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: Big hugs to everyone reading and reviewing. Dark times are ahead... A tissue warning has been issued! Unfortunately my postings have now pretty much caught up with my writing so there may be a bit of lag between chapters from now on. The next one should be early next week but as it's my daughter's birthday party on Sunday it's a bit in the lap of the Gods...;0)

I'm dedicating this chapter to all those Whovians who are giddy with excitement at the thought of new New Who this weekend and to all those in foreign climes who will have to wait a little longer!

Chapter XVII

Jack knew something was brewing when he pulled up outside the Hub late one Monday morning to find his parking space occupied by a familiar blue police box. More telling still, the Doctor was leaning against the closed doors, ankles crossed, hands in pockets, whistling in a deliberately nonchalant fashion. Everything, from his shock of untidy brown hair, to his converse-clad tapping foot signalled trouble.

With a sigh Jack pulled into the free parking spot next to his assigned slot and stabbed at the button to lower the window.

"You're parked in my spot," Jack called out, pointing accusingly at the TARDIS.

"Am I?" the Doctor replied innocently. "You'll have to talk to her about that. Nothing to do with me!" He patted the side of the TARDIS affectionately to emphasise the point.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. What are you doing here, Doctor?"

"Social call," he replied cheerily, although Jack noticed that he avoided making eye contact. Not that he needed that to tell him the Doctor was up to something, his mere presence was enough.

"Bollocks," he said bluntly. "You don't make social calls and you don't do domestic. Your words, Doctor. I haven't seen hide-nor-hair of you for two years and you suddenly decide to visit? No way. There has to be a reason you're here now." Jack wound the window back up and got out of the SUV. He slammed the door behind him then leant back against it, unconsciously mimicking the Doctor's pose. The Doctor fidgeted uncomfortably trying to avoid having to answer the question held in Jack's penetrating gaze.

"How's Donna and Siân?" he asked, deliberately evading the question.

Jack refused to be deflected, not that the Doctor had really felt he could be.

"They're fine. But you already know that. I'm sure Wilf has been keeping you up to date." Jack felt immense satisfaction as the Doctor looked taken aback. "You honestly thought I didn't know that Wilf has been reporting back to you, about what we've been getting up to, since Siân was born. I've known from the beginning. He told me. Actually he asked me if I minded."

"Wilfred Mott has a big mouth," the Doctor replied a trifle sulkily. "It's the last time I tell him anything."

Jack almost laughed out loud. Sometimes the Doctor behaved more like a petulant child than a nine hundred year old Lord of Space and Time. It was quite endearing really.

"Oh, put your bottom lip away. Pouting doesn't suit you. Anyway, however much Wilf admires you and wants to help you, his first loyalty is always to Donna and Siân, and now me apparently. And you wouldn't want it any other way." Jack scolded him affectionately.

In reply the Doctor merely grinned.

"So, come on Doctor why are you here?" Jack pushed.

The Doctor lowered his eyes to the floor as his grin faded.

"We need to talk," he said finally, his voice flat.

"What about?"

Jack felt his stomach plummet as he waited for the Doctor to reply. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be something he wanted to hear.

"Not here. Chips. I need chips. This will be much easier with chips." The Doctor cast an eager look at Jack.

"Chips?" Jack repeated, confused.

"Isn't that what I just said. Chips. It's Rose's fault. She loved chips. End of the world – Chips. Krillitane invasion – Chips. Every time I think about her I get the urge for chips. With salt...and vinegar. Lots of vinegar." Jack could see that the Doctor's maniacal ramblings were, this time at least, due to pure nervousness. He felt a sudden stab of pity as he recollected that whilst he was now happy with a family, the Doctor was, and probably would always be, alone.

"So you eat a lot of chips then," he quipped to cover the awkward moment.

"Let's just say it's a good thing this job involves a lot or running," the Doctor shot back, patting his flat stomach.

