A/N: This is set between CoE and MD for Torchwood and right after The Wedding of River Song for Doctor Who. Enjoy!
Captain Jack Harkness sits in a dark corner of an extraterrestrial bar, nursing a tumbler of whiskey. Uncharacteristically, he avoids the looks of everyone and broods in quiet depression. Everyone he loved was gone - with the exception of Gwen. But she had Rhys, and a baby on the way. She could bounce back from it. Jack couldn't. He could get through Tosh and Owen's deaths because he had Ianto at his side. Without him, Jack didn't even see the point of staying on Earth. So he went to a bar in space, far away from Earth, and his lost love, and Gwen. Because Gwen would just remind him, and he would remind her, and the wounds would never heal. He has to get away so the wounds could heal. He looks up as he thinks he hears a familiar sound; it isn't impossible, just highly improbable. After an uneventful moment, he turns back to his whiskey. He hears the door open and a woman laugh, followed by "You know I have to be back in my prison cell before breakfast, right Sweetie?" Her companion's response was cut off early, but was probably "Of course."
At first, Jack didn't realize he could suddenly understand everyone as if they were speaking English. When he went back to the bar to order another whiskey in the bartender's language, the man just looked at him as if he had too much to drink already. Jack finally gave up and gave English a try, on the off chance the man understood some. The look cleared and he nodded, pouring another tumbler. "That's odd," Jack thought. "Am I far more gone than I thought, or did someone bring in a universal mass-translator?" He looked around and spotted the couple that had walked through the door after the auditory hallucination. A tiny ray of hope shone through his bleak depression at the possibility. Could it be? Well. Best put on a cheery facade just in case, eh?
Knocking back the rest of his whiskey in one go, Jack signalled the barkeep again and ordered three drinks - two for the couple and one for himself. With his characteristic grin in place (albeit a little forced, but there was only one person left in the universe who'd be able to tell), he sauntered over to the couple and set the drinks down.
"Captain Jack Harkness," he introduced himself to the woman, knowing, or rather hoping, that the man next to her already knew him. "I'm tired of drinking alone tonight and you two just look like so much fun. Drinks are on me." He winked.
"Dr. River Song," she replied with a smirk. "Thank you. I'd say we were fun, wouldn't you, Sweetie?" She glanced over at her companion with a very specific glint in her eyes.
"Oh, Dear...Jack thinks he knows just how fun I can be, but he'll never know for sure." He looked Jack in the eyes. "Although, he did kiss me once, but that's as far as I let it go."
The ray of hope burst in Jack's chest, and the grin wasn't fake anymore. "Doctor. It's good to see you... Really good." His grin faltered a little, but he took a swig of his drink and it was back. It didn't go unnoticed, however.
"Jack, are you alright?" The Doctor asked. He saw through the grin before, and he sees the ghosts in Jack's eyes now. He could tell something was wrong. "I thought you were in charge of Torchwood. What are you doing in a bar three galaxies away?"
Jack took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, eyes downcast once more. "You weren't there, Doctor. We had to do things ourselves." He knew the Doctor couldn't fix everything, couldn't be there to help every time...but it didn't stop Jack thinking that if the Doctor had been there, everything would've been different. Everything would've been alright. He took another sip of his whiskey.
The Doctor looked saddened, but accepting. He knew it would happen one of these days. He wouldn't be there to save the Earth and bad things would happen. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Jack took another deep breath and put on his happy facade again. "Nah, I'll be fine. What's this I hear about prison before breakfast? Sounds like fun." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at River.
"Oh, nothing much," River said. "The Doctor broke me out of prison for the night, but I have to be back before breakfast or they'll think I'm not trustworthy. If I always come back, they might just let me out early on good behavior." She winked.
"You broke her out of prison?" Jack asked the Doctor, astounded. "What's gotten into you, Doctor?"
"Oh, I rather think I have," she smiled. "I've been rubbing off on you, haven't I, Sweetie?"
The Doctor, hearing the innuendo, blushed a little and squirmed in his seat. "In more ways than one, I think."
