I know this is a really quick update, but I couldn't sleep last night so in the end I gave up and wrote fanfiction instead! This is the final chapter. Enjoy!

Toshiko closed her eyes in horror, waiting for the inevitable blackness. It was taking longer than she had expected. And, wait, shouldn't it hurt more? Opening her eyes, she looked down at her stomach. There were a few flecks of blood, sure, but there didn't seem to be any actual wound. so what had happened? She looked up, and saw a man – Gray, that was his name. Jack's brother – lying on the ground, clutching his arm, which was bleeding profusely and glaring up at someone else. A gun lay about a meter away from him, and Toshiko went cold with the sudden realisation that he had been about to shoot her. She looked up to see who it was who had saved her.

"Jack! Jack, you're ok!"

She couldn't believe it, she had been so worried. Gray was also staring up at Jack, anger and horror and some other emotion on his face. "How did you survive?!"

"Please, can we just stop with the questions?" Jack really didn't want to have to talk to these people. He had been suffering for the past 1,874 years. He didn't want to have to relive those days.
"We found you in a 20-foot grave! Do you want us to just accept that?"
Jack glared at her. "Yes, I do."
Now the man spoke up. "You're supposed to be out there working for us! Who gave you this ring?"
Jack was suddenly angry. He had to sort this out, and these people were being infuriatingly slow on the uptake that he didn't want to answer questions. "I've crossed my own timeline! I can't be allowed to meet myself; a lot of lives depend on this! You'll be protecting the future. That's what you're here for, isn't it?! And now I need you to put me in the morgue. Freeze me, set the alarm to defrost in 106 years time."

"And what happens then?"

Jack fixed her with a steely glare. "I save the world."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack gasped as he regained consciousness. For a moment he thought he was still buried, he could almost taste the earth clogging his throat, choking him… then his mind cleared and he realized he was in the morgue drawer at Torchwood. It had worked! It was now exactly a year before the events of 'Exit Wounds'. Plenty of time to formulate a rescue strategy. It was only now, however, that he realized the flaw in his plan. He couldn't get out by himself. Damn! He'd been hoping to slip away unnoticed, he couldn't have any of the team knowing what was going to happen…still, it wasn't like he had a choice here. It was either: alert the team to the fact that he was there, or wait in this drawer for a year. And he knew which would be easier for him. I could always ret-con whoever comes to find me. Jack reasoned, and began banging on the drawer. He hoped to God it wasn't Owen who opened the drawer; he would be most likely to ask the most questions…

Jack swore quietly as light suddenly flooded his face when the drawer was pulled open. He sat up, blinking, and realized it was Ianto. "Oh thank God it's you!" he exclaimed. He made to throw his arms around the young man's neck, but he flinched away from him as though Jack had a contagious disease or something.

"Don't touch me!" he hissed.

Jack was hurt. Why was Ianto acting like this? He did some quick mental calculations and realized with horror that it was only a week since Lisa had died. Oh, that was all he needed, a version of Ianto that still wanted him dead. And that meant he wouldn't trust him. Damn. He thought quickly. "Ianto, listen to me, some creatures are loose in the Hub. I don't know what they are, but one of them hit me and locked me in the drawer. We have to find them…"

"So where's the body?"

"Excuse me?"

"The body, sir." Ianto said coolly. "That drawer has been occupied by 'John Doe' since long before I arrived at Torchwood three."

Jack stared at Ianto, absorbing this. How the hell had he known that? Sometimes he hated that Ianto could be so efficient.

"Ok, Ianto, the truth. You deserve that. I've crossed my own timeline; I'm from a year into the future. I can't tell you what's going on, but it is vitally important that I get out of here without meeting anyone. Especially myself."

Ianto regarded him for a few seconds. "If you're from the future, how come you've been in there since 1901?"

Jack's face clouded over. "I can't talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. Just trust me when I say I need to get out. And I need to retcon you. You can't remember this; it will disrupt the whole timeline."

