Title: Love Can Move Mountains (1/1)
Author: CryssieM

Disclaimer: The show and characters belong to BBC, I just borrowed them for fun.
Prompt: Sand Between Your Toes
Pairing: Jack/Gwen
Rating: PG-13 / R for sexual reference
Genre: fluff, romance
Spoilers: 1x05 Small Worlds, 1x06 Countrycide, 2x01 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Timeline: before 2x09 Something Borrowed
Summary: Jack and Gwen relaxing on a tropical island
AN: This is what popped into my mind for the assigned prompt :)
Thanks to my amazing betareader, Chloé! xxx

Gwen Cooper didn't remember the last time she had been on a holiday. It had been long before Torchwood, she guessed. She really needed it now. Torchwood consumed one's energy, and after the recent hectic months she felt like having burnt out. Also the wedding-preparations exhausted her. She was glad to have all that behind.

Now she was lying on a large beach towel, lazily enjoying the warm rays of sunshine caressing her skin. The sand-bed under her felt like hot, silky sheets, and the gentle, tropical breeze cooled her heated body. Seagulls chit-chatted above her in the azure sky, while the waves of the ocean were singing their own melody; It was paradise.

Gwen had never felt so happy and satisfied. Months ago she had had doubts concerning the way she lived her life. She had been trying to adjust the brand new life-style that Torchwood demanded; leading a double life and hiding the truth from Rhys. Though she had loved him, she had gotten isolated from him slowly. Affected by the new world, she stumbled and fell under the weight, ending up in Owen's arms.

She wondered a lot why had she chosen Owen back then. They had never had anything in common. They had never been soulmates, not even close friends. Why had she not gone to Jack for solace instead of him?

She couldn't tell why, but Jack always was the special one in her life. They had never talked about the bond they had; a bond that neither of them had with no one else in the team. Both of them sensed it, yet they had never acted on it. Jack had been seeing Ianto and she had had Rhys. Things had been normal like that. Nevertheless, that tie of unexplained feelings had been there between them.

What if she had ended up in Jack's bed instead of Owen's back then? Being the one who shagged anything with a zip code, Jack wouldn't have refused her, would he? He had known more about her than anyone else in the team, and she had guessed she had been in the same shoes for him. So going to him for comfort would have been convenient. He would have understood her more than Owen had. So why hadn't she picked him?

Recalling the history of her relationship with Jack she realized the reason. She respected him too much for taking him as a one-night stand, just some kind of solace. He meant much more to her than that. She hadn't wanted to use him.

Time had passed, she had experienced the ups and downs of life as a Torchwood officer, dealt with issues in her private life, sorted things out, and now she was stronger than ever.

She jumped a little as two large, wet hands touched her shoulders. She was about to playfully scold the owner of the hands, when those fingers began squeezing her back ever so gently that she moaned in pleasure. Cool water was dripping from his hair onto her hot skin, the cold drops making her shiver every moment they landed on her. Imagining his soaked look made blood rush faster in her veins.

He smiled at her reaction, and went on massaging her soft, hot skin, while his mouth placed little, sensual, teasing kisses onto her neck, right onto the sensitive area he knew she liked so much. Feeling his breath on her skin, tickling and enveloping her, she couldn't resist whirling around and claiming those skillful lips with hers. He grinned and kissed her back hungrily, enwrapping her hot body in his cool, wet arms. Even through the tiny material of her bikini-top, he could feel her nipples erecting. Smirking, he moved his hand to her breast, squeezing it tenderly. His cold fingers on her hot flesh elicited a gasp of her, and wrapping her arms around his wet neck, she kissed him deeper, her tongue dancing passionately with his. He flinched slightly as her hot arms touched his cool body, fire on ice. Something to play with later again, he added to the mental notes with a naughty smirk.

Love is a strange thing, Jack noted. It turns your world up-side-down. Makes you give up things you had refused to and change your mind about issues you had stubbornly sticked to.

He didn't remember when his world had started to change. Maybe it had been when Gwen joined Torchwood. Or even earlier when he first had laid his eyes on her, considering her to be perfect Torchwood material. No matter, she had changed his life; a lot, indeed. More than he had thought anyone ever would. Not many people could do that during his 150 plus years - only Estelle, Captain John Hart, the Doctor and now Gwen Cooper.

Estelle. The love he would never forget. The girl he had married. The wonderful human being he never wanted to let go, so had been sticking around her even when she was old. The woman whose dead body he had held. The secret he had shared with Gwen.

