After spending so much time writing for young Classic Captain Jack and Eighth Doctor companion Fitz Kreiner throughout my previous fic This Tangled TARDIS, I began to think of other ways to pair these two lovely guys together. Meanwhile, Series 6 began, and made me fall even more in love with River Song and Eleven. And when River mentioned her and the Doctor's trip to Easter Island, my imagination went into overdrive.
This story is my fourth set in the Fitverse, my mostly canon series of adventures featuring Fitz Kreiner, though it can definitely be read as a standalone. I suppose there are spoilers for all Doctor Who and Torchwood, up to Series 6, though there's no need to read any of my previous fics. Oh, and I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood, though I often wish I did...
Chapter 1: A Bit of Company
Jack slumped to the bar, shattered. After spending 6 months as far from human civilization as possible, he'd finally dragged himself back to London. Back to where it all happened. Forced himself, because of the dream. Over and over again, countless nights in a row, the same goddamn dream tormented him. Ianto, standing in front of where it happened. In front of Thames House. Where he died.
Desperately beckoning.
So Jack had come back, and broken into Thames House. And he waited. Nothing had happened, of course. Just a dream after all.
Maybe tomorrow he would find Gwen, get his vortex manipulator back. Leave this planet once and for all. This planet that had become a graveyard.
"What can I get you, mate?"
Jack looked up at the grinning bartender. He had a shifty look about him, but in a charming way. There was a sort of weary cheerfulness in the way he carried himself, in the thin smile lines permanently etched in a face that did not quite match the melancholic grey eyes.
"You have pretty eyes," Jack said automatically, not even realizing he was flirting as his thoughts drifted back into terrible places.
The bartender blushed, which made Jack smile for the first time in a very long while.
"Uh, yeah," he muttered. "Thanks."
"Vodka. Straight. Leave the bottle."
The other man's grin slipped. "Who'd you lose?" he asked, sounding concerned.
Jack leaned back and took him in. Scruffy hair, stubble, and a worn leather jacket, with a red t-shirt and black jeans. Tall and gangly, almost too skinny, nearly as thin as his beautiful Tenth Doctor.
"I've lost everyone," Jack said softly, without even meaning too. "You wouldn't understand."
The bartender chuckled mirthlessly. "Try me, mate. You wouldn't believe the shit I've lived through."
"I'm so tired of this planet," Jack muttered.
With a shrug, the bartender turned around to grab a glass. "Trust me, there are worse places than planet Earth. I've been to most of them."
Jack actually laughed. "Have you? I bet I've been to more."
He poured Jack his drink. "I couldn't tell you. I lost track."
Jack tilted his head and frowned. "You're not joking, are you? You've actually been out there?"
The bartender leaned over conspiratorially, then slid a business card across the bar. "Yeah, mate. Been practically everywhere, and everywhen. I'm Fitz Kreiner from beyond the stars, private eye, intergalactic man of mystery, and citizen of the universe."
"Then why the hell are you working at a dive bar in North London?"
"Hey! I was born and raised in North London."
"I thought you came from beyond the stars?" Jack asked with a wry grin, downing his vodka at the end of the question before examining the card.
It read:
Fitz Kreiner
Private Eye
That was it. No number, no contact info. Just four little words. Jack laughed despite himself and slipped it in his pocket.
Fitz poured Jack another one, then poured one for himself. "Just working here a couple nights a week. The owner let's me play a few sets, I get to drink for free, and between you and me, this bar attracts a strange crowd. Just the sort in need of my specialized skills, if you get my meaning. I can tell you're interested..."
"You can't help me," Jack said sadly. "Nobody can. Not even the Doctor."
Fitz choked on his vodka, sputtering it all over himself. "The Doctor? You know The Doctor?!"
Jack froze. Damnit. Every time he mentioned the Doctor it seemed chaos followed in his wake. But even after all this time, the Time Lord drifted through his thoughts constantly.
"How do you know the Doctor?" Fitz demanded, reaching over and grabbing the lapels of his coat. The coat Ianto had given him. He pushed Fitz away roughly and straightened his collar.
"Who are you? And how do you know him?" Jack hissed.
Much later that night, after losing track of time and closing up the small bar, Fitz and Jack stayed up alone. Talking.
They had a lot to talk about.
Fitz kept drinking, until he was right and proper drunk. He lost track of time, lost track of which stories he was supposed to have told already, which ones he'd promised himself never to share with anyone, and what the hell was supposed to have happened to all the messed up timelines after the Doctor pulled Gallifrey from existence, and brought it all back again, erasing they'd done together in the process.
