A New Start (Eight)

[captain jack harkness]

I'm not a perfect person.
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

It was rather early in the morning, almost four o’clock well at least on his watch it read that time. Everyone was still trying to get settled in and figured out what was going on. All those people most likely sleeping now and yet here was Jack standing in the very room they all woke up in. Standing in the middle of it, his eyes starting ahead. His hands tucked into the pockets of the RAF Great Coat. It looked like he was waiting for someone else to appear much like he had, like they all had… Maybe he was here, hoping that Ianto would appear but that wasn’t the reason why he was here.

The man who couldn’t die was waiting and looking for someone else to appear and knowing him rather well, the Doctor wouldn’t pass up the chance to look into the control panels here. With everyone gone from this room and being early, he knew the chances were good that the Time Lord would appear if he wasn’t already somewhere in this room. Jack had been in his own world for the last hour, as he stood there, lost in his thoughts.

Mostly wondering what kind of person this Doctor was and what the Doctor in this form thought of him. Sure they only just meant but Jack needed to know those things. There had only been one person he truly needed and wanted approval from and that was the Doctor whether or not anyone know that, Jack wouldn’t say or tell anyone that. In many ways this was a new start for both of them, his chance to show the Doctor that he was a good guy and worth traveling him. That in hopes that some how that his new regeneration would remember this and will still come rescue him from the Blitz and show him life in a new way. The last thing he wanted was to screw up this time with this Doctor and affect the outcome later on…

All this time stuff could be rather confusing at times but somehow he believe that this is where he was suppose to be at the time and place, that he had a reason to be here. A sigh was given as he brought a hand up to rub at his temples. His head still bothering him greatly and he knew he should have at something earlier or taking some of those aspirins that were handed to him. But Jack was in his whole; I don’t need sleep or food mood again. All he wanted was to help the Doctor find a way to get all these people back where they belong and get himself back to Ianto.

His blue eyes glanced around the dimly lit room, wondering when the sun would come up and their first real day here would start. After a moment, Jack sat down on the floor and pulled a knee up to his chest to rest his chin on there. He wasn’t ready to leave this room quite yet.

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you

[the eighth doctor]

The Doctor didn’t need to sleep. That wasn’t some stupid stab at machismo or asceticism, just the bare truth; as a Time Lord, the occasional nap served just as well as a full night’s rest. So it was shocking he’d managed to doze this long. The hostages— no sign so far of possible terrorists, but that was what it felt like— had finally settled down around midnight. Reluctantly the Doctor had joined them. The place seemed to power down for the night, and for once he didn’t have a torch stashed away in some unlikely pocket. Any investigating would have to wait for morning.

That knowledge, however, wasn’t much of an opiate. He tried to sleep, but it took some time for him to fall into a state of drowsy half-waking, where dreams tentatively ate at the edges of consciousness. Thoughts kept intruding, remembrances of the previous day, curiosity about present and future. Where were they, and why? Not to mention how... After far too long of his thoughts chasing their own tails, the Doctor finally gave up and got up as quietly as possible from his improvised nest— it didn’t quite merit the designation ‘bed,’ since that implied a certain amount of comfort. The wee hours of the morning here were cool, he noted, but warm enough he left his frock coat on the floor.

He hadn’t intended to go anywhere in particular, but his wandering feet had other ideas. Without quite realizing it, the Doctor found himself outside the room where this had all begun. He was surprised to see it wasn’t empty, and even more so at its occupant. He’d have thought after a day like they’d all had, everyone would have been sleeping like logs, yet there sat Jack in the middle of the floor. The dome arched above the still figure, its highest reaches fading into dimness. His face matched the predawn gloom, pensive. The Doctor hated to break into his reverie, but he couldn’t very well leave either. The captain intrigued him too much for that. Second World War era uniform plus knowledge of the Daleks equalled a lot of mystery, and he wasn’t one to let sleeping enigmas lie.

His footsteps against the stone floor were louder than he’d expected. This place really had great acoustics; he wondered what an opera would sound like here. Probably wonderful, but equally probable they’d never find out. Something told him whatever this place was, it wasn’t big on artistic creativity. He stopped his slow meander just short of where Jack sat, knees drawn up for a chinrest. “You couldn’t sleep either, eh?” he asked. Not the cleverest of quips, but he didn’t want to blunder into the captain’s thoughts with a clumsy attempt at humor. He looked faraway, probably remembering the world he’d been cruelly torn from.

