Dedicated to Marian Locksley, for building a better clone.

Thanks to everyone who has hung in until the end. Hope you like it.

"I don't understand," Jack said vaguely. The universe was shuddering. A clone. Ianto's clone.

Rhiannon delved into the archive box again. He hadn't noticed it was beside her chair, on the floor.

A package landed on the coffee table in front of him.

"Read it," said Rhiannon, watching him intently.

Jack picked up the thick manila envelope. A mug of coffee appeared beside his hand. He sipped at it as he read. Not as good as Ianto's, but not bad. Not bad at all. Maybe the secret to Coffee Magery was in his diary. Or maybe it was genetic.

Genetics. Research. Statistics. Experimental cloning. Cloning. She was carrying a clone. Ianto's clone. But it was the 21st century. They couldn't do this yet. "Where did you get this from?" Jack asked sharply.

"With the stuff Ianto left in my car," Rhiannon said slowly. "He'd invested in this research project." She smiled thinly. "If it had worked, he'd have made millions. Put IVF in the shade."

Jack shook his head, trying to get his mind working clearly again. He wasn't processing any of it. They couldn't do this yet. They couldn't. His eyes flicked from the file in his hands to the woman sitting across from him. To the bulge in her stomach that was already stretching her shirt. Or could they?

"The idea," Rhiannon persisted, "Was that you take two people who couldn't have children together, for whatever reason. Clone from both. Both was the experimental part. They aren't there yet. But they can clone from one person. Well, they can grow the cells, but they can't grow the child without a surrogate." Her hand strayed to her abdomen again. "So that's me."

Jack looked at her suspiciously. "They used you as an experiment?"

Rhiannon turned a slight shade of pink. Embarrassed? "I…um…I might have threatened them. Just a bit."

He stared at her. Couldn't get any words out. Ianto's sister making threats? But then, Ianto had been capable of ruthlessness, too. When he'd had to be. To protect someone he loved. A wholly inappropriate smile creased Jack's face as he remembered. He flirted his cute little ass off to make me employ him. To get into Torchwood. For Lisa. Hooked me. But it backfired on him, he hooked himself too.

"I….err…" Rhiannon's stuttering voice dragged Jack back to the present. "I said I'd withdraw the funding if they didn't."

"You?" Jack knew his tone was unflattering, but this was all too much to take in.

"Cause it's mine now," Rhiannon concluded in a rush. "Because he left everything to me. Including all his, oh look I don't know what the right terms are, but he controlled the funding of this project thing, and now I do."

She paused, heaved a deep breath, and blurted out, "But what I don't understand is, why me? Why didn't he leave it all to you? I mean, you were…I would have thought…."

Jack's eyes closed. Tears threatened to leak from beneath his lids.

"I wouldn't let him," he explained woodenly. "He tried. He wanted to, but I." He forced his eyes open. "I had this problem with him planning anything for after he…... I just didn't want to think about it."

Another memory intruded, one he'd tried to forget.

"We should leave now, if you still want to catch that movie," Jack reminded Ianto. "Are you done?"

Ianto looked up from the desk, where he'd been sorting through the mail. He smiled. "Pretty much. Bills are all paid on time, for a change. I just need to get my signature witnessed, but that can wait."

"I'll do it," Jack answered, draping his hands arms around Ianto's shoulders and nuzzling his neck. "If you ask nice."

Ianto sighed contentedly and leaned back into the embrace. "So kind of you to offer," he murmured. "But beneficiaries can't be witnesses. I'll ask Tosh."

Beneficiaries? Jack frowned, reached for the paperwork, froze at the heading. "Last Will and Testament of….." He snatched the thick paper away and shredded it viciously.

"Hey," Ianto protested.

"The only thing worse than you dying," Jack yelled, over the roaring in his brain, "Is me profiting from it."

He was gone for hours. They'd never brought it up again.

And because I was so stubborn, Jack realized, it's all fallen to his sister. I owe it to him to help her. And she was talking again, the words tumbling over themselves in her haste.

"And I know he wanted this, it's in his diary. Well, not me perhaps, but someone. So I told them they had to do it….and they did. All official, a clinical trial they called it. And it worked. Look."

She drew a small shiny piece of paper from a pocket and handed it over. A blurred object on photographic paper. But not a photo. An ultrasound.

"Twelve weeks," Rhiannon said softly, watching Jack's face. "And all the results so far say he's perfect. That's why I wanted you to come back now. Couldn't tell you before. In case they wouldn't do it. Or in case something went wrong."

Jack's finger traced the outlines in numb wonder. A head. Feet. Hands. A child. A child created from Ianto's cells. A different sort of immortality. A better sort. And suddenly everything else in the entire universe ceased to matter.

He wasn't sure how long he stared at the fuzzy image, feeling the paper growing warm beneath his fingers. Feeling warmth creeping back into his core, the part that had frozen the last time he'd held Ianto in his arms. Feeling himself coming back to life, in the only way that really mattered. Learning to love again. Loving a fuzzy image on a piece of paper.

