Characters: Doctor/Jack, Donna
Prompt: Jack/Ten & angst
Warning: if you are even mildly offended by homosexuality please do not read any further.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the icon or even the prompt.
A/N: this ficlet was written for my dear friend beachy_geek as a Christmas present.

Part 1

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What are you supposed to do when laws dictate who you should be, who you should revere and who you may love? Laws that wrapped up every single wish or thought within tightly bound chains.

The Tenth Doctor looked to where Captain Jack Harkness stood in the console room; the flaming blueness of the moving TARDIS column intensifying the vivid colour of his eyes, and the tailored cut of his uniform emphasising his physique like a second skin paying homage. In truth, Jack would have been sheer perfection if it weren't for one teeny tiny insurmountable problem: it hurt to look at him. For a Time Lord it was the equivalent of sticking a cut finger in lemon juice; but the sting was getting better.

In fact the Doctor was gradually adapting his response to Jack and could now, finally, act on feelings long hidden from view. They'd been wheedled out of him by a certain best friend, and she was on a mission to push things along in one direction or another under his reluctant blessing.

She had grabbed Jack and concealed her true intention by flirting playfully with him, asking if there was anyone in his life.

The Doctor had held his breath expectantly as he eavesdropped on Jack's reply.

"I have a gorgeous Welshman by the name of Ianto waiting back home for me," Jack had admitted, giving Donna a good natured hug. "Sorry, Red."

"That's a shame. Another one on the other bus," she had commented before walking away, flicking her gaze meaningfully towards the Doctor.

His eyes locked with Jack's over the gulf that seemed to part them across the TARDIS console room. So near yet so far. Hopes built and hopes dashed in seconds.

Jack threw him a look of deep regret, and then returned to talking with Mickey. But he kept peering at the Doctor as they talked.

People say if you wait long enough you'll get what you want. One day, Jack promised himself.

Those unspoken words returned to haunt him as he sat in a distant bar on a different planet to Earth after the death of Ianto. The Doctor had suddenly appeared, offering him the gift of another young man, called Alonso.

It had felt like a final gesture; a way of saying goodbye. Was the Doctor leaving his life forever? His limited time senses told him he was.

Distracting himself from this imminent grief, Jack focused on his new companion. But he would return to his love later. Grief would be waiting for the love he'd never know.

Part 2

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Jack was stood in an alien bar, doing his level best to look nonchalant as two serving Galdanian palace guards tried to creep up on him; their hidden livery a dead giveaway as they drew their dark great coats closer around their bodies.

As smoothly as he could, Jack swept his expert eyes around the enclosed space he was currently caught in. Two definite exits and a possible third. That was when his attention was detoured onto a willowy man watching him from the corner of the room, his face filled with a slowly growing grin, and his light eyes, possibly blue or grey but it was difficult to tell at this distance which one it was, twinkled their part in his suppressed merriment.

At first Jack assumed he was connected with the two guards who were easing themselves forward; but there was no connecting body language that suggested he was watching his prey get caught. Instead this interesting stranger's delight seemed to come purely from seeing Jack himself. There was only one name he wanted to assign this stranger, and only one person he genuinely wanted it to be.

Both guards had drawn their weapons, ready to strike in the anonymity of the surging crowd that celebrated the latest winners of the Greglory Cup; but Jack was ready, with his hand inside his coat, sitting on the trigger of his gun.

Suddenly the two guards moved as the crowd roared with glee over some broadcasted manoeuvre and Jack, in one deft swift movement, turned to face his attackers with his drawn weapon. But he needn't have bothered. They were lying, writhing on the ground clutching their strangely pulsing weapons, grimacing horribly before the jolt of it made them pass out.

"It's positively shocking what some people will do at times," a smooth male voice said in Jack's ear.

He glanced in its direction and was completely unsurprised to see the willowy stranger standing regarding him. There was something about that face that was extremely old, and he wasn't taking the distinguishing wrinkles into account when he thought that because this was a relatively young face gazing at him with such interest. There was another word he could assign to it, but he daren't yet; his hopes had been dashed too many times in the past for him to automatically take that route.

The stranger then deliberately lifted up his hand to show off the gadget within his grasp; a slim silver barrelled cylinder topped by a buzzing green light and little panels that fanned out when it was activated. As Jack watched in fascination the whole thing slid neatly down into the slim cylindrical body, and then it was pocketed.

"Hello Jack! Aren't you going to greet me?" the stranger teased.

"Hello Doctor," Jack cautiously tried out, not able to believe this was happening after such a long time. "You're looking different."

The Doctor grinned reassuringly. "Oh, you know me, always the same."

The charming grin returned in that instance, that unmistakable smile that had always gone straight to Jack's heart, and he found it hard to resist lunging forward to engulf the Doctor in a heartfelt hug of relief. A hug that was readily returned.

"What happened, Doctor? Has it been bad for you?" Jack wondered when he pulled back, and realised there hadn't been a trace of a wince this time upon contact.

"You could say that. Lost and gained some new friends; even had a couple of marriages of some sort. All the usual," the Doctor replied as cheerily as he could.

"Was one of them with the redhead I saw you with?" Jack joked, and instantly regretted it when the Doctor's face fell.

"You could say that. All forgotten now. But tell me about you! How have things been?" the Doctor side-tracked his issues, almost adding in a little dance as he waved his hands about to accompany his speech.

"Best told over a drink or two," Jack responded.

The Doctor leaned in to remind him, "I haven't forgotten that you owe me one."

Jack was stunned for a second! Did this mean what he thought it meant; that they were both ready at the same time?

"The answer is 'yes'," the Doctor softly stated. "What will yours be if I ask you to return to the TARDIS?"

The breathy anticipation wasn't lost on Jack; he knew hidden desire when he saw it. "Let's discuss this in private in the TARDIS," he pleasantly retorted. "I've been waiting to get you alone for a while now."

"Jack!" the Doctor complained, but it had nowhere near the sting of reproach it normally had. Instead this time it was said with more than fondness.

"We will have to find you a better safety word than that," Jack cheekily commented as the Doctor led them away, and gained the excited chuckle he hoped for, and found his spirits uplifting.

This was going to be an interesting night. Hopefully one of many. He had waited long enough for this; whole millennia.