Immortality, chapter 2

Still beta-ed by Zabrak Prophet. And I get the feeling that I will have run out of children by the time I'm finished with my Torchwood blitz.


Opening his eyes, the Doctor grinned. He'd found the right place.

Almost without apparent transition, his stillness because movement and he was dashing around the console, working the controls with joyous energy. The time rotor pulsed brilliant green and the Tardis flung herself along the vortex, spinning wildly backwards.

For all that his ship had been eager for him to come here, the landing was far from smooth. In his excitement, he'd hardly been the most careful of drivers. Coughing, he sprayed a couple of spot fires with an extinguisher whilst the Tardis balefully shot sparks at him.

'Okay, okay,' he muttered defensively. 'I said I was sorry.'

He was just looking around to make sure everything else was all right when the doors were wrenched open, the white, natural light of midday Cardiff flooding the control room.

Eyes shining, the Doctor looked up, a painful smile spreading across his face, his breath catching in his lungs. For all that this was what he had come for; he could still hardly believe it.

'Doctor,' said Jack in attempted nonchalance from the doorway. He seemed out of breath, just a little.

The Doctor's smile turned to a full-fledged grin. 'Jack.' He nodded, matching the nonchalance in his tone, if not his facial expression. He put the fire-extinguisher down and thrust his hands in his coat pockets, standing tall.

'New face,' commented Jack, his own smile growing ever-wider.

The Doctor nodded again. 'Yup. What'd'you think?'

'Not bad. Kinda hot really.'

That got the reaction he'd been fishing for, as the Doctor laughed. Then, in a blink, they were hugging, having met halfway, in the middle of the control room. They were both laughing, and crying just a little, and holding on like they would never let go.

It was a very long time before they pulled away, Jack using the opportunity to look the Doctor up and down from up close. He was nodding approvingly before his gaze connected with the blood on the other man's shirt, exposed when the Doctor's long jacket had opened as they hugged. Jack frowned.

The Doctor saw him looking. 'Ah. Do you know about this?' he asked, sticking a finger through the hole in his shirt in demonstration. 'By rights, I should be convulsing on the floor in the midst of changing bodies. Not a scratch though.'

Jack chewed on his lip, meeting the Doctor's eyes anxiously. 'Boy have we got a lot to catch up on,' he said weightily, taking a deep breath.

The Doctor smiled. 'I know a fair bit of the story. You're what, 133 by now?'

Jack looked a little poleaxed. 'I hope I don't look it,' he managed eventually.

The Doctor chuckled. 'No. Not a day of it. But you're talking to a Time Lord who's a youthful 900 years young. I don't really pay so much attention to how old people look anymore.'

There was a pause, the many questions Jack was bursting to ask thrumming in the air between them. 'C'mon,' said the Doctor, looking him up and down. 'Let's go get chips. Always better to discuss the deep natures of time and immortality over chips.'

That dragged a grin out of Jack, who held an elbow out to the Doctor. He laughed, but took it. It was only when they both turned that they realized they'd been observed for the past short while.

'Jack, what'd I tell you about shutting the doors? Were you born in a tent?' The Doctor said in mock disapproval, doing his best Jackie impersonation.

'Yes actually,' replied Jack, unable to wipe the smile from his face, even on seeing Gwen, Owen, Tosh and Ianto all standing open-mouthed just outside the doorway of the Tardis. 'Well, more of an emergency hospital canopy thingy. No doors anyway.'

The Doctor grinned at Jack's dissembling, then waved brightly at their audience. 'Hi! I'm the Doctor. Who are all you then?'

'Doctor, meet my team. Torchwood Three,' Jack cut in for them before they could speak. He could see Tosh already starting to get that curious look, and knew that very shortly she'd be buried up to her elbows in circuits, discovering every thing there was to know about things being bigger on the inside. Owen's basic nature had already shown him up, and he was smirking at the closeness the Doctor and his boss were displaying. For that matter, Ianto was almost looking slightly betrayed. Jack felt a small pang of worry on that front.

'Hiya,' said Gwen to the Doctor with a nod. She returned his wave with a small one of her own. Deep as he looked, all Jack could see in her eyes was a sort of shining joy. She had inklings of who this was; Jack's long hinted-at lost love, and she was happy for him. He felt a bright flash of pride for his team. Even more so when the Doctor spoke again.

'Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, and Ianto Jones.' The Time Lord shook his head, a small smile on his face. He unhooked his arm from Jack's and thrust his hands back into his pockets, a stance that Jack was rapidly beginning to recognize as his ground state. 'Pleased to meet you all.'

Jack looked at him surprised. 'You been stalking me?' he asked suspiciously. 'Why didn't you come sooner?'

