The sky had darkened significantly by the time Jack and Ashildr made their way out of Torchwood's little shop as the approaching storm had muted the rapidly fading daylight. The clouds hung low and heavy across the sky, it was not going to be long before they unleashed a deluge on the welsh countryside.

The two immortals walked across the square with a measured stride, the silence stretching between them until it was nearly a living thing.

Ashildr kept her hand tucked into the crook of Jack's arm, though she could feel the tension held barely in check within the man. His eyes were constantly moving as they made their way past the fountain and onto the street beyond. She knew that she had awakened a hunger within him that would not be easily assuaged, but she was not certain exactly what it was that he was expecting from her. Absolution maybe? Companionship? She knew what she wanted from him, but she wasn't sure if it was something that he would be ready or willing to share.

Jack led the way down a side street and towards a bar that was tucked next to a rather upscale restaurant as the area around the Millennium Centre was also a bustling tourist hub. He reached out to open the door, and held it for her so that she could precede him into the dim interior.

A loud crack of thunder echoed overhead just as Jack ducked into the bar, his gaze darting briefly to the windows where he saw sheets of rain suddenly begin to pelt the panes. The storm couldn't have suited his mood better and also guaranteed that the little bar would be quieter than usual.

He nodded to her and led the way to the bar where the bartender was already reaching under the counter for a snifter and a whiskey bottle. "Jack, you're here early!"

Jack grinned and waved in reply, his hand on Ashildr's elbow while she wisely maintained her silence. "Yeah, Frank. Bit of a slow day and I had an unexpected visit from an old family friend so I figured I'd bring her over for a drink."

The bartender, Frank, looked to Ashildr and smiled in greeting. "Any friend of Jack's is welcome here."

She pursed her lips and nodded in response, not quite sure what they were doing there and how they would be able to talk any more freely than in Torchwood but she otherwise maintained her silence.

"Actually, Frank. I was wondering if the back room was free tonight, I wanted to have a place to catch up privately and the office was just too formal."

"Sure Jack, it's always available for you."

Jack smiled in response before he nodded to Ashildr and reached back for his wallet to pull out several large bills. "We've got a lot to catch up on, could you bring a bottle of whiskey back and whatever she'll have to drink, then make sure we're not bothered back there."

Frank frowned when he saw Jack place the bills on the bar, shaking his head before he pushed the money back to Jack. "You know I'd been happy to put it on the slate for you, Jack. Besides I know how you can get going sometimes."

Jack just shook his head with a laugh, though there was a serious glint in his eyes. "And every time I come here, I tell you to not treat me any differently than any of your other customers. So just take the money, Frank."

Ashildr looked from Jack to Frank, the obvious affectionate frustration between the two of them showing that this was an old and tired argument.

"One of these days, I'm going to win this argument Jack."

Jack just chuckled good-naturedly and winked at Frank. "Maybe, Frank. Maybe."

Ashildr just shook her head at yet another glimpse into the strange immortal standing beside her before she turned back to Frank and ordered a bottle of merlot, taking Jack's cue that it was going to be a long night. "Actually, would you please include a jug of water with that? Talking can be such thirsty work."

"Sure thing, I'll be back in just a tick."

The two of them then left the bar and made their way down a short hallway and into a private dining room in the back. It was an upscale bar that obviously catered to a more affluent clientele, the dining room in the back was no different. It was a muted green color filled with two tables of six that could easily be rearranged for larger parties if needed.

Jack left the door slightly ajar before he shrugged out of his coat and tossed it across one of the chairs, motioning for her to do the same before he settled into a seat nearest the door.

Ashildr just stood still for a moment, letting her gaze roam around the room before she reached up and unpinned her broach and laid her cloak over another seat. She sat down, unnerved somewhat as the silence continued to stretch between them. He was studying her intently, but he seemed content to sit in silence for the time being.

Frank arrived with the bottle of whiskey and merlot as well as a pitcher of water and several glasses on a tray which he set in the middle of the table, his gaze flicking from Jack to his young friend before he then turned and left the room. The click of the door closing seemed to be the cue that Jack needed, causing him to rise to his feet so that he could turn the lock on the door.

