Some were saying that the story seemed a little long to be clumped together to I've split the story into three chapters. It's still the same story though.

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Jack was sitting in his office when he heard it, that familiar sound. The TARDIS. But he didn't run to follow it or try to track it through Rift activity because the noise wasn't out on the streets of Cardiff – it was right here in the Hub. Jack stood up and walked to the door of his office as the box faded into sight in front of the metal structure that was in the middle of the Hub. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway as the little blue door opened and he stuck his head out, as usual he wasn't sure exactly where or when he was.

"Jack?"

"Up here. You're all wet, Doctor."

The Doctor turned his head and smiled as he spotted Jack, it was a smile Jack had seen before but not like this. Something was wrong.

"Hey, yes it's been raining. Well, I say 'been' I mean back when I last stopped. What year is this?"

"2011."

"Great, great year. Well… I say 'great', there's definitely some bad bits. Some good too though," he smiled at Jack, "always some good."

"What are doing here?"

"Re-fuelling." He stepped out of the TARDIS.

"And what, top side was too busy?" Jack disappeared into his office and The Doctor, shut the door and slowly walked his converse up the stairs. That wasn't good; if he was himself then he would have bounded up those stairs letting his coat flail around behind him.

"Do you want me to go, Jack?"

"Why would I want you to go?" He leaned against his desk and waited. Jack wanted to know what was wrong but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. If The Doctor was coming to Jack then there must be something really wrong.

"You don't seem happy." He slowly started to take off his coat to reveal his blue suit while looking at Jack.

"What's wrong?" Jack didn't want to talk about what was bothering him, not really, he'd rather know if the Medusa Cascade had imploded, if a cascade could even implode, or if the Daleks had claimed more life forms.

"Donna went home."

"Why?"

"Her brain couldn't take it, after the metacrisis she had half a Timelord consciousness and there's never been one of those before – a human to Timelord metacrisis. There can't be, a human brain can't take it, it starts to burn up."

"What did you do?"

"I…" The Doctor tried not to but he started to get emotional as he spoke, holding onto his coat, "I erased her memory."

"All of it?"

"No, just me. I erased everything about me from her memory to save her."

"Everything? What about all of the things you did together, all of the people, civilisations and planets she saved?"

"I know Jack! It was either she died knowing me or she lived without remembering. What was I supposed to do, let her die? Or just kill that part of her? It she remembers anything about what we did then she'll die. Anything." He took a breath like he always did after an outburst over something he hated himself for, hated that he didn't have another solution, he took a breath like he hadn't took one in a long while.

Jack didn't say anything. He just watched as The Doctor calmed himself and hung his coat up next to Jack's. "Is that why you're here? If I see her, not that I will, but if I do I won't engage her."

The Doctor nodded. "Good."

"Is that why you're here?"

"I like your coat, Jack."

"I like yours, Doctor."

The Doctor laughed a little as he stroked Jack's coat. "I'm sorry that I left you, Jack, that first time. Rose doesn't even remember what she did."

"I figured by her reaction on The Crucible. Did she go home too?"

"Yeah, I took her back to her universe before they all closed up, I left her there with my duplicate."

"Is it wise to let him run around, two Timelords?"

"He's not a Timelord," The Doctor was still looking at Jack's coat, "he has my mind, emotions and memories but he… he only has one heart – human body."

"Are you still connected? Like can you see what he sees?"

"No. We were never connected like that, he has my memories up to the point of his creation but he's human like… Donna."

"So Rose gets you forever in the end and that's why Mickey stayed here."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, they get to grow old together and… die together. Something I can never do."

"Do you want to die, Doctor? You asked me that once."

"Sometimes I want to, sometimes I wish I didn't have this role in the universe."

"Doctor, why are you here?"

"I uh," He looked back at Jack for a second before turning back to the coats, "I'm tired Jack. I'm an old man who has had to watch everyone die or leave or… forget. I'm so sick of being the one left behind. This coat, where did you get it?" He looked at Jack who was slightly taken back by the sudden question.

