Hello again-I was very happy to see that my story got such a positive response! Many of you had questions, which is just what I intended-all will be answered in time, I plan on revealing much of what went on in the parallel world in the upcoming chapters...just not block by block, just little pieces.

o0o0o0o0o

He was sure that the moment he stepped into his TARDIS and saw his impossible girl, his Rose, right there in front of him, injured but alive, his hearts stopped for a million and one different reasons.

And judging by the way his respiratory bypass seemed to have kicked in, he was fairly certain his lungs had stopped, too.

Not wanting to stop for something as silly as multiple organ failure, he practically leaped the rest of the distance between them and dropped to his knees in front of her, reaching out for her face with trembling hands, afraid that if he touched her, breathed, even blinked, she'd vanish.

He let his eyes drink in every little detail in an instant, from top to bottom. Her hair was no longer bleach blonde, but a darker, richer, golden color, falling in gentle waves just past her shoulder-blades. He also saw no undyed roots—he wondered about that for a moment—but continued his visual journey downward. There was a trail of blood that leaked from a nasty gash on her forehead—she must have knocked her head on the console, he realized, and he would be addressing that promptly—but otherwise her forehead was smoothed out in unconscious slumber. Her dark, expressive eyebrows were relaxed over eyes that seemed to be wearing much less makeup than he remembered, but he was much more eager to focus on those once they were open. The smooth lines of her squared cheekbones and cute little nose drew his eye to her full, pink lips—a constant source of distraction for him, especially in this body—right above her little rounded chin. He followed the curve of her neck down, down, down to the slight rise of her clavicle, half-covered by a deep brown shirt, which itself was mostly covered by a deep-blue, leather jacket. The jacket wasn't bulky, but it covered her well enough that it took him a moment to realize she seemed a good deal slimmer than he remembered, her waist narrower, her stomach flatter and tighter. Her legs, also, seemed more toned beneath her dark blue jeans, which disappeared into a pair of flattering, but practical-looking black boots.

He figured he could have spent an eternity taking her in just with his eyes, but his hands, on auto-pilot, reached her face, cupping each cheek gently in each palm, and his fingers curled into her hair on either side.

Oh, she's so warm…

As he brushed his thumbs over the hollows beneath her eyes, they began to flutter open. Reluctantly, he moved one hand from her face to move her away from the console, settling her so she was leaning against the crook of his left arm instead, using his hand to support her head.

Her eyes took a moment to come into focus, but when they did, they focused on his immediately and a warm, wide look of utter joy spread across her face.

"Hello," she said simply, brushing her fingers over the back of the hand on her face.

"Hello," he breathed, for once his mouth could find no other words.

"Miss me?" She asked lightly.

He felt his face grow tight with emotion, tried to let his eyes tell her what his mouth could not. "Constantly."

She nodded, her eyes soft as she moved to stroke his shadowed face in return. His eyes closed as he leaned into the touch.

"Every day," she agreed.

He could feel a reservoir of words bubbling up from his chest, questions, declarations, things left unsaid, but before he could release them a half-broken whisper broke their bubble.

"Rosie…?" The woman in question jumped a little in surprise, then stood so quickly the Doctor was forced to scoot back a little, though he quickly stood up to join her and grasped her hand.

"Jack?" She was staring at Jack in surprise, and Oh, this was going to be hard to explain, he thought, but before he could do anything else Rose let out a half-choked cry.

"Tony! What the hell happened?!" She snapped her head back to Jack and he couldn't help but flinch. "Why are you just standing there! He's bleeding out on the floor!" Before Jack's slack-jaw could form a response, Rose had already yanked her hand from the Doctor's grasp—he hoped she wasn't making a habit of this-and grabbed the boy—Tony, apparently, who gave a weak chuckle as he was whisked away—and was rushing him down the corridors of the TARDIS before the Doctor remembered to move.

Both men rushed after her, following her stormy path to a hall just off the console room.

