A/N: And gone for a year. That should never happen. I apologize. So this chapter is dedicated to my guest reviewer, Sofia Rezende, who gave me the exact kick in the ass I needed to get back to work.

Disclaimer: If I owned something, it would probably be Sherlock, in all honesty. We take hiatuses for approximately the same amounts of time. But nope. Not Doctor Who.

All My Love to Long Ago

Chapter 4: Hello, I'm Captain Jack Harkness

It was Captain Jack Harkness.

There are moments in your life when you know exactly what to say, words flowing as though from divine inspiration. Then there are others when it feels like someone removed your voice because you know you're not dumb- you just can't seem to make any words. This wasn't either of those times. Not only was the Doctor speechless, he was clueless, thoughtless, and witless – quite a feat for the Doctor. He felt as though his mouth was full of cotton and his head full of marbles, because that man right there was Captain Jack Harkness.

Now this sounds like an exaggerated reaction. After all, the Doctor was a time traveler. Captain Harkness was a time traveler. Not at all inconceivable that they would meet. Actually, not even a surprise, because Jack had once mentioned (to a different face) that he watched over Rose a bit when he was stuck in her time period. But here was the rub- Jack didn't know that this face was the Doctor. And he wasn't supposed to meet the Doctor for a little while longer … he was supposed to meet his previous face - the skinny pretty boy one – when he was traveling with Martha Jones, jumping onto the TARDIS and holding on tight to the end of time. So, due to the potentially-fabric-of-time-and-reality-ripping-consequences of any future action, it was completely reasonable that he couldn't think of anything to say, anything to do, anyway to get himself out of this predicament, and anything, really.

Still, he was the Doctor and being exposed to paradoxes was pretty much in the job description- some of the scrapes he'd gotten into- whew! Get it together!

Besides he had to find out about Rose. He couldn't very well go up to Jack without his wits about him. What to do? It would be too suspicious to just walk up as some random man (albeit a very attractive man, of course) in a bow-tie (even though it was a very cool bow-tie) and ask about Rose. Jack would find that suspicious … then again, he'd had worse plans!

So the Doctor sauntered up to Jack. "Excuse me- yes, hello, I'm the- I'm John Smith. I'm a maths teacher over at the school back there- yes, I teach maths. It's all very cool. I'm looking for R- a student who ran off without her- her … mum! Yes, mum! Blonde, short, very student looking … have you-" It was at that moment, in the middle of his speech, that the Doctor remembered he was supposed to be human. And a human would have said something by now – something about the body at their feet. "Have you seen her? Also … who is that?" Perhaps a little too nonchalant. Maybe he should have gone for some screaming …

Jack looked torn between hitting on him and being incredibly suspicious. As per his usual, he settled for both. "Hello there. I'm Captain Jack Harkness." His words were accompanied by that patented smile and while it didn't tempt the Doctor, it did remind him of how much he'd missed it … although it was still hard to look at him. Fixed point in time and all that. But a second later, he was really missing it because Jack's expression had changed and it didn't look quite so friendly any more. "What did you say your name was again?
"Uh, John Smith ..."

"Right. John. Smith. And you're looking for a student … You know, to be honest, if I was you and I was a normal human, I'd be more worried about the woman lying on the ground who, for all you know, could be dead."

Plan- plan- the plan wasn't going so well … As per expected, Jack was suspicious and had picked up on the screaming omission. But honestly, it was clear that the alien wasn't dead. The slight vibrations from the atmospheric breath apparatus were clearly perceptible to someone of his heightened senses. He wanted to know what had happened to Rose first.

"Firstly, Captain Jack, she can't possibly be dead when she still exhibits at least four positive signs of life," he impatiently replied, brushing off Jack's accusations. "Clearly. Secondly, I'm looking for this student and she's a child, only twelve … ish … Her name's Rose Tyler. Have you seen her?" He spoke in deadly earnest, his usual hyper speech patterns abandoned. Rose could be in danger after all.

That got Jack's attention. "Rose Tyler?" He stared at the Doctor as if trying to decide friend or foe. Unfortunately for the Doctor, Jack put two and two together – Rose Tyler … random, strange man looking for her – and decided that the bow-tied man in front of him had to be an alien … or another human that knew of Rose and was after her for some nefarious purpose. (Although why they couldn't just leave her alone, Jack would never be able to understand. She would die in just a few more years- a victim of Canary Wharf. Couldn't they just leave her in peace as a kid?) "Who the hell are you?" he demanded as he pushed the Doctor up against the alley wall. Not waiting for an answer, he began to search the Doctor's pockets, an endeavor which proved more fruitful than he could possibly imagined.

First, he discovered the sonic screwdriver. He pulled it out and stared at it for a second. Could it be- could it possibly be? But the sonic didn't look much like the Doctor's sonic, so the Captain was left unsure of what he'd found. Frantically this time, he returned to searching the Doctor's coat, searching for something to confirm his suspicions. On this second try, he found the psychic paper and hardly able to believe his eyes, he pulled it out. Of course, it could just be a blank piece of paper in a wallet. But paired with the piece of technology that looked like a tricked out sonic and the fact that he called himself John Smith and- it just had to be!

Jack stepped back. "Doctor?"

"Uh ..." The Doctor wasn't quite sure what to do here. Deny his existence and lose his only lead to Rose … plus Jack? Or own up to it and deal with the possible time-tearing consequences. No. Clearly, there was only one choice – Rose. He threw his hands up in the air. "Yes, you caught me! I'm the Doctor. And you're Jack! Jacky! Jacko!" He threw a couple of light punches at Jack before realizing what he'd just said. "Blech-" He stuck out his tongue like he was trying to clear his mouth. "Never saying that again!"

"Doctor!" Jack exclaimed, too excited by his rediscovery to pay attention to the Doctor's antics. He pulled his old friend – the friend he'd died for, the friend he'd waited over a hundred years for, the friend who … left him stranded in space … ok, he'd get to that later - into a hug. "You don't know how long I've been looking for you!" he confessed in a laugh.

The Doctor clapped him on the back and then pulled back. "Good to see you, Jack! Now- really- have you seen Rose?"

Jack's words died in his mouth, all his questions about the new face and body (Damn!) and Rose's death at Canary Wharf gone because he was reminded that Rose – little Rose – was missing. "No, Doctor- I haven't seen her. What's going on?"

"She was being followed by- aha! By this!" The Doctor remembered the alien stalker at their feet and turned her over. On the surface, she looked like a normal human. But beneath that glamour … The Doctor reached into his jacket to grab his sonic only to find that it was missing. He stood up very quickly and began to look at the ground in all the surrounding area. He must have dropped it somewhere …

"Doctor … what're you doing?" Jack asked him, tapping him on the back with the sonic to get his attention.

"My sonic! It's missing! I- hey!" He grabbed the sonic back. "You had it!"

Squatting back down by the stalker, he tweaked the settings on the sonic and began to scan their guest. Questions, reunion, excuses. They'd all have to wait. Now it was time to see what was beneath the mask.

A/N: Thanks for sticking with me. Even though I don't deserve it, I do love reviews!