"It's not from a shop, it is real; I was there."

"What was it like? Watching all of those men and women die? Children screaming in pain and a county brought to its knees by gunfire and explosives?"

"It broke my soul. I stood there as boys, that's what they were – just boys, were covered in mud and water then sprayed with the blood of the men next to them. Men would watch me get shot in the head and ten minutes later I'd catch them up in the trenches and they'd just blink as I took the other arm of the guy they were carrying. They had already seen so much that nothing could shock them because that was their permanent state. I watched men next to me fall down screaming and gargling and I wished, every time, that I had been standing there instead of them."

"So why do you wear it?"

"I look good in it." Jack gave his trademark smirk as he folded his arms again.

"Jack."

Jack sighed. "Because history forgets but I don't, I still see every face from that, from everything – I see them all. I hardly sleep, I don't exactly need it but more than that when I close my eyes I see them all. All of them, whether it was in the war or not, they all died and left me behind. I'm the sole survivor every time."

"That's why I'm here; you understand. You know what it's like to pick yourself up and brush off the dust as you work your way out of the rubble with no sign of other life. And we just get up and keep on walking, don't we, because what else can we do? We're quite alike, Jack, you have the coat, the hair," Jack let out a laugh, "the pain… We've both lost our own people. You even have a name that's not yours."

Jack stopped laughing. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"And everyone leaves. Even you left me."

"I didn't do a very good job of it then." He gestured to The Doctor.

He laughed and ruffled his own hair as he walked towards Jack slowly. "Clearly."

"I'm sorry, I still don't understand why you're here, Doctor. I can't come with you, if I leave then god knows how quickly Torchwood will go back to the way it was before, the way that Torchwood used to be and I can't let that happen. No matter what, if I have to do it single handed then I will."

"I'm not here to get you to come with me, Jack. I mean, if you wanted to then I'd love it but that's not why I'm here."

"I'm immortal, not psychic."

"We're the same, Jack. And right now, I could do with someone who knows what it's like." He stopped a step in front of Jack and Jack uncrossed his arms to let him in – The Doctor hugged Jack as he leaned against his desk. And The Doctor cried. He tried not to let Jack know but he did. The Doctor cried and it broke Jack's soul all over again. The oncoming storm, the great exterminator, and the destroyer of worlds was crying into Jack's shoulder. "I couldn't stop thinking about you, Jack."

"Why?"

"I just kept thinking," He looked up, his eyes red with emotion. "'I'm so alone, I can't take the pain any more.' You know? I go between losing people and never wanting to go through that again to never wanting to be lonely because I need someone there, someone to stop me when I do things because I can go too far, I have gone too far and I do go too far. But then I thought, 'What about Jack, he's going through all of this too, he's been alone now for over a hundred years' and for over one hundred years you've been left behind. Like me."

Jack thought about it and let a tear fall. "Yeah."

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"It's twelve o'clock." Jack turned to look at the clock on the wall behind him that The Doctor was looking at. "What day is this?"

"Wednesday."

"Where is everyone? Your team, there was em… Gwen Cooper and that guy…"

"Ianto, Ianto Jones."

"There were others too, what were their names?"

"Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato."

"Yeah, where are they?"

"Gwen is at home. She quit, she couldn't do it anymore, after everything…" Jack trailed off.

"And what about the rest of them?" The Doctor looked at Jack, his own tears beginning to dry.

"Gone."

"Home?"

"No." The Doctor raised his head a little in realisation. "They died." Jack gave up, he let himself cry in front of his Doctor.

"Jack…" The Doctor pulled Jack to him and they both cried. The last of the Time Lords and the last of Torchwood Three. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Me too." The Doctor pulled back to look at Jack and he stayed like that for a moment. "What is it, what are you looking at?" The Doctor cupped Jacks face in his right hand and wiped a tear away with his thumb so Jack did the same to him.

"The end of the universe will come and it'll just be me and you, you know that?"

