Spoilers: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Beta-ed: TattoedLibrarian
They had entered the Hub silently. Tosh had disabled the cog door mechanism and they had pushed it slowly expecting gunshots every moment but they were in luck, nothing was heard. In the silence they spread around picking up their weapons. Owen gave a signal towards medical bay and they went to the railing pointing their guns at John.
Jack hesitated for a brief moment staying behind, reluctant to reveal himself, to show his survival. He listened to that too familiar voice and mockery in it, triumph, and sound of victory when he spoke of him. At that sound Jack moved determined to look him in the eye, to show himself, to let him know he was heard. His pure enjoyment came as a sting to Jack, there wasn't even a trace of regret in his tone. Jack leaned on the rail and looked upon him with delight; there weren't many times like this when you could just win, clean and simple.
"I can never die" he said with satisfaction on his astonished face. "You can never kill me" he felt a need to clarify that for him, that he could never be the one to say when Jack ends. John did make an effort to make it a joke, and after he recovered himself he managed to find a fault in Jack's immortality.
"All that trauma and pain, you feel all that" he said well acquainted with what dying brings with it. Jack hated him in that moment for realizing that.
Naturally, after he got his way of despising Jack's gift, he got back to bargaining and trying to get his fortune he chased around for in vain. Even if he managed to score something he managed to lose it in a heartbeat. More often it was just a shot in the dark but Jack decided to follow it through and let him open his damn map to legendary treasure. It was the easiest way to send him on his way across the galaxies in search for a phantasm. He had no more patience to deal with him and couldn't stand his voice or presence; he just wanted him gone so he could get on with his life. In the car Ianto looked disturbed so he reached out just to pat him on his arm, to give neutral reassurance but as soon as he brushed his hand he felt desire storm through his body so he pulled back quickly pushing those feelings down. It had been too long since he was touched tenderly. In fact Ianto was last to touch him in that manner even if he didn't remember that now. Since he'd gotten back he hadn't had any chance to make contact with him, he held his arms behind his back mostly to control them. It was frightening how his body craved another's touch. He justified himself that it was because of that he yielded to his old addiction to John. Now when he watched him across the table he couldn't understand that moment of weakness, he couldn't see anything appealing in him anymore.
Jack hadn't expected anything much from the device even when the bomb activated he wasn't disturbed. It was something that could be expected sooner or later in John's life, full of death and you couldn't say it wasn't deserved. He pleaded for help and Jack couldn't think of a reason to do so but like a rat he would always climb on someone else to save his skin. He handcuffed himself to Gwen and Jack started to worry. Of course she wouldn't be her Welsh self if she couldn't find a way out of his grip. Jack wasn't so alarmed because he knew his tricks with handcuffs and keys but that kind of device was hard to neutralise. Owen pulled him aside.
"I'm an improviser" he said and Jack trusted him following his orders. In the medical lab Owen was the king and his solutions were often mere wonder. In some ways he was to chemicals what Tosh was to computers.
After that they jumped in Owen's car catching them in the nick of a time bringing John to the ground. In the back ground Ianto counted down the seconds giving the situation a surreal feel and causing Jack to feel a strange mix of fear and excitement. As the bomb flew through the air and they ran Jack didn't think about the bomb or danger, he thought about how he loved that stopwatch and just how they could use it again, they never had finished that list of Ianto's. He would have to find time for that, there was no time to mess around with the past that never tasted as good as the present; it was just an old addiction and fear of the vast universe, nothing more. John had seen the determination in his eyes and he finally accepted his defeat, but not quite. As he entered the Rift like the true rogue Jack never, was he pointed his last sting towards his former partner.
"I found Grey" he said and Jack winced under a flash of pictures and regrets that were never too far away, but that couldn't be true, Jack had searched everywhere, it was just one more of his lies, an attempt to make him run after him across the stars. He wouldn't fall into that wild goose chase again. That's why he turned away determined to delete John from his mind, to turn him into dust like so many of his memories did. Why this one was so persistent when so many more important ones were vanquished by time and other interferences.