"And why should I trust you?" Ianto spat. "You killed Lisa. You destroyed my life. You expect me to just accept what you're telling me without proof? And then to let you take my memories?!"

"Ianto, please!" Jack was begging now. He was painfully aware that every second he remained in the Hub was another second one of the other team members, or himself, walked in. "You want proof?" he dug into his pocket and pulled out a battered leather wallet. He pulled out a few pictures, making sure Ianto didn't see any of them. Most of them were of the two men together, and Jack didn't think Ianto could handle that just yet. He selected a picture that was more innocent. It showed all five of them seated on Toshiko's sofa, grinning, with a big 'Happy 24th!' cake in front of them. Gwen and Jack both had had there arms draped comfortably over Ianto's shoulders. Toshiko and Owen were both laughing at a joke Owen had just told, Owen not quite looking at the camera. They all looked so happy. "Your birthday." He explained at Ianto's blank look.

"But that's not for another few months…"

"Exactly."

Ianto gazed in wonder at the picture. "They're celebrating it…" he traced a finger over the image, drinking it in.

Jack felt a huge twinge of guilt at the look on Ianto's face. He must have been so lonely back then...up until then none of Ianto's previous four birthdays had been recognized, he had never got more than a vague 'Happy birthday' as he handed someone their coffee. With a grin he remembered the look of suspicious delight on Ianto's face when Jack had forced him to go to Toshiko's and he had found the other three there with presents, all grinning at him.

The young man looked up at him suddenly. "Tell me what happens." He said.

"I can't do that."

"So answer yes or no. What happens to me? Am I still at Torchwood?"

"Yes."

"Am I happy?"

"Yes. Very happy." Something in Jack's tone made Ianto look up at him sharply.

"Am I seeing someone else?"

Jack tried not to let any emotion show on his face. "Yes."

Ianto nodded. Jack felt relieved, he was afraid Ianto might ask about this person, and Jack couldn't tell him it was he. If he was right about the date, it was at least another two weeks until the two men got together, and at least two or three months until either of them admitted to feelings deeper than 'casual shag'.

Ianto seemed to be battling with himself. Eventually he made a decision. "Ok. I'll get you out of the Hub. But I wont let you retcon me."

"I have to."

"No." Ianto turned to walk out of the room, and Jack grabbed him, pushing the pressure point on the back of his neck to make him black out, catching the young man before he hit the floor. Dragging Ianto back into the main area of the Hub, he laid him carefully on the sofa, then went into his office and retrieved a retcon pill. Walking back down to the unconscious Ianto, he placed it in the young man's mouth, and then poured water in after it. Ianto reflexively swallowed. Jack sat there for a few minutes, stroking the young man's hair. Then he realized that he really had to get out of there so, with a final kiss to Ianto's forehead, he activated the invisible lift and rose out into the city above, knowing that it would be at least another year until he saw any of this again.

Jack glared down at the prone figure on the floor. "I forgive you, Gray. I give you absolution. Now do the same for me."

In answer, Gray spat at the floor in Jack's direction. "I prayed for death. Those creatures, the things they did to us, because of you, the favourite son, the one who lived, who'll always live. The only strength I have is my hatred for you."

Jack winced at the hatred in his voice, then turned his attention to Toshiko. "You ok?"

She was distracted by Owen's voice over the comms. "Tosh, talk to me. I need your help here, babe."

"I'm fine, Jack. You need to go and find the others, I'll stay here and help Owen."

Jack nodded, and turned to run down to the cells, then paused. He eyed Gray warily. He should really knock him out, even without a gun there was no telling what he could do. Unable to stop the tears sliding down his face, Jack held a rohypnol soaked handkerchief up to Gray's mouth, only releasing him when the young man stopped struggling. "Tie him up." He said to Toshiko and swept out of the room, rubbing his eyes.