It had left Fitz in a hell of a predicament. Waking up next to Trix, except Trix suddenly couldn't remember who he was. Not that things had been going well anyway. He'd already cheated on her a few times, the first time after a stupid row about nothing with some random bloke he'd met at a bar. But the last time had been with Anji, and that made it serious. Trix never allowed herself the luxury of having many friends, but Anji had been one of the few, from back when they'd all traveled together in the TARDIS. Anji didn't remember Fitz either.
Trix had kicked him out of the posh flat they'd shared for the past six months, Fitz glancing around on his way out to realize all his things were gone. He'd banged on the door from the outside, begging her to remember, crying like a pathetic little kid, more at the idea of losing himself than losing her.
The Doctor had rewritten time to bring Gallifrey back, so none of the things they did together had ever happened, exempt Fitz was more than that. He was a child of the TARDIS, put back together from her memories, and even if it all happened in some aborted timeline, that link to the TARDIS overrode the paradox. Fitz remembered, even if nobody else did.
Well, nobody but the Doctor. He'd walked downstairs after Trix threatened to call the police, still wearing nothing but red y-fronts, and run straight into him. Waiting at the entrance, expecting him. An older Doctor, but still his. Those slate blue eyes had seemed far crueler than he'd ever seen them, with every movement, every gesture, full of resignation, tinged with a dark, fatalistic melancholy. They'd traveled together for a long while after that, as they watched the start of another Time War, one the Doctor refused to get involved in, no matter how many times they were called back to Gallifrey. Shit. Fitz had his fill of Time Lords the first time around, but he'd been grateful to be back with the Doctor when he needed him the most.
He tried desperately not to think about the last time he'd seen his Doctor.
"Are you all right?" Jack asked with concern, draping an arm across his shoulder. They'd been sitting down together on one of the tattered couches, drinking and chatting until Fitz lost himself in memories.
Fitz took a deep, long breath, and forced himself to smile. "No. But who is, really?"
"I know that smile," Jack said, leaning close and cupping Fitz's face. "That's his smile. My smile. When it hurts too deep to do anything else but smile, and even that just makes it hurt even worse."
"You remind me of him, you know," Fitz said very quietly.
"So do you," Jack said, and kissed him.
It had been a long time since Fitz had kissed a bloke. Long time since he'd kissed anyone, really. Jack tasted like no one else, indescribably of time and eternity, somehow human and more than human all at once. It felt pretty good. Familiar and new at the same time.
He didn't want it to stop.
But then they heard the supposedly locked door creak open, and Jack got a dangerous, suspicious look in his bright blue eyes.
"You expecting anyone?" Jack asked.
Fitz shook his head warily as they both stood. Jack pulled out a revolver.
"What the hell are you doing? Put that away!" Fitz hissed, stepping in front of him to reach the door.
A woman strolled inside, with curly hair and mischievous hazel eyes, glancing down at some sort of futuristic computer thing on her wrist. "Captain Jack," she said with a sudden grin. "I should have realized you were the time anomaly I've been following."
Jack pointed the gun straight at her. She didn't flinch, didn't even stop smiling. Fitz moved in front of her, so that Jack was aiming at his chest.
"Get out of the way, Fitz," Jack growled. "She's a Time Agent, and I'm not letting her take me."
Fitz didn't move, stood with arms outstretched, staring at Jack defiantly even as his heart hammered in his chest. "I don't care who the hell she is. You put that bloody gun away, Jack. Unless you're planning on shooting me first."
The Doctor was quite enjoying himself, wearing his cool goggles and tinkering with the ship. Not that there was anything specifically wrong with the old girl. The Doctor just liked to tinker.
His recent stretch of solitude had left him rather refreshed. As he'd learned more about this incarnation, he realized he felt much more comfortable with his own company than he had in lifetimes. Certainly before the War, before Eight altogether.
Freedom. Been a long time since that had felt like more than a curse.
Besides, if and when he did decide he needed a bit of company, he could always go spring River from prison.
Now that made him smile. River Song, his bad, bad girl. His mystery. A puzzle to be unraveled bit by bit. Someone to look forward to. In fact, he wouldn't particularly mind a bit of adventure courtesy of his favorite archaeologist at the moment. Heh, not that he'd ever mention River to Benny.
Benny was the jealous sort.
As though the TARDIS had read his mind, which to be frank she usually did, the phone rang. The Doctor sat up, hit his head, and tumbled out of the swing.
"It better not be Marilyn again," he grumbled, reluctantly taking off his goggles.
Now she had been an interesting mistake. Heaven knows what he had been thinking giving her his number after that incident in the limo after their fake wedding which absolutely didn't count. He tried not to remember, because this incarnation, which he did seem to be enjoying more than he had expected to at first, was annoyingly awkward when it came to that sort of thing, as Marilyn had unfortunately experienced first hand. And somehow found charming.
