Previous part of Separate Ways.

***

Erin was in her room reading when Ianto knocked on the door. "Can I come in?"

She looked up from her book and smiled, knowing he couldn't see her, but feeling that he could. "Please do."

He opened the door and peeked in before walking in and closing it behind him. "Well, I tried to quit today..." He draped his jacket over a hanger before hanging it in her closet.

"You what? Ianto, why?" She sat from where she had been laying.

"Tired of the job, I guess. Too much stress," he sat beside her on the bed after taking his shoes off.

Erin began to chuckle, but then coughed to cover it up. "Too stressful to work at a Tourist Office?"

He smiled slightly at the thought. He wished he could tell her the truth about his job, but knew she was safer believing the carefully constructed lie he had told her. "Yeah, well, doesn't it get way where you work?"

"Point well made," Erin agreed. "Sometimes I just want to throttle the customers." She pantomimed choking someone before falling back on the bed.

"Sometimes," Ianto admitted in a hush, "I want to strangle my boss."

Erin looked up at him, rolling onto her back. "Sometimes I want to strangle your boss!"

Ianto laughed louder than he meant to before leaning to kiss her. "He wouldn't let me quit."

"See? That means you're important." She threw her arms around him. "So, what happened after that?"

He let himself be pulled down. "Well, I walked in, all ready to quit - and Jack told me 'no' - that's all there was to it."

"How can he just tell you 'no'? Isn't there some sort of rule about that?"

"He's Captain Jack Harkness - he makes his own rules." Ianto spoke in a mocking tone before continuing. "Well, it was more of a bribe, when it comes down to it. But it worked." He looked over at her.

"What did you agree to?" A look of concern crossed Erin's face. If there was one thing she knew about Jack Harkness, it was that he could charm the panties of Mother Theresa.

"I agreed to a raise, less work, and helping him find more employees," he frowned a bit at the recollection.

"That doesn't sound too bad. How did you manage that?"

"Not sure - but let's talk about something else." He turned from her and looked at the door.

"Like what?" She loosened her grip a bit.

"Like us." His voice broke as he spoke.

"Like what about us?" She rolled back again to stare at the ceiling.

Still looking at the door, he answered. "Like - everything." He turned on his side to face her.

"Ianto, what?"

"Where, well do we go from here?"

"Where is 'here'?" She felt a lump forming in her throat.

"Erin, I think I love you."

The room was suddenly very silent. If Erin had not been lying down, she would have fallen back a bit. She was grateful for the mattress beneath her. Ianto watched her every move as she turned to face him. There were tears in her eyes that did nothing more than glisten.

"You love me?" She squeaked out.

"Yes. Does that surprise you?" He studied her face, wanting to remember this moment always.

Erin didn't know how to answer, so she stared at him for a moment, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way. "No, I was thinking about you all day. That should say something to you."

"It does." He kissed her again.

"What does it say?"

"It says you feel the same way."

"Then say it again."

"I love you, Erin Alley."

"I love you, Ianto Jones."

Again, the silence fell over them as they realized what had just happened.

"Well, then," Ianto stammered, "what do we do next?"

"Run away and live happily ever after?" Erin suggested without thinking.

Ianto raised his eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"I...don't...know," she spoke slowly, unsure that she was saying the right thing.

"Then why say it?"

"It popped out before I could stop it." She tried to cover her mouth as if that could make all the words go back to where they came from. It didn't work.

He gently pulled her hands down. "Marry me.'

She sat upright on the bed quickly. "What?!"

Ianto looked up at her hopefully. "Marry me," he repeated.

Erin crawled off the bed, away from him. Ianto rolled to the side she had vacated to keep her within reach. "Don't joke like that," she warned.

"I'm not joking," he reached for her as he sat. "That would be cruel."

"You aren't cruel," she assured him as well as herself.

"That's right," he smiled a hundred-watt smile. "I was serious. Will you?"

"Ohgodohgodohgod," was all she could manage.

Ianto smiled at her hysterics. In truth, he thought he would be the one in that state when he had finally worked up the courage to ask someone. But it had been easy. He hadn't even planned to do it. I just seemed right. And now he was amused that she was having a panic. "Take a breath, Erin, love."

She did as instructed and felt instantly better. "Okay - fine now."

"Good," he held her hands in front of her and looked up at her. "Are you ready to answer?"

She nodded, biting her lip, knowing he wanted to hear her answer out loud. Swallowing, she tried to form a coherent thought. Her mind was still repeating her earlier sentiment. "Yes?"

He laughed gently at her. "Is that a question or an answer?"

"An answer." This time, her voice was steady.

Ianto's eyes sparkled. "And you said 'yes', right?"

"Of course."

In a very un-Ianto moment, he quickly stood and, letting go of her hands, began to leap around, 'whoop'ing.

Erin watched him, concerned, and, she had to admit, a little scared. "Ianto?"

He quit jumping around and grabbed her tightly. "Oh! I have something for you!" He rummaged in his pockets, finally producing a small, burgundy, velvet box.

Erin's hands went to mouth in shock once again. "When did you get that?"

He opened the box to show her the ring inside. It was a silver band with twist near the stone setting - which happened to be holding one perfect peridot. "You're going to love this story."

"Do tell." He had a way of intriguing her and she didn't try to hide it.

"Well," he started, slipping it on her ring finger, "when I was born, my Gran got it for my mam. It's my birthstone. She put it away until the day I moved out." He stopped to watch her admire it, amazed that it fit her finger perfectly. "She gave it to me with the promise that I would give it to someone who loved me as much as she did."

"It's beautiful!" This time she let the tears she had been holding in fall. "The story and the ring."

He held her close to him. "Don't cry..."

"I'm not sad; I'm happy!" She spoke into his chest. "There was no one before me that you wanted to give this to? I find that hard to believe. Didn't you think about giving it to Lisa?"

He had told her about Lisa the night of their 'electric kiss'. But he hadn't told her about Jack. He figured it was time. "Not once." And he was telling the truth about that too. Yes, he had loved her, but something had always been missing, he realized now - something he had found in Erin.

"No one else? You're sure?" She was watching the way the light was scattered by the cut of the stone.

"No - not even Jack." There. He had said it. Ianto waited for a reaction.

"Jack? Why would Jack..." her voice trailed off in realization. "You mean - you and Jack?"

He nodded lightly.

"Oh. Well, that does explain a lot about the night you came to dinner..."

"It doesn't bother you?" It wasn't exactly the reaction he had been expecting.

"Not even a little. Why should it?" She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm not the jealous type. And besides, I got the man in the end - over Mr. Jack Harkness. I sooo win."

He put his arms around her as well. "I'm glad you feel that way."

"Let's not talk about the past anymore. We have plans about the future to make." She put her head to his chest.

"Agreed. Maybe we could go and get dinner first? I know just the place." His voice rumbled in her ear.

"Definitely," she agreed. "A celebration dinner is a great idea."

They stood, rocking for a moment before he spoke again. "You gonna tell Susan?"

She looked up at him. "You gonna tell Jack?"

"Nevermind," he smiled. "Let's keep it to ourselves for a bit. We can tell everybody at dinner on Sunday."

"Perfect." She accepted a kiss. "Let's go eat - I'm famished!"

"Let me get my jacket." Ianto started for the closet.

"No way! You'll make me look underdressed! Let's just go." She pulled him out the door behind her.

 

***

"How's it going in here?" The Doctor strode through the library door.