"Rose, wait, the Medbay is—" the door opened for her and she walked into…well, the Medbay.

"Is here, she moved it for me," she said absently as she laid Tony down on the examination table and began working his jacket off of him. The Doctor blinked. What did she mean, for her? The TARDIS would sometimes move rooms for him if he asked, or she would move them on her own when she was bored (or wanted to mess with a passenger she was annoyed with) but the way Rose had phrased it made it sound like she had actually spoken to the TARDIS, made a request, and had it answered.

When had she done that?

When had she become able to do that?

"Uh….Rose….you..?" Without looking away from her frantic raiding of the medical supplies, she addressed both men tersely.

"I'm sure we all have lots of hugs and questions for each other—like why the hell you two were just standing there with Tony dying in Jack's arms—but they will wait until later. Now one of you lumps stop being so bloody useless and get me a wet cloth so I can clean the bullet wound in my brother's side."

The Doctor, indeed feeling rather like a lump at the moment, stared at the boy in shock.

Brother…? But he's got to be at least 13….How long…?

Oh, Rose…

Luckily Jack had snapped out of his stupor and was wetting a cloth from the UV sterilized tap on the counter. Rose had a pair of wicked looking medical shears in hand and was pulling at her brother's jumper.

"I need to cut this away so I can get to the wound—I don't want you lifting your arms, not with your chest like that." Tony sighed, looking at her pleadingly.

"But I love this jumper—I'm sure the blood will come out—and besides, I'm actually feel…ing…" his protests trickled off under the full force of a Glare from Rose Tyler while holding Pointy Things. "Quiet. Very quiet, and obedient, is how I am," he finished meekly.

Rose smirked as she immediately cut the shirt clean in two. "There's a love."

Deciding that being useful would be enough of a distraction from his burning questions at the moment—and also because he was feeling really, supremely guilty about not rushing Rose's brother here immediately—the Doctor grabbed a magnetized probe to help retrieve the bullet (which was hopefully in one piece, and not in fragments.)

Jack had returned with the cloth and was cleaning the wound gently but efficiently with the ease of the two-hundred year old soldier he was, while Rose administered fluids to make up for the blood loss. When Jack turned around to rinse the cloth clean, Rose looked up just in time to see his back and the landscape of bloodstained holes in his jacket. She sucked in a sharp breath.

"Oh, Jack…." She whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"

"What?" He turned around, confused for a moment when he saw the deep sadness on her face, then realized what she had just been looking at. He stiffened and shot a furtive glance over at the Doctor, who was looking at Rose nervously. If she was apologizing, did that mean she….

Jack tried to blow it off, grinning at her and tugging at the offending item. "Oh, this? This is just something I er….borrowed earlier, it already had all the holes—I think it was a costume prop, maybe, or—"

"I'm not an idiot, Jack," she snapped. He winced, his grin faltering, looking down at the floor as he rubbed his neck.

"No, no, you're not. But it's not like it's your fault, Rosie, really…"

"Yes, it is," she sighed, defeated. The Doctor's stomach dropped.

Oh. She knew.

Jack looked at him pleadingly, but the Doctor found he couldn't meet either of their gazes. So many things he did hurt the ones he cared about. He watched Rose's deft fingers as she inspected the wound on her brother's side, a wound he had received because he had failed to stop the Master in time….

For a bullet wound, though, it seemed awfully shallow…

Rose seemed to realize this at around the same time he did, and looked up at her brother in confusion. "Has this…healed already?" She asked, sounding worried. Tony smirked.

"I was trying to tell you earlier—I got shot right when you destroyed whatever that machine was, and according to him," he pointed at the Doctor, "Time was reversing, so I guess the damage was mostly reversed as well. Not before I lost some blood," he added carefully, wary of upsetting her again, "But early enough that it didn't do any lasting damage. Well, for someone like me, anyway." Rose shot a nervous glance over at the Doctor at that last statement, but he was so caught up on the first part of that statement that he filed away the question of what "someone like me" meant, exactly, for later.

