Disclaimer: The Doctor and all his companions are the property of the BBC and Russell T. Davies. There are not mine, nor will they ever be.

Dawn Breaks

"I thought I told you to apologise to Jack."

The Doctor sighed. There was no getting away from Rose when she had a bee in her bonnet about something. "I did apologise to him," he replied. "Extremely wholeheartedly, in fact. Now we're arguing about something else."

"Well, that explains why he tried to sneak a packed bag out of the TARDIS when we arrived earlier. He's leaving, Doctor."

The Doctor said nothing.

"Aren't you going to do anything? You're just going to let him leave?"

"What Jack chooses to do is his own affair. It's got nothing to do with me."

"But you can't let him leave! I'll miss him," exclaimed Rose. "And you'll miss him too. You know you will."

Of course I will, the Doctor replied silently. But it's too late. Outwardly, he maintained a neutral expression, while inside his heart was screaming that he demand of Rose where exactly Jack had gone.

"Rose!"

"Damn!" cursed Rose. Her mother always interrupted at the wrong time. "Coming, Mum," she called back. "Don't think I'm going to let this go," she warned the Doctor. "I still want you to sort this out. As a matter of fact, if you care at all, I think Jack's in the pub down on the Wells Road. I distinctly heard him mutter something about needing a drink." And having unwittingly answered the Doctor's silent request, Rose hurried off to see what Jackie wanted.

Jack sat alone at a table in the corner of the pub. At 11am on a Tuesday morning the place was fairly empty, and what customers there were had obviously decided to keep away from the glowering stranger in the corner.

He was starting to have second thoughts about his decision to leave the TARDIS. The early twenty-first century wasn't exactly the most scintillating place to be. He could see why Rose had decided to go time-travelling with an exotic alien. And who knew when he might find another time-ship to get him out of here? He doubted that many time-travellers visited this period in history. The Doctor didn't really count. His slightly weird fondness for this time and place was just one of the eccentricities of his character.

Jack grimaced. There was just one problem with returning to the TARDIS. The Doctor. Much as one half of him still wanted to throw himself at the Time Lord, and damn the consequences, the other half was still bitterly hurt by what the Doctor apparently thought of him.

No, Jack decided. Whatever the consequences, he was staying here. Even if the beer was disgusting. Sighing, the Captain stood up. If he was going to make it on twenty-first century Earth, he really needed to find a better bar.

"Leaving so soon? I thought I might buy you a drink."

"And why would you want to do that?" Jack pushed past the Doctor, not even bothering to look at him.

"To apologise…again."

"Yeah, well, I don't need any more of your apologies. Clearly they're not worth the breath they take to say."

"Jack, what I said…I don't really think that about you."

Jack snorted. "Doctor, you didn't make those words up out of thin air."

"Okay, so when we first met, maybe I wasn't all that impressed by you," said the Doctor. "I did think that you were far too smooth to be sincere. But I don't think that any more," he hastened to add, as Jack's eyes narrowed. "I can see now that it's all a front. You're much better than that charmer you pretend to be."

Jack was floored. The Doctor had read him perfectly. No one had ever seen through his act before. It was somewhat disconcerting. He suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. "Wow," he said. And then again: "Wow." He was floundering, not exactly sure what to say.

"Do you hear that?" the Doctor said suddenly.

"Hear what?" replied Jack, a little confused by the abrupt change in topic.

"Screaming," said the Doctor shortly. Suddenly he took off, running out of the bar and into the street.

Jack followed hurriedly. Emerging into the open air, he could now hear the screaming for himself. It was coming from the direction of the block of flats that Rose and Jackie lived in. Turning, Jack saw the Doctor racing off in that direction. Cursing loudly, he sprinted after the Time Lord.

"Rose! Rose!"

The Doctor burst through the door of Jackie Tyler's flat and skidded to a stop, eyes searching everywhere for signs of danger. When nothing immediately presented itself he took a cautious step forward, every muscle tense and ready for action. Which meant that when Jack crashed through the door behind him, he spun round in a flash, sonic screwdriver aimed and ready.

"Whoa, relax Doctor. It's only me!" exclaimed Jack. Then he looked at the sonic DIY tool that was being aimed at his chest. "Er, what exactly were you planning on doing with that? It's not exactly the world's most deadly weapon."

A little embarrassed, the Doctor lowered the screwdriver. "Force of habit," he said. "It's the only thing I ever have on me."

"Well, thankfully you're not the only one with a something sonic to point at people," said Jack, gesturing with his sonic blaster. "What's say you let me go in front from now on, just in case?"

"Actually, I don't think it matters," replied the Doctor. "There doesn't seem to be anyone here. There's no sign of Rose or anything dangerous. And that includes Jackie."

"Er, Doctor, you'd better look at this." Jack had glanced into the living room, and hadn't liked what he saw. The Doctor came and stood next to him in the doorway, and they both surveyed the carnage. The place had been ripped apart by what looked like a whole crowd of very angry Slitheen. Of either of the Tyler women there was still no sign.