"I've got an idea."

Ianto listened desperately as he heard John fiddling about with a piece of tech. It was all very well sending out the recall signal, but that still didn't help any of them. What had happened to Jack? John told him he buried him, so he should have woken up by now, distracted Gray from Tosh… Ianto balked suddenly as he realised that Toshiko would have already been shot. And with Gray standing over her, she couldn't help Owen either. "This cant be how it ends…" he whispered, appalled.

Then the high pitched whining sound filled the air.

"What have you done?!" demanded Gwen.

"Recall signal. Time for all the pets to return home." John smiled triumphantly.

"Jack!" Ianto started at Gwen's joyous shout, and ran to the door, which swung open. Gwen had already grabbed Jack and was squeezing him hard. Jack carefully disentangled himself and grabbed Ianto into a hug, pressing his lips to the younger man's forehead.

"Quite a queue for the hugs."

Jack and Ianto both turned to grin at John.

"Always has been, always will be. Nice use of the ring by the way."

"Thank you. Least I could do. Listen, Gray's in the Hub."

Jack's face darkened. "I know. It's done." He glanced over at Ianto and Gwen. "Come on. We need to get back to the main section"

"Tosh, come on girl. Here we go. Right, you've done it Tosh, you've got power! Are you OK?"

Toshiko smiled at the note of concern in Owen's voice. "Yeah, I'm fine. We just had a little trouble with Jack's brother. Its fine."

"Right. You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, let's do this together."

"Right… okay…" she hit a few keys and froze at what was on the screen. "Oh god. Owen..."

"What's the matter?"

"There's no way to stop the meltdown. It's too far gone."

"OK, OK, that is not good, is it? But come on, Tosh, there's got to be something, there's always something. Come on."

Tosh was distracted by Jack running back in, closely followed by John, Gwen and Ianto, the latter of whom froze at the sight of her and stared as though he'd seen a ghost. She frowned, wondering at his reaction, and then Jack flicked on his own comms system.
"Owen? It's Jack. Listen, the only option is to vent the flow channels internally."

Toshiko was puzzled. He hadn't been here, how had he know what Owen had been saying?

"Jack! Good to have you back mate. Vent them where?"

"The area you're in is the containment building."

"Yeah?"

Toshiko tapped a few more keys and spoke to him again. "You need to set up a time-delay program, channel the fuel into that bunker and instigate permanent lockdown. Seal the building and the meltdown will be contained within. And, obviously, remember to get out!"

"Yeah, I think I can remember that bit, thanks."

Toshiko grinned slightly. "I'll open the system protocol, you just need to enter the timeframe and authorise, OK?"

"OK, Tosh. Let's do this thing. And, Tosh, thank you."

"That's what I'm here for."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ianto pulled Jack over to one side. "You saved her! But…how?"

Jack blushed slightly. "I'll explain later. Right now what's important is that she's alive, and she's ok. We did it, Ianto!"

"There's still Owen."

"Yes, but we know what's going to happen! And we have more time. Ianto, its ok!" the two men hugged joyously, before Jack crushed his lips passionately into Ianto's. They jumped apart when they heard Gwen clear her throat.

"Sorry to break up the little moment, guys, but do you want to come help out Toshiko over here? For some reason you seem to know what you're doing!"

"Ok, Owen, you're doing great!" Jack called cheerfully over the comm system.

"Yeah, thanks Jack, I am trying to work here!" Jack grinned at the irritated note in Owen's voice. It seemed weird that none of them would ever know what he and Ianto had done to protect them…

"Jack!" he looked up at the alarm in Ianto's voice, and saw what he had spotted. Jack had become distracted, and hadn't noticed the power surge.

"OWEN, GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" he yelled.

"Hold on…Yes! Rock and roll!"

"Owen, now! There's a power surge coming!"

"What?"

"A power surge! It'll trigger the emergency lockdown! MOVE!"