[captain jack harkness]

When it came to sleep, it wasn’t something he got a lot of. Ever since he had been brought back to the darkness the first time, he found himself needing less sleep. But lately, the nightmares haunted him too much that he avoid getting sleep unless he couldn’t think straight anymore or was about to collapse. Most of the nights after having some private time with Ianto, he would lie there pretending to be sleeping until he knew the other man was sound asleep. After all that happened him today, he was feeling drained but he couldn’t get settle his mind enough to allow sleep to take over.

If something wasn’t right, he couldn’t rest until things were back to normal and everything was safe and sound. Lately after everything that has happened over the last two years, he found himself slipping into more of a protective role of those around him. Sure he was still wreckless and charged in head first before thinking but that was just his way of doing things. Making sure that the world, city was safe for another night. At the moment, Jack was wondering who would do this, who had the technology to pull people from their timelines and only to bring them here together. Maybe, they were an elite group that was supposed to save this world… or maybe just test subjects.

It had been a long time since he seen England during the Second World War. Last time he had been there was the time when the rift taken him and Tosh back in time to that Dance Hall and were lucky to get back only because Owen broke the rules. Let lose the beast that came very close to really killing him and making sure it was one time that he wasn’t come back from the darkness. Out of all the things to make Jack feel weak and helpless it was this place; he wasn’t sure what to do. How to get everyone back where they belonged let alone to get him home where belonged. It was a strange feeling, one he didn’t have often but it was one he hated.

His eyes closed as he listened to the footsteps falling on the stone floor, he figured it was the one person he was waiting for. The voice only conformed him that he was right in thinking that it was. ”Been a long while since I had a decent night’s sleep. Thought you might have been in here tinkering with the control panels and seeing what information you could find. Then again… maybe I am just use to your Tenth Body… I used to pick on you for having a sonic screwdriver... Maybe if you had one here… we could use my Vortex Manipulator to get out of here.” He said has glanced up at the Doctor. Still finding it a bit strange seeing a new face instead of the ones he was used to but it was something he was finding himself getting use to.

”Must say though Doctor, the whole Victorian look is rather dashing.” He gave the Doctor a wink before pushing himself up from the ground slowly.

[the eighth doctor]

Even so short-lived as the rest had been, he was already feeling the better for it. Figuring out the why and wherefore of their abduction didn’t seem nearly as insurmountable as it had earlier on, when he was still wrestling with the exhaustion of recent regeneration. But it was like getting your sea-legs. As the hours wore on he was learning again who he was. It was such a strange sensation, to have all your memories and yet still not really know yourself. After enduring the process seven times he should have been used to it by now, but then it was different— he was different— every time.

The Doctor’s face crinkled into a warm smile and he offered Jack a hand up. “Oh, I’ve always been the investigating type, don’t suppose that will ever change. In fact, I never seem to know when to leave well enough alone.” It was true, he got into more scrapes that way... some people just didn’t appreciate his curious nature. “Ah yes, the sonic screwdriver...We could certainly try that, but something tells me it won’t be that easy. Whatever brought us here was able to get past my TARDIS’ defenses,” he said with a frown as he rummaged through his pockets. In all his years travelling, not much had ever managed to breach the TARDIS, and every single time the party responsible was up to no good... which made sense, of course. Who else was going to go around breaking into peoples’ transports?

“Wait, what’s the matter with the screwdriver?” the Doctor asked, genuinely puzzled. All right, so it wasn’t a gun, but it seemed Jack was well aware that he didn’t much care for them. And then the captain threw out a compliment, drawing a grin from its recipient. “Really, you think so? I borrowed the clothes from a hospital. There wasn’t much variety, but I was in a rather romantic mood, so I went along with it... don’t ask me what a hospital was doing with these, though.” The Doctor’s grin faded a little as he remembered what Jack had said earlier and he realized the compliment came with strings attached, complicated and complicating strings. But still, praise was praise, and even if it came from a man whose anachronistic dress rivalled his own, it was nice to get a reaction besides ‘where’s the costume party?’

