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.

Author's Note: Just a quick note to once again thank everyone who is reading this story. I know I say it every time, but every chapter I am just amazed that people still want to read more -big kisses to all-.

After the total angst of the last chapter, this should hopefully be a touch lighter - but only a touch. Enjoy.

Chapter XX

When Jack awoke he was in what appeared to be a hospital morgue. He sat up panting, taking in the other corpses on trolleys around him. Beside him, with a haunted look on her face was Gwen. As he focused on her she spoke.

"You bastard!"

Jack blinked, still disorientated. The pounding in his head, although ferocious, was not nearly as bad as he would have expected from a return to life. From the nasty chemical taste in his mouth he was pretty sure he'd been sedated. But why? He tried to focus on Gwen. What was she talking about? It wasn't as if it were the first time he'd come round in a morgue. Suddenly he remembered, the car, Donna, Donna's final words. Suddenly the need for him to be sedated made devastating sense. He took in a sharp breath.

"Oh God."

"How could you ask me to do that?" Gwen yelled at him, uncaring that to anyone outside the room she was screaming at a dead man. "How could you ask me to kill you? It felt like murder. No, it was murder. You selfish bastard..." She took a deep breath to continue and then let it out with a sob, wrapping her arms around Jack and hugging him.

Jack disentangled himself from her embrace aware that he was dressed in a sheet, and not a very large one at that.

"I'm sorry Gwen. It had to be you. You were the only one I could trust to do it."

Gwen wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Yeah, well...next time give someone else the job. I'm through playing hitman."

Jack gave a weak smile. "This was a one shot deal, never to be repeated."

Gwen gave him a long hard look and then, with a tiny shrug, passed him the bundle of clothes perched on the neighbouring trolley, fortunately empty.

"Get dressed," she said briefly and turned her back. Jack had used her, disregarding her feelings without a thought. However much he tried to justify it, it was going to be a long time before she forgot that.

"How's Donna?" Jack's voice was tentative, Gwen could hear the fear.

She considered her answer for a moment turning back to face him. He was now sat on the trolley, dressed in his familiar uniform of dark canvas trousers, white t-shirt and pale blue over-shirt, ankles crossed.

"She's at home. With Siân, Wilf and her mum. Rhys is there too."

"I asked how she was, not where she was," Jack persisted, his fear growing with every passing second. What was Gwen not telling him?

Gwen sighed. "It's strange. She's really calm. I mean weirdly calm. The ambulance men, who were UNIT by the way, said by the time they arrived she was just sitting there with your head in her lap. Not crying, just stroking your hair. When they took you in the ambulance she refused to go with you. She told them you weren't there any more. That you'd gone home. She's been like that ever since. The only time I've seen her cry is when she told Siân and even then it seemed like it was more for Siân than for you. She wouldn't even come down to identify the body. She asked me to come instead. She said there was no point. That what was left wasn't you any more. It has to be shock, Jack. She does love you."

Jack realised with a start that Gwen thought that he would be upset at Donna's apparent indifference to his loss. That he would think that Donna didn't care enough about him to grieve. Or more accurately to grieve as Gwen would grieve if it had been Rhys. Jack had already witnessed Rhys's death, Gwen's keening howls of pain as he bled to death in her arms. Gwen expected Donna to rail at the world, scream at the injustice. But Donna was different, Donna's heart would be screaming inside, the same way his was, while outwardly they would both present a façade to the world. But one thing stood out as being the truth. Donna truly believed that his soul or being or whatever she called it, the essence of him, had left. He became aware that Gwen was looking at him waiting for him to answer. Not wishing to argue the point he nodded his head in what he hoped was a gesture of agreement.

"Is it being treated as an accident? I didn't hear the other car drive away."

Gwen looked uncomfortable. "It didn't," she said shortly. "The driver died at the scene."

Jack looked open mouthed in shock. "That wasn't part of the plan," he said angrily.

"Well you weren't around to consult," Gwen retorted furiously. "You left it up to me remember."

"That didn't mean you could send a man to his death," Jack fired back. He couldn't be responsible for another man's death, not again.