"I might get you that drink then." The Doctor laughed. "Is this all you came here for, Doctor? To make me cry and wipe my tears, like you always do?"

"No, Jack. I came here for this." The Doctor kissed Jack. But he pushed The Doctor off in shock for a second. "I'm sorry Jack I just-"

"What? So you can leave someone? You come in here, do this and then swagger off in your TARDIS so that you get to leave someone alive and well? It doesn't work like that because I may be alive but I am not well." Jack jumped down the hole to his bunker and waited for the familiar noise. The noise that didn't come. Instead he saw a pair of converse dangling in the hole.

"You know what I like about you, Jack?"

"My coat."

He laughed and jumped into the bunker. "Apart from that. You were a bad man."

"Thanks." Jack sat on his bed and watched as The Doctor leaned against the ladder with his hands in his pockets.

"I mean, you were a time agent, they took your memories and it pissed you off so you turned a little, I get that, I do. But it wasn't really who you were, I mean you have the capacity to be a bad person but in the end, after everything, you sacrificed yourself on Satellite Five and when you came back you stumbled around for a while but in the end you came here and you changed Torchwood. You actually did that, you said to yourself, I've had my fun so now if I'm going to be here forever then I'll be the guy who walks through fire, the one who plays the hero and disappears before any thanks are given."

"It's not all smiles and banners."

"Oh, I know that, believe me, I know that. You did all of that but you also decided to make the decisions that no one else could, do what needed to be done, no matter how horrible and take the hatred and abuse for it. Not only that, but you would have to live with each and every decision and death forever."

"So?"

The Doctor took a half lunge towards him with his eyes and smile wide, his hair on end and sat down beside Jack. "Don't you see, Jack? That's why I came here. What I do, I don't have a choice and even if I did I would still travel through time. The people and places I've been, the brilliant, brilliant people who do brilliant things, who ask the questions and make the decisions that no one else does because they are good people who, when faced with the decision, do the right thing because it runs right through them. And you? You had a choice, you're one of the brilliant ones Jack, you're not only one of them but you've been one of them for over a hundred years and you're committed to being one for as long as you are given the choice. You understand and you're a good person, Jack." Jack looked at The Doctor, his Doctor, the man who had lost everything and everyone. The man who saw the good when no one else could. And the man who, whether he admitted it or not, sensed Jack's pain and came to share his own. Jack saw it now, the man who saw all of the pain in the universe and clung to the good because it's what kept him going. What else could he do? What could Jack do? Jack knew that one. He kissed The Doctor and The Doctor kissed him back. Jack didn't know exactly what The Doctor wanted from him, usually Jack was good, expert in fact, at reading people and what they wanted but The Doctor wasn't people. The Doctor must have sensed this because he broke their kiss, keeping their foreheads touching and his eyes closed for a second. Before he opened them and looked at Jack's left wrist as the hand rested on The Doctor's neck. "I hope you understand why I had to stop you from running around all of time and space Jack."

"I do. A man running around messing with history is bad enough but a man who can't die causing havoc with the smallest choice, even by mistake, and you have to clean it up because no one else can or no one else will."

"I know you're a good person Jack but even I have made mistakes and changed time by just trying to help. And I know that you would do everything to help. Even die."

"My death doesn't really count."

"But it does!" He moved back a little to look at Jack. "Even before you were brought back you stood between the Daleks and Rose and I and sacrificed yourself and you might come back the same on the outside but I bet you remember every single death."

Jack nodded. "One thousand, four hundred and thirty-nine."

"Wow, really? You need to be more careful." They both laughed and The Doctor kissed Jack again.

"What about you?"

The Doctor took a second. "Ten... that I talk about," he whispered that bit and Jack knew not to ask, some things are best left unanswered, "unless you count the last time but that didn't go all the way through so I don't think it counts. But my death is soon."

"How do you mean?"

"Jack, can we not do this? I can't-" He moved away from Jack.