He wasn’t one to leave a good question unanswered, and knowing about Jack couldn’t hurt his future, now they’d already met. It was only the other way round when things started to get dangerous. “So, what’s the story behind your coat? It’s easily several millennia younger than your vortex manipulator... unless that’s the odd thing out instead?” He might be an actual captain who’d stumbled into the possession of technology far beyond his yen, but it was much more likely that it was the coat whose vintage was off. For one thing, how would a mid-twentieth century man have worked out how to get anywhere? Besides, Jack was far too familiar with high-level technology in general... then again, he might have learned that from travelling with the Doctor himself.

[captain jack harkness]

The only thing that could truly make Jack feel better at this point was Ianto holding a cup of his favorite coffee made just the way Ianto could make it. It would take Jack sometime in this place to get comfortable enough to get enough sleep to make him feel better. It was hard being away from his team and not knowing how they were. After all, their line of work was the far from being safe. Both Owen and Tosh hadn’t even seen their 30th birthday when he lost them. In all the years he worked with Torchwood, no one died from old age... they were all young. He was worried that if and when he got back either Ianto or Gwen would be gone, maybe both. It was those worries that made sleeping hardest of all tonight among the other things.

Jack smiled and the expression his face grew soft as he seen the hand offered to him, he reached out and took the hand as he stood up. There was a gentle squeeze given before he let the Time Lord’s hand go. Getting off the ground wasn’t something he thought about doing until the hand was there for him. There was always something about being with the Doctor that made him feel safe and sound, like everything was going to be okay no matter what they were facing. ”In all the time I have know you, it hasn’t changed at all. And you always need someone with you to tell you when to stop.” He knew how much Ten liked to push his luck and even more so with a Nine… He wondered if this earlier version of the Doctor was also the same. Guess he would find out soon enough. ”Always wondered what you look like before I meant you. Couldn’t ask for a better description than this.”

”The old girl loved me and I truly miss her. I didn’t think it would be easy, and then again nothing ever is when it comes to you, is that not right? At first I was thinking this was the work of the rift when I seen all the different people here but then the talking about things… and what someone discovered, it makes it all seem like something more advanced.” He wondered what would happen if whatever brought them here managed to grab another Doctor out of the timeline… maybe with two Doctors around this problem could be solved faster. Though those thoughts were quickly replaced by something else and all the fun he could have with two Doctors.

Jack couldn’t help the chuckle that came when the Doctor asked about the screwdriver. ”Seriously, who looks at a screwdriver and thinks it can be more sonic? I never did get a full answer for that. What’s next, a sonic plunger?” Jack stuck out his tongue some at the Doctor, unable to help it. He was being rather serious about it until he stuck his tongue out to show he was playing around. Jack missed his sonic gun but at least he found a new love in the Webley he carried around. ”Very dashing in deed. The leather look wasn’t my favorite but the suit and tie was rather handsome… but this is something else along with the long hair. I am truly enjoying the view.” Jack gave a wink at the Doctor, finally starting to feel back to normal for the moment being.

When he saw the grin fade, he lowered his eyes for a moment before looking up. ”I come from the 51st century. For me… sex is not complicated or has anything attached to it… its just sex and flirting is just flirting…. Jack trailed before looking back down at the ground before speaking barely above a whisper… ”I’ve always liked you… well more than like but I knew nothing more could come of it besides your later forms never noticed. Always had your mind on step ahead, looking for the next problem to fix.” Jack wasn’t able to look back at the Doctor but it was something he couldn’t hold back any longer. Maybe it was because he truly didn’t know this Doctor that he was comfortable enough to open up with.

”I spent sometime on Earth during the Second World War there…. I feel in love with the coat... this style of dressing. It truly who I become and most of the time I don’t remember who I was before taking on the name Captain Jack Harkness…. Spent some many years as Captain Jack Harkness. Maybe its my way of continue to run away from where I came from, from what I was part of. You helped me to become a better man, Doctor… changed me for the best.” Jack shrugged his shoulders before glancing out one of the windows, his mind wondering off again. Thinking about all the time he spend with Doctor and wondering if he would get the chance to do that again. Maybe take Ianto along for the ride.

”Would be nice, if you could fix my Vortex Manipulator for once and leaved it fixed instead of disabling it and stopping me from traveling through time with it.”