12. Captain Jack Harkness

While investigating an abandoned dance hall, Jack Harkness and Toshiko find themselves having slipped through time and are stuck in 1941, where the dance hall is being used for service personnel. Jack meets the real Captain Jack Harkness, the man whose identity Jack took after his death, which Jack learns will be the following day at a training exercise. Jack and Toshiko recognise that they must find a way to open the Cardiff Rift from the present day in order to get back, and Toshiko begins to work out ways of leaving the necessary equations to the rest of the Torchwood team. Jack learns that the Captain is attracted to him. The two talk some more, with Jack asking if the Captain would like to go elsewhere, but he refuses, acknowledging that Jack has obliquely told him that his remaining time on Earth is limited.

In the present, the rest of the team come to realise Jack and Toshiko are missing in time from photographs taken during the dance, and also determine that the Rift is the only way to bring them back, though Ianto believes it to be too dangerous. As they investigate the dance hall, they meet its proprietor, Bilis Manger. Unknown to them, Bilis is also present at the dance hall in 1941 and has attempted to alter and change the messages that Toshiko is leaving for Torchwood. After finding a missing part of a device used to open the Rift and Toshiko's equations, Owen is prepared to take the chance to open the Rift.

Ianto holds him at gunpoint to try to stop it, but Owen refuses, and proceeds to open the Rift. As the dance in 1941 winds down, Captain Harkness invites Jack to dance with him. During the dance, the Rift opens. Jack says his goodbyes to the Captain, giving him a passionate kiss before he and Tosh step through the Rift. They return to Torchwood, where they share a toast to the late Captain Jack Harkness.