The music floated down the path and the sounds of laughter was mixed with the beat of the track that was playing.

Only one person wasn't paying attention to the party going on round him.

Jack sighed and once more looked towards the door; he wasn't coming. Sighing he ordered another drink and sat back down on the bar stool.

He only looked up from his drink when Martha sat down next to him. "I'm sorry he isn't here, but you know what he's like. For him to turn up would be like finding Gossamer Wings."

Jack frowned at that.

"Gossamer Wings...of course, you wouldn't have read As Rare as Gossamer Wings. It's a children's book about Fairies."

Jack laughed. "Not my kind of Fairies."

Martha smiled. "Anyway, it's a book about all the different kind of fairies and the rarest fairy is the one with Gossamer Wings."

Jack snorted into his drink. "I don't think he'd like to be called a fairy."

Martha slapped his arm lightly. "The point being, that Gossamer Wings were so rare and flighty that to see one would be very special indeed. You could only see them at dawn when the sun was just right and the dew was still on the grass, and if you saw one they had to give you a gift of magic, but they were gone when the dew disappeared. So, he's like a Gossamer Wing, rare, flighty, magical, and never in the same place for long."

The party was now in full swing and Jack had opened another of his countless presents.

He was about to go back to the bar when Martha tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and stopped breathing.

There he was, standing at the door, looking like a nervous child.

That was until he saw Jack and that smile lit up his face.

He moved through the crowd with the grace of a dancer and stopped in front of Jack.

"Did you think I wasn't coming, as if? Happy Birthday, Jack Harkness."

He handed Jack a silver box that glowed as he took it. He went to open it but the Doctor stopped him.

"Later Jack, it's just for you to see," the Doctor said.

The night seemed to fly by and Jack was flying...now that the Doctor was here. He watched as he flitted between Martha and Tom, Gwen and Rhys and flirted with Ianto just enough to make him blush.

The party had wound down and both he and the Doctor were walking back towards the TARDIS as the sun was rising.

It was a cold morning and the dew was glistening on the grass.

"You can open the present now," the Doctor said.

Jack opened the box and his drew in a sharp breath. "Where did you find this, I thought they were extinct."

"Oh, a little bit of Time Lord Magic."

Jack looked up and then he saw what Martha had meant...the sun was directly behind the Doctor and the dew made it look like he was shot through with rainbow colours...magical.

"Well, I have to go Jack," the Doctor said.

"Don't be a stranger," Jack replied.

"Never," the Doctor said and slipped inside the TARDIS.

Jack smiled and watched it fade away. "As Rare as Gossamer Wings," he sighed.