Follow up for No Pain at All


The Doctor did not know who Ianto Jones was until he happened across a broken Jack. In the Time Lord's timeline, he had yet to hear of the young man. The final battle with the Daleks on the Crucible had not yet occurred for him.

The captain had cried bitterly and blamed the alien for his lover's death. The Doctor had no choice but to act like he knew what was going on. It wasn't until Jack uttered the name Ianto Jones that the Doctor froze.

It couldn't be.

The Doctor had always had his suspicions of Jack being the Face of Boe, but they were never confirmed. It could have just been a coincidence. And a coincidence it was indeed that Jack was the Face. All the Doctor could do was comfort the man and mutter apology after apology, trying to find a sense of comfort the offer the immortal.

Later, down the Doctor's timeline, he saw Jack's face on the computer screen of the TARDIS, in his Torchwood Hub, defending the Earth from the Daleks. In an instant, the last Time Lord's heart broke. This man was so strong and yet he would be so weak in a matter of months.

The Doctor discovered Ianto Jones's cause of death and shed silent tears for Jack. There was no changing the fixed point in time.

At the end of his thirteenth incarnation, Jack was with him. The Doctor mentally noted how ironic it was that he was with Jack when the supposed-immortal died and Jack was with him when he died. To complete the full circle, the Doctor drew his last breath and whispered his final secret. He managed to catch Jack Harkness's look of disbelief and hope at the revelation.

"One day, you are going to die and stay dead."

The Doctor hoped it was enough to make up for his sins –the sins of a Time Lord.