Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Who-verse. That honour belongs to RTD and the mighty and glorious BBC. The only thing I get out of this is a warm fuzzy feeling knowing I am trying to put right what once was wrong.

Authors Note: This chapter contains a small moment of Janto fluffiness (I was feeling the need), before more diabolical plot points are introduced. Oh what a tangled web I weave.

Ammendment: I have reposted this chapter with the end of the chapter reworked a little. Ever since I wrote this something was niggling me about the end of the chapter. A million thanks to Marzi for putting her finger on what had been bugging me. The destination is the same only the journey has changed.

Chapter XI

Gwen strode across the floor of the Hub balancing Ianto on her hip whilst talking rapidly into the microphone of her headset. Smiling broadly she pressed her finger to her ear finishing the call. She wrinkled her nose and looked at her son accusingly.

"No prizes for guessing what you've been up to," she muttered.

Grabbing a bag from over the back of her chair she headed up to Jack's newly completed office. The new Hub had been designed along very similar lines to the old one, Jack's office still high above the working floor where he could keep an eye on everyone. Not that there was anyone to keep an eye on. The Hub, although shinier was still depressingly empty. She barged into the office without knocking. Jack was pouring over a brown folder an inch thick. Beside him on the desk a pile of equally anonymous brown folders was stacked a foot high. At the interruption he looked up with a pained, vaguely annoyed expression.

"Sorry. I need your sofa." Gwen demanded. "It's too cold down there to change him and curiously the ladies doesn't come with baby change facilities." She cocked her hip to indicate Ianto, who gurgled appreciatively. Jack smiled fondly. He was completely besotted with his nephew, godchild, whatever.

"Be my guest"

Gwen held Ianto and the bag out to Jack.

"Your turn Jack. You said you wanted to help," she laughed.

Jack held both hands up in protest.

"Oh no. I draw the line at smelly diapers. Definitely not in the Uncle job description."

"You've been a dad!" Gwen shot back irrepressibly, immediately wishing she hadn't as the familiar shuttered expression returned to Jack's face, his eyes darkening in pain.

"When Alice was born, it wasn't the done thing to be a hands-on dad," he confessed shaking his head. "Besides I was never there."

Gwen couldn't think of a word to say. Jack's wounds were still too raw and, she suspected, they would never completely heal. Never was a long time in Jack's existence. Not for the first time she felt a stab of pity for him. She couldn't imagine what living for ever would be like. Worse living for ever in the knowledge that no matter what he did, or how hard he tried, he could never escape. It would have driven her mad. Maybe, for Jack, it already had. For the first time she wondered how many of Jack's deaths had been deliberate.

With nothing to say Gwen busied herself with lying Ianto down on the sofa, opening the bag and pulling out her baby change equipment. First though she pulled out her automatic and put it on the floor beside her.

"Nice," Jack commented, raising his eyebrows. "Are you expecting trouble?"

Relieved to hear Jack's normal tone, Gwen shot a disbelieving look over her shoulder at him whilst simultaneously attacking Ianto's bottom with a baby wipe.

"Er...Torchwood?" she flung at him.

"OK. Point taken. Especially since there are only us...well me," he conceded casting his eyes around the empty Hub.

"I'm still Torchwood," Gwen protested. "I'm just taking a break."

"Not noticeably,"Jack interjected wryly. "You've been here three days straight. Does Rhys know you're here?"

"Of course. Who do you think dropped us off. He'll be back soon."

"I'm glad you're here Gwen," he confessed in a low voice. "It's all so empty and quiet. Feels all wrong somehow."

"Well hopefully not for long. I was just on the phone with Martha. She'll be here next week to take up the permanent medic post. She's used her UNIT connections to get Tom a place at the hospital. She told UNIT Torchwood needed a man on the inside, so to speak. She's got them wrapped round her little finger."

Jack laughed. " The Doctor will love that. That's brilliant news. Martha Jones voice of a nightingale!"

"It's Martha Milligan now remember. Anyway, that's not all. I've managed to persuade Lois Habiba to join us. She's proved she's good in a crisis and she knows tech stuff. She was wasted in government.

"A harem. Just what I've always dreamed of," quipped Jack pushing aside the wrenching ache and painful memories elicited by the mention of Lois's name.

