Harry started putting the cast on Sid's hand and stayed out of it all. He knew first hand not to mess about with Sarah once her temper had been triggered. Of course, that didn't stop him from listening in.

"I'm not sure exactly how, but yes, he did. I sent him off for help, and next thing I knew the Doctor turned up. I haven't had a chance to ask about it until now, actually."

Luke was confused. He'd saved the day and his mother didn't praise him for it. Instead, she and all the other adults were acting odd, as if the Doctor shouldn't have shown up or something. "What's wrong mum? Shouldn't I have asked him for help?"

Sarah took him in her arms, hugged him and kissed his head. "You did the right thing and I'm so proud of you, my darling. You actually saved the entire planet." She felt as if she owed Luke an explanation, and this time she would tell him the truth. "It's just that my feelings are somewhat hurt. The Doctor didn't stay and talk to me and there was a lot of things I wanted to talk to him about."

"Dad asked him to stay and talk to you but he said no," Luke said. "Why didn't he want to talk to you? Was he mad at you? He was very nice to me, even after I shouted at him."

"You shouted at the Doctor?" John asked.

"I did," nodded Luke. "I was mad at him because he left mummy and me. He said he did care about us but it was very complicated."

"I'll say it was," Sarah snorted with disgust. She was angry now that she had had a few minutes to think about it. "It's alright Luke, I would have shouted at him too."

"Now wait a minute," John said. "He said he really did want to talk with you but he felt like you had everything that you needed and wanted, and anyway, he said if he came to see you now, it would be putting you in danger. And considering that those Daleks were looking for you, I can see his point."

"How did you manage to get rid of the Daleks," asked Sarah Jane, setting aside her feelings for now. "They don't simply leave because you ask them to."

"I was wondering about that myself," Jack said, coming into the room and sitting down beside them.

"Well, someone else blew up their ship. I guess it must have been the Doctor. That just left the pair that was with us, and they were communicating with their leaders across time," John explained. "At the end of the day, both communication and objects are just information being transmitted, so I thought perhaps they were using the same device to travel in time that they were using to communicate," John said. "It was a long shot, but I figured if I set it to anywhere but here and now and activated it, it would get rid of the thing. Apparently I was right."

"So, where did you send it," asked Jack. "More important than that, is it going to come back here eventually?"

"Well, according to the Doctor, it's gone to somewhere around 1962. But the chances of the surface of the Earth being in just the right spot when it gets there are pretty slim. More likely it'll wind up buried deep in the planet, or float around in space until Earth's gravity catches it and it comes crashing down in a ball of flames." John took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't think it'll cause anyone any more trouble."

The Brigadier, having finished dealing with the Torchwood personnel, finally arrived back in the waiting room.

"How are you doing, Tiger?" he asked.

Kate jumped up and into her father's arms. "Oh dad, I was so worried about you. Here I thought you had the most tedious, boring job on the planet. I had no idea it was so dangerous and frightening. Can you ever forgive me for being so insensitive about it?"

The Brigadier spent a moment holding his daughter. "I'm glad you didn't know," he said. "I'd rather you lived in a world where creatures like that don't exist. I'm just sorry if you ever felt short-changed."

Katie hugged him tighter. "Trust me, I don't feel that way now, and I never will again." She paused. "But maybe you can … let me in on it sometime? Even maybe just the dull parts?"

He smiled down at her. "Dull? No, never. But I need you to know, despite the fact that I was furious with you for putting yourself in harms way, I'm proud of you, Tiger, no matter what. Particularly the way you helped that Torchwood fellow."

Kate looked up at him. "Are you really? I did the best I could, but I was so afraid when that man got shot and was bleeding. At first I could barely remember anything from the class I took," she said with a smile. "Then something inside me snapped and I realized I better do something quick before he bled to death."

"It's not how afraid you are, Tiger," her father said, "it's acting anyway. And you were brilliant."

Kate said nothing, she knew things would be better between them from now on, so she just hugged her father tighter.

Later that evening, Jack and Harry sat in a local pub.

"Here's to life settling down a bit and us getting to unwind," said Jack as he lifted his stout up to Harry's glass and clinked it.

"Here, here," said Harry.

"I certainly don't want to do THAT again," Jack said, taking a large swig.

