"What is going on in there? It's been three days! And where is Ianto?" Owen had taken up the hobby of pacing in Jack and Ianto's absence.

"If Jack knew, he'd tell us." Tosh tried to be optimistic, but serious misgivings held in her voice. Jack had never been one for great details about the mysterious.

Gwen spoke, looking at the closed blinds to the office. "He knows. Something has happened."

"Go and find out then! He always liked you more than any of us. Well, except for the Doctor and Ianto." Owen stopped pacing just long enough to glare at her slightly, too tired to send a full-force glare Gwen's way.

"You can't be serious, Owen. He's our friend." Gwen made a disgusted face in his direction.

"Owen is right. Obviously, something disturbing happened. More than one person at a time might disturb something fragile. I think it would be for the best." Tosh nodded her head slowly and semi-brightly. Gwen put her hands up in surrender.

"Fine, gang up on me and make me the insensitive one. I'll take coffee. Maybe coffee will get him to talk."

Gwen tapped the door softly and waited. There was no response. She tapped it again.

"Come in." The voice was soft and broken, cracking on the first syllable, on the other side of the door.

Jack sat in his chair, feet on the desk, hand near his chin in a darkly thoughtful pose. Gwen supposed he'd been sleeping even less than normal. His eyes held no charm or a gaze of any kind. He looked beyond the room. For three days, Gwen had kept tabs. Every so often she'd watch Jack raise the blue vase on his left to eye level. He contemplated with it, as if it were a skull and Jack was deciding if it was to be or not to be. Only, there were so many more questions than answers.

Gwen sat unsteadily across from him. "I've, I've brought you a coffee."

Jack brought it to his lips and allowed the weak, sugary brew to dribble down his shirt. He mumbled something.

"Tell me what's happened Jack." Gwen brought her hand down over his, rubbing his knuckles with her thumb.

He looked into her eyes and then looked down at his hand encapsulated by hers. He looked back into her eyes and seemed to teeter on the brink of tears. Then he pushed himself away.

"Don't touch me."

"Jack, what's happened to Ianto? Where is he?"

"Ianto's here. The place where he gave his life, his all, his every moment, and most of all, Jack held the vase to his face and watched the light reflect through the granules inside, his love."

"Is Ianto..." Gwen indicated at the vase with her eyes and a horrified nod, refusing to use the word.

Jack bit his lip, barely having the strength to move his head up and down. Tears raked down his cheek, pooling around the fresh coffee stains.

"Oh, Jack," she ran towards him to hug him.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me or you might be next!"

"This is madness, Jack! You can't really believe..."

"It's all my fault. He was there because of me. It's always my fault."

Gwen slapped him hard across the face. The shades of pain that her slap sent ringing through Jack's core caused her to grimace. The glaze in his eyes seemed to envelop back into his body. He focused on Gwen's nervous sorrow and the room for the first time in three days. "Sorry."

"No, no. Thank you. I think I needed that." Jack rubbed his hand across the reddened cheek. "That's the second time I've been slapped like that. It kinda hurts."

"What happened Jack?"

"He died ... He died saving me. I don't even know if this is the end. He sacrificed himself for nothing."

"It wasn't for nothing, Jack. He sacrificed himself so you might go on."

Lay down, your sweet and weary head

Night is falling

You have come to journey's end.

Jack could hear it beyond his office. A brief snippet of something he remembered hearing on Owen's music player once. Oddly enough, it was the closest thing to classical music he could still stand to listen to. He opened himself to it. He opened himself so that Gwen might know, so that they all might know. He'd tell the world if need be.

Sleep now, and dream of the ones who came before

They are calling

From across a distant shore.

"Deirdre must have had telepathic abilities controlling the ship. Once her mind had been broken, the systems began to flash and fail. I searched for something, somewhere to put him. I wouldn't let him just die on the ship. I wouldn't just leave him to the cold fate of space."

Why do you weep?

What are these tears upon your face?

Soon you will see

All of your fears will pass away

Safe in my arms, you're only sleeping.

"There was one escape pod." Jack peered beyond his door. He could see one half of Tosh through the doorway, waiting expectantly for an answer or a sign. He moved toward her as he spoke. "It was unusual to have an escape pod in such a craft, but I expect she had one for her line of business. I cradled the vase to me as the propulsion system brought us into the atmosphere." He clutched the top of the vase as he spoke.