"He volunteered," Gwen yelled. Her shoulders slumped and she lowered her voice. "It wasn't my idea Jack, it was his." She looked at Jack who nodded curtly.

"Go on."

"His name was James Cutter, he was a senior officer in UNIT. About a year ago he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, and two months later his wife died. He had no children or family. The doctors had given him about another month. They had told him to give up work but he refused and so he'd been put on desk duty and was basically waiting to die. He was handling my request for a driver and proposed that he drive the car and suffer a fatal heart attack at the wheel. That way there would never be any suggestion of it being anything more than a tragic accident. He wanted to die doing his duty and this was a way to do it."

"So you agreed?" Jack's voice was still cold, although his tone was softer.

"Yes I did," Gwen said defiantly. Jack looked into her face for a long moment.

"Tough decision. I'm proud of you." He reached up and squeezed Gwen's shoulder, for the first time since the Doctor's visit looking and sounding like the leader of Torchwood rather than the broken man Gwen knew he was.

"What are you going to do now?" Gwen asked. "There's a helicopter waiting on the roof to take you to Cardiff or... wherever you need to go." Now Jack could hear the fear in her voice, the fear he'd use this as an excuse to run. And he had to admit he'd thought about it, but it wasn't an option. He had to stay and make sure that Donna and Siân stayed safe.

"Cardiff is fine," he said. He avoided Gwen's eyes. As soon as he stepped into the helicopter his life for the last seven years was over. "You need to go back to Donna. Look after her Gwen. She's hurting more than she'll let anyone know. Believe me the calmness is an act. They're both going to need you." His voice caught on the last word and without looking at her he jumped down from the trolley and strode towards the door of the lab.

"Thank you," he said quietly without turning round as he pushed the swing doors apart and disappeared between them.

The whole of the flight back to Cardiff, Jack sat, eyes closed willing the remnants of his pounding headache to go away. At the same time he was glad it was there, distracting him from the dull pain in his chest which intensified every time he thought of Donna and Siân. He wanted to comfort them, tell them he was alright, that the last few hours were nothing more than a bad dream. The knowledge that he was helpless made him clench his fists in frustration. As his thoughts churned round his head he remembered again Donna's final words to him. He was waiting. She had to mean Ianto, and using the same words Ianto had used in his dream. Was there a connection or was his brain, in its grief, making leaps in an attempt to comfort him as he faced the reality that he was alone again. He didn't seem to know anything any more. At that moment the helicopter touched down on the helipad and Jack saw, through the window, the figure of Martha patiently waiting for him, a look of sadness on her face. Pulling his coat around him, Jack jumped down onto the wet tarmac and strode across the helipad to meet her.

"I'm so sorry, Jack. Gwen told us today that you would be coming. She wouldn't tell us anything else."

Jack nodded, inwardly thanking Gwen for keeping his request to herself.

"I'm going to have to keep my head down for a while and absolutely no press exposure. It means the workload's going to be a bit heavy for a while whilst I'm confined to the Hub, at least during daylight." His voice was brisk, trying to maintain an air of normality. Martha wasn't fooled and Jack knew it but she didn't challenge him. With an authoritative bob of her head she turned on her heels and walked in the direction of Roald Dahl Plas, no doubt to warn Mickey and Lois of his impending arrival. Jack had other ideas. Looking at his watch he realised with surprise that it was half-past five in the morning. He set off towards the docks which he knew would be pretty much deserted at this early hour. Finding an unoccupied warehouse he let himself in with a few well aimed kicks at the lock, using his pent us frustration to splinter the doors' hinges, then entering the dark interior he took his mobile from his pocket and dialled the Doctor's number. It was time for some answers. The phone was answered on the second ring.

"It's done." Jack said abruptly without waiting to hear the Doctor's greeting.

"I'm coming now," the Doctor replied his voice sombre. "I'll triangulate on your phone signal."