"Never did like all that space nonsense, monsters and all that. Really sets your mind reeling. Give me real people to deal with and I can handle anything," Harry said before taking a huge swallow. "I wonder how poor old Sarah is holding up. Must have been hard on her hearing about the Doctor like that. Bloody fool just shows up without a word for her or to her, and after all she went through with him."

"Yeah, must've been pretty hard on her," Jack said. "After all this talking about him."

"Talking," Harry snorted. "I remember the time when everyone at UNIT had bets going as to when those two were going to make it official. I can tell you, they were really close once. I had hoped that she and I could start something, but she only had eyes for him. I was the third wheel as far as they were concerned. 'Course, I wasn't the only man at UNIT that fancied her, but then as I said, none of us had a chance." He lifted his glass and drank once more.

Jack laughed. "And after all that, it's mousey old John who gets her."

"Never would have guessed she'd fall so hard for him. At least in the end she's happy and settled down. She deserves that. Mind you, our friend John does have a lot of the Doctor's ways about him." He thought for a moment. "You know, at first the Brig was sure he was the Doctor."

"No kidding?" Jack said. "I mean, I know Torchwood thought so and all that, but I didn't know the Brig did."

Harry finished his glass and held a finger up and motioned for another round. "Right now though, I've got some curious thoughts about you, Jack old boy. I wonder, how many hearts do you have," he said as he turned to face him.

Jack laughed. "Just the one, Harry, I can promise you that. That whole thing about telling the Daleks I was the Doctor was a distraction, and that's all."

Harry raised his eyebrows at Jack, then took a sip from his fresh drink. "And yet, I watched them shoot you down in such a way that you couldn't possibly have survived. Why DID you ask them to shoot you like that, and how is that you're here now drinking with me now as if nothing happened? I know Daleks well enough to know they never shoot blanks. So before I go to the Brig about this, I'd like an explanation from you, Jack. I suggest you make it not only a good one," he said, "but believable as well."

Jack turned slowly to Harry, wondering whether he'd be able to live with himself if he simply solved the problem with a little Retcon. "What sort of believable answer do you think I can give you, Harry? What sort of explanation is going to satisfy you?"

"Why not the truth? I'll settle for that."

"OK, Harry, the truth is I'm immortal," he said, as though it were ridiculous. "I can't die, no matter how hard I try."

Harry stared at him long and hard, "I've seen enough odd things at UNIT in my time that I could believe you, Jack, but I'm afraid that you'll need to explain it a bit more to me."

Jack hadn't thought it would be that easy. Perhaps he'd underestimated his old friend. "Well Harry, truth is, I wish I could explain it, but I'm not quite sure myself. About a century ago I got killed by a bunch of Daleks, and then I woke up. Believe it or not, it's that simple. I have absolutely no idea what's happened to me or why, but one of these days, when I get my hands on the Doctor, you can just bet he's going to explain it to me."

Harry sighed deeply. "Of course, I should have known that the Doctor fit in with all this somehow. I am totally convinced." He put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "I believe the next round is on me."

John smiled as he tucked Sarah Jane into bed. "There. First the kids, then you. I've done my duty." He climbed into bed beside her, draping an arm across her shoulders. "I think I am going to sleep for a week."

"That's fine with me, as long as I can sleep with your arms around me," smiled Sarah as she snuggled up against him. "After we've gotten our well-earned rest, there are a few things I'd like to talk to you about."

"What's that, darling," John said sleepily, luxuriating at the feel of her next to him.

"Well, I have a few questions to ask about the Doctor for one. The rest of it, I'm a bit worried about bringing up with you because I'm concerned about how you'll feel about it. Maybe we better let it all go till we both feel better."

John held her tighter. "No, I think we ought to bring it up now, mostly because I don't think I can sleep knowing something is bothering you."

"Is there anything about the Doctor you haven't told me," she said. "It's alright, you needn't try to spare my feelings, I want to know everything."

"Er … I don't think I've left anything out," John said, a bit guarded. "I mean, the whole thing's a bit of a jumble, what with trying not to be killed and all." He shifted slightly. "Is there anything in particular you want to know?"

"Well, for starters, I know we talked about it briefly, but did he say anything when he found out I was married?"