Eventually, unwillingly, he offered the slip of paper back to the woman sitting across from him.

"Keep it," she offered. A smile crept across her face. A real smile. "Your first baby photo."

Jack tucked the image carefully into his wallet. When he looked up, Rhiannon was checking her watch and shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"It's time to pick the kids up from school," she said.

Jack rose, "I should go then," he offered reluctantly.

Rhiannon smiled. "Or you could come with, if you like? The kids would love it. We always stop at the park on the way home and I don't last as long pushing the swings anymore."

"Micha, David," said Rhiannon. "This is Jack, Uncle Ianto's friend."

Micha looked curiously at Jack. "Uncle Jack," she corrected firmly. "If he's the one from the stories." Jack's heart lurched. This was how it should have been.

"Micha, hush," Rhiannon scolded. "Come on, get on the swings then."

"I want Uncle Jack to push me," Micha pouted.

"Me, too," David demanded.

Rhiannon took a breath, ready to scold some more.

"Happy to," Jack intervened. He set both swings rocking, allowing the peace to settle through his being. How it should have been. Just for a moment.

"Sorry about that," Rhiannon apologized. "They've been asking about Ianto. About what happened those few days. So I've been reading to them from his diary. And as I said, there's a lot about you in there."

"I don't mind," Jack answered. He grinned. First time since…."I always wanted to read that diary. Any chance?" And was rewarded with a swat on the arm.

"No chance," Rhiannon smirked. "Like I said before, swelled head."

And they were laughing. Actually laughing. Jack sobered abruptly, gave the swings one last push and stepped away.

"I want to help," he said. "Money. Anything."

"Your Torchwood paid well," Rhiannon said, smiling. "Ianto left him well provided for."

"There must be something I can do," Jack insisted. "If Ianto was planning this, it must have been so that we could raise the child together. I know that can't happen now, but I want to be involved." He stopped, realizing it sounded like an order. "If you'll let me," he added. "Please."

Rhiannon nodded thoughtfully. "He'll grow up as part of my family," she said. "Johnny has agreed to raise him as our own. He'll be Dad, same as to the others. But you could be…Uncle Jack, perhaps?" Her eyes filled again. "To Micha and David too, if you like. That's how it would have been, if…..." Her voice choked off, but she was smiling hopefully through the tears.

Jack's eyes filled too. The way it should have been. And he'd thought it couldn't be. "Oh come here, you daft sod," Rhiannon said gruffly, opening her arms. "Immortal you may be, but you're never too old to hug your sister."

And with that simple embrace, the walls of grief crumbled. Because now he had something to live for. Someone to live for. Several someones. Ianto's family. His family.

His family. The flare of joy turned to ashes. Alice. Stephen. Uncle Jack. He'd been Uncle Jack to Stephen. No.

"I can't," he whispered, backing away.

"Why not?" Rhiannon demanded, as the light drained out of his face. "It's obvious you want to."

"Because," Jack said stonily. "The Earth isn't safe. Those things, those creatures that killed Ianto, they're still out there. They didn't get what they wanted. They could come back any time. And they know me. That makes me a target. And anyone close to me. My family." He paused. "Your family. If I'm around you it could put you in danger. And I can't let that happen."

Rhiannon locked eyes with him, a challenging expression on her face. "Best you fix it then."

Jack laughed bitterly. "Yeah." Of course. Easy. Just fix it.

"It's what you do, isn't it?" she demanded. "Defend the Earth? That's what Ianto said, and I believe him. So get on with it." Another Jones, kicking him in the conscience. Kicking him into action. And it worked. Again.

I guess it is what I do, Jack thought. And they are criminals, those 456. Drug runners. Intergalactic drug runners. Perhaps it's time to take the fight to them. Away from Earth. Plans sparked in his brain. And I don't have to do it alone. What else is the Shadow Proclamation for, anyway?

"It might take a while," Jack drawled. The old, confident, manic grin spread slowly across his face.

Rhiannon patted her stomach. "You've got six months."

Weeks later, on a hillside. With Gwen, her stomach swollen too. Another one to make the Earth safe for. There's nothing to stay here for, Gwen, not yet. But soon. Soon there will be. And I've got a lot to do in the meantime. Out there.

Gwen was talking, trying to convince him to stay. But the words didn't matter. It was my fault, all of it, all the ones lost. But I'm going to make up for it. I'm going to make it up to him. And it's time to take the fight away from Earth.

They're out there somewhere. Those 456. They're criminals. They're murderers. And they've got to be stopped. Not one solitary, single child. And they've still got eleven. I'll free them, somehow. I'll make the Earth safe. For him. For all the children. Maybe it's impossible. But I'm good at impossible.

Just watch me.

So hopefully he's got a means of redemption and a reason to come back for series 4! Hope you liked it. Thanks for reading.