He supposed he had realized it earlier, but it really hadn't sunk in until Tony had stated it so casually. Rose had dismantled and/or destroyed an extremely dangerous and sophisticated piece of—horrible, wretched—machinery that was choking the TARDIS, without harming the ship in the process. By herself.

….how….?

"Rose…?" he began hesitantly.

"Questions later," she repeated, though not unkindly. Now that her brother seemed to be out of immediate danger, she seemed to calm down somewhat. Still reluctant to let this very important conversation go for now, he could admit that they had other things to take care of first. Tony was just the first of them.

"Could you scan him and make sure all of the bullet is gone? I can't see anything, but I want to make sure," she asked as she rummaged again through the cabinets. Realizing a moment later that she was most likely addressing him, as he was the one with a sonic screwdriver, he quickly whipped out his favorite tool and adjusted it, making several passes over the wound and getting the readings. He nodded and grinned at the boy.

"Just flesh and bone, no metal. And," he adjusted the setting, passed it over the wound a few more times, shutting it off and twirling it in his fingers, "no bacteria! Well, none of the harmful stuff, anyway. Did you know that at any one time there are literally millions of microorganisms living in and around the average—"

"Doctor," Rose interrupted, an amused quirk on her lips. The man in question felt his hearts give a little extra beat. It was such a small thing, really….but it was the first time in years he'd heard her say his name. He wondered at that, and the errant thought floated by, of what it would feel like to hear his true name, in her voice….

The skip in his heartsbeat became a little more pronounced.

Now is definitely not the time to be entertaining thoughts like that….

In the meantime she had grabbed a tube of special medicinal gel from the 32nd Century and squeezed it into the shallow hole in her brother's side, filling the wound. It would dissolve gradually, providing all of the material needed to boost Tony's cells to regrow and fill the hole with healthy muscle, as well as preventing an abscess. Rose turned to him, mouth open to ask him for the Dermal Regenerator, but he'd already grabbed it as soon as he'd realized what she was doing. She closed her mouth and grinned at him instead, a gesture he returned silently as he ran the Regenerator slowly over the wound, watching her out of the corner of his eye as her brother's skin closed until it looked like nothing more than a light bruise.

It pleased him more than he could define that they could just fall back into wordless cooperation after everything that had happened. They really were quite the team…

"Mutt and Jeff, Hope and Glory, Shiver and Shake…" he murmured under his breath without realizing it. A shaky breath from Rose let him know that he'd been heard. Mouth trembling, she smiled at him.

"Which one's Shiver?" She asked in a watery voice. His eyes stung.

"Oh, I'm Shake…" He barely registered the sound of the Regenerator clattering to the floor as everything else unimportant fell away from him so his arms could open and catch the girl who'd just thrown herself into his arms. She gripped his narrow shoulders with a strength he'd always imagined she had, but had not felt so keenly until now. In return, he wound his arms around her so tightly that they nearly doubled-back, lifting her feet off the ground and spinning her in circles, as he had when he thought he'd lost her on Krop Tor. Her laughing sobs reverberated against his chest as he buried his face into the junction of her neck, inhaling deeply to reburn the scent of her into his senses, exhaling shakily as he released it, reluctant to let any air filled with her away from him.

Her swinging feet caught a tray and knocked a few items to the ground and they were startled out of their swinging hug. The Doctor put Rose down and looked over sheepishly at the mess on the floor, but kept his arms around her. He became aware of the other two occupants of the room as a chuckle started from behind them.

"Down, boy," Jack grinned. Tony had moved to sit on the edge of the table, looking at the two of them with an unreadable expression on his face, though he did appear to be smiling somewhat. That smile turned to chagrin however, when his sister rounded on him.

"Oi, where do you think you're going? Don't think I didn't see the blood on your teeth—you've punctured your lung." The boy sagged, eyes wide and pleading.