Barely a minute had passed before Jack heard the wheezing grate and inexplicable swirl of wind which heralded the TARDIS's materialisation. As the wooden box solidified in front of him Jack pushed his shoulders back adopting the stance which Gwen and the other's had termed his 'Mess-with-me-you-die' pose. The last time he had seen the Doctor he had left him without a word, his anger too raw to allow him to speak in a civil manner. The anger was still there but he needed information and he was going to get it no matter what he had to do. The TARDIS door swung open but the Doctor did not emerge. Irritated Jack stepped across and stuck his head through the open doorway. Glancing around he saw the Doctor leaning on the console watching him warily. With an angry growl Jack stepped into the TARDIS.

"Too scared to come out Doctor? Are you afraid I'm gonna punch your lights out?"

"It had crossed my mind, yes," the Doctor replied with a nervous grimace. "After all if I were in your shoes that is what I would do." He looked Jack in the eye and stepped away from the console so he was practically nose to nose with the other man. "You can if you want. Punch my lights out. I probably deserve it."

"Oh you absolutely deserve it," Jack retorted, his voice dangerous. "But I didn't want you here for payback. I want answers. I think I've earned them. For the last seven years you've manipulated the lives of us all. You gave me a new family and now you've taken them away. All for the greater good? I've done everything you asked - on trust. Isn't it about time you trusted me with the truth?" He studied the conflicting emotions crossing the Doctor's face. Clearly he was battling with himself over just what to say. Part of him clearly wanted to tell him everything but Jack guessed that it wouldn't be as simple as that. He let some of his anger go and allowed his voice to soften.

"I thought we were better friends than this Doctor..."

The Doctor looked at him sharply.

"Believe me Jack if it were just a matter of the two of us, or even just Donna and Siân I would tell you everything in a heartbeat...well two heartbeats any way." He gave a swift twisted grin. "But it's not. I'm a Time Lord. We aren't supposed to interfere..." He held a hand up to cut off Jack's snort of incredulity. "Not in the big stuff anyway. The fixed moments in time. But this is too big. There is too much at stake for me not to at least try and nudge events in the right direction."

"You call what you've been doing, nudging?"

"In Time Lord terms yes but I admit to doing a fair amount of prodding too?" Jack couldn't help it, despite his intention to not give the Doctor an inch, he laughed. It sounded wrong in his ears and he let it die away.

"Will you ever be able to tell me what this all about?" he said finally. "Why it was so important I give up Donna and Siân? Why it was so important Siân was born, because that's really what all this nudging and prodding has been in aid of isn't it. Creating a human with a Time Lord intellect."

The Doctor nodded. "I promise you Jack, soon I will be able to tell you everything. Please trust me just a little longer."

"What I can't understand is why you had to lie to me. Why did you convince me that Donna needed to live an extraordinary life. Because I haven't made her life extraordinary have I? I've left her a widow..."

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Pah! Why do you humans believe some one has to save the world or invent something spectacular in order to be extraordinary? Leaving aside the fact that Donna has, so far, saved the world twice over and is well on the way to doing it for a third time. Jack, have you not looked at Donna?"

Jack looked confused at the question, he was still trying to work out what the Doctor meant about her saving the world three times.

"Of course I've looked at her," he said indignantly.

"And is she the same person you married?"

Jack looked blankly at him. Donna was Donna, the same Donna he'd fallen in love with seven years ago.

"Sheesh," the Doctor said. "Blind as a bat you humans. Even 51st century ones. Jack, because of you Donna is a wife, a mother, and a teacher. She wouldn't have done any of those things without you. How can you not say that's extraordinary?"

"I guess." Jack knew he was being obtuse. That what the Doctor was saying was true but still...

"What did you mean she saves the Earth three times?" The question that had been distracting him finally broke free. "I mean, I know about the first time and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt over number three but when was the second time. Did I blink?" His voice was heavy with sarcasm.

The Doctor cocked his head to one side and looked at Jack appraisingly.

"You really don't know do you?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I did would I?" Jack said, losing patience. "No riddles either Doctor, just the plain truth."

