Alone part 2

So here I am, back at the hub. The Doctor chose to ''forget' what happened the other night, and I'm not going to bring it up. Heck, what would I say?

I hear the door open and spin around, and there they are, the good old gang. Their faces drop and they stop walking, pure shock written on all of their faces.

"Hi kids, did you miss me?" I say smugly, grinning. God, I'm so happy to see them. It's been a year, after all. Ianto is the first to make a move, he runs towards me and we kiss, right in front of the others. Subtle, Ianto, subtle.

Within moments I'm surrounded. Damn, why can't they just accept that I'm back? I don't need all these questions right now.

"Where have you been, Jack? You left us!" Gwen screeches, glaring at me. My god, if looks could kill. A door opens, and everyone's eyes turn to the small corner of the room.

"What the hell is that?" Owen says as the Doctor walks out of the TARDIS. About time, he's been in there for far too long. "...And who the hell is this?" I notice he takes just that bit extra care closing the doors – making sure that they are locked. He doesn't trust us.

"Oh. Hello! You must be team Torchwood!" he beams at them, sauntering up and holding his hand out to Owen. He reluctantly shakes it, but the Doctor soon moves on.

"It's you! Dr. Sato." He quickly moves on to Tosh, those two know each other? She is staring at him as though he just drooled all over his shirt. "Of course! You don't recognise me, I regenerated since I last saw you. Remember when that spaceship crashed into Big Ben and you were examining the mutilated pig alien rip off? I'm the guy with the big ears and leather jacket." That grin... it's brilliant. Seriously, how does he hide his real feelings like that? I thought it'd be a while before the old hyperactive crazy Doctor would show his face again. That's so typical of him, always full of surprises.

"But... you're totally different. How's that possible?"

"I already said, regeneration. Jack, aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Sorry. Everyone, meet the Doctor. He's a Time Lord and will be staying here for a while."

"Now hold on a minute, how do we know we can trust him? And what the hell is a 'Time Lord''?" Gwen insists. Well, it's not like when I asked – or rather, ordered the Doctor to stay here I didn't expect all the questions, but I'm the boss, they should trust me.

"Yes, Jack. How do you know that you can trust me?" He chants in a sing-sing voice... I've seen that look before. It's that persuasive gaze he uses when he's trying to put the enemy down. The face he uses when he's questioning a Dalek's intelligence or telling a Slitheen that's about to tear his throat out that she needs to sharpen her claws. Confident and smug; didn't anyone ever teach him not to poke a denned lion with a stick? I glare and grit my teeth at him, a none-verbal threat for him to shut the fuck up. He raises his eyebrow.

"I know I can trust you, Doc. There's no reason on Earth for me not to."
"You hardly know me, not in this regeneration. I'm a completely different person." Yeah, I noticed. The old Doctor would have snapped the Master's neck before he had chance to kill over one tenth of the population.
"Which is why you aren't leaving."
"You can't keep me here against my will, Jack." Now it's his turn to glare. And he's right, if he took off right now there'd be no way for me stop him. I squeeze the bridge of my nose and sigh in frustration.

My gut instinct is to dare him to leave, but my heart (and brain) is holding me back. If he leaves, he'll do something reckless... guaranteed. If there's anything I've learnt in my oh-so-long life, it's how to read people. However unpredictable the Doctor may be, I can tell that if he goes running off into time and space all on his own, he won't come back all in one piece.

"Fine, I'll stay. For now." He says, turning his back and heading back for the TARDIS. I watch as Gwen opens her mouth, I can hear the words 'what the flippin' heck was that all about?' rolling off her tongue, but I'm distracted by the TARDIS de-materialising.

That little liar!

I don't have time to linger on the thought, my wristwatch beeps.

"That never beeps." Ianto says, looking at it and then at me. Someone is trying to get in touch with me... I press a few buttons and a blue holographic projection appears before us.

"Captain John Hart here. How've you been, old friend?"

It can't be him, it just can't be. Of all the times he could have shown up, now is possibly the most awkward. He goes on to tell me to meet him at some bar down town...

No choice, I gotta go.

--

I step into the bar and stare at him, he's doing a fair bit of staring himself. It's as though neither of us can actually believe that the other is standing right in front of him. He doesn't look much different from the last time I saw him – then again, that was more than a hundred years, so I think it's fair to say my memory is quite foggy. It's probably only been ten, maybe twenty years for him.

... he looked better blonde.

We stride towards each other and find our eyes locked in a glare that I fear might never end, but of course it does. He crushes his lips to mine. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for a good old snog, but this is so different. It isn't soft or sweet...Just how I remember it, how I remember him: harsh and strong, this is more like a battle than a kiss. I'm not complaining. But the thing is, there's nothing there any more. I don't know about him, but I'm a totally different person.

We break apart and before I know it his fist is in my face. Ouch, I love you too. Well, no reason to not return the favour. Before I know what's happening, we're fighting. Proper fist to fist fighting, I haven't had this much action in... well, best not go there. And it's fun. I'm actually grinning and so is he. I push him over a glass table and it gives me just enough time to grab my gun. Naturally, he does the exact sale thing.

Stale mate – and we all know how that ends.

Booze.