bEpilogue/b

"You sure you want to go? It's not too late to change your mind and stay with us," Jack said.

"Jack," the Doctor warned. "Don't start."

"I have to at least try," Jack responded. "I'm losing a beautiful, talented medic. I have to make an effort to keep her."

"You've already found a new medic, Jack," Martha said. "And it isn't as if I can't visit."

"That's right," Ianto agreed, "Now that everything's been sorted, they can visit often."

Jack grinned and ignored the pointed look from both Ianto and the Doctor. He shouldn't have tried to play games with their feelings and he'd heard enough about it in the last few weeks to last a lifetime. His lifetime. "So we should expect to see you both at least every weekend, right?"

"Jack!" All three shouted at once.

"All right," he said, raising his hands in surrender. "As often as you can manage."

"We'll have to stop by to refuel occasionally," the Doctor said. "We'll definitely stop in then."

"So every ten years or so, then?" Ianto asked.

"More than that," Martha assured him. She reached in her pocket and handed him her mobile phone. "And this belongs to Torchwood."

"Keep it," Ianto said, pushing it back toward her. "This way we can call you if you don't come back like you promised."

"That's right," Jack agreed. He turned to the Doctor, "You're going to fix it so we can call, right?"

"Absolutely," he agreed. He took the phone and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"Unless," Jack said, "We could always find something for you to do here, as well."

"I can't stay here," the Doctor said, "I need to be out there."

"And I need to be with him."

"At least he's finally realized that," Jack answered.

"You could come with us," Martha suggested. She saw Ianto's frown and added, "Both of you."

"No, someone needs to stay here and keep the Rift safe," Jack answered. "And if I leave, the Doctor is likely to become Torchwood's number one enemy again."

"Well, then we really do need to be going," the Doctor said. "And Martha is right, you are both welcome any time you want to join us."

"We'll keep that in mind," Jack said, reaching out to hug first the Doctor and then Martha. He then added, "And remember to visit a lot. I want it to be like you never left."

Martha returned Jack's hug and turned to Ianto, "I'm going to miss you," she said quietly and hugged him tightly.

Jack and Ianto watched as the other couple stepped into the TARDIS and it disappeared into the darkness of the alley.

"Ready?" Jack asked, "We do need to get back and train our new medic."

"Let's go," Ianto agreed, and they started walking back toward the street and the SUV. He watched Jack as he pulled out his mobile and stared at it. "They've been gone two minutes, you can't miss her already."

"No, it's just that…" Jack hesitated. It wasn't that he wanted to leave with the Doctor, not really. He did miss the adventure of traveling through space and time, but he couldn't imagine leaving Ianto behind. "You've never seen anything out there, not really. You've seen what comes through the Rift but not what it's really like."

"Jack," Ianto said slowly, stopping and turning to look at him. "I may understand that you don't want to leave me for the Doctor. I may even be willing to have him visit often if it means we get to see more of Martha, but we are not going on holiday with him. Not ever."

"Ianto…"

"No," Ianto said simply and started walking, ignoring Jack's pleas as he followed behind. "Not ever."

"Not even to see Martha?"

"No."

center***/center

"You invited them to come with us," the Doctor said as he moved around the console, checking the various settings.

"You didn't object."

"Well, even I'm not rude enough to say no after you've invited them," the Doctor said. "So, Martha Jones, where do you want to go first?"

"I don't know…." Martha said, "Someplace romantic, that has no chance of a hostile takeover by some other alien."

"I think we can do that," the Doctor agreed and began moving around the console again. Now that he had Martha back for good there were so many places he wanted to show her, places that he should've shown her long ago, if he had just paid attention instead of being stuck in his own past.

The end.