"She saved you," the Doctor said simply with a gentle smile. When Jack didn't say anything he continued, "When I found you on Ventrasse 3 you didn't care if you lived or died, even knowing you were immortal, you tested your ability to revive every opportunity you got. You told me yourself you were hoping to make one stick. You were broken Jack, and when a man is in that much pain he can do things he would never contemplate doing if he were whole. The Jack Harkness I know is a man of good. If I hadn't found you then the name Jack Harkness would have become synonymous with evil in this Universe."

"You're lying," Jack protested his face pale and shocked, but the truth was in the Doctor's eyes.

"I saw a time line where you subjugated this Universe; where your will was the only will. I couldn't let that happen. To be fair though, it wasn't me. I just pointed you in the right direction. It was all Donna. She healed you, made you whole again. Gave you something to fight for. Kept you good. Like I said, saved the world again. Pretty bloody extraordinary if you ask me."

"So is that it? The big secret...?" Jack asked.

"One part of it, but it goes much further than that. Like I said, I need you to trust me a little bit longer."

Jack looked at the Doctor, the strain around his eyes was now evident, lines etched into his face that Jack had never seen before. All of the remaining anger Jack felt towards the man in front of him leached away. If a broken Jack was so dangerous, how much more dangerous was the last of the Time Lords if left to carry the burden of the Universe alone.

The Doctor returned Jack's gaze steadily not trying to hide the seriousness of the situation behind his usual bravado.

"For what it's worth Jack I am truly sorry that you had to leave Donna and Siân. If there was any way I could think of to let Donna recover her memories and remain safe believe me I would do it in a second."

"I just want to know that they are OK," Jack said haltingly, his voice pained. "That what I've done doesn't ruin their lives forever. I know I couldn't live with that."

The Doctor regarded him thoughtfully for a moment.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt. If we were quick." His face brightened and he clapped his hands enthusiastically. Then he bounced off to the far side of the console.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked, startled at the Doctor's abrupt change of mood.

"Taking you on a little trip." The Doctor grinned suddenly. "Spoilers!"

The Doctor began to dart around the console pushing buttons and pulling levers. Despite his extended time in the TARDIS Jack had never got to grips with how the time machine actually functioned. Every action the Doctor took looked totally random. Puzzled he stood back and let the Doctor do his thing, only moving to pass him a large rubber hammer at his request. As the giant central column started to rise and the engines wheezed into life Jack immediately felt at peace. There was a connection between the Doctor's ship and himself, intangible but real. He guessed it had something to do with the fact that he owed his immortality to the TARDIS. If she had not allowed Rose to take the Time vortex into her mind in order to save the Doctor, he would never have been resurrected on the Gamestation. Never been wrong. The TARDIS clearly knew he was wrong, she'd fought hard to shake him off on that fateful first meeting after his resurrection. But eventually she had accepted him, just as the Doctor had done. He had often wondered what would happen if the TARDIS should ever die. He supposed that eventually, inconceivable as it seemed, he would one day find out. And it would mean that his friend was dead and he would truly be alone.

"Where are we going?" he asked finally, being startled out of his reverie by a particularly violent lurch.

"Oxford, 2029," the Doctor replied. "July 17th to be precise."

"Why?"

"You'll see." The Doctor shot him a cheeky grin.

As he spoke the central console shuddered to a halt signalling their arrival. The Doctor immediately strode to the doors and flung them open.

"Come on then," he said cheerily stepping outside. Jack followed him, his expression intrigued.

The TARDIS stood in an alley, tucked between two high, old stone walls. Beneath his feet the surface was cobbled telling Jack that wherever they were, it was somewhere old. As he looked round he saw the Doctor disappear round the corner. Hastily he ran after him almost cannoning into him as he realised the Doctor had halted beside a set of black wrought-iron gates. Beyond the gates was a courtyard, surrounded by a covered colonnade, crowded with people in suits and smart summer dressers. The Doctor grabbed the sleeve of Jack's coat and pulled him sharply through the gates and behind one of the columns that supported the roof of the colonnade.

"We can't be seen. Temporal paradox and all that," he hissed. "Now then..."

He appeared to be scanning the crowd. Jack tried to follow his line of sight but the Doctor's eyes were moving too quickly.