"Really, Rose, I swear I'm fine—I was only coughing up the blood that managed to pool there before time reversed. Lungs are all pink, healthy and whole. Well, more like hole-less, but….okay yeah, that was bad," he trailed off when he saw the withering look Rose gave him. She didn't hold onto it for long before her expression crumpled into guilt.

"I'm sorry. You know I don't mean to coddle you….I just…" she trailed off. He had a tender expression on his face.

"I know." Shaking free of the Doctor's arms, she pulled her brother into a light hug, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"I know you can take care of yourself, but it's still my fault you got shot," she said quietly. Tony shook his head and pushed her back by the shoulders, just a little, so he could look her in the eye.

"Stop that. You as much as told me you'd have gone in there yourself, if you weren't busy doing something probably twice as risky." The Doctor felt a sudden jolt of alarm at that—never mind that she'd already done it and appeared—mostly—unscathed. He really, really needed to know how she disassembled that paradox machine, especially considering it didn't appear that either of them even knew what it was. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer. Tony continued to reassure his sister, unaware of the turmoil in the Doctor's mind, which only increased at his next words.

"You sent me in there because you needed to save him and you couldn't do it yourself—" The Doctor choked.

Wait, what? Rose had sent her own brother, a child, into the Lion's Den? To save him? Rose wouldn't do that, not the Rose he knew…

How much of her life had he missed?

"—and you had no way of knowing that time would reverse whenever you did your thing, so it was only logical that I go buy you some time. It's a good thing time did reverse, though, because, well, I know you're into older men, but himself was a little grey there for awhile," he said with a teasing grin, pointing at the Doctor, who could only continue his hopeless spluttering. Rose looked over at him in confusion, while Jack, oddly silent until now, barked a laugh.

"Also," he continued lightly, "that crazy Time Lord's wife is a bit trigger happy." The confusion on Rose's face deepened and mixed with shock, hurt, betrayal, and any number of things the Doctor never ever wanted to see on her face. Before he could explain, a snort and a tap on the shoulder from Tony caught her attention.

"Not him," he rolled his eyes, "the other one," he clarified. Still staring at him, the other emotions melted away, but the shock and confusion remained on Rose's face.

"Other…..Time Lord? I thought you'd said…?" A small flicker of hope—for him, he realized—began to surface in her eyes, and suddenly his chest felt too small for his lungs. He dropped his gaze.

"Thought so, too," he said simply. But, like so many other things, he'd been wrong. Horribly, dreadfully, wrong. He saw Rose's boot-clad feet slowly move away from the table and back over to him.

"Not a friend, then?" Her voice was soft, and it was phrased as a question. But he knew that she already knew the answer.

"Used to be. A long, long time ago."

"In a galaxy far away?" Despite the utter seriousness of the conversation, he couldn't help the slight twitch of his lips.

"Yes, actually." Her outstretched hands appeared in his line of vision and he clasped both of them together without a thought. He tugged her forward with them, tucked their entwined hands under his chin and finally met her gaze. There were unshed tears shining in her eyes. For him. Crying for a man who may very well have killed her brother—all of them—because of what the Master meant to him.

He wondered if he'd ever uncover the memories of what he'd done, exactly, in his lives to deserve her.

"Rose Tyler," he said with as much warmth and affection as he could dredge up from his ancient soul, though the warm hands resting beneath his chin were certainly heating more than his skin, "you are, one of a kind. Cracking Star Wars jokes, making me smile, when I'd rather—" he stuttered, "when I feel like…" Her hands had worked their way out from under his, around his neck, over his shoulders, and she pulled him gently back against her. His hands found their way to her back again, spreading wide and pushing her against him, holding her to him, clinging unashamedly. He buried his face in her shoulder and took a deep, cleansing breath, the scent of her making his cold lungs burn with warmth again, and the breath and nameless other things shuddered out of him then, the tightness compressing his chest loosening—not completely, but enough that he could breathe again.