"Where could they be?" said Jack, frustrated. Angrily, he kicked the remains of one of Jackie's dining chairs, sending shards of wood spinning past the Doctor's head.

"Hey! Mind the ears! Violence won't solve anything, you know. We need to think logically about this. We didn't pass them coming up the stairs, so they must have gone up to the roof."

Just then, as if to prove him right, another scream rent the air…above them. The Doctor allowed himself a brief smug smile before taking off again, this time in the direction of the roof.

Having managed to keep up this time, Jack arrived on the roof just steps behind the Doctor. Emerging from the stairwell, they were confronted by a rather interesting scene. Rose and Jackie were huddled together in one corner of the roof, while about halfway between them and where Jack and the Doctor were standing was an eight-foot tall purple alien that seemed to be made up almost entirely of writhing tentacles. Hovering next to the edge of the building was a spaceship that looked barely large enough to contain the alien. Jack didn't even want to speculate how the creature managed to squeeze itself inside its craft.

The alien was slowly moving towards Rose and Jackie, as if it knew that it finally had its quarry cornered, that its prey had nowhere to go. Rose had spotted the Time Lord and Time Agent as soon as they appeared, and was now surreptitiously trying to mouth something that looked like "help" without the alien noticing.

The Doctor, however, had no intention of trying to remain inconspicuous. "Hey, you!" he called casually, strolling across the roof towards the creature. "That's my friend you're about to attack. If you don't mind, I'd rather you didn't. And I'm sure she'd rather you didn't attack her mother, either."

But the alien didn't appear to have noticed the Doctor at all. It continued its advance towards Rose and Jackie without any variation in pace. Jack, however, suddenly realised that some of the creature's tentacles were no longer writhing in a completely uncoordinated manner. In fact, several of them were moving very markedly in the Doctor's direction.

"Doctor, look out!" Jack launched himself across the roof, jumping in front of the Doctor as one of the tentacles suddenly uncoiled itself, whip-lashing across the space between the alien and the Time Lord.

As he watched the tentacle speed towards him, Jack felt almost as if time had slowed down. It was strange thing, he contemplated, to watch your own death approaching and not be able to do a thing to stop it.

However, apparently it was not Jack's time to die yet. With lightning reflexes the Doctor grabbed Jack's arm, pulling him backwards. As he fell, the Captain thought he felt the breeze on his face as the tentacle missed him by inches. Then he landed on the Doctor and the wind was knocked out of him, leaving him gasping for breath. As he fought to drag air into his lungs, Jack was vaguely aware that the Doctor had leapt to his feet again and was shouting something. Then there was a flash of blue light, followed by a terrible smell.

Wheezing, Jack rolled over to see that the alien had been reduced to a pile of purple goo, with the Doctor standing over it holding Jack's own sonic blaster. Rose and Jackie seemed to have recovered somewhat, and were gingerly edging closer to the now deceased creature, Rose demanding to know what it was and where it had come from.

"Haven't a clue," replied the Doctor cheerfully. "For all I know it could have come from Mars. Although, come to think of it, red would clash terribly with this shade of purple."

Rose and the Doctor both started laughing, and even Jackie cracked a smile. Jack attempted to laugh too, but his lungs protested so he started coughing instead. Rose immediately noticed, and hurried over to help him up and pat him on the back. Slowly they made their way back towards the stairwell, with Jackie trailing behind.

"Aren't you coming, Doctor?" called Rose, and Jack turned to see that the Time Lord was now contemplating the alien's ship, which was still hovering next to the building.

"I'll catch up in a bit," the Doctor called back. "Can't leave this hanging here, can I? Someone might start asking questions. I'll see you later."

A couple of hours later, Jack was sitting in the control room with his feet propped up on the console, when the Doctor appeared through the front door of the TARDIS, whistling cheerfully.

"So, everything sorted out then?" inquired Jack.

"Yep," replied the Doctor.

"What about the alien's ship. What did you do with it?"

"Oh, turned out it had an expander circuit fitted. The inside could expand slightly so the alien could fit in the ship. Bit like the TARDIS really, only much less sophisticated."

"But what did you do with it? I assume you didn't leave it hovering over a London council estate?"

"Well, if the inside could expand, it could also contract," explained the Doctor. "So I just shrank it until it vanished out of existence. And that meant that the outside disappeared too. Can't have an outside without an inside, after all"

"No, I suppose not," replied Jack. As always, the Doctor's explanation didn't make a lot of sense, but with the Doctor you just accepted what you were told and didn't ask too many questions.

"So, what exactly did you think you were doing back there?"

Once again, Jack was thrown off balance by the Doctor's abrupt change of subject. "Back where?" he asked, although he knew full well what the Doctor was referring to.

The Doctor gave Jack a look that said he was well aware that Jack knew exactly what he meant, and said nothing.

"Okay, so I was trying to save your life!" Jack exclaimed, a little annoyed. "So sue me. I won't bother next time if it's that much of a problem for you!"

"But why?" And Jack could see that the Time Lord was genuinely unsure as to the reason.

