"Did it hurt?" a warm voice inquired.
"Excuse me?" Clara laughed, glancing sidewise at the incredibly handsome man who'd just sat down beside her.
"When you fell from heaven."
Clara slapped a hand over her mouth, trying in vain to stifle her giggles. "That really the best you can do, mate?"
"Sorry. Couldn't resist. How about 'You're not from around here, are you?'"
"You've no idea," Clara replied, taking a sip of the local equivalent of a Shirley Temple that the Doctor had procured for her, and wondering where on Earth (or off it, in this case) he'd gotten to.
The handsome stranger gave her a look that stopped just shy of being a leer. "Let's see…human…Earth…very definitely female. Judging from your clothing late twentieth…no, early twenty first century. Captain Jack Harkness," he added, extending his hand.
"Clara Oswald," she replied, offering her own rather reluctantly.
Instead of shaking, Jack pressed a lingering kiss to the back of her hand. His cheesy grin wilted a bit when a hand descended rather firmly upon his shoulder.
"She's with me, Jack."
"I'm sorry. Have we met?" Jack inquired, giving the tall, tweed-jacketed man the once-over.
"Doctor!" Clara exclaimed in relief, snatching her hand back.
"Doctor?" Jack repeated, shock rapidly giving way to joy. "It's been a while," he said, enveloping the Doctor in a bear hug.
"Don't even think about kissing me, Jack," the Doctor warned.
Jack laid a hand over his heart with an expression of comically exaggerated sorrow, while Clara glanced from one man to the other.
"Er…I take it you've met?" she asked.
"Oh, yes," Jack replied. "We've saved the world a few times, he and I. This'll be the third regeneration that I've met."
"Regeneration?" Clara asked, puzzled.
"She doesn't know?"
"No," the Doctor replied rather acidly, "and it's not a conversation that I'd particularly care to have in such a public place."
"Doctor?" Clara asked.
"It's all right, Clara. It's perfectly fine. We'll discuss it later." She still looked a bit unsure, so he reached out and gently traced her cheek with his fingertips, earning him a radiant smile.
Jack knocked back his drink and looked admiringly at Clara. "Damn, Doc, how do you do it? I mean, no offense, but that new body isn't really a chick magnet, and your fashion sense…yet here you are - again - with the prettiest girl in the place."
"Jack, unless you'd care to find out how your body fares in an airlock, would you kindly shut up?"
"Doctor?" Clara asked, a whole multitude of complicated questions clearly visible in her eyes.
The Doctor sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a Captain-Jack-Harkness-sized headache beginning to pound behind his eyes. "Jack, shut up. Clara, he can't die, so, no, I wasn't technically threatening him. And Jack, shut up."
The Doctor realized suddenly that there was only one more thing that could make this situation any more complicated, and the way this day was going, he decided he was not going to wait around for the flash of a vortex manipulator. He reached out and firmly grasped Clara's hand. "Well, I hate to just run off, but I've got the parts I came for, so we really should be going. Planets to save and all that."
"Whatever you say, Doc," Jack replied with a knowing smile.
"Yes, well…good seeing you again, Jack."
"The pleasure was all mine," Jack practically purred, his eyes still on Clara.
"You've got that right," the Doctor muttered, quickly steering Clara in the direction of the TARDIS.
Jack signaled the bartender for another drink, chuckling softly to himself. How did the Doctor manage it? Floppy hair and a bowtie for crying out loud, and yet he was accompanied by the loveliest girl Jack had encountered since, well… He sighed and raised a silent toast to Rose Tyler.
An elegant woman with curly, golden brown hair slid into the seat next to him. Jack turned to her with a wide smile. "Did it hurt?" he asked.