Owen, of course, noticed the pretty woman on the Plass. She was tall, shapely with a leather jacket and a leather bracelet, and as he gave her a flirty smile, admiring her dark hair and blue eyes, it suddenly occurred to him that her leather bracelet looked just like Captain Hart’s, and Jack’s.

Jack was flirting with Ianto when Owen came clattering down the stairs.

“Jack! There’s a bird on the Plass with a wristband just like yours and Captain Hart’s,” he said urgently. A beep from Jack’s wristband made everyone sit up and take notice.

“What?” Jack said, grabbing his Jack from Ianto and racing up the stairs, his team on his heels. Out on the walk, the girl heard them and turned, her smile bright with mischief.

Jack froze with a gasp, his face so pale that Ianto automatically grabbed an arm to steady him.

“Captain Jack Harkness, I’m here to kill you,” the girl said with a grin.

And as the team pointed their weapons, Jack grinned back. “You’re brilliant! Simply brilliant,” he said proudly, and held out his arms and his bewildered team watched as the woman threw herself into Jack’s arms and burst into tears.

“Oh Da, I’ve missed you,” the woman sobbed, and Jack just closed his eyes and held her tight.

“Jack?” Gwen asked, bewildered.

“I’ll explain inside,” Jack said. “C’mon, baby. Let’s head inside.” He smiled gratefully when Ianto handed over a pristine handkerchief which the woman accepted with a wet smile.

In the hub the woman looked around, smiling at Myfanwy as she flew overhead. “It’s amazing,” she said.

Jack shook his head and yanked her into another hug before pushing her at arms length. “How did you find me?”

“Da, I only worked with the biggest mouth in the galaxy. Well, before he went rogue,” she amended.

“John,” Jack said softly.

“Is that what he called himself?” she asked.

“Oi, we’ve been patient,” Owen said with a scowl. “Is she safe or are we going to be watching our backs like we had to with Hart?”

Jack laughed, pulling her close so that they could face his team together. “Everyone, this is my daughter Gray Catriona Lenaan Athena… and well, we may gone overboard with names so I’ll quit there,” he said, grinning at her laugh.

“Gray, this is my team. Owen Harper, our doctor, Gwen Cooper, our police liaison, Toshiko Sato, our tech expert and last but certainly not least, the one who holds us together, Ianto Jones.”

“I’m pleased to meet you all,” she said with a regal nod.

“Where are you from?” Gwen asked curiously.

“I’m from…” she began but stopped at her father’s headshake. “Oh, they don’t know?”

“Ja-ack,” Gwen whined.

“Except for you, daughter mine, I’d prefer to leave my past just where it is,” Jack said seriously.

“Past,” Gray laughed. “Time agents don’t have a past.”

“Well…” Jack allowed that with a grimace.

“Time agent! That’s what Captain Hart called himself. Exactly what is that?” Owen pounced.

Gray looked at her father, “I’m not the only one who knows where you are, da,” she said to Jack, who sighed and roughly ran his fingers through his hair.

“Fine! Fine,” he said gruffly. “Time agents are recruited to make sure history stays the way it is. We, or rather, ~they~ use technology to make sure that someone, or something does not change history.”

“Like going back and killing Hitler?” Tosh asked.

“Exactly,” Jack pointed at her emphatically. “A very good point. Say someone goes back and kills Hitler. Who would fill the power vacuum? Maybe someone worse, maybe someone who would’ve won the war and England would be gone forever. There are ~consequences~ to changing time!”

“And chasing criminals,” Gray said.

Jack nodded, then his head snapped around. “Tell me you’re not chasing John?”

“I’m not chasing John,” she said obediently. “I’ve already caught him and he’s in a rehabilitation unit.”

“Again.”

“Again. Imagine the Agency’s surprise when he tried to exchange information on you, going on about how he knew where you were and how you were immortal.” Gray looked at her father. “I convinced them that I was the logical one to see if he was telling the truth.”

“Because they knew how much you hated me,” Jack sighed.

“When Captain Hart went back to wherever he went to,” Ianto began hesitatingly, “he mentioned that he’d found you.”

Gray swallowed hard and leaned against her father who put an arm around her shoulders. “We were running…”

Jack hushed her softly. “We were separated when she was a small child. Her father and she were carried away by a time current, though luckily we’d been aware that such a thing could happen and planned accordingly. But I couldn’t find them, even though I tried, for more years that I can remember, baby. John, back before he became an idiot, had tried to help find them as well.”

“I was so mad at you,” Gray said, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. “I was sure that you’d left us on purpose. It’s why I went against Daid and joined the agency. I wanted to find you and kick you in the balls.”

Owen and the others all laughed while Jack made a face. “What changed your mind?”

She sighed. “John. After I’d captured him he gave me the information in exchange for not bringing to light something he’d done.”

