Title: Little Black Book
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: VRD challenge - Purple, 5_prompts
Prompt: Little black book
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Jack Harkness. Please do not sue.

***

Jack glanced up from the book he was reading, not bothering to remove his feet from where they were propped up on the coffee table. He knew that the Doctor didn't like him to do that, but at least he wasn't wearing shoes.

He could hear the Time Lord approaching the library, his footsteps echoing in the corridor. He was walking quickly; maybe he had some news, or he'd discovered something that he was eager to explore. One never knew with the Doctor.

Jack's smile grew as he thought of how the Time Lord would look when he appeared in the doorway; he would be wearing that black t-shirt he'd put on just a few hours ago, and those tight jeans that accented the curves of his ass ....

The smile disappeared when the Doctor burst into the room, a scowl on his face that reminded Jack of a black thundercloud. He'd seen his lover look upset and angry before, but this was a different kind of anger than what he was used to.

"What's got you looking so upset?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't anything he'd inadvertently done. It had been a while since the two of them had disagreed about anything, and that was the way he liked things to be. He hated fighting with his lover.

"This." The Doctor threw the small object that he'd been clutching in one hand across the room at Jack, nearly hitting the immortal in the face with it. Jack looked down in surprise, not realizing what he was looking at for a moment.

Uh-oh. This definitely wasn't good. Jack couldn't help but recognize what the Doctor had thrown at him -- a little black book full of addresses and phone numbers. It was obvious what he'd used the book for, though he hadn't thought of it in ages.

"Where did you come across this? I'd forgotten about it," Jack said, hoping that he could defuse what was obviously going to turn into an argument before it started. He knew that the Doctor had no reason to be upset, but of course, the Time Lord had no inkling of that.

"In the pocket of your coat. The one that you wear all the time." The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest, the ferocious scowl not abating. "I suppose you're going to tell me that you didn't know it was there, and that you never intended to use those numbers again."

"I didn't." Jack sighed, shaking his head. "I'll throw it away. I don't intend to ever sleep with any of those people again, Doc. You know I don't. I've got the only person I want -- or need. I don't even remember half of the people whose names are in this book."

"Of course you don't," the Doctor said, his tone bitter. "You don't remember anyone after you've gotten what you want out of them. If they're lucky, they might last -- what? A few weeks? A few months, even? -- then you're on to the next person without giving them another thought."

Jack was silent, the words cutting into his heart. Yes, he used to be like that. The Doctor had every right to throw those words at him. He'd been a slut, a whore, randomly picking up people for sex and not caring if they'd gotten more involved than he had.

Before he'd fallen in love with the Doctor, he hadn't given his sexual exploits a second thought. How many people had he hurt? How many people had he left feeling as though they were worthless because he'd treated them like dirt? Far too many to name.

Fidelity had never been his strong point. He'd always been a whore -- and he'd been proud of that at one time, though it shamed him now. Until he'd met the Doctor, he hadn't known what real love was -- and truth be told, he hadn't wanted to know.

He hadn't been a very nice person then, and he admitted it. He hadn't cared if he'd hurt people; the only thing he'd thought of was having fun and feeling good. But that was because he'd been trying to assuage his own pain in the only way he knew.

He'd missed the Doctor so badly when he'd left that drowning himself in a flood of meaningless sex had been the only way that he could get the Time Lord out of his thoughts for even a brief time .And even then, it hadn't worked for very long.

The sex with nameless, faceless strangers who'd insisted on giving him their phone numbers had only increased his longing for the man he truly loved. In trying to drown his sorrows, he'd only made them worse. It had been driven home to him that the Doctor was the only one he wanted.

That little black book hadn't been something he'd ever intended to look at again. It was just his bad luck that the Doctor would find it, and think that it was still significant to his life in any way. He should have gotten rid of it long ago.

"Doc, I'll throw it out," he said, keeping his voice soft, his tone even. He had to make the Doctor understand that the little black book meant nothing to him -- and that none of the people whose names were in it could compare to the man standing in front of him.

The thought of anyone else being what the Doctor was to him was laughable. None of those people had ever been any more than a temporary stopgap. The only real relationship he'd had was with Ianto -- and that had ended on an amicable note, for once.

Getting up from the couch, he moved to where the Doctor was standing, pulling the tall, thin man into his arms. It was only then that he could feel the Doctor trembling, and see the unshed tears in those incredible dark eyes.

"Hey," he said softly, raising a hand to cup his lover's cheek. "Don't cry. Please don't cry.. That book doesn't mean anything to me. Not now that I'm back with you. It's part of a life that's way behind me now. A life that I don't ever want to live again."

"Why are you keeping that book?" the Doctor asked, not looking at Jack. He rested his forehead against the immortal's shoulder, his voice sounding choked when he spoke. "If they didn't mean anything to you, then you'd have thrown it away."

"I just forgot about it," Jack told him, wishing with all his heart that he had thrown that book away long ago. "I didn't even remember that it was in my coat pocket. I'll throw it away right now, this second. It doesn't meant anything to me, Doctor. You should know that."

"A part of me does know that," the Time Lord murmured, raising a hand to wipe at the few tears that had streaked down his face. "But there's another part of me that can't quite believe you won't eventually be unfaithful to me."

"You don't have to worry about that," Jack whispered, his throat tightening. "I never will. Those days are over, Doctor. I know what I want. And more importantly, I know who I want. You. No one else. Only you, for the rest of eternity."

"And you'll throw away that little black book?" the Doctor asked, sniffling slightly. Jack's heart clenched in his chest at the Time Lord's woebegone expression; could he really have thought that there could possibly be anyone else in Jack's life?

"Consider it done," Jack said softly, hefting the book in his hand and looking for a place to throw it away. There was no trash can in the room -- but there was a fireplace. Crossing the room to kneel in front of it, he placed the book there and took a lighter from his pocket.

He didn't smoke any more, but this was one time that he was glad he still had a lighter. Clicking it, he waited until the flame rose, then applied it to the corner of the small leather book until it was burning brightly, the flames consuming it in a rush.

Standing up, he slid an arm around the Doctor's waist, pulling the other man against his body. Whatever had been in that little black book was in the past. He didn't care about the past. Not any longer. He only wanted to look to the future he had with the man he loved.

"See? Not a problem," he told the Doctor with a soft smile. "Nothing in that book means anything to me, Doctor. There's only one person I want in my life -- and he's standing right here in my arms. Nobody else means anything. Not in my life, and not in my heart."

The look on the Doctor's was all he needed to tell him that he'd done the right thing -- that, and the little thump that his heart made against his ribs when the Time Lord smiled. Onward into the future -- with the man he loved by his side.

***