"If you feel like it, then go ahead," she whispered in his ear. "I'm here," she reminded him, working her fingers over the tight knot at the base of his neck, sending peace through her touch. "I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere, not ever again," she repeated, her own voice sure, but shaking.

And it was all too much. Hiding his face in her shoulder, he felt something in him break, felt something come loose and fall and shatter.

And for the first time since he'd left his unfinished words, and his hearts, on a beach an entire universe away, he cried.

o0o0o0o0o

Watching the two of them cling to each other, oblivious to the rest of the world, Jack knew that this reunion had gotten far too personal about five minutes ago, and that he really should have left the minute he was sure that Tony was going to be all right, but damn it, Rose was important to him, too, and it had been far, far longer since he'd last seen her—properly, anyway-than it had been for the Doctor.

But, as he literally could wait forever if needed, he decided to be patient and let them have their moment. Besides, there were some other rather pressing matters that needed to be tended to—his team, for one, and of course the psychopathic Time Lord who'd nearly destroyed them all. He was just about to quietly slip away when he felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Should we leave them, or…?" Tony had slipped down from the table and shrugged his bomber jacket back on, though the tattered jumper remained off to the side.

"Yeah, we'd better slip out before they start getting properly…reacquainted," he grinned down at the boy, letting his eyes slide once more over the image of his two best friends embracing before returning. "I don't think you want to be here for that." That was to say nothing of Jack's own preferences, of course. Watching the two of them—or even joining in—had been on his mind from the day he met them. But this, the emotions practically radiating off of the pair made him feel uncomfortable; the intensity between the two was too…pure, that for once his natural voyeurism seemed shameful, even to him.

Tony seemed to be processing the thought with even greater disgust.

"Yeah, thanks, Jack—I really needed that mental image," he grimaced. He took one last look around the room before quickly proceeding Jack out the door. He was silent for a moment, Jack trailing him through the twisting hallways of the TARDIS, when he shuddered suddenly and turned to glare at him.

"You know, I'll never be able to go in that room without thinking about," he waved his hand absently, "that, ever again." They entered the console room and headed towards the door. "And I will never touch that table for the rest of my life," he muttered.

Jack cocked his head to the side in amusement. "I never said anything about the table. Or its' potential uses." They exited the TARDIS and stepped back into the dim lighting of the Valiant.

"Yeah, well, I have an overactive imagination," he grumbled. Jack couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, at least it'll be a strong motivator for not getting shot again." He paused, considering carefully. "Besides the fact that it hurts like hell, I don't think Rose would take it well if you got yourself killed." They were walking side by side now, so Jack was able to see when the boy's face slid into a blank mask. It was extremely disconcerting for a number of reasons, not the least of which was his age. Someone that young shouldn't have the skill necessary, or the experiences that would require one to hide their emotions so efficiently. And Jack was exceptionally good at reading people—had been even back when he was mortal, and now with centuries of practice it was even sharper.

"No, no she really…wouldn't," he said quietly. He had easily picked up on the hesitation in his words, but Tony seemed disinclined to say more on the matter. Jack decided to let it go for now, and focused on some other interesting things he'd picked up on.

"You and Rose both seemed to know about my…condition," he began, his personal curiosity about the factor that more or less defined his life burning.

"Yes, but…" he hedged, "I don't think she knew until after she and the Doctor were separated, so please don't be mad at her for-" Jack held up a hand, eyebrows raised.

"Woah, hold up, I don't blame her," he assured Tony, who looked a little relieved. Jack's grin turned a bit rueful. "In fact, I should have known that she had no idea, if she thought I was still alive she would have at least come to say goodbye…."

He could admit that he was still more than a little bitter. Being abandoned, the centuries alone of not knowing if they had made it out as well, wavering between being the kind of man that they—she—could be proud of and falling even lower than the conman he'd once been, living through an ancient time 3000 years in his past, inexplicably immortal…

But even with all of that weighing on him, he simply couldn't find it in himself to be angry at Rose, even if his blessing and his curse was at the hands of her.

