Thanks as always to my excellent beta riftintime.


Chapter 55

Jack hung from his shackles aboard the Valiant for a year, enduring pain, torture, heartbreak, and death. The entire world had fallen apart. Planet Earth was no longer recognizable. Millions of people were dead. Cities were destroyed. Governments had fallen. Torchwood was gone, his team was dead. The Master had found and killed them all. Jack would have gone insane with despair if it weren't for the Doctor's voice whispering in his head. The Doctor kept telling him to have hope, to hold on, to trust him, to trust Martha Jones. If his plan succeeded, time would reverse. None of this will have happened. All would be right again. So Jack held onto that voice and held onto his hope.

He found comfort in his memories during the long hours of his imprisonment. He was in constant pain, and he would delve into his mind to escape the physical torment. He mostly found comfort in his memories of Ianto Jones. He played through his entire relationship with Ianto. After he had thoroughly chastised himself for his treatment of Ianto, he began to remember all of the moments when he had found himself falling for the remarkable and enigmatic young man. And there were quite a few. Ianto had fascinated him, intrigued him, and turned him on in ways no one else had in a long, long time. Ianto was beautiful and brilliant. Ianto was exciting and clever. Ianto was passionate and caring. Ianto was witty and sexy as hell. Memories of Ianto got him through the worst of times. He swore to himself that if they ever got out of this mess, he would make things right with would become someone who deserved the devotion of Ianto Jones.

Horrible things happened. So many horrible things happened in the year that never was. But the Doctor made good on his word and saved them all. Time was reversed.

He had the Doctor take him straight back to Cardiff. Even when the Doctor finally said the words that Jack Harkness had been longing to hear for over a century, "I really don't mind though, come with me," Jack just wanted to get back to his team, to Torchwood, to Ianto.

He didn't even have to consider the Doctor's offer for a moment. "Had plenty of time to think this past year, the year that never was, and I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor – responsibility."

So Jack said his goodbyes to the Doctor. He loved him. He would always love him, but Jack now knew where he belonged. He was going home.

Jack ran across the Plass towards the Hub. He could hardly contain his excitement.

He entered the Hub, but was crestfallen to find everyone gone. He spent a couple of hours going through reports while waiting for his team to return. He discovered that he had been away almost four months in this timeline. Damn, I have some explaining to do. He had hoped that the Doctor had returned him closer to the time he had left, but it was not to be. It was going to make things more difficult to put right. But at least he had the chance to put them right, and he wouldn't give that up for anything in the universe.

It was growing dark outside, and the team still hadn't returned to the Hub. He couldn't wait any longer. He decided to go and find his team. He ran the tracker on the SUV and then took off after them.

He found them in the middle of a stand-off with a blowfish. Jack watched his team, his heart swelling with pride at their professionalism, but he wanted to intercede. He waited at the back door for the perfect time to intervene. He loved to make an entrance. At just the right psychological moment, he made his move and entered with a bang. "Hey kids, d'ya miss me?"

Then he laughed. He was back.