"Oh, shit." Owen set off at a run for the door, alarms starting blaring as he was about halfway there.

"Owen?! Owen, are you there?"

"NO!!"

Jack's eyes widened at the sound of Owen's scream. "Owen, tell me you got out, please?!"

"I can't get out! Not like this. Not like this! I'm not going yet. Get me out of here, Tosh! Get me out of here! I've died once; I'm not doing it again! What're you all doing?! Where's Gwen, Ianto, John? You want to watch the dead man die again?!"

"Owen, just stay calm…"

"Why should I do that? Where's the fun in that? I'm gonna rage my way to oblivion!" he screamed, and Jack pulled out his earpiece, his face deathly white. Toshiko and Gwen had started crying now. Ianto ushered Gwen and John into the conference room, sure Toshiko would rather have this conversation without people listening. He felt numb. Owen was going to die… turning, he knelt down beside Jack and put his arm around his shoulder. The other man didn't respond.

"Please stop." Toshiko was crying in earnest now.

"Why? Give me one good bloody reason why - one good reason why I shouldn't keep screaming."

"Because you're breaking my heart!" she sobbed loudly, tears cascading down her face. Ianto could hear Owen panting over the system.

"I'm sorry."

Toshiko gulped. "It's my fault…"

"No, no, no, it isn't. No, it isn't. Don't you dare go there, Tosh. I'm really sorry." There was a pause. "What's gonna happen to me, Tosh?"

"I can't…"

"Please. OK, I need to know."

Toshiko wiped her face with her hand. She couldn't believe this was happening. "The…the containment chamber will be flooded with the irradiated coolant."

"Ah. My body will slowly decompose, as I watch."

"I should've been able to stop it!"

"Oh, come on, Tosh. There's no way you could've anticipated that power spike, come on."

Ianto looked down at Jack, who if possible turned even whiter at that comment. Because he could have anticipated the spike. They both could. They knew it was coming.

"Besides, you've saved… my back so many times in the past. Right from the moment I joined."

Tosh smiled weakly. "Your second week I had to cover for you, pretend I was a medic, because you were hung over and unreachable."

"What was it, Space Pig?"

"Space Pig." She gave a small laugh, which dissolved into more sobs.

"Please, Tosh. Please don't cry." Toshiko tried to stop. "We never did get that date, did we, you and me? We sort of, err, missed each other. It was my fault. I didn't... didn't notice until it was too late. I'm sorry."

"Me too."

There was another pause, then Owen spoke quietly. "It's starting."

"Owen…"

"It's all right. Really, Tosh. It's all right."

"I love you."

"I…I love you too. Oh, God…"

"Owen…"
There was nothing but static now. Owen had gone. Gwen and John emerged from the conference room, John with his eyes a little watery, Gwen with silent tears rolling down her face.

"NOOOAGH!" Jack gave a sudden anguished cry and began to rock back and forwards. "It's my fault!" he shouted, before dissolving into noisy, racking, gasping sobs.

Later that night, after Ianto had logged Owen permanently off the system and Jack had sent everyone home, Jack called Ianto into his office. He felt terrible; shutting Gray away in the cryogenic drawer in the morgue had been heartbreaking, on top of everything else that had happened. "I can't do this, Yan. I really can't."

Ianto frowned. "We have to, Jack. It's not our fault…"

"Yes it is! It is our fault, we could have saved him!"

"What are you saying, Jack?"

Jack produced several small white pills. "I want us to retcon ourselves. Take the four months; back to before we went through the Rift."

"We can't…"

"Ianto, maybe you can live with yourself, but I can't! I can't face Toshiko everyday knowing that he died because of me!"

"We saved Toshiko, Jack! That has to mean something!"

"It does! Oh God, it does. But I can't not feel sorry about Owen. Besides, you saw what happens in series three! Do you really want to know that's coming?"

