A short one-shot set in Children of Earth:Day Five just before Alice finds Jack in the hallway. Enjoy! :D

Captain Jack Harkness stared at the dingy tiles of the narrow hallway. He didn't know what to do. His daughter hated him now, and for good reason. Jack had killed his own grandson. A sacrificial lamb to save the world. The worst part was that Ianto wasn't there to hold him, to comfort him. Even if he was angry at him, Jack wouldn't care. As long as he was there. Ianto...

Jack stiffened. He knew that sound. But before he could find where it was coming from, it stopped. The set of doors leading outside opened, silhouetting a familiar figure.

"Doctor." Jack stated coldly.

The Doctor walked up to him and put a caring hand on his shoulder. "I am so, so sorry."

"That's not enough!" in a flash of anger, Jack grabbed the Time Lord by his pinstriped jacket and shoved him up against the wall. "Where the flying fuck have you been? We needed you more than we ever did before! And you decide to come now?"

"Jack, listen to me-" The Doctor started with a stern calmness.

"No, you listen to me! If you'd been there, the 456 would've left before they could even ask for the children! Steven would still be alive, and Ianto-" Jack leaked angry tears. "Ianto wouldn't be..."

"I know." The Doctor said sympathetically. "I would've done anything to save them, but I couldn't. That was a fixed point in time, Jack. It's not your fault, and it's not mine."

"But it is my fault." Jack said sadly, releasing the Time Lord. He sank back to the bench. "My own grandson..."

Jack's head sat into his hands as he sobbed quietly. The Doctor put a comforting arm around his shoulders.

Gwen and Rhys came through the outside doors.

"Jack, we heard you yelling, are you alright-?" Gwen stopped when The Doctor looked up at her. He got up and walked past them on the way out of the hallway.

"You are not leaving!" Gwen grabbed his arm. "Why the hell weren't you here?"

The Doctor gave her a long, sad look that made Gwen realize just how old the nine-hundred-and-six-year-old was. "Jack needs to be alone."

The Doctor walked out, Gwen staring after him. Soon a whooshing, whirring sound could be heard. Gwen somehow recognized it.

"DOCTOR!" Gwen ran after him, but the Time Lord had left.

"The Doctor? As in, Jack's Doctor?" Rhys asked in disbelief.

Inside, Captain Jack Harkness stared at the dingy tiles of the narrow hallway.