A/N: Thanks for your interest in this story – and this is the end, my friends. This chapter is going to jump from the future to the past, and everything is from Jack's POV. And, for a bud of mine in the UK that said she liked poetry (You know who you are, Missy), I am using a sonnet of Shakespeare's – Number 29.

And…as before – RTD & BBC own everything – ain't making any money off of this.

Torchwood: Time And Tide

Chapter Six: Epilogue – Waits For No Man…Except One

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state…

The Face of Boe smiled softly…he was dying, but it was all right. His containment unit had shattered – and he was finally breathing air on New Earth. He chuckled at that. Preparing this far flung world for Terran habitation has been Aliannas's idea billions of years before.

Aliannas…his and Ianto's daughter. She stayed with them for more than 100,000 years. What a surprise she was! As she suspected so much earlier – he was surprised she lived past a century. She eventually married – a beautiful woman named Jannt with a penchant for 3D photography. He smiled as he remembered a few of the "candids" she got of him and Ianto. They had six…or was it seven? children together. He loved his grandchildren very much…

As they loved you, Aliannas's voice whispered. He looked up and behind the TimeLord and Nurse Haim he could see them coming out of darkness of the empty Senate Hall.

He had been able to see them for some time now…since he and Haim sat in the Hall with the rotting bodies of the dead. He would smile and laugh as so many memories would return as the ghosts of them strolled across the Senate floor. But now…these were no mere memories. It was them! He would see them speak, but he could never hear them before. But today was the first time he could hear them – and understand. And…it was all right. Because today he was dying after all.

He saw Aliannas first, a wisp of black cloth and the tinkling of metal coins tapping lightly on the marble floors of the Senate. Her eyes, a kaleidoscope of colors, her smile…as beautiful as ever. We are here, Daddy, her voice said softly. We're all waiting…

And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon my self and curse my fate.

JACK! He heard Alonso's voice call his name and step next to Aliannas.

DAD! A son he and Ianto had together that they named Alonso…Aliannas loved taking care of that little brother! He lived for 4,500 years until he decided it was time to take the next step. Ianto and Jack tried to dissuade him, telling him there was only darkness waiting…but he smiled and told them, It is dark for you because you do not believe… He hoped his son was right; and smiled again as he saw the man he had become stand next to Aliannas as well.

GRANDPA! Steven's voice called as Alice looked on, smiling at him. His heart clenched at that. How many times had he cried in Alonso's arms or Aliannas's after the boy's death? He cried thirty years later when he heard through Mickey that Alice had died alone.

She looked up at him then and shook her head sadly. It's the past, Dad. Let it go – and just come HOME, he heard her say, the love and forgiveness plain in her voice. He took in a deep and shuddering breath at that…his lungs were failing. Nurse Haim was trying to find a way of easing his pain – but he was no longer connected to any of his life support machinery. She picked up broken and jagged pieces of circuitry and glass, cutting her own paws. He then saw Owen walk out of the shadows to put a steadying hand on her shoulder. She calmed immediately, bandaged her paws and took one hold of Boe's appendages, smiling at him through her tears.

Boe turned to Owen and nodded. Waiting for you, Captain, Owen answered, nodding in return. Tosh then appeared, simply to wave at him. He smiled at that. Then – the others appeared. Gwen and Rhys, Andy and Lois, Martha and Mickey. He was so excited when he received calls from both of them. First Mickey called and asked for help picking out a ring. Then Martha called to say he proposed; they both called a few weeks later to ask him and Alonso to the wedding. He was even more surprised when he received a wedding invitation from John Hart and Elsbith Johnson. He remembered how much he laughed when he was told Lois won the name pool. She explained that Johnson simply looked like an 'Elsbith'.

He cried happy tears at both weddings. Alonso called him a 'lovable sap'. All of the ladies – Johnson included – had to agree.

As all those that passed before him continued to gather, so did their children and their children's children. Boe cried then, he could no longer hold back his emotions. His tears fell like glittering streams from his large eyes. All of them…these precious beings from all across space and time…waiting just for him.

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least…

Come home, my love, a cherished voice with beautiful Welsh vowels said close to his ear. He gasped then – and The Doctor took hold of another of his appendages, thinking he needed comfort.

Behind the TimeLord he saw a few of his previous incarnations gathering. The Master put his hand on The Doctor's shoulder – and the TimeLord stilled. The very same incarnation that stood with The Master then put a hand on The Master's shoulder – and they both looked to Boe and smiled.

More and more people and beings continued to gather; Boe…Jack had a very long life after all. He started suddenly when he spotted Suzie! standing next to Tosh, Owen, Gwen and Rhys. She smiled at him broadly. You think you're surprised! came her soft laughing voice.

Yet through them all he sought out one face…one man. And then he saw him standing next to his daughter Aliannas. At the end of all things, everything can be and is forgiven, he heard his Welshman say.

Time to come home, Daddy, he heard Aliannas say.

He turned to look at The Doctor, who was imploring him to hang on because he knew what it was like to be the last of his Kind. He smiled sadly then, looking at the desperately lonely TimeLord and the so young Martha Jones. It was time…

'It is time for me to let go, TimeLord. Do not despair, Doctor. You are not alone,' he said, looking behind to The Master and the versions of The Doctor standing with him.

Ianto, he thought then – and his Welshman appeared with Aliannas standing next to him. He and Ianto had so many children together – he carried a few himself – and almost one million years together. But then Ianto decided, as Aliannas and Alonso before, that it was time to see if there was more.

His Welshman and daughter stood together – Aliannas clutched one of his jacketed arms as they looked at him, anticipation making her positively shake! They both smiled even as tears fell from their eyes.

'Time and Tide wait for no man…except one,' Ianto whispered softly. 'Come Home, Jack. Go towards The Light. We are waiting.'

His field of vision then was suddenly filled with a white, blinding light. He then heard wind rushing around him – and felt as if he and all of his perceptions were being focused to a single, bright point on his visual horizon. He then remembered a sonnet Ianto used to recite to him when they lay in bed together in post-coital bliss before he breathed his last:

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee – and then my state

Like to the Lark at break of day arising

For sullen earth, sings hymns at Heaven's Gate,

For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings,

That I scorn to change my state with Kings.

Come home, Jack. Go towards The Light. Time and Tide have waited long enough, Ianto whispers…

FINIS

A/N: Well, B's & G's, time to ride them lil ole doggies into the sunset. Or take the Northern Wind towards home. (There – I've given you a cowboy AND sailor reference! That should make ALL the Friends of Elton happy! Yep…I know…burning Purgatory Points with that one! LOL!)

Well, this story was a bit rough to finish – and I'm not sure what else I could do within the Torchwood Universe…so, I think it's time to step back for a bit. I've got to restart work on the school front – and try to get my head back together. So, it's time to knuckle down and work on those books! (I said work NOT cook)

So…not really sure what I'll be writing next, but I'd really like to finish 'Traveling By Storm' and 'Reinforcements', my Tinman and Roughnecks stories – so stay tuned for those, but please, no one hold their breath. I DO NOT want any deaths on my creative head…hehehe.

Thank you once again to all of my readers because without your interest, encouragement and support, I never would have finished any of these stories. To all of you in some serious far off places – Trinidad and Tobago?!, The Russian Federation?!, Australia and New Zealand (Ha! Aussies AND Kiwis!), Japan, China, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Austria, the UK – and closer – the US and Canada, just to name a FEW – Thank YOU so MUCH!!!

You guys have humbled me no end…thanks, really.

And so…Darque has left the building.

15 March, 2010