Reunion

Taking another sip of his drink, Jack looked around the richly decorated bar appreciatively. It was a good place, he decided – not quite as good as the rumors had led him to believe, though.

Nonetheless, the other customers were appetizing enough for him to wonder once again why he had not bothered coming here sooner.

Of course, he realized, the Doctor.

He had not wanted to part with his friend, yet with his heart broken into a thousand pieces, he had understood at last. Their love could not be. He might have understood, but he had kept refusing to accept it. Weeks of depression had passed until he had finally come to terms with his loss.

He had briefly considered returning to Torchwood. But even if his heartache had subsided, he could not just return to fighting evil aliens as if nothing had happened at all. Thus, he had taken on wandering the universe on his own once again.

On the positive side, that left him with more than enough opportunities to enjoy the more pleasant sides of life.

…like ogling the strangely captivating brunet who had just entered the bar, for example. Jack could not decide whether it was the casual stroll or that great hairstyle that had gained his attention. In any case, he was far from done appreciating what he was seeing when the stranger noticed him staring…and smiled back shyly.

Straightening in his chair as the man made a beeline for him, Jack could not help grinning to himself. Yup, still got it.

"Hello there, handsome," the stranger hummed with a welcoming smile, "You do not, perchance, mind me buying you a drink?"

"In fact, I do not mind at all," Jack replied brilliantly, enjoying the tingling sensation in his stomach as he watched his new acquaintance taking a seat next to him. He really was quite a catch, even though his sense of fashion rather, well, confused him. The tweed jacket looked good on the man, admittedly, but a bow tie? Really? As the stranger motioned for the bartender to renew their supply of alcohol, however, Jack noticed a detail that displeased him immensely. It was small, silver and glinting from the stranger's ring finger.

"…what I do mind, however," Jack continued in disapproval, "is an engaged man flirting with others."

The stranger seemed confused for a moment until he followed the immortal's gaze. "That's not an engagement ring, stupid," he explained with a small chuckle, "it's a bio damper."

Jack arched an eyebrow. He had heard of those before, but had gathered that they rarely ever helped at all. But then again, why would his new acquaintance need one in the first place?

"I get exposed to all kinds of radiation, so this comes quite in handy," the stranger went on, "It took me a while to adjust it according to my needs, but now it can shield me from basically anything." He smiled softly, "Quite convenient, if you ask me."

Frankly, Jack was astounded. Reaching for the stranger's hand, he watched the ring in newfound fascination. It looked innocent enough, but…

Shielding a person from basically anything, huh? Entirely unbidden, old memories resurfaced. "I could have used one of those," he admitted forlornly, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice as he tore his gaze off the ring.

He liked telling himself that his relationship with the Doctor was over – that he had managed moving on after all. He liked proving that to himself by flirting, dating and doing basically anything that got the other man out of his mind. It might have been months and several short-lived relationships since then, and still…whenever an occasion like this arose, he kept wondering whether the two of them could not have found a way to mend their broken relationship after all.

Like a strange ring that could theoretically suppress that stupid addiction in the first place.

"I've got another one," the stranger piped up, shaking him out of his reverie as he rummaged through his pockets, "If you're interested, I'd like you to have it."

Blinking, Jack looked up to see a small box offered to him that held an exact duplicate of the ring the stranger was wearing. While slightly confused at the generous offer, he reached for it curiously. Once again, the ring looked innocent enough. When he equipped it, though, he did feel a tiny tingling sensation. Maybe it really could dampen the strange influence the time vortex had on others through him, but frankly, he was too tired to put much hope into that. Instead, he chose to redirect his attention at his latest flirt, who was watching him curiously all the while. "So here we are," Jack summarized with a charming grin, "exchanging engagement rings without even knowing each other's names." He extended his hand. "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service," he grinned.

The stranger seemed surprised, and maybe a bit unsettled, but was quick to accept the hand and shake it firmly. "It's so very good to meet you, Jack," he replied warmly, "I'm the Doctor and frankly, I want you back."

Jack's eyes widened as his mind went blank.

What?

"I knew it existed, and yet it took me a few years and a regeneration to find a way to actually make us work," the man who looked nothing like the Doctor but somehow seemed to be him explained with a rueful smile, "and in spite of all that, I still love you so very much."

For another long moment, Jack simply kept staring. So much sadness, pain and longing and now…this?

Slowly, hesitantly, disbelievingly, Jack reached for a cheek that looked so unfamiliar yet belonged to a friend, a lover, he had believed long lost. Entirely unbidden, his traitorous heart leapt with joy and hope, and he hated himself for that. He had given up hope long ago, so how could it be?

The man in front of him, handsome as he may be, was not his Doctor, but the Doctor all the same.

And he had come back for him, regardless of regeneration, regardless of the twisted foundation their feelings had developed from.

"Does that mean," Jack whispered hoarsely as he caressed his friend's unfamiliar cheek, "it is real this time?" Tears were threatening to surface, and he no longer had it in him to hold them back.

Even the Doctor's smile was a heartfelt one. "I would not have found a solution to our hardships if we had stayed together," he explained quietly as he gently brushed a tear off Jack's cheek, "but that doesn't mean I ever wanted you out of my life." He inhaled deeply, shakily. "You're the only one I could ever share an eternity with."

Sighing softly, the time lord met his friend's eyes. His gaze, so warm and fond and loving, finally made Jack realize that whichever way that love had come to be…really did not matter at all, because in any sense… "It's been real all this time, hasn't it?" he whispered hoarsely, and he finally allowed himself to believe in the second chance that was presenting itself to him.

The Doctor chose to reply with a smile. "Jack, travel with me," he all but demanded and offered his hand with a grin, "Let's go on a date."

Jack's heart leapt up again. Without hesitation he reached for that hand and pulled the Doctor close, catching him in a tight embrace as he pressed his lips onto those unfamiliar ones.

And it was marvelous.

Unlike all those years ago, there was no intense surge of energy passing between them. Instead, it was the most passionate, longing kiss he had ever experienced. They only parted when their breaths ran out, and as Jack watched the Doctor, returning his gaze so very longingly with his hearts beating twice at quickly in excitement, he understood that…

At long last the Doctor, his Doctor, returned his wanting on a very humane level.

"Yes, let's travel," he rasped into his time lord's ears as he tightened his embrace, "And let's turn this into the most amazing date the universe has ever seen."

THE END

Notes: Because Jack and the Doctor deserve a happy end. No addiction, no risk of accidentally killing each other - just the reassuring knowledge of having someone to be with throughout all of time and space.

I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with me until the end - and I hope it was worth your while :)

I had a lot of fun writing this. Since the "plot" itself has been ghosting around my head for a long time, I'd really just wanted to quickly jot it down and be done with it. But as it happens, even something as, err, unusual as this grows onto you eventually.

Basically, this story almost wrote itself, and at an amazing speed at that...which means that I might have misused some phrases, so please let me know if you found something that sounded suspiciously strange.

Also, there are some plot elements I included but am not entirely happy about (though I figured changing them and risking improving things for the worse wouldn't be worth the trouble). On that note, though, I would really appreciate any feedback on what you liked and disliked. I'm not entirely sure about this fandom's general preferences (or people's reading preferences in general), so knowing this will help me greatly with my future works.

In any case: thank you!