"Alright then Doctor. Chips it is. There is a café in town that does good ones and it's far enough away from the Hub we won't be disturbed by a wandering Torchwood operative in search of coffee. But then we talk. OK?"

Without waiting for a reply Jack set off at a brisk walk up towards the centre of Cardiff. The Doctor stared at his retreating back for a few seconds before following him at a run.

Fifteen minutes later, the pair were sat in a slightly shabby café in the centre of town. Jack had chosen a table out of sight of the window and before sitting down had ordered two teas and two plates of chips. They sat opposite each other nursing the hot mugs of tea, the Doctor looking around the café with interest, down at the table, at the menu. Anything that meant he didn't have to look at Jack. Looking carefully at the man sat opposite, Jack could see a muscle working in his cheek, the nervous tick betraying his unease.

"Talk," Jack said his voice sharp.

The Doctor sighed. "I'm sorry Jack. It's time."

"Time for what?" Jack said stonily. In his heart he knew what was coming but he didn't want to hear it. Now now, and especially not from the man before him.

"You know, Jack. I don't need to tell you. You've felt this coming for a long time" the Doctor said sadly.

"Why now. What's changed?"

"Nothing, and that's the problem. You aren't ageing."

"Donna hasn't said anything. She thinks I've just got good genes. I still have time." Jack could hear himself trying to convince the Doctor, just as he was trying to convince himself.

"Maybe Donna hasn't said anything, but Siân has. Wilf overheard Siân ask Donna why her Daddy didn't grow old like other daddies." The Doctor watched as the colour drained from Jack's face.

"What did she say? Donna I mean."

"She laughed. She said that you were growing old just like everybody else, but that you were lucky and didn't look it."

"Then it's alright. It didn't trigger anything," Jack protested. "There isn't a problem."

The Doctor looked sympathetically at Jack's tense, pleading features.

"This time. But next time Donna might not be so lucky. Siân is a bright girl..."

Jack let out a short bitter laugh.

"Smart! That's just a bit of an understatement isn't it. She's six years old and she's already studying the complete GCSE syllabus. English, Maths, Science, French, German, History, Geography, the lot. Her appetite to learn is voracious. She spends every evening staring down that souped up microscope you sent her. She wants to be scientist. For her birthday she asked if we could turn her bedroom into a lab!" Jack saw a look of smug pride on the Doctor's face. The same fatherly pride which shone from his face when he spoke about his daughter. He felt an immediate surge of jealousy. "The only person I've ever met with an intellect like hers is you." Jack let his anger flare. "Is that the big secret? Something screwed up happened between you and Donna, Siân is your daughter and to top if off is part Time Lord to boot..."

"No!" the Doctor protested loudly, drawing stares from the other people in the café. He lowered his voice to a fierce whisper. "She's your daughter, yours and Donna's. I promise you, Jack."

"And the Time Lord part...?" Jack pushed, his voice stony.

"She has got a Time Lord intellect," the Doctor admitted. Jack opened his mouth to speak but the Doctor waved him quiet. "I knew it was possible, but I didn't know for definite until you came to see me when Siân started to manifest her...talents." He paused, waiting to see if Jack would interrupt but he remained silent, his eyes hostile. "It turns out that when Donna initiated the human-Time Lord meta-crisis some of my DNA recombined with Donna's. It had no effect because it wasn't expressed. The cell machinery didn't recognise it. It's just sat there dormant in every cell. Useless. And it would have stayed that way if it wasn't for one thing. Residual time vortex energy."

"From me?" Jack interrupted finally, his eyes now shining.

"From you," the Doctor agreed with a swift smile. "The residual time vortex energy which is the key to your immortality and is trapped in your DNA, activated Donna's Time Lord DNA when it recombined to produce Siân. Voilà. Time Lord intellect."

"But she's human?" Jack asked, his voice almost a plea.