Because for all of his amorous escapades, all of the people who had filled his bed and his life, no one had ever loved him like that before—loved him enough to reverse death itself, to decide that the universe simply couldn't do without him.

A small chuckle broke his internal musings. "You're right, you know," Tony admitted. Jack looked over at him, waiting for him to elaborate. "Apparently, after everything settled down from his regeneration and the Sycorax invasion and they got around to talking about the Gamestation, the Doctor told her that you were busy rebuilding the Earth after the Dalek invasion, and that they'd stop back and visit when the time was right. Rose took it to mean that you'd actually died, though, and the Doctor didn't want to upset her." He shook his head. "You know, like that farm that all dogs mysteriously retire to one day that you can never visit for some reason." Jack raised an eyebrow at the comparison to a family pet, a bit offended, but Tony carried on.

"I think she would have….eventually confronted him about it," he admitted quietly, "but it was only a year later that she…fell," he finished solemnly, staring ahead as they reached the end of the corridor, close to the main room now. They were both quiet for a moment, listening to the echoes their footsteps made on the metal hallways of the airship.

"She did mourn you, you know," Tony told him. Jack raised an eyebrow. Tony glanced over at him for a moment, then looked forward again. "Back in the other universe, I mean. She travelled a lot, naturally—her first year there, she made a trip to Washington, D.C. Visited Arlington Cemetery, falsified some papers. Since she couldn't put you down as a casualty of a war that hadn't happened yet, she listed you as MIA during WWII. Got a cross put up for you. We visited once a year, until…well." His gaze became distant, and Jack felt a lump in his throat.

He honestly didn't know what to say. He hoped Rose wouldn't be too embarrassed to tell him about this herself, so he could tell her how much that meant to him, but even if she never brought it up, just knowing that she cared was….more than enough.

Another chuckle interrupted his thoughts, though this one seemed devoid of real humor. "I kind of want to be there when she lays into him for abandoning you," Tony admitted with a smirk. Jack couldn't help but grin, though he knew she would, of course, forgive the Doctor sooner rather than later. A small, nasty corner of his soul wished she wouldn't, but her capacity to forgive was one of the things that made her so beautiful. Hell, he'd almost brought about the end of the world the very first day he met her, and she managed to forgive him.

"Oh, believe me, I can't wait for that either. The Oncoming Storm, quailing before the wrath of Rose Tyler." Tony grinned.

"Trust me, that is a glare with a force that cannot be denied. She's earned some of her own nicknames, too, you know—but I'll let her tell you about them, I think." Jack nodded. He was looking forward to just sitting down with them all and spending a day or two just talking, after all the chaos of the past few days.

Luckily, the chaos seemed to be almost over, he decided upon a quick glance of the main room they were just now reentering. Jack had purposefully slowed his pace as they walked back from the TARDIS, mindful of Tony still being injured, but also wanting to drag out his conversation with Rose's odd, unexpected brother. He assumed he came from the parallel world, since he knew very well that Pete and Jackie Tyler hadn't had a son in this Universe, but that just raised another slew of questions. Canary Wharf had only been a year ago, linear time, but Tony spoke as if Rose had spent many years there. He assumed time moved differently, but how much? He knew Jackie had gone there as well, but did Tony already exist there? Had Rose really been gone 13 or so years? She certainly didn't appear to have aged—looked even more beautiful than before, which, while nice, was worrying in other ways…

He spotted Martha across the room, still standing with her family, who thankfully appeared to be whole, though still shaken by what had happened. He decided he'd let her tend to them for now, and wait for her to come to him, if she wanted to talk. He grimaced, thinking of her possible reaction to Rose's return, but hoped she'd be a big enough person to not let her…crush…on the Doctor color her attitude towards the other woman.

Tony had already started walking towards the podium, where the Master was restrained by no less than three guards, though he still seemed to be out of it. Lucy Saxon was also being held, though she seemed to have a dazed expression on her face, as if she wasn't seeing what was in front of her. Personally, he thought she wasn't all there upstairs to begin with, and it seemed she had finally checked out.

