When Molly led Sherlock back from where the rooms were, they returned to the console room, where the Doctor was already starting up the flight sequence. As she went over to help him, she noticed Sherlock's sharp, evaluating gaze focus on the console. He'd probably be able to memorize the bloody flight sequence after a few go's, she realized. What would happen after Sherlock Holmes knew how to fly the TARIDS? She shuddered to think.

"So, where to?" Molly asked as she helped hold down the lever he had indicated.

The Time Lord threw a final switch, sending the TARDIS shuddering and shaking through the Time Vortex. Molly held back a chuckle as Sherlock was caught by surprise, nearly being thrown off his feet before he grabbed hold of a nearby rail. When the ship shuddered to a halt, the Doctor checked one of the screens with a grin. "Cardiff!" he announced cheerfully.

From his spot by the rail, Sherlock wrinkled his nose. "Cardiff?" he repeated with disdain.

The Doctor nodded, circling around the console to mess with some of the controls. "Ah, but the thing about Cardiff, it's built on a rift in time and space," he explained in his lecturing schoolteacher tone, "just like California and the San Andreas Fault, but the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel. Like I said, we've been sort of wearing the old girl out with the last few trips, she needs the energy boost."

Sherlock raised an eyebrow at the Time Lord' explanation. "You're saying your time machine runs on the energy of time and space?" he asked dubiously.

Without even looking up, the Doctor replied, "Yes, and if you try to hijack my TARDIS you're getting left on the fourth moon of Genoveen where they use humans as welcome mats." Molly blinked at the unusual threat – she'd never heard him mention Genoveen before – but Sherlock didn't even look fazed.

The Doctor finished with the controls. "There, done. Just filling up the engines, should only take twenty seconds." He looked at one of the monitors with a frown. "The rift's been active," he observed, brow furrowed with concern.

Molly had just remembered something. "Hold up. Wasn't there an earthquake in Cardiff a few years back?" She shot the Doctor a smirk, wondering exactly what sort of mischief had caused that. "That was you, wasn't it?"

The Doctor's gaze became unfocused as he remembered. "Bit of trouble with the Slitheen," was all he said. He seemed to be smirking to himself as he added, "A long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then." Sherlock raised an eyebrow at this but didn't respond. Molly didn't even think that much of it. The Doctor liked to be cryptic every now and then. It boosted his "last of the Time Lords and so very impressive" ego.

The Time Lord checked the monitor, grinning. "Finito! All powered up." Suddenly, he froze, expression becoming one of shock, before switching abruptly back to a grin. Molly blinked, bewildered at his sudden change in behavior. She shot Sherlock a questioning glance, but before any of them could say anything, the TARDIS gave an unusually violent shudder, throwing everyone off their feet. Sparks leaped from the console, an alarm blaring through the ship, the shaking and shuddering far worse than it had ever been before. Molly, Sherlock, and the Doctor had to cling desperately to the console to keep from being thrown about the ship.

"What the hell was that?" Molly asked, keeping a tight grip on the console.

The Doctor looked totally bewildered. He stared at the monitor in total bemusement as he realized, "We're accelerating into the future. The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion?" His brow scrunched even further, his voice going squeaky in shock. "What? The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible!"

Molly knew the Time Lord didn't use the term "impossible" lightly. Things must be going really wacky if he was this baffled. "Why, what happens then?"

Still looking sort of stunned, the Doctor turned to Sherlock, then to her. "We're going to the end of the universe," he told them.

SCENEBREAK

With a final, violent jerk, the TARDIS landed. The three passengers got up and dusted themselves off. Molly noticed that Sherlock was trying to look as though he hadn't been caught by surprise, and had to hold back a snort of amusement.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, staring quizzically around the console room. "Well, we've landed," he quipped lightly.

Sherlock threw the Time Lord a glare. His coat was still slightly ruffled from the TARDIS throwing him off balance. "I thought that should have been obvious," he snarked under his breath.

Molly was quicker to get back on her feet, a year of TARDIS travel making it easier to bounce back from rough turbulence. She shot a curious glance at the front door. "So where are we now?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know," the Doctor admitted. He too was staring at the front door with a furrowed brow, looking caught between curiosity and worry.