Jack nodded and cut him off. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He moved in and kissed The Doctor again, Jack let The Doctor lead, he wasn't used to it but, as he said, he had no idea what The Doctor wanted from him. The Doctor shuffled back on the bed and Jack followed him, as he lay down on the bed he pulled Jack over him and Jack understood now. The Doctor was tired, tired of being followed around and explaining everything. He wanted to follow and have everything explained to him. Captain Jack Harkness could do that for his Doctor.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" He broke off to look at him lying there.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Don't do... that."

"Do what?" Jack just looked at his Doctor, he wasn't doing anything yet.

"Don't be the man in the coat with a smirk and the wrist strap. Don't be the Captain. I don't want to be The Doctor just now and I don't want you to be The Captain. Just…" He kissed Jack, "kiss me and we'll both leave the coats up there on the hooks for tonight."

Jack leaned on his right hand and offered the doctor his left. The man smiled, undid the wrist strap and Jack put it on the table. "Since I'm not being The Captain right now…" Jack sighed. "I don't know what you want from me, here… In this moment."

"Then find out."

Jack smiled and began kissing the doctor's neck. "And what do you want, Jack?" The voice vibrated under Jack's lips as he unbuttoned the doctor's suit jacket, eased it from his shoulders and left it underneath him.

"Find out." They both laughed.

"I'm good at finding things out."

"But I'm one thing you can't use your screwdriver on." Jack smirked and the doctor rolled over on top of him.

"I guess I'll just have to go about it differently." He kissed Jack as he started unbuttoning the man's shirt, as he went to move it from Jack's shoulders he pulled Jack's torso towards him then huffed a smile before he pulled Jack's braces down. The doctor also pulled Jack's vest off before he threw it with the shirt towards his own jacket and they stopped to look at each other.

"Well, I never thought this would ever happen." They smiled at each other as the doctor widened his eyes in agreement.

"Believe me, it wasn't exactly my plan."

"Oh?" Jack, still sitting up, with the doctor straddling him, started on the older man's shirt.

"I dropped her off and then I got back into the TARDIS. I walked up to the console and I just… I just stood there for a while." Jack saw a distance in the man's eyes. Jack had seen him when his years were shown on his body but seeing the age in his eyes was a new a harrowing experience for Jack. He wanted to fix it, the way that the doctor looked at the stars and wanted to make them shine as bright as they could. "Then I felt heavy so I sat for a while and, do you know, I never notice how big the TARDIS is. Everyone says it, it's bigger on the inside and I'm used to that but I never really notice it myself anymore. Until I'm alone. And in that moment…" He trailed off.

"You were the most alone you think you've ever been." Jack finished the sentence but it wasn't a question. "I know that feeling."

The doctor looked at Jack and could see that, right then, as much as he needed Jack, Jack needed this man all the same. "Jack."

"Yeah?"

"We are rubbish at this."

They both laughed. "I'm usually quite good at this but I'm always The Captain. Not tonight."

"Does it make you uncomfortable because we can stop?"

"No, it's not that. It's just I've spent my whole life…s being someone else, I'm always using this name, I'm always making up stories and running away. That is who I am now. I haven't become Captain Jack Harkness, I've become a constant story, always being retold and rewritten so when you say 'Don't be the Captain' I'm not becoming myself, I'm just looking for a different story to follow for tonight."

"Well, I know that feeling. Jack," he kissed the man, trying to get back to the night they both needed, "but you can be whoever you want to be, I just wanted to give you the chance of dropping the act for tonight, like I need to. I'm still the doctor, I'm still your doctor," Jack kissed him at that, and got rid of the man's shirt, "because that story is the one I follow now but I meant that I don't have to sonic things," Jack dropped his smile feeling guilty for his comment about the screwdriver, "no, I just mean I don't have to sonic things, or set a date to fly off to and save a species from another, which is usually you guys by the way, Earth never seems to be able to stay out of trouble."

"That's why you like it so much. Like an old man seeing himself in his grandchild."