"Why did you bring us here, Jack?"

Jack turned to look at Ashildr, letting out the breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding before he returned to his seat and poured both himself and Ashildr a drink.

"I've known Frank for quite a few years now and he always makes sure that I'm not bothered when I come here. I helped him and his family out of a spot of trouble a while back, and sometimes I find I just need some time to myself where I don't have to worry about anyone intruding. He's a good man and will make sure we're not bothered or monitored in anyway."

She took the wineglass when he offered it, unable to conceal the questioning look in her eyes when he spoke of needing to be alone from time to time. "Is it that much of a burden to you, Jack?"

Jack took a long drink from his snifter, his eyes sliding closed at the harsh bite of the liquor before he nodded. "Sometimes it can be, but then I'm sure you understand that completely."

She nodded quietly, her eyes growing distant as she thought back on all the sleepless nights she had endured in the past. "It's maddening, Jack. Sometimes I wonder when it will ever end, if it will ever end and sometimes I just want to run until I have nowhere left to run to. I did that once, ran away but it was still too early and I couldn't get very far."

Jack sat there quietly, listening to the sorrow that she couldn't contain and felt a corresponding ache in his own heart. "How many children have you lost Ashildr?"

She jerked at the question, her eyes flying to his before she sighed and took a long swallow of her wine. "I don't remember, Jack. It's been so many centuries since they died anyways."

Jack leaned forward, his eyes boring into her before he muttered. "Bullshit."

She looked away, her body betraying the tension that suddenly rose within her. She had told the Doctor once that her memories had faded over the centuries and that much was true, but she would never forget that fateful day when she found them dead from the plague. It had been a major turning point in her endless life, the point that had set her on the reckless path that had eventually collided with the doctor three centuries later.

"I lost three children, Jack. Three precious babies to the plague, and that's when I swore that I would never again let anyone close to me."

"I'm sorry, Ashildr. It never does seem fair does it? We live on, but those we loved fade away like so much smoke."

She laughed harshly at that comment, her trembling hand lifting her wineglass to her lips before she set it aside with a sigh. "I said that to the Doctor when he came back, when I first begged him to take me with him. The people around me, they fade like smoke and yet I endure forever. I truly have forgotten so much of my life, Jack. I have to write it all down in journals, then when I go back to read it, it's almost like it happened to someone else."

Jack arched a brow at her comment, wondering if it was because of the strange nature of his rebirth that he was cursed with such near perfect memory. She was forever dying and forever being repaired, but her mind was still that of a ninth century Viking and as such could only hold on to so much before it faded away. "I wonder if that would be preferable." He mused.

"It's not the same for you?"

Jack shook his head, his eyes sliding closed as he thought back on his long life. "No it's not, though I have forgotten most of the details of my life when I was mortal. I don't even remember what my father looked like anymore."

She leaned forward at the first clues about Jack's own strange immortality, her lips parted in her eagerness for more. "What happened Jack? You said it was an accident and that the Doctor didn't know."

Jack grimaced at her question, raising his glass to his lips and draining it dry before he reached for the bottle and refilled it nearly to the brim. He found himself rethinking his decision to tell her everything in his past, at least at this first meeting until he got to know her a little better. She already had knowledge of the Doctor and that he had a ship that travelled through time and space, and if she had hacked into the Torchwood files then she knew more about extraterrestrials than anyone outside of Torchwood did. He still had to be careful not to pollute the timeline with too much foreknowledge, though if he thought about it the Doctor was doing that all the time.

"It was an accident Ashildr. I had travelled with the Doctor for a little while and we had a run in with some Daleks in a space station. I was facing down three Daleks, trying to buy the Doctor time to do whatever it was that he was planning and they killed me." He knew that he was being deliberately vague when she had been extremely detailed, but he still couldn't bring himself to completely divulge everything in one shot. His training at the Time Agency was too ingrained in him even after all these centuries, and an immortal trapped on earth with the kind of foreknowledge he could give her could be too dangerous. Especially if she wasn't bound by the same code of conduct that he had tried to adhere to all throughout his long life on earth.

