Fine : by iristigerlily
He supposes it must have started at the wedding.
Looking across the reception table to Das and Anna, he smiles slightly at the couple. Sweet. Not exactly pretty, but sweet.
Suddenly, something catches his eye. Perhaps a glint of sunlight in her hair, or something else just as poetic, but his gaze flickers over to Rose across the other side of the table.
She turns to him, laughing at a joke the Doctor has just whispered in her ear. As she smiles in greeting to him, he breaks out in a goofy grin that he has never shown before. This just makes Rose giggle and him blush.
He averts his eyes and pretends to be very interested in his napkin on his lap. When he's sure she's not looking at him anymore, he raises his eyes and gazes at her for a long time from beneath his lids, hopefully not getting her attention as she laughs with the Doctor and other guests, looking like a goddess every time she smiles.
And thus, Jack Harkness fell in love for the first time.
Now, as the three of them sit up late at night, he remembers the last few months.
He looks over at the Doctor and Rose. They're sitting on the two-seater together, while he is on the single seat.
Not that he can complain. He offered. He could see that Rose wanted to be close to the Doctor. Sp, not he must sit alone and watch Rose rest her head against the Doctor's chest. The Doctor put his arm around Rose. Tears slipping down Rose's face as the climax of the movie is reached. The Doctor plant a gentle kiss on Rose's forehead as she sniffs.
His heart stabbed, he turns back to the TV. He tries to focus on the movie, but finds it very hard when he can't help but stare at the beautiful girl across the room from him.
When the credits start to roll and Rose sniffs once more, Jack is relieved.
"I'll make the coffee." he offers and gets up, leaving the Doctor and Rose on the couch together.
Before he met the Doctor and Rose, he'd just been time-hopping, not going anywhere in particular, just wanting revenge on the bastards who ruined his life. When he had seen her, he had acted just like anywhere else; any other woman acquaintance: flirt.
Of course, she had flirted right back. He knew she would. She looked like that sort of person, but that evening, when she had danced with the Doctor, he knew that the Doctor was hers and she was the Doctors.
The Doctor trusts him. Trusts him not to seriously flirt with Rose. Any flirting between them is always friendly banter and the Doctor knows this. To the Doctor, Jack is the womanising, one-night-stand, hello-there-I'm-Captain-Jack-Harkness-wanna-shag? companion.
Not the sort of man to fall for his best friend's girl.
He leans against the kitchen bench, sighing in frustration.
The worst thing he can do is say something. He knows that. If he says anything, a barrier will go up between them. A barrier that can't be knocked down.
Besides, the Doctor would go spare and jettison him in e-space.
"Don't ruin what you've got." he whispers to himself. Resolve. That's what he needs.
"Ruin what?" comes a small voice.
Jack whirls around, his hair tousled from him raking his fingers through it in annoyance and grief. His eyes take a moment to focus on the figure in front of him.
"Rose? What are you doing here?"
"I… I'm going to bed. I don't need the coffee"
"Okay," he replies.
There's an awkward silence and he remembers how he feels every time he sees Rose and the Doctor curled up together like they were tonight.
"Are you okay?" Rose asks, concerned.
'No, I'm not.'
'How can you be so beautiful?'
'I'm so jealous.'
'I love you.'
Jack Harkness bites his lip.
"I'm fine."
My first Doctor Who fic. Meh. I liked the idea of Jack actually falling for Rose, but he can't do anything about it because she's with the Doctor (depressing, huh?). Oh, this was written to be Nine, but you could take it to be Ten if you wish to either ignore the regeneration (as i sometimes do) or skip forward when Jack rejoines the TARDIS crew.