Title: Sunset Boulevard
By: _usakeh_
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica/Torchwood
Characters: Dark!Jack, Lee Adama, Laura Roslin
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: This story stars the alternate version of Jack Harkness I introduced in As the Daylight Falls. Although this stands alone, you'll probably enjoy it more if you read the first story as well. On another note, the title was taken from a song called Sunset Boulevard; if you want to see the inimitable John Barrowman perform it, click here.

“Get up.” The voice was hard, insistent. Still, Jack ignored it. He hadn’t slept for a long time – two days? three? – and he wasn’t about to let anybody interrupt him now that the drug-induced energy had finally faded. “Get up.” Somebody was tugging at his coat. “Get up, or–”

“That’s enough,” a deeper voice interrupted. “Just get him out of here.”

“If you want to get me alone,” Jack said sleepily, lifting his head from his knees at last, “all you’ve gotta do is ask. No need for anything so…complicated.”

“Frak you,” the soldier – Jack could see that he was a soldier now, dressed up in full uniform – hissed.

“For a small fee, you can,” Jack replied, smug smile firmly in place.

Only when the blow he’d been expecting didn’t come did Jack begin to suspect that this was no ordinary patrol.


“This is where most of the black market activities were taking place,” Captain Lee Adama said, gesturing towards the seedy looking shop at the end of the corridor. “We shut them down; after that, I set up a series of patrols in order to ensure that black market profiteers didn’t continue to–”

“Thank you, Captain Adama,” President Laura Roslin interrupted. “Very well done,” she added, nodding approvingly. She meant it, too. It was good to see that the area had been improved. Just because they were in danger didn’t mean that they could start letting people simply ignore the law. That way lay anarchy.

“Thank you, Madame President.” Lee tugged at his crisply ironed uniform. “I think that it’s important that we keep criminal elements in check; we can’t let the Cylon threat control the degree to which we execute the law.”

“Well put,” Roslin responded, clasping her hands together. “I’d like you to continue. Just make sure that the patrols themselves are supervised. The citizens have to be protected as well.”

“Of course,” Lee said stiffly. Then he slowed his pace. A bunch of soldiers were clustered up ahead; most likely, they’d found something. Trying to buy himself time, he stopped altogether. But it didn’t take long for Lee to see that this had been a mistake.

“What’s going on over here?” Roslin pushed her way through the soldiers without hesitation until she was standing directly above the man sprawled out on the ground. She turned to confront the soldiers surrounding him. “Who’s in charge here?”

“I am,” the oldest of them said, stepping forward. Roslin would have been impressed by his cockiness did it not smack of disrespect for her and her office. Had Commander Adama asked the same question, he’d be shaking in his boots. No matter. She could be a true leader without having every single person’s respect; if anything, it was better this way. As her father, a historian, had once commented, “You know what makes the president of a democracy more than a mere demagogue? The ability to tell the difference between blind adulation and sincere admiration. The demagogue wants the former, from everybody; the leader seeks the latter from a select few.”

“Have you been harassing this man?” Roslin inquired.

“No, Madame President.” The soldier looked nervous now. “He just…he’s been drinking. He collapsed.”

“Is that so?” Roslin raised an eyebrow. “Well, if that’s so, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to check with him, would it?”


“What’s your name?” This new voice was soft, soothing; in response, Jack stirred and opened his eyes. The brown-haired woman standing before him looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. “Are you all right?”

“Never been better,” he rasped. “And the name’s Jack Harkness.”

“Nice to meet you, Jack.” The woman, Jack noted, did not reach out to shake his hand. Was she another of those do-gooders too scared to even touch him, or look him in the eye? The type that, under the guise of helping him, simply sought to remove him from the scene as readily one would a source of contamination?

“The pleasure’s all mine,” he replied.

“Jack.” The woman paused and stared at him intently. Evidently she didn’t have any problem looking him in the eye. Maybe he’d been wrong about her.

“Jack, did these men do anything to you? Tell me the truth, now. Did they hurt you?”

“No.” Jack shook his head. “You showed up just in time to stop them.”

“Are you saying that they usually do hurt you, Mr. Harkness?” The woman looked distinctly disturbed. “This is a serious allegation you’re making.”

“Serious? In that case, I’ll pass. You see,” he said, staggering to his feet, “we don’t do serious, down here.” He smiled seductively. “People come here to have themselves a good time; good times are exactly what we give them. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“This is no laughing matter.” The young man who moved in behind the brown-haired woman would have been just gorgeous – absolutely irresistible – were it not for his prissy tone and patronizing expression. “By the Colonies’ Civil and Criminal Code, you are obligated, as a citizen, to–”

“Look at me, sweetheart,” Jack interrupted. “Do I look like the sort of man who spends his time studying the Colonies’ Civil and Criminal Code? I don’t think so.” Jack stepped forward. “Now move back, buddy, and let the lady speak.”