Captain John Hart. The rogue time-agent, just like he himself had been a long time ago. His brother, friend and lover. He had mirrored him, the young, rebel Jack Harkness, who hadn't known rules, defeat, or mercy and had thought life was a neverending party, where he was the DJ. Kill or get killed – and Jack had never opted for the latter. Just as John said they had been partners, in every way and then some. John Hart was the best lover he had ever known. He was innovative, shameless, rough, tender, creative, experimenting and knew tricks that even the book of Kamasutra didn't. He didn't know the word "impossible", and he was always ready for a round. But the most important thing to remark about Captain John Hart was his cruelty. He enjoyed causing pain, seeing the victim suffer, and he hadn't felt right if he didn't kill 3 or more people a day.

But Torchwood changed Jack Harkness – just like it did everyone else. He wasn't the man Captain John had known anymore. Killing wasn't a game for him now, but some ultimate sacrifice in order to save people, mostly, his team. He couldn't live that life-style again, nor leave Cardiff and the Torchwood team. They were his life now.

The Doctor. The Timelord. The man who messed with his life all the way. One could never be sure to see the same face when meeting him again. Regeneration was the trick's name. 9th or the 10th, it didn't matter, the Doctor was still the same. Cunning and witty, as well as being Jack's soul mate and the adventurous companion traveling through time and space. Living in his own world just like Jack, living to save the world again and again – just what Torchwood did. The Doctor was the clue to his immortality. He and his companion, Rose, were responsible for Captain Jack Harkness not being able to die; at least longer than a few minutes. The Doctor was one of the most important people in Jack's eternal life. And he always would be.

And Gwen. The police constable with a heart. The woman he fought, contradicted, yet respected and praised. Someone he truly admired, cared and worried for. And loved. He had tried to ignore the feeling for so long, asking her to lead a normal life with her fiancee, while he had started a relationship with Ianto, but... after a while, pretending had gotten harder and harder, his heart breaking into thousand pieces everytime he saw her with Rhys. He hadn't intended to fall for her that much, but it had not been his decision. He hadn't felt like this since Estelle. Gwen was the second woman who stole his heart. She made him feel like he had decades ago – the overwhelming emotion he had felt toward Estelle.

Now here he was with Gwen, under the azure sky of the tropical island, far from Torchwood, Weevils and aliens, making out in the sand, celebrating a new start and the victory of love.

Jack felt something he hadn't ever done – finally coming home.

After all those battles, travels in time and space, relishing what the moment offered, indulging life, facing hard times, getting tiny pieces of happiness, he finally found the place he belonged to. Gwen Cooper, or rather Gwen Cooper Harkness as she decided to change her name after their wedding, was his home. It took time to realize and admit it, but he conceded eventually. Sacrifices needed to be made, but both of them were willing to do anything to make their life-long alliance work.

Both of them had already lost too much, gone through hard times, experienced pain, so they vowed to live every day without regrets – no more hidden emotions, watching and waiting, doubting. They belonged together, that was no question anymore. Whatever might come, they would face it - together they were stronger than ever.

"You make me wet," Gwen giggled as he pressed his wet body against hers, which sent a pleasant shiver down her spine.

"Mmm, so I still have an effect on you," Jack smirked smugly with a mischivious glint in his eyes, his hand roaming lower on her body.

She let out a heartfelt laugh. "Jack Harkness, you're so..." she spiked his wet hair. She gazed his eyes, which seemed to have turned into a gorgeous blue shade she had never seen before. She smiled and gave a quick kiss on his lips.

"So fucking sexy?" he grinned.

She laughed, and leaning in, whispered something into his ear.

He smirked.

"I guess we've had enough of the sun for a little while," he gave her a dazzling smile, and scooping her into his arms, he headed back to the hotel.

"What are you planning?" she asked the rhetorichal question with a chuckle.

"Hmm, just some siesta," he smirked.

"Siesta?" she laughed. "You, sleeping?"

"Didn't say I was going to sleep..." he raised a brow with a broad grin.

"Good, cos I wouldn't let you," she murmured huskily before kissing him.

"I'm so bloody lucky to have you," he whispered into the kiss.

She changed his life, gave him a second chance to live normally, even if he was far from normal. Normal meant different to them, but they accepted it. For her love it was worth.

They were stronger together. Stronger in fight and stronger in love.

And love can move mountains.