Hello! It's been a while! A short, sad and sweet little one shot I dreamed and managed to write down while still vaguely asleep :) Hope you like it!
Old Friends
The Hub is dark, the soft hum of machinery and Captain Jack Harkness are all that remain.
No alien activity. Odd for a Tuesday. All the same, he gives the rest of the team the night off. Ianto presses a kiss to Jack's forehead and leaves a steaming mug of tea on his desk.
He's finishing the last dregs of earl grey when it happens.
Light, a warm glow at first, then slowly, blinding. He pulls out his sidearm, but then has to cover his eyes. He darts out from his office, spilling some papers, and ducks behind the central pillar. Gun armed at his side, Jack waits for his vision to clear of the gold haze. Jack swears he hears the last few notes of a song, a sweet and soft hum he can almost, but not quite place. Then nothing. Sudden dark and silence. And breathing.
Someone's here. He waits a beat, then sneaks a quick scan around the pillar.
And cannot believe his eyes. Surely he's mistaken. He cannot be seeing— But he knows he is.
She looks the same. Not older exactly but not a kid anymore. Guarded. Beautiful as ever.
'Rose?'
Quick as lightning she's whipped a sidearm from in her jacket—a shoulder holster!—and pointing it into the darkness, where he stands absolutely flabbergasted. Except the doctor never liked guns. So why would Rose even— He squints. Wait. Is that a—
'Rose Tyler, is that a hairdryer?'
There's a beat then, tentatively, like the echo of the girl she once was, 'Jack?'
He steps into the sliver of light and she's running and he's catching the full force of her, of Rose, Rose Tyler, and everything is right and she's raining kisses on his face and tears and I thought you were gone I thought you were dead and she is warm and wonderful and he is bursting, everything is bursting.
They're sitting on the invisible lift, the clear sky of Cardiff fathomless above them and a newspaper of fresh hot chips between them.
Rose holds up a chip, but doesn't bite in. 'So, how are you alive?'
'You should know that.'
She pauses, but they both know the answer. 'Bad Wolf.'
'Mmm.'
'Jack, I'm— I'm so sorry. I wanted to come back. But The Doctor, he—'
'It's fine Rose.' He throws a chip up and catches it in his mouth.
She draws out his name in a tone that says "we both know that's bull", 'Jack.'
'Rose.' Like a child imitating its parent.
She rolls her eyes and smiles, and he loses his breath.
He clears his throat, 'But how are you here? I thought you were in—'
'A parallel universe? Correct. Not actually quite sure how I'm here to be honest. I was— I was dreaming. I think. And there was this buzzing. In my head. So I got up, got dressed and was blow-drying my hair when wham! Gold and dizzy. Then here. Then you. Brilliant wonderful alive you. Gosh I've missed you.'
'Ditto kiddo.'
They finish their chips.
'So,' Rose licks a fingertip, 'I gotta ask it. I mean, we're both thinking it.'
He looks away, to the sky, to everything that's out there. Everyone that's out there.
'I don't want you to go,' he thinks. He doesn't realise he's said it out loud until she rests her hand on his arm.
'I know.'
They sit in silence for a while.
He catches a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. Gold. Not quite dust, not quite smoke. In some places, it seems to slip off her and up into the atmosphere, while in others it hovers lightly just above her skin. Jack takes a moment to look at her, really look at her, passed the immediate joy and sorrow and love that swells in him at the sight of her, and actually take her all in. Something tugs inside his chest. A knowing tug.
'Rose, love, forgive me for asking, I know it's rude to ask this of fine ladies, but how old are you?'
A sad smile. 'Ah,' she says, 'Quite a bit older than I look.'
'Quite,' he repeats noncommittally.
'I turn 133 in December,' she laughs, though the sad smile stays. 'Still quite a bit younger than you an' 'im though.'
'Quite.' The word is mostly breath.
'It's ok, you know. All in all a good life. Mickey wasn't there really long enough to notice that time moved faster over there. He did so great in getting our Torchwood up and running, but we both knew it wasn't home. He came back here and married that force of nature Martha Jones. You know she walked the Earth? Marvellous woman.' She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. 'Mum and dad had a good life. Lived long. Died hours apart, peacefully dreamin'. My little brother Tony was a brilliant concert cellist, can you believe? Beautiful music. I can still hear him sometimes in my head, on the good days, when the sky is clear. He died about thirty-four years ago. Aneurysm. I was just shy of my hundredth birthday.' She lets out a shaky breath and clears her throat. 'My Doctor, the human one I mean, lived longer than most humans, but he's gone too. Held his hand to the end. I was head of Torchwood for a while, but couldn't stay long. Obviously. Suspicious, that lot. I consulted and free-lanced and travelled. Mostly I just… passed the time, you know?'
He did.
The silence rests between them. He takes her hand and squeezes. She squeezes back.
He takes her to the small bed he's set up behind a hidden wall in his office. They slip under the covers fully clothed, cheeks still cool from Cardiff bay. Their fingers interlace.
'G'night Jack.'
'Goodnight Rose.'
'I love you.'
'I love you too.'
In the morning she is gone, a light layer of gold on the pillow and the faintest shimmer on his palm.
Jack drags himself out of the bed, trying (and failing) very hard to ignore the aching weight in his chest.
It's 5.20—roughly forty minutes before Ianto will arrive laden with sweet and savoury delicacies for breakfast. Jack is making himself an Americano when it happens. The light. The gold. The brilliance.
Before even being conscious of it, he's running, arms open, grin beaming, heart bursting.
Thanks for reading! Hope y'all are having a lovely day/night wherever you are in the world!