Chapter Twenty-Six: Endings

The TARDIS landed in the same place it had landed before the Crucible. "You know, Doctor, you act like such a lonely man," said Sarah Jane as she walked out. "But look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth." The two embraced. "Oh, I've got to go! He's only fourteen. It's a long story. And thank you!"

"Sarah Jane," Cassie called after her, "Tell Luke I'd love to become friends. Ever since leaving my friends on the parallel world, I've missed being around kids my age. And Luke seems pretty cool."

"Will do, Cassie. I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon!" And with that, Sarah Jane went to her car and drove off.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was screwing around with Jack's watch. "I told you, no teleport. And, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing for me? Save the world one more time."

"Consider it done," Martha grinned. "Come on, Mickey." And the two of them walked off to go back to UNIT headquarters, saluting the Doctor as they left.

"Right then! Gwen, Jack, you two can head off back to Cardiff, and then…" He turned to Rose, Cassie, and Donna. "Planet Midnight? Finally?"

Cassie shook her head. "I think there's something else I'd rather do." She turned to Jack. "Offer still stands, no?" Jack and Gwen nodded emphatically.

"Offer? What offer?" The Doctor looked quite perplexed.

Donna nudged him in the side. "She's going with Jack, you dumbo."

"Wait… what? You're going?! But we were going to go to Midnight, and I had so many places I wanted to take you… Cassie, why?"

"It's been incredible," Cassie replied, taking her dad's hand. "Traveling in the TARDIS and all. I've loved it. But after everything that's happened today, I feel like another alien expert on the ground is what the Earth needs. Jack's offered me a spot on the Torchwood team, and I could do a lot of good there! I've had my fun, Dad. Now it's time for me to take responsibility and defend the Earth."

The Doctor grinned. "It's been my honor to have you on board, Cassandra Yvonne Tyler. You've been brilliant." He pulled her into a tight hug. "You make me so proud, Cassie. I couldn't have asked for a more incredible daughter." Kissing the top of her head, he whispered, "I love you so much, and I'm going to miss you."

"I love you too, Dad." Cassie let go of the hug, and went over to Rose, who was crying softly. "Don't cry, Mum," she said gently. "You'll see me plenty, I promise."

"Cassie, love, I'm going to miss you so much," Rose said, hugging her daughter. "Stay safe, alright? You may be able to regenerate, but don't go spending them all at once. I expect you to live a good couple of hundred years." She chuckled. "Blimey, I never thought I'd be saying that to my kid."

"And you better not go spending all of yours, either," Cassie teased. "You've got more than I've got, actually. You have twelve. I only have nine."

"Well, then, you better stay safe! I'm not outliving my daughter." Rose wiped a few tears from her eyes. "I love you, Cassie."

"You too," Casse grinned, and she went to hug Donna. "Keep those two on task, Donna. Don't let 'em snog when someone's about to die."

Donna saluted. "Yes ma'am. You can count on me." The two burst out laughing. "Oh, I am going to miss you, Cassie."

Jack gave a little "ahem" cough. "Excuse me, but I believe there are three idiots in Cardiff awaiting us," he announced. "Can we get a move on at any point soon?"

"Right." Cassie walked over to Jack and Gwen. "Bye, guys!" And they watched as Donna, Rose, and the Doctor walked into the TARDIS and it dematerialized. "Here, Jack," Cassie whispered, and she sonicked his watch, fixing his teleport. "Don't tell my dad."

There was a quiet zap as Jack, Gwen, and Cassie teleported into the Hub. "Missed us?" Jack asked playfully.

The aforementioned three idiots ran to hug Gwen and Jack. "What's Cassie doing here?" Ianto asked.

"I'm joining up," Cassie replied. "Jack's offered me a place."

"Oh, excellent," and for the first time in history, Owen's tone held no snark. "Really, excellent. I was hoping you would, Cassie."

"Wait a minute," Tosh interjected. "Did Owen Harper just say something positive?!"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Owen replied snarkily, turning to her. "Problem?"

"None whatsoever," Tosh grinned back.

Cassie, much to Ianto's joy, took a bit of initiative. "Okay! Since God only knows you lot have been holding it in for way too long…" Cassie paused for a moment. "Official Torchwood snog session. Right here, right now. Go on. Snog each other senseless. Ianto and I will sit and watch and be blissfully entertained by your ridiculous amounts of cuteness." She and Ianto high-fived and they sat back to watch the action as the two couples got their long-awaited moment of intimacy.

