, please, do review. Thank you.