"This is excellent!" Taryn looked up from the book she was reading, showing him the cover.

"Glad you like it," he sat beside her. "You said you wanted to know when we got to where we were going. Well, we're there..."

She closed the book, noting the page she was on in her mind. "Well then, what do we do now? Put on costumes and try to blend in?"

"You can wear that. It's not like we're in the middle ages." He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Then where - uh, when are we?"

"1989 - Oconee County, Watkinsville, Georgia, USA." He smiled at the fact that they had arrived at the right place on the first try.

"Wow, that's when Susan was in high school - she was a Freshman." She rubbed her hands together in an 'evil genius'-type way. "This is going to be good."

"Do you know something I don't?" The Doctor was instantly curious.

"I know a lot from the stories she told. She should be really easy to find." Taryn got up, obviously ready for the adventure ahead.

"Okay - now - before we even go out, there are a few rules." He stood beside her.

"Rules?" She was busily taking her ponytail down replace it with two braids.

"Yes, rules." He began to count on his fingers as he spoke. "One - don't run off. Two - don't try to change something you aren't meant to. We're here to help Susan - no one else! Three - Don't run off."

"You said that one twice," Taryn pointed out helpfully.

"I know. It's important." He looked serious at her.

"Well, how are we supposed to help Susan? And more importantly, what are we here to help her with?" She bit at a nail as she asked.

He tugged on his ear, restraining the urge to pull her hand from her mouth. "Did she ever tell you about her first 'love'?"

"Uh - which? There were plenty of guys she talked about liking." She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Well, this would be the one who gave her her first kiss."

"Ahhh...him. I remember that story." She smiled, remembering the circumstances that lead up to that date. "Are we here for the big turning point?"

"Looks like it; what we need to do is simple."

"Won't anything we do change the way things are now?" Her head was starting to hurt.

"That's a bit complicated. You see, in order for her to become who she is now, we have to change this part. We already did in your present reality." He watched her eyes cross as he talked.

" Not sure I understand, but, okay." She held her hand up when he looked like he was going to try to explain. "Don't. Just tell me what I need to do."

"Okay - so, this is the day of the opossum. Do you know about that at all?" His hands went in his pockets and he rocked back onto his heels.

"Yes! This one is a good story!" Taryn bounced a little. "Do you want me to tell it?"

"It would help - I don't know the specifics. I only know what she wrote in her book."

"She wrote abou tit in a book? No wonder you think she's odd."Taryn shook her head.

"The story?" The Doctor gestured.

"Oh, yeah! Wel, as she tells it, there was a guy that was so smitten with her that he couldn't begin to tell her how much. So he set this opossum loose with a sign tied to it." Taryn nodded as if this were some old Earth custom that he had not been informed of.

The Doctor wrinkled his nose in thought. "Urgh. What did the sign say?"

She thought for a moment, trying to remember what her friend had told her. She could recall that it had something to do with a car, but not quite what it was. While she thought and tapped her chin in a very comical manner, The Doctor tapped his foot impatiently. Finally, it came to her. "Subaru, I love you." She emoted as she said the words, proud that she had remembered.

"Subaru?" He gave Taryn a puzzled look, not quite sure what this had to do with the woman she was friend's with.

"Kind of a car. My best guess is that it was a pet name for her." She rolled her eyes as she spoke.

The Doctor joined Taryn in her eyeroll. "O-kay then."

"Yeah, I know. But you know what they say in small towns like this, right?" She nudged him with her elbow.

"I have no idea." And he sounded like he didn't know if he wanted to know.

Taryn cleared her throat and put on her best Southern Belle accent. "Nothin' says 'I love ya' like a note tied to the tail of a critter!"

The Doctor was barely short of horrified at the thought. "No? Really?"

"May as well," she laughed back.

There was a moment while The Doctor paused to collect his thoughts. He wasn't sure that he was going to be able to get through this adventure. He rubbed his eyes a few quick times before speaking. "All right - ready then?"

"As I'm ever going to be - lead the way!" Taryn put the book on the sofa, sure she'd be back to finish it after the short diversion they were about to take.

The Timelord lead her back down the all to the console room and to the door. "Do you want to do the honors?" he asked, indicating the door.

"Sure!" She was excited to see exactly what this version of the past looked like. Susan had explained it to her on many occasions and even shared pictures with her, but - as with anything else - really being there would give her more insight. She briefly wondered if it was really only going to be this one trip with The Doctor or if she could maybe get him to take a few places before he made her go back. After all, when one had a time machine, one had all the time in the world.

"Lead on, Miss Beall..."

"Sure thing, Doctor." She pushed the door open to see they were amidst trailers - the nearest one marked 'Portable 4 - Hutto'. "Wow, she wasn't kidding when she said she grew up a bit redneck. Even the school has trailers!" She wondered if he even understood that little joke she had made.

"We need to find Susan, any ideas?" The Doctor focused.

"Commons." Taryn recalled. "I remember because I remember thinking 'something uncommon is in the commons' sounded like a great idea for a play..."

"Ahhh..." The Doctor understood. "So, all we need to need to do is find the 'commons'. Do you think there are signs?"

"Not a chance," Taryn patted him on the back and set off to find a student she could ask.

The Doctor stayed on her heels so he would lose her - or vice versa. It took no time for them to spot Susan herself. She was sitting with a group of friends, laughing. It was the same laugh Taryn had heard many many times before.

"This must be the place," The Doctor observed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah - odd that no one else has stopped us. This must be a really small town where the worst crime is a stolen chicken." Taryn looked around as she spoke.

"We look like we know what we're doing - that's usually enough. Keep you eyes open for the appearance of our guest marsupial of honor..." The Doctor reminded her.

As if on cue, said opossum trotted out with the sign tied firmly to his tail, but he was nowhere near the intended target. Taryn jumped into action and herded it towards Susan the best she could without being noticed. The Doctor stood back and watched, bemused, as the bottle blonde with hair that would put Hermione Granger to shame, jumped on her chair and began to shriek.

"Ahhh!" Her voice was shrill. "Who did this?!" She was pointing at the poor, confused creature.

"I did," a voice echoed in the large, high-ceilinged room - a voice familiar to Susan.

"Why?!" She was all but frantic.

"Because. I want you to go to the movie with me this Friday," he drawled, pushing his hands into his jean pockets.

From her perch, Susan of the late 80's inquired, "Why didn't you just ask me, Hank?"

"Well, hell, Subaru, I just did!" He sounded flustered that she didn't understand his intent.

She huffed for a moment before accepting. "Okay, Hank." Her hands went to her hips in a motion that Taryn instantly recognized. "But next time, please ask."

"Okay," he looked at the floor sheepishly before offering his hand to help her down.

"Is her voice always like that?" The Doctor asked Taryn, nudging her. But he found he was nudging air. He looked around and didn't see her anywhere.

"Taryn? Where are you?" He bumped into a group of boys with surfer-cuts and nicely tanned sinned leaning against the nearby lockers that lined the indoor commons area.

"Watch it, old man!" One of them warned, grabbing the man's trench lapels and tossing him to the side a bit.

"Oi! Let go!" He pulled himself away from them and smoothed his coat, still looking for Taryn.

The boys laughed at his frown and taunted him as he walked away. "Oi! Oi!" This was followed by malicious laughter.

