Materialising back in the motel room, Jack's legs give way beneath him, and he falls to the floor. Only Owen's arm around Tosh stops them being pulled down with him.

Light-headed and completely exhausted, Jack lies where he's fallen, unable to find the energy to roll to a more comfortable position, or even remove the glove from his hand.

He's only vaguely aware of Ianto hurrying over, and kneeling down beside him.

They are all talking, although whether it's to him or about him, Jack can't tell. Everything seems muddled and indistinct, and he closes his eyes, trying to concentrate. It doesn't work, and slowly everything slips away.

Opening eyes, which feel gritty and heavy with sleep, all Jack is conscious of is that the room is dimly lit.

"Drink this," says a voice that he can't quite place, as they lift his head and hold a glass to his lips.

Drinking is exhausting, and Jack's eyes close again after just a couple of mouthfuls, as he falls back into a dreamless sleep.

Drifting in and out of consciousness, he is vaguely aware of this happening a few more times until he finally wakes, his mind clear. His whole body still seems to ache with tiredness. It's bearable though, and slowly Jack sits up and looks around.

The room is all pastel colours and smells faintly of antiseptic. That, combined with the noise of people trying to be quiet and failing, from the corridor outside, leaves him in little doubt that it's a hospital.

Not that any of that seems to matter. The fact that he's alone, that there's nothing in the room to suggest that he's been anything other than alone the whole time, seems to eclipse everything else.

Slumping back down against the pillows, it occurs to him that perhaps everything in the last couple of days, Ianto, Tosh, Owen and the whole parallel world, have been nothing but a dream. A hallucination brought about by hitting his head when he was thrown out of the bar, that perhaps he's been lying in this bed ever since.

There's movement at the door and Jack looks round.

"Toshiko?"

"You're awake," Tosh says, relieved. "Owen thought it would be some time today."

"You're really here."

"Yes." Tosh sounds a little puzzled. "We wouldn't just leave you."

"I thought I might have imagined it all." Jack's voice cracks slightly, the rush of relief leaving him feeling a little shaky.

"Do you want me to call one of the nurses?"

Jack shakes his head. Looking over at the jug and glass on the the table, he says, "But I wouldn't say no to something to drink."

"How long have I been out?" Jack asks as Tosh hands him a glass of water.

"Nearly three days."

Jack is silent for a moment, trying to process what being out for so long while not being dead means. He doesn't have any answers.

Needing something else to think about he looks at the cane Tosh has left by her chair. "Is there anything that they can do?"

"The nerves have been damaged too long to get any feeling back," Tosh says, sounding resigned, as she sits down in the chair by the bed. "But they've managed to stop the pain."

"I'm sorry they couldn't do more."

"Don't be. I think I'd given up hope of it ever getting any better." Tosh looks thoughtful for a moment then asks, "It's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"What?"

"My leg," Tosh says, sounding a little self-conscious. "Ianto did tell you that we want to keep working for Torchwood, if possible, when we get to Earth, didn't he?"

"He did, and it won't," Jack reassures her. "If you want the job, it's yours. Same goes for Ianto and Owen." He looks around. "Where are Owen and Ianto?"

"They went to get some food. I think Owen's exact words were, 'different planet, different dimension and hospital food is still crap.'"

Jack laughs, starting to feel better. "So how did you manage to get me a private room?"

"Apparently if you tell the hospital staff that you're all Time Agents they suddenly get very co-operative," Tosh says, a slightly mischievous glint in her eyes. "I think might have scared them a little. It's amazing what people will assume if you just let them fill in the blanks themselves."

"Ohh devious," Jack says, impressed. He appreciates a well pulled con. It does remind him though of what he'd done to travel to the parallel world instead of Ianto.

"How's Ianto?" He knows that Ianto has every right to furious with him after what he did, but he hopes that because of how it turned out, Ianto will forgive him.

"Annoyed."

It's not Tosh that has answered, and Jack looks looks round to see Ianto leaning against the door frame, watching them.

"We're still friends, right?" Jack asks, not caring about the edge of vulnerability that's crept into his voice.

"Of course." Ianto sits down on the edge of the bed close to Jack. "You saved Tosh and Owen's lives, mine as well, by doing what you did."

"So we're okay then?"

"We are." He looks at Jack, his gaze becoming harder for a moment as he adds, "but if you ever do that again, I might have to reconsider."

Jack is left in little doubt that Ianto means drugging him. It surprises him that Ianto doesn't seem to have told either Tosh or Owen about what he'd done. He's grateful though, as he's not sure that they would understand.

He can't promise he'll never do anything like that again though, because he knows that if it would save any of their lives, he would do it without a second thought.

Ianto seems to realise this, and there's a slightly awkward pause. He seems about to says something when Owen arrives, carrying a bag of take out.

Whatever Ianto was about to say is lost, as he gets up to help Owen sort out the food.

The evening air is cool, the clouds racing in the stiff breeze, as Jack stands on the roof of the motel, looking out at the city.

