Back in the bullpen, Jack was bored. He had been sitting, cuffed to a chair, for at least thirty minutes. Ziva and Tony hadn't spoken, and Jack was following their lead. Worse than the silence was the fact that they kept staring at him. Finally he gave in – he never could keep his mouth shut for long.

"Okay, I give up. Can you please say something? I'm dying here." Jack blurted out.

"You have not spoken to us until now." Ziva replied, sounding both apprehensive and a little relieved.

"I was waiting for you to talk. I thought that would be polite." Jack said, smiling, as though this was obvious. There was a long pause.

"What do you want to talk about?" Tony finally asked.

"I don't know. Aren't you guys supposed to ask me questions?"

"What kind of questions do you want ask to ask?" Tony said, smiling. Jack shrugged.

"Are you really immortal?" Ziva said, looking at Jack sceptically.

"Yep."

"And how did you get to be immortal?" Ziva questioned. Jack laughed – it was clear she though he was either lying or a nutcase. He got that a lot.

"It's a long story."

"We have got time."

"Something happened to me a while back. Well, sort of a while forward. I died, and then I was brought back, and ever since then I can't die." Jack's voice was intense as he spoke.

"Does it hurt?" Tony asked suddenly. He wasn't sure if he believed the Captain, but something about this seemed real.

"Every time." Jack closed his eyes as he spoke, looking older.

"You must have had a rough night then." Ziva muttered. Then raising her voice, she said "If you are immortal, not that I am in any way accepting that, can you age?"

"Very slowly."

"How old are you?"

"Well, it's hard to keep count, but I'd estimate my age at about 2300. Bearing in mind that a significant proportion of that was spent buried alive." Tony and Ziva stared at him. There was silence for a couple of minutes as they processed what he had said.

"Do you have a partner?" Ziva finally said. "Someone who is also immortal."

"I've loved a lot of people. And I did have a partner. Ianto. His name was Ianto. But nobody else is immortal in the entire universe. I'm all alone." Jack was surprised that he was being so open. But speaking to these strangers was surprisingly therapeutic. He hadn't been so honest with anyone for a long time. Ziva and Tony were looking at him with a mixture of disbelief and pity. Eventually, Ziva spoke.

"I am truly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you." Jack suddenly found himself blinking back tears, remembering Ianto – how he smelt, the coffee he made, his immaculate suit. The expression on his face as he died in Jack's arms. That was something Jack knew he would never, ever forget. No matter how long he lived for.

There was silence again, for maybe fifteen minutes. However it wasn't awkward like the one that had previously hung over the three of them; it was pensive, thoughtful.

Eventually Tony spoke. "What do you mean buried alive?"

"Someone buried me." Jack said carefully. His time spent underground was not his favourite topic of conversation.

"What, by accident?" Asked Tony, sounding unsure.

"On purpose."

"For how long?"

"About two thousand years." Jack said slowly. It felt strange speaking about his past, it was something he rarely did. He had learnt that from the doctor. Never look back; you run and you keep running. Turn around and take a look at what you've left behind, and all you get is pain and loss.

"If you were buried for two thousand years you would have had to have been born that many years ago." Ziva sounded suspicious.

"No, I was taken back in time and buried." Jack said in a matter of fact sort of way.

Tony and Ziva shared a look. Jack knew exactly what that meant. They were both thinking that he was probably delusional. Most people from the twenty first century thought that time travel was completely impossible.

"Where's Gibbs?" Tony suddenly said, sounding impatient. "He's been gone for over an hour."

"I'm right behind you Dinozzo." Gibbs stated.

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