AN: Hey, it's me again. First up want to say a huge thank you to The Chibi's Are Stalking Me, heavensgate76, Elvish-Musicwolfprincess09 and Rommie's Voice, your reviews have definitely sped up the process :D Hmm, not a lot else to say before getting into this one, so lets go see how Jack and the Doctor are getting along ;) Enjoy!

Opening the door he found Jack waiting for him with a solid left hook. "That's for leaving me behind!" he said gruffly. Looking down at the fallen form in front of him, he extended a helping hand. "Sorry, thought you were someone else," he said quickly with a charming smile as he pulled the Doctor to his feet.

"No I think that was intended for me," he replied rubbing his jaw. "It's still me Jack, just a new face," he told him as he moved for Jack to come in and closed the door.

Jack chuckled softly. "I know, just thought you might try getting on my good side with a bit of flirting with the new you before you admitted it," he replied.

"You're so full of it. You had no idea," the Doctor said, seeming slightly offended, though still never quite meeting Jack's gaze.

Jack just rolled his eyes.

The Doctor glared over at him for a moment. "Okay, how'd you know this was me then?" he asked, raising a brow.

"The police box kinda gives it away," Jack answered with a devilish grin, which broadened as he noticed the slight blush covering the Doctor's cheeks.

"I could be my companion," the Doctor retorted.

"Na, I reckon you like all the attention that female companion of yours lavishes on you too much," he replied mischievously.

After taking a moment to compose himself, never managing to come up with a rebuttal for this last comment, the Doctor cleared his throat. "What do you know about Marsian hots?" he asked as he turned away, walking quickly across the control room.

Jack's smile turned to a deep frown. "Please say your interest is purely theoretical," Jack said as they entered the infirmary, his skin paling as he saw Rose lying on the bed.

The Doctor stood back as Jack darted to the bed in the same fashion he had earlier, one hand taking Rose's and the other on her cheek. "Rose?" he whispered, his voice full of despair.

Rose's eyes fluttered open. "Am I…am I dead?" she asked, her voice quivering as her eyes stung with tears. "I can't be! Who'll look after my Doctor?" she protested, causing both men to smile and both the Doctor's hearts to soar.

"You're not dead sweetie…guess Doc didn't tell you about leaving me behind on the game station then," he said, shooting the Doctor a look to let him know they'd be coming back to that later to which the Doctor only nodded.

"You're alive?" she beamed, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug, though her energy quickly depleted and she fell back against the pillows. "Sorry, got a Marsian cold," she told him by way of explanation.

"Marsian hot," the Doctor corrected softly.

"Fine I've got the hots thanks to the Doctor, wouldn't recommend them though," she said begrudgingly. "So you've come to give me the cure then?" she asked, looking hopeful. "The sooner I'm better the better," she added, giving him her trademark smile.

It took all of Jack's strength not to burst into tears then. "Mmm, the Doctor and I are working on it Rosie…how bout you just rest and we'll go get you some lunch, you must be starved."

She smiled as she nodded enthusiastically, "Famished."

The two men left the room, Jack looking at him warily as they made their way silently to the kitchen. "You haven't told her," he stated as he closed the door.

"I…I can't…there has to be a way," the Doctor said as he dropped into a chair.

"I wish there was Doc, but you know as well as I do that there's no cure for the hots. It's as bad as the Earth cold! If you haven't grown up with the vaccinations and boosters, within 24 hours of getting it you're---"

"Don't," the Doctor cut him off. "Please…don't say it. I can't bear to think of Rose…" he trailed off as his voice broke, tears springing to his eyes once again. "We have to find a way. In all of time and all the galaxies, there has to be a way."

Jack sat on his haunches in front of him, forcing him to look at him, even if he wouldn't meet his gaze. "Doc I know how you feel, I really do. If I'd ever even thought about Rose not being vaccinated against hots I would have made sure she did…but you're grasping. Don't you think if there were a cure the Time Agency would know about it?"

"You only travel in time, the Tardis can reach---"

"The Agency has travelled the galaxies too Doc. I mean I know there's probably a few that you've been to that we haven't, but do you honestly believe any of them would have a cure?"

"I've got to believe Jack. If I don't it means…it means losing her," he choked out.

