Better Together

Synopsis: Now Jack has found the right kind of doctor he has some questions he needs answering
Characters: Jack, the Doctor (ten), Martha
Spoilers: Post Torchwood, End Of Days, vague Doctor Who series 3.
Rating: PG
Notes: Don't know how many of these reunion fics I can write, but here's another ;-)

Ten minutes after leaving Torchwood, the Doctor and Jack were alone in the study, while the TARDIS floated in the time vortex.

"Martha seems nice," Jack commented.

"She is." The Doctor knew what Jack was really saying though - it hadn't taken him long to find a new companion. "It was pointed out to me that, well maybe I shouldn't be alone. That I need someone to hold me back, to tell me when to stop. I tried to deny it for a while, but..." he sighed and wondered quite how honest to be. Of course Donna had seen the truth of him after only a few hours, Jack had travelled with him - the previous him - for months, so Jack already knew. "I'm dangerous on my own."

Jack gave a small smile. "Me too." He didn't dare to think how far he would have gone down the road of destruction if he hadn't had someone from his team to hold him back, to whisper (more often shout) 'Jack, stop' at him.

Jack had dozens of questions running around his head. Why had he been left on the Game Station? Why hadn't the Doctor come for him until now? Why was he alive? Why couldn't he die? Where had the Doctor been all this time? What had happened to make the Doctor regenerate? But another question needed answering before all of those. "I read the reports from Canary Wharf," he saw the Doctor stiffen, but he pressed on anyway. "They were pretty sketchy, but they mention you were there... And Rose, she's listed among the dead. What happened?"

It had been months, well over a year, but the Doctor still felt the same clenching in his chest, the same knot in his stomach whenever he thought about Rose. "She went through the void. She's living on the parallel Earth with her mum and dad. Well, he's not really her dad, he's that universe's Pete Tyler. And Mickey, Mickey's there too. It seemed easiest to list her as dead. She can't come back here and I ..." he shrugged and took a steadying breath.

"But she's alive."

"Alive and well when I saw her, working for Torchwood."

"Yeah? Good for her," Jack smiled. "You've seen her then?"

"Briefly. Used the last breach to send a message." The Doctor didn't want to talk about Rose anymore though. "Were you working for Torchwood when the ghosts came through?" he asked.

'Wow, straight to the point eh!' Jack thought. When he'd told the Doctor that the reason he was in the Torchwood hub was because he ran Torchwood Cardiff, the Doctor's expression had hardened for a brief moment. Jack had always known that his choice of employer would annoy the Time Lord, not that he didn't understand why. "Yeah. We tried to stop them. I phoned London so often that Yvonne stopped taking my calls. When I went there, she had me thrown out - five times. She had me locked in their cells twice. The woman was insane," Jack said with feeling. "I had no idea what was coming through, but I was damn sure they weren't ghosts. I was back in Cardiff when the cybermen appeared. We were lucky; we only lost two people - although there were only five of us to start with. By the time we'd worked out a way of at least slowing them down, they'd gone back where they came from." He smiled at the Doctor. "That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then we owe you one, again," Jack said.

"Saving the Earth seems to be my mission in life," the Doctor agreed with a brief smile.

"What took you so long?" Jack suddenly asked. "To find me, what took you so long?"

"I didn't know you were alive. In fact I felt you die."

"Something brought me back."

"Apparently."

Jack couldn't quite read the Doctor's tone. This new Doctor appeared more open and laid back than the one he'd known before, but it was only an appearance - Jack was finding he was far more difficult to read. "Do you know what happened?"

"Rose - must have been Rose," the Doctor told Jack. "She wasn't prepared to stay safely in London in 2006. She got her mum and Mickey to help her open the TARDIS heart. She used it to take her back to the Game Station. It was Rose who killed the Daleks, not me." He suppressed a shudder as he remembered the delta wave, remembered how close he'd come to destroying another world, in order to kill the Daleks. He pulled his mind back to the present, "She must have used the vortex to bring you back."

Jack heard the note of disapproval in the Doctor's voice as he spoke.

The Doctor was still talking though. "She was amazing, if a little foolish," his smile as proud and sad. "But she couldn't release it, the power was taking her over, it was killing her. I took it from her, but even Time Lords aren't supposed to absorb that much energy. I've never been able to work out how Rose managed to survive it, but she did."

"Rose saved me." Jack hadn't expected that. He'd always thought it was something the Doctor had done, something he'd done inadvertently, something he hadn't realised he'd done. Jack had needed to believe that the Doctor hadn't deliberately abandoned him - that would have been too much to bear. But now he was here, sitting in the Doctor's study there was a question he needed an answer to. "So if you felt me die, how come you didn't feel me come back?"

"I was dying myself, absorbing the time vortex was killing me. I was hardly aware of what was happening with the TARDIS, let alone on the Game Station."

Jack was willing to accept that, he needed to accept that the Doctor had a good reason for leaving him behind. There was one final thing though. "I can't die. Ever since... whatever happened on the Game Station. I get shot in the head and a couple of minutes later, I'm fine."