"Oh yes. One hundred percent human. Just a human who can use about sixty percent more of her brain than the rest of the planet. Siân is very special. Extraordinary really. You can't imagine how important she is."

"I know how important she is to me," Jack retorted, with an angry glare.

The Doctor had the grace to look ashamed. "Of course! I didn't mean..." he began.

"Save it." Jack cut him off. "I take it that Siân is important to maintaining the time lines in some way. That's the reason for seven years of manipulating our lives. To make sure Siân was born, right?" Jack's voice was icy. The Doctor shivered. He'd never seen Jack so angry, and he was about to make it worse.

"Jack. It wasn't like that. I'll admit I had an ulterior motive in getting you and Donna together but you have to understand..."

"No I don't Doctor. I have a wife and daughter I love, I'm not leaving them now. I have more time."

"No, you don't. You have to leave them. And do it now. Any longer and you'll be putting Donna in serious danger." The Doctor's voice hardened.

"You don't know that," Jack argued.

"Yes I do. I've seen it. She'll remember. And then she'll burn Jack. And there's more, much more I can't tell you now. But please understand I wouldn't say this unless it was absolutely necessary. You have to die Jack. Donna has to see you die, or she will die in your place." For the first time that day the Doctor looked straight into Jack's eyes. And Jack could see the awful truth blazing from their dark depths.

"I don't think I can," Jack whispered, so low the Doctor had to strain to hear him.

"If you love her Jack, you have to do this. For her own good. But in the end it's your choice," the Doctor said softly, putting his hand gently on Jack's arm.

"But I'll have to leave Siân. How can I leave my daughter? I swore after Alice I'd always be there for her." Jack's voice broke.

"Trust me Jack. She'll be fine. And some day soon..." he trailed off, unwilling to reveal anything more. Jack had a choice to make and he had to make it for the right reasons. And if Jack couldn't make it then he would have to make it for him. It was just too important to leave to fate. But if he intervened in this Jack would never, never forgive him and he would lose his friend. And Jack's friendship was so very important. His life quite literally depended on it. "You just have to trust me, Jack. Trust everything will be as it should be eventually."

At that instant a waitress appeared and plonked two plates of chips on the table in front of them. Jack stared at them and pushed his plate away from him. The Doctor picked up a chip from the plate in front of him and bit down on it, wrinkling his nose. Immediately he picked up the salt shaker and bottle of vinegar, one in each hand. After liberally dusting the plate with salt and a thorough drenching of vinegar he banged the condiments back on the table and tried a chip, smacking his lips in satisfaction. He became aware that Jack was looking at him with an expression of disgust.

"You come here, destroy my life, and now you're eating chips. God. You're a piece of work, Doctor. I'll give you that." Jack shook his head in disbelief. "You say it's my choice but I don't have one really do I?"

"No," the Doctor said brutally honest.

"Do you know what Doctor? You're a monster. In the true sense of the word. Cruel, heartless, manipulative. For the first time I'm glad that Rose isn't here. To see what you've become."

The Doctor put down the chip he was holding and pushed the plate away. He met Jack's disgusted gaze, his own eyes bleak. He took a deep breath and whispered,

"So am I."

When Jack entered the Hub twenty minutes later, he ignored the questioning greetings of his colleagues, and wordlessly went straight to his office slamming the door behind him with a satisfying bang which echoed around the Hub causing Gwen to look up startled.

In his office Jack threw himself into his office chair and leaning on the desk rested his head in his hands. He had left the Doctor sat there, in the café. Jack couldn't bear to look at him any longer. The anger was too raw, the feeling of betrayal too deep. And yet there was almost as much anger directed at himself. He had accused the Doctor of manipulating him and Donna, but the truth was that he at least had known, and been complicit in that manipulation. He'd allowed his life to be directed by the Doctor and it didn't matter that the Doctor had taken advantage of him at his most vulnerable. He had known and he could have stopped it at any time, just walked away. But he hadn't, because he hadn't wanted to. He'd wanted that life with Donna, a window of happiness the Doctor had called it, a little piece of normality to carry with him through the years to come. And now it was ending. Just as he knew it would. He'd been warned. Gwen had warned him back in the beginning that this day would come. The Doctor was right; he didn't have a choice.

