Title: Father Figures
Author: Bitterfig
Fandom: Torchwood/Dr. Who
Character: Jack Harkness with mentions of the Doctor 9-11, Rose and team Torchwood.
Summary: Father figures tend to let their children down.
Beta Reader: Fedink
Word Count: 228
Rating: PG
Warning: Spoilers for Torchwood Season 2 and Children of Earth.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator.

He’s changed again, the Doctor, become someone else.

When I first met him, he was older than me, taller than me and so much more serious. I was devil-may-care in those days (so many lifetimes ago). Rose and I were the kids, he was the father. We played and counted on him to make sense of everything.

Like most father figures, he let me down. He left me stranded in space and time.

When I saw him again a couple hundred years had passed for me, a couple hundred deaths. Not so long for him, but he’d turned into someone else, someone younger, not quite so tall. He seemed to have grown lighter while I’d become heavier, weighted and worn down by time and loneliness, loss and pain and moral compromise.

Seeing him again made me lighter for a time, before all the lights went out.

Now they say he’s changed again. Now he’s a square jawed boy, younger than me. The Doctor’s the kid and I’m the father now. At least I tried to be. After I lost Owen and Tosh, I wanted to protect Gwen and Ianto. I wanted them to be able to count on me but I couldn’t stop Ianto from dying and I abandoned Gwen, ran off to the stars leaving her behind.

Like most father figures I let my children down.