"Leave him alone!" A voice with the vaguest tinge of a British accent called out. The Doctor turned to see who was defending him, The girl who had called out bore a remarkable resemblance to Susan, but there was something a little off.

"Thank you..." He fished for her name.

"Marie," she stuck her had out. "Glad I could help."

"Yeah, uh, maybe you could help me a little further and tell me if you saw my friend anywhere?" He ran is hand through his hair, trying to place the exact accent he was hearing, but failing.

"Sure. What does she look like?" She watched as he rummaged around in his pockets before finding what he was looking for.

Marie took it from him and smiled. "Oh! That's Holly, Wendy's sister - isn't it? C'mon. I'll show you where she and the deviants she calls friends hang out."

He was about to tell her she was wrong when she started to walk. Figuring it couldn't hurt, he followed her.

***

"Does he smell better now" Jack came into Joey's room to see him before he went to sleep.

"Tell Jack you always smell good," Susan joked, pulling a pair of footie pajamas on the boy.

"Daddy!" Joey pointed up at Jack with the finger he had been chewing on.

Jack bent and picked him up without hesitation. Susan's eyes all but left their sockets. "What did he just call you?!"

Joey flashed a smile eerily similar to the 'Harkness Grin' - which Jack was making as well. "You know your rule - if you think he said it, then he did."

"You taught him that!" She accused, standing up from where she had been sitting on the floor.

Jack laughed. "But I didn't! You can even ask Gwen."

Susan narrowed her eyes at the man. "Careful, I just might do that, Harkness," she warned. "But - when did this happen?"

"The other day," he finished zipping the pajamas Susan had been in the process of putting on the toddler.

"And you didn't tell me? Oh Gods! You think I taught him that - don't you?" She was horrified that he may think she was been devious.

"Susan, love, if the is something I have learned, it's that Joey learns enough on his own without prompting." He set the boy in his crib after kissing his forehead and hugging him.

He toddler fell to the mattress immediately, taking his cover and stuffed koala as he did so.

"Goodnight, Monkeypie," Susan said, blowing Joey a kiss as she pushed Jack out the door ahead of her. "What was..." She was cut off by a kiss.

"Let me show you something," Jack whispered.

Susan giggled before answering him. "Seen it, Jack Harkness - you need new lines."

He all but stuck his tongue out at her. "I'm being serious here. I need you to know a few things about me."

She suddenly understood how important this was to him.

Jack took her hand and led her to the table where he had set the laptop up. "Tosh opened the top secret files on me. I need to know right now if you don't want to do this."

Susan looked at him for a moment, thinking. "Jack, anything you want to tell me, I'll listen to."

"All right then." He held her hands to his chest. "But if you think it's too much at any time, just tell me."

"Okay." She was worried by the way he was talking. It wounded like he had a deep dark secret that she may not want to know after all. But she trusted him and wanted to know as much as she could about him.

Jack pulled up his file and showed her a picture of a man with a coal-smudged face, his arm around a woman with dark hair who was not only heavily pregnant, but held a round-faced toddler on her hip. In front of the couple was a boy who looked like a miniature Jack.

"Is that your grandfather?" She brushed the screen lightly. The resemblance to Jack was uncanny. Those Harkness genes must run awful deep.

"Me," Jack corrected before pointing at the others in the picture. "Emily, baby Andrea, my son Thomas and," he touched the woman's belly, "Jack."

"I knew you were older than me, but this is ridiculous!" Susan joked, but looked at his face. He was not laughing. "You aren't kidding are you? How is this possible?"

"Are you okay with this?" He searched her face for the inevitable signs of distress.

"I might be." her hand went to his knee as she leaned forward. "When was this?"

"I'd say it was the early 1920's." He shrugged a bit.

Eyes never moving from the picture on the screen, she asked, "Where are they now?"

"Emily died a few years back - she was almost one hundred. Thomas is gone - he died shortly after this picture was taken. Train accident. And Jack - well, he was a good kid. Followed in his father's footsteps without even knowing it..." The tears tried to fall, but he fought them back.

"And Andrea?" She stood and pulled his head to her cheast, seeing how this bothered him.

He looked up at her, eyes glistening with unshed tears, a slight smile now on his lips. "Let's just say she went into the family business. .."

"Jack, I don't understand. Can we start at the beginning?" She frowned, trying to figure out what he was telling her.

"That might be a little hard, I'm not really sure where the start is. But I'll give it a try." He pulled her to sit beside him. Facing her rather than the laptop, he started again. "I was born in the 51st Century in a place called the Boeshane Peninsula - think of Tatooine in the Star Wars movies and you'll be just about right - anyway, things happened and I became a Time Agent. I bounced around playing the confidence game before I met up with the man who has taken Taryn. I had a little mishap and became immortal. I hopped around for a bit before getting stuck and ended up working where I am now."

"Just how long have you worked for Cardiff Tourism, Jack?" She was trying her best to understand this fanciful tale.

He leveled his eyes at her. "You and I both know that I don't really work at a tourism office.'

"Right. I had wondered what tourism center had an underground base..." She smiled weakly at him.

"I've been working for Torchwood for well over two hundred years." He waited for her reaction.

"Okay." She had a glassy look to her eyes.

"Susan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to see more pictures?"

"That would be easier, I think." She rubbed her forehead.

He lightly grabbed her upper arm. " If it helps, you're coping better than anyone else I've told." he pulled her onto his lap. "And the others would kill for this information..."

She leaned her head onto his shoulder. "It's just so much to try to understand at once."

"Well then, let's try this." He opened another file. "Torchwood keeps extensive records on everyone that works or has worked for them. Anything you might want to know about me from the time that I tried to get a fix on The Doctor until now would be right here."

Susan watched as image upon image of Jack flashed on the screen in a slide show. He was wearing uniforms in many of them, making her wonder what the draw was for the man. She reasoned that it was because, if he was telling her the truth about being immortal, that he could always be a hero. "Stop there." Susan pointed to the screen. "I know that's Tosh and there's you - but who are the old man and the handsome guy?"

Jack looked sadly at the screen. It was taken when he and Toshiko had gone to investigate a strange occurrence at an old dance hall. "That," he pointed to the old man who had caused trouble for them more than once, "is Bilis Manger and my son Jack."

"I'm not sure I understand. You talked like you never saw them again after that one picture. Is this another son named Jack?"

"Maybe that's a bit too much to bite off right now." He put his arms around her and held her tight.

"Fair enough."

"Do you want to look at more?" He whispered in her ear.

"What I want to know about is Torchwood. Who they are; what they do. How you're connected to them and why you stayed with them for so long..." She turned to face him.

"All right then - you deserve that much. Torchwood is a government agency. We deal with supernatural activity." Jack looked to see if she believed him.

"Okay - like the 'X-Files'? You're some kind of Fox Mulder?" Her tone was not one of confusion, but, rather, one of someone who was thinking about hw to process everything she had been told and sort it into the facts that were her life. "So - you can't die." He nodded, content to let her work this out in her own way, thinking that it was odd that this would be what she started with. "And you lived in lots of times and places, done lots of things?"

"I guess you could compare Torchwood to that - but X-Files is made up. It sometimes it feels as if I have done everything," he admitted.

"And whatever - whoever - you work for is only interested in helping, right?"

Jack nodded again, glad she was able to draw the right conclusions. He was about to add to it when there was a commotion from the downstairs.

"What was that?" Susan sprang from his lap and went to stand at the top of the stairs. She heard Erin's muted voice and smiled before returning to Jack's side. "It's those two downstairs playing grab-ass," she explained.