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded. "The Time Lords forbade the use of the vortex to control life and death because there's no way of controlling the consequences." He knew Jack needed answers, wanted a reassurance that he just couldn't give him.

"Is it permanent?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry. As far as I'm aware there's nothing documented about it. I will look into for you, but don't get your hopes up. Without access to the Time Lord's records," the Doctor shook his head and frowned. "You look exhausted."

"Been a rough few days," Jack said. "I died twice, takes it out of you."

The Doctor suddenly grinned as a realisation hit him, "It was you," he said. "You killed Abadon, you closed the rift."

Jack nodded, "I let it feed off of me. Where the hell were you by the way?"

"Oh, long story, which led to a broken TARDIS. By the time I'd repaired her, the rift was closed."

"But you came anyway."

"Was just going to be a quick pass, get a few readings. But the TARDIS has a mind of her own at times. She sensed you, took me to get you. Seems I wasn't the one who missed you."

"She always did have a soft spot for me," Jack agreed with a tired smile.

"Your room's just as you left it if you want some sleep."

Jack frowned. "You kept my room, even though you knew I'd died?"

"I'm not exactly short of rooms," the Doctor replied, but the flippant answer wasn't appropriate he knew. "I always keep the rooms of the people I care about, the ones I miss. Even when I know there's no way they can return." His sad expression was quickly replaced by a grin. "But, here you are, you have returned." He studied his friend, saw with concern the pain and fatigue in his eyes. "Go and get some rest, let the TARDIS take care of you for a while. We can talk more later. You remember the way?" he asked as Jack stood up.

"Second staircase, down the corridor, third turn on the right, second room along," Jack replied.

"Is he still asleep?" Martha asked and the Doctor nodded, "And you mock me."

"And I always will," the Doctor agreed. "He's had a rough couple of days it seems. Although I suspect he's had a rough... how ever long it's been for him since the Game Station."

Martha knew the Doctor well enough by now to know he was feeling guilty. "It's not your fault, you thought he was dead."

"I could have checked. He was only there because of me. I should have checked."

Jack chose that moment to join the Doctor and Martha in the console room. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Oh, about ten hours," the Doctor replied. "Feeling any better?"

Jack nodded and stood watching the new Time Lord and his new companion, suddenly wondering whether he really belonged here after all. Maybe the only place he belonged now was Torchwood, in his small room below the hub. Well that was a depressing thought! "Torchwood," he suddenly said. When the Doctor and Martha stared blankly at him, he added, "I just vanished, my team'll be worried about me."

The Doctor frowned, "You want me to take you back?"

"You want to?"

"Not unless you want me to. You can stay onboard as long as you like, you know that. Don't you?"

"You might regret making that offer," Jack told him with a smile, all his doubts about being here falling away. "I should still let them know where I am, before they take it on themselves to try and find me."

"Why don't you phone them," Martha suggested.

The Doctor brightened visibly, "Good idea, don't know why I didn't think of that."

"I think we know who the brains of this operation is," Jack said.

"Me?" the Doctor asked.

Jack laughed at him and walked to the console. He picked up the receiver of the old 1970s trim phone. "You really need a new phone, you know that," he commented.

"Nothing wrong with that phone," the Doctor objected.

Jack wondered briefly who to call. Not Owen that was for sure, he'd ask far too many questions, as would Tosh. He could phone Ianto, but he chose Gwen. "Hey," he said when she answered.

"Jack!" Gwen's relief at hearing her boss's voice was palpable. "Where are you? Are you alright? Do you need us?"

Jack grinned and shook his head, so much for Gwen not asking questions. "I'm fine, honestly. I'm just visiting a friend for a while. I figure I'm due a vacation."

"But you vanished from the hub, Jack. Where are you?"

Jack couldn't miss the seriousness of Gwen's tone, the implication that she thought he was being forced to lie. "You asked me what would have persuaded me, remember?"

"Of course I do, you said the right kind of doctor."

Jack glanced across the console room and grinned. "Well I found him, or rather he found me."

"The right kind of doctor? I don't even know what that means."

"Yeah I know. But trust me, Gwen, I'm fine. Never been better in fact."

Relief flooded through Gwen as she realised Jack was telling the truth, but the relief was quickly replaced by a new fear. "Are you coming back?"

"Of course I am. Couldn't leave the four of you to your own devices could I," Jack laughed. "I'll be back before you know it. A day or two at most," he assured her, the TARDIS was a time machine after all - he could really stay on board as long as he liked. "I'll see you soon. Make sure the others don't destroy anything while I'm gone. You know, like the planet."

"We'll try. Take care, Jack."

When Jack hung up, the Doctor was grinning at him, "So, what do you want to do? We can go anywhere you want."

Jack shook his head. "Same old Doctor, never wanting to be still. Don't suppose I could just hang out in the TARDIS for a while, I missed her."

END