The Doctor sighed as he climbed the steps. The first time he ... had relations ... in a new body always felt suspiciously like losing his virginity all over again. Which naturally brought up all sorts of memories. And thinking about the Master again was not a place he wanted to go at the moment, thank you very much.
So it had better not be Marilyn.
"Yes?" he asked suspiciously as he picked up the receiver.
"Hello, sweetie."
The Doctor broke into a huge grin. "Dr. River Song. I was just thinking about you."
"Were you?" she said in that charming, playful tone. "How delightful."
"Actually, no. Well, kind of, in a roundabout way that started with you and ended with.. um.. This phone call." The Doctor hit himself on the forehead.
"Did you just hit yourself on the forehead?" River asked.
"Are you two flirting?!" he heard a familiar male voice ask from a distance.
"You're with Captain Jack?" the Doctor asked incredulously.
"And Fitz Kreiner."
"You're joking."
"Sweetie, you know I have a better sense of humor than that."
"Where are you?"
"Earth. London. Just follow the phone call, this is a landline."
The Doctor pulled up the scanner, made a couple of adjustments on the console. "Gotcha. I'll be right there."
By the time he finished the sentence, the TARDIS had begun to materialize on a small stage in a dimly lit bar. He dashed out the door, excited, and more than a little nervous.
"Hello you lot," he said cheerfully, and waved.
River smiled, and crossed her arms. "What took you so long?"
"Oh you know me, so easily distracted," he replied, attempting to sound casual. And purposely avoiding Jack's miserable stare and Fitz's awe-struck wonder.
He took a little jump off the stage, and sat backwards on one of the barstools, giving it a little spin before finally acknowledging the other two men in the room. "Fitz," he said very softly. "It's good to see you again."
Fitz stepped close, touched his face. "I was so sure you'd died," he said in a tremulous voice.
"I did die," the Doctor said softly, and covered Fitz's hand with his own for a moment, before releasing it and finally turning to Jack. Maddening, impossible Jack, who always sent his time senses throbbing. He knew why Jack was so miserable, of course. So guarded. By now, the Doctor knew all about the 456. About Jack's choices. His mistakes. Everything he'd lost. And he'd forgiven him, though he doubted Jack would ever forgive himself.
He knew what that felt like.
"Captain," the Doctor said with a sad smile.
Jack kept his distance, and gave him a little salute.
River walked up to the Doctor, standing so very close, like she tended to do.
"What do you have for me this time?" he asked in a slightly breathless voice, distracted by her presence.
"I was on my way to verify the accuracy of a little artifact that came across my path..."
"Oh, you bad girl. That's cheating!"
She gave him a wicked smile and stepped even closer. "I never said I was above a little cheating, my love."
The Doctor swallowed. "Yes, well... So um, how did a girl from my future run into these two blasts from my past?"
She held up her wrist. "A little malfunction with my vortex manipulator. I'll have to borrow your screwdriver later."
"Wait a second," Jack asked angrily. "So is she a time agent or isn't she?"
"She's an archeologist," the Doctor replied distantly, really only paying attention to the fact that River was now standing between his legs. Close enough to kiss. He wondered if she still tasted like honey when she'd been this young. And she was very young. He could see it in her eyes.
"And you just let her run around with a working vortex manipulator?" Jack asked.
"Suppose so, yeah."
"Her, but not me."
"He trusts me," River said, and held his hands. Her smile became very intimate.
"Do I?" he asked, mostly to himself, raising his eyebrows.
"You will."
"Well I don't," Jack said gruffly.
"Hey, the Doctor know what he's doing," Fitz said, laying a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Don't take it personally."
"So I shouldn't take it personally," Jack spat. "Right. The Doctor keeps me trapped on one planet, relegated to the slow path despite the fact that I keep outliving everyone and everything I'll ever care about. But no, I shouldn't take it personally. We all know how the Doctor feels about blondes!"
The Doctor hopped off the barstool, stumbled a little, then walked right up to Jack. "You know I don't always agree with your choices, Jack. In fact, I usually disagree with them completely. Being your friend doesn't change that."
"Oh, is that what I am?" Jack said, shouting now. "Your friend. Where were you, Doctor? Where the hell were you when we needed you, when everything went wrong and every child on Earth was in danger, and I lost everyone that ever mattered to me?!"
The Doctor didn't meet his angry stare, but his voice was low and firm. "I can't save humanity from all of its mistakes, Jack. Sometimes I look at all of you, and I'm so very ashamed."