"She's human Doc. You're a Time Lord, you knew it had to happen one day," Jack replied gently.

"Yeah one day!" the Doctor suddenly felt rage at the situation, throwing the chair back as he jumped to his feet. "In forty, eighty, a hundred years if I was lucky! I've only had her for two Jack. Two years!! That's not even one percent of my lifetime! It's just not fair," he finished, suddenly completely drained of the anger as despair washed through him once again.

"You know better than most that life isn't always fair," Jack said placing a hand on his shoulder as he watched the Doctor fight to keep his inner turmoil in check, ignoring the tears sliding down his face. "If there's a way we'll find it Doc, I swear to you we will," he pledged as he pulled the Doctor into a manly hug, feeling his own tears running down his cheeks.

Twenty minutes later they returned to the infirmary with a large tray of all Rose's favourite foods, the only sign of what had gone on in the kitchen being their slightly red eyes, though both wore their most charming smiles for her as she took in all the food.

"If I'd known I'd be getting the royal treatment I'd have gotten the hots sooner," she told them both cheerily as she dug into the food.

They shared a glance, but when Jack replied his voice sounded on top of the world. "Just think of us as your men in waiting," he told her, causing her to giggle.

They sat and chatted with her as she ate, leaving her to rest once she'd finished, instead returning to the control room.

"How long do we have for our needle in all the galaxies hunt?" Jack asked as he took a seat.

"Well the Tardis will keep her body temperature as cool as it can, giving us roughly double the usual amount of time before the whole…boiling…" he paused for a moment, forcing his mind not to imagine it. "She fell into the lake around lunchtime yesterday, must have caught it then, so lunch time tomorrow…no less. We stopped off at Jackie's last night plus the stop at Winter Wonderland…so four tomorrow morning latest I'd say," he said softly.

"What time you have it at now?" Jack asked, hoping it was earlier than his watch was saying, cursing when the Doctor confirmed it was near six. "Ten hours…well like they say, no time like the present to get started then!"

He quietly watched as the Doctor set the controls, waiting till he'd sat down and was staring at the controls again before speaking. "Can I ask you something?"

"Course you can ask. Doesn't mean I'll answer," the Doctor said with a grin, still gazing at the controls.

"Why won't you look at me?" he asked, ignoring the latter part of the Doctor's statement. Jack waited patiently for his answer, but when nothing came after a few minutes his patience was wearing thin. "Doctor?" he asked, hoping to speed up the process.

The Doctor sighed, knowing it would have to be discussed eventually. "Were you aware you can't die Jack?" he asked softly, not expecting the laugh he got in response.

"You could say I had a hunch about it," he replied as he swiped away the tears from laughing so hard.

"When did you realise?" the Doctor asked, genuinely interested now.

"Earth 1892 - got in a fight on Ellis Island, man shot me through the heart…then I woke up. Thought that was kinda strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, world war one, world war two, poison, starvation, a stray javelin---"

"Ooh," the Doctor winced as he imagined it.

Jack just shrugged, he'd been through worse. "In the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die," he said, before looking at the Doctor warily as it dawned on him. "And all that time you knew." It was a statement rather than a question.

The Doctor nodded. "That's why I left you behind," he said softly, before finally meeting Jack's gaze for the first time since he'd arrived. "It's not easy looking at you Jack 'cause you're wrong."

"Thanks," Jack replied, not entirely sure if he meant it or not.

The Doctor smiled back, before a frown crossed his face. "1892? Why the hell would you want to go then?"

"Didn't have much choice in the matter," Jack replied, covering his look of sheepishness by putting his feet up. Looking over at the Doctor's raised brows, he sighed. "Well after I was cruelly abandoned on that Satellite, completely alone since I ended up being the one and only survivor I might add, I fixed the little mess you'd left for me to clean up and then used my vortex manipulator to travel back in time to the Twenty-First Century to await your eventual arrival at the Rift," he paused, giving a woeful sigh, "unfortunately the manipulator stuffed up and transported me to 1869 instead."

Any further comment Jack might have wanted to make on the matter was cut off by the Doctor's laughter. "Oh that is priceless Jack, absolutely fantastically priceless!

"Stupid Time Lord technology," Jack grumbled, only getting the Doctor to laugh some more.