"I remember exactly what death felt like, that first death out of thousands and then I just woke up. I didn't find out how it had happened to me though for over a century when the Doctor finally came back."

Ashildr cocked her head at that comment, picking up on his choice of words and suddenly feeling another thing click into place. "He abandoned you too, didn't he?"

Jack merely nodded in reply, the subtle tick at the corner of his eye the only indication of his agitation. "He left me on that station as soon as the Daleks had been dealt with and it was up to me to make my way back to earth. I kind of overshot the mark and ended up in 19th century Cardiff though, where I had to live through the 20th century before he finally showed back up again. He actually tried to leave without even seeing me that second time, but I managed to catch up with him." Jack didn't elaborate on just where he had caught up with the Doctor, nor the events that had followed when they had returned from the end of the universe.

"So then how did it happen Jack?"

"It was a surge of Time Lord energy actually that revived me, but it was out of control and it brought me back forever. I can die, but I don't ever stay dead. No matter what is done to me, I always come back. It didn't take long for me to figure out that something had happened on that station, but it was the not knowing that nearly drove me insane that first century."

She sighed softly, once more feeling that resonance to her own life and her own suffering though his had been in totally different circumstances. "I don't know if I can be killed actually, Jack. The Doctor did say that I wasn't indestructible just that I wouldn't die. I've been too much of a coward honestly to test that theory too much, though I've been reckless many times in the past."

Jack threw his head back and laughed, unable to help himself when he heard the chagrin in her voice. "Thrill seeking to fill the time I take it?"

An impish grin was her only answer before she reached for the bottle of wine and filled her glass once more. "It was something of a hobby for a few centuries. The Doctor didn't approve when he discovered I was a highwayman."

Jack guffawed at that bold admission, but then it was so eerily similar to what he had done that he felt a little more of his armor slip. "I was a con artist actually, that's why I took the name Jack Harkness. He had just been killed in action, so I was able to rewrite his files and step seamlessly into his shoes."

"Was this after you were immortal?"

Jack shook his head with a laugh. "No actually it was before. It's how I met the Doctor in the first place, he was actually lured in by one of my more elaborate cons and ended up having to clean up my mess." Jack paused when he thought back on that time, how things had been so easy and straightforward as he'd hurtled through life with no seeming direction other than the next thrill. It wasn't really all that different from his life now, though the Doctor had somehow managed to instill a sense of duty into him. He grimaced at that thought. "I wasn't this much of a stand-up guy back then, that's for sure."

She couldn't help the laughter at the disgust in his tone, he truly looked appalled at that thought. "Oh I'm sure that you still can get up to plenty of trouble Captain Harkness."

He lifted his snifter to her in mock salute, his steel blue eyes flashing with mirth before he responded. "I like to think that trouble has a way of finding me."

"I'm sure that it does Jack. I'm curious though why you're being so deliberately vague with me when you already know that I know a lot about you and the Doctor."

Jack's gaze flew to hers, his eyes looking panicked and trapped for a moment before he let out of long sigh. "I have to be careful Ashildr. First off, I don't know you from Adam and you show up with knowledge that you shouldn't have both about me and the Doctor so I have to believe that at least you think you're telling the truth."

Ashildr opened her mouth to argue, but Jack silenced her with a quick shake of his head. "Let me finish, Ashildr. I didn't say that I don't believe that you believe what you're saying, but I need more proof. The Doctor has knowledge that could forever alter the future of this world, and he is very careful with that knowledge so that he doesn't pollute the timeline too much." Jack made a face at that. "Well, he tries not to pollute the timeline too much, but he's not always as successful as he would like. I too have knowledge that could greatly affect future events on earth as well so I have to adhere to the same principles that the Doctor does in regards to information."

She was surprised that he was being as candid as he was with her, but she was thankful at least that he wasn't dodging the question completely. "I know you're from the future Jack. It was in your files in the Torchwood database."

He grimaced at that reminder, having momentarily forgotten that she would have gotten into his files before he had had a chance to delete all references to his ramblings in the late 19th century when Torchwood had first conscripted him. When he took over Torchwood Three, he had meticulously scrubbed his files for any mention of those ravings and since the rest of Torchwood was dead or missing in action he had effectively eliminated all traces of his past indiscretions.