The doctor smiled. "Exactly like that. But I can still be the doctor and lock up the TARDIS for the night. You can still be the captain but leave the coat hanging up and stop with the fake smile." He traced his thumb from the tip of Jack's nose to his lips and parted them slightly before locking his eyes on Jack's bottom lip.

"In that case, do you know what we should probably do less of, which we seem to do a lot of?" The doctor didn't look away from the captain's lips when he moved his own as if he were going to kiss him again but then stopped and shook his head. "Talking." Jack started kissing the doctor's neck and pulling at his trousers as the doctor let out a little laugh. When Jack tried to pull down the doctor's trousers the man stood and kicked his shoes off before allowing his trousers to follow, he pulled at Jack's shoes as he lazily kicked them off too and crawled back over him. He reached for Jack's trousers and fiddled with the belt.

"Tell me one thing," he huffed as he spoke and struggled with the blazing thing, "why on earth do you wear braces and a belt?"

"What's wrong with the braces?"

"Oh nothing, I love the braces! Love them, I might try them sometime."

"Not your style." Jack smiled as he finally got the belt undone and pulled the zip down.

"No, maybe when I have a different face again. Although, I hope I keep the hair, I like the hair."

"So do I." Jack ran his hand through the doctor's damp hair and only let go to assist in removing his own trousers. When the doctor came back Jack ran his right hand through the man's hair and pulled him in for a deeper kiss. As he did that the doctor rubbed his hand down Jack's side, into his boxers and grabbed his buttocks. It had been a while since anyone had touched Jack like that. Oh, Jack had had lovers recently, he had needs after all and appreciated the beauty of the human form, but none who had touched him in the way the doctor was. So soft and tender but firm and full of want and vulnerability. No one since… No. He rolled over on top of the doctor and moved his legs in between his when he ground his erection against the doctor's own and smiled as the man gave out the most gorgeous noise. It wasn't the moan but the laugh that came after it. As well as the red cheeks that followed. "Are you embarrassed?"

"I'm sorry, I have no idea where that came from."

"I'd say it came from here." Jack made the move again and the doctor closed his eyes making the same noise.

"Jack…"

"Yeah?"

"Nothing. Just…" Jack did it again. "Jack..."

Jack smiled and decided he'd had enough. "Now?"

The doctor sat up and kissed Jack before nodding. "Now."

"You sure about this?"

"Less talking you said." The doctor bucked his hips towards Jack and that was all he needed. When their underwear had been awkwardly discarded and Jack reached for the lube in the cabinet beside his bed. "What are we… Where are you…" The doctor swallowed and caught his breath. "What's the…"

"Whatever you want."

The doctor nodded and rubbed a small circle in Jack's stomach as he spoke. "Would you, I mean, if you can, can we… em, will you go slow?" He looked up at Jack, asking for help, in a way, but not vulnerable, just needing guidance. The doctor was still himself in that he was exactly where he wanted to be but he was out-experienced by Jack and he knew it.

The way he drew the circles on Jack's stomach wasn't child-like or any other image that you may have conjured up when it was described. It was the act of someone who just wanted to touch the other person, it didn't matter for what reason, just skin on skin and that hadn't happened to Jack since… No. Jack cleared his mind and nodded. "Of course."

It took a little while but now they were rocking in rhythm with each other and Jack had found the spot he was looking for. The doctor had gone passed embarrassed and Jack had gone passed slow now. They were fully used to it, they were passed uncomfortable or pain, passed squirming and grunting. Now they were sweating, breathing heavy and Jack's cot was squeaking with them.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" Jack barely got out his word.

"I've never done this before."

"With a man?"

"Ever."

Jack lost rhythm for a second before he picked it up again. "Ever?"

The doctor shook his head and they slowly began to pick up their breathing again, it even started getting slightly faster.

"Why now, why me?" Jack was close and he could tell the doctor was too although Jack wasn't sure if the doctor would… like humans did.

"Because…" The doctor kissed Jack and brought their foreheads together again as they both reached breaking point. "Because… you understand, Jack."