"Right then," Jack said five minutes later. Straightening himself up, he said rather formally, "Cassandra Yvonne Tyler, welcome to Torchwood." He saluted her.

Cassie saluted right back. "It's my honor, Captain Jack Harkness." She grinned cheekily. "The twenty-first century is when everything changes… and oh, am I ready."

Hey everyone! Here's chapter twenty-six, the last chapter of Cassie! As you may have guessed from the events of this chapter, Cassie's story is going to continue in Tales from the Hub. And, since TFTH totally breaks canon, there will be ABSOLUTELY NO Torchwood spoilers! So you can enjoy the frankly ridiculous and wonderful adventures of Gwen, Jack, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, and Cassie, without having watched a single dang episode of Torchwood. Eat my fez, River Song!

A shoutout to Pebna Wolf, who got my musical reference in the previous chapter. The song was "The Universe is Weird," by Hank Green. Nobody caught my literary reference, though! Cassie makes comments on infinities and some being larger than others - this is a subtle reference to John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. On that note, a very tiny TFTH spoiler: there will be more musical and literary references to come! Keep your eyes and ears open!

As I close this story, I want to give hugs to:

My followers: 13girlsrule, All For Jesus, Anne Cheshire, Arkell26, Badwolfdoesthedrunkgiraffe, BeSome2, BonnieBlueNinja, Chaoscrew, CharmedKids, Cottonpaw, CountryHick29, Da2001, DaKu91, Emerald Alitrex, EverythingEver, Fairest Rose, FirePheonix15, FieryWhiteWolf, Forever Awesomer, Ghargr18, Hinata001, IBeleiveInHer, Invader Random Phantom, JessWinchester, JezaBel-Kai, Julieetoile, JustAnotherGirlAloneAtTheBar, Leigea, Lesliemw, Lillian Mellark-Kenway, Lottipoppi, MSU82, MariLucia, NicNack4U, Pebna Wolf, Psychfreak66, Queen of Supernatural Lovers, Rayne90, RhyzOneill, RoseWeasley929, SeaMoonlight Butterfly, Spindle89, Swimchick1224, The Mad Traveler, TimeLadyHope, UndeadOctopus, Xxstories-unitedxX, aml10, , doctorwhoviansunite, endlessnotebooks, equineprobie, famoussimplyforbeingoutrageous, fictiongirlmaddian, goodnight raggedy man, hermoine snape, hillybutt, iloveedward1987, jazzybear467, jules452, kaliqe, kaylameyer36, manyfandomsgirl, mari-mari1, millap, mmartin2, moviegirl4001, moviemaniac217, muserl0ser, , phanofopera, phoebesglassballoon, pottergoose, ravageddragon30, shadowcaster01, tiger-girl-3000, tooker86, upsidedownflyingelephant, vandagold, and viet girl14.

My favoriters: 13girlsrule, All For Jesus, Badwolfdoesthedrunkgiraffe, FirePheonix15, GabbyCB, GingerTyPerior, GriffinGirl8655, Hinata001, Invader Random Phantom, JessWinchester, Leigea, MSU82, MarthaPotter15, NicNack4U, Psychfreak66, Pumacura, Rayne90, RhizOneill, SeaMoonlight Butterfly, Some-of-us-live, The Mad Traveler, TimeLadyHope, Trowa'sDancer, , doctorwhoviansunite, endlessnotebooks, harrypotterseriesrocks, hermoine snape, iloveedward1987, jenn008, kaaaay, mfluderX, mmartin2, moviegirl4001, namikaze93600, sashaxh, tooker86, and twi-addict1.

And, last but most certainly not least, my reviewers: Pebna Wolf, Ghargr18, xRachelxBrowniex, The Mad Traveler, RhizOneill, GingerTyPerior, FirePheonix15, XxXLuvTheOriginalsXxX, Abby, hermoine snape, jenn008, Undead Octopus, hillybutt, sherlockedbyben, Queen of Supernatural Lovers, Iron-Mantis, moviemaniac21, Truebluetardis, Piper K, totallyau, MWLS0927, InspiredTimrLady, Mayara Who, doctorwhoviansunite, and a couple of anonymous guest reviewers.

As always, love and ducks to Rachel and Jubilee, hugs to... everyone I just mentioned, thanks to Eleonora, Noe, Hanul, and Kizzie, and goodbye to all.

Love,

Ofelia xxxx