Jack smiled - that had been Ianto they heard. He knew that yelp all to well. "Susan," he tugged on her arm like a child to get her attention. "I had a reason for telling you all this."

"I'm sure you did, Jack."

"Don't you want to know what?" He fixed his eyes on her.

"Honestly, I've learned with you not to ask too many questions," she admitted.

"That hurts," he tried to put on his beat pout, but ended up failing miserably and smiling. "I had Tosh open up Protocol 53."

"Not helping - don't know anything about it. And besides, you've said so much already - I don't know if I'll be able to remember, honestly."

"Sure you will." He looked up at her and she was all but weak-kneed by the look in his eyes. She had always said that she'd love to meet a man who looked at her like that, but here he was and it scared her to death. He was baring his soul to her and she didn't know if she really wanted to know. He noticed her concern and quickly, but subtly, changed the look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she half-lied, not quite knowing what it was, herself.

"Are you sure?" He frowned slightly.

"Yes, Jack," she shook the look off her face and smiled warmly at him - the one Jack thought of as her 'patient mother' smile - and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Then why so quiet?" He closed his eyes, loving when she did that.

"Hello, Captain Overwhelming," she laughed a little, easing the tension and making them both feel a lot better.

"I guess I'm the man your mother warned you about," he sighed, hoping she wouldn't stop anytime soon.

"No, Jack," she corrected. "That man was about five-seven with too much body hair and a bad temper. You are not that man." She kissed the top of his head. "I'm tired - you coming to bed?"

"Yeah - just let me shut this down." He watched her walk down the hall before putting the comm in his ear and tapping it. "Toshiko, we're all done here."

"Okay, Jack," a voice yawned back. "Closing connection now."

"Thanks, Tosh. And now, get home," he bossed before taking off the comm and placing it in his pocket.

***

They sat at the restaurant waiting for their waiter to get to them. Erin loved the atmosphere as well as the fish and chips that they were famous for. Ianto must have remembered from one of their earlier conversations, delighting her to no end.

"You look happy," the Welshman remarked, looking across the table.

"I can't imagine why," Erin giggled, still trying not to do visible cartwheels.

Ianto smiled a half-smile at her, feeling suddenly shy. He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in such a short time; how coffee had played a big part in what he hoped would be a long future. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth about his job. He shook the thought from his mind, content just to know that they would have a long time for him to tell her. "Still okay with your answer then?"

Erin looked from the chandelier she had been staring up at to the man sitting across from her. "Oh no, you aren't getting out of this now! No take-backs, Ianto Jones!" She pointed her finger at him in fun.

"No, no - nothing like that!" He held up his hands defensively. "Just giving you the chance to opt out."

"Opt out? You make it sound like stock trading - you sure you only work at a tourist office? No secret government job I should know about?" A look crossed his face. "What's wrong, Ianto?"

"Nothing," he was a terrible liar, and he knew it. He hoped she believed enough to keep her from asking more questions. "Just wondering where to go from here."

"Cold feet already?" She reached for his hand. "Really, Yan, if you want to take it back, now's the time. I'll understand."

He felt panic creeping up. "Oh God, don't think that!" He didn't want to lose her now that he had finally found her.

"Relax, I was joking," she soothed, wishing they were somewhere less public.

He visibly relaxed, a smile coming back to him. "What will we have, then?"

"Fish and chips!" Erin blurted, then laughed at herself. "I mean - that is one of the reasons I moved here."

"You're kidding, right?" Ianto had never heard her talk about why she had come here from America.

"Well, only a little." She shrugged.

"What were the other reasons?" He was seeing a new side of her.

She counted on her fingers. "Well, the fact that you speak English - and not American slang was a primary factor. Then," she nodded in his direction, "the fish and chips. Three - getting away from my boring life. Four - the men..."

Ianto squeezed her hand to pause her. "The men?" His eyebrows raised.

"Oh, please! Like you don't know your hotness quotient! I mean, look at the fact that the tourism office they employ two of the hottest men in Cardiff. That place knows what it is doing!" Her eyes sparkled with what Ianto would describe as mischief if he didn't know any better.

"Okay - you got me there." Again, he wished he could tell her.

The waiter arrived then and took their orders. After they had talked with him and he left, Erin turned to Ianto.

"You know, Susan is going to go mental," she remarked, sipping her water.

"Yeah, well, Jack too." He laughed back at her. "This is so out of left field."

"Can't wait to see their faces on Sunday..."

He was quiet for a moment. "So, when are you coming to help me tell my family?"

It was her turn to be silent. "I hadn't thought of that. And there's my family back home."

"Oh, right. Wow." He got a bit of a glassy look in his eyes. "We didn't think this through very well..."

"Oh, don't worry," Erin scolded, a little more firmly than she meant to. "We'll be fine. It's not like we're doing this next week."

"Right, right." He looked relieved, realizing that she was a very realistic person. "When were you thinking?"

Erin looked up at the ceiling, her chin in her hand, thinking for a moment. "We have at least a year, I think. How about you?"

"Sounds about right." he hoped she hadn't heard the sigh he had let out before he answered. He felt lucky that she was so practical - so unlike Jack - or Lisa. She was so much her own person; Erin reminded him of no one save himself.

She caught him looking at her and held his eyes locked with her for a moment before she spoke. "I can't wait to meet your family. Tell me about them."

They were interrupted by their food making its appearance. They ate as the two of them compared their families, learning names and statistics they hadn't known before. The more they talked, the more they realized they were going to be okay. Finishing up, the couple fought over who would pay before Ianto simply handed his credit card to the waiter.

"Next time I pay," Erin asserted once the man was out of earshot.

"Fine, you can try," he put his arm around her as they walked out. "How do you feel about going for a walk?"

"Around the bay? You bet." Erin loved Ianto's little tours.

"Yeah, I want to show you something." He had made up his mind - he was going to show her Torchwood.

***

"They hang out at the outside benches," the girl who had previously been using a familiar accent (which seemed to have gone) informed the Timelord as they walked down the hall.

"Well, hello. Where did your accent go?" His hands were in his pockets as they walked; his eyes were watching his feet.

"Oh, that," she bit her lip a moment, "I went to school in London for a bit. It comes and goes."

He shrugged. "So this 'Holly' - you know her?"

"Well, I know her sister Wendy. Neither one of them like me. Nobody really does - except Susan."

"Susan?" There must be dozens of Susans at the school; the name was common enough that it had been his own granddaughter's name.

"Yeah, if you were here earlier, you had to have seen her. That horrible excuse for a boyfriend she has sent that rodent after her with a note tied to it's tail." She paused to shudder visibly. "I'll bet she thought it was romantic, though. She would..."

He stopped now. "You know that Susan?"

"Do you?" she was amply shocked. "You know my sister?"

"Oh - she's your sister?" Now it made sense. Of course she would know her.

"Well, yes, but it's a long story. Let's find Holly first." She tried to change the subject as she pushed the door open.

They were now standing outside, trees and benches in a circle set into concrete. Over on one bench were a group of high-schoolers, all black hair and black clothing; all looked suitably tragic. And in the middle of them was the missing Taryn.

"Oi!" The Doctor yelped, trying to get her attention. "Time to go!"

She turned her head toward him and waved, but continued to talk to her rapt audience. "So, I was in my car and I was listening to The Cure - like you do - when all of a sudden..."