A tentative knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. Despite his despair his mouth twisted in a crooked smile. It had to be Gwen. A slammed door meant a troubled Jack, and that was like waving a red rag to a bull, at least for Gwen. Cue mothering mode.

"Come in," he said, his voice hoarse.

Gwen pushed the door open and slipped inside, then seeing Jack's expression she closed the door carefully and walked across the office sitting down in the chair opposite.

"What's the matter Jack. We expected you over an hour ago. I saw the SUV... and the TARDIS. Why is the Doctor here?" Gwen's voice was kind. Jack recognised it as her 'worried but trying to be strong in the face of impending disaster' tone. She'd used it a lot in the years Jack had known her; especially on him.

"Do you remember, when I married Donna, you warned me that one day I'd have to think about my immortality?" Gwen nodded, her face growing grave as she realised where the conversation was heading. "Well today is that day. The Doctor came to..." Jack paused, his face twisting with bitterness, "...remind me of my responsibilities."

"Oh God Jack. I'm so very sorry. I wish I could say he was wrong..." Gwen said helplessly.

Jack reached across the table and grabbed her hands, "I know I don't have a choice. I have to leave her, and soon,"

"What are you going to do? You can't just leave. Donna will never believe it, you've been so happy." Gwen could see that every word was a further knife blade to Jack's heart, but it had to be said.

"I'm going to do what I do best. Die." Gwen stared at him open-mouthed. For some insane reason this had not occurred to her. "But, she'll be devastated..." she began.

Jack looked at her incredulously. "And if I just up sticks, she'll be fine?" he scoffed. "If I leave, even if I say it's me, she'll always think she did something wrong. That's just the way she is. And she'll hate me; I can't live with that. No. If I die then there will never be any doubt that she was loved and it leaves her free..." He paused for a long moment and closed his eyes so he didn't have to look into Gwen's pitying ones. "So she can find someone else. I don't want her to spend the rest of her life alone."

Gwen nodded slowly as she saw the truth in Jack's words.

"But what about Siân?" she asked. She watched as a spasm of pain crossed Jack's face and his eyes flickered open, filled with despair.

"She'll be with Donna. She'll be fine...eventually. Maybe she'll forget me. She's only six. I don't know. I don't have a choice. If I stay Donna will die and Siân will be without a mother. I can't let that happen. The Doctor says it will all be right in the end. I have to trust that."

"She won't forget you. Donna will make sure of that. Besides, she's so proud of her Daddy. Every time I see her...Oh God, does this mean I won't be able to see them either. They're family now, Jack." Gwen's face crumpled at the enormity of the consequences before them.

"No. Of course you can still see them. In fact I'm going to insist on it. How else am I going to know what they're doing..." Tears began to roll down Jack's cheeks as the truth finally hit home. From the moment he had spotted the TARDIS parked outside, his life with Donna and Siân was over.

Gwen quickly moved round the table pulling Jack into a comforting hug, stroking his hair as he wept into her shoulder, allowing her own tears to fall unchecked.

After a long time, when the tears had ceased and Jack's breathing had eased, he pulled away to see Gwen's tear stained face looking at him with such grief he almost had to look away.

"I need a car. Untraceable. And a driver. A good one. An import from outside the UK. Someone from UNIT. Martha should be able to find someone." His voice was wooden, but brisk and professional. The leader of Torchwood not a man whose world was collapsing around his ears.

"Car. Driver. Got it." Gwen forced her voice to sound work-like. As if she were preparing to equip the team for a Weevil hunt. Anything to fool herself that this was an ordinary mission, that she wasn't organising the very public death of Captain Jack Harkness.