"Wrong"

The Doctor had once told Alex that Jack was capital-W-"Wrong". In front of Jack.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she'd asked.

"He's a fixed point in Time and Space. He can't die because he always exists," he'd tried to explain. "And it's Wrong. It shouldn't be possible. And impossible things are…"

"Shut up. This is Jack we're talking about!" interrupted Alex.

"I know that," replied the Doctor.

He can't help it, Sweetheart. He's just wired that way. Jack feels Wrong to him.

"So why do you keep him so close, if he's 'Wrong'?"

"It's become something of a comfort. He's a constant."

They told me that you and Rose made him like this. Why'd you do it if it's so Wrong?

It isn't wrong. Jack's my baby. The Doctor just doesn't get it yet. Time Lords aren't as complex as they like to think they are. But we did it for him.

For him?

So he would always have someone.

"Does he know that, Doc?" Alex had asked softly. "'Cause he looked pretty hurt when you shouted in his face that he was Wrong."

"I- I didn't mean… I lost my temper. He was in my way, he was talking too much, and it – the Wrongness – was bothering me more than usual…"

"Doc, go apologize. And never let me hear you call him that again."

"There," the Doctor said. "I've talked to Jack. Everything's all sorted out, no hard feelings."

"Are you really that thick?"replied Alex.

"What do you mean?"

"You hurt him Doc. And this clearly isn't the first time it's come up. Do you really think a few words would fix that?"

"Jack said –"

"Well, he would, wouldn't he?"

"Are you being vague on purpose?"

Alex sighed. "Of course he'd tell you it was alright. He doesn't want you feeling guilty over something you can't control."

"So he didn't mean it?" asked the Doctor.

Alex's expression softened. "Oh, Doc, of course he meant it. There isn't much Jack wouldn't forgive you for. On the other hand, you can't just take his forgiveness for granted." She sat down next to him. "And like I said before, never say that again. You can't afford to push each other away. When it comes down to it, he's all you've got."

"I have you," the Doctor replied, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"But for how long? I'm only human, Doc. Eventually, I'll die or have to leave, just like Martha, Rose, and everyone before them and everyone after me. But Jack can and will always be there and can and will always come back. You need that. And he needs you."

The Doctor didn't respond.

"What's wrong here isn't what Jack is. It's that for all of your standing up for those who need it, for all of your fierce defence of the weak, for all of the good you've done, nothing stopped you from looking your best friend in the eye and calling him a freak of nature." She kissed him on the cheek. "Okay, I'm done. Think about it, though."

You're doing good, Sweetheart.

I hope so.

"You're wrong, you know," Jack told her later.

"About what, Jack?" Alex asked.

"He doesn't need me."

She threw a tangerine at him. "Don't you dare talk like that."

"It's true."

"Like hell it is. In the end, all you have is each other. Of course he needs you."

After that day, they never talked about it again.

Alex considered this a success.

Jack may be temporally wrong, but for the Doctor he was so, so right.

It would just take some convincing to make them see it.