"Oh don't try peg it on us Jacky boy! We only pushed your Time Agency in the right direction, not our fault you blundered it all up," he said with an amused smile.

Jack decided it was best to let this drop, instead turning to the question he'd longed to know the answer to for so very, very long. "So if you knew all along, that means you know why?" he asked, knowing he didn't need to clarify what he was talking about.

A look of contemplation took the place of the Doctor's smile as he looked Jack over. "Do you remember what happened on that satellite Jack?"

Jack gave a soft laugh. "How could I forget? Got to try on a few different outfits; had to pull out my weapon of last resort that really isn't at all fun to do; fought against the Daleks…ooh and gave what should have been the best last words to everyone that mattered," he added, seeming just slightly upset that his perfectly chosen words would now just be passing phrases instead of the final words of charm and courage as they'd been intended.

The Doctor gave him a look that was a combination of being offended and amused. "If I recall your last words to me were that you wished you'd never met me and that you were much better off as a coward," he said, raising his brow as he waited confirmation.

"Too right, too!" he replied with a smile. "I also didn't give the Daleks the satisfaction of thinking they'd gotten the better of me despite killing me. And I told Rose she was worth fighting for…still is," he added, looking towards the control room door where he could just make out the infirmary, though couldn't actually see her.

The Doctor nodded, they were of the same mind on that. "Not that your last words weren't important, being that they weren't your last words and all, but do you remember the final part of the plan? How I intended on destroying the Daleks?"

Jack frowned. "Yeah, that signal thingamajig. Was going to destroy everything, but then the universe and Rose would be safe so---"

"Ever wondered why the universe went on and I'm still here?" the Doctor asked cutting him off and raising a brow.

He just shrugged. "Hadn't really thought about it to be honest, I mean you're not exactly the same you and you tend to save one universe or another almost every week, didn't see how this one was any different."

"But it was Jack, because I didn't save it." The Doctor watched on in amusement as the look of shock crossed Jack's face. "The signal was ready, all I had to do was activate it and every living creature would have died…couldn't do it though. The Emperor asked me if I were a coward or a killer, and I told him I'd be a coward any day," he said with a grin considering Jack had implied it was his influence that had stopped the old conman being a coward. "Nope, if it had been left to me, mankind would have been harvested to create a new era of Daleks, and I would have been exterminated since me and the Daleks don't really get along."

"But then how?"

"Rose," he said simply, pride emanating from him. "She looked into the heart of the Tardis, into the time vortex and absorbed it into herself," he said softly as he idly stroked the panel. "She became Bad Wolf…no that's not right, she created Bad Wolf, scattered those two words throughout time and space just so she would know in her past that she could get back to that moment. And then she ended the Time War, left nothing but dust of all the Daleks and brought you back to life. But she couldn't control it, she brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose - the final act of the Time War was life."

An awed silence fell over them, increased as even the Tardis fell silent.

"Right, first stop, let's get to it!" the Doctor said as he hopped to his feet and made for the door, Jack following numbly behind him.

A very short period of time later they both barrelled through the doors, slamming them shut and leaning against them as they both slid to the floor.

"Don't think they'd want to help," the Doctor said after he'd caught his breath back, causing them both to laugh.

"Oh they'd love the hots! They'd pass it on to all their victims so they'd be nicely cooked in 24 hours." He paused thinking about this. "I hope I never get eaten to death…coming back from that would really suck…not to mention be quite icky."

They got up, knowing the army outside the doors hadn't a hope of getting in and the Doctor tapped in the next set of coordinates.

"So does that mean she's still got the vortex inside her?" Jack asked, as though the mini-battle they'd just narrowly escaped hadn't happened.

"No," the Doctor answered softly. "Noone can survive having that power within them."

"Not even the great Time Lords?" Jack asked teasingly.

The Doctor just smiled. "Why do you think I've got a new look?"

"You transferred it into yourself?" Jack asked, stunned.

"Yup."

"And it killed you."

"Yup," the Doctor repeated, adding a bit more of pop on the 'p'.

Jack gave rueful smile. "But she doesn't know that."

"Nope," the pop on the 'p' was even more pronounced as he gave Jack a meaningful look as the Tardis landed again and they headed to the door. As the wave of heat burst through, they closed them back and returned to the control panels.

