Hello again :) I want you all to know that the reviews you sent me for the last chapter meant even more than they normally do because they really helped me feel less alone out here in Wales. SO thank you all I don't know what I did to deserve such loyal and loving readers if I could hug you each individually I would :)

Rachy Babes: :D I think you're going to like this chapter. I love you too, you really did keep me sane and you were the only one properly listening to what I was saying. I went to speak to the uni counsellor and he was pretty helpful so together you really did save my sanity. I knew there was a good reason for making you my Internet girlfriend lol. Love you Darling :)

Dwatlaskrhtcm: I missed you too, I would have updated but for quite a while I had no internet and then I had the homesickness to contend with but I do feel better now. I need to get back ontop of my writing but I can't let Uni work slip so update will slow a little but you should get at least a chapter or a one shot a week.

BAMM. it'sSydney: Yeah I thought I needed to give Gwen a bit of a moment because I had such a go at her before when she took Jack away. She really doesn't mean any harm and she does give good relationship advice. Rhys gets a turn in this chapter too :)

Sonotalady: Thank you so much for the support it was really helpful and I decided it would be best if I made a compromise, I'm going to see my cousins in Bolton because although I'm feeling WAY better now that I have a few friends and know how my course is working out, I know that if I went to see my family I would never want to leave. So bit of both :) You may get some Uni ranting at some point but things really are looking up so thank you for the help :D

1945: ha ha ha I love you too :)

I. Am. Saint. Jimmy: Well I'm sorry for upsetting you but that's kind of good for me because it means my technique is working :) I'm considering doing some what if moments at some point of what life would have been like if Winter and Ianto HAD got together. So that maaayy possibly happen at some point.

Turn away,
If you could get me a drink
Of water 'cause my lips are chapped and faded
Call my aunt Marie
Help her gather all my things
And bury me in all my favorite colors,
My sisters and my brothers, still,
I will not kiss you,
'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you.

Now turn away,
'Cause I'm awful just to see
'Cause all my hairs abandoned all my body,
Oh, my agony,
Know that I will never marry,
Baby, I'm just soggy from the chemo
But counting down the days to go
It just ain't living
And I just hope you know

That if you say
Goodbye today
I'd ask you to be true
'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you

My Chemical Romance - Cancer

Jack ran inside the building almost tripping over the chickens that roamed around the floor. The old woman cried out in shook and chastised him for being so clumsy. Winter hopped up to her feet and spoke to her, trying to calm her down in her own language. 'We're sorry, he's a clumsy fool, we'll be out of your home in no time and then you'll most likely never see us again.

'Are you planning on it?' Winter frowned.

'No I…I don't have a death wish. I mean we'll go home.' The woman shook her head and took winter's hand.

'People that go in. They come out.' Winter frowned and the old woman handed her a tatty newspaper, 'but not for long.' On the front cover was the story of a man who had jumped from the top of a skyscraper months ago. Winter looked up at the woman who placed her hand on the young woman's cheek and said. 'Too many people have come out, to die. Evil lives in that place, you too young to die and too old to see it.' Winter blinked in shock but then reached forward and hugged the old woman.

'No more will come out of that door to die. I promise.' She whispered then she made her way over to Gwen and Jack, walking straight past Oswald.

'It's Esther and Rex.' Gwen told Jack. Winter looked down at the floor and headed over to the door, Gwen's face when she'd heard about the explosion in Buenos aires had been as white as a sheet. How many more people would they have to use before this was over with.

'They're dead?' Oswald asked. Gwen leaped for him but Jack held her back.

'The only blood we have now is in you.' Gwen warned Jack.

'Then we better be careful.' He replied.

'But you could die this time.'

'That's the game.' He told her. Winter shook her head disgusted.

'Your life isn't a game Jack. No one's life is a game. And every time you say that you belittle the feelings that other people have for you. So if you say that again I'll slap you. Got it?' He looked over at her, surprised she was talking to him. 'What. I told you, just because the wedding's on hold doesn't mean I don't love you. Nothing's going to change that.' A spark of happiness ignited in Jack's eyes and Gwen smiled up at him, whispering to him,

'I told you.' A clang informed them that the door was open again and they followed Winter out into the courtyard again and over to the fenced of area. Jack cut the wire and Gwen lifted the chain-link up so they could get through. They swept through the facility like ghosts, Jack snapped the guard's neck allowing them to slip in unnoticed. Gwen checked through the door and nodded to the group. 'It's clear.' But Jack looked over to the boxes on the side.

