Okay, that delay was a little longer than expected. The thing is, I wrote the first part of this ages ago, but couldn't find time to finish it. However, it's done now (thank God, my wrists are killing me), so I hope you enjoy it.

As the lift took Rose back to Heaven, she attempted to shake off the eerie feeling her talk with Cassandra had given her. What did that feeling remind her of?

"The Void Ship!" she realised. No wonder it had had such a wrong feeling about it. Not only was it outside of time and space, but there was every chance that the ghost of Hitler had passed it on occasion. The lift stopped, and the doors opened. It was now that Rose noticed where she was – it was the valley she'd woken up in. As she looked forward now, she could see a body stirring.

A new arrival, she thought. I may as well welcome them. She started making her way towards the person. But as she got closer, she sensed something very familiar about them. She stopped dead as she realised who it was.

"Jack!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Captain Jack Harkness opened his eyes.

Where am I? he thought. The last thing he remembered was talking to the Doctor, warning him of the Master, and then…

"I'm … dead," he said to himself. "But what's going on? I've died so many times before, and all I've seen is darkness…" He gasped as he looked down at his body. He reached up and touched his face.

"I'm back," he whispered. He then heard his name called, and turned around. A massive grin spread over his face.

"Rose!" he called. Rose started running towards him, and he caught her in a big hug.

"Oh Jack!" Rose exclaimed. "I've missed you so much!"

"Ditto," replied Jack, kissing Rose on the forehead. Rose looked at him strangely.

"What's with your voice?" she asked. Jack realised that he had been speaking with his 'wise old man' accent, so he cleared his throat and began talking in his old American accent.

"Sorry, picked up the accent a while back," he said. "But how am I here? And how are you here? You're meant to be trapped in a parallel universe."

"I died Jack," said Rose. "And I ended up here. Same as you. We're in Heaven."

"But I've died tons of times," said a confused Jack. "Then I've woken up after each of them. Remember what you did to me Rose?" Rose cocked her head to one side, but suddenly her memories of absorbing the time vortex came flooding back. She brought her hand to her mouth.

"Oh crap," she said. "But … wait. That was in the year 200,100. And what did you mean about dying tons of times?"

"You couldn't control what you were doing," explained Jack. "You brought me back to life … thanks, by the way … permanently. Well, 5 billion years is just as good as permanent." Rose couldn't believe her ears. She'd never really asked the Doctor what had happened to Jack. He'd made that one vague comment about him 'rebuilding the Earth', then he'd never mentioned him again.

"Jack, what happened to you after I brought you back to life?" she asked.

"Well, first I cleared up a few things on the Gamestation, then I set about finding you and the Doctor," said Jack. "Unfortunately I ended up in 1869. From there I lived on, barely ageing a day. I kept living, while everyone around me died." Rose gulped.

"Humans decay. You wither and you die."

"You sound like the Doctor," she said. "You look different too. There's something about your face. It looks … harder." Jack nodded.

"Yeah, seeing what I've seen will do that to you," he said. "It changes you forever. You know, you look kinda different too. No offence, but something looks missing. And I think I can guess what."

"The Doctor," they said in unison, before Rose continued. "Losing him was the worst thing that ever happened to me. All because of bloody Torchwood…" Jack scratched his head.

"Yeah, um … I worked for Torchwood," he admitted. Rose gasped, but he hastily kept talking. "Torchwood Cardiff – it was totally different. I had a small team, and we waited for trouble to come to us, not the other way around. Believe me Rose, I had nothing to do with Canary Wharf." Although shocked at this revelation, Rose knew that she could trust Jack, so she simply nodded.

"So did you ever get to see the Doctor again?" she asked.

"Yep, quite a few times actually," said Jack. "I got to see some of his past incarnations from a safe distance – you're lucky you missed them. And I met the pretty boy our one turned into. Oh, I also met some companions. You do know that he had other companions, right?"

"Too well," said Rose. "I met one of them. I've also been watching what the Doctor's been up to. It's great – here you can watch practically anything you want."

"Really?" said Jack suggestively. "How?"

"You can get started as soon as you find the piece of paper, where is it? … oh, I was standing on it." Rose bent down and picked up the piece of paper intended for Jack. He took it, but before looking at it, looked at Rose.

"Rose, do you have any idea of why you brought me back to life?" he asked her. "I mean, it was a nice gesture and all, but so many people died that day. Why me?" Rose closed her eyes and concentrated hard on remembering. She could now clearly remember what she'd done easily enough, but why?

Suddenly her mind became flooded with images. It was as if she once again had the time vortex running through her head. She was once again seeing all that is, all that was, and all that ever could be. And among those images, she saw Jack. She saw him in the past, the present and the future. She saw him watching over her as she grew up. She saw everything he'd done when he was a time agent. She saw everything he'd done for Torchwood. And she saw the day when he decided what he needed to do.

"Jack, you're being ridiculous."

"No I'm not. I can't continue living like this. I'm not a normal person, and I don't want to pretend to be."

"But think of what you're giving up!"

"I'm so old now, I don't want to be Captain Jack Harkness anymore. Captain Jack Harkness is dead. I want to be something more. Something new."

"But the radiation could kill you!"

"That's where you're wrong."

…

…

"Jack … Jack …"

"What happened?"

"You did it Jack. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself, but you did it. Your cells and body structure has been completely changed. No one will recognise you. You look … like an alien."

"Let me see … yes, I see what you mean. The jawline could have been a bit tighter, but other than that I'm reasonably happy with it."

"You're serious? You want to look like that for the rest of your life? You do realise that you'll need 24 hour care. You'll need to live in this tank forever."

"Then that's what will happen. With the death of Jack Harkness, a new being is born. A legendary being. From now on, I shall be the Face of Boe."

After this came various other events in Jack's life. From the birth of his children to witnessing the destruction of Earth, and then his final death and his warning of the Master's return. Finally, Rose opened her eyes, and found herself gasping for breath.

"It was meant to happen," she realised. "If I hadn't done it, it would have been a paradox. The whole of history could have changed. Jack, it was your destiny that you be brought back to life, so that you could become the legend of the universe." Jack bowed his head.

"Well it's an honour to have fulfilled that role," he said. "I'm glad that I could contribute so much to the universe. I guess that's what got me here. Still, I wish I could remember what I got up to in the time agency. And meet some of my old buddies."

"You can," said Rose. "All you've got to do is read the piece of paper. Oh, and if you come across me, I might not remember this conversation that well. I'm actually visiting here from the year 2007 right now."

"Oh, okay," said Jack. "So you can travel in time here?"

"Yep," confirmed Rose. "And I'd better be getting back to my own time. So … see ya in 5 billion years, yeah?"

"Yeah," said Jack, laughing. They hugged one last time, before Rose transported herself back to her own time. Jack sighed and opened up the piece of paper that he'd been waiting 5 billion years to receive.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So that's my little explanation about how Jack became the Face of Boe. I also like to think that Rose brought him back permanently on purpose, so I included that as well.

For those of you who have read Hello Dolly!/are fans of The Chaser, guess who I'm meeting again in about 15 hours time?