"A-ha, there!" He pointed across the courtyard triumphantly.

Allowing his gaze to follow the direction of the Doctor's finger Jack felt like he had been punched in the gut. Twenty yards away, partially obscured by the throngs of people stood a young woman dressed in cap and gown, auburn hair trailing down her back. She stood laughing with an older woman, also with auburn hair but this time streaked with white. Donna.

"Is that Siân?" Jack breathed, hardly daring to believe the stunning young woman was the little girl he'd waved goodbye to just yesterday.

"The one and only." The Doctor grinned. "She's just been awarded her doctorate at the very young age of 18."

Jack wasn't really listening. He was just looking at Donna and Siân in wonderment. They looked so beautiful and they were OK. Really OK. He brushed away the tears which suddenly welled in his eyes. He tried to pick their voices out from the general hum and to his delight they suddenly broke away from the main crowd and moved towards him. With a muttered curse the Doctor pulled him further round the column out of sight. Jack wrenched his arm free and edged back round the column until he could just see them.

"I'm so proud of you," Donna was saying, her face wreathed in a wide smile. "And your Dad would be too. I wish he was here to see it." Her face looked wistful for a minute and Jack felt his heart contract.

"I'm sure he's about somewhere," Siân replied with a soft smile. "He's never very far away." She leaned over and hugged her mother, who smiled and nodded. Then she shook her head.

"Today's a happy day. Where is John? I sent him to get a drink and he's been gone ten minutes. A woman could die of thirst here!"

Jack took a step back. John. Who the hell was John? Before he could scan the crowd for the mysterious man the Doctor grabbed his arm again and pulled him into the shadows.

"Time to go," he hissed, and Jack thought he too was scanning the crowd, although this time in concern.

"Temporal paradox Jack. You can't meet yourself. Do you really think you won't show up at your daughter's graduation even if you have to hide. Come on."

Jack allowed himself to be dragged away, casting one last look back at Donna and Siân, now laughing over 'John's' absence. Was John Siân's boyfriend, or Donna's? He didn't like either option, but he didn't have a say. He'd forfeited that right.

Back in the TARDIS Jack sat silently on one of the crew chairs, deep in thought. He had wanted to know that they would be alright, that they would eventually get over his death and move on. And they had. He was still loved, and missed, but they had moved on. Jack supposed he should feel comforted but somehow it just brought home to him how much of their lives he was going to miss. It wasn't the Doctor's fault, he'd asked and the Doctor had granted his request. He now realised with blinding clarity the truth in the saying to be careful what you wish for.

He became aware that the Doctor was watching him with a pitying expression.

"I'm sorry, that must have been hard. I shouldn't have taken you there."

"No. I asked. It's just going to take some getting used to. So..." Jack straightened up, forcing the hurt aside, "A doctorate at 18. That takes some doing. Although she is working towards her GCSE's now."

"GCSE's at seven, A levels at eleven, degree at 14, doctorate at 18. Brilliant!"

"Absolutely brilliant," Jack agreed with a ghost of a smile. "I wish I was there to see it."

The Doctor merely smiled one of those cryptic smiles guaranteed to drive Jack insane and busied himself with the return trip to Cardiff 2017.

An hour later Jack stepped though the door of the Hub. The Doctor had left promising that he would return when the time was right to tell Jack the whole truth. Jack had walked back from the docks, taking his time, reliving the few short moments in the courtyard. The guilty pain in his chest he felt whenever he thought about leaving Donna and Siân would be there for a long time, at the moment he believed it would be there forever. But he'd carried such pain before; Gray, his father, Ianto. He would work. Throw himself into Torchwood with a passion not seen since the days of Alice Guppy. And wait.

As Jack walked up the stairs to his office, ignoring the curious stares of Lois and Mickey he suddenly remembered that he'd forgotten to ask the Doctor about his dream and Donna's last words. Like everything else he guessed that, that too would just have to wait.

Things afoot and the Doctor is nearly out of places to hide...

So just three chapters left to go now, unless the last two spin out of control in that way chapters tend to do...More soon. I promise :D