“Oh, baby,” Jack said quietly.

“I didn’t know, da. Even though Daid told me you’d never willingly have left us, we never heard from you again.”

“I would never have left either of you, never if I’d known what I know now,” Jack vowed. He glanced at his wrist and looked at her sadly. “You need to go.”

Gray sighed and pulled out her pistol, and everyone but Jack stiffened. “It’s the only way to keep you safe.”

Jack sighed and got to his feet. “Let me go over there, and make sure you get my good side.”

“Sir!” Ianto protested.

“Trust me, Ianto. It’s the only way. Gray will record it, verify it and hopefully it will convince them that I’m dead.”

“Why do we have to convince ‘em?” Owen asked.

“I can’t tell you that,” Jack said. He moved to the far wall and closed his eyes. “Go ahead, Gray.”

The team watched as Gray lifted the pistol, tears streaming down her face as her hand suddenly started to tremble. Ianto moved to her side and put his hand over hers, steadying her. “This will truly help?” he asked.

She nodded. “Is he truly immortal?” she asked in a whisper.

“He is. It will be fine.” As soon as the words left his mouth the gun thundered and Jack fell to the floor, bloodspray covering the wall behind him.

“Ohgod,” Gray gasped.

The rest of the team who’d looked away, they’d seen the show, sprung into action. Owen going over to check Jack’s vitals grimly. “Are you ready?” he asked.

She nodded and wiped her wet cheeks with her sleeve before activating her wrist unit. “Confirmation of death for…” she paused. “I cannot use his name, but the DNA will confirm his identity.” She pointed it at Jack’s body and Owen, who was kneeling beside it. “Doctor, can you confirm his death?”

“Damn it,” Owen said bitterly. “Yes. The hole in his forehead confirms it, as does the lack of pulse or respiration and the brain matter all over the wall behind us.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said mechanically before shutting the unit down and putting her face into her hand, weeping again.

“Let’s have some tea,” Ianto said as he gently turned her around and walked her away, Tosh and Gwen following.

“Well, that was unpleasant,” Jack said before turning to look at the mess on the wall. “In like a penny and out like a pizza, eh Owen?”

“Fuck you, you bastard,” Owen said as he helped Jack to his feet.

“How long?” Jack asked, swaying a little.

“About five minutes,” Owen replied. “Devastated your daughter, you know.”

“Can’t be helped,” Jack said, cracking his neck. He ducked his head under the faucet to quickly clean himself off before accepting the towel Owen handed him. “She’s her father’s daughter, tough as old boots. She’ll be fine.”

“Who’s Daid?” Owen asked as he leaned against the wall, watching Jack clean himself up.

Jack’s lips twisted. “Her other father. The first man I loved, the only person I had a child with.”

“Would you go back with her?”

Jack’s eyes met Owen’s in the mirror. “I can’t. And no, I can’t tell you why, either.”

“I am unsurprised by this,” Owen sniped.

“Ha ha. C’mon, I want to tell her good-bye,” Jack said and strode out of the bathing room.

Gray’s dark head shot up and she jumped up and into her father’s arms. “It’s okay,” he crooned, petting her hair as he held her tightly. “You did good, baby.”

“I’ve a message for you,” she said, lifting her head to look up at him. “It’s from Daid.”

Jack swallowed hard. “How…how is he?”

“He’s missed you, but I think he’s happy now,” she said. “Still teaching.”

“That’s because he was insane,” Jack said with a choked laugh. “Tell him…”

“I know,” she said, her blue eyes sad. “He told me to tell you that he hopes that you’re happy now.”

His head came up and he met Ianto’s eyes, and without flinching said, “I’m working on it.” He hugged her tightly, then stepped back. “A drink first, before you go,” he said and strode from the room, shoulders tight.

“He’s going to drug us,” Gwen said quietly.

Gray’s lashes glittered with tears. “I know.”

Jack watched without emotion as his daughter and his team drank their drinks. Then he set Gray’s timedevice and watched as her unconscious body disappeared into the rift. Next he arranged his team at their various desks, erased the security footage before getting himself thoroughly and completely drunk.

*

Ianto watched the footage, his heart hurting. He’d never understood how Jack had could be so callous about loss, but as he watched Jack getting drunk after his daughter had disappeared into the rift, he realized that there was a lot of pain bottled up in Captain Jack Harkness.

“I thought I wiped that,” Jack said from behind him.

“You did, sir, but I wrote a program to copy the security footage to a secure location in case of emergency,” Ianto said quietly, spinning in his seat to look at Jack.

Jack nodded, eyes dark. “A good idea, though perhaps a tad inconvenient for me right now.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, Jack,” Ianto said softly. He watched as Jack’s eyes squeezed shut and he was out of the chair and holding Jack in his arms in a trice as the other man broke down.