His Type
Jack downed his shot in one gulp. The stale scent of wood-varnish and alcohol hung in the air thickly. Jack threw a glance around the pub. No one interesting. Just an older couple, talking and laughing. A young couple, smiling and flirting. Jack grinned at the young boys eagerness. You make her laugh one more time, and buy her another glass, you're going get lucky. Jack laughed to himself and turned back to the bar-tender. He eyed his glass, then grinned up at the young woman.
"How's about another, Shareen?" he sealed the deal with a wink and his best smile. The girl shook her head smiling, her dark curls swirling around her shoulders.
"Boy, Jack. Never saw a bloke down that many and still be in mind to flirt so brilliantly," Shareen turned around and reached up for the bottle. "Here, this ones on the house."
Shareen placed the small shot in front him and winked. Jack swirled the caramel liquid in the glass for a few moments, before downing that one too. Shareen sighed.
"Might wanna be careful, love," she said, her once teasing tone now falling rather sombre. "I once went down a road swallowing shot-glasses by the handful. Got me nowhere."
"To what reason was a lovely girl like yourself drinking like that anyway?" Jack offered, adding more kindness to his voice than teasing. Shareen wiped the table with a cloth, her hand moving in circles.
"Never knew my Dad. Brought up with Mum. But then she died when I was fifteen," Shareen replied, her voice quiet. "I lived with my aunt in London. I spent a lot of my time 'round my mates house though. We were thicker than thieves, us two. Inseparable for four years."
"I'm guessing something happened," Jack said sullenly. Shareen just slowed her pace of wiping.
"She died." Her voice cracked beneath the words. "Canary Wharf. 2007."
"I'm sorry," Jack said. Shareen stopped wiping and nodded slowly. Suddenly, as if a switch had been turned, she burst back into life.
"Nah, it's alright, love!" She beamed at Jack, taking his glass. "Never saw much of her in the last years anyway. She travelled a lot."
"Well, least she lived it up before she went, yeah?"
Before Shareen could respond, the door opened and the harsh Cardiff wind blew in after it. Jack turned around to see a young woman standing there, shutting the door behind her. She was clad in black. Almost like a spy, Jack mused to himself. But Jack couldn't help but focus more on what was underneath her attire rather than on the clothes themselves.
She had a hard set face and silky black hair that fell in a straight curtain down her back. She had a great figure. Jack cleared his throat as the woman approached the counter standing next to him. Jack felt his brow furrow. There was a strange scent of her. She smelt of… sand. And petrol. Sand and petrol. Strange, but definitely sexy in it's own way.
"Scotch, on the rocks," she breathed, sighing as Shareen nodded and turned.
"Long day?" Jack asked, sitting up a little straighter. The woman looked at him up and down, then relaxed a bit.
"You might say that," she replied. She looked at him again and raised her eyebrows. "What's a bloke like you doing down here on your own?" Jack grinned.
"Well, I know a way to solve that," he teased. The woman smiled. "Shareen, make that two." Shareen looked at him and rolled her eyes. Jack held out his hand.
"Captain Jack Harkness," he said. The woman grinned slyly, holding out her hand in response.
"Christina," she said, her voice equally coy. She breathed a laugh. "You know what, this seems to be my day for finding gorgeous men with strange titles. Captain? As in a ship?"
"Might say that," Jack mimicked. "What do you mean, 'men of strange titles'?"
"Just earlier today met a guy calling himself 'The Doctor'."
Jack felt his eyebrows shoot up. This woman just got a whole lot more interesting.
- - -
"So anyway, turns out he was an alien," Christina said clumsily, almost wistfully. Jack walked alongside her as they walked down the pier. "Never would've guessed. I mean, he was pretty good-looking for an alien."
"I bet," Jack grinned. Christina laughed.