AHEM. The Doctor cleared his throat to get her attention again. Taryn repeated her earlier action before turning back to finish her story.

"So, anyway, there I am in my Mustang, minding my own business and wanting nothing but hot Krispy Kreme donuts..." Taryn heard the Timelord clear his throat again. "What?! Don't be so rude.

The group turned as one to look at who had interrupted this wonderful story. He felt seven pairs of eyes boring down on him and cringed.

"Don't mind them - they have a hive-mind. We can sit over here and wait for her to finish up." She pointed to a nearby bench that sat empty. "And your friend looks an awful lot like Holly, I think."

"Yeah, a bit, I guess. They all look alike to me at that age," he muttered before taking a seat beside her. "You were going to tell me more about how you know Susan?"

She perked up at this. "Yeah. She's my sister."

"But I've noticed you two don't sound the same."

"That's because we were raised apart. She grew up with dad and mom kept me." She scratched her nose.

"And you went to school in England? Where did she go?" These new facts explained a lot about how this affected Jack, as far as he was concerned.

"She grew up here. We didn't meet face-to-face until this year."

"Really?"

"Yeah - mom was afraid to let us meet. We were here a full year before it happened - we ran into each other in science class."

"And how mush older are you?"

"Younger, actually," she corrected.

"Younger? Did you skip grades?" There was nothing on this girl in the information he had on Susan and he wondered why.

She laughed, covering her mouth. "I'm only younger by ten minutes."

"Ahhh..twins. Brilliant!" the Doctor thought it would be better if Jack didn't know about Marie - no telling what he would think of it.

"Yeah, real brilliant." She sounded down. "Doesn't do any good when you grow up felling like you are missing something and then, when you find out why, the one person you hoped would be there acts like you don't exist half the time."

He patted the hand she had sitting on the bench. "I'm so sorry to hear that." He felt for the girl - it had to be hard.

She looked from his hand to his face. "Who are you anyway? A new student teacher?"

"Er, yeah - John Smith. That woman over there is my... friend - Ms. Beall - Taryn." He looked her direction to see if she had finished.

"Well, Mr. Smith, I don't see why you would want to know so much about Susan for anyway." Her tone had changed to a dangerous one.

"It's my job. In fact, I need to go and get my...Taryn so we can get back to work. It was nice talking to you, Marie." He stood and looked over to the group and found Taryn laughing at a boy with a severe haircut.

"Right. Nice meeting you too." Marie narrowed her eyes as he walked away from her without looking back.

The Doctor shook the odd feeling and went to grab Taryn away. "We have to go now. Tell your new friends good-bye."

She rolled her eyes and waved back as he all but dragged her in the direction of the TARDIS. "That was really rude, you know!" She pulled her arm out his grasp.

"Yeah well," he looked around, ignoring her. "We need to get out of here before we change something we shouldn't."

"I could have been their leader, you know." She informed him, following his lead to the blue box.

"Really?" He arched his eyebrow at her. "Can't leave you here though. Met someone that might be able to help us later, though."

"Who?" She was interested in who he thought might be able to help them with Susan - she had heard stories about so many people that she was sure she would recognize any names he could give her.

He tugged his ear. "Did you know that Susan has a twin sister?" He opened the door to the TARDIS.

Taryn stopped cold. "No. She doesn't."

The Doctor blinked and held his hand on the door, not opening it. "What? This girl said she was Susan's twin - are you sure about that?"

"Uh, yeah. She would have said that, I'm sure." She pushed ahead of him into the console room.

He followed her. "Taryn, are you sure? This girl seemed to be telling the truth."

"Doctor, she has no twin. Not now, not ever." She looked in his eyes.

"Then we have a problem."

***

He walked into the bedroom and, upon hearing the shower running, emptied his pockets onto the dresser top. Among everything there was a small manila envelope containing one small white pill. He thought briefly about using it before deciding that he hadn't told her anything he didn't want her to remember. But, more importantly, he knew she'd keep the secrets.

"Jack," Susan called from the bathroom after he heard the water shut off. "Can you bring me a towel? I forgot to get one for my hair."

Smiling, he went to the hall linen closet to get what she had asked for. By the time h got back, she was stepping from the shower. "Here," he handed her the towel and stepped back, arms crossed on his chest.

"Thank you." She paused to wrap the towel on her head. "I was thinking about something you said."

"What's that?" He widened his stance to show he was listening.

"You said a lot of things a while ago, but one thing stuck out. You talked about 'Protocol 53' - what's that?"

He smiled. "Protocol 53 is something I had set up many many years ago. It allows for me to have a legal birth certificate as well as passport, among many other legal documents I would need in order to prove that I exist."

"You don't have those already?" Jack watched as she slipped a nightshirt without disturbing the towel atop her head.

"Never needed 'em," he was being honest. "Keeping off radar is generally a good idea for someone who's immortal."

"I've been letting you drive my car without a license?!" She was suddenly horrified.

"Way to put things in perspective, Ms. Bryant," Jack marveled at what she chose to fixate on.

"But what else does that mean, Jack? I don't quite get it. Why now?" She was drying her hair now and Jack found himself watching her every move.

"Huh?" He gave away the fact that he hadn't been listening at all.

"Jack," she said slowly. "What does it mean? Why now?"

The man was caught. This wasn't how he had seen this moment at all. Here he was, still in his work clothes, smelling like the abandoned, musty tube system that was Torchwood while she was wearing a nightshirt with holes along the hem as she busily dried her hair with a towel. He crossed to her and, taking the towel form her, tossed it over his shoulder before taking her hands in his. "Susan, I love you and the kids very much. Spending time with you these last few months has been..."

Susan cut him off by yanking her hands out of his. "Don't you dare do this, Jack Harkness!"

Her anger confused him and he stumbled back. "What?"

"Don't do this - please! Not now." Fat tears ran from her eyes down her cheeks, leaving visible tracks.

"I don't understand..." He could feel the wetness begin in his own eyes.

She turned sharply from him and went into the bedroom. "We don't need this - we're fine how we are. Don't mess up a good thing."

He was hot on her heels. Not knowing what to say, he scooped the things from the dresser and put them roughly back in his pocket. The small envelope fell to the floor under the dresser in his haste and lay there unnoticed. "I have to go."

She didn't try to stop him as he walked out to the front door, pausing only to put his boots and coat on. Once she heard the door shut, she threw herself on the bed before crying herself to sleep.

Jack turned back to the dor and took one last look before the sobs took over and he dragged himself to the bus stop.

***

Erin's eyes had grown wide when Ianto had taken her into the Hub via the lift. Myfawnwy had been delighted to have visitors so late at night. Since Jack had been staying with Susan, she had missed their late-night "walks".

"Was that a..." she had asked, holding on to Ianto tighter than she already was, if that was possible. He supposed that he would have the fingernail marks in his arms for the next two weeks.

He chuckled. "Yes! And that's just the beginning."

"Ummm - I guess this means that you don't work for the Tourism Office after all?" She wanted to sock him in the arm but was afraid that the dinosaur she had seen was a glorified guard dog.

"Nope."

"So what is this place called?" She looked around, trying to draw it all in.

There was a momentary jolt as the lift settled into place. Once they had stepped off, Ianto sent it back to the surface, lest someone just stumble and fall in.

"This," he spread his arms wide and indicated the room around them, "is Torchwood."

"Torch what?"