The companion's eyebrows flew up at his statement. "There's a rarity," she joked. The Time Lord seemed to pride himself on knowing every corner of the universe.

The Time Lord didn't respond. He turned slowly from looking at the door to Molly, expression deepening further and further into confusion and concern. "Not even the Time Lords came this far," he murmured, anxiety flickering in his eyes. "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go."

There was a short, tense silence, where both Time Lord and companion worried about what waited outside. Then the Doctor grinned, and the tension was broken. While Sherlock watched them in utter bemusement, the Time Lord and his companion both ran for the door, grinning like idiots as they went to figure out where they'd landed now.

As they stepped outside, they were immediately greeted with a rocky, completely barren quarry. The night sky overhead was completely of stars, something that immediately set warnings off in Molly's head. Everywhere they went, she could always see the stars of other worlds, reminders of how many other planets and people were out there, and how much sky there was to explore. To see no stars at all... she hadn't felt so alone in a long time.

She was distracted from these thoughts by the sight of a man lying on the ground near the TARDIS. "Oh my god." Molly hurried to the man's side, checking quickly for vitals. When she didn't feel a pulse, she froze in horror. She didn't need to look further to know the man was dead.

"Where did he come from?" she breathed, staring down at his body in shock. She looked up at the Time Lord, noticing for the first time that he hadn't followed her to check on the body. He was standing back, staring at the body with a strangely unemotional expression. He seemed almost... cold. Completely unlike himself. "Doctor?" she asked softly. "What's going on?"

Before the Time Lord could respond, Sherlock spoke up. He hadn't stepped far past the TARDIS, and was watching the Time Lord with a shrewd smirk. "Oh Molly, I should have thought it'd've been obvious. The dearly departed is a friend of the Doctor's, and one that he had a rather bad falling-out with."

Molly's brow wrinkled with confusion. "Wait, what? How do you know the Doctor knows him?"

Looking irritated, the Time Lord opened his mouth to retaliate, but was once again beaten by Sherlock. "Right before we left Cardiff, this man was visible on the monitor, running towards the TARDIS and calling the Doctor's name. The Doctor saw him coming and tried to make the TARDIS take off before the man could reach us. Now, the man wasn't chasing us maliciously, so he isn't an enemy. Ergo, it's someone he knows, and for whatever reason doesn't want to talk to, plus the extremely suggestive lack of emotional response at his death."

Molly had forgotten just how much Sherlock's explanations left her feeling overwhelmed, but for once she was able to follow completely. Was it really true? What could an old friend have done for the Doctor to react like this? She looked to the Time Lord for explanation, but he was busy looking at Sherlock with a furrowed brow. "Are you gonna do that every time we meet someone?" he asked lightly. "'Cause that's gonna get old pretty fast."

"Just shedding some light, Doctor," Sherlock remarked with a little mocking shrug.

Before the Time Lord could respond, the fallen man, the one she had been sure was dead, shuddered back to life. He tensed up, gasping, trying to draw air back into his lungs. Molly jumped back in shock, staring at the man with wide eyes. "B-but you were dead," she gasped out.

The man stilled, gaze focused on Molly. His expression became a charming smile unnervingly fast. In a strong American accent, he introduced himself. "Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?"

Molly faltered a little at his sudden charm. She hadn't realized when she'd gone to help him how handsome he was. "Er, Molly Hooper," she managed. After all this time, and all the new confidence she'd gained, she still wasn't really good with the flirting.

Jack Harkness grinned winningly. "Glad to meet you, Molly Hooper."

"Oh, don't start," the Doctor groaned. He was still tense, looking at Jack with an almost Sherlockian look of disdain. Molly had never seen him like that. It was odd, and not exactly pleasant, seeing her friend acting so cold against a former friend.

Jack shot the Time Lord and irritated glance. "I was only saying hello," he complained.

Molly couldn't help but assure the Doctor, "I don't mind."

From his spot by the TARDIS, Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Oh good grief," he muttered. Molly had to work to ignore him.

She helped the captain to his feet. His charming smile cooled as he looked at the Time Lord. He greeted him stiffly. "Doctor."

