Author's Note: Written for the Writer in a Drawer fanfic challenge on LiveJournal. The prompt was a Duran Duran song, and I selected "Someone Else Not Me." The additional challenge was to use part of a lyric...I used part of two: "Tonight I only want to see you smile," and "the hardest thing is to let go."
I don't own any of this.
It's the last dance. The last dance of the evening, and their last dance, ever.
Tomorrow, he'll wave her off at Marylebone. She'll leave for the country thinking that one day they'll be together again. Forever.
He knows he should never have taken that vow.
"Hey." Estelle's soft voice draws him out of somber reflection. "What's wrong?"
"Just…" He pauses and sighs. "Nothing." When she arches an eyebrow at him, he leans down to kiss her. "Forget it. Thinking too much about tomorrow."
"Leave tomorrow till it comes," she tells him. "Tonight, I only want to see you smile. If you must think about the future, then think a little further ahead, to when this war is over and we're back together."
A half smile is the best he can manage, so he covers that with another kiss and holds her a little closer, knowing this is all they'll ever have. Tomorrow he'll kiss her goodbye. He'll send her a few letters, then he'll disappear to protect his secret. She'll hear that he was killed. She'll mourn for a while, and then move on.
The hardest thing is to let go, but he won't let her live with his curse. She's meant for someone else.
Not him.
Cleanup is usually Ianto's job, removing anything that might lead back to Torchwood. But not here. Not this time. Jack will do this job, removing all traces of his "father" and laying to rest the ghosts of memory.
Estelle has been dead for nearly 24 hours, but the scent of incense is still in the air. He walks to the mantle, where Estelle kept her collection of photos. His photos, prominently displayed along with a few of family and friends.
No pictures of other lovers, or a husband. No portraits of children or grandchildren.
"Someone else" never came along.
He'd asked her about that once. She'd smiled sadly, and said, "Some women can have more than one great love in their lives, Jack, but I'm not one of them. And I could never settle for less. Your father was a hard act to follow."
It's their last dance. Their only dance. Ever.
When the Rift opens, the hardest thing is to let go. But Jack does it, kissing him goodbye and disappearing into the light to protect the future.
He'll move on, mourning another love meant for something else.
Not him.