Just as he thought this, though, she seemed to catch sight of Tony, who gave her a broad grin and finger-waggling wave. Her dazed look fell into doe-eyed confusion, and her mouth worked silently for a moment before she pointedly looked the other way and returned to staring at nothing.

Tony shrugged, and, carefully bending over so as to not upset his still tender side, scooped up his bronze gun from the ground where he'd dropped it after being shot.

Jack walked up beside him and raised an eyebrow at the weapon, then looked at Tony. "You know, I've never actually heard of Psychokinetic Wavelength Disintegrator." Tony grinned broadly.

"Well, I was already lying my arse off, I figured making this thing seem a little more deadly couldn't hurt." He carefully engaged the safety on the weapon and slid it into one of the loops on his jeans.

He spread his hands, explaining. "It's not that far off though—it's just a Disruptor, rather than a Disintegrator—it's not permanent, unless the target already has severe neural damage, or it's not set for the correct subset of species…but anyway, it more or less just scrambles the non-essential pathways of the brain, like a temporary coma. I turned the setting kind of high, since, you know—Time Lord, figured he'd have a pretty advanced mind, batshit crazy or not…" He trailed off, sticking his hands in his pockets, suddenly shy. "I mean," he continued, staring at his feet, "I basically walked in here with nothing but a glorified stun gun and good intentions. Not sure what I would have done if time hadn't reversed…" He looked up again. "But it all worked out in the end, right?"

With a bit of a start, Jack noticed that Tony was looking up at him with a small, nervous smile, almost as if he was hoping for approval from him. He'd seen it on the faces of new recruits dozens of times, but up until now the boy had been fairly casual with him, and he'd even hinted that they knew each other, or at least, they would in Jack's future.

With a sudden pang of nervousness, Jack Harkness realized that Tony might just look up to him a little.

How the hell did I get picked as anyone's role model?

Feeling suddenly a little more responsible, he clapped a hand to the boy's leather-clad shoulder and grinned reassuringly at him. "Kiddo, you just saved the world. I'd say that worked out a little more than alright."

Instead of the expected happy smile in return, Tony just grimaced, and Jack's face fell a little.

Well, two seconds into being an idol, and I've already screwed up. Par for the course, I guess.

"I'm never going to escape that nickname, am I?" Tony asked with a long-suffering sigh. Jack blinked.

Oh, that's why he…. He felt his grin return.

"Well, now that you've told me it's your nickname….nope!" Tony scowled at him, though he could see the amusement and…affection just underneath the surface.

"Well, then I guess that means I can go back to calling you Ahab," the redhead declared with a shrug and a smirk. Jack only felt befuddlement.

"I uh….have a feeling there's a story behind that, but I'm guessing you can't tell me…" Jack trailed off. Tony cocked his head, amused smirk still playing at his lips.

"No, you'll remember soon enough, I suppose…" Jack's eyebrow rose sharply at that.

"Remember?" He recalled that Tony had said remember before, as well. He'd assumed the boy had just been dazed from his injury, and meant to say that Jack didn't remember Tony because they hadn't met yet in Jack's timeline, but this made it sound as if Jack had already met Tony…then forgotten.

Or had been made to forget.

Tony seemed to read the growing tenseness in his jaw and winced, holding his hands up placating. "Okay, I…probably shouldn't have said that, but…well, like I said, you'll find out soon enough anyway so just—just, hear me out, okay?" Jack, despite his growing sense of unease, nodded sharply. Tony took a deep breath and looked him right in the eyes as he let everything out in a rush.

"You know those two years the Time Agency took from you?" Jack felt something cold drop into his stomach. "Well, it wasn't actually the Time Agency…it was us."

o0o0o0o0o

This got away from me a little...I intended to have more action, but I felt that a little more introspection was needed, considering all the emotions riding high...let me know what you think!