The honeymoon period with the Doctor couldn't last though. They had both met up again to resolve their issues and resolve them they had. Jack had things he needed to get back to and as much as the Doctor would've loved him to stay, they both knew that Jack had to leave sometime.
"I've got something to show you," the Doctor said one day a few months after he'd come back for Jack.
Jack frowned slightly, wondering what the Doctor could have to show him that made him go so morbid all of a sudden. He knew something had been up right from the moment he'd got up that morning since the Doctor had willingly offered to take Martha home and handed over his credit cards so she could go shopping.
"Where are we going?" Jack asked after they had been walking through the TARDIS corridors for what seemed like an hour.
"Trust me, you'll want to see this," was all the Doctor would say in reply.
When he finally came to a stop he went to open the door in front of him, but paused with his hand on the handle, turning to look at Jack.
"What?" Jack asked starting to worry.
"You're not the first, and you won't be the last," the Doctor began. "But I wanted to show you that as much as I pretend I don't remember, I never forget. Not one of you."
"Doctor, you're really starting to creep me out now, what are you on about?" Jack watched as the Doctor opened the door and stepped into a room full of clutter.
He followed the Time Lord totally bemused. There were piles of junk everywhere, boxes with labels on, little shrines dedicated to different people. The first ten feet or so were full of stuff belonging to Susan, Ian and Barbara. Jack hadn't a clue who they were, but he had a feeling who he would find at the end of the room.
They wandered down the room and Jack read the occasional name, Jo, Leela, Adric, Tegan, Nyssa, Romana, Jamie, they went on and on. Some of the boxes looked like they hadn't been opened in years, but the dust had been cleaned off them, as though someone didn't want the things destroyed.
The Doctor came to a stop at the end of the pile of junk. The room seemed to go on forever and Jack guessed that it probably did. Evidently the Doctor felt that he would always need someone to travel with.
He smiled slightly as he recognised the boxes at the end. Half of them were his and the other half belonged to Rose. There were a couple of boxes further along from them, labelled Mickey and Martha.
Jack frowned slightly. From what he'd last seen, Mickey the idiot didn't seem like the type of person the Doctor would allow to travel with him, but then, the Doctor had changed a lot.
"You're like a magpie," Jack said quietly, bending down and pulling one of boxes towards him. He hadn't had much stuff when he'd first joined the TARDIS, most of it had been left back in London and destroyed during the Blitz, but somehow he'd managed to accumulate a lot, all of which had been taken away when the TARDIS had left him on Satellite Five.
"It's not my fault you lot are so messy," the Doctor replied, sitting beside Jack and opening another box.
This one was different from the others. All the other boxes looked like nothing more than storage units, but this box was a deep purple and looked like it was made of some kind of alien material.
"What's that?" Jack asked, indicating the box that the Doctor had opened and then looked at, as if frozen to the spot.
"It's…" the Doctor paused. "It's the memories from the last time I was truly happy."
Jack shuffled towards the Doctor, sitting the opposite side of the box to the Time Lord and pulled out the first thing he saw. It was some kind of photo album, made of the same stuff as the box itself.
Jack opened it and instantly felt a lump rise in his throat. They were pictures of him, the Doctor and Rose. When they'd all been together. All been happy. Jack traced his fingers across the photographs sighing slightly. They'd all known it was going to end in tears.
"The universe really doesn't like you does it?" Jack said sadly, looking up.
"No," the Doctor replied, not quite meeting Jack's gaze. If he locked his gaze with Jack he knew he'd let out all the emotions he'd spent so long suppressing and hiding away.
Jack put the photo album down and began to sort through the rest of the stuff in the box. There were various items of clothing, small trinkets from different planets (from when Rose had gone through a phase of taking a reminder from each planet they visited) a smaller box full of paper, notes they had left each other at some point, random things that didn't mean anything, 'I'm nipping out for some chips', 'Gone to say bye to Mum back soon', 'I love you both very much, even if you do drive me crazy', they were mostly from Rose. The Doctor would joke that she'd end up using up the TARDIS complete paper resources.
"I…" the Doctor paused. "I want you to have this."
He pushed a smaller purple box towards Jack.
"It's got copies of all the photos and notes and half of the random stuff that somehow found its way into my collection," he finished, voice cracking slightly.
"Thanks," Jack nodded, taking the box and marvelling at how it seemed to weigh nothing.
"I never got the chance to give one to Rose," the Doctor whispered, tears finally falling, forcing their way out, with no chance of stopping them.
"Doesn't she have anything?" Jack asked heart breaking at the thought.
"One photo," the Doctor replied, standing up, Jack following suite. "I made her promise to carry it with her wherever she went. Just in case…"
Jack reached out a hand, linking his fingers through the Doctor's.
"Come on," he said gently. "It's time I went home."
"Wait here ok?" Jack instructed the Doctor as he stepped out into the reception area of the Hub.
"Why?" The Doctor asked, obviously getting itchy feet. He hated long goodbyes.
"There's someone I want you to meet," he replied. "I think he deserves to know why I haven't been open with him."
"You and your boyfriends," the Doctor rolled his eyes grinning.
Jack shook his head as he left to go and find Ianto.
Wandering down into the Hub, box under one arm, he frowned slightly. It was dark. The Doctor must've got the times a bit wrong. Still as long as he'd got the same day, no doubt the team would still be here.
"Hellloooo!" He called out as he headed up to his office and dumped down the purple box. He tutted as he found random items belonging to Owen cluttered over the desk. He'd obviously been trying to find a reason Jack might've disappeared by hacking into his computer.
"Hey!" He stood at the top of the stairs just outside his office. "Where is that blasted team when you need them."
"Jack?" A surprised voice called out as Jack turned his head to the sound of the cog door opening.
Gwen and Tosh were coming in with Starbucks coffee in Styrofoam cups. They both looked astounded to see him. Then he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and spun round to see Owen.
"Where the bloody hell did you come from?" He asked, pale as a ghost.
"Never mind that, I'll explain later," Jack said shrugging off his arm. "Where's Ianto, I need to speak to him?"
Owen opened his mouth to reply then decided better of it, glancing down at Tosh and Gwen who were stood beside the water tower base. They didn't meet Jack's gaze, looking down instead at the three cups of coffee they were carrying.
"Where is he?" Jack asked again frowning. "Don't tell me he's quit."
"He's dead, Jack," Owen said finally. "He died three months ago."