"You know I figured you'd be taking us to places that had a chance of helping," Jack teased. "I think they'd find having the hots quite chilling," he added with a smile.

The Doctor just rolled his eyes. "We're going through the places the Time Agency hasn't visited Jack…apparently your lot missed out on all the good ones," he said, raising his eyebrows teasingly.

"Hey the TA aren't my lot any more, I'm with Torchwood now," Jack replied indignantly.

The Doctor frowned. "Didn't I pick you up in Cardiff?"

"Yeah," Jack answered, returning the Doctor's frown.

"But that's in Wales."

"Was last time I checked," Jack replied, his frown turning to confused amusement.

The Doctor's frown however, deepened. "But the Torchwood estate is in Scotland."

Jack raised a brow at him. "Uh I kind of meant the organisation, not the estate."

"There's an organisation called Torchwood? What kind of name is that?"

Jack eyed him, trying to work out if he was just teasing or really didn't know. "One named after the estate. Have you honestly never heard of it?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"I guess that means we're either really good or really crap at our jobs. I'm gonna go for the former since you not knowing about it means we haven't stuffed up big enough for you to need to bail us out yet," he replied, honestly amazed that an organisation formed over two hundred years ago could go completely unnoticed by the cause of it's creation.

The Doctor looked at him warily for a moment, but in the end decided Jack was right. If they'd done something truly disastrous he'd know about it, mainly because he'd inevitably be the one cleaning up the mess. They sat in silence for a few minutes as the Tardis travelled. Glancing over at Jack, he couldn't help the small smile that crossed his face. "We've missed having you around…you know, just every now and then when everything has been peaceful for a bit too long," he added.

Jack smiled back. "Yeah, whenever life gets a bit boring at the office I think about all the ways I could be getting killed if I were still hanging around with you," he replied in the same teasing voice the Doctor had used. "I went back to her estate in the nineties, just once or twice…maybe a few more," he added at the disbelieving look he got from the Doctor. "Watched her growing up. Never said hello, time lines and all that."

He smiled back at him. If he were in Jack's position he would probably do the same thing. No that was a lie. He'd probably regenerate and move in next door! But he didn't want to think about that, right now it hit just a little too close to home. "So why've you let yourself get killed so many times?" he asked instead.

"It's not like I've done it on purpose!" Jack retorted, though at the look the Doctor was giving him, he smiled back, shrugging, "Well not all the time anyway."

"Do you want to die?"

"Looks like we've landed again," Jack replied, looking at the doors.

"Jack."

Jack took a moment before meeting his gaze. "I thought I did. I don't know, but just watching Rose in there, acting all tough…I've seen military guys go through hots Doc, it ain't pretty. But Rose? She acts like its nothing major, still keen to get out there and have more adventures, to just get out there and live…and that's fantastic!"

The Doctor smiled. "How is it two guys like us who've travelled through so many times, to so many places, meeting people that have done the same or more and yet none of them seem at all interesting and yet here's this young woman from a tiny rock in the middle of nowhere, barely having travelled her own planet let alone time, and yet she's just completely and utterly…" the Doctor trailed off, not even sure what adjectives would do her justice.

"Fantastic," Jack finished for him, knowing it wasn't enough by far, but also that the Doctor understood completely.

The Doctor just smiled as he nodded, "Fantastic." They both turned to look at the infirmary once again before getting to their feet. "Third time lucky?"

"With you at the wheel? We'd need a hell of a lot of luck!" Jack replied, earning a slap across the back of the head as they headed for the doors once again.

There you have it folks, my version of the big Jack/Doctor/Rose reunion as well as the big talk. And yup, it would appear the common hot is just a wee bit more lethal than the common cold unfortunately.

Next Time:

"Doc I've been down the hall. In fact I've been down several halls. I've found two lounges, three kitchens, four women's bathrooms, only one men's, a stable, a gym, a sauna, two pools, a field, a ballroom and a room that felt like being in a dollhouse," he added, shuddering at how creepy that last one had felt

Coming Soon:

"Emergency Programme One," a voice said from behind him.

What exactly was Jack looking for and who set off the EPO? Well you'll just have to stay tuned to find out ;) Now if you could be the absolutely fantastic people I know you are and spend those few seconds to Review, my muse and I will love you forever :D Ciao for now ;)