'Hold on. I was in china for the boxer rebellion.' Winter smiled.

'I remember that.' She whispered. 'The giant centipede with the big pincers. Almost took Amy's head off.' Jack smiled.

'Remind me to never get on her bad side.' He opened one of the wooden crates from the side revealing sticks of dynamite. 'Oswald. I've changed my mind. I'm so glad you're here.' Winter watched Jack warily, trying to work out what he was planning, disappeared and returned a few moments later with the dead guard's jacket and ripped the arms off it. The penny dropped and Winter dropped down to her knees, pulling another box from the side and ripping it open. He looked up at her through his eyelashes as she stripped wires for him. He didn't question the help just wired up the vest to blow.

They wired up Oswald and stepped into the lift pressing the down button and holding their breath as the soldiers, a woman they had never seen before and Jilly Kitzenger rolled into view. Torchwood stayed silent as Oswald took centre stage and revealed the bomb strapped to his chest. The soldiers took frightened steps back and Winter smirked. That was more like it, she was fed up of people dismissing Torchwood like it was a hobby. 'Advantage Torchwood.' Jack told the woman. A tannoy system came online and a man's voice filled the room.

'Well I think we have a major disagreement here in Buenos Aries. Say hello to your friends .'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Jack asked.

'He means us.' Winter's mouth dropped at the sound of Rex's voice. He'd survived the explosion.

'Rex!' Gwen yelled, 'And Esther!'

'I'm here, they caught us.' Gwen grinned happily.

'I'm just glad to hear you're alive!'

'I'll swap your stand off for my stand off.' The mystery man said, the team heard the click of a gun with the safety switched off. All they could so was listen to the other stand off and try to work out what was happening. Jack brought the attention back to their side with one sentence.

'The thing is, we don't need explosives, or guns, because I've got the most powerful thing of all.' He walked past the woman and the group followed him down the steps to look up at a towering structure that seemed to descend forever. It was like rock face with a crack running straight down the middle. Particles being constantly pulled into the dark in between each rock. Winter handed him her sword and he made a small cut in his finger. The blood was drawn in small blobs towards the crack in the rock face and the ground shook beneath their feet. 'It wants me,' Jack told them. 'Mortal blood. I'm the only one in the world. So I suggest you're very careful with me ok.'

'And if you don't take the captain's advice you can come to oblivion with me.' Oswald told them, 'Jack, you're the future man. You've seen wonders beyond this world so tell us…' his voice seemed to fade away in the sound of the rushing wind. Winter wanted to close her eyes, to look away but something stopped her. Something held her back. She looked into the darkness and something snapped. It was like her mind was flashing back to someone else's memories, she was looking into a swirling mass of space and time and it was terrifying. Jack reached out to grab her arm but it slipped from his grip and she pushed Oswald out of the way, she had to run away, as fast as her legs could carry her, she'd never stop running from it. Never.

'Stop her! Stop!'

'Stop!'

'Stay where you are!'

'Don't move!'

Jack screamed in horror as one of the soldiers let off a round and Winter tumbled down the stairs. He dived down and slid to her side, her eyes were wide and shocked and Gwen's hands fluttered over the red patch blossoming at the young woman's side.

'Oh God, Oh! Oh God No!' Gwen looked up at the look on Jack's face. He looked totally shocked. Completely out of it. Rex and Esther were yelling over the tannoy and Winter opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a garbled watery cough. A speck of blood trickled out from her mouth and down her cheek as Jack pulled her into his arms.

'Nemo. God Nemo don't just…don't do this.' She stared at him with confused eyes she didn't understand what had happened. And it broke his heart.

Gwen kept her hands pressuring the wound and looked up to the others.

'What have you done you bastards.' She growled. Jack ignored the comment he looked down at the love of his life in his arms and held her tightly. He couldn't do this, it was Ianto all over again. He'd dragged her here and now she was dying in his arms.

'I never meant for any of this.' He whispered softly. 'I just wanted to get rid of the Torchwood e-mail and fly off to some paradise, take your mind off death and loss for once. I wanted to sit on a roof in Venice, look up at the stars and plan the seating arrangements for our wedding. I should have known… I can't go anywhere without everything blowing up in our face. I bring death everywhere I turn… I should have let you go with Fawks when you had the chance. But I was selfish, I was so pleased when you stayed behind, even when I couldn't have you, even when I saw the pain in your eyes every time I kissed Ianto.'