The expression on the other man’s face was worth the hell Jack had gone through to end up sprawled out in the corridor. And then some.


To her credit, the woman looked fairly amused herself. But as she looked him over once more, her expression darkened again.

“Where do you live?” She inquired.

“On this ship, at present,” Jack replied.

“That I knew. I want to know where you sleep at night. Do you have a place to sleep at night?”

“Getting personal now, are we?” Jack shook his hair out of his eyes. “Most nights I do. Hot commodities like me don’t stay on the shelf for long.” Jack forced himself to stop slouching and stand up straight. “And yes,” he added, turning towards the young man with the handsome face and irritating manner, “I’m well aware that the Colonies’ Civil and Criminal Code doesn’t entirely appreciate the sort of services I provide.” The man took a step forward, but the woman restrained him.

“Wait a second, Captain Adama.”

“But this man is clearly completely out of–”

“I told you to wait, Lee.” Not bad, Jack thought. If she kept at it, he could really get to like her. “Why don’t you go back to the shuttle and wait for me there? I’d like to have a little chat with Mr. Harkness here.”

“You can’t possibly expect us to leave you alone with him.”

“Yes, I can,” she said. “I can and you will. Go on, Lee.”

Without another word, the man marched down to the end of the corridor. The soldiers followed behind him, and for the first time in days, Jack’s smile was a genuine one.


“If we’re gonna have a chat, how about we find a place to sit down?” Jack paused. When no answer came, he added, “I could do with a drink, too, while we’re at it.”

“I don’t think so, Mr. Harkness.” The woman’s eyes twinkled. “But you can go ahead and sit down again, if you’d like.”

“If you insist,” Jack replied, “I suppose I will.” Then, as gracefully as he could, he slid back down onto the floor. “Now what is it you wanted to ask me?”

“I want to know, Mr. Harkness, whether you’re happy with your life.”

“When we were introduced you called me Jack. Now that you get to the really personal stuff you’ve decided to go with Mr. Harkness?” Jack looked at her quizzically, and hoped desperately that she wouldn’t realize that she would, at the very least, play along. How the fuck did she expect him to answer a question like that, anyway? Was he happy with his life? What did she think he was going to say?

“Tell me, then, Jack: are you happy with your life? With what you’re doing?”

“Beats the alternatives,” he replied at last, keeping his tone as light as possible.

“Beats the alternatives?” The woman looked at him carefully. “You’re telling me that you really couldn’t find any honest work around this place?”

“Of course I could,” Jack replied smoothly, “but honest work bores me. Always has. Doesn’t pay particularly well, either.”

“And what you do…does?”

“I told you, honey: I’m a hot commodity around here.” Jack stretched. God, he was exhausted. “People will pay really good money for good looking guys like me. We’re hard to come by, these days. And I never say no. Well…almost never,” Jack added, remembering the way he’d turned on his heel after a leering man had ordered his girlfriend to undress for him.

“You mean to tell me, in all honesty, Jack, that you don’t find your…line of work…degrading?”

“I’d been afraid you’d end up asking me that,” Jack said, “but I’d held out hope that you’d come up with something a bit more…interesting.” Jack sighed. “No. It’s a transaction like any other; both parties end up with something they want. They want me. I want their money. I don’t mind it. They’re the ones who can’t seem to take it, but I don’t mind that; their denial is what keeps us in business.”

“You’re quite a character, Mr. Harkness,” she responded. “I’ll give you that.”

“Only that?” Jack raised an eyebrow. Then a chill seized him, and he shuddered. Damn, he thought. He had to find his dealer; if he didn’t get what he needed soon, he’d be in trouble. “It’s been great,” he managed to gasp as he got back on his feet. “But–”

“Not so fast.” The woman reached out to stop him; to his surprise, her grip was a firm one. “You still haven’t answered my question. This may beat the alternatives, but does it make you happy?”

“I’m a drug addict.” Jack’s voice was flat, devoid of all emotion. “I’m high, I’m euphoric. When I’m not, I feel like shit.” The woman was staring at him, eyes wide with surprise. He shrugged. “You asked; I answered. You don’t want an answer, then don’t ask. I tell it like it is.”

“I know you do.” The woman took a deep breath. “That’s why I asked in the first place.”


Less than a minute later, the soldiers arrived to escort the woman away.

“If you want more, “ Jack called out as they got ready to depart, “you know where to look.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.” The woman nodded at one of the soldiers, and he stepped back, giving them just a moment longer. And then – at last – the woman held out her hand. “I’m glad that I got to speak to you this morning, Jack.”

“The pleasure was–” Jack froze, so disconcerted he stopped in the middle of the phrase. Brown hair, brown eyes. The suit. The soldiers, suddenly ever so eager to please. How could he not have noticed before?

“Is there a problem, Jack?” Laura Roslin’s eyes shone with barely suppressed laugher.

“Not at all,” Jack replied, recovering his composure. “The pleasure was all mine…Madame President.”