"Right, but you don't know exactly when?" He tested, knowing that Torchwood had never known which century had been his native time. He had been smart enough to at least hold that back when he had first come to earth.

"No Jack, I don't."

He nodded in response, surprised at the wave of relief that washed over him at her comment. "Let's just say that I'm from far enough in the future, that I would prefer to be careful about rewriting my own history. Besides, I'm going to get to live that future firsthand."

"Just as I got to live earth's history firsthand."

Jack smiled softly. "Exactly just like that. Now it looks like we'll both get to live that future together."

Ashildr looked to Jack with a soft sigh. "Will we now Jack? You still don't trust me."

"I've only just met you Ashildr. You're going to have to do a lot more to earn my trust, though I will grant that you have been remarkably candid with me. You're a relic from the past, you've lived through most of modern earth history." He continued with uncharacteristic bluntness, his gaze watching the effect his words had on Ashildr as she listened to his words with stoic disdain. "You are remarkable in that you have firsthand knowledge of events that historians can only dream about, but that knowledge won't change the course of earth's history. It won't shape events that could have ripple effects for centuries to come."

She sat listening to his harsh words, her jaw clenching and unclenching through she knew he was correct in his assumptions. She wanted so much more, she'd wanted it for over a thousand years and once again she was being denied. "There has to be more to it Jack. There has to be some purpose that we've been created, but I for one can't seem to figure out what it is. Yes I've lived through most of modern history and yes I know that my knowledge, or the knowledge contained in my journals won't shatter the world or change the future but I have to know that there's some reason for all of it." She was pleading with him now, her words were shaking when she feared that he would push her away just as the Doctor had when he had left that final time.

Jack's harsh gaze softened and he leaned forward to set his glass on the table in order to take her free hand in his. "I wish I had that answer for you Ashildr but I just don't. Yes I've lived longer than you have and I've seen things that you can't even imagine, but in all the endless searching I finally came to the conclusion that I had to find my own purpose or I really would go insane."

Her hand was trembling in his grasp and there was shimmer of tears in her eyes that she angrily tried to blink away. "Is protecting the earth your purpose Jack?"

"Yeah, I guess it is. Someone's got to do it and the Doctor can't always be here to take care of things. Humanity has got to learn how to stand on its own two feet in preparation for what's coming, I'm trying in my own way to help towards that end."

Ashildr leaned closer to Jack, her fingers tightening around his as her eyes suddenly locked on to his with an earnestness that surprised him. "Let me help Jack. I once told the Doctor that I would help protect the earth, but I've only been able to do so in little ways. I've helped the companions he's left behind from time to time, never letting them know who I was or why I was doing what I did but it's not enough. I know that I can do so much more and I want to be a part of it."

Jack pursed his lips thoughtfully at her suggestion, his mind whirling with all the possibilities that such a liaison could bring. He'd be able to keep a closer eye on her for one thing, and he could truly gauge her sincerity and her assertions first hand. The fact that she admitted to helping the Doctor's old companions eased some more of the concern that he had in regards to her motives. She needed purpose in her life again, perhaps he could help in that regard.

"On one condition Ashildr."

She nodded in acquiescence. "Name it first Jack before I agree."

"I want to see your journals, I want to see the history of the world through your eyes."

"That's hardly fair when you won't tell me much about yourself and your own history."

Jack cocked his head with a smirk, his hand reaching for his glass and lifting it to his lips before he continued. "That's because your history is my history, but my history is your future. The circumstances couldn't be more different Ashildr. That's my condition, take it or leave it."

She could tell that he was prepared to rise to his feet and leave right at that moment if she didn't answer correctly. She had planned to take him to her home anyways at some point so that she could share her history with him, so she was able to make a decision then and there. "Done. Tell me when and I'll take you there."

Jack raised his glass to hers, their glasses clinking in a toast before they settled down and spoke of their different experiences in the 20th century, light hearted stories that didn't touch on the Doctor or on anything else that they weren't ready to discuss.

Both couldn't shake the feeling that it was the tentative beginning of a potentially eternal friendship.