'I kept you around. I kept you close. I watched you flit about your life with your jokes and your sarcasm, I felt your fear and anger and I tasted your tears more than once. Without me your life would have been simple. No Ianto, no undercover work, no Adam, no 456…and no Phycorp. I know you'll be mad at me for saying this but baby, you'd have been better off without Torchwood, without me.'

'I know what I've done, keeping you around, I know it was wrong. I know I should have let you go, I should have watched you pass by and gone on with life without you. I never would have known any better, I should have walked passed the garden, but I stopped to admire the roses. And now here we are.' He ran a hand over her cheek softly. 'Please don't do this, I know what I did, I know I shouldn't have but please…please don't die.'

Winter looked up at him her eyes soft but fading a little, small noises escaping her throat. He put his ear down to her mouth and tried to make out what she was saying. Then pulled up and nodded to her. Gwen looked at him with searching eyes and then asked softly.

'What did she say?' he sniffed and stroked back Winter's blue streaks of hair.

"Like her. But not alone." He quoted, 'And she's right.' He told her and he stood up turning to face the crowd. 'We're Torchwood.' He stated, 'And no matter how many of us you shoot down, we're going to save the world.' Gwen smiled at him and stood up, knowing what he needed. By introducing mortal blood to the chasm the world would go back to the way it had been but it meant needing an awful lot of blood. Taking her place behind Jack she pointed her gun at his chest. They both heard the shot at the other side of the globe through the tannoy. They heard Rex cry out Esther's name but Jack trusted Gwen to make the right decision. The world or Esther. He looked down at Winter but he knew there was only one thing that could help her, the TARDIS.

'I'm sorry.' Gwen muttered as she pulled the trigger. The shot echoed through the building and Jack's blood poured out into the darkness, it was sucked into the crack and Gwen headed straight back over to Winter. The world shook, and as it did Oswald grabbed the mystery woman as the soldiers ran for their lives.

'I'm giving you this one chance.' Oswald told Gwen and she looked down to the bomb strapped to his chest, she gripped Winter under her arms and pulled her up the stairs. Making slow progress to the lift. Jilly was inside and Gwen threw the door open but when she ducked down to pull Winter in Jilly closed it again, trying to get away. Gwen threw the door open and leaped at Jilly grabbing her hair and yanking as hard as she could. The two women fought fiercely until Gwen finally threw Jilly to the floor.

The younger woman was dazed long enough for Gwen to turn around and see Jack as he gasped to life on the floor by the chasm. She threw the doors open and helped him up the stairs where he dragged Winter into the lift. It rattled shut and Jack heaved the limp girl into his arms for a quick getaway. They raced through the building and out of the doors running as fast as they could.

The explosion shook the very ground beneath their feet but Jack didn't look back. He just kept running. He swept past the old woman in the shop and out onto the street where Chinese police had already started to gather.

'Come on Nemo.' He cried, 'why aren't you healing?' a medic pulled him over to a van and Jack laid her onto a stretcher, he tried to get in with her but the police held them both back. 'She's my…my…' his words failed him as the doors to the van closed and she was driven away.

TTT

The nurses were kind. He hadn't a clue what they were saying half the time but they were kind none the less. He knew there wasn't much space in the hospital and yet Winter had a room all to herself. He sat at her side and tapped his foot rhythmically. It had been two weeks already. Gwen was back with her family, Rex was helping to rebuild the CIA team that had apparently been blown up killing at least twelve operatives. Esther, Jack sighed and rested his hand over his mouth in thought, Esther had lost her fight for life yesterday, at 3:47. So now it was just Winter, lying here on the hospital bed. Not alive, not dead, somewhere in between. The doctor's said she was fine, according to the translator, she was healing well. But for some reason, some unknown reason, she just wouldn't wake up. For a while yesterday he had considered leaving. Flying off and letting her be, he had been convinced that he was doing something, that he was somehow the cause. And he still thought that, but now he had another idea. An idea Rhys had given him, he had only called for a check-up, to make sure things were ok.

'So she still going strong yeah?'

'Yeah, she's got good heart rate, normal breathing, she just won't wake up.' Jack sighed into the phone as he stood outside the hospital.

'As long as she knows your there she'll be fine.' Rhys comforted. Jack shrugged.