"Anyway, he said he was some Lord of Time. Or something like that," she continued. "He had this box. This little blue box, tiny thing. Said it was his space-ship. I really wanted to get away…"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I'm just sick of this planet!" Christina said, wandering up to the pier fencing and leaning against. "I mean, once you've seen another world! Once you've done all that adrenaline pumping madness! Once you've tasted that adventure!" She sighed. "And then he just dropped me high and dry." Jack couldn't mistake the bitterness.
Jack smiled inwardly. So very like him. Jack couldn't see his problem. Christina seemed pretty smart, and she was also quite good looking. (By which he meant, how could The Doctor turn down this hottie?)
"I mean, after our little snog I would've thought we were a done-deal-!"
"You're what?"
"Well, what can I say? He was gorgeous. And not to mention the adventure's he had, major turn-on," Christina grinned, her tongue poking slyly between her teeth. Reminding Jack painfully of a very different woman.
Jack couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Alright… a Hell of lot jealous.
"Yeah well, that's a habit The Doctor's always had," Jack said aloofly. Christina stopped laughing.
"You knew him?"
"Know him," Jack replied, delighting in the sag of Christina's smile. "I used to travel with him."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. Picked me up one day, then left me, as you say, high and dry," Jack continued. Christina turned away from Jack and gazed out at the sea.
"I begged him to let me go with him," she confessed sadly. Jack took a little less mirth out of it than expected. "I really, really wanted to get out there and have more adventures. To go out and touch the stars…"
"I know the feeling."
"He turned me down. Straight off. Not even an apology for leading me on; just dropped me!" Christina said bitterly. "Said something about the people he travelled with in the past. Something about losing them and not wanting to again."
"Ah, now it makes more sense," Jack mused aloud. Christina looked at him, her drape of black hair blowing around her face. Jack looked at her. "He usually asks, not the person in question. He used to pick people up all the time. Take them everywhere. Anywhere." He swallowed. "Something happened though. Remember when the Daleks attacked Earth last year?"
Christina shuddered.
"Yeah well, he lost a lot of people that day," Jack said sadly. Christina looked down at her feet. "I left, and I took two of his other friends with me. He had to bring one home. She got… amnesia. Didn't remember him at all. And he had to leave one behind. Sealing her off forever."
Christina said nothing, her hair whipping about like black ribbons.
"And I think that killed him in the end."
"But, he wouldn't have to do that with me!" Christina protested. "He'd just take me to see Time and Space! Maybe we'd have a little fling. But we wouldn't get serious! Why couldn't he just take me up on my offer?!"
Jack was beginning to see that Christina really did just want to see the stars. But there didn't seem to be anything else there. No desire to see new life thriving. No eagerness towards reliving history and watching it's splendour unfold. Jack was beginning to see that The Doctor left her behind for more than one reason. More than just the fear of causing her death. (But, knowing The Doctor, which Jack did, that played the biggest part). Besides... He looked Christina up and down. She wasn't The Doctor's type.
"I better go, Christina," Jack said. "I've got someone waiting."
"Really? Well, let me walk you back to your car anyway," Christina said, probably too tired to hide her disappointment. Jack walked down to the familiar black SUV and stopped to look at a broken down bus just down the street.
"You know, maybe I should walk. I'm seeing London buses, that can't be good," he joked.
"Oi! I didn't make fun of your World War jacket, don't make fun of my bus!" Christina stuck her tongue out at him. Jack eyed it. Oh, well… He was drunk. And what Ianto didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Jack reached for Christina's cheek and in a second they were lip-locked. Jack mentally congratulated himself. He was so right about Christina.
The broke apart and their breath billowed whitely before their faces in the cold air.
"Don't worry about The Doctor Christina," Jack said, pulling away from her and turning towards the Hub's direction. He couldn't hold back a grin. "We're just not his type."
"What would be his type?" Christina called after him. Jack grinned wider. Okay, he was jealous and he probably shouldn't have said it. But she got to kiss The Doctor's new, pretty damn good-looking self and he didn't? Besides, it's not like it wasn't true…
"Blonde."