"Torchwood. Where I work," he suddenly felt like this might have been a bad idea.

"What do you do here, exactly?" She looked around in confusion, trying to find a place where she thought that Ianto would fit perfectly.

"Personally?" He saw her nod. "I make sure this place runs smoothly - and the coffee." he laughed at the bit he had tacked on. "If you want to know what Torchwood does, that's a lot harder to say."

"Try me," she challenged, sitting on the sofa heavily.

"Coffee first." Ianto told her and disappeared for a bit before returning to her with two steaming mugs. "We work for the government, but not really. I guess you could say that we investigate supernatural and alien activity in the area due to the placement of the rift right here in Cardiff."

"Great," Erin sighed, taking a large draw from her cup. "I'm marrying the X-Files' personal Barista."

"Hey now," he sounded offended as he joined her on the couch.

"I didn't mean it, really, Yan. But you have to know that this is a lot to take in." Her eyes slipped shut for a moment. "And, suddenly, I'm very tired..."

He was glad now that he had thought to slip the barest dose of Retcon into her steaming beverage, knowing that it would only erase the parts of the night after the meal itself. "Then close your eyes. I'll make sure you get home okay."

She leaned on his shoulder, grateful. "I love you, Ianto Jones, no matter where you work."

He swore under his breath as he heard her breathing become steady.

***

"What do you mean 'a problem'? Taryn was worried. The Doctor was using a tone of voice that sounded as if he were no longer in control.

"Who was that girl?" He ruffled his hair in frustration.

"I don't even know her name. Maybe if you tell me that then I can tell you if Susan ever talked about her." Taryn shook her head.

"Right! It was Marie. Did she ever talk about a 'Marie'?" He leaned in for an answer.

Taryn thought, running through the mental files she had on her roommate. "No, don't remember any 'Marie'..."

"Maybe I should go find out more. I'll just..." The Doctor was kept from opening the door by the sound of the TARDIS departing.

"I don't understand, Doctor," Taryn said, sitting on the jumpseat.

"Understand what?" He shrugged and went to join her.

"Why we are even doing this." She looked at him, resisting the urge to laugh at his hair, but just barely.

"I got a message from an old friend." The Doctor offered by way of explanation.

"And just how does that involve me?"

"Well, closest I can tell is that you influence Susan more than anyone else - and you have knowledge of almost every aspect of her life. That gives you the distinct power of knowing her better than she knows herself. You know her hot buttons and how to avoid them - or use them to the best of your ability."

"Okay, that's true so far. But why are we doing this? Why is it so blasted important?"

He turned to face her fully, his leg tucked under him. "Believe it or not, the fate of major parts of the universe depend on the actions of Susan."

"How in the hell did she get to be so important?" It came out a bit more spoiled-sounding than Taryn would have liked.

"Well, if all goes well..."

"Listen. I am going to need you to tell me why I should do this. Right now, all I know is that you feel like it saves part of the universe from a horrible fate. Now, while I am all for saving the universe, I want to know what is going on - in detail." She stared him in the eye, daring him to look away.

The Doctor sighed. "We have some time before we get to our next destination. Let's go grab a bite, shall we?"

They walked together down the hall, silently, until they reached an elegant dining room with a table set for two and a wonderful selection of late lunch goodies.

"How did you do this?" Taryn asked as he pulled the chair out for her.

"This would be the work of the TARDIS. She must like you," he explained, taking his own seat.

"It all looks so good!" A warm hum passed through the hand Taryn had on the table. "Now - tell me what is going on."

"All right." The Doctor popped a chip into his mouth and began, "I got a message a few days ago - before I picked you up - from a very very old friend."

"And it has to do with Susan?" She picked at the salad in front of her.

"Yes, though I didn't know that at the time." He frowned at her. "You know, if you pick all the lettuce out, there will be no salad to speak of."

"Oh, haha. I don't like big chunks is all. There'll be plenty left, don't worry your pretty face." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Quit watching me and go on with the story already!"

"Right." He tore his eyes away from the madness that he felt he was observing. "So, this old friend was in a bad way. He needed my help or he would have died."

"Good thing you're a doctor."

"Sure. Not a real doctor, per se...Anyway, and this is where it gets tricky - seems you and I share a common acquaintance."

"Susan."

"I wouldn't know her on sight. I saw her for the first time ever today." Another chip.

"Then who?" She happily munched on a cherry tomato she found in her salad.

"Jack."

She choked a little. "So, Jack contacted you?"

"Kind of." He tugged his ear again. Taryn made a mental note to ask him if she could look at it later - when Joey did that, it meant that his was bothering him.

"Either he did or he didn't." She narrowed her eyes.

"Well, it was his grandson." He explained.

"Jack has a grandson?!" She stopped herself from choking again. "I knew there was something not right about him..."

The Doctor tried again. "His future grandson."

"Oh well, then, that's different. But how does that involve - OH!"

The Doctor nodded, smirking smugly. "Seems there was a problem with great-grandpa." He popped the 'p'. "And young Cobbly saved his life."

"Cobbly?! Who names their child Cobbly?" Taryn wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Granted, my brother wanted to name his first son Tegan - no counting for taste..."

"Oi!" The Doctor yelped. "I'll have you know I used to know a very nice Tegan. Good respectable name...and it would be Jack's child that named her son Cobbly."

"Oh, right. Forgot. What was Cobbly's mother's name then?" She wondered out loud.

"Not important. Besides, I don't know. Didn't think to ask him. Wasn't important at the time." He muttered the last bit.

"Well, what happened?" She looked at him. "You aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"I have to. But I have to tell you some backstory first. Jack has - had - a little brother. That brother did some very not good things that almost cost him the lives of two of the members of his team."

"His tourist office team? They sound tough." Taryn's sarcasm seeped out.

"Oh for - Jack doesn't work for a tourism office!" He was getting flustered with her. "He works for Torchwood. And before you ask - it's an organization that investigates aliens and supernatural activities related to them."

"Oooo - X-Files Cardiff?" Now she was listening.

"Yeah, sure. But Jack would probably go spare if he heard you call them that." Actually, The Doctor thought it would be more than a little funny to hear his reaction.

"I'm gonna call him Mulder from now on," Taryn decided.

"Just don't," The Doctor ruffled his hair again. "Anyway. Through some accident involving Gray (that's the little brother), Jack loses his head. And not just figuratively. Cobbly, being the diligent great-grandson he is, is there to save him.

"What a wonderful family they have." He was unsure if that was sincere or not. "Wait - did you say 'loses his head'? Exactly how does one recover from that?"

"As far as I can tell, Cobbly puts the head into a special solution that somehow maintains both brain function and oxygen delivery. This is, after all, no young boy we are talking about; he's already an accomplished scientist with a few awards to his credit by this point."

"Good one, Cobbly." There was genuine admiration in that remark.

"Indeed." The Doctor was forced to agree.

"But why all this?"

"Well, like I said - without Susan, there's no Cobbly."

"I don't think that Susan will like that her great-grandson is named 'Cobbly'."

"I don't think that is the issue here."

"Then what is? Didn't we do what we needed to?" She swiped a fry from his plate.

"One more thing. Do you know a 'Keith'?"

Taryn choked yet again. "Uh, yeah. Much to my severe distaste. What does he have to do with it?"

"Well, right now, we are on our way to meet up with him."

"Urgh. No."

"You have to. Well, we have to. We have to introduce him to Susan."