'Yeah because that's just what she wants. She left me remember.'

'You really are a bloody idiot aren't you.' Rhys sounded frustrated. 'She left you because of this, the way you automatically blame yourself and assume what's best for her. She's a woman Jack. She may be a bit…different but she's still a woman and a bloody crazy one at that. But I think I know one or two things about crazy women.'

'Who are you calling crazy?' Gwen's voice chastised. Jack smiled as Rhys continued.

'You need to go in there and tell her what she needs to hear.'

'And what's that?'

'That's the point you daft bugger, you have to work it out.'

So here sat Jack, waiting to do what he had to do. He looked at her and stood up, taking her hand and speaking directly to her.

'You know I want to run don't you. That's what you mean when you say I need to do what's best for you rather than what I think will help. So here goes I guess. My initial reaction is to get away from you, to let you live your life as you should have lead it. But…you tried that once, after the 456 and you hated it so… I suppose that's not what you want. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take you back to the TARDIS. To Amy, and Rory and the Doctor and we're going to travel and I am going to spend every waking moment trying to show you that this can work, because I love you. Whether you're in a coma, swinging through the hub or shagging your girlfriend, I love you and that will never ever change. And I promise I'll never put anything before you again.'

He didn't quite know what he'd expected, to look down and find her awake, to have her look up at him and say it was alright? But all he got was a slight raise in heartbeat. He sighed and pulled out his phone typing in the oh so familiar number.

TTT

'Oh Nemo, what have you got yourself into eh?' Jack looked up at the door to see The Doctor and his two companions watching the girl on the bed. The tweed Jacket was thrown to the side and the screwdriver came out, running along her body carefully. Amy looked close to tears as she turned to her husband for comfort.

'What happened?' She asked.

'She saw something, 'the blessing' the legend goes you see yourself reflected back at you.' The Doctor looked up at Jack, his eyes wide.

'She has the TARDIS in her mind, she would have seen everything, the entirety of time and space and the majesty of the untempered schism. How did she react?'

'She ran.' The Doctor smiled slightly and brushed a few non-existent hairs from her face.

'That's alright,' he soothed, 'so did I.' He looked down at her hands and frowned, 'wheres…' Jack sighed and looked away.

'The wedding's on hold…she, called it off.'

'Jack I…' He shook his head and smiled, taking her hand.

'No, no, she's right. I've been treating her like I treated all my lovers. I kept her distant, tried not to get too caught up in her long term emotions because I'm so used to them leaving me. But I can't do that, not to her. So I'm going to win her back, I'm going to prove to her that I can treat her like she should be treated…'

'And you're beginning to sound like the end of a really soppy movie.' The group looked down at Winter and she smiled groggily. 'Am I drugged up, because I can't feel my fingers and toes?' they laughed and took it in turns to hug her carefully. Jack nodded to the Doctor and he disappeared for a moment before a low grating sound heralded the arrival of the TARDIS. Carefully they un wound the wires and pulled off the round sensor pad before lifting her through the blue doors.

'Where too?' Jack asked. She sighed and looked at him carefully.

'Bedroom.' He nodded and carried her through the corridors and down to their bedroom where he carefully placed her on the bed and then turned to go. Winter looked up at him in the doorway and called to him. 'Jack.' he stopped and turned to look at her. 'You're passed the first round you know.'

'What?'

'You didn't leave, you stayed with me, you agreed to fight for me. As far as I'm concerned that wins definite boyfriend points.'

'Boyfriend?' he questioned.

'That is, if you still want…' he rushed back over to the bed, chucking his coat on the floor and sitting at her side.

'Yeah, I still want.'

'Well then, how about we start again. Right from that Edinburgh street.' He thought back to that night and smiled.

'First night back together and all we did was sleep.' She smiled as his wrapped his arms around her and lay back against the headrest, 'Just like this.' She smiled happily and snuggled in. Jack's hand brushed lightly on her arm and he looked down at her. Back to the beginning, but as she felt him cuddle in at his side he realised that really, for now, this was enough.

TTT

'You could stay you know.' Winter told Jack as she sat in the console room and watched him take his coat off after Esther's funeral. She hadn't gone, more because of the lack of mobility than not wanting to. He shook his head and sat down at her side twisting his hands together and smiling.

'I could. But I don't think you want me too.' She smiled up at him and leant her head against his shoulder.

'No Jack, I don't.'