"You didn't have much control did you, cradling the vase? You didn't want to bother with steering, didn't care if there was an explosion or if people wondered." Tosh spoke for him, echoing the sentiments bottled in his throat.

"Just enough control to bring you crashing down into the Millennium Center. Because the man you loved was dead." Owen didn't have the courage, but said it. Bitter words that stung and stuck to his lips.

"Ianto." He offered up the blue vase, swirled stripes of incandescent purple shining through the granules of Ianto's funeral pyre. Jack felt Gwen's hand cover his again, standing opposite of him. Owen's forehead linked with his, manly sighs forming and slight tears coming from his eyes. Tosh's hand slid around his waist. There was a moment of silence, a moment of bereavement. A moment of brilliant memory. No more beautiful eulogy can be written for the ones who change us the most than the love we always possess for them in our hearts, if not our words and deeds.

What can you see, on the horizon?

Why do the white gulls call?

Across the sea, a pale moon rises.

The ships have come, to carry you home.

One by one, they let go, until Jack held Ianto where he belonged, by his side.

"Do you want us to come with you?"

Jack put his hand on Owen's shoulder and shook his head, a weak smile forming.

"No. This is something I have to do."

"Let me give you a lift, then." Gwen took his arm and guided them both onto the lift. Myfanway called out a song of despair as the pair ascended back into the dark Cardiff twilight. It was early evening, Jack could hear the rain as they came up to the surface. It was a light mist, not enough to obstruct but enough to be noticed.

"This is where it all started. When you came. Where everything changed."

"Feeling sentimental?" Jack gave her a sidelong glance, as if questioning her existence. "If you need anything..."

"Just time."

"Time is one gift I can give you." Gwen kissed him, briefly, a mournful kiss of understanding. It was better than any kiss of seduction she had ever given. "Go give him what he deserved. Torchwood's not going anywhere."

"He was Torchwood."

Gwen turned up the Captain's collar from the rain as they stepped outside the lift. "We all are. All of us are connected. Nothing will be the same for any of us."

As Jack walked away, she heard him. "You're right. Nothing will ever be the same again."

And all will turn, to silver glass

A light on the water.

All souls pass.

The man that rented him the rowboat was half-asleep, otherwise he wouldn't have rented it. The water was calm, but dark and fueled by grief. Thunder overcame the waves and for a second, all was calm. Jack stood, far from shore in Cardiff Bay, and released the stopper. The last of his available tears fell, but the ghosts of the tears he had no water left for, they remained, staining his cheeks. He thought of words, of so many words. But none of them fit, none of them could ever be important enough.

Hope fades, into the world of night

Through shadows falling, out of memory and time.

Don't say, we have come now to the end

White shores are calling.

You and I will meet again.

And you'll be here in my arms, just sleeping.

The pocket watch weighed his jacket down. He released it and watched the seconds tick away into nothingness. It ceased to make a noise, which was just fine with Jack. He closed his eyes slowly and threw the vase. He heard the vase and the sprinkling of the ashes as they hit the water. The ripples met the sides of the boat and it rocked gently in the broken night. One note of thunder sounded. Jack looked at the watch and knew he couldn't keep it anymore. Though tempted, he threw it as well. It reflected the beams of the moon as the clouds parted, just briefly, giving Jack an unobstructed view so close he believed that he could have touched it.

What can you see, on the horizon?

Why do the white gulls call?

Halfway between his fingertips and the ripples of Ianto's ashes, a great bolt of lightning seared forth into the watch. Jack fell to his knees in agony. He had not the strength to cry as the boat rocked back and forth, slightly more than gently. The rain mingled with his dried tears. He shivered in spite of his normally warm skin.

Across the sea, a pale moon rises.

The ships have come to carry you home.

Jack was knocked on his side by a lurch in the boat. He looked around at the obsidian nothingness that surrounded him. He felt hopeless, small for the first time in his life. He was frightened and heart-broken. A figure emerged from behind him, coming out of the black water. Jack looked, gasping, as fingers grabbed onto the side of boat and hauled themselves up. The figure shrouded in water, crawled into the boat.

"Ianto?"