The Doctor responded in kind. "Captain."

Jack managed a tight smile. "Good to see you."

The Doctor nodded stiffly. "And you. Same as ever. Although, have you had work done?"

The captain snorted, the awkwardness dropped for the first time. "You can talk."

The Time Lord stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, then chuckled slightly. "Oh yes, the face. Regeneration." Molly blinked at the word. The Doctor had mentioned regeneration off-hand a couple of times, but he'd never fully explained it. What did this Jack Harkness know about it? "How did you know this was me?"

"The police box kind of gives it away," Jack returned lightly. "I've been following you for a long time." His expression hardened, voice becoming cold with accusation as he said, "You abandoned me."

Molly's eyes widened at the accusation. She waited for the Doctor to deny it, or explain himself, or something. But all he did was stare coolly at Jack and say, "Did I? Busy life. Moving on." She couldn't understand why he was being so cold. He was more considerate to some of his enemies. This wasn't the Doctor she knew. What was going on?

Jack's anger faded, to be replaced by hesitation. "Just got to ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf. I saw the list of the dead." He hesitated, pain flashing in his eyes as he finally prompted, "It said Rose Tyler."

Raw pain flashed briefly in the Doctor's eyes, but for the first time he seemed willingly to treat Jack with something other than cold contempt. With a smile that she knew had been plastered on to cover up the pain, he told Jack, "Oh, no! Sorry, she's alive."

Jack's eyes widened. He gave a little shocked, relieved laugh. "You're kidding."

"Parallel world, safe and sound," the Doctor assured him. "And Mickey, and her mother."

The captain laughed with relief. "Oh, yes!" He pulled the Doctor into a tight hug. Molly noticed that the Doctor flinched away from the contact, and stayed tense throughout the hug. Something was definitely wrong, but what?

SCENEBREAK

"So there I was," Jack continued as they made their way through the barren rock field, "Stranded in the year two hundred one hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me. But I had this." He held up a leather bracelet of sorts, with metal and electronics attached.

The Doctor was several paces ahead, while Molly and Sherlock walked beside the captain. Sherlock had barely spoken two words the whole time. Molly had had to introduce him, which wasn't too far removed from his normal behavior, but was still irritating. Still, he was better than the Doctor was being at the moment. She'd never seen him so cold, and it was really strange. Jack's story wasn't clearing it up much better, either.

"I used to be a Time Agent," the man explained. "It's called a vortex manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel."

For the first time, the Time Lord interjected himself into the conversation, whirling around with an outraged expression. "Oh, excuse me. That is not time travel. It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper."

Molly had to hold back a laugh at the Doctor's outrage. "He's got a point, you know," she told Jack. "Your Vortex Manipulator isn't a sentient time machine that leads you to the library when you're feeling down."

Jack chuckled. "Fair enough. All right, so I bounced. I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless. "

"Told you," the Doctor muttered.

The human glared at the Time Lord. "I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me."

Molly's brow furrowed. "But that would make you something over a hundred, wouldn't it?"

Jack turned to her, turning the charm back on without missing a beat. "And looking good, don't you think?" Without waiting for a response, he turned back to the Doctor. "So I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew you'd come back to refuel. Until finally I get a signal on this," he held up the bag he'd been carrying, "detecting you and here we are."

For the first time, Sherlock spoke up. "So what kind of alien are you?"

Jack looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"

The detective rolled his eyes. "I think it's a fairly simple question," he snarked. "What type of alien are you? You just said you've lived over a hundred years, plus there's the contrast between your modern attitude and afflictions and your genuine WWII coat. Clearly, you're an alien with a lifespan surpassing a human's who has access to time travel. I'm merely asking what kind."

The man grinned at Sherlock, looking impressed. "Nice trick, maybe I should learn that one." When Sherlock didn't respond, he just chuckled. "Nah, I'm 100% human, but for you, I can be whatever you want." Molly paused, blinking rapidly in surprise at the blatant flirting. It wasn't the fact that Jack had just shown himself comfortable flirting with more than one gender, or the fact that he found Sherlock attractive. Both of those were totally understandable. There was a reason Molly'd had a crush on him for years, and it wasn't his charm and compassion. No, it was more the fact that someone was willing to so openly flirt with him and not be turned off by his rudeness. It was almost funny to watch.