"Good Gods, why?! I like her. I don't want to know that I am the one who is responsible for the fiasco that lasted 16 years of her life (give or take a month or two)." She looked at the alien like he was completely out of his mind.

"But you have to! Otherwise, none of you will move to Cardiff and she won't meet Jack."

"But she has. I don't have to do anything."

"Wrong. It's only that way because Susan is a fixed point. And we've done this before. So, we have to do it again."

Taryn stared at him. She still didn't understand, but she was resigned to the fact that she had to do this. As much as she pretended to hate Jack, she knew he was good for her friend. And if she had to do this, as The Doctor insisted she did, she would. But she didn't have to like it. Besides, without Keith, she never would have met her either. "All right. Fine."

"Brilliant. I knew you'd do the right thing." The Timelord beamed proudly at her.

***

"You're here early." Gwen came into the conference room to talk to Jack.

"Yeah." He looked up from the report he was reading only long enough to answer, and then returned to his reading material.

"How are the kids?" She took her usual seat, noticing there was a folder there.

"Wouldn't know." His answers were staccato and he didn't even bother looking up this time.

"What? Why?"

"Gwen, butt out."

Taken aback, the Welshwoman looked very much like a fish. She sat quietly, knowing she had struck quite a nerve with her boss.

Ianto was the next to arrive in the room. He was smiling from ear to ear. Dropping a box of donuts on the table, he turned to smile at Gwen. "How are you?"

"Good - and judging from you expression. I'd say that you are too..." She smiled her warm, inviting smile.

He sighed contentedly. "To say the least."

Jack grumbled behind his folder before closing it and stalking out of the room.

"What was that about? Is there trouble in paradise?" Gwen asked, hearing Jack stomp up the steps to his office.

"How should I know?" Ianto fished a donut from the box.

"Didn't you stay with Erin last night?" Gwen went after her own donut.

"Jack wasn't there. In fact, by the time we got there, Susan had cried herself all red-faced and puffy." He took a bite for emphasis.

"Susan? That's not good."

"You know how Jack can be. Probably said something stupid. Anyway, Erin was sleeping when I brought her in. After I had tucked her into bed, I went back to the kitchen, but Susan wasn't in the mood to talk about it." He shrugged.

"You need earlier nights, Ianto Jones. You're gonna wear that poor girl out dragging her all over Cardiff giving her fake tours." Gwen half-heartedly punched his arm.

Ianto looked around to make sure Jack wasn't returning before giving her an answer. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes," she leaned closer.

"So can I," he leaned back in his chair and smirked.

Gwen glared at him with such a look that Ianto thought for a moment about hiding under the table for the next few days. "Not funny. Spill."

"I asked Erin to marry me last night." His voice broke as he announced it to his co-worker.

Gwen jumped up and hugged him. "How wonderful!" It was her turn to check for outside ears. "You heard about Tosh and Owen, right?"

"No." It hurt him a bit that Tosh had news he didn't know about. They had once been so close. "What is it?" He asked, trying to hide his obvious disappointment.

She sat on the table in front of him. "Well, you know that close call they had last year - what with Owen getting almost killed and then the incident with Gray..." She pushed her hair from her eyes.

Ianto nodded. It was a sore spot with all of the members of Torchwood and they tried not to talk about it if they didn't have to.

"Well, it seems that shortly after that something was going on between them. Tosh reckons it was because they had such close calls and were forced to rely on each other, but if you ask Owen, he says it was really only a matter of time before she realized how good looking he was..."

"No kidding?" He was suitably impressed that they had kept it out of the office. Thinking back though, there were a couple of times when he could have seen that there was something, but it wasn't big and obvious. He had to hand it to them, they knew how to do discrete.

"No kidding." She waggled her eyebrows at him and finished off her donut.

"Good for them. How is that going?" He wondered if Jack knew, but, based on his behavior, he highly doubted it.

"I didn't tell you any of this, okay, Ianto?" her voice was a conspiratorial stage whisper. "But let's just say that you and I aren't the only Torchwood employees with impending nuptials."

"What?! When did you find out?" He swallowed a bit of his donut wrong and began to sputter in an attempt to catch his breath.

"We went out last night - nothing else going on - which kind of bothers me. But that's another story isn't it? Anyway - I may be the first one they told after telling one another. So, when they do get around to telling you, act surprised."

"Well, that goes without saying. Does Jack know?"

"Does Jack know what?" Gwen's lips were moving but Jack's voice was coming out, a trick Ianto found quite impressive. Then it sank in.

"Jack!" Ianto gasped.

"Does Jack know what?" He repeated, looking down at them with his hands set on his hips.

Gwen thought quickly. "That Rhys was going to ask you to stand with him."

"Yes, Yan, I know that." Jack fell back in his chair. "Anyone know where Tosh and Owen are?"

As if on cue, they came through the conference room door, arguing and laughing.

"Not even, Owen!" Tosh finished the conversation they had been having before taking her seat. "Oooo - crème-filleds!"

Ianto stood and went to fix the daily morning coffees, but not before seeing Owen putting up a good fight for the last creme-filled donut. His phone tang as he walked into the place where the coffee pot lived - his domain for the most part.

"Erin," Ianto kept his voice low. "How are things going there?"

A sigh came from her end. "I can't get her out of bed. She even called into work today. It must have been some fight..."

"Must have - Jack is pouting and stomping around like an obstinate child. Has she given you any clue as to what happened?" He tucked the phone on his shoulder so he could set up the coffee pot.

"Every time I try to ask her questions, she starts crying again - these big fat sobs that render speech useless. But the Nicole showed up about an hour ago - bless her heart for that - so Joey is being taken care of. I swear, I have never seen her like this. Not even over her kid's dads. Jack must have really screwed up." He could hear the sound of crinkly paper rustling.

"What are your plans for the day?" He poured the water in.

"I'm going to work in a bit - are we still meeting for lunch?" She popped the candy she had unwrapped into her mouth.

"Wouldn't dream if missing it." He smiled. "I'll see you then."

"It's a date. Maybe you could take me on that walk you promised me last night before I got so tired?" She had forgotten, Ianto sighed inwardly. He had erased the Hub tapes already to cover his tracks. There was no need for it to be brought up again.

"I love you, Erin."

"I love you, too."

He hung up and waited for the pot to finish perking before joining everyone back in the conference room for the morning's briefing.

***

"Athens, Georgia, Nineteen Ninety, AD," The Doctor threw the door open.

Taryn poked her head out. "Looks normal enough."

His head appeared above hers. "Good. Don't want to get into any trouble." He looked out for a moment before looking back down at her. "What exactly were you expecting? You weren't much younger."

"Well, I was thinking it was where she grew up - it must have something odd about it." She smiled back up at him.

"And that's not even nice." He informed her.

"But true. Where do we need to be?"

"That big brick building right there. Says 'Tate'." He pointed across the parking lot.

"And what are we doing here?" She stepped out, pulling the Doctor behind her.

"Has anyone ever told you that you ask far too may questions?" She smiled a toothy grin at him. "Well, news is that Susan is in a Sci-Fi fanclub here. You know - Star Trek, Star Wars, Quantum Leap - that kind of thing." He looked around, trying to find evidence that they were in the right place. Without trying too hard, he spotted a green Volvo with a Starfleet Academy sticker on it.

"Urgh, dorks." Taryn stuck her tongue out like the word itself tasted bad.

