Warning: Spoilers for Torchwood Season 3: Children of the Earth.

"And when is this?" Rebecca said into the phone. "Mmhmm." she glanced over at Lily and the Doctor, who were bent over a chessboard, staring at it intently. "And all the organized groups will be there?"

Lily moved a piece. "Check."

The Doctor grumbled and moved his king out of check. Lily examined the board before smiling widely and moving another piece, throwing her arms up in the air triumphantly.

"Check mate!"

"No way!"

Rebecca covered her free ear with one hand and grimaced as she tried to hear the person on the other line. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Check mate," Lily repeated, smirking.

"But that's impossible!" the Doctor stared at the board, trying to find some way the win was invalid.

"I beg to differ," Lily replied, raising her eyebrows and nodding towards the chessboard. "All the evidence is right there."

"You must have cheated," he exclaimed accusingly.

"Nope, I won fair and square." She smiled and crossed her arms over her chest.

"But you can't have!" he insisted loudly.

"Excuse me a moment." Rebecca lowered the phone and covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "Oi! KIDS! Either pipe down or take your racket somewhere else, or I promise you'll regret it!" She glared at them menacingly, and Lily and the Doctor guiltily – and silently – slunk out of the room.

"I'm over 900 years old, and she called me a KID," he whispered reproachfully.

"Well you're acting like one," Lily whispered back. She snickered when the Doctor glared at her.

"Where's Amy?" the Doctor asked once they were a safe distance away from Rebecca's wrath.

"Probably off chasing Smokey somewhere, she loves her." At that moment, Amy walked up, her arms full of a bundle of fur.

"Hey, I thought you were playing chess," she greeted them.

"We were, until Lily cheated and Rebecca kicked us out of the kitchen," the Doctor replied, scowling at Lily. She rolled her eyes

"Correction: I won fair and square, the Doctor caused an uproar because he's a sore loser, and Mum was sick of trying to hear her business call over his complaints so she threatened us and we ran for our lives."

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm trying to figure out if there was one part of that sentence that was accurate."

Lily jerked her head in his direction, grinning. "See what I mean?" The Doctor glared at her.

Rebecca came out, sighing. "I need an office to handle business calls at home..." she muttered. She looked at the Doctor and Lily, who looked slightly scared of her. She sighed again. Sorry about that, but I really did need to get that sorted, and you two weren't exactly being quiet."

"It's okay..." Lily said warily. She still seemed convinced that Rebecca was going to yell at them again. Rebecca smiled at her daughter.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to blow a fuse or anything."

"So what was the phone call about?" The Doctor seemed a bit distracted, as if he was thinking of something else.

"There's been a meeting arranged for all of the alien-related organizations. Not too far from here," Rebecca explained.

"Mmm, sounds interesting. Any idea who's coming?" the Doctor asked absently.

"Representatives from pretty much all branches of UNIT, a small organization from up in Norway, a few scattered ones in Asia, Africa, and North and South America, and then each of the operational Torchwood branches."

The Doctor's head snapped up. "Torchwood?"

"Well, we're not sure about Torchwood 2, but Torchwood 3 has confirmed. There aren't any other ones that are operational."

"So... will Jack be there?" The Doctor seemed overly upset.

"Yes, Captain Harkness was the one who confirmed that they'd be there." Rebecca looked at the Doctor, confused. "Doctor, what's wrong?"

"When's the last time that you spoke to Jack?"

Rebecca thought. "Probably a few years ago. Why? Doctor, why aren't you telling me what's wrong?"

The Doctor smiled sadly. "I'm worried. I don't know what to expect from him."

Rebecca sighed exasperatedly. "Doctor, I know Captain Harkness can be an incorrigible flirt and over the top sometimes, but I'm sure he knows how to act professional at a mee-"

"It's not that."

"Then what?"

The Doctor was silent for a moment, searching for the words. "How... how much do you know about the events that happened about a year back? With the 456?"

Rebecca shrugged. "Not a whole lot. Obviously I came into contact with the issue since it was worldwide, and I found out later that Torchwood 3 had handled it and saved the children. I was just grateful that Lily was older than the children affected," she said, glancing at her daughter

"Well that's the gist of it, I guess. But everyone suffered during those days. Jack most of all." The Doctor's face was pained. "The suffering he went through – it's hard to even imagine what that could feel like."

"What happened?" Lily whispered. The other two women were listening intently. None of them knew this story.

"Jack had dealings with the 456 before. The government was trying to get rid of anyone who had. They lured Jack into a place where they could kill him and then put a bomb inside him. He's immortal, you knew that, right?"

"I'd heard rumors. It's really true?" Rebecca asked incredulously.

"One hundred percent. It's very... complicated. Anyway, he managed to find out about the bomb in time to get both of the other Torchwood members out of the Hub and to safety. After that, it was all about trying to figure out what was going on, and trying to stop it. His family – his daughter and grandson – were taken hostage.

"He went with one of the other Torchwood members to stand up to the 456 at Thames House. Jack has always thought of all of his team as a family, and loves them all, but this member was different. Ianto Jones. Jack's lover.

"They couldn't win that. The 456 released a toxin into the air, poisoning and killing everyone inside Thames House. Including Ianto." The Doctor paused and looked at his friends' horrified faces before continuing the story.

"Jack was placed under arrest, but the other remaining Torchwood member, Gwen Cooper, went to see Ianto's sister, to break the news. She was running a safe-house for the children, and when officers came, Gwen helped her keep them safe.

"They released Jack's daughter and grandson, but they realized that they really needed Jack to beat this. They brought him out of prison, and he did figure out how to stop them. There had been a man from the first dealing with the 456 that had a psychic link with them, and a frequency had killed him. Jack figured out that if they broadcasted that same frequency, it would kill the 456. But saving all the children in the world came at a terrible price, because there was only one available child for Jack to broadcast through." The Doctor stopped, his face twisting with the pain of the story.

"Who?" Rebecca asked.

"His grandson." The Doctor's pain-filled eyes flickered to each of his companions', seeing the pain mirrored there.

"So Jack Harkness did what he did best: saved the world, no matter what the cost. But he was a broken man. The last time I saw him, he was in a bar, trying to drink away the memories of his dead lover, the grandson he'd killed, and his daughter who he'd estranged himself from. I did what I could for him, but I don't know what he'll be like."

"I can't even imagine doing that." Rebecca's voice was filled with sadness mingled with horror.

"Jack's had more than his fair share of pain. The curse of being immortal." The Doctor smiled a smile with no humor in it. "The curse of living too long. I can understand that." Amy reached over and squeezed the Doctor's hand. He smiled at her and then straightened his shoulders, composing himself.

"Now, we've got a meeting to prepare for." He turned to walk into the house, and then paused and turned around again. "When you see Jack, don't mention any of this to him. If he wants to talk about it, he will. And I can't imagine it's not still a sore subject." Then he turned back and walked into the house, leaving everyone to ponder the life of a man with endless suffering.

A/N: I have a thousand excuses and apologies for not updating, but you don't want to hear them, so I'll just say sorry and get on with it. So, sorry.

Anyway. Yes, after I brought up Jack that first time, I had to work him into the story somehow. And after the light-hearted beginning of this chapter, it just sort of turned into an angst fest. So, sorry, that really wasn't intentional.

I wasn't even sure if the Doctor was going to tell them Jack's story before they saw him, but I kinda found it necessary, so there it is.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, please leave comments/reviews and I'm very, very sorry for not updating!

It's been a summer of low inspiration.