Predictably, Sherlock just rolled his eyes and ignored Harkness, hurrying to catch up with the Doctor. Molly threw Jack a sympathetic glance. "Sorry, you won't get much luck there," she told him quietly. "Sherlock's about as aware of romance and flirting as a rock."

Jack's gaze flicked from Sherlock to Molly, becoming soft with sympathy. "Have some experience with that?" he asked sympathetically.

Molly didn't want to confirm it, but it was true, so she just gave a little shrug. It seemed enough for Jack, who just sighed. "Yeah, me too." Surprisingly, his gaze flitted quickly to the Doctor, making Molly pause. What would it be like to be in love with the Doctor without his knowing? A man like that, so open and friendly, and so awe-inspiring? He had to be easy to fall in love with, and so easy to be hurt by.

The small group halted at the edge of a cliff, staring down the quarry below. There was some sort of abandoned construction, something that might once have been high-tech but was now faded away to stone by the years. Molly looked at it with wonder. "Is it a city?"

"A city or a hive, or a nest, or a conglomeration," the Doctor corrected, lingering over each word, trying it out. "Like it was grown. But look, there. That's like pathways, roads? Must have been some sort of life, long ago."

Sherlock stared down at the city with his usual sharp gaze. "Must have lived here a long time," he commented. "Those structures are old, much older than the decay."

Molly turned to the Doctor. "What happened to the people living here. What killed them?"

"Time," the Doctor said simply. "Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone. This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing." Molly looked up at the starless sky with a shudder. She'd known something wasn't right with that sky.

"They must have an atmospheric shell," Jack pointed out with a frown. "We should be frozen to death."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Well, Molly, Sherlock, and I, maybe. Not so sure about you, Jack." Molly wasn't sure what he meant by that, but she could tell by Sherlock's intent gaze that he was trying to work it out. The Doctor was being unusually cryptic right now. Maybe, for once, she'd be better off trying to get answers from Sherlock right now.

Molly turned back to the abandoned structures, melancholy setting in. "So after all those adventures, all those times we saved the human race, all the races," she said softly, "and in the end, it's all for nothing, because there's no one left."

The Doctor shot her a sympathetic glance. "It matters to the people we've saved," he pointed out. "As for the rest, who knows. I suppose we have to hope life will find a way."

There was a brief moment of silence as they considered what hope life could possibly have in this desolate landscape. Without warning, Jack broke the silence. "Well, he's not doing too bad."

He pointed out a man running down in the quarry. He was fleeing from a larger group, who all looked human from a distance, but whom Molly was willing to bet was some sort of tribe of aliens.

"Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?" the Doctor asked. Without waiting for an answer, he took off at a run, towards the hunt. "Come on!"

Molly followed him immediately, followed more slowly by Sherlock and Jack. The detective said nothing, keeping pace easily enough, but Jack chuckled, "Oh, I've missed this."

At Jack's remark, Molly had to wonder, why had the Doctor left Jack behind? And as much as she hated it, hated doubting him like that, a little voice in the back of her head kept asking, would he ever do that to her?

Yeah, sorry about the lack of Sherlock in this chapter, there just wasn't a whole lot of room to fit him in without it seeming shoehorned. Hopefully there'll be more opportunities for Jack flirting at Sherlock later, because you have no idea how much that amuses me. Of course, I'm horrible at writing both Sherlock and Jack, the former because I'm not nearly as clever as him and I'm not good at writing his snarky ranty dialogue, and the latter because I'm not good at writing romance or flirting of any kind. Still, I can try.

And yes, since we are now on Utopia, we are indeed nearing the end. I'm really hoping to finish this story off with a good 50 chapters, and since I'm one chapter 40 now, I think that's a reachable goal. I've really loved writing this story, and I hope you guys like how I'm planning to finish it up. Thanks for all the awesome reviews, guys. :)

BloodLily16: Cool, works for me. :) And oh yes, Sherlock on the TARDIS should prove to be *very* interesting. XD