A/N:

I couldn't believe what a hard time I had finding a decent quote about promises! It's a sad state that most quotes about oaths and promises are about the broken ones and how only fools and losers make promises… sorry this one is on the short side (comparatively.)

Thank you again for the awesome reviews!!

Chapter Thirteen

………………

"Love is a promise… once given never forgotten…."

John Lennon

……………….

"I swear, it was this long," Jack held his hands as far apart as they would go, nearly hitting one of the waitresses as she passed by the table. Clearly she was trying not to eavesdrop (although her blush gave her away.) "And I mean, I'm good, but even I didn't know what to do with that!" he flashed an apologetic look up at the girl… although his apologetic looks could be taken in other ways, if one was so inclined. Maybe it was the dimples…

Kam laughed so hard his sides hurt. He felt a twinge of sympathy for the staff, though, Jack wasn't exactly a soft spoken man. Half the restaurant could hear him.

The younger man could almost picture the Captain's predicament, too, although he had no idea what a Centarian was or what it looked like, other than the obvious.

"Oh, it gets better," Jack advised him. "He had six of them!"

"Six?"

"And he knew what to do with each and every one of them, too," he finished off his story a lascivious smirk that made his companion (and customers at several other tables) blush.

"No wonder people remember you," Kam muttered, glancing around. It amazed him that Jack didn't seem the least bit embarrassed.

"And here I thought it was my dazzling blue eyes," the Captain teased him back. He didn't understand the expression that crossed the younger man's face… "You ok?"

"I… I'm more ok than I've been in a long time, Jack," he said tentatively.

"I'm glad," the older man's smile was so sincere.

It made Kam feel like maybe he really mattered, just a little bit, just to one person. The only person I want to matter to… a man with dazzling blue eyes and an incredible laugh. A man with strong arms who didn't seem to care what he'd been. A man who sits on the same coffee table he rests his mucky boots on, Kam reminded himself.

Jack Harkness wasn't a Dashing Hero in some trashy romance novel. He was real. He was human… and that made him even better than some mythic character. It also meant he was fallible and Kam was all too familiar with human foibles. "Can… can I ask you something?" he nibbled at his lip.

"Anything you want."

"I know it's none of my business…"

"I told you. If you want my life to be your business…" he shrugged, wondering if he was moving too fast. I just don't want to waste another two years… he remembered all the time he'd wasted with Ianto. Human life was too short… his life was too long… but Kam was so vulnerable. He had to be careful if he didn't want to end up being one more person taking advantage of him.

There were more ways to rape a person than just physically, and emotional rape, psychological rape… it didn't leave scars, but was twice as brutal as anything that had already been done to Kam's body.

The younger man's cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink under the scrutiny of Jack's gaze. "It's just… there isn't someone out there waiting for you… you know… a wife… a husband…?" he couldn't meet the other man's eyes. It was foolish to think he had any kind of chance at anything more than what was being presented… whatever that was.

He wasn't even sure what made him think the Captain was the sort of man who would have a partner. He had a reputation and his own stories seemed to confirm that he really would sleep with anything… but there's so much more to you. Kam snuck a look at the man sitting across from him. There was so much dept in those blue eyes, so much more than he thought other people saw.

"There hasn't been anybody like that in my life in a long time," Jack answered honestly. He pulled the chain out from under his shirt, fighting not to be sucked under by crashing waves of memory. "I will always love him," he told the younger man, because he deserved to know the truth. "And I'll never forget him." He missed the look that crossed Kam's face. "But he's been gone a very, very long time."

"He… he must've been… special…"

"He was. He was… everything. But he's been gone a very long time," he repeated, meeting the younger man's gaze. "Before he left, he made me promise to get on with my life after he was gone," he felt a soft smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"When… when you say gone…?" he was afraid to ask, but he had to know.

"He died," Jack confirmed.

"I'm sorry."

The Captain shook his head, "We had a good life together. He made me happy. I drove him mad," he managed a grin. The truth was that they drove each other a bit mad at times, but Ianto had had the patience of a saint. Jack didn't really know what he'd ever done to deserve the younger man.

Kam seemed to manage a smile of his own, "I can't imagine it," he droned. "You driving somebody mad."

Jack laughed. In that moment Kam had sounded so much like his Welshman… "He really should have known what he was getting into," he began, but he was sure there was some rule about not talking about one's ex's while on a date… in fact, he had the sudden memory of Ianto's sister scolding him for breaking that rule. Repeatedly. So instead of lapsing into another story, he just smiled and tucked the rings back under his shirt. "I buried him a long time ago on a planet a long way from here," he drained the last of his coffee.

"You still wear those, though."

"I promised him I would always remember that Ianto Jones existed. That he loved me. I keep my promises. I'll always love him. I'll never forget him."

Kam bit his lip… Jack reached out and brushed his fingers gently against his lips. It made the younger man smile. His smile deepened when the Captain smiled, too.

I will always love you…

I will always love him…

I will never forget you…

I'll never forget him. Ianto Jones existed… he loved me…

Of course it was the kind of promise anyone might make to a dying lover… a partner… but he's kept his word, Kam realized. However long it had been, Jack had kept his word… yet it didn't feel as if that meant… he swallowed, not wanting to finish the thought. He knew better than to hope for too much… he was just a bed warmer… but when he looked into those blue eyes…

"Ready to head back?" Jack's voice cut through his thoughts.

Kam nodded even though he wasn't ready to leave. "Thank you. For breakfast."

The older man shrugged, getting to his feet. "It was nothing…"

"It was everything. I… I really enjoyed… being with you... like this," he said awkwardly, trying to remember what people in romance novels said after a date. He only hoped he didn't come off sounding like an idiot.

But Jack smiled, "I had a good time, too."

………………………………………………………………………

"Maybe we should wait until he's alone," Leese whispered when they spotted Harkness and the cyprian coming out of the little bistro.

Fletcher gave him scornful look, tapping the long metal bar against the other man's legs as is to emphasize that they had the clear advantage. "It's three of us to two of them... if you want to count the little klute," which clearly he didn't.

O'Marra gave a derisive laugh. Two holes and a stem, that's all the cyprian was; everybody knew it. If Harkness wanted it all to himself that would have been one thing, but to put good men off his ship over a few bruises and cracked ribs? It wasn't as if he'd staked his claim – if he had, the crew would've steered clear of the Captain's property. But Harkness never said the cyp was his. He had no right to break their contracts over them doing what came natural to a man. It wasn't like it was their fault… cyprians were enticers, seductive by nature, meant to be used.

Everything in the Universe had a place and a cyprian's place was on its back or on its knees... it wasn't intended to be taken out in public as if it was a decent human being.

They waited until Harkness and Anders had rounded a corner onto a quieter corridor to make their move.

……………………………………………………………..

The first blow can hard and fast, knocking the wind out of Jack's lungs and sending him into darkness before his head cracked against the floor… the last thing he heard was Kam screaming his name.