REVELATIONS
TWENTYEIGHT
A while later, after Wil had taken her leave, Jack stood in the doorway.
"Captain," the Time Lord said hoarsely.
"Doctor."
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
Walking over, Jack lowered himself to ground-level with a groan and creaking knees.
"Ah, I'm not as young as I used to be…"
"You're younger than you might be," The Doctor smiled.
Jack nodded silently, looking closely at his old friend.
"Are you gonna be okay?"
The Doctor nodded, "Of course. How about you?"
"Just a few bullets, nothing serious."
"Jack?"
"I'm fine! Really! You know what they say – you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."
"So I'm breakfast now?"
"I'd have you."
The Doctor snorted but then became serious. "You could've gotten hurt, or worse; much worse."
"I know, but you're worth the risk. Besides, I wasn't alone. I had my amazing team backing me up. I wondered why the place was so deserted when I got there – at first I only had to blow up buildings, not big-ass ugly bugs…"
The Doctor groaned but Jack ignored him.
"My team created a hell of a diversion via a novel use of subspace communications. The poor buggers actually thought that all hell was breaking loose! It was brilliant. Totally, twistedly and beautifully brilliant!
"And then, of course, there was Wil…" Jack shook his head in wonder.
"Yeah, how'd you manage that?"
"Well, we followed your advice and had the TARDIS fetch her."
The Doctor held up a hand. "What do you mean my 'advice'?"
"You know; the hologram where you told me…"
Jack saw the look on The Doctor's face. It was worth a thousand words.
"Oh. You didn't tell me?"
"Nope."
"That wasn't you?"
"Nope."
"But…"
"Nope."
Jack shook his head, blue eyes meeting brown.
"Curses," he finally laughed. "Fooled again."
"Yep."
The two men were silent.
Jack eyed the futon. "I suppose you don't want any company in there, do you?"
"Nope."
"Had to ask. Um, how are the clothes?"
"Thanks, Jack, for the boxers and t-shirt. They're swell."
"It was the least I could do."
Jack leaned over and gently kissed The Doctor on his forehead. "I think there's someone else waiting to see you; I'll go find her."
He stood up stiffly and turned towards the door.
"Thank you, again." The Doctor softly called after him.
"Anytime."