"Yes well, you're married now and don't forget it. I expect you to be on your best behaviour."

"Yes, ma'am!" Jack saluted.

"Oh and last but not least some guy UNIT recommended. They said you knew him. A Michael Smith."

Jack groaned. "Mickey Smith! They're sending me Mickey Smith! God help us all!" But he was grinning like an overexcited schoolboy and Gwen knew he was excited to have a family around him again. Especially the Doctor's family.

"Thanks for doing this..." Jack began. He was interrupted by his mobile phone which began to ring and vibrate across the desk. He caught it up and looked at the caller display.

"It's Wilf," he said confused. Gwen started to stand up but he waved her to stay as he answered it.

"Wilf..." he said cheerily. "To what do I owe the pleasure..." He stopped dead, his face suddenly ashen, and listened intently. Gwen picked up Ianto and cuddled him protectively. Not again, not so soon, she thought frantically

"Is she alright?" Jack asked urgently. "You're sure?" There was a moments silence broken only by the faint voice of Wilf on the other end of the phone.

"Take her home and stay with her. I'm on my way."

He ended the call and leapt to his feet pulling his coat of the stand and round his shoulders in one swift motion.

"Jack? What's the matter? Is Donna alright?" Gwen put her hand on his arm staying his exit. He was trembling. "Jack?" she repeated.

Jack barely recognised his own voice as he answered her.

"She collapsed at college in the middle of a lecture. She wouldn't let them phone me, made them phone Wilf instead. I've got to go. I'll ring you."

Gwen nodded and squeezed his arm. He strode to the door then turned to look back at her.

"The Doctor said her memories wouldn't come back," he said softly. So softly Gwen had to strain to hear him. "What if he was wrong?"

All the way back to London, blue lights flashing, Jack's knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel, trying not to think. For the first time since he had married Donna, he was afraid. Afraid of what he would find when he reached home. The same feeling of helplessness which had paralysed him as he watched Ianto struggle for breath in Thames House, gripped his chest. Unbidden an image of Ianto, lying in his arms, not dying in Thames House, but safe and sated in Jack's bed, pushed it's way to the front of his mind. Jack remembered the day. It was the first time Ianto had called him 'Cariad', a moment so precious, the moment when they had both realised that what they had was more than casual. It was real. Jack had told him that day, how afraid he was for Ianto, every time they left the Hub on a mission. Scared that one day, he wouldn't be able to save him and he would lose him. How the fear paralysed him. Ianto had taken Jack's face in his hands and looked seriously and calmly into his eyes.

"Every time I see you die Jack, my heart stops waiting to see if you'll come back. Every time. I have to be there with you when you die. I need to hold you in my arms when you take that first breath to know I'm not going to be alone. I'm afraid too, Cariad, but we can't let that fear stop us from doing what we have to do. Besides..." he had continued, kissing Jack lightly on each corner of his mouth. "how can you stop me from following you. I am an adult after all." Then with a wicked smile he'd allowed one hand to trail down Jack's chest underneath the crumpled duvet. Jack remembered there hadn't been any more words after that. At least none that were intelligible.

Despite his fear, Jack smiled in the darkness. Trust Ianto, he always seemed to know the right thing and right time to say something which Jack needed to hear. It was almost as though he was present in his mind, just out of reach, but ready to point him in the right direction when he lost his way. Making sure he took the right path. He felt the knot of anxiety ease a little. Wilf had said Donna was alright. He had no reason to lie.

He pulled up outside the house leaving the SUV parked diagonally across the pavement and raced into the house shouting Donna's name.

"I'm in here," a small voice called from upstairs.

Jack took the stairs two at a time, heart pounding and burst into the bedroom to reveal Donna perched on the edge of the bed, her face almost as white as the duvet cover she sat on. He knelt down in front of her and pulled her into a crushing embrace.

"Are you alright? Where's Wilf? I told him to stay with you. What happened?" Jack's questions tumbled out, one on top of another, making Donna smile. He was so sweet when he was worried. She decided to put him out of his misery.

"Jack, I'm fine, " she assured him gently. "I sent Grandad home, he didn't need to stay. He shouldn't have called you. I'm not sick."