Ianto felt suddenly angry. "So, what, you want us to forget about everything? About Kitty, and James, and everything that happened in the other world?!" Jack nodded. "We're supposed to be getting married, Jack! Or does that not mean anything to you?!"

"Of course it does." Jack said sharply. "I want to marry you more than anything in this entire world. But I have to forget this, Ianto. I can't live with myself, and I have to do that forever."

Ianto looked into his lover's face and softened at the anguish and pain he saw there. "But if we forget, it won't happen. You said yourself that before we fell through the Rift you would never…"

"I know. But I'm sure I will someday! I love you and I want to be with you, and that is not a result of what happened through the Rift."

Ianto nodded. He thought around for something to change the topic. "How did you save Toshiko by the way?"

Jack smiled "I told them to freeze me for 106 years. I've been living just off the coast of Scotland for the past year." For some reason, Ianto found this quite funny and began to laugh.

"How did you get out?"

"You got me out. I had to retcon you, so sorry about that."

Ianto blinked at him. "I…" he suddenly remembered Owen waking him up with a smirk about a year ago, muttering something about it being sad to drink alone when Ianto had admitted to having no memory of the previous few hours. "That was you?"

"Yeah. And now I have to do it again." Tears began to slide down Jack's cheeks again. "Please, Yan. Don't make this any harder than it has to be, please."

"I don't want to forget…" Ianto said quietly.

"Neither do I" Jack whispered, coming round from behind his desk and giving Ianto a hug. The younger man looked up at him.

"I'll do it. For you."

"Thank you" Jack whispered, and Ianto leaned up and kissed him softly. When they broke apart, he reached up and unclasped the chain which held his wedding ring, pulling it from round his neck. Fighting back more tears, he held it out to Jack.

"This might trigger memories." He said. Jack nodded. Ianto suddenly threw the ring across the room, not wanting to look at it any more. Jack caught hold of his arm and held him close, whispering incoherently into the younger man's hair. The two men slid down the wall and sat side by side on the floor, and Jack held out the pills. Ianto swallowed them, and laid his head on Jack's shoulder. Jack waited until he heard the young man's breathing grow steady, asleep. Then he swallowed his own pills. As the room began to grow fuzzy and he had to fight to keep his eyes open, Jack realised he was crying again. He didn't want to surrender the good memories.

But sometimes, it was better to forget.

When Gwen and Toshiko turned up to work the next morning, both of them feeling drained and broken, they saw Jack and Ianto standing beside the computer monitor, watching the CCTV of when Owen had died. Jack turned to face them as they came in. "What happened?" he whispered.

"How can you have forgotten? Are you alright?"

"No. Neither I nor Ianto have any memory of the last 3 weeks. The last thing I remember was weevil hunting, and then I woke up here."

"Do you remember falling into the Rift?"

Jack and Ianto exchanged a startled look. "The Rift? What happened?!"

"We don't know. You fell in and came back 24 hours later. You're fine though" Gwen said hastily. She looked at Toshiko. "What do you reckon? Delayed trauma?"

"I don't know. Could be. I'm not a medic…" at this her eyes filled with tears again. Jack turned suddenly and disappeared into his office. He sat at his desk and buried his head in his hands. Owen was dead. How could he not remember that? He felt tears prick the back of his eyelids and fought them down. He had to be strong for his team. His eyes were suddenly caught by something gold glinting in the corner of the room. A ring? Jack went and picked it up, examining it with a curious expression on his face. How the hell had that got there? He certainly hadn't bought it. He cared for Ianto, sure, but there was no way he'd ever propose. He just didn't do that sort of thing. He supposed he had better hide it, didn't want Ianto getting ideas. He strode over to the safe in the wall, opened it and placed the ring right at the back, then closed the safe and returned to the others in the Hub.

And forgot all about it.

END.

Finished! Big thanks and hugs to everyone who reviewed! It's been great.

Might write a sequel after the exams, if people like it.