Released from the hospital a few hours earlier, because the staff could find nothing wrong with him, Jack is glad to finally get a few minutes to himself to get his thoughts in order before they head back to Earth.

He's still standing there, lost in thought when he hears the door to the roof open and close behind him.

"I thought I'd find you up here," Ianto says, leaning on the railing beside him.

"You know me that well already?"

Ianto looks out over the city, his expression troubled. "Not really." He sighs. "But I knew him. It's hard seeing you, and remembering what we had. Sometimes I..."

"I know what you mean."

"I thought you might want this."

Jack turns to look at Ianto for the first time, seeing the coat folded over his arm. "You had it cleaned." Jack runs his hand across the familiar grey-blue wool.

"Repaired too," Ianto says, holding it out so that Jack can put it on.

"You didn't have to."

"I know." A small, sad smile tugs at Ianto's lips. "But I needed to do something while we waited for you to wake up."

Jack reaches into the pocket, looking for the photo.

"It's safe." Ianto's hand strays to the inside pocket of of his suit jacket. "And thank you. It was his favourite, I would have hated to have lost it."

"Least I could do."

"All the same, thank you."

"You'll come back to Earth with us, won't you?" Ianto asks, trying to sound like it doesn't matter to him, when it obviously does.

"Yeah." Jack closes his eyes, feeling the wind in his hair, and for a moment he can imagine himself standing high up on one of the buildings overlooking Cardiff. Letting out a slow breath, he opens his eyes. "It's time."

The spaceport is busy, and finding a ship travelling past Earth isn't difficult. It's a little disappointing, Jack thinks, that most of the ships, including the one they are now booked on, are cargo ships that take on a few passengers, he'd have liked to have shown them a proper space-going passenger liner.

"A couple more days and we'll be on Earth," Ianto says, walking over to Jack. "Does Torchwood know we're coming?"

"Gwen won't mind."

"You haven't told her you're coming back?" Ianto asks, surprised.

"You think I should?" Jack asks. He'd been planning on just turning up, making one of his dramatic entrances and picking up the running of Torchwood from where he'd left off.

"I think it would be polite."

There are a row of public video phones in the waiting room at the spaceport,

"Hey," Jack calls over to one of the staff. "What's the range on this thing?"

"Planet and near orbit," he says, walking over to Jack. "Where do you want to call?"

"Third planet, Sol system."

"Not a chance, mate, sorry." He wanders away.

Once he's gone, Tosh, who's been watching what has been going on, looks at the back of the screen and says, "Give me five minutes, and your phone, I think I can do something about this."

It takes a little longer than five minutes, but eventually Tosh says, "There will be a bit of a time delay on this, but it should work now."

"You are a genius." Jack gives her a quick hug.

Tosh smiles. "Go on, make the call, before somebody realised I've improved their tech."

The screen flickers for a moment, the image wavering in and out of focus before becoming stable.

Gwen is turned away from the screen as they make the connection.

Jack taps the screen, then asks loud enough to get Gwen's attention, "You missed me?"

Gwen turns round, confusion turning to delight as she sees who it is.

"Jack!" Gwen says, excited, leaning closer to the screen. "Where have you been? It's been months."

"Oh, here and there, went to a few bars, saved some people, travelled to a parallel world." Jack smiles disarmingly, not wanting her to ask how he is. "Nothing exciting. How about you?"

"Had a baby, saved the world a couple of times, met the queen." She returns his smile. "It's all been a bit mad really."

"And Torchwood is managing okay?"

"It's still here." She gives him a tired smile, happiness being replaced by something more melancholy. "I've got Andy and Lois helping organise the rebuilding work and dealing with London. It's slow going though. I think we're going to be working out of my house for a while yet."

"Look on the bright side, we'll save a fortune on take-out with Rhys' cooking."

"We?" Gwen asks excitedly, "You're coming back?"

"Yeah." Jack nods, pleased to see Gwen so happy. "I'm coming home, and I'm bringing a few friends with me."

"Oh." Gwen looks surprised, and a little doubtful. "They're aliens, then?

"Not exactly. I know you'll want to meet them." Jack moves back from the screen so that she can see Owen, Tosh and Ianto.

"Bloody hell." Gwen stares wide eyed at them, then turning away from the screen, says, "Rhys come over here, tell me I'm not imagining this."

A moment later Rhys moves into view, holding the baby.

Rhys stares at the screen, confused, before saying to Gwen, "Well if you're imaging it, then so am I."

Jack looks all of them. His team.

It's going to be hard going back to Earth, knowing what happened there and his involvement in it. And part of him feels guilty for being so happy at having what feels like a second with his team. Especially when he's been unable to do anything about what happened to Stephen.

It's time though to go back though. Time to help keep Earth safe. It's what he does. It's what Torchwood does. The 21st century is where it all changes, and with his new team with him Jack knows that they'll be ready.

The End.

(For now at least anyway. Although I have got some plot ideas for a sequel or two.)