Jack pulled away and glared at her. "Of course he should have called me. You collapsed, that's not exactly the actions of a well..." Jack stopped dead as he focused on the thin pen shaped object Donna was waving between them and the mischievous smile she was flashing at him.

"Is that a..." he spluttered. Donna nodded solemnly, though the corners of her mouth were twitching.

"And you're..." He couldn't continue. Donna nodded again.

"Gotcha!" She couldn't contain it any more, she howled in laughter as she took in Jack's shell shocked expression, his mouth opening and closing like a guppy. She couldn't believe it. She'd actually managed to shock the mighty Jack Harkness.

Jack was stunned...and confused. His eyes tracked the movement of the testing stick disbelievingly. Pregnant. Somehow he hadn't considered the possibility that he might ever become a father again. Which was, he conceded, completely irrational. It wasn't as if he and Donna hadn't given fate every opportunity to intervene. But by denying the possibility that it might happen had meant that he hadn't had to think about the crushing sadness which accompanied his memories of his previous attempts at having a normal family. He'd had families before. Loved them, and lost them.

In truth the memories of his first family were generally happy. The pair of their loss dulled by the passing of a hundred years. He had watched as his first wife grew old and died. And his only son, who had not lived to see his first birthday, taken by the scourge of polio. Jack had felt impotent, knowing that a cure was only a matter of years away, but unable to use his knowledge to help his child. His memories of his daughter Katie were happy, she had lived a full life with children and grandchildren and while Jack had grieved at her loss it was in the knowledge that she had had her time. Throughout the years Jack had stayed, accepted, his immortality engendering nothing but curiosity amongst his family. There were no recriminations of why he lived on while those he loved died. But the last of his family had vanished for ever in the trenches of the Somme and Jack had been alone once more. His work for Torchwood provided relief from the loneliness and grief.

It had taken a long time before he had risked a family again, this time one for whom his life in Torchwood was no surprise. But he had not given himself fully. He had stayed distant, selfish, unwilling to open himself up to such pain again. And he had paid the price. His daughter, unable to accept his immortality had as good as shunned him, and whilst allowing him to see his grandson, she had forbidden him to tell Steven the truth of who he really was, forever relegated to the role of occasional uncle.

His second family and he had destroyed them. Deliberately and wilfully. The 456 starting a chain of events which had led him to the alley where the Doctor had found him, crazed with grief and uncaring of his fate. The Doctor had brought him back to face his daemons and, almost without realising it, he had embarked on the whole cycle again. But it had to different this time. He couldn't risk losing Donna and their child in the same way as he had lost Alice and her mother.

Abruptly Jack became aware of Donna, looking at him with a curious expression on her face. She was waiting for a reaction, he realised. A sign of whether he was happy about the news. Looking at Donna's face, the uncertainty in her eyes, all Jack's confusion vanished. He was happy, he thought in amazement, despite all the sadness and loss that had gone before. This was different, because he was different. And Donna deserved this chance of happiness and motherhood. He needed to share that with her. Jack felt his heart give a joyous lurch. He had another chance. This time he would do it right.

The following morning, after a night when, quite frankly, neither he or Donna had had precious little sleep, Jack called in at Gwen's house on the way to the Hub. He felt guilty he hadn't called the previous night to let her know that Donna was OK and that guilt increased ten-fold when she opened the door. Gwen's face was pale in the dark halo of her hair, dark circles rimmed red eyes. On seeing Jack's dazed expression, her face filled with concern. Without a word she ushered him in and sat him on the sofa.

"Tell me Jack. How bad is it?"

"Where's Ianto?" Jack asked bemused.

Gwen's stomach twisted. Oh god, he'd lost her. He'd never recover from this.

"He's in his cot asleep," she said gently. "He's safe. Jack? Come on sweetheart tell me what happened."

Jack looked up as if seeing her for the first time.

"Does he need changing?" he asked calmly.

"No, I don't think so. Why?" Gwen was now really afraid Jack had lost his mind.

"I was hoping I could change him," Jack confessed, his eyes shining. "Apparently I'm going to need the practice."

And then he laughed. A joyful, carefree laugh Gwen had never heard in all the time she had known him, and she hugged him tight.