Title: You'll Think of Me
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: Connect 3, Graph 2, in 5_prompts
Prompt: 6, You can't mean that
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.

***

The Doctor could still remember how he'd felt when Jack had walked away from him. He could remember the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, the way his hearts had swelled as though they were reaching out to his lover and begging him to stay.

He could remember how irresistible the urge to follow Jack had been, the need to go down on his knees and clutch at the other man almost unbearable.

But he hadn't done that. He'd simply stood there in the control room, watching Jack walk down those three small steps and open the door of the Tardis. He'd said a few words, but he couldn't remember most of them. Only the last few stuck out in his mind.

"You'll think of me, Jack. You'll think of me, and you'll miss me."

And Jack's retort, that had been said softly, with a smile on his face as he spoke the words that had cut the Time Lord's hearts to ribbons.

"No, I won't. I'll be too busy to think of you. I've got a lot to do, Doc. A lot that doesn't include you."

And then he'd turned and left, walking out of the door as quickly and easily as though their time together had meant nothing to him. The Doctor knew better now, of course; that parting had hurt Jack nearly as much as it had hurt him.

But at the time, he'd been shocked, stunned, pain coursing through him so acutely that he didn't think he could bear it. He'd stood there staring at the door, words that he wished he would have said before Jack left resounding through his mind.

"You don't mean that."

He still wondered if Jack had missed him in all the time that they'd been apart. Would he ever know? Or would that be something that he always wondered about?

The Time Lord didn't want to ask Jack if he'd been missed while they were separated. He didn't want to know if the other man would say yes, that he'd been far too occupied with things that interested him far more than the Doctor ever had.

That residue of pain still lingered, even now that they were together again. He wasn't prepared to open that wound again; it would continue to sting, a painful reminder of their past that would never quite heal.

***