Jack heard the innuendo as well and raised an eyebrow. "You don't say?" he said with a smirk. "You know, Doctor, I kinda like this look on you. You almost look tamed. Almost, but not quite." He took a sip of his drink. "I bet the only thing stopping it is the prison, if you know what I mean." He winked, and the Doctor sat very still, but you could tell he wanted to fidget.
Jack decided to let the Doctor breathe and turned his attention to River. "So, Dr. River Song, what are you and the good Doctor here for? A night out on the galaxy?" He lifted his drink to his mouth.
"Oh, something of the sort." She glanced at the Doctor and smirked. "We're on our honeymoon." Jack choked on his whiskey. After clearing his airway, he exclaimed "Honeymoon? You're married? Oooh, good one Doctor! So, how did you two meet?"
River and the Doctor looked at each other and back to Jack, and together asked "Which time?" Jack looked confused, so River explained. "Our lives are back to front. We never meet in the right order. So when we say 'which time' we mean when he first met me, or when I first met him. So, which time?"
"How about both?" he laughed. "Seems the best way to get the partial picture of you two, at least."
River went first. She seemed excited to share anything about her and the Doctor with Jack. "Oh, now that's a story to tell. Well, the first time I actually met him, I was Melody Pond. It was in Leadworth. My parents, his then companions, had just made a crop circle to get his attention." She looked at the Doctor. "You really need to just answer your phone, Sweetie. People wouldn't have to go to such lengths to contact you then. Anyway, I was a sort of psycopath back then, so of course I pulled a gun on him and suggested we go kill Hitler. I shot his TARDIS console because he said it wouldn't do anything to it, but it started smoking and whatnot. We had to evacuate. When we got to...when was, it, 1941? We stepped out and right into Hitler's office, saving him from a Tesselecta. It's a time traveling robot that can emulate anyone in the universe, driven by tiny people. But when Hitler and the Tesselecta came to, Hitler decided to shoot it. Too bad he's a lousy shot. Missed it and hit me, so I had to regenerate." Jack's eyes widened in shock at that, but River didn't give him any time to interject. "After some time of getting to know myself, I tried to kill the good Doctor here, which almost worked. Poisoned him. Kissed him with the Judas Tree lipgloss. Things happened, shenanigans ensued, and I ended up gaining a conscience and an emotional connection to him, so I gave him my remaining regenerations to save him."
Jack was stunned. His jaw was on the table and his eyes were wide. When his brain finally caught up with him he still didn't know what to say, but settled on "...Regenerate?"
The Doctor took up the story here. "Yes. Amy and Rory conceived her in the Time Vortex. Somehow that warped her DNA into...Time-Lordy-ness. Still not sure how. Very grateful, though. Saved my life more than once." They were interrupted by a beep from Jack's wrist.
Jack, puzzled, pushed a button and a hologram bearing the words "We miss you" glowed in front of them for a moment before disappearing. "Huh. Didn't know I could get text messages."
The Doctor scowled, took out his sonic and pointed it at the leather wristband. "Jack, what did I tell you about that thing?"
Jack was poking at it, wondering if he could send something back. "You said no more, but I didn't even know it could do that." He pushed a few more buttons but gave up when nothing happened. The Doctor soniced it and shut it down again. "Must've been Martha. There's...no one else that knows about it." Jack's melancholy was back as he drained his whiskey. He grimaced, "How can I go back there? That's what they want. They miss me. But how can I go back there when -" He choked back a sob. "I'll outlive them. They leave. How do you do it, Doctor?" He begged for an answer.
The Doctor gave Jack a sad look. "You live with the sadness," he said. "You can't escape it." He looked over at River. "You find someone who can make you feel young again, for however short a time. Because it's worth it. You may love, you may lose, and you may never die, but every person you meet, every person who makes you feel like a person...it's worth it."
They were silent a moment, thinking of all those they've met - all they've loved and lost. Jack and the Doctor locked eyes, thinking of Rose. They each nodded, knowing it was worth it.
"Would you like a ride back to Earth, Captain?" River asked, breaking the silence. "I was going to suggest our next destination be in the 1920s so we could go dancing - did you know the Doctor dances? Very well, I might add - but we could make a stop when you're from, right Sweetie?"
"Of coure, dear. Come on, Jack. We'll take you home."