'And leave the Earth without its primary defender? Who knows what could have happened. It would have been Reapers at twenty paces. I'm cutting it a bit slim even dropping in here. Can I just say I'm a great fan of the work you guys have done- you've certainly saved me a job or two.'

Owen had quirked an eyebrow. 'So let me get this straight- you're some kind of a time-traveller. And you know about all of us?'

'Know about you?' repeated the Doctor incredulously. 'You're myths. Legends, even. The answer to the monster under the bed anytime a child wakes up crying, for thousands upon thousands of years to come.'

That response aroused different levels of dubiousness and disbelief in all four member of Jack's team. Jack was looking thoughtful though. 'Now you mention that,' he said slowly, like he was thinking it out as he went; 'there was a fairy story or two, back when I was a kid. "The mighty Five, who held the Earth in the cradle of their hands, whose eyes glowed like fire and whose swords were as the mighty scythe of justice itself."' He raised his eyebrows at the Doctor, looking amused.

'I was raised on stories of myself?'

That made the Doctor grin so wide it looked as though his face would split. 'It certainly explains the ego, Jack Harkness.'

Jack laughed with abandon.

'Hardly surprising though, given everything,' continued the Doctor warmly. 'Always knew you were more than a conman, from the moment I met you.'

'Not the first moment,' corrected Jack, shaking his head, and grinning, embarrassed. 'Remember? I think you were about ready to kill me when Rose introduced us.'

There was a sudden sad pause, and their eyes met, as Jack realized what he'd brought up. Later, the Doctor's gaze said, and Jack gave a small nod.

'Jack, when exactly are you from?' That was Gwen, sounding apologetic for breaking in. Jack focused on her immediately, looking at her carefully, framed by the door of the Tardis.

'I suppose you'd probably believe me now,' he muttered with a single shouldered shrug, almost talking to himself.

Owen looked indignant. 'What, you ever thought you could find something we wouldn't believe? Hell, I reckon I'd even be willing to go with the legend thing. It's not so hard to imagine really.' He preened slightly, and Gwen slapped him lightly on the chest, smiling. He caught her hand and winked at her. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Jack, which he ignored in favour of answering Owen's first question.

'OK, not so much lack of belief. More that once you knew, there'd be problems. It just gets a little too easy to start opening up paradoxes all over the place. And there's wanting to believe, and actually realising…' he trailed off, not knowing how to phrase it.

'When you from, Jack?' Owen repeated Gwen's question firmly, his expression not prepared to take anything but answers.

Jack sighed, and met each of his team's gazes in turn. He could see it in each of them, the desperate desire to know... 'Three thousand years in your future,' he told them, finally. It felt like a massive weight lifted off his chest. They were staring at him now.

'Jack, I can't help but think you've been playing up the man-of-mystery card for your own nefarious purposes.'

Glad to have an excuse to break those penetrating gazes, Jack turned to the Doctor, hands spread wide. 'Aw now, that's not fair. You got no proof.'

'I know you, Captain Jack,' said the Doctor, with a smile that was laden with innuendo.

Jack gave up any attempt at innocence, sly smile creeping back across his face. 'Well, you've looked all though history. You probably know the details, not to mention the ones even I don't know yet. Mm, could be fun finding some of that out.'

'What's he saying, Jack?' uttered Gwen in shock. 'That you're some kind of playboy?'

She had to glare at the Doctor as he doubled up in laughter. Jack just flashed her a white, perfect, charming smile. 'What, you don't think I made those stories up do you? You wound me.' He gave her a wink and strode past his still-gobsmacked team, tossing a parting comment over his shoulder. 'Coming to see the base, Doctor? We can order chips.'

Jack's team just looked at each other, barely noticing as the Doctor shut the Tardis doors behind himself and followed after their leader, heading for the hub. That left the four of them standing in the middle of the open space, next to a 50's blue police box, and a giant water tower. There were several seconds of silence.

'Well then,' Ianto finally said. Gwen blinked at him.

'No way,' she managed.

'What, the 3000 years in the future, or the playboy thing?' said Owen wryly.

'I always assumed he was just joking about all the things he's slept with,' offered Tosh.

'Women,' mock grumbled Owen, rolling his eyes and earning himself another light slap, which he ducked to avoid. 'C'mon then. Let's go find out about this Doctor fellow. And much more importantly, ourselves as larger-than-life tales from legend.' His smirk was somewhat insalubrious, but was nevertheless returned with some degree of eye-rolling.

'Trust you, Owen,' said Tosh. It didn't stop them following him eagerly, down to find out more about the man they'd fought beside to save the Earth time and time again.

The End