The Third Time the Doctor Met Jack

By: The Bubbles

Summary: slightly-older-but-still-quite-young!Doctor and young!Master encounter Jack at the beginning of his missing two years.

A/N- This takes place just at the beginning of Jack's missing two years, so even if we do get to see what happened, I can just use the excuse that they went a little further back when they erased them just to be on the safe side.

Disclaimer- "I'm not gay! And I haven't had my teeth whitened!"

(o.o.o)

Jack had been watching the two boys for quite some time now. He was sitting in a café, sipping coffee and waiting for someone to arrive, and they were sitting on a nearby park bench that he could see clearly from where he sat.

He didn't know the two boys, or anything about them; they could be classmates or brothers or even lovers for all he knew. There was nothing special about their appearance at all; they looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, one taller, with sandy blonde hair that half concealed steely blue eyes and long legs that stretched out before him, one arm rested at his side and the other stretched along the park bench behind his smaller companion; the other boy had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and he looked nervous, his eyes darting around as he beat an odd rhythm into his knees with restless hands.

It was this rhythm that had captured Jack's attention, as it seemed to be sad and mad and beautiful all at once. He had never heard anything like it before in his life, and doubted that he ever would- something about it seemed like it belonged to that boy and that boy alone.

It was a still day, and there was no one else present, so when the smaller boy finally broke the silence, Jack was able to hear every word he said.

"Theta, he's not coming," he said, gazing at his taller companion.

The other one, Theta, glared at him.

"He'll be here," he reassured firmly. "Don't worry about it. He wouldn't just leave us."

As if to prove his point, he shifted into a much more relaxed pose, stretching his legs out to their full length and draping his arms carelessly on the back of the bench. He began looking around, properly taking in his surroundings for the first time. His eyes roamed the café and fell on Jack, and Jack suddenly sensed pure, intense hatred in those steely blue eyes, an intense hatred that was, interestingly enough, directed solely at him and not the world in general. Jack was forced to wonder what in the world he'd done to tick off this kid, and what, exactly, this kid had in mind for him.

The kid stared at him for several seconds, and Jack stared right back, and eventually the boy seemed to decide that Jack wasn't who he'd originally thought he was. He nudged his smaller companion and said something in a language Jack didn't quite recognize, and the other boy looked at him and replied the same language.

They lapsed back into silence after that, the boy Theta continuing his calm façade, making no effort to hide the fact that he was staring down the Time Agent, while the smaller, as-yet-unnamed boy continued to beat out that terrible rhythm.

After a while he broke the silence once again.

"What if he doesn't come?"

"He'll come."

"But what if he doesn't? What if-?"

"Kosceii!" Theta snapped, and the boy looked a bit taken aback by the outburst. Theta's face softened. "I'm sorry, Kosch. If he doesn't come for us we'll, we'll work something out. You know what Mum used to say, 'Worrying is a complete waste of energy."

For some reason, after saying this he fixed Jack with that same cold, angry stare before turning back to Koscheii. Kosheii had picked up his odd rhythm again, and after a while Theta put a hand on the one pounding to still it. Koscheii said something in the unrecognizable language, and Theta laughed, a bit too loudly and nervously.

After another long silence, Theta stood up and strode purposefully over to Jack. He slid into the seat opposite the Time Agent without waiting to be invited and stared at Jack through his shaggy bangs.

"Can I help you?" Jack asked, when it became apparent that the boy wasn't saying anything.

There was a pause, and the boy spoke.

"Have you ever been to Cardiff?"

"Once," he said lightly, a bit confused at the boy's question.

"Twenty-first century?"

"Nineteenth."

"Just the one time, then?"

Jack laughed at that. "Why would I go back? It's just Cardiff; nothing interesting ever happens there."

Theta stared at Jack until the Agent began to get a bit uncomfortable. He seemed to be trying to decide if he was telling the truth.

"If you ever do decide to go back, try to remember that guns are completely rubbish against Weevils."

Jack pondered this, and then decided to humor the kid. He nodded.

"I'll bear that in mind."

Theta studied him a moment longer. "It might be a while before you need to know."

What he meant by that was never explained, because before Jack could ask, a whirring, reality-warping sound filled the air and a 32nd century port-o-john materialized across the road.

Theta muttered about a rubbish sense of humour before getting up and striding toward the odd device. Kosceii joined him, and just before they went in, a man stepped out and looked around. He spotted Jack and a look of surprise crossed his face for the barest of seconds before he turned back to the two boys. He spoke to them, but they were now too far away for him to hear, and besides, he had a distinct feeling that they were using that unfamiliar language again.

Jack never found out who those two boys were, and he never found out what Theta meant to warn him about. Well, he did find out, but he didn't realize it because not only was it much, much later, but at some point two years later he had it erased from his memory and thus didn't remember the two boys at all.

And both of them had died several times prior to that and so they didn't realize either.

Well, the Doctor did. He always remembers. But he wasn't about to bring it up.

(o.o.o)

A/N- Ah, the next step to defeating writer's block! Anyway, I'm planning out the next chapter, which will feature technically-First-but-as-it's-quite-a-long-time-before-the-series-it-doesn't-count-as-such!Doctor and con-man-who's-really-just-trying-to-get-a-shag-from-a-very-attractive-blonde!Jack on the Titanic, with merciless ribbing on both sides.

Also, I've got an idea for a Torchwood/Top Gear crossover I want to do (actually I've got half of it already written, but it's the second half), but so far I don't have a title for it. So I need you lot to suggest a title based on the summary I'm about to give you:

In which Jack nearly runs over Jeremy twice, then tries to hit on all three of them at once, and there are mentions of Naked-Hide-And-Seek.

So suggest titles, people! I'm total rubbish with titles!