John thought back. It seemed like a million years ago. "Well, he did seem a bit taken aback. Maybe even a little … possessive," he said, waiting for her reaction.

She nodded and wondered if the Doctor had regrets now. "What did he say to you?"

"What did he say?" John held onto her. He wanted to tell her something that would make her happy, make her content with what had passed between her and the Doctor so many years ago. But the truth was somewhat different. "Well, he seemed to think about it for a moment, and then he congratulated us. He did seem a bit surprised, though. I'm afraid we didn't have much time to talk about it, under the circumstances."

Sarah laughed slightly. "No, I suspect he didn't have much time for a conversation about me, after all, he had Daleks to deal with. How did he find out about Luke?"

"Well, he knew that there was a Time Lord here. I guess they can sense each other. He said that that was probably why the Daleks came, but that didn't seem to be the case after all. As for how he found out about Luke in particular... well, I suspect that happened when Luke went to him for help."

"And when Luke brought him back with him, what happened then?

"Well, I was a little busy not getting killed at that point. I didn't even know it was Luke who'd brought him back until later. I suppose we'll have to ask Luke."

"Well it will have to wait until morning then. He needs to sleep after all he's been through." Sarah snuggled against John. "How do you feel about all this, my love?"

John took a deep breath. "Well, let's see. Once again I was almost killed not just by aliens, but also falling buildings and lunatics, but this time it was with my whole family in tow. My daughter was mistaken for my wife, who is apparently being sought by aliens who are insane, but thankfully I was saved when another alien who is the father of my oldest son and the former companion of my wife intervened, giving me a chance to send the chief bug eyed monster to 1962 before it could kill all of us and probably go on to destroy the world, because that's apparently what they do, but then he disappeared again because it's apparently too dangerous for him to be here, as evidenced by the previously mentioned insane aliens. Frankly, darling, I've had a rather full day."

"Other than that, I'd say things went pretty well," she giggled.

"Only you could giggle about that," he said, but he couldn't keep it in either, and a moment later they were laughing together. "Chaos magnets," he said. "I'm living in a family of chaos magnets."

"Does that mean you're sorry that I'm attracted to you," she said giggling even harder.

"Is that a magnet joke?" he asked, never ceasing to marvel at her ability to make a pun out of any situation.

She brushed his hair with her fingers. "Seriously though, how do you really feel about what happened today?

"I'm not sure what you're asking me," he said. "I'm just glad everyone's alright, Sid's arm notwithstanding. It could have been much worse."

"No beating around the bush with you is there? Right then," she said, "how do you feel about meeting the Doctor?"

"Ooooh, that." John looked deeply into Sarah's eyes and stroked her cheek. "He's been a ghost between us for a long time. Now he's come and he's gone and all I can feel is sorry for him."

"Because he didn't know about Luke?"

"Partly. I do think he'd be with you if he could, but whatever is happening, he can't. Mostly I feel sorry for him because he's all alone, and I don't think he wants to be."

"He must have been traveling with someone, you just didn't see her. He's always got a companion. He's rubbish without one."

"No, I don't think so," John said. "He seemed to me to be terribly, terribly … alone." He was quiet, just holding her, thinking about how alone he would be if Sarah Jane wasn't in his life. He truly didn't think he could go on without her.

"If that's true, then there's really something wrong with him," Sarah said. "I've met five of him and everyone last one of him had a companion." She put her head on John's shoulder. "I wonder what's happened to him."

Before John could say anything there was a knock on their bedroom door.

"Dad, mum? Can I come in, I can't sleep," Luke called out quietly so he wouldn't wake up his brother or sister.

"Of course, Luke, come on in," John said, sitting up. For a moment he was concerned. Then he realized that it was a miracle that any of them had gotten right to sleep, exhaustion or not.

Sarah Jane pulled back the covers and patted the bed. "Come squeeze in between dad and me, sweetheart."

Luke clambered into the bed and flopped down between then, squinching himself between his parents and pulling the covers up over his neck. He took John's hand and put his head on Sarah's shoulder.

Sarah gave his head an affectionate rub. "Nightmares my little love?"

Luke shook his head. "Couldn't sleep. I just … can I talk to you?"