"Because I didn't want you to die, of course! Of all the stupid questions to ask!"

"But why didn't you want me to die?" And suddenly, just for a second, there was a trace of a smile on the Doctor's lips, and Jack knew he'd walked into a trap.

"Because…well…because…because I care about you, okay!" he exploded abruptly.

"Really?" asked the Doctor curiously.

"Yes, really!"

"Okay, okay, there's no need to get angry. I was just checking. I wouldn't want the kiss I'm about to give you to go to waste, after all."

"Wha…" began Jack, but he was cut off by the Doctor's lips on his own. The kiss went on for quite some time, and Jack would have been happy to let it go on for some time longer, except that there was a niggling little voice in the back of his head that was demanding some answers of its own. A little reluctantly, he broke away from the Doctor. The Time Lord made to close the gap again, but Jack held up a hand, blocking the Doctor's route.

"Wait a minute," said Jack. "It's not going to be that easy, you know," he continued. "One kiss does not erase what you said, or explain what's going on here. And I do want to know what is going on, Doctor. And there'll be no more kissing or 'anything' until I find out."

The Doctor sighed, looking a little put out. Then he appeared to decide that Jack did deserve explanation after all. Moving away from Jack, he leant against the console, as if for support.

"Okay, first, I'm sorry," he began. "And I know I've said that already, but I really do mean it. What I said about you is not what I think about you. I know you better than that. But I was unwilling to admit that. You have to understand, Captain Harkness, that I've been around a lot longer than you. I've seen things that you wouldn't even want to imagine. I've watched my world be destroyed, knowing that it was my fault, and that after it was gone I would be all alone."

"But you're not all alone," interrupted Jack. "I'm here. And Rose." The Time Agent couldn't bear the infinite sadness he saw in the Doctor's eyes. It spoke of horrors witnessed beyond what anyone, let alone Captain Jack Harkness, could conceive of.

"But some part of me will always be alone, Jack," replied the Doctor. "You and Rose won't always be here. You're human. You won't live forever."

"Maybe not," Jack conceded. "But I'm not going to disappear right this second, you know. I do plan on being around for some time to come."

"And yet this afternoon you willingly faced death…for me. And if I in turn hadn't saved you, I would be just that little bit more lonely now."

"And how do you think I would have felt if you had died?" demanded Jack. "Do you think I wouldn't have been lonely too? And don't you dare say that I would have gotten over it," he added, before the Doctor could speak. "I may appear to be the 'moving on quickly' type but, as you said yourself, that's not the real me."

"I know," said the Doctor quietly. "And that's why I've changed my mind."

"Changed your mind about what?"

"About last night being a one night stand." A grin spread itself across the Doctor's face. "I'm tired of being alone, Jack. I need some 'human companionship', and you're the ideal candidate."

Jack grinned in return. "Well, I'm glad you can finally see that I have some valuable qualities," he said. "Although it has to be said that you bring out the best in me!"

"I wouldn't want anything less!" joked the Doctor, moving towards Jack again and sliding his arms around the Captain's waist. Then his eyes widened slightly. "And I can feel that one of the best parts of you is rising to the occasion."

Jack smiled cheekily and wiggled his hips, causing the Doctor's pupils to dilate suddenly and a flush to rise to his cheeks. Then abruptly he sobered. "You do know that I care, don't you, Doctor? This human companion isn't going to be leaving you anytime soon, I promise you that."

"I know, Jack," replied the Doctor softly. Then he grinned again. "Now, if we're done with all the mushy stuff, could we please get down to business?"

So saying, he leant forward and captured Jack's lips again, kissing him until there was no breath left in his body.

Jack groaned and rolled over. There was slight thud as he encountered an obstacle halfway across the mattress.

"Excuse me, but do you think you could refrain from trying to push me out of bed?"

The Time Agent opened his eyes to be met with the sight of the Doctor lying on his back, hands linked behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. As Jack groggily came to, he flicked his gaze away from whatever was so interesting above him, his eyes coming to rest on Jack.

"Surprised to find me still here?" he asked, smiling.

Jack smiled back. "A little," he confessed. "You must admit, your track record isn't great."

"Hey, we're looking at a fifty-fifty split here," the Doctor protested. "One time still here and one time not."

"Yeah, but from my point-of-view it was just 'one time not'," replied Jack. "You can't blame me for wondering."

"I guess not. Oh well, are you satisfied now? Or do you want to check if I'm actually real? Pinch me or something?"

Jack's grin widened, and a dangerous look appeared in his eyes. "I suppose I could pinch you," he mused. "But I can think of a much more interesting way to check if you're real or not…"

Rose, passing by Jack's door a few minutes later, paused and smiled at the sounds that were coming from within the room. She had suspected what was going on between those two, but knowing the Doctor as well as she did, and still not knowing Jack particularly well at all, she had been reluctant to bring up the subject, resorting instead to simply pushing the Doctor where he needed to go. And apparently he had finally got there.

Moving away from the door, Rose carried on down the corridor, glad that the Time Lord and Time Agent were finally still together in the morning.