"Oh, now, they're harmless enough," he scolded, stepping on the sensor for the automatic door.

"You only say that because you aren't a woman. I dated one. I was bad..."

They were barely in the building when someone bounced by them excitedly - a blur with two ponytails. "Have you seen Leila?"

The Doctor froze. It had been so long since he heard that name. What were the chances of a Susan and a Leela being friends? "Excuse me, did you say 'Leela'?"

"Yeah - I lost her. She looks like me only taller. Or rather, I look like the shrinky-dink version of her. More or less. You seen her?" the perky blonde asked the newcomers. Taryn recognized her instantly.

"Nope, but we'll be on the lookout for her. Who should we tell her is looking for her?" The Doctor answered when Taryn found herself unable to.

She thought for a bit. "Tell her 'Sujo'. And before you ask, it's 'cause 'Cujo' was taken..." She was already halfway down the hallway when she answered.

"Wow. Nerd transformation much?" Taryn watched her retreat. "She looks really different that the last time we saw her. She looks different than she does now too. That was interesting to say the least..."

"Liked the hair." He smiled, hands in pockets.

"You would. I had to break her of that habit last year." Taryn sighed, remembering what a bad two weeks that had been.

"No wonder Jack likes her." He raised his eyebrow and Taryn punched him in the arm.

"So," she watched him rub where she had socked him. "We're here to find Keith, right?"

"I assume you know what he looks like?"

"Yeah, got that covered." She walked over to a directory hung on the wall that indicated what was going on in what room.

"She might be here." Taryn pointed to a room indicating 'Susan and Leila's Stalking Game'.

"Good detective work, Watson. Now how about him?" He rubbed his eyes.

Taryn ran her finger down the list. There were three Keiths listed as having games going on with no indication of last names. "We're just going to have to look for him."

They walked down the hall, peeking in the windows looking for anyone who could be Susan's Ex, but not having much luck. They exhausted their resources and went to the large room to ask around. On the way there, they ran into someone Taryn would easily describe as "Susan - but taller'. "You Leila?"

She nodded, clearly much quieter than her shorter counter-part.

"Sujo is looking for you," The Doctor passed along, using a stage whisper that made sound like he were playing an elaborate spy game.

Leila immediately warmed to the man. "Which way did she go?"

The Doctor pointed, "She bounced off in that direction."

"That would be her, then. I just came from that way. She must have ducked into the common room to flirt for a bit. I swear, some days you can't keep her away!" She stopped and looked at the pair, who were exchanging a look based on the last comment. "How rude of me - is that where you were going too? I can show you around."

"That would be brilliant!" The Doctor said, following her.

Taryn rolled her eyes. Leave it to him to be sweet on the tall nerdy girl with glasses. Sometimes, he was as bad as Jack.

"Walk this way!" Leila proceeded to drag one of her legs and feign a hump. She wasn't as boisterous as Susan, but Taryn could easily see where the two would be good friends. Though silly, the taller girl was clearly the more grounded of the two.

Leila led them into the room, where there were rows of tables set up. Every table was packed with both males and females starting at the age the girls were and gong on into their fifties or so (granted there were few females, but there were some). She stopped at one and introduced them, "Mike, Yorick, Mike, Robert, Danny, (oh, there you are, Sujo!) and Alain, this is..." She realized then that she had not gotten the visitor's names.

"I'm John Smith and this is my, uh, sister Taryn." Taryn smiled an almost pained smile at the group.

"Hey," the table spoke as one unit, not wanting to be disturbed from the game they were playing.

Susan got up and wandered off with Leila, leaving Taryn and The Doctor to do their own bit of investigating. She was going to comment about how rude Susan was being to her when she realized that the girl that was in that room didn't know her yet. She was going to remark on this to the Timelord when she felt someone looking at her. "Excuse me, do you know Keith Taylor?"

He shook his head, "If he's new, Jim'll know. He's the one sitting right over there at the membership table - he looks like the lost Beatle." He pointed to the streamer-covered table near the door.

"Thanks," she started for the table and then turned back. "I got this one, Doc." But he still watched to make sure she found the correct person to talk to before doing a little investigating on his own.

Among the other tables were people playing Axis and Allies and Risk. But it was what - or rather who - was sitting in the far back corner that interested him. He walked over to talk to her.

"Oh, hello," she said, seeing his converse in her direct view. "You haven't been at school since that first day."

"No," he stood over her for a moment before sitting beside her on the floor.

"You lied. You aren't a teacher." She never looked away from the book she was reading - 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.

"You're right. And you aren't Susan's twin." He looked over his glasses at her.

"Touche. Game well played." She set her book aside.

"Who are you then? You aren't human." He used his sonic screwdriver. "That is not a human signature."

"I told you - I am Marie." Turning to him, he was sure he saw her features waver for a moment. But then she was back.

"I don't think you are being totally truthful with me." He was keeping his voice as even as he could so as not to draw any attention to them. That was the last thing they needed right now. "I think you are much, much more. And I think you should tell me the truth."

"All right, Timelord, you win. I see that you didn't know that I knew what you were."

He tried not to act shocked, tried to keep the upper hand, but his initial shock was still playing on his face. "How did you know?"

"I started out following you. Everywhere. Then I learned you had nothing I could use. That is, until you picked up someone who became something extraordinary. I bent time and space to get something to bargain with. In the end, that went badly as well. Thought I would give it another go - that's what I am doing now." Again, her features wavered.

Susan's voice was there suddenly. "Are you getting pizza? I'm collecting."

There was an instant change in the alien calling herself Marie. "Uh,no, I didn't bring any money. Not hungry anyway."

Susan smiled down at her. "I gotcha covered if you want some. Just let me know, you don't eat nearly enough, you know. And I was asking him more than you anyway." The Doctor wondered how she did that without taking a breath. He looked at her then. With the two blonde wavy ponytails, she resembled a harmless cocker spaniel puppy - eager to please. Her blue eyes shone with both kindness and mischief. It was easy now to understand why people liked her. There was just something that seemed to invite people to join her in her world. Maybe it was her warm smile that started at her eyes and worked its way across her entire face, maybe it was something different. At any rate, he could see the man who had come to see him the other night to ask for help as the perfect combination of both her and Jack. "No thanks, I ate before I came."

"Okay then," her hands went to her hips and he felt suddenly like a naughty child getting into trouble. "But next time you come, remember that we order pizza - save yourself some trouble." She winked and bounded away. He watched her, knowing that the universe needed her to be with Jack, and knowing exactly why.

However, this alien sitting beside him was trying to keep that from happening - keep his friend Jack and Taryn's friend Susan from being happy. To his knowledge, alien races didn't just muck about with things to cause unhappiness, there was generally a reason. And he intended to figure it out. He repeated the name she had given him over and over. "Marie...marie...muh-ree...muuuuhhh-reeee." the more he said it, the less meaning it had. He looked over to see the alien in the teen's body attempting a warm smile and failing horribly.

"It's funny what they don't see when the don't want to. Humans are a funny lot - there especially." She indicated the group that Susan had gone to join, who were now laughing. "They accept anyone - humans don't like to be outcasts."

"I don't understand; who are you again?" He knit his eyebrows together.

"Idiot Timelord. Get Susan herself to tell you." She called the girl's name while looking at him. "Sujo!"

"May-rhee!" The call came back.

All at once, The Doctor went pale and weak feeling